Local newspapers, drinking water pathways, and dimensions of knowledge: Public awareness amid the hydrofracking debate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Berg, Weston

Studies on determinants of pro-environmental behavior have found environmental knowledge to be a prerequisite for public participation. While much has been written on correlations between media coverage and environmental knowledge in general, a gap exists concerning the linkages between media coverage and knowledge of an individual's local environment. This study measures public awareness of local drinking water supplies in urban communities, using a face-to-face survey of 90 respondents in three upstate New York cities. The findings show no significant correlation between newspaper coverage of local water issues and awareness of one's drinking water source; however, the surveys revealed high correlations between such awareness and home ownership (as opposed to renting) and between awareness and receiving a water bill. In addition, there was a positive correlation between reading about a local water-related issue (in this case, hydraulic fracturing for natural gas in the Marcellus Shale) in a local newspaper and possessing basic knowledge of that issue. These findings contribute to previous research on environmental knowledge, and have practical applications in efforts addressing: civic engagement, public understanding of science, citizen participation, and democratic practices. Keywords: Public understanding, environmental communication, water resources management, hydraulic fracturing, schema theory

Report to Congress on the status of the public ports of the United States : 1996 - 1997

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1998-10-01

This Report to Congress on the Status of the Public Ports of the United States, covering calendar years 1996 and 1997, discusses the U.S. public port industry's economic activities and the critical issues facing it. The first section provides an over...

Beyond Civil Service: The Changing Face of Public Personnel Management.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Klingner, Donald E.; Lynn, Dahlia Bradshaw

1997-01-01

Today, public services are often delivered by purchase-of-service agreements, privatization, franchising, vouchers, or other alternatives to civil service. Public personnel managers must now deal with broader policy issues, relationships with external organizations, and tighter focus on cost control, requiring new knowledge, skills, and abilities.…

Public Diplomacy: An Alternative Diplomacy in Foreign Affairs’ Issues. Greek Public Diplomacy: Capabilities and Perspectives

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-06-01

position of the Department of Defense or the U.S. Government . IRB Protocol number ______N/A__________. 12a. DISTRIBUTION / AVAILABILITY STATEMENT...35  2.  Other Government Agencies Communicating with Foreign Publics...significantly as far as governments are concerned. Therefore, Public Diplomacy (PD) has emerged as the public face or alternative version of traditional

Virtual Charter Schools: Realities and Unknowns

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Torre, Daniela

2013-01-01

Virtual charter schools have emerged over the last decade as an increasingly popular alternative to traditional public schooling. Unlike their face-to-face counterparts, virtual charter schools educate students through blended or entirely online curricula. They present a host of new policy issues that should be scrutinized in order to ensure that…

Politics and public health ethics in practice: right and left meet right and wrong.

PubMed

Gollust, Sarah E; Baum, Nancy M; Jacobson, Peter D

2008-01-01

As public health practitioners are no doubt aware, public health practice and politics are closely linked. Although theoretical discussion of the emerging field of public health ethics has been rich, scholars have paid little attention to the relationship between ethical issues and politics in public health practice. We conducted semistructured interviews with 45 public health practitioners across a range of occupations (eg, health officers, medical directors, sanitarians, nurses, educators, and commissioners) working at 12 local health departments across Michigan and the state health department. Practitioners were asked to describe the ethical issues they faced in their daily practice. Ethical issues that resulted from the political environment emerged as one major category of ethical issues our interviewees described. This article illustrates how political issues engender ethical challenges in 4 main areas: public health agenda-setting, political pressures, political conflicts with best practices, and the scope of public health practice. The findings suggest that politics and public health ethics intrinsically intersect, because political pressures and priorities often impose ethical challenges that practitioners negotiate in their daily work.

Ethical Considerations for Psychologists Taking a Public Stance on Controversial Issues: The Balance Between Personal and Professional Life

PubMed Central

Haeny, Angela M.

2014-01-01

Previous literature has documented the general issues psychologists often face while balancing their personal and professional lives. The struggle stems from attempting to satisfy the need to maintain a life outside of work while having the professional obligation to follow the American Psychological Association’s (APA’s) Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct (Ethics Code) to prevent their personal lives from interfering with their professional roles and relationships. The present paper analyzes the subject of psychologists taking a public position on controversial public issues. Although the APA Ethics Code does not restrict how psychologists conduct themselves during their personal time, taking a public stance on a controversial issue could potentially strain professional relationships and inadvertently reflect negatively on the profession. The present paper examines ethical issues that a) should be taken into account before psychologists take a public position on a controversial issue, and b) are in conflict with APA’s Ethics Code or current research. PMID:25342876

Ethical Considerations for Psychologists Taking a Public Stance on Controversial Issues: The Balance Between Personal and Professional Life.

PubMed

Haeny, Angela M

2014-07-01

Previous literature has documented the general issues psychologists often face while balancing their personal and professional lives. The struggle stems from attempting to satisfy the need to maintain a life outside of work while having the professional obligation to follow the American Psychological Association's (APA's) Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct (Ethics Code) to prevent their personal lives from interfering with their professional roles and relationships. The present paper analyzes the subject of psychologists taking a public position on controversial public issues. Although the APA Ethics Code does not restrict how psychologists conduct themselves during their personal time, taking a public stance on a controversial issue could potentially strain professional relationships and inadvertently reflect negatively on the profession. The present paper examines ethical issues that a) should be taken into account before psychologists take a public position on a controversial issue, and b) are in conflict with APA's Ethics Code or current research.

Minimizing Disparities and Developing Support by Identifying Differences in Confidence and Knowledge Related to Water Issues

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Taylor, Melissa; Lamm, Alexa J.

2016-01-01

Extension educators face challenges as they strive to keep up with critical issues in their communities, such as those surrounding water. A growing population and a diminishing water supply necessitate that Florida residents become more knowledgeable about water issues. We conducted research to determine how confident both the general public and…

Health impacts and research ethics in female trafficking.

PubMed

Dhital, S R; Aro, R A; Sapkota, K

2011-04-01

Female trafficking is a social and public health problem, associated with physical and sexual abuse, psychological trauma, injuries from violence, sexually transmitted infections, adverse reproductive outcomes and substance misuse. It faces several challenges ranging from the hidden nature of the problem to ethical and human rights issues. The objectives of this paper are to analyze health impact of trafficking; ethical and research issues and anti-trafficking strategies in the Nepalese context. We collected published and unpublished data assessing the public health, ethical burden and research needs from different sources. Trafficked female involved in sex-industry that face grave situation as depicted and it might a reservoir of sexually transmitted diseases. Ethical issues related to survey of assessing the burden are difficult to carry out. The best ways to prevent and control these problems are to enhance anti- trafficking laws and raise awareness, empower and mobilize females and establish organizational capacity.

Environmental Education for a Sustainable Future

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schlesinger, William H.

2004-01-01

The American public is now faced with a baffling array of new environmental issues--much more complicated than the problems people faced 30 years ago. Scientists recognize new threats to the biosphere, the fabric of natural ecosystems, and the diversity of plants and animals that inhabit them. Unlike the obvious, toxic pollutants that spurred the…

Rural-Urban Connections.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Perkins, Daniel F.; LaGreca, Anthony J.; Mullis, Ronald L.

This publication combines three papers on rural and urban youth issues. "Key Issues Facing Rural Youth" (Daniel F. Perkins) notes that rural adolescents share the same concerns and exhibit the same problem behaviors as their urban counterparts. But in addition, geographic isolation presents problems unique to rural areas. A framework is proposed…

The Public Library Trustee and Changing Community Needs.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

The Bookmark, 1987

1987-01-01

This issue of "The Bookmark" contains 23 essays examining the challenges facing public library trustees and changing community needs. Topics considered include: the role of the trustee, fund raising, lobbying and the legislative process, library building programs, library automation, literacy, intellectual freedom, information access, preschool…

Instructional Resources: Issues in Public Sculpture.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hill, Julie Lasater; And Others

1988-01-01

Presents four lesson plans for teaching K-12 students about public sculpture and contemporary sculptors. Highlights the following works: "Playscapes" by Isamu Noguchi, "The Dallas Piece" by Henry Moore, "Old Glory" by Mark di Suvero, and "Face of the Earth" by Vito Acconci. Includes background information on…

An analysis of price-subsidy issues in public transportation and some suggestions of practical importance.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1975-01-01

This report is directed to highway and transportation officials and other state and local government officials faced with questions of public transit subsidies. The questions are very real ones and, in this one's opinion, require well founded answers...

Voices of Leadership: Essays on Challenges Facing Public Higher Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Swygert, H. Patrick, Ed.

This book presents speeches given and articles written by State University of New York presidents concerning issues confronting public higher education in the State of New York today. Essays and speeches are categorized under the following topics: (1) the development of the State University of New York; (2) public higher education in society; (3)…

Advocacy Groups Deliver Guidelines for Schools Facing Sexual-Orientation Issues

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Curriculum Review, 2006

2006-01-01

Groups that often find themselves on opposing sides of the cultural war over gay rights have bridged their divide to draft consensus guidelines designed to help public schools address sexual-orientation issues with sensitivity and respect. Representatives from the Christian Educators Association International and the Gay, Lesbian and Straight…

The Challenge of Urbanization. The World's Large Cities.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

United Nations New York, NY. Dept. of Economic and Social Information and Policy Analysis.

This publication concentrates on city problems and special city planning issues in the world's large cities, pinpointing their demographic characteristics, economic structure, available social services, and infrastructures, as well as current issues facing city planners. Profiles of 100 large cities across the world, from Abidjan to Yangon, make…

Utah Public Education Funding: The Fiscal Impact of School Choice. School Choice Issues in the State

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aud, Susan

2007-01-01

This study examines Utah's funding system for public education and provides an analysis of the fiscal impact of allowing parents to use a portion of their child's state education funding to attend a school of their choice, public or private. Like many states, Utah is facing pressure to improve its system of public education funding. The state's…

Face It: P.R. Pablum Fools None of the People None of the Time.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thurman, William

1988-01-01

School boards' public relations efforts should be based on honesty and a clear examination of the issues, rather than self-serving generalizations that mask problems. Seven "C's" of public relations are discussed: credibility, context, content, clarity, continuity, channels, and capability of audience. (TE)

Addressing Orthodox Challenges in the Pluralist Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bindewald, Benjamin J.; Rosenblith, Suzanne

2015-01-01

The American public landscape has shifted in concert with a newly emboldened political right, and the public school has again become an important battlefield in the latest culture wars. In addition to confrontations over educational policy issues is a largely untheorized area where the everyday classroom takes center stage: Teachers face a…

Theme Issue: Organizational Communication.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Anapol, Malthon M., Ed.

1978-01-01

The articles in this publication discuss the identity problem of those educated in organizational communication when they face a job market that does not identify specific roles and positions for their specialty. The publication includes an outline for a course in organizational communication and a list of guidelines for the selection of client…

Public School Revitalisation in Detroit

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cave, Christin

2010-01-01

Too many children and not enough schools was once the issue facing urban school districts across the United States at the turn of the twentieth century. The rise of industrialisation and the subsequent influx of workers and immigrants overwhelmed urban areas and school planners alike, with everyone demanding access to public schools. However, a…

Top-Down Public Health Curricular Change: The Experience of Physical Education Teachers in the United States

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cothran, Donetta J.; McCaughtry, Nate; Kulinna, Pamela Hodges; Martin, Jeffrey

2006-01-01

Schools are frequently seen as the solution to social problems, and recent public health issues such as the near epidemic rates of obesity and diabetes are some of the newest pressures facing schools. This investigation is an exploration of physical education teachers' reactions to one school district's attempts to mandate a public health driven…

Tuition and Finance Issues for Public Institutions. AGB Occasional Paper No. 15.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wallace, Thomas P.; Greer, Darryl G.; Mingle, James R.; Novak, Richard J.

1992-01-01

This paper contains three articles which present the opinions of the authors on public college tuition and state finance. The problem addressed is the large increase in tuition charged by public sector, four-year colleges coupled with the effects of fiscal constraints facing the states. After an introduction by Richard J. Novak, the papers are:…

Public Trust In Higher Education and A Media Review Of Press Articles In California. Research & Occasional Paper Series

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fox, Warren H.; Earl-Novell, Sarah L.

2004-01-01

The purpose of this report is to better determine the level of general public trust in public higher education and the content of published articles in the press that may influence and reflect public confidence. By conducting a six-month media scan of four California newspapers, an overview is provided of the key concerns and issues facing higher…

Financing Education in Ontario: Issues and Choices.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bird, Richard M.

A study of the history of public financing of elementary and secondary education in Ontario and the issues and choices presently facing the province's finance system suggest that proposals for radical change must be considered. Current pressures on the mixed provincial-local system of finance come from the slow rate of economic expansion generally…

What Works for Latino/Hispanic Children and Adolescents: Lessons from Experimental Evaluations of Programs and Interventions. Fact Sheet. Publication #2011-05

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bandy, Tawana; Moore, Kristin A.

2011-01-01

Children and adolescents of Latino/Hispanic background often face challenges that differ from other subpopulations in the United States. Language barriers, issues related to parental citizenship status, and the economic disadvantages often faced by these children and adolescents can result in various negative outcomes, such as depression,…

The golden goose in the crosshairs: the transition to defined contribution pension plans in the public sector: unintended consequences.

PubMed

Johnson, Brian R

2013-01-01

State, county, and local governments are currently facing a myriad of economic issues, based on shrinking tax revenues combined with increased expenditures. Of these, the costs related to defined benefit pension plans are one of the most serious issues facing many public employers. Through a comprehensive review of the existing literature, this article examines how the shift from the defined benefit (DB) to defined contribution (DC) pension plan has the potential to enhance levels of labor unrest due to changes in union militancy, bargaining skills deficits, intra-organizational conflict, and issues related to economic trade-offs. Besides the capacity for immediate and deleterious ramifications in the collective bargaining process, the transition to the DC pension also presents some potentially negative consequences related to human resource management, including changes in the psychological contract, recruitment strategies, employee turnover, and changes in retirement patterns. Recommendations to improve labor relations and human resource management practices in the DC pension environment are also explored.

Comfortably, Safely, and Without Shame: Defining Menstrual Hygiene Management as a Public Health Issue

PubMed Central

Hirsch, Jennifer S.; Nathanson, Constance; Parker, Richard G.

2015-01-01

In recent years, the menstrual hygiene management challenges facing schoolgirls in low-income-country contexts have gained global attention. We applied Gusfield’s sociological analysis of the culture of public problems to better understand how this relatively newly recognized public health challenge rose to the level of global public health awareness and action. We similarly applied the conceptualization by Dorfman et al. of the role of public health messaging in changing corporate practice to explore the conceptual frames and the news frames that are being used to shape the perceptions of menstrual hygiene management as an issue of social justice within the context of public health. Important lessons were revealed for getting other public health problems onto the global-, national-, and local-level agendas. PMID:25973831

Comfortably, Safely, and Without Shame: Defining Menstrual Hygiene Management as a Public Health Issue.

PubMed

Sommer, Marni; Hirsch, Jennifer S; Nathanson, Constance; Parker, Richard G

2015-07-01

In recent years, the menstrual hygiene management challenges facing schoolgirls in low-income-country contexts have gained global attention. We applied Gusfield's sociological analysis of the culture of public problems to better understand how this relatively newly recognized public health challenge rose to the level of global public health awareness and action. We similarly applied the conceptualization by Dorfman et al. of the role of public health messaging in changing corporate practice to explore the conceptual frames and the news frames that are being used to shape the perceptions of menstrual hygiene management as an issue of social justice within the context of public health. Important lessons were revealed for getting other public health problems onto the global-, national-, and local-level agendas.

The Assault on Public Education: Confronting the Politics of Corporate School Reform

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Watkins, William H., Ed.

2011-01-01

In this timely interdisciplinary volume, William Watkins has brought together leading scholars and activists to address some of the most urgent issues facing public education. What is underneath and behind the language of choice, efficiency, and improvement in current neoliberal discourse? How will urban and poor populations be affected? Will…

Improving Teacher Retention in California Public Schools. Research Brief. Issue #107

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Public Policy Institute of California, 2006

2006-01-01

California public schools face a number of challenges, including low academic performance and a shortage of fully credentialed teachers. One way to address these particular challenges is through teacher retention. Experienced teachers are more effective at raising student test scores, on average, than are teachers in their first year or two of…

76 FR 1431 - National Advisory Council for Environmental Policy and Technology

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-01-10

...: Under the Federal Advisory Committee Act, Public Law 92463, EPA gives notice of a public meeting of the National Advisory Council for Environmental Policy and Technology (NACEPT). NACEPT provides advice to the...'s request for advice on workforce issues the Agency is facing and how EPA can best address the needs...

75 FR 38810 - National Advisory Council for Environmental Policy and Technology

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-07-06

...: Under the Federal Advisory Committee Act, Public Law 92463, EPA gives notice of a public teleconference... advice to the EPA Administrator on a broad range of environmental policy, technology, and management... developing to respond to EPA's request for advice on workforce issues the Agency is facing and how EPA can...

75 FR 52941 - National Advisory Council for Environmental Policy and Technology

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-08-30

...: Under the Federal Advisory Committee Act, Public Law 92463, EPA gives notice of a public meeting of the National Advisory Council for Environmental Policy and Technology (NACEPT). NACEPT provides advice to the...'s request for advice on workforce issues the Agency is facing and how EPA can best address the needs...

Californians and Education: PPIC Statewide Survey

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Baldassare, Mark; Bonner, Dean; Paluch, Jennifer; Petek, Sonja

2007-01-01

This edition of the PPIC Statewide Survey is the third in a series of surveys funded by The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation focusing on education in California. This survey is intended to raise public awareness, inform decisionmakers, and stimulate public discussions about a variety of education issues facing the state. Findings are based on…

Preschool Adequacy and Efficiency in California: Issues, Policy Options, and Recommendations. Monograph

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Karoly, Lynn A.

2009-01-01

Facing mounting evidence that California has fallen behind on many key indicators of educational performance, policymakers and the public share considerable interest in exploring whether California should expand public funding for preschool education. This expanded funding will be most effective if resources can be directed to their most efficient…

Guide to Rebuilding Public Sector Services in Stability Operations: A Role for the Military

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-10-01

economic growth. Each topic discussion focuses on the key issues, trade-offs faced in addressing those issues in stability operations, and recommended...top-down versus bottom-up planning. As discussed above, countries have a long-term development framework that expresses broad national strategy for...SERVICES This section discusses a relatively narrow range of issues and potential actions in rebuilding government, focusing on government’s provision

Dissolving the engineering moral dilemmas within the Islamic ethico-legal praxes.

PubMed

Solihu, Abdul Kabir Hussain; Ambali, Abdul Rauf

2011-03-01

The goal of responsible engineers is the creation of useful and safe technological products and commitment to public health, while respecting the autonomy of the clients and the public. Because engineers often face moral dilemma to resolve such issues, different engineers have chosen different course of actions depending on their respective moral value orientations. Islam provides a value-based mechanism rooted in the Maqasid al-Shari'ah (the objectives of Islamic law). This mechanism prioritizes some values over others and could help resolve the moral dilemmas faced in engineering. This paper introduces the Islamic interpretive-evaluative maxims to two core issues in engineering ethics: genetically modified foods and whistleblowing. The study aims primarily to provide problem-solving maxims within the Maqasid al-Shari'ah matrix through which such moral dilemmas in science and engineering could be studied and resolved.

Solving the Teacher Shortage Problem in Ghana: Critical Perspectives for Understanding the Issues

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cobbold, Cosmas

2015-01-01

The problem of getting sufficient numbers of qualified teachers to staff classrooms is one of the most significant public policy issues facing many countries. In Ghana, the problem of teacher shortage has been a perennial one, necessitated by educational expansion as well as adverse socio-economic and political circumstances, and exacerbated by…

Building Blocks: A Legislator's Guide to Child Care Policy.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Culkin, Mary L.; Groginsky, Scott; Christian, Steve

The care and education of the youngest children in the United States has become a critical public policy issue affecting millions of families. This guide closely examines the issues and tradeoffs in key child care policy decisions that face state legislators. The guide provides a discussion of state efforts to build supply, improve quality, and…

Into the void: Regulating pesticide use in Colorado's commercial cannabis markets.

PubMed

Subritzky, Todd; Pettigrew, Simone; Lenton, Simon

2017-04-01

In 2014, Colorado implemented the world's first seed-to-sale recreational cannabis market under a commercial model. This paper aims to provide a thick descriptive account that gives insight into the issues and complexities of Colorado's pioneering and evolving attempt to regulate the use of pesticides on commercial cannabis plantations. The paper examines multiple data sets including: (i) Colorado State Government documents; (ii) recreational cannabis regulations; (iii) mass and niche media publications (n=175); (iv) face-to-face interviews with key stakeholders, including seniors, regulators and industry executives (n=8); and (v) field notes from relevant conferences and cultivation facility tours in Denver in October, 2016. Two key issues are identified. First, a public safety threat has arisen relating to application of pesticides on cannabis with intensified toxicity in concentrated products of particular concern. Second, as a pioneering jurisdiction, Colorado faces a considerable knowledge gap. To expand collective learning on this issue, for which no regulatory template and little research exists, state regulators tapped industry and other stakeholder expertise while attempting to ensure public safety goals were achieved and regulatory capture by industry was limited. Four years since the recreational cannabis market in Colorado was legalised, the State continues to grapple with the pesticide issue as testing regulations and cultivation standards are yet to be finalised. While more work is needed, Colorado has made significant progress in developing regulations relating to this complex matter. As governments of countries such as Canada and US states, including California, contemplate changes to recreational cannabis laws, Colorado's experience can assist regulators in other jurisdictions considering policy change. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

An Examination of Factors That Impact the Retention of Online Students at a For-Profit University

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sorensen, Chris; Donovan, Judy

2017-01-01

Online learning has continued to grow in recent years. However, retaining students in online courses and programs has posed a challenge. Whether the university is public, private, offers both face-to-face and online programs, or is 100% online, retaining students in online programs can be an issue. This study reflects the widespread desire at a…

31 CFR 315.31 - Series H bonds.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

.... Series H bonds are current income bonds issued at par (face amount). Interest on a Series H bond is paid... the Public Debt for recognition as voluntary guardian for the purpose of receiving and collecting the...

31 CFR 315.31 - Series H bonds.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

.... Series H bonds are current income bonds issued at par (face amount). Interest on a Series H bond is paid... the Public Debt for recognition as voluntary guardian for the purpose of receiving and collecting the...

31 CFR 315.31 - Series H bonds.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

.... Series H bonds are current income bonds issued at par (face amount). Interest on a Series H bond is paid... the Public Debt for recognition as voluntary guardian for the purpose of receiving and collecting the...

Environmental Discourse: Helping Graduate Students Build Effective Deliberation and Communication Skills

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huntzinger, D. N.; Downard, J.; Nielsen, E.

2015-12-01

The environmental sciences are at the forefront of critical issues facing society in the coming decades. As a result, many graduates in the environmental sciences find themselves working with the public to help inform the democratic process of making reasonable public policies. In order to be successful, students need to be confronted with the same kinds of questions and problems that practicing scientists face when they are working at the intersection of science and public policy. Otherwise, they lack the skills and confidence needed to work effectively with the public—especially on hotly contested environmental issues when the skills are needed the most. As part of a new Professional Science Master's (PSM) Program in Climate Science and Solutions at Northern Arizona University we have developed a three-semester course series focused on framing discussions on climate change mitigation and adaptation. Each semester, students use a deliberative model to design, frame, and facilitate a public discussion on a targeted issue of regional and local interest. The deliberative model is built around an approach to practical dilemmas that enables students to isolate and clarify the various sources of conflict around the issue. Working in an iterative manner, students learn to identify and untangling some of the sources of disagreement (e.g., policy, ethics and ideals, difference in scientific understanding) around and issue. As a result, students are in a much better position to clarify the key questions and sort through the competing solutions. The course series helps to improve the communication skills of students and promote productive public discourse with individuals from diverse backgrounds within the community. This type of experiential learning provides unique training to our students that not only broadens there understanding of complex issues surrounding climate change, but also provides them with professional skills that are transferrable to their careers.

How to avoid unfair discrimination against disabled patients in healthcare resource allocation.

PubMed

Sinclair, Sean

2012-03-01

The paper proposes a new method of researching public opinion for the purposes of valuing the outcomes of healthcare interventions. The issue I address is that, under the quality-adjusted life-year system, disabled patients face a higher cost-effectiveness hurdle than able-bodied patients. This seems inequitable. The author considers the alternative approaches to valuing healthcare interventions that have been proposed, and shows that all of them face the same problem. It is proposed that to value an outcome, instead of researching the general public, the population that is to be targeted with the intervention should be researched.

Straight A's: Public Education Policy and Progress. Volume 11, Number 22

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Amos, Jason, Ed.

2011-01-01

"Straight A's: Public Education Policy and Progress" is a biweekly newsletter that focuses on education news and events both in Washington, DC and around the country. The following articles are included in this issue: (1) Deficit Committee's Failure Triggers Automatic Spending Cuts: Education Programs Could Face $3.5 Billion in Cuts; (2)…

Faith and Freedom of Religion in U.S. Public Schools: Issues and Challenges Facing Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Allgood, Ilene

2016-01-01

Educators today are accustomed to discussing concepts of multiculturalism, race, class, and gender, but when it comes to religion, most new teachers and many seasoned teachers are confounded. This article provides a critical look at the treatment of religion in public education in the United States, and the potential marginalization of…

Telling Katrina Stories: Problems and Opportunities in Engaging Disaster

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bowman, Michael S.; Bowman, Ruth Laurion

2010-01-01

As the fifth anniversary of life-changing events like Hurricanes Katrina and Rita approaches, the authors talk about the problems those who reside at the site of the disaster face in keeping those events alive in public memory and in making them an ongoing issue for deliberation in the public sphere. In short, then, the authors address the…

"You Hafta Push": Using Sapphire's Novel to Teach Introduction to American Government

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pappas, Christine

2007-01-01

Using fiction in the classroom can dramatize public policy issues and political science concepts, therefore, making them more real and relevant to students. Sapphire's 1996 novel "Push" puts a face on welfare, rape, incest, child abuse, educational inequalities, homophobia, and AIDS. I also use this novel to discuss the public policy process,…

Family forest owners rule!

Treesearch

Brett J. Butler

2011-01-01

The largest issues facing forests in the United States are no longer about public lands. The public still wants the same things envisioned by the Weeks Act—water protection, timber supply, aesthetics, and recreational opportunities (U.S. Forest Service 1913)—but the focus must now be on the lands whose fate is more uncertain. We have entered a new era...

Straight A's: Public Education Policy and Progress. Volume 6, Number 2

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Amos, Jason, Ed.

2006-01-01

"Straight A's: Public Education Policy and Progress" is a biweekly newsletter that focuses on education news and events both in Washington, DC and around the country. The following articles are included in this issue: (1) State of American Business: U.S. Chamber of Commerce Says U.S. Could Face a "Severe Worker Shortage" Unless…

New Challenges in the Governance of Catalan Public Universities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Castro, Diego; Ion, Georgeta

2011-01-01

This article presents the results of a study of the principal issues involved in the governance of public universities in Catalonia. It was based on four stylised dilemmas that were drawn up to facilitate an understanding of the challenges facing university governance reforms. This paper discusses each of these dilemmas in the Catalan context and…

The Effect of Outsourcing on the Performance of Public Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rivera, Lonny J.

2009-01-01

Public education in the 21st century is faced with many difficult challenges. The first and probably most common issue is related to finance. As the economy continues to worsen, school districts are forced to find new revenue streams while at the same time reducing expenditures. In the current economic climate, it is becoming more difficult for…

How Research Influences Policy: The Evidence We Need to "Speak Truth to Power"--A Reflection on an AAHE Scholar Address Three Decades on

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Green, Lawrence W.

2017-01-01

Thirty years after expressing concerns about the translation and communication of science to the public and to policy makers, this reflection finds that the same issues face public health education perhaps even more urgently today with the advent of politicians who actively dispute science, and a public that has voted in support of their campaign…

Railroad safety statistics annual report 2006

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2008-04-01

It is hoped that the information provided in this publication will provide insight into the most : significant safety issues facing the rail industry and, in turn, lead to continued rail safety : improvements. Only by continuing our understanding abo...

Railroad safety statistics annual report 2002

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2004-03-01

It is hoped that the information provided in this publication will provide insight into the most significant safety issues facing the rail industry and, in turn, lead to continued rail safety improvements. Only by continuing our understanding about h...

Railroad safety statistics annual report 2001

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2003-07-01

It is hoped that the information provided in this publication will provide insight into the most significant safety issues facing the rail industry and, in turn, lead to continued rail safety improvements. Only by continuing our understanding about h...

Early Childhood in Brazil: General Overview and Current Issues. Working Papers in Early Childhood Development, No. 44

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

de Aguiar, Gabriela Azevedo; Barker, Gary; Nascimento, Marcos; Segundo, Marcio

2007-01-01

This paper describes important issues in the promotion of the development of children 0 to 6 years of age in Brazil, particularly in education, health, children's rights and public policy. Brazil exhibits tremendous disparities and some of the worst welfare indicators in Latin America. Much of the population faces poverty, limited educational…

Public health ethics: the voices of practitioners.

PubMed

Bernheim, Ruth Gaare

2003-01-01

Public health ethics is emerging as a new field of inquiry, distinct not only from public health law, but also from traditional medical ethics and research ethics. Public health professional and scholarly attention is focusing on ways that ethical analysis and a new public health code of ethics can be a resource for health professionals working in the field. This article provides a preliminary exploration of the ethical issues faced by public health professionals in day-to-day practice and of the type of ethics education and support they believe may be helpful.

There Are No Children Here: The Case of an Inner-City School Addressing Issues Facing Children and Families Living in Poverty

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sallee, Mariel; Boske, Christa

2013-01-01

This case is based on real-life experiences of community school members within Horner School--an inner-city public school. Specifically, the case explores challenges faced by Cathleen, a 1st-year, White, female principal, who was hired by central office to "revamp a charter school" to promote a quality education for all children. The case raises…

Corporate Funding for Schools of Public Health: Confronting the Ethical and Economic Challenges.

PubMed

Bayer, Ronald; Sampat, Bhaven N

2016-04-01

We discuss the public and private sponsoring of university research and the issues it raises in a context of diminished federal funding. We consider research funding at schools of public health and why these schools have historically had weaker links to industry than have other academic units. We argue that the possibility of enhanced links with industry at schools of public health may raise specific concerns beyond those facing universities generally. Six issues should be considered before entering into these relationships: (1) the effects on research orientation, (2) unacceptability of some funders, (3) potential threats to objectivity and academic freedom, (4) effects on academic standards, (5) the effects on dissemination of knowledge, and (6) reputational risks.

Scientists: Engage the Public!

PubMed Central

Shugart, Erika C.

2015-01-01

ABSTRACT Scientists must communicate about science with public audiences to promote an understanding of complex issues that we face in our technologically advanced society. Some scientists may be concerned about a social stigma or “Sagan effect” associated with participating in public communication. Recent research in the social sciences indicates that public communication by scientists is not a niche activity but is widely done and can be beneficial to a scientist’s career. There are a variety of approaches that scientists can take to become active in science communication. PMID:26695633

On Doing an Analysis of Equity and Closing the Opportunity Gap

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Verstegen, Deborah A.

2015-01-01

Is public education equitable and does it provide an equal opportunity to all children and youths? Equity in public school funding is a critical issue facing all communities and has been addressed by the courts in all but five states. A key focus is on funding gaps between rich and poor school districts. Recently, attention has turned to the…

Addressing Challenges to Public Understanding of Science: Epistemic Cognition, Motivated Reasoning, and Conceptual Change

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sinatra, Gale M.; Kienhues, Dorothe; Hofer, Barbara K.

2014-01-01

Science is of critical importance to daily life in a knowledge society and has a significant influence on many everyday decisions. As scientific problems increase in their number and complexity, so do the challenges facing the public in understanding these issues. Our objective is to focus on 3 of those challenges: the challenge of reasoning about…

Kilroot paves the way

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Mandelker, J.

1994-11-01

The AES Corp.-Tractebel S.A. joint venture in Northern Ireland, NIGEN Ltd., has become the first company to issue public project debt in the European capital markets. The {Brit_pounds}198.5 million debenture offering, paying 9.5 percent and due 2006 to 2010, was issued July 14, 1994, and was underwritten by Salomon Brothers International Ltd. and Barclays de Zoete Wedd Ltd., both of London. Experienced as AES is in the public markets, it faced a stiff challenge when it brought Kilroot Electric Ltd. to market. The issue has been described as one of the most complex bond offerings ever made in the City,more » London`s equivalent of Wall Street.« less

Public health emergencies and the public health/managed care challenge.

PubMed

Rosenbaum, Sara; Skivington, Skip; Praeger, Sandra

2002-01-01

The relationship between insurance and public health is an enduring topic in public health policy and practice. Insurers share certain attributes with public health. But public health agencies operate in relation to the entire community that they are empowered by public law to serve and without regard to the insurance status of community residents; on the other hand, insurers (whether managed care or otherwise) are risk-bearing entities whose obligations are contractually defined and limited to enrolled members and sponsors. Public insurers such as Medicare and Medicaid operate under similar constraints. The fundamental characteristics that distinguish managed care-style insurance and public health become particularly evident during periods of public health emergency, when a public health agency's basic obligations to act with speed and flexibility may come face to face with the constraints on available financing that are inherent in the structure of insurance. Because more than 70% of all personal health care in the United States is financed through insurance, public health agencies effectively depend on insurers to finance necessary care and provide essential patient-level data to the public health system. Critical issues of state and federal policy arise in the context of the public health/insurance relations during public health emergencies. These issues focus on coverage and the power to make coverage decisions, as well as the power to define service networks and classify certain data as exempt from public reporting. The extent to which a formal regulatory approach may become necessary is significantly affected by the extent to which private entities themselves respond to the problem with active efforts to redesign their services and operations to include capabilities and accountability in the realm of public health emergency response.

Whose Side Are We on and for Whom Do We Write? Notes on Issues and Challenges Facing Those Researching and Evaluating Public Policy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Warren, Jon; Garthwaite, Kayleigh

2015-01-01

Becker (1967) poses the question "Whose side are we on?," a question which has become an enduring part of discussions within social scientific methodology. This paper explores the key issues in Becker's argument and considers its relevance to researchers today, locating this within a consideration of evaluation-based research and policy.…

Screening for Breast Cancer: #BeBrave: A Life-Saving Test

MedlinePlus

... page please turn JavaScript on. Feature: Screening For Breast Cancer #BeBrave: A Life-Saving Test Past Issues / Summer ... of others facing the disease. You discovered your breast cancer in an unusually public way. Would you tell ...

Ethical Issues in Public Health Practice in Michigan

PubMed Central

Gollust, Sarah E.; Goold, Susan D.; Jacobson, Peter D.

2009-01-01

Objectives. We sought to ascertain the types of ethical challenges public health practitioners face in practice and to identify approaches used to resolve such challenges. Methods. We conducted 45 semistructured interviews with public health practitioners across a range of occupations (e.g., health officers, medical directors, sanitarians, nurses) at 13 health departments in Michigan. Results. Through qualitative analysis, we identified 5 broad categories of ethical issues common across occupations and locations: (1) determining appropriate use of public health authority, (2) making decisions related to resource allocation, (3) negotiating political interference in public health practice, (4) ensuring standards of quality of care, and (5) questioning the role or scope of public health. Participants cited a variety of values guiding their decision-making that did not coalesce around core values often associated with public health, such as social justice or utilitarianism. Public health practitioners relied on consultations with colleagues to resolve challenges, infrequently using frameworks for decision-making. Conclusions. Public health practitioners showed a nuanced understanding of ethical issues and navigated ethical challenges with minimal formal assistance. Decision-making guides that are empirically informed and tailored for practitioners might have some value. PMID:19059850

Toward Impactful Collaborations on Computing and Mental Health

PubMed Central

Dinakar, Karthik; Picard, Rosalind; Christensen, Helen; Torous, John

2018-01-01

We describe an initiative to bring mental health researchers, computer scientists, human-computer interaction researchers, and other communities together to address the challenges of the global mental ill health epidemic. Two face-to-face events and one special issue of the Journal of Medical Internet Research were organized. The works presented in these events and publication reflect key state-of-the-art research in this interdisciplinary collaboration. We summarize the special issue articles and contextualize them to present a picture of the most recent research. In addition, we describe a series of collaborative activities held during the second symposium and where the community identified 5 challenges and their possible solutions. PMID:29426812

Risk in the Clouds?: Security Issues Facing Government Use of Cloud Computing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wyld, David C.

Cloud computing is poised to become one of the most important and fundamental shifts in how computing is consumed and used. Forecasts show that government will play a lead role in adopting cloud computing - for data storage, applications, and processing power, as IT executives seek to maximize their returns on limited procurement budgets in these challenging economic times. After an overview of the cloud computing concept, this article explores the security issues facing public sector use of cloud computing and looks to the risk and benefits of shifting to cloud-based models. It concludes with an analysis of the challenges that lie ahead for government use of cloud resources.

The Authorizer and Charter School Closures: Exercising Adaptive Leadership to Protect the Public Interest. Authorizer Issue Brief. Number 8

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Geyer, Veronica

2005-01-01

Part and parcel of a charter school authorizer's oversight responsibility is the unenviable task of closing a school that fails to pass muster. As with most challenges that authorizers face, closing a charter school can be a complex task; executing a closure decision can entail a web of issues that the prudent authorizer must unravel carefully.…

How Should Public Administration Education Curriculum Within Indiana Higher Education Institutions Evolve to Reflect the Complex Homeland Security Issues Faced by Future Public Sector Employees?

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-03-01

security education . According to statistical data collected and published by Indiana University for graduation years 2005–2006 through 2009–2010, between... education efforts to the already existing programs of public administration within colleges and universities in Indiana. By using survey data collected...right direction, but it is limiting in scope. According to the National Center for Education Statistics , 23,493 bachelor’s degrees were awarded to

Ophthalmic public health; the way ahead.

PubMed

Heidary, F; Rahimi, A; Gharebaghi, R

2012-01-01

Visual sciences have been progressing quickly in recent decades through globalization phenomenon. An enormous change has taken place in ocular health issues, however, there are various problems facing ophthalmic public health worldwide. In the previous years, the World Health Organization and the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness in partnership launched the global initiative to eradicate avoidable blindness by the year 2020, VISION 2020 the Right to Sight. It has concentrated on the prevention of blindness disability and recognized a health issue-sight as a human right. In view of challenges ahead of visual sciences, close collaboration between international agencies at the global level to implement new strategies and monitor the progress will be mandatory. In these circumstances non-governmental organizations should not be neglected. World Sight Day 2012 would be a great opportunity to be a focus on importance of visual impairment as an important public health issue and discovering new challenges ahead.

Beyond pretrial publicity: legal and ethical issues associated with change of venue surveys.

PubMed

Posey, Amy J; Dahl, Lisa M

2002-02-01

To combat the effects of pretrial publicity, a court may consider a change of venue, moving the trial to a jurisdiction that has been exposed to little publicity about the case. Social scientists can be of valuable assistance in measuring community attitudes regarding defendant level of guilt and case familiarity. This paper discusses obstacles faced by the authors when conducting change of venue surveys and presenting their findings to the court, including challenges to their ability to act and be viewed as scientists, and pressures to do that which contradicts empirical research in order to please the court. Future research should examine factors predicting judges' decisions on change of venue motions and issues associated with small venues and civil cases.

Comparison of Bacteria and Color Removal in Two Surface Waters using Nanofiltration

EPA Science Inventory

Small communities typically have small budgets, but big issues to deal with in providing safe drinking water and protecting public health. Communities in remote locations are frequently faced with elevated levels of naturally-occurring organic matter (NOM) that combine with chlo...

Comparison of Bacteria and Color Removal in Two Surface Waters using Nanofiltration

EPA Science Inventory

Small communities typically have small budgets, but big issues to deal with in providing safe drinking water and protecting public health. Communities in remote locations are frequently faced with elevated levels of naturally-occurring organic matter (NOM) that combine with chlor...

Indigenous Digital Collections

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nakata, N. M.

2007-01-01

The intersection of public institutions managing large amounts of information and knowledge and new information and communication technologies has brought forward exciting and innovative changes to the ways information and knowledge have been traditionally managed. This paper provides a brief snapshot of some of the key issues facing the library…

Testing Universal Design of a Public Media Website with Diverse Users.

PubMed

Chen, Weiqin; Kessel, Siri; Sanderson, Norun C; Tatara, Naoe

2016-01-01

Testing with users can identify more issues than other testing methods. Many researchers have argued for the importance of user testing in Universal Design. However, testing Universal Design with diverse users poses many challenges. In this paper we will share our experience with testing the Universal Design of a public media website with real users. We discuss the challenges faced and lessons learned in the process.

Deregulation, Distrust, and Democracy: State and Local Action to Ensure Equitable Access to Healthy, Sustainably Produced Food.

PubMed

Wiley, Lindsay F

2015-01-01

Environmental, public health, alternative food, and food justice advocates are working together to achieve incremental agricultural subsidy and nutrition assistance reforms that increase access to fresh fruits and vegetables. When it comes to targeting food and beverage products for increased regulation and decreased consumption, however, the priorities of various food reform movements diverge. This article argues that foundational legal issues, including preemption of state and local authority to protect the public's health and welfare, increasing First Amendment protection for commercial speech, and eroding judicial deference to legislative policy judgments, present a more promising avenue for collaboration across movements than discrete food reform priorities around issues like sugary drinks, genetic modification, or organics. Using the Vermont Genetically Modified Organism (GMO) Labeling Act litigation, the Kauai GMO Cultivation Ordinance litigation, the New York City Sugary Drinks Portion Rule litigation, and the Cleveland Trans Fat Ban litigation as case studies, I discuss the foundational legal challenges faced by diverse food reformers, even when their discrete reform priorities diverge. I also 'explore the broader implications of cooperation among groups that respond differently to the "irrationalities" (from the public health perspective) or "values" (from the environmental and alternative food perspective) that permeate public risk perception for democratic governance in the face of scientific uncertainty.

Communicating with the public about risk

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wade, C R; Molony, S T; Durbin, M E

1992-01-01

Risk communication is a growing specialty field in communication that draws from well-established principles of sociology and psychology. It is a new way to communicate with potentially hostile audiences about sensitive environmental, safety, and health issues they face. This paper explains the most important principles of risk communication and discusses audience analyses, perceptions of risk (outrage factors), and risk comparisons. These principles are applied to a risk communication issue in Malhuevo, a fictitious Arizona community.

Legal issues affecting children with preexisting conditions during public health emergencies.

PubMed

Rutkow, Lainie; Vernick, Jon S; Wissow, Lawrence S; Tung, Gregory J; Marum, Felicity; Barnett, Daniel J

2013-06-01

Among the millions of children in the United States exposed to public health emergencies in recent years, those with preexisting health conditions face particular challenges. A public health emergency may, for example, disrupt treatment regimens or cause children to be separated from caregivers. Ongoing shortages of pediatricians and pediatric subspecialists may further exacerbate the risks that children with preexisting conditions face in disaster circumstances. The US Department of Homeland Security recently called for better integration of children's needs into all preparedness activities. To aid in this process, multiple legal concerns relevant to pediatricians and pediatric policymakers must be identified and addressed. Obtaining informed consent from children and parents may be particularly challenging during certain public health emergencies. States may need to invoke legal protections for children who are separated from caregivers during emergencies. Maintaining access to prescription medications may also require pediatricians to use specific legal mechanisms. In addition to practitioners, recommendations are given for policymakers to promote effective pediatric response to public health emergencies.

Does Competition Improve Public School Efficiency? A Spatial Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Misra, Kaustav; Grimes, Paul W.; Rogers, Kevin E.

2012-01-01

Advocates for educational reform frequently call for policies to increase competition between schools because it is argued that market forces naturally lead to greater efficiencies, including improved student learning, when schools face competition. Researchers examining this issue are confronted with difficulties in defining reasonable measures…

Leading by Example? ALA Division Publications, Open Access, and Sustainability

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hall, Nathan; Arnold-Garza, Sara; Gong, Regina; Shorish, Yasmeen

2016-01-01

This investigation explores scholarly communication business models in American Library Association (ALA) division peer-reviewed academic journals. Previous studies reveal the numerous issues organizations and publishers face in the academic publishing environment. Through an analysis of documented procedures, policies, and finances of five ALA…

The Politics of Latino Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Leal, David L., Ed.; Meier, Kenneth J., Ed.

2011-01-01

Education is one of the most important public policy issues facing Latinos in the United States today, but the political dynamics behind Latino school achievement and failure are often misunderstood--and at times, overlooked altogether. In twelve revealing essays, "The Politics of Latino Education" brings together 23 accomplished and…

Prevention Researcher, 2001.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ungerleider, Steven, Ed.

2001-01-01

The issues of this quarterly publication and year end supplement contain professional articles on topics that concern at risk youth and emphasize preventive measures. Number 1 highlights the challenges facing gay, lesbian, and bisexual youth in schools. Many schools have nothing in their curricula to help provide an understanding of these issues…

Making waste management public (or falling back to sleep)

PubMed Central

Lougheed, Scott; Rowe, R Kerry; Kuyvenhoven, Cassandra

2014-01-01

Human-produced waste is a major environmental concern, with communities considering various waste management practices, such as increased recycling, landfilling, incineration, and waste-to-energy technologies. This article is concerned with how and why publics assemble around waste management issues. In particular, we explore Noortje Marres and Bruno Latour’s theory that publics do not exist prior to issues but rather assemble around objects, and through these assemblages, objects become matters of concern that sometimes become political. The article addresses this theory of making things public through a study of a small city in Ontario, Canada, whose landfill is closed and waste diversion options are saturated, and that faces unsustainable costs in shipping its waste to the United States, China, and other regions. The city’s officials are undertaking a cost–benefit assessment to determine the efficacy of siting a new landfill or other waste management facility. We are interested in emphasizing the complexity of making (or not making) landfills public, by exploring an object in action, where members of the public may or may not assemble, waste may or may not be made into an issue, and waste is sufficiently routinized that it is not typically transformed from an object to an issue. We hope to demonstrate Latour’s third and fifth senses of politics best account for waste management’s trajectory as a persistent yet inconsistent matter of public concern. PMID:25051590

Re-Examining first principles of regulation: NRG power marketing, LLC v. Maine public utilities Commission

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Haskell, Mark R.

Maine PUC and Morgan Stanley have resolved some of the key issues facing the energy industry. The Supreme Court has plainly and directly in both cases reaffirmed the central role that private contracts play in the energy industry and set terms to balance the need to secure long-term investment with the public interest that lies at the heart of the Federal Power Act. (author)

U.S., Soviets Face Common Science Problems.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lepkowski, Wil

1981-01-01

Summarizes recent findings reported in a two-volume publication, "Science Policy: USA/USSR," issued by the National Science Foundation. Volumes I and II review U.S. and Soviet science policy in research and development, respectively. Comparisons are made concerning common problems around energy, environment, and the meaning of security.…

Promoting School Connectedness among Minority Youth through Experience-Based Urban Farming

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fifolt, Matthew; Morgan, Amy Ferguson; Burgess, Zoe Ripple

2018-01-01

Background: The public education system in the United States faces significant challenges in understanding and addressing issues of student disengagement among high-poverty youth in urban centers. Academic and community leaders are encouraged to seek new and innovative strategies to engage students in meaningful learning experiences that promote…

NGOs, Pluralism and Advisory Services--Timor Leste

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kelly, Max

2013-01-01

Purpose: This article analyses the role, approach, issues and opportunities faced by non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in the promotion of agriculture in Timor Leste from independence through to the countrywide roll out of a public extension service in 2009. Design/methodology/approach: The research draws on semi-structured interviews with NGO…

Interdisciplinary Collaboration on Campus: Five Questions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McCoy, Shannon K.; Gardner, Susan K.

2012-01-01

In its 10th anniversary issue, "The Chronicle Review" asked a number of scholars to identify the "Defining Idea of the Next Decade." One nominee: the movement to abandon the disciplines in order "to meet the scholarly and public challenges educators face" (Ecklund, 2010). In Elaine Ecklund's perspective, it is only through interdisciplinary…

Teaching to Multiple Intelligence by Following a "Slime Trail"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Delaney, Carol J.; Shafer, Francie Keller

2007-01-01

In this age of teacher accountability and high-stakes testing, practicing middle school teachers face many complex issues. Because adolescents must deal with the challenges of physical, social, emotional, and intellectual change, they are considered the most diverse population in the public school system. One way to increase achievement and…

Internetworking Services and the Electronic Library.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brunell, David H.

1991-01-01

Discusses management issues that librarians face in offering public access to library resources through internetworking services, e.g., local area networks, campus networks, or the INTERNET. It is concluded that interface problems and lack of an effective technical support structure make access to library information on INTERNET more of an…

Addressing Health Care Disparities and Increasing Workforce Diversity: The Next Step for the Dental, Medical, and Public Health Professions

PubMed Central

Mitchell, Dennis A.; Lassiter, Shana L.

2006-01-01

The racial/ethnic composition of our nation is projected to change drastically in the coming decades. It is therefore important that the health professions improve their efforts to provide culturally competent care to all patients. We reviewed literature concerning health care disparities and workforce diversity issues—particularly within the oral health field—and provide a synthesis of recommendations to address these issues. This review is highly relevant to both the medical and public health professions, because they are facing similar disparity and workforce issues. In addition, the recent establishment of relationships between oral health and certain systemic health conditions will elevate oral health promotion and disease prevention as important points of intervention in the quest to improve our nation’s public health. PMID:17077406

Moral dilemmas in medical school admission.

PubMed

Self, D J

1990-03-01

The wide range of complex moral and ethical issues of medical school admission committees are seldom publicly acknowledged, reflected upon, analyzed, or discussed, although they are faced regularly. Three cases are presented that illustrate some of the common and unusual moral dilemmas in the admission process. These issues and several practical strategies for ethical decision making are discussed, along with their limitations and weaknesses. These practical strategies are applied to the three cases to see what solutions might be offered.

Bridging Troubled Waters: Historians, Natural Resource Litigation, and the Expert Witness Phenomenon.

PubMed

Brescia, Michael M

2015-02-01

This special issue of The Public Historian examines the nature and scope of the historian's role as a consultant and expert witness in natural resource litigation. The introductory essay identifies the major issues and challenges that historians face when they bring their knowledge, skills, and professional best standards into law offices and courtrooms, while also positing a conceptual framework for public history practitioners to better understand and appreciate the larger stakes in conducting research for environmental litigation. The author delineates his own experience as an expert in certain water rights cases in the American Southwest where knowledge of the Spanish and Mexican civil law of property is essential.

Manager`s views of public involvement

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Branch, K.M.; Heerwagen, J.; Bradbury, J.

1995-12-01

Four issues commonly form the framework for debates about the acceptability of proposed projects or technologies--the substantive decision or technological choice; the treatment of the community by the proponent organization; the way the decision-making process has been structured and managed; and the status of institutional safeguards and protection. One of the clear messages of cultural theory is that differences in perspectives are a normal and inevitable part of society, and that attempts to resolve differences by persuasion are not likely to work. These findings are useful when considering the goals and possibilities of public involvement as a decision-making tool, andmore » when designing or evaluating public involvement training programs for managers. The research reported here examines the viewpoints and concerns of managers and decision-makers about the four issues identified above, with particular emphasis on their perspectives and concerns about opening decision-making processes to the public and about managers` roles and responsibilities for structuring and managing open decision-making processes. Implications of these findings for public involvement training for managers is also discussed. The data presented in this paper were obtained from face-to-face interviews with managers and decision-makers with experience managing a variety of hazardous waste management decision-making processes. We conducted these interviews in the course of four separate research projects: needs assessments to support the design and development of a public involvement training program for managers; a study of community residents` and managers` perspectives on the chemical stockpile disposal program; an evaluation of the effectiveness of public involvement training for managers in the Department of Energy; and a study to develop indicators of the benefits and costs of public involvement.« less

Major Topics of School Business Management.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Clark, James E., Ed.; Hertz, Karl V., Ed.

Thirteen articles on major topics facing school business officials in the 1980s are presented in this book. The titles and their authors are (1) "The Pursuit of Equity in Financing Public Education," by R. Craig Wood, Helene B. Jones, and William L. Riley; (2) "Facilities: Major Issues Ahead," by C. William Day; (3)…

Sustaining Higher Education Reforms: Knowledge and Policy Implications Learned from Thailand

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Phusavat, Kongkiti; Ketsarapong, Suphattra; Ooi, Keng-Boon; Shyu, Stacy H.P.

2012-01-01

Purpose: The paper aims to share experiences in Thailand's higher educational reforms in which academic excellence cannot be sustained without proper financial and fiscal consideration. The overall goal is to disclose the experiences and future issues facing public universities. Design/methodology/approach: The paper is based on actual involvement…

School Administrator Perceptions of Cyberbullying Facilitators and Barriers to Preventive Action: A Qualitative Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Young, Rachel; Tully, Melissa; Ramirez, Marizen

2017-01-01

Background: Schools are often held responsible for preventing or addressing cyberbullying, yet little is known about school administrator perceptions of cyberbullying and the challenges they face in addressing this public health issue. Aims: The goal of this study is to examine school administrators' perceptions of the facilitators of…

Barriers to Providing the Sexuality Education That Teachers Believe Students Need

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eisenberg, Marla E.; Madsen, Nikki; Oliphant, Jennifer A.; Sieving, Renee E.

2013-01-01

Background: Sexuality education teachers' perspectives are important to gain a full understanding of the issues surrounding teaching this subject. This study uses a statewide sample of public school teachers to examine what sexuality education content is taught, what barriers teachers face, and which barriers are associated with teaching specific…

New Methodology for Measuring Semantic Functional Similarity Based on Bidirectional Integration

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jeong, Jong Cheol

2013-01-01

1.2 billion users in Facebook, 17 million articles in Wikipedia, and 190 million tweets per day have demanded significant increase of information processing through Internet in recent years. Similarly life sciences and bioinformatics also have faced issues of processing Big data due to the explosion of publicly available genomic information…

Transforming Postsecondary Education for the 21st Century. Briefing Papers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Education Commission of the States, Denver, CO.

These briefing papers focus on key roles and issues postsecondary education will face in the 21st century. Together they are intended to stimulate debate and discussion and to encourage alternative perspectives and thoughtful actions. This collection is meant to be the opening of a necessary public conversation. The papers are: (1) "Help…

Youth Court: An Alternative Response to School Bullying

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Copich, Cindy

2012-01-01

Bullying and school violence are critical issues facing 21st century educational leaders. U.S. public schools have been scrambling to develop and implement anti-bullying programs with varying degrees of success. Bullying leads to disruption of learning, and its lasting effects of anxiety, depression, anger, and actual brain damage follow victims…

Saving Ohio's Historic Neighborhood Schools: A Primer for School Preservation Advocates.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Trust for Historic Preservation, Washington, DC.

This publication was developed to assist concerned citizens faced with the loss of their neighborhood schools. It recounts a brief history of school reform in Ohio, leading to the current crisis, and suggests strategies advocates for the preservation of their neighborhood schools can use to save their neighborhood assets. Broad issues addressed…

Public Policy in Gifted Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gallagher, James J., Ed; Reis, Sally M., Ed.

2004-01-01

Raising some of the most challenging questions in the field, this call-to-arms focuses on the important services gifted programs provide, the potential crisis gifted educators face, and what must be done to keep the gifted child movement alive and well. Key features include: (1) James J. Gallagher's unflinching account of the issues that continue…

Facing the Issue of Facilities Maintenance in California Public Higher Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

California State Postsecondary Education Commission, Sacramento.

The decision to defer facilities maintenance obligations in California higher education and the extent to which maintenance has been deferred are discussed. Attention is also directed to the educational and fiscal context in which this decision has been made nationally. The policies and procedures governing facilities maintenance and deferral in…

Issues and concepts for making durable composites

Treesearch

Frederick A. Kamke; Jerrold E. Winandy

2008-01-01

Perhaps the greatest obstacle facing the acceptance of engineered wood composite products into new markets is the perceived lack of durability. Public perception is that particleboard and other wood-based composites fall apart when exposed to water. This paper will review the unique characteristics of wood based composites that make them more or less susceptible to...

Review and Enhancement for Crash Analysis and Prediction: Phase 1 Evaluation of the Crash Studies and Analysis Standard Operating Procedures in Maryland

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2010-03-01

Traffic safety has become one of the most critical issues facing transportation agencies across the nation. In 2006, about 43,000 people were killed, and another 290,000 were seriously injured in crashes on public roadways in the United States. Accor...

When Others' Performance Just Isn't Good Enough: Educational Leaders' Framing of Concerns in Private and Public

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sinnema, Claire E. L.; Le Fevre, Deidre; Robinson, Viviane M. J.; Pope, Denyse

2013-01-01

Effective instructional leadership demands that leaders address the inevitable problems and concerns that exist in any educational organization. Unfortunately, much evidence suggests that many important concerns, including teacher performance issues, continue to be unaddressed and unresolved. This article portrays the nature of concerns facing 77…

Magnetic Resonance Imaging--Insights into Brain Injury and Outcomes in Premature Infants

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mathur, Amit; Inder, Terrie

2009-01-01

Preterm birth is a major public-health issue because of its increasing incidence combined with the frequent occurrence of subsequent behavioral, neurological, and psychiatric challenges faced by surviving infants. Approximately 10-15% of very preterm children (born less than 30 weeks gestational age) develop cerebral palsy, and 30-60% of them…

The Challenges of Student Affairs at Kenyan Public Universities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yakaboski, Tamara; Birnbaum, Matthew

2013-01-01

Kenya is increasingly turning to the promise of mass higher education to help solve a range of economic and social issues. These efforts have had profound effects on university students, faculty and professionals who provide the vital student support services necessary for academic success. This case study explores the challenges that face Kenyan…

Hopes, Fears, & Reality: A Balanced Look at American Charter Schools in 2006

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lake, Robin J., Ed.; Hill, Paul T., Ed.

2006-01-01

This is the second annual report from the National Charter School Research Project (NCSRP) at the University of Washington's Center on Reinventing Public Education. Like last year's debut edition of Hopes, Fears, & Reality, the 2006 volume explores some of the most current and controversial issues facing the charter school movement. This…

Adolescents and media literacy.

PubMed

McCannon, Robert

2005-06-01

In the face of media industry consolidation, fewer people control media content which makes it harder for parents and citizens to know the research about media-related issues, such as video game violence, nutrition, and sexual risk-taking. Media literacy offers a popular and potentially successful way to counter the misinformation that is spread by Big Media public relations.

The Ontological Architectures in the Application of a Knowledge Management System for Curricular Assessment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Olson, Brandon D.

2012-01-01

Institutions of higher education are facing increasing pressure to improve the effectiveness and quality of academic programs (Association of Governing Boards, Top public policy issues 2011-2012, 2011). These institutions apply curricular assessment processes as a means to evaluate and improve academic effectiveness and quality. Knowledge…

The Relationship between Student Engagement and Heavy Episodic Drinking

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wilcox, J. Delynne

2011-01-01

College student alcohol use is a significant public health issue facing institutions of higher education. Over the past three decades, significant progress has been made in the areas of research and the identification of recommended best practices to reduce heavy episodic drinking. Yet, students engaged in the prevention of heavy episodic drinking…

Service-Learning: A Tool to Develop Employment Competencies for College Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ramson, Amy J.

2014-01-01

College students will face a workplace transformed even from the one that existed five years ago. Public and private organizations presently require employees to possess highly developed core competencies. This shift in expectations, exacerbated by high unemployment among recent college graduates, has made accountability a hot issue for higher…

Human Resource Development in Mauritius: Context, Challenges and Opportunities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Garavan, Thomas N.; Neeliah, Harris; Auckloo, Raj; Ragaven, Raj

2016-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore human resource development (HRD) in Mauritius and the challenges and opportunities faced by organisations in different sectors in adopting HRD practices. Findings: This special issue presents four papers that explore dimensions of HRD in public sector, small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and…

Innovation and Productivity in Higher Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tuma, David T., Ed.

A concern shared by private and public institutions of higher education in the United States is how to provide quality education at reduced cost, in the face of rising expenses, changing social values, and falling enrollments. A compilation of essays by innovators in college-level instruction deals with this topic by addressing: general issues and…

Afterschool Programs: A Wise Public Investment. Afterschool Alert. Issue Brief No.22

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Afterschool Alliance, 2005

2005-01-01

After-school advocates and practitioners face a seemingly continual struggle for adequate funding. While there have been successes, budgets have tightened at all levels of government, and advocates must be prepared to demonstrate that after-school programs are a worthy investment. This report highlights benefits of these programs by pointing out…

Lack of awareness--not only the failure of media.

PubMed

Bjerström, Erika

2002-01-01

Water issues are some of the most fundamental and important facing the world yet the world's growing water crises rarely make headline news. To give water its proper prominence at the top of the news agenda, the scientific community needs to work to communicate more directly with the media and not wait for academic publications to be discovered, to provide the media with better background understanding of the issues, and to highlight the link from global stresses to specific local impacts.

Health Care Financing In Iran; Is Privatization A Good Solution?

PubMed Central

Davari, M; Haycox, A; Walley, T

2012-01-01

Background: This paper considers a range of issues related to the financing of health care system and relevant government policies in Iran. Methods: This study used mixed methods. A systematic literature review was undertaken to identify relevant publications. This was supplemented by hand searching in books and journals, including government publications. The issues and uncertainties identified in the literature were explored in detail through semi-structured interviews with key informants. These were triangulated with empirical evidence in the form of the literature, government statistics and independent expert opinions to validate the views expressed in the interviews. Results: The systematic review of published literature showed that no previous publication has addressed issues relating to the financing of healthcare services in Iran. However, a range of opinion pieces outlined issues to be explored further in the interviews. Such issues summarised into four main categories. Conclusion: The health care market in Iran has faced a period in which financial issues have enhanced managerial complexity. Privatization of health care services would appear to be a step too far in assisting the system to confront its challenges at the current time. The most important step toward solving such challenges is to focus on a feasible, relevant and comprehensive policy, which optimises the use of health care resources in Iran. PMID:23113205

Health care financing in iran; is privatization a good solution?

PubMed

Davari, M; Haycox, A; Walley, T

2012-01-01

This paper considers a range of issues related to the financing of health care system and relevant government policies in Iran. This study used mixed methods. A systematic literature review was undertaken to identify relevant publications. This was supplemented by hand searching in books and journals, including government publications. The issues and uncertainties identified in the literature were explored in detail through semi-structured interviews with key informants. These were triangulated with empirical evidence in the form of the literature, government statistics and independent expert opinions to validate the views expressed in the interviews. The systematic review of published literature showed that no previous publication has addressed issues relating to the financing of healthcare services in Iran. However, a range of opinion pieces outlined issues to be explored further in the interviews. Such issues summarised into four main categories. The health care market in Iran has faced a period in which financial issues have enhanced managerial complexity. Privatization of health care services would appear to be a step too far in assisting the system to confront its challenges at the current time. The most important step toward solving such challenges is to focus on a feasible, relevant and comprehensive policy, which optimises the use of health care resources in Iran.

Regional Variations of Public Perception on Contaminated Industrial Sites in China and Its Influencing Factors

PubMed Central

Li, Xiaonuo; Jiao, Wentao; Xiao, Rongbo; Chen, Weiping; Bai, Yanying

2016-01-01

Public involvement is critical in sustainable contaminated site management. It is important for China to improve public knowledge and participation, foster dialogue between urban managers and laypeople, and accelerate the remediation and redevelopment processes in contaminated site management. In this study, we collected 1812 questionnaires from nine cities around China through face-to-face interviews and statistically analyzed the perception of residents concerning contaminated sites. The results show that respondents’ concern about soil pollution was lower than for other environmental issues and their knowledge of soil contamination was limited. The risks posed by contaminated industrial sites were well recognized by respondents, but they were unsatisfied with the performance of local agencies regarding information disclosure, publicity and education and public participation. Respondents believed that local governments and polluters should take the primary responsibility for contaminated site remediation. Most of them were unwilling to pay for contaminated site remediation and preferred recreational or public service redevelopment. Moreover, our research indicated that public perception varied among different cities. This variation was mainly determined by implementations of policy instruments and additionally affected by remediation technology, pollutant type, regional policy response and living distance. PMID:27070632

Regional Variations of Public Perception on Contaminated Industrial Sites in China and Its Influencing Factors.

PubMed

Li, Xiaonuo; Jiao, Wentao; Xiao, Rongbo; Chen, Weiping; Bai, Yanying

2016-04-08

Public involvement is critical in sustainable contaminated site management. It is important for China to improve public knowledge and participation, foster dialogue between urban managers and laypeople, and accelerate the remediation and redevelopment processes in contaminated site management. In this study, we collected 1812 questionnaires from nine cities around China through face-to-face interviews and statistically analyzed the perception of residents concerning contaminated sites. The results show that respondents' concern about soil pollution was lower than for other environmental issues and their knowledge of soil contamination was limited. The risks posed by contaminated industrial sites were well recognized by respondents, but they were unsatisfied with the performance of local agencies regarding information disclosure, publicity and education and public participation. Respondents believed that local governments and polluters should take the primary responsibility for contaminated site remediation. Most of them were unwilling to pay for contaminated site remediation and preferred recreational or public service redevelopment. Moreover, our research indicated that public perception varied among different cities. This variation was mainly determined by implementations of policy instruments and additionally affected by remediation technology, pollutant type, regional policy response and living distance.

Future Public Policy and Ethical Issues Facing the Agricultural and Microbial Genomics Sectors of the Biotechnology Industry: A Roundtable Discussion

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Diane E. Hoffmann

2003-09-12

On September 12, 2003, the University of Maryland School of Law's Intellectual Property and Law & Health Care Programs jointly sponsored and convened a roundtable discussion on the future public policy and ethical issues that will likely face the agricultural and microbial genomics sectors of the biotechnology industry. As this industry has developed over the last two decades, societal concerns have moved from what were often local issues, e.g., the safety of laboratories where scientists conducted recombinant DNA research on transgenic microbes, animals and crops, to more global issues. These newer issues include intellectual property, international trade, risks of geneticallymore » engineered foods and microbes, bioterrorism, and marketing and labeling of new products sold worldwide. The fast paced nature of the biotechnology industry and its new developments often mean that legislators, regulators and society, in general, must play ''catch up'' in their efforts to understand the issues, the risks, and even the benefits, that may result from the industry's new ways of conducting research, new products, and novel methods of product marketing and distribution. The goal of the roundtable was to develop a short list of the most significant public policy and ethical issues that will emerge as a result of advances in these sectors of the biotechnology industry over the next five to six years. More concretely, by ''most significant'' the conveners meant the types of issues that would come to the attention of members of Congress or state legislators during this time frame and for which they would be better prepared if they had well researched and timely background information. A concomitant goal was to provide a set of focused issues for academic debate and scholarship so that policy makers, industry leaders and regulators would have the intellectual resources they need to better understand the issues and concerns at stake. The goal was not to provide answers to any of the issues or problems, simply to identify those topics that deserve our attention as a society. Some of the issues may benefit from legislation at the federal or state levels, others may be more appropriately addressed by the private sector. Participants at the roundtable included over a dozen experts in the areas of microbiology, intellectual property, agricultural biotechnology, microbial genomics, bioterrorism, economic development, biotechnology research, and bioethics. These experts came from federal and state government, industry and academia. The participants were asked to come to the roundtable with a written statement of the top three to five public policy/ ethical issues they viewed as most likely to be significant to the industry and to policy makers over the next several years.« less

Beginning the discussion of commercialism in dentistry.

PubMed

Boyd, Marcia A; Roth, Kathleen; Ralls, Stephen A; Chambers, David W

2008-01-01

There is increasing concern over commercialism in dentistry. Multiple factors contribute to this trend, which has the potential for fragmenting the profession, exacerbating the access issue, and eroding the public's confidence in dentistry. There are both positive and negative aspects of commercialism. Positive approaches for promoting oral health in the face of commercialism hold the greatest promise. The core theme in the recommendations from Ethics Summit on Commercialism is that competent, comprehensive, and continuous oral health care is appropriate and should be promoted to the American public.

Defamation & Stigma Claims against Public Employers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Worona, Jay; Fletcher, Cynthia Plumb

This article, written by two lawyers, defines defamation, discusses the basic law of defamation and stigma, and focuses on recent case law on this topic. The cases are only a sample of the numerous cases that school districts across the nation face on the issues of defamation and stigma. The following topics are included in the legal review: the…

Geek the Library: A Community Awareness Campaign. A Report to the OCLC Membership

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Edvardsen, Linn Haugestad, Ed.

2011-01-01

Geek the Library, a community awareness campaign designed to highlight the vital role of public libraries and raise awareness about the critical funding issues many libraries face, was developed based on the research findings included in "From Awareness to Funding: A study of library support in America." This study, published by OCLC in…

Facing Up to the Learning Organisation Challenge: Key Issues from a European Perspective. Volume I. CEDEFOP Reference Series.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nyhan, Barry; Cressey, Peter; Tomassini, Massimo; Kelleher, Michael; Poell, Rob

This first volume of a two-volume publication provides an analytical overview of main questions emerging from recent European research and development projects related to the learning organization. Chapter 1 provides context for the European learning organization challenge and presents four main messages arising from the learning organization…

Reconsidering Social Science Theories in Natural Resource Management Continuing Professional Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stummann, C. B.; Gamborg, C.

2014-01-01

Over 25 years ago, the "wicked problems" concept was introduced into forestry to describe the increasingly complex work situations faced by many natural resource management (NRM) professionals and at the same time the demand and frequency of public involvement in NRM issues also grew. Research on the impact of these changes for NRM…

A Qualitative Study of Gender Issues Associated with Academic Mentoring in a Nigerian University

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Osezua, Oghoadena Clementina; Agbalajobi, Damilola T.

2016-01-01

There is an upsurge in the establishment of private and public universities in Nigeria. The development has opened up the need for quality and seasoned academics, but minimal opportunities exist for mentoring of young academics. This article explores the mentoring opportunities and challenges of young female academics faced in a male dominant…

Student Publications Localize Conflict in Iraq.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Inouye, Emily

2003-01-01

Notes that high school students have an incredible number of issues they must face daily. Contends that it is vital for a high school newspaper to find a balance between coverage of world events and local occurrences so that everything is relevant to high-school readers. Provides examples of eight high school newspapers' coverage of the 2003 war…

Redirecting Higher Education in a Time of Budget Reduction. Issues in Higher Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mingle, James R.

Adjustments that state policy-makers and institutions of higher education will need to make as they face cutbacks in public support and declining enrollments are described, based in part on a research project on retrenchment in higher education conducted by the Southern Regional Education Board. Given the long-term contractual obligations of…

Visions Lost and Dreams Forgotten: Environmental Education, Systems Thinking, and Possible Futures in American Public Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cassell, John A.; Nelson, Thomas

2010-01-01

This article discusses the contributions to this special issue of "Teacher Education Quarterly." At the core of all the contributions is the compellingly urgent realization that humanity is facing, and must deal with, enormous ecological and social problems and challenges. This situation has created an urgent and compelling need centered…

A Global Environmental Agenda for the United States: Issues for the New U.S. Administration.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kennedy, Donald; Sant, Roger W.

2000-01-01

The new presidential administration faces an array of urgent challenges. Complex public policy choices are necessary to address the near-term challenges of climate change and resource degradation which will help the United States deal with the chronic problems of global inequity and human deprivation. Outlines the environmental problems…

America's Young Adults: Special Issue, 2014

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cook, Traci; Kappeler, Evelyn; Ellis, Renee; Kominski, Robert; Cooper, Alexia; Smith, Erica; Donoghue, Brecht; Whitestone, Yuko; Snyder, Tom; Aud, Susan; Williamson, Lisa; Henderson, Steve; Steffen, Barry; Madans, Jennifer; Lukacs, Susan; Pastor, Patricia; Goldstrom, Ingrid; Han, Beth; Bures, Regina; Chamberlain, Seth; Despain, Jason; Chadwick, Laura; Park, Jennifer

2014-01-01

The well-being of young adults in the United States today remains an area of key interest to the public and policy-makers alike. This age group faces the well-known challenges of achieving financial and social independence while forming their own households at a time of greater economic uncertainty than in the past. Better understanding of the…

Immigrant DREAMS: English Learners, the Texas 10% Admissions Plan, and College Academic Success

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vasquez Heilig, Julian; Rodriguez, Cristobal; Somers, Patricia

2011-01-01

English learners (ELs) are facing unique issues in higher education that remain largely unexplored. This research focuses on college choice, enrollment, and graduation among high-achieving ELs who were eligible for automatic admission to any public higher education institution in Texas by having graduated in the top 10% of their high school class.…

Educating Transient Youth: Influence of Residential Instability on Educational Resilience

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hallett, Ronald Edward

2009-01-01

Homeless youth face many barriers that limit their ability to complete a high school diploma and transition to postsecondary education. The federal government passed the McKinney-Vento Act over 20 years ago to address issues of access to public education for homeless youth. The most recent reauthorization of the law expanded the definition of…

Overwhelmed in Cincinnati: Urban Appalachian Children and Youth. Draft.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Borman, Kathryn M.

The issues facing urban Appalachian children and their families in Cincinnati (Ohio) are addressed. Appalachians have the highest school dropout rate in Cincinnati proportionate to their numbers, with low access to jobs and generally poor access to, and use of, public services. Much of the information for this report comes from a survey of 246…

Detroit Business Leadership and Educational Change. Supporting Leaders for Tomorrow, Occasional Paper #7.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Spratling, Cassandra

The growing proclivity of business leaders in some urban communities to become more deeply involved in the complex and politically volatile issue of school governance is assessed in this paper. The troubles facing Detroit public schools include a high dropout rate, illiteracy of graduates, and bad management of money and resources. In 1988,…

Everybody's Children: Child Care as a Public Problem.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gormley, William T., Jr.

In the face of social changes that are increasing the demand for available, affordable, quality child care, it is difficult to continue to think of child care as a purely private issue. This book presents an analysis of the state of American child care. It evaluates child care policies and the national attention given to young children and their…

Issues in Education: U.S. Campaign to Save Our Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wisneski, Debora

2012-01-01

Participating in the Save Our School march was an inspiring event, the reverberating impact from which will be long-lasting. The march, which was endorsed by the Executive Board of Association for Childhood Education International (ACEI), was an effort to call awareness to the struggles that public education faces in the United States. The guiding…

Public-Private Partnership in Education: A Ray of Hope for Pakistan

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mahmood, Sehba

2013-01-01

Pakistani children and education face continuous challenges as a result of human callousness and natural forces. These ordeals are more extreme than in many other parts of the world; however, the disadvantages do not end there. An additional, less explored, issue is the effect of class distinction in the Pakistan school system. The majority of…

Transition Brief: Policy Recommendations on Preparing Americans for the Global Skills Race

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Partnership for 21st Century Skills, 2008

2008-01-01

The central economic competitiveness issue for the Obama administration is creating an aligned, 21st century public education system that prepares students,workers and citizens to triumph in the global skills race. On Jan. 20, 2009, the Obama administration will take command of the White House facing unprecedented challenges to the U.S. economy…

The Internet and the Law: What Educators Need To Know.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Conn, Kathleen

This book discusses the key legal issues public schools face in using the World Wide Web, e-mail, and other computer technologies. Chapter 1 covers the foundations of school Internet law, including Supreme Court decisions, the legal standard of conduct, standards for technology literacy, and federal vs. state law. Chapter 2 discusses freedom of…

Integrative complexity of wildfire management: development of a scale

Treesearch

Joshua Carroll; Alan Bright

2007-01-01

Wildfire in the West has become a controversial natural resource issue that has divided the public's perceptions regarding its management, and forest managers are now faced with the difficult task of making sound decisions while balancing these varying concerns. Two widely used wildfi re management practices are prescribed fire and mechanical thinning. In order to...

The Public Face of Kinesiology in the 21st Century

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thomas, Jerry R.

2014-01-01

Recent enrollment growth in kinesiology places it second among academic areas of study in higher education. This article addresses issues that have prompted that growth, will allow it to continue, and examines other likely changes in the field. A major factor in growth has been the value of kinesiology as a major for allied health professional…

Triple Science GCSEs: Collaborative Approaches. GCSEs in Biology, Chemistry and Physics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Beamish, Val; Rhys, Jenny, Ed.

2007-01-01

Many schools that are preparing to introduce Triple Science GCSEs may find it helpful to collaborate with other schools or other institutions to share expertise and explore how best to deliver the entitlement. This publication looks at some of the issues facing schools in doing this. It focuses on the benefits of collaborative working and the…

The Global Challenge: Education in a Competitive World. Quality Counts, 2012

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Education Week, 2012

2012-01-01

"Quality Counts 2012," the 16th edition of "Education Week"'s annual examination of issues and challenges facing America's public schools, takes aim at topics high on the policy agenda, from the White House and Congress down to the level of local school boards and chambers of commerce: the nation's international standing in…

Old Elite Schools, History and the Construction of a New Imaginary

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rizvi, Fazal

2014-01-01

Elite schools established in the nineteenth century in the image of British public schools now face intense competition from newly established elite schools. Located within the broader research project that this special issue discusses, this paper examines some of the ways in which an old elite school in India has sought to utilise is history to…

The influence of data curation on QSAR Modeling - examining issues of quality versus quantity of data (American Chemical Society)

EPA Science Inventory

This presentation will examine the impact of data quality on the construction of QSAR models being developed within the EPA‘s National Center for Computational Toxicology. We have developed a public-facing platform to provide access to predictive models. As part of the work we ha...

Parental Mental Illness. Building Community Systems for Young Children.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hendrick, Victoria; Daly, Kathleen

Families are the principal influence on development in the first years of life, so the mental health of parents is an issue that affects every child in California. The most common mental health concerns facing parents involve stress and anxiety. These needs can be addressed through public health messages that de-stigmatize mental illness and…

Research Collaboration in a Communication Rights Campaign: Lessons Learned.

PubMed

Ryan, Charlotte

2018-01-01

In building public support for social change, activists in communities of color routinely approach broader audiences via news media. Communities of color, however, routinely face disparities that limit their access to media including local news media outlets. This lack of access mirrors inequalities in political, social, and economic arenas and can slow public awareness campaigns to address disparities in health, environmental, and other quality-of-life issues. I describe two community-based collaborative action research studies that documented and challenged how local television newscasts underrepresented and misrepresented three communities of color in Boston. The linkage between communication rights and campaigns to address quality-of-life issues is presented, as well as unresolved challenges in the collaborative research process. The study has implications for environmental health campaigns.

Initial public perceptions of deep geological and oceanic disposal of carbon dioxide.

PubMed

Palmgren, Claire R; Morgan, M Granger; Bruine de Bruin, Wändi; Keith, David W

2004-12-15

Two studies were conducted to gauge likely public perceptions of proposals to avoid releasing carbon dioxide from power plants to the atmosphere by injecting it into deep geological formations or the deep ocean. Following a modified version of the mental model interview method, Study 1 involved face-to-face interviews with 18 nontechnical respondents. Respondents shared their beliefs after receiving basic information about the technologies and again after getting specific details. Many interviewees wanted to frame the issue in the broader context of alternative strategies for carbon management, but public understanding of mitigation strategies is limited. The second study, administered to a sample of 126 individuals, involved a closed-form survey that measured the prevalence of general beliefs revealed in study 1 and also assessed the respondent's views of these technologies. Study results suggest that the public may develop misgivings about deep injection of carbon dioxide because it can be seen as temporizing and perhaps creating future problems. Ocean injection was seen as more problematic than geological injection. An approach to public communication and regulation that is open and respectful of public concerns is likely to be a prerequisite to the successful adoption of this technology.

Creating social policy to support women's agency in coercive settings: A case study from Uganda.

PubMed

Burgess, Rochelle; Campbell, Catherine

2016-01-01

Many emphasise the need for policies that support women's agency in highly coercive settings, and the importance of involving target women in public deliberation to inform policy design. The Ugandan Marriage and Divorce Bill seeks to strengthen women's agency in marriage, but has faced many obstacles, including objections from many women themselves in public consultations. We explore key stakeholders' accounts of the difficulties facing the Bill's progress to date, through focus groups with 24 rural and urban men and women, interviews with 14 gender champions in government, non-governmental organisations and legal sectors, and 25 relevant media and radio reports. Thematic analysis revealed an array of representations of the way the Bill's progress was shaped by the public consultation process, the nature of the Ugandan public sphere, the understanding and manipulation of concepts such as 'culture' and 'custom' in public discourse, the impact of economic inequalities on women's understandings of their gendered interests and low women's trust in the law and the political process. We discuss the complexities of involving highly marginalised women in public debates about gender issues and highlight possible implications for conceptualising agency, gender and social change as tools for gender policy and activism in extreme inequality.

Toward Impactful Collaborations on Computing and Mental Health.

PubMed

Calvo, Rafael Alejandro; Dinakar, Karthik; Picard, Rosalind; Christensen, Helen; Torous, John

2018-02-09

We describe an initiative to bring mental health researchers, computer scientists, human-computer interaction researchers, and other communities together to address the challenges of the global mental ill health epidemic. Two face-to-face events and one special issue of the Journal of Medical Internet Research were organized. The works presented in these events and publication reflect key state-of-the-art research in this interdisciplinary collaboration. We summarize the special issue articles and contextualize them to present a picture of the most recent research. In addition, we describe a series of collaborative activities held during the second symposium and where the community identified 5 challenges and their possible solutions. ©Rafael Alejandro Calvo, Karthik Dinakar, Rosalind Picard, Helen Christensen, John Torous. Originally published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (http://www.jmir.org), 09.02.2018.

Good match exploration for infrared face recognition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Changcai; Zhou, Huabing; Sun, Sheng; Liu, Renfeng; Zhao, Ji; Ma, Jiayi

2014-11-01

Establishing good feature correspondence is a critical prerequisite and a challenging task for infrared (IR) face recognition. Recent studies revealed that the scale invariant feature transform (SIFT) descriptor outperforms other local descriptors for feature matching. However, it only uses local appearance information for matching, and hence inevitably leads to a number of false matches. To address this issue, this paper explores global structure information (GSI) among SIFT correspondences, and proposes a new method SIFT-GSI for good match exploration. This is achieved by fitting a smooth mapping function for the underlying correct matches, which involves softassign and deterministic annealing. Quantitative comparisons with state-of-the-art methods on a publicly available IR human face database demonstrate that SIFT-GSI significantly outperforms other methods for feature matching, and hence it is able to improve the reliability of IR face recognition systems.

Public health equity in refugee situations

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Addressing increasing concerns about public health equity in the context of violent conflict and the consequent forced displacement of populations is complex. Important operational questions now faced by humanitarian agencies can to some extent be clarified by reference to relevant ethical theory. Priorities of service delivery, the allocation choices, and the processes by which they are arrived at are now coming under renewed scrutiny in the light of the estimated two million refugees who fled from Iraq since 2003. Operational questions that need to be addressed include health as a relative priority, allocations between and within different populations, and transition and exit strategies. Public health equity issues faced by the humanitarian community can be framed as issues of resource allocation and issues of decision-making. The ethical approach to resource allocation in health requires taking adequate steps to reduce suffering and promote wellbeing, with the upper bound being to avoid harming those at the lower end of the welfare continuum. Deliberations in the realm of international justice have not provided a legal or implementation platform for reducing health disparities across the world, although norms and expectations, including within the humanitarian community, may be moving in that direction. Despite the limitations of applying ethical theory in the fluid, complex and highly political environment of refugee settings, this article explores how this theory could be used in these contexts and provides practical examples. The intent is to encourage professionals in the field, such as aid workers, health care providers, policy makers, and academics, to consider these ethical principles when making decisions. PMID:21575218

Public health equity in refugee situations.

PubMed

Leaning, Jennifer; Spiegel, Paul; Crisp, Jeff

2011-05-16

Addressing increasing concerns about public health equity in the context of violent conflict and the consequent forced displacement of populations is complex. Important operational questions now faced by humanitarian agencies can to some extent be clarified by reference to relevant ethical theory. Priorities of service delivery, the allocation choices, and the processes by which they are arrived at are now coming under renewed scrutiny in the light of the estimated two million refugees who fled from Iraq since 2003.Operational questions that need to be addressed include health as a relative priority, allocations between and within different populations, and transition and exit strategies. Public health equity issues faced by the humanitarian community can be framed as issues of resource allocation and issues of decision-making. The ethical approach to resource allocation in health requires taking adequate steps to reduce suffering and promote wellbeing, with the upper bound being to avoid harming those at the lower end of the welfare continuum. Deliberations in the realm of international justice have not provided a legal or implementation platform for reducing health disparities across the world, although norms and expectations, including within the humanitarian community, may be moving in that direction.Despite the limitations of applying ethical theory in the fluid, complex and highly political environment of refugee settings, this article explores how this theory could be used in these contexts and provides practical examples. The intent is to encourage professionals in the field, such as aid workers, health care providers, policy makers, and academics, to consider these ethical principles when making decisions.

Determinants of Attitude toward the Public Health Spending and Its Relationship with Voting Behavior in the 2012 South Korean Presidential Election.

PubMed

Eun, Sang Jun; Lee, Jin Yong; Jung, Hye-Min; Lee, Jin-Seok

2016-01-01

This study aimed to identify the factors influencing South Korean voters' attitudes towards increasing public expenditure on health and to identify whether the issue of healthcare expenditure influenced candidate choice in the 2012 Korean presidential election. The study used the data from a survey conducted by the Institute of Korean Politics at Seoul National University immediately following the 2012 presidential election. The survey was completed by a nationwide sample of 1,200 people aged 19 or over using a face-to-face interview method and proportional quota sampling based on sex, age, and region. About 44.3% of respondents had a positive attitude toward increasing public health expenditure. There was no significant difference by the candidate they supported (conservative Park Geun-hye or liberal Moon Jae-in). In particular, even 44.9% of conservative supporters agreed with more spending. Politically neutral respondents (OR = 1.76, 90% CI 1.22-2.54) and strong conservative party supporters (OR = 1.53, 90% CI 1.05-2.25) were more likely to support public health expenditure increase compared to strong liberal party supporters. Also, respondents who believed that the economic gap in the country was widening were 1.91 times more likely to support an increase in public health expenditures. However, the issue of health expenditure had no influence on voters' choice of presidential candidates, and in particular no negative effect of choice of the ruling (conservative) party's candidate. Our results should be interpreted with care; one possible reason for this lack of effect might be that constituents voted along partisan lines regardless of their attitude to the welfare issue; another possible explanation might be the success of the "left click strategy" of the conservative party. That is, the conservatives did not reject economic democratization or social welfare expansion. Further research should be done to explain why attitudes to health spending did not directly affect choice of candidate.

Determinants of Attitude toward the Public Health Spending and Its Relationship with Voting Behavior in the 2012 South Korean Presidential Election

PubMed Central

Jung, Hye-Min; Lee, Jin-Seok

2016-01-01

This study aimed to identify the factors influencing South Korean voters’ attitudes towards increasing public expenditure on health and to identify whether the issue of healthcare expenditure influenced candidate choice in the 2012 Korean presidential election. The study used the data from a survey conducted by the Institute of Korean Politics at Seoul National University immediately following the 2012 presidential election. The survey was completed by a nationwide sample of 1,200 people aged 19 or over using a face-to-face interview method and proportional quota sampling based on sex, age, and region. About 44.3% of respondents had a positive attitude toward increasing public health expenditure. There was no significant difference by the candidate they supported (conservative Park Geun-hye or liberal Moon Jae-in). In particular, even 44.9% of conservative supporters agreed with more spending. Politically neutral respondents (OR = 1.76, 90% CI 1.22–2.54) and strong conservative party supporters (OR = 1.53, 90% CI 1.05–2.25) were more likely to support public health expenditure increase compared to strong liberal party supporters. Also, respondents who believed that the economic gap in the country was widening were 1.91 times more likely to support an increase in public health expenditures. However, the issue of health expenditure had no influence on voters’ choice of presidential candidates, and in particular no negative effect of choice of the ruling (conservative) party’s candidate. Our results should be interpreted with care; one possible reason for this lack of effect might be that constituents voted along partisan lines regardless of their attitude to the welfare issue; another possible explanation might be the success of the “left click strategy” of the conservative party. That is, the conservatives did not reject economic democratization or social welfare expansion. Further research should be done to explain why attitudes to health spending did not directly affect choice of candidate. PMID:27711213

Climate Change and Health in the Urban Context: The Experience of Barcelona.

PubMed

Villalbí, Joan R; Ventayol, Irma

2016-07-01

Climate change poses huge challenges for public health, and cities are at the forefront of this process. The purpose of this paper is to present the issues climate change poses for public health in the city of Barcelona, how they are being addressed, and what are the current major challenges, trying to contribute to the development of a baseline understanding of the status of adaptation in cities from a public health perspective. The major issues related to climate change faced by the city are common to other urban centers in a Mediterranean climate: heat waves, water availability and quality, air quality, and diseases transmitted by vectors, and all are reviewed in detail with empirical data. They are not a potential threat for the future, but have actually challenged the city services and infrastructure over the last years, requiring sustainable responses and rigorous planning. © The Author(s) 2016.

Parallel Worlds of Public and Commercial Bioactive Chemistry Data

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

The availability of structures and linked bioactivity data in databases is powerfully enabling for drug discovery and chemical biology. However, we now review some confounding issues with the divergent expansions of public and commercial sources of chemical structures. These are associated with not only expanding patent extraction but also increasingly large vendor collections amassed via different selection criteria between SciFinder from Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) and major public sources such as PubChem, ChemSpider, UniChem, and others. These increasingly massive collections may include both real and virtual compounds, as well as so-called prophetic compounds from patents. We address a range of issues raised by the challenges faced resolving the NIH probe compounds. In addition we highlight the confounding of prior-art searching by virtual compounds that could impact the composition of matter patentability of a new medicinal chemistry lead. Finally, we propose some potential solutions. PMID:25415348

Driving and flying with epilepsy.

PubMed

Drazkowski, Joseph F

2007-07-01

Transportation issues in industrialized nations play an important role in the lives of most citizens. The acts of flying and driving, especially in the United States, intersect with many peoples' lives on almost a daily basis. Although some larger cities have modern and efficient public transportation systems, many do not, thus placing considerable responsibility on the individual to manage their own transportation needs. A person with epilepsy faces considerable challenges when it comes to transportation. Defining these challenges and understanding how to deal with the person with epilepsy and transportation issues is the focus of this article.

Visibility, Immobility and Stigma: Young People's Use of Sexual Health Services in Rural Areas

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Craig, Gary; Stanley, Nicky

2006-01-01

Teenage pregnancy has become a major policy issue, for which young people are often publicly held solely responsible. However, a combination of factors substantially increases the risks of conception faced by young people engaging in early sexual activity. This article reports the main findings of a study of teenage pregnancy in linked seaside and…

The Public Mind: Views of Pennsylvania Citizens. Smoking, Education, Tax Reform, Crime Control, Welfare Reform, Health Care Reform. Report No. 6.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mansfield Univ., PA. Rural Services Inst.

The sixth annual survey conducted by the Rural Services Institute examined the opinions of Pennsylvania residents on crime control, welfare reform, smoking, and education reform proposals. Sixty percent of respondents believed that the most urgent issue facing Pennsylvania was violent crime and strongly supported measures to reduce the…

The Road Less Traveled: How the Developmental Sciences Can Prepare Educators to Improve Student Achievement--Policy Recommendations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Leibbrand, Jane A.; Watson, Bernardine H.

2010-01-01

The most important problem facing public education in the country today is: how can teachers address the needs of all learners? A 2007 report issued by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) says, "aspects of development--neural, cognitive, social, psychological, physical and ethical--have far-reaching effects on…

Public Domain or Private Data? Developing an Ethical Approach to Social Media Research in an Inter-Disciplinary Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stevens, Gemma; O'Donnell, Victoria L.; Williams, Lynn

2015-01-01

This paper discusses the ethical issues faced in undertaking research about the role of learning in the subjective experience of chronic illness, where data were taken from social media. Drawing on psychology and education, this paper discusses the ways in which authors from these disciplines are laying the groundwork for legitimate online…

The Europeanisation of the Measurement of Diversity in Education: A Soft Instrument of Public Policy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goastellec, Gaele

2012-01-01

Faced with an increasing number of data and rankings, the author questions the roles of the different groups of actors who were originally involved in questioning the use of statistical indicators as a means of addressing issues of access to higher education. The comparison and nature of these international (UNESCO, OECD, EUROSTAT) and national…

Constructing New Finance Models That Balance Equity, Adequacy and Efficiency with Responsiveness. Education Finance in the States: Its Past, Present and Future. ECS Issue Paper.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Guthrie, James W.

Policymakers continue to face major challenges in education finance, despite a history of reforms. Today's challenges include ensuring financial adequacy, maintaining gains in distributional equality, coping with the increasing need for teachers, satisfying public preference for diversity in schools and programs, and devising performance…

The Future Is More than Just Tomorrow: Higher Education, the Economy and the Longer Term

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Crossick, Geoffrey

2010-01-01

In this commentary the author reflects on longer-term issues facing higher education in the context of recession and crisis in public finance. The views expressed are written from a personal perspective with the aim of stimulating and encouraging a wider and ongoing debate around the themes presented. The author draws upon the findings of three…

The Legal Framework for Inclusion of Students with Disabilities: A Comparative Analysis of Japan and the United States

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nagano, Mayumi; Weinberg, Lois A.

2012-01-01

Japan faces an educational challenge even after the start of a new special education system (Tokubetsushienkyouiku). This article addresses the legal framework of the special education system in Japan and analyzes the issues needed to be addressed to reinforce the inclusion of children with disabilities in public regular school settings. The…

Methodological Issues in Economic Evaluations Submitted to the Pan-Canadian Oncology Drug Review (pCODR).

PubMed

Masucci, Lisa; Beca, Jaclyn; Sabharwal, Mona; Hoch, Jeffrey S

2017-12-01

Public drug plans are faced with increasingly difficult funding decisions. In Canada, the pan-Canadian Oncology Drug Review (pCODR) makes funding recommendations to the provincial and territorial drug plans responsible for cancer drugs. Assessments of the economic models submitted by pharmaceutical manufacturers are publicly reported. The main objective of this research was to identify recurring methodological issues in economic models submitted to pCODR for funding reviews. The secondary objective was to explore whether there exists any observed relationships between reported methodological issues and funding recommendations made by pCODR's expert review committee. Publicly available Economic Guidance Reports from July 2011 (inception) until June 2014 for drug reviews with a final funding recommendation (N = 34) were independently examined by two authors. Major methodological issues from each review were abstracted and grouped into nine main categories. Each issue was also categorized based on perception of the reviewer's actions to manage it. The most commonly reported issues involved costing (59% of reviews), time horizon (56%), and model structure (36%). Several types of issues were identified that usually could not be resolved, such as quality of clinical data or uncertainty with indirect comparisons. Issues with costing or choice of utility estimates could usually be addressed or explored by reviewers. No statistically significant relationship was found between any methodological issue and funding recommendations from the expert review committee. The findings provide insights that can be used by parties who submit or review economic evidence for continuous improvement and consistency in economic modeling, reporting, and decision making.

Historical Perspectives and Guidelines for Botulinum Neurotoxin Subtype Nomenclature

PubMed Central

Peck, Michael W.; Smith, Theresa J.; Anniballi, Fabrizio; Austin, John W.; Bano, Luca; Bradshaw, Marite; Cuervo, Paula; Cheng, Luisa W.; Derman, Yagmur; Dorner, Brigitte G.; Fisher, Audrey; Hill, Karen K.; Kalb, Suzanne R.; Korkeala, Hannu; Lindström, Miia; Lista, Florigio; Lúquez, Carolina; Mazuet, Christelle; Pirazzini, Marco; Popoff, Michel R.; Rossetto, Ornella; Rummel, Andreas; Sesardic, Dorothea; Singh, Bal Ram; Stringer, Sandra C.

2017-01-01

Botulinum neurotoxins are diverse proteins. They are currently represented by at least seven serotypes and more than 40 subtypes. New clostridial strains that produce novel neurotoxin variants are being identified with increasing frequency, which presents challenges when organizing the nomenclature surrounding these neurotoxins. Worldwide, researchers are faced with the possibility that toxins having identical sequences may be given different designations or novel toxins having unique sequences may be given the same designations on publication. In order to minimize these problems, an ad hoc committee consisting of over 20 researchers in the field of botulinum neurotoxin research was convened to discuss the clarification of the issues involved in botulinum neurotoxin nomenclature. This publication presents a historical overview of the issues and provides guidelines for botulinum neurotoxin subtype nomenclature in the future. PMID:28106761

Gutter oil: an overview of Chinese food safety issues and policies.

PubMed

Li, Jia; Cui, Naixue; Liu, Jianghong

2017-09-01

Food safety has become a focus of attention worldwide. In China, one of the top concerns in food safety is gutter oil, known as 'swill-cooked oil'. This Commentary summarizes the key incidents disclosed to the public by the media, and the policies regarding gutter oil at national, regional, and provincial or city levels. Several challenges the country still faces in tackling this issue are identified, including a lack of evaluation of the implementation and effect of the policies, a lack of effective technology to detect and recycle gutter oil, and the overlooking of the hazardous effect of gutter oil on health. This commentary suggests that strengthening policy implementation and evaluation, improving measurement and recycling technologies, and launching public health campaigns would help eliminate gutter oil from dining tables.

Historical Perspectives and Guidelines for Botulinum Neurotoxin Subtype Nomenclature.

PubMed

Peck, Michael W; Smith, Theresa J; Anniballi, Fabrizio; Austin, John W; Bano, Luca; Bradshaw, Marite; Cuervo, Paula; Cheng, Luisa W; Derman, Yagmur; Dorner, Brigitte G; Fisher, Audrey; Hill, Karen K; Kalb, Suzanne R; Korkeala, Hannu; Lindström, Miia; Lista, Florigio; Lúquez, Carolina; Mazuet, Christelle; Pirazzini, Marco; Popoff, Michel R; Rossetto, Ornella; Rummel, Andreas; Sesardic, Dorothea; Singh, Bal Ram; Stringer, Sandra C

2017-01-18

Botulinum neurotoxins are diverse proteins. They are currently represented by at least seven serotypes and more than 40 subtypes. New clostridial strains that produce novel neurotoxin variants are being identified with increasing frequency, which presents challenges when organizing the nomenclature surrounding these neurotoxins. Worldwide, researchers are faced with the possibility that toxins having identical sequences may be given different designations or novel toxins having unique sequences may be given the same designations on publication. In order to minimize these problems, an ad hoc committee consisting of over 20 researchers in the field of botulinum neurotoxin research was convened to discuss the clarification of the issues involved in botulinum neurotoxin nomenclature. This publication presents a historical overview of the issues and provides guidelines for botulinum neurotoxin subtype nomenclature in the future.

Risk to researchers in qualitative research on sensitive topics: issues and strategies.

PubMed

Dickson-Swift, Virginia; James, Erica L; Kippen, Sandra; Liamputtong, Pranee

2008-01-01

Traditionally, risk assessments in research have been limited to examining the risks to the research participants. Although doing so is appropriate and important, there is growing recognition that undertaking research can pose risks to researchers as well. A grounded theory study involving a range of researchers who had undertaken qualitative health research on a sensitive topic was completed. Analysis of the in-depth, face-to-face unstructured individual interviews with 30 Australian public health researchers provided evidence that researchers do confront a number of physical and emotional risks when undertaking research. Training, preparation, and supervision must be taken into account so that the risk to researchers can be minimized. Researchers need to consider occupational health and safety issues in designing research projects that deal with physical and emotional risks. Recommendations for professional supervision, policy development, and minimum training standards for researchers are provided.

Public health workforce: challenges and policy issues

PubMed Central

Beaglehole, Robert; Dal Poz, Mario R

2003-01-01

This paper reviews the challenges facing the public health workforce in developing countries and the main policy issues that must be addressed in order to strengthen the public health workforce. The public health workforce is diverse and includes all those whose prime responsibility is the provision of core public health activities, irrespective of their organizational base. Although the public health workforce is central to the performance of health systems, very little is known about its composition, training or performance. The key policy question is: Should governments invest more in building and supporting the public health workforce and infrastructure to ensure the more effective functioning of health systems? Other questions concern: the nature of the public health workforce, including its size, composition, skills, training needs, current functions and performance; the appropriate roles of the workforce; and how the workforce can be strengthened to support new approaches to priority health problems. The available evidence to shed light on these policy issues is limited. The World Health Organization is supporting the development of evidence to inform discussion on the best approaches to strengthening public health capacity in developing countries. WHO's priorities are to build an evidence base on the size and structure of the public health workforce, beginning with ongoing data collection activities, and to map the current public health training programmes in developing countries and in Central and Eastern Europe. Other steps will include developing a consensus on the desired functions and activities of the public health workforce and developing a framework and methods for assisting countries to assess and enhance the performance of public health training institutions and of the public health workforce. PMID:12904251

Recreational drugs. Societal and professional issues.

PubMed

Solari-Twadell, P A

1991-06-01

Recreational drug use presents a challenge to society and, in particular, the profession of nursing. Recreational drug use must be appreciated for the implications it presents for the episodes of abuse and development of chronic health problems. The effects and recreational use of volatile substances, cannabis, opioids, barbiturates, benzodiazepines, amphetamines, cocaine, psychedelics, and designer drugs as well as alcohol, caffeine, and nicotine must be acknowledged and understood if options for change are to be considered. The resultant cost of recreational drug use as well as health care implications, public safety, and prevention are significant issues society is faced with today. These issues will continue to be significant unless the current posture toward recreational drug use and abuse is addressed. The profession of nursing continues to be faced with the problems associated with recreational drug use not only through caring for clients, but immediately by the effects of recreational drug use on individual professional nurses. To respond effectively, nursing education and nursing research must be challenged to create an emphasis on this focus. Only through this type of multifocal approach will long-term substantial change be affected for the betterment of future generations.

The Fiscal Impact of a Tuition Assistance Grant for Virginia's Special Education Students. Parent Choice Issues in the State

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aud, Susan L.

2007-01-01

Parents of students with disabilities face a number of difficult choices in determining how to get the best education for their children. Too often, the special education system in public schools fails its students. Parents must become both experts and advocates for their children in order to navigate a burdensome maze of regulations to fight for…

School Facilities Construction Expenditures Have Grown Significantly in Recent Years. Report to the Chairman, Committee on Education and the Workforce, House of Representatives.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bovbjerg, Barbara D.

This report examines how states and local school districts have been dealing with the issues facing their public school facilities, including: (1) the trends since 1990 in elementary and secondary school construction expenditures and how these expenditures were divided between land, buildings, and equipment; (2) trends since 1990 in the amount of…

Using Multiple Evaluation Measures to Improve Teacher Effectiveness: State Strategies from Round 2 of No Child Left Behind Act Waivers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Partee, Glenda L.

2012-01-01

Research shows that an effective teacher is key to student success. But determining what evidence best reflects teacher effectiveness and how this information can be used to improve the quality of teaching are among the significant issues facing public education today. The impetus for meaningful teacher evaluation reform from many sectors set the…

Avoiding Legal Hassles: What School Administrators Really Need To Know. Successful Schools: Guidebooks to Effective Educational Leadership. Volume 3.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Streshly, William A.; Frase, Larry E.

Information to help school administrators avoid legal problems is provided in this guidebook. Chapter 1 explains the governance of public education at the federal, state, and local levels, with a focus on the role of local school boards. Chapter 2 outlines the major legal issues facing schools today, with a focus on the broad drift of…

Where the Rubber Hits the Road: What Home Healthcare Professionals Need to Know About Driving Safety for Persons With Dementia.

PubMed

Pastor, Diane K; Jones, Andrea; Arms, Tamatha

2017-01-01

Driving cessation for people with dementia is a significant personal safety and public health issue. Home healthcare professionals frequently encounter situations where patients/clients should not continue to drive, and family members are unaware of how to approach the issue. This article will inform readers of the current state of the healthcare driving assessment process, measures and instruments used to assess, and effective strategies and resources when working with families facing the dilemma of how and when to proceed with a driving cessation plan.

Reproductive tract infections: Attitude and barriers among marginalized fisher women in Kerala, South India.

PubMed

Thomas, Manoj A; Narayan, Poornima

2017-04-01

Reproductive tract infections (RTIs) are the cause of severe gynecological and maternal morbidity in India. In marginalized communities, women persevere quietly when faced with a culturally sensitive health issue such as an RTI. To hypothesize on the differential health behavior and low levels of reported incidents among women living in marginalized communities, we undertake an exploratory study in a coastal fishermen community in South India. We identify barriers influencing decisions to seek curative and preventive medical care. Public health practitioners and social workers may find our recommendations relevant for addressing health issues in marginalized communities.

Establishing HIV treatment as prevention in the HIV Prevention Trials Network 052 randomized trial: an ethical odyssey.

PubMed

Cohen, Myron S; McCauley, Marybeth; Sugarman, Jeremy

2012-06-01

Obtaining the definitive data necessary to determine the safety and efficacy of using antiretroviral treatment (ART) to reduce the sexual transmission of HIV in heterosexual couples encountered an array of ethical challenges that threatened to compromise HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN) 052, the multinational clinical trial addressing this issue that has profound public health implications. To describe and analyze the major ethical challenges faced in HPTN 052. The ethical issues and modifications of HPTN 052 in response to these issues were cataloged by the principal investigator, the lead coordinator, and the ethicist working on the trial. The major ethical issues that were unique to the trial were then described and analyzed in light of the published literature as well as guidances and policies. The ethical challenges that must be addressed in many clinical trials, such as those related to obtaining informed consent and making provisions for ancillary care, are not described. When HPTN 052 was being designed, ethical questions emerged related to the relevance of the research question itself given data from observational research and a range of beliefs about the appropriate means of preventing and treating HIV infection and AIDS. Furthermore, ethical challenges were faced regarding site selection since there was a scientific need to conduct the research in settings where HIV incidence was high, but alternatives to study participation should be available. As in most HIV-prevention research, ethical questions surrounded the determination of the appropriate prevention package for all of those enrolled. During the course of the trial, guidance documents and policies emerged that were of direct relevance to the research questions, calling for a balancing of concerns for the research subjects and trial integrity. When the study results were made public, there was a need to ensure access to the treatment shown to be effective that in some cases differed from the guidelines used at the sites where the research was being conducted. In addition, questions were raised about whether there was an obligation to notify subjects about 'unlinked' transmissions of HIV, that is, infections acquired from someone other than the designated sexual partner enrolled in the study. The ethical issues described are limited to those discerned by the authors and not those of other stakeholders who may have identified additional issues or had a different perspective in analyzing them. Understanding the ethical challenges faced in HPTN 052 promises to inform the design and conduct of future complex, long-term clinical trials aimed at addressing critical scientific and public health questions, where data and practice patterns emerge over the course of the trial.

Health issue advertising.

PubMed

Coleman, L J; Haran, E M

1990-01-01

"Americans say that the battle against drugs is the chief issue facing the nation" (McQueen and Shribman, 1989). The Wall Street Journal/NBC poll conducted by Peter Hart and Robert Teeter shows a public willingness to experiment with a wide variety of anti-drug efforts. "No single issue has so riveted the nation's attention since the 1982 recession," Messers. Hart and Teeter say in their analysis of the poll. They add that respondents seem willing to try almost anything to solve the drug problem (ibid). How can and does marketing affect this process? This paper will examine some of the methods and effectiveness of advertising in regard to this very timely health issue and societal challenge. For the purposes of this paper, drug discussions refer to alcohol as well. Social marketing in general will be addressed.

Critical Issues in Evaluating National-Level Health Data Warehouses in LMICs: Kenya Case Study.

PubMed

Gesicho, Milka B; Babic, Ankica; Were, Martin C

2017-01-01

Low-Middle-Income-Countries (LMICs) are beginning to adopt national health data warehousing (NHDWs) for making strategic decisions and for improving health outcomes. Given the numerous challenges likely to be faced in establishment of NHDWs by LMICs, it is prudent that evaluations are done in relation to the data warehouses (DWs), in order to identify and mitigate critical issues that arise. When critic issues are not identified, DWs are prone to suboptimal implementation with compromised outcomes. Despite the fact that several publications exist on evaluating DWs, evaluations specific to health data warehouses are scanty, with almost none evaluating NHDWs more so in LMICs. This paper uses a systematic approach guided by an evaluation framework to identify critical issues to be considered in evaluating Kenya's NHDW.

Developing publicly acceptable tree health policy: public perceptions of tree-breeding solutions to ash dieback among interested publics in the UK.

PubMed

Jepson, Paul R; Arakelyan, Irina

2017-07-01

The UK needs to develop effective policy responses to the spread of tree pathogens and pests. This has been given the political urgency following the media and other commentary associated with the arrival of a disease that causes 'dieback' of European Ash ( Fraxinus excelsior ) - a tree species with deep cultural associations. In 2014 the UK government published a plant biosecurity strategy and linked to this invested in research to inform policy. This paper reports the findings of a survey of informed UK publics on the acceptability of various potential strategies to deal with ash dieback, including "no action". During the summer of 2015, we conducted a face-to-face survey of 1152 respondents attending three major countryside events that attract distinct publics interested in the countryside: landowners & land managers; naturalists and gardeners. We found that UK publics who are likely to engage discursively and politically (through letter writing, petitions etc.) with the issue of ash dieback a) care about the issue, b) want an active response, c) do not really distinguish between ash trees in forestry or ecological settings, and d) prefer traditional breeding solutions. Further that e) younger people and gardeners are open to GM breeding techniques, but f) the more policy-empowered naturalists are more likely to be anti-GM. We suggest that these findings provide three 'steers' for science and policy: 1) policy needs to include an active intervention component involving the breeding of disease-tolerant trees, 2) that the development of disease tolerance using GM-technologies could be part of a tree-breeding policy, and 3) there is a need for an active dialogue with publics to manage expectations on the extent to which science and policy can control tree disease or, put another way, to build acceptability for the prospect that tree diseases may have to run their course.

Intelligent Design, A Young Universe, Astrology, UFO'S, and More: A Guide for Those Involved with IYA on Tackling Pseudo-science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fraknoi, Andrew; Bobrowsky, M.; Thaller, M.; Plait, P.

2008-05-01

During IYA educators and scientists will interact with the public in many ways. There will likely be public questions at IYA events about pseudo-scientific topics. While the particular pseudo-sciences that are in vogue change with time, astronomical pseudo-science includes creationism, intelligent design, astrology, UFO's as extra-terrestrial spaceships, selling star names, the "face" on Mars, the claim that the moon landings were a hoax, etc. We cover information, techniques, resources, and activities for responding sensitively to such claims and for explaining the nature of science. Whether you do programs in a formal classroom, a community setting, a museum, or on the radio, you will need this kind of arsenal of critical-thinking responses for these topics when you face the public. Attendees will receive a resource guide for responding to pseudo-science claims. One of the frequently heard attacks on science deals with "alternatives to evolution" (intelligent design and various forms of creationism). While some think this is a matter with which only biologists need to be concerned, some of the same arguments used against biological evolution are invoked to argue against our understanding of the age of the earth and the universe. We will provide background information on and responses to these ideas, particularly as they concern attacks on cosmology and cosmic evolution. We will also discuss how such questions will give IYA presenters an opportunity to engage the public in discussions about the scientific method and worldview. We will see that some of the agendas and issues we face are not that different from what Galileo faced 400 years ago.

Scientific authorship. Part 2. History, recurring issues, practices, and guidelines.

PubMed

Claxton, Larry D

2005-01-01

One challenge for most scientists is avoiding and resolving issues that center around authorship and the publishing of scientific manuscripts. While trying to place the research in proper context, impart new knowledge, follow proper guidelines, and publish in the most appropriate journal, the scientist often must deal with multi-collaborator issues like authorship allocation, trust and dependence, and resolution of publication conflicts. Most guidelines regarding publications, commentaries, and editorials have evolved from the ranks of editors in an effort to diminish the issues that faced them as editors. For example, the Ingelfinger rule attempts to prevent duplicate publications of the same study. This paper provides a historical overview of commonly encountered scientific authorship issues, a comparison of opinions on these issues, and the influence of various organizations and guidelines in regards to these issues. For example, a number of organizations provide guidelines for author allocation; however, a comparison shows that these guidelines differ on who should be an author, rules for ordering authors, and the level of responsibility for coauthors. Needs that emerge from this review are (a) a need for more controlled studies on authorship issues, (b) an increased awareness and a buy-in to consensus views by non-editor groups, e.g., managers, authors, reviewers, and scientific societies, and (c) a need for editors to express a greater understanding of authors' dilemmas and to exhibit greater flexibility. Also needed are occasions (e.g., an international congress) when editors and others (managers, authors, etc.) can directly exchange views, develop consensus approaches and solutions, and seek agreement on how to resolve authorship issues. Open dialogue is healthy, and it is essential for scientific integrity to be protected so that younger scientists can confidently follow the lead of their predecessors.

Public perceptions of geology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gibson, Hazel; Stewart, Iain; Anderson, Mark; Pahl, Sabine; Stokes, Alison

2014-05-01

Geological issues are increasingly intruding on the everyday lives of ordinary people. Whether it be onshore exploration and extraction of oil and gas, deep injection of water for geothermal power or underground storage of carbon dioxide and radioactive waste, many communities across Europe are being faced with potentially contested geological activity under their backyard. As well as being able to communicate the technical aspects of such work, geoscience professionals also need to appreciate that for most people the subsurface is an unfamiliar realm. In order to engage communities and individuals in effective dialogue about geological activities, an appreciation of what 'the public' already know and what they want to know is needed, but this is a subject that is in its infancy. In an attempt to provide insight into these key issues, this study examines the concerns the public have, relating to geology, by constructing 'Mental Models' of people's perceptions of the subsurface. General recommendations for public engagement strategies will be presented based on the results of selected case studies; specifically expert and non-expert mental models for communities in the south-west of England.

The hierarchy of work pursuits of public health managers.

PubMed

Braithwaite, Jeffrey; Luft, Sabine; Bender, Wolfgang; Callen, Joanne; Westbrook, Johanna I; Westbrook, Mary T; Mallock, Nadine A; Iedema, Rick; Hindle, Donald; Jochelson, Tanya

2007-05-01

How public health is managed in various settings is an important but under-examined issue. We examine themes in the management literature, contextualize issues facing public health managers and investigate the relative importance placed on their various work pursuits using a 14-activity management model empirically derived from studies of clinician-managers in hospitals. Ethnographic case studies of 10 managers in nine diverse public health settings were conducted. The case study accounts of managers' activities were content analysed, and substantive words encapsulating their work were categorized using the model. Managerial activities of the nine public health managers were ranked according to the number of words describing each activity. Kendall's coefficient of concordance yielded W = 0.710, P < 0.000, revealing significant similarity between the activity patterns of the public health managers. A rank order correlation between the activity patterns of the average ranks for the public health sample and for the hospital clinician-managers (n = 52) was R = 0.420, P = 0.131, indicating no significant relationship between relative activity priorities of the two groups. Public health managers put less emphasis on pursuits associated with structure, hierarchy and education, and more on external relations and decision-making. The model of hospital clinician-managers' managerial activities is applicable to public health managers while identifying differences in the way the two groups manage. The findings suggest that public health management work is more managerialist than previously thought.

Risk communication for nanobiotechnology: to whom, about what, and why?

PubMed

Priest, Susanna Hornig

2009-01-01

Regulatory oversight and public communication are intimately intertwined. Oversight failures quickly galvanize media and public attention. In addition, regulations sometimes require that risks and uncertainties be included in communication efforts aimed at non-experts outside of the regulatory and policy communities - whether in obtaining informed consent for novel medical treatments; by including risk information on drug labels, in drug advertisements, or on chemicals used in the workplace; in providing nutritional information on food packages; or by opening environmental impact assessments to public comment. In recent decades, broad public input with respect to new technologies has also been sought "upstream" of hard policy decisions in the hope of ultimately gaining legitimacy for those decisions - and perhaps increasing their quality. When communication fails, oversight may also be seen as failing - rightly or wrongly. As part of a larger project organized by the University of Minnesota, this paper presents six models of public risk communication and uses those models to analyze the communication challenges facing nanotechnology and nanobiotechnology. Reviewing the communication dynamics associated with the historical cases of technology regulation with which this symposium issue is concerned (genetically engineered organisms [GEOs] in the food supply, pharmaceuticals and medical devices, chemicals in the workplace, and gene transfer research or "gene therapy") helps shed light on the communications challenges facing nanobiotechnology.

Voices from the Field: Working Together for Safe and Secure Schools. Summary of Findings from Florida Education Commissioner Charlie Crist's School Safety and Security Summits.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Florida State Dept. of Education, Tallahassee.

During summer and fall 2001, the Florida Commissioner of Education conducted eight regional meetings, open to the public, on school safety and security. The purpose of the meetings was to explore safety issues faced by districts and schools, share best safety practices, and generate local discussion on matters of school safety and security. This…

Not Just Punishment: Discipline in Schools That Work. A Handbook for Chicago Parents = No Solamente Castigo: Disciplina en Escuelas Efectivas. Un Folleto para los Padres de Chicago.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alternative School Network, Chicago, IL.

This bilingual handbook, in English and Spanish on facing pages, is intended to provide general information to Chicago (Illinois) public school parents about school discipline. After two brief introductory chapters that set forth the scope of the issue, the third chapter provides the following general guidelines for discipline programs in…

The 21st Century Challenge: Moving the Youth Agenda Forward. A Policy Study of the Levitan Youth Policy Network. Public Policy Issues Monograph.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pines, Marion, Ed.

This document contains nine papers devoted to the labor market problems faced by out-of-school and other disadvantaged young people in the United States and policy options and strategies for addressing those problems. The papers update the data on out-of-school young adults, review the lessons learned from past youth programs and policies,…

Ethical challenges in cluster randomized controlled trials: experiences from public health interventions in Africa and Asia

PubMed Central

Azad, Kishwar; Fernandez, Armida; Manandhar, Dharma S; Mwansambo, Charles W; Tripathy, Prasanta; Costello, Anthony M

2009-01-01

Abstract Public health interventions usually operate at the level of groups rather than individuals, and cluster randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are one means of evaluating their effectiveness. Using examples from six such trials in Bangladesh, India, Malawi and Nepal, we discuss our experience of the ethical issues that arise in their conduct. We set cluster RCTs in the broader context of public health research, highlighting debates about the need to reconcile individual autonomy with the common good and about the ethics of public health research in low-income settings in general. After a brief introduction to cluster RCTs, we discuss particular challenges we have faced. These include the nature of – and responsibility for – group consent, and the need for consent by individuals within groups to intervention and data collection. We discuss the timing of consent in relation to the implementation of public health strategies, and the problem of securing ethical review and approval in a complex domain. Finally, we consider the debate about benefits to control groups and the standard of care that they should receive, and the issue of post-trial adoption of the intervention under test. PMID:19876544

Assessment of a multimedia-based prospective method to support public deliberations on health technology design: participant survey findings and qualitative insights.

PubMed

Lehoux, P; Jimenez-Pernett, J; Miller, F A; Williams-Jones, B

2016-10-26

Using a combination of videos and online short stories, we conducted four face-to-face deliberative workshops in Montreal (Quebec, Canada) with members of the public who later joined additional participants in an online forum to discuss the social and ethical implications of prospective technologies. This paper presents the participants' appraisal of our intervention and provides novel qualitative insights into the use of videos and online tools in public deliberations. We applied a mixed-method study design. A self-administered survey contained open- and close-ended items using a 5-level Likert-like scale. Absolute frequencies and proportions for the close-ended items were compiled. Qualitative data included field notes, the transcripts of the workshops and the participants' contributions to the online forum. The qualitative data were used to flesh out the survey data describing the participants' appraisal of: 1) the multimedia components of our intervention; 2) its deliberative face-to-face and online processes; and 3) its perceived effects. Thirty-eight participants contributed to the workshops and 57 to the online forum. A total of 46 participants filled-in the survey, for a response rate of 73 % (46/63). The videos helped 96 % of the participants to understand the fictional technologies and the online scenarios helped 98 % to reflect about the issues raised. Up to 81 % considered the arguments of the other participants to be well thought-out. Nearly all participants felt comfortable sharing their ideas in both the face-to-face (89 %) and online environments (93 %), but 88 % preferred the face-to-face workshop. As a result of the intervention, 85 % reflected more about the pros and cons of technology and 94 % learned more about the way technologies may transform society. This study confirms the methodological feasibility of a deliberative intervention whose originality lies in its use of videos and online scenarios. To increase deliberative depth and foster a strong engagement by all participants, face-to-face and online components need to be well integrated. Our findings suggest that online tools should be designed by considering, one the one hand, the participants' self-perceived ability to share written comments and, on the other hand, the ease with which other participants can respond to such contributions.

Pregnant women with substance use disorders: The intersection of history, ethics, and advocacy.

PubMed

Acquavita, Shauna P; Kauffman, Sandra S; Talks, Alexandra; Sherman, Kate

2016-01-01

Pregnant women with substance use disorders face many obstacles, including obtaining evidence-based treatment and care. This article (1) briefly reviews the history of pregnant women in clinical trials and substance use disorders treatment research; (2) identifies current ethical issues facing researchers studying pregnant women with substance use disorders; (3) presents and describes an ethical framework to utilize; and (4) identifies future directions needed to develop appropriate research and treatment policies and practices. Current research is not providing enough information to clinicians, policy-makers, and the public about maternal and child health and substance use disorders, and the data will not be sufficient to offer maximum benefit until protocols are changed.

Accentuating the positive.

PubMed

Adkins, P C

1980-07-01

The Society of Thoracic Surgeons is the largest organization representing our specialty. At this time, escalating costs of medical care and the public demand for accountability have given rise to a number of issues that must be faced. The Society is in a position to lead the medical profession in addressing many of these issues. We must present a united front for our specialty and resolve problems involving our training programs, manpower, federal regulations regarding medical devices, and the Federal Trade Commission's position on advertising. Additionally, the organization must address the issue of a definition of physician competence as it relates to the certifying and recertifying process. Awareness of these problems by all members of the Society with the opportunity for open discussion is essential. It is vital that The Society of Thoracic Surgeons assume a visible positive position on these issues.

Health and media: a partnership.

PubMed

Ling, J C

1985-12-01

There has been growing awareness among professionals engaged in marketing and advertising that modern advertising methods can be applied in support of social goals, including health. This has been accompanied by a recognition among health professionals that health is a social phenomenon dependent upon an adequately informed public. However, the health and media sectors have grown apart in past decades. The former tends to be technical and scientific, while the latter is geared to the broadest common denominator of the public. Health professionals often view the mass media with suspicion, and promotion is mistakenly associated with advertising. This paper draws attention to the need for these 2 sectors to work more closely together. Without the involvement of the media, the health sector will not be able to inform the general public on health issues or help stimulate a process of community involvement. Without the technical input of the health sector, the media cannot fulfill their obligation of serving the interests of the public. The role of the media to raise consciousness, stimulate public discussion, articulate public aspirations, disseminate information, and reflect social norms has become established. However, for health practices to be adopted, media input must be complemented by face-to-face communication and should be part of a multifacted program of health services and action. Cooperation between the media and the health sector should be broadened in the years ahead a process that could significantly enhance health and social development.

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

PubMed

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 cannot be managed without a careful consideration for the complexity of contexts in which nutrition-related interventions are expected to be implemented. These interventions engage a variety of actors with diverse perspectives and interests. We discuss these challenges and also comment on the importance of considering ethical impacts in the monitoring and evaluation of such interventions. General ethical frameworks or recommendations-although useful-cannot be expected to provide policy makers, implementators and other public health personnel with sufficient practical ethical guidance as they cannot consider and anticipate the particularities of all specific nutrition-related public health interventions and the complexity of the contexts in which they are implemented. Further research is needed in order to develop more targeted ethical frameworks.

Towards a Geocognition of Geothermal Energy: an Evolving Research Partnership in South West England

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gibson, H.; Stewart, I. S.; Ledingham, P.

2017-12-01

The development and deployment of novel geological technologies in industry often raise anxiety in the public sphere. New technologies are intrinsically unfamiliar, not only to the public, but also to other technical specialists in the field. This can focus conflict and uncertainty around issues that may not actually be problematic, or obscure other issues that may actually warrant closer inspection. An example of an emergent geo-technology that has received little attention in the public or general technical spheres is the introduction of Enhanced Geothermal Power in the UK. In early 2018, a project testing the viability of deep geothermal heat and power will begin in Cornwall, England, and is likely to face contested issues of public perception that have confronted other novel geological technologies, such as Carbon Capture and Storage and hydraulic fracturing. To address concerns about how the UK public will conceptualise this new technology, the Cornish deep geothermal project has developed an innovative partnership between the industry partner operating the test drilling site and a geoscience cognition research partner. That research partner integrates geoscience, cognitive psychology and media communication specialists in a three-year project that will track evolving public perceptions of and community attitudes to geothermal energy; from initial community engagements to the drilling operations and, ultimately, to the operation of the facility. Key in this study will be an exploration of how the industrial partnership impacts and affects the research process as the site testing proceeds, but also how the research process can engage with issues of communication between the industrial partner and the public. Overall, the interdisciplinary research aims to better understand how public/industry partnerships develop and evolve over the lifetime of an active geo-energy project and thereby help inform and improve community-centred geo-communication around novel energy technologies in the future.

Priority setting of ICU resources in an influenza pandemic: a qualitative study of the Canadian public's perspectives.

PubMed

Silva, Diego S; Gibson, Jennifer L; Robertson, Ann; Bensimon, Cécile M; Sahni, Sachin; Maunula, Laena; Smith, Maxwell J

2012-03-26

Pandemic influenza may exacerbate existing scarcity of life-saving medical resources. As a result, decision-makers may be faced with making tough choices about who will receive care and who will have to wait or go without. Although previous studies have explored ethical issues in priority setting from the perspective of clinicians and policymakers, there has been little investigation into how the public views priority setting during a pandemic influenza, in particular related to intensive care resources. To bridge this gap, we conducted three public town hall meetings across Canada to explore Canadian's perspectives on this ethical challenge. Town hall discussions group discussions were digitally recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using thematic analysis. Six interrelated themes emerged from the town hall discussions related to: ethical and empirical starting points for deliberation; criteria for setting priorities; pre-crisis planning; in-crisis decision-making; the need for public deliberation and input; and participants' deliberative struggle with the ethical issues. Our findings underscore the importance of public consultation in pandemic planning for sustaining public trust in a public health emergency. Participants appreciated the empirical and ethical uncertainty of decision-making in an influenza pandemic and demonstrated nuanced ethical reasoning about priority setting of intensive care resources in an influenza pandemic. Policymakers may benefit from a better understanding the public's empirical and ethical 'starting points' in developing effective pandemic plans.

Including safety-net providers in integrated delivery systems: issues and options for policymakers.

PubMed

Witgert, Katherine; Hess, Catherine

2012-08-01

Health care reform legislation has spurred efforts to develop integrated health care delivery systems that seek to coordinate the continuum of health services. These systems may be of particular benefit to patients who face barriers to accessing care or have multiple health conditions. But it remains to be seen how safety-net providers, including community health centers and public hospitals--which have long experience in caring for these vulnerable populations--will be included in integrated delivery systems. This issue brief explores key considerations for incorporating safety-net providers into integrated delivery systems and discusses the roles of state and federal agencies in sup­porting and testing models of integrated care delivery. The authors conclude that the most important principles in creating integrated delivery systems for vulnerable populations are: (1) an emphasis on primary care; (2) coordination of all care, including behavioral, social, and public health services; and (3) accountability for population health outcomes.

Load research manual. Volume 3: Load research for advanced technologies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

1980-11-01

Technical guidelines for electric utility load research are presented. Special attention is given to issues raised by the load reporting requirements of the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 and to problems faced by smaller utilities that are initiating load research programs. The manual includes guides to load research literature and glossaries of load research and statistical terms. Special load research procedures are presented for solar, wind, and cogeneration technologies.

Using the Freshman On-Track Indicator to Predict Graduation in Two Urban Districts in the Midwest Region. Issues & Answers. REL 2012-No. 134

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Norbury, Heather; Wong, Manyee; Wan, Yinmei; Reese, Kelly; Dhillon, Sonica; Gerdeman, R. Dean

2012-01-01

Recent estimates suggest that of U.S. public high school freshmen in the fall of 2005 24.5 percent did not graduate on time in 2008/09 (Stillwell, Sable, and Plotts 2011). As states and school districts attempt to boost graduation rates, they face the challenge of identifying which students are at risk of not graduating on time. Early warning…

Issues and Concerns Faced by Undergraduate Language Student Teachers during Teaching Practicum Experiences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ali, Mohd Sofi; Othman, Abdul Jalil; Karim, Abdul Faruk Abdul

2014-01-01

This study examined specific issues and concerns faced by Bachelor of Education student teachers majoring in Language and Literature during their 12-week teaching practicum experience. Specifically, three main areas of concerns were examined. They were: (1) specific issues and concerns related to the implementation of teaching practicum faced by…

International nurse migration: lessons from the Philippines.

PubMed

Brush, Barbara L; Sochalski, Julie

2007-02-01

Developed countries facing nursing shortages have increasingly turned to aggressive foreign nurse recruitment, primarily from developing nations, to offset their lagging domestic nurse supplies and meet growing health care demands. Few donor nations are prepared to manage the loss of their nurse workforce to migration. The sole country with an explicit nurse export policy and the world's leading donor of nurse labor - the Philippines - is itself facing serious provider maldistribution and countrywide health disparities. Examining the historical roots of Philippines nurse migration provides lessons from which other nurse exporting countries may learn. The authors discuss factors that have predicated nurse migration and policies that have eased the way. Furthermore, the authors analyze how various stakeholders influence migratory patterns, the implications of migration for nurses and the public in their care, and the challenges that future social policy and political systems face in addressing global health issues engendered by unfettered recruitment of nurses and other health workers.

Toilet revolution in China.

PubMed

Cheng, Shikun; Li, Zifu; Uddin, Sayed Mohammad Nazim; Mang, Heinz-Peter; Zhou, Xiaoqin; Zhang, Jian; Zheng, Lei; Zhang, Lingling

2018-06-15

The wide-spread prevalence of unimproved sanitation technologies has been a major cause of concern for the environment and public health, and China is no exception to this. Towards the sanitation issue, toilet revolution has become a buzzword in China recently. This paper elaborates the backgrounds, connotations, and actions of the toilet revolution in China. The toilet revolution aims to create sanitation infrastructure and public services that work for everyone and that turn waste into value. Opportunities for implementing the toilet revolution include: fulfilling Millennium Development Goals and new Sustainable Development Goals; government support at all levels for popularizing sanitary toilet; environmental protection to alleviate wastewater pollution; resource recovery from human waste and disease prevention for health and wellbeing improvement. Meanwhile, the challenges faced are: insufficient funding and policy support, regional imbalance and lagging approval processes, weak sanitary awareness and low acceptance of new toilets, lack of R&D and service system. The toilet revolution requires a concerted effort from many governmental departments. It needs to address not only technology implementation, but also social acceptance, economic affordability, maintenance issues and, increasingly, gender considerations. Aligned with the ecological sanitation principles, it calls for understanding issues across the entire sanitation service chain. Public-private partnership is also recommended to absorb private capital to make up the lack of funds, as well as arouse the enthusiasm of the public. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Polluting Canada's Public Square: The Harper Government's War on Science and the Environment?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Linnitt, C.; Hoggan, J. C.

2013-12-01

Conversations about key environmental issues like climate change are increasingly viewed as matters of politics rather than matters of science. As a result, competing -and often polarized - interests have made public debate on these issues vulnerable to aggressive politicization. This politicization, particularly when it comes to important policy decisions regarding industrial (and especially fossil fuel) development, obscures the facts on these issues, leaving democratic public debate prey to aggressive public relations tactics, misinformation campaigns, pseudo-science, modern-day propaganda and/or the deliberate ';pollution' of the public square. In Canada a coordinated effort is underway to mischaracterize environmental groups as radical ideologues, associating environmental views and pursuits with extremism. A Tea Party-style echo chamber has also emerged in Canada, coordinating anti-science messaging in an attempt to bolster industrial development while misaligning environmental non-profits with domestic terror threats. This attempt to undermine ecological agendas and to push environmental concerns to the margins is paired with government-sponsored censorship of federally-funded scientists and the elimination of vital public science programs in Canada. The result is a dearth of scientific information surrounding significant environmental concerns - such as the Alberta oil sands and industry contamination of waterways - and a dangerous and false association of these issues with an extremist agenda. Ultimately scientists and science communicators face a unique set of challenges in Canada when it comes to addressing environmental issues. Although the 'science' of science communication has evolved to address relevant cultural and socio-political barriers associated with change resistance (for example, adapting one's behavior to minimize greenhouse gas emissions), much work remains in both acknowledging and ameliorating the politicization of science and the intentional pollution of public conversations. Democracy depends on the public's access to information; however, in a climate in which that access is under threat, scientists and science communicators may need to address those fundamental concerns deliberately in order to participate effectively in the public policy and decision-making process. This paper provides a brief overview of environmental communications theory and practice, current misinformation techniques, and key instances in which either government policy and/or media and industry behavior have actively sought to contaminate or impede more constructive discourse on issues of science and environmental regulation. We conclude by offering a set of recommendations for improving the ability of scientists and experts to communicate effectively in an increasingly complex political and media environment, and for safeguarding the quality of democratic discourse on these and other issues.

Environmentally sustainable health care: using an educational intervention to engage the public health medical workforce in Australia.

PubMed

Charlesworth, Kate E; Madden, D Lynne; Capon, Anthony G

2013-11-01

Awareness of the benefits of environmentally sustainable health care is growing. In the United Kingdom in 2010, an educational intervention on sustainable health care was successfully delivered to public health registrars. We conducted a feasibility study to test the intervention in Australia. The intervention consisted of a 1-day workshop delivered face-to-face covering climate change, sustainability and health. The workshop was modified, piloted and then delivered to 33 health professionals. Modifications included using Australian resources, introducing active learning exercises and including guest speakers. Delivery by videoconference was trialled. Outcomes were assessed in three areas - awareness, advocacy and action - using questionnaires and follow-up telephone interviews. There were improvements in participants' mean awareness and advocacy scores. All participants rated sustainability as 'important' for health professionals and many looked to their professional organisation to take a lead advocacy role on this issue. This study demonstrated that the workshop is feasible for use in Australia; the modifications and delivery by videoconference were well received.

Propagandizing the Healthy, Bolshevik Life in the Early USSR.

PubMed

Starks, Tricia A

2017-11-01

This essay outlines the problems facing Soviet health authorities at the inception of the People's Commissariat of Public Health in 1918 and the innovative methods employed in sanitary enlightenment propaganda in Russia throughout the 1920s. Beset by funding issues and supply problems, the emissaries of health chose the cheapest means of health improvement (propaganda) with the most cost-effective method (prevention), and crowed of great successes even as large portions of the nation still suffered from lack of contact with sanitary authorities. Targeting Soviet citizens at every stage and space of life, the envoys of public health spread the message of prophylaxis.

A Key to Sharing Science: Listening to Community Needs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Varga, M.; Phartiyal, P.; Johnson, C.

2015-12-01

To achieve greater effectiveness in science communication and outreach, we need to shift the paradigm from one-way communication from scientists to the (bystander) public to a two-way, listen-learn-respond exchange with concerned and knowledgeable public. Scientists need to not only know their audiences but also the needs of their audiences. Society can benefit tremendously when personal and public decisions are informed by independent and best available science. But on a variety of issues from climate to chemicals, local decision makers and public groups often struggle to know what questions to ask and to find independent information, data and analysis. Scientists also face barriers in sharing knowledge with community members. Fortunately, scientists all across the country are making such connections and forging trusted relationships with the public. The speaker will present examples of scientist-community engagement where researchers have taken the path of communicating and partnering with their local communities to address everyday issues of concern to them, from food to fracking. While such engagement efforts gain from effective communication and strategic outreach with public groups, they also has the attendant benefits of challenging scientists to consider the broader, societal implications of their work; consider how their research can serve the needs of the public; and how they can aspire to become, more than educators, learners and allies in effecting change in their communities.

A Survey of Public Opinion on Cat (Felis catus) Predation and the Future Direction of Cat Management in New Zealand.

PubMed

Walker, Jessica K; Bruce, Stephanie J; Dale, Arnja R

2017-07-03

Cat predation is a prominent issue in New Zealand that provokes strong and opposing views. We explored, via 1011 face-to-face questionnaires, public opinion on (a) support for a National Cat Management Strategy (78% support); (b) concern regarding predation of wildlife by owned and un-owned cats (managed stray, unmanaged stray, and feral cats); (c) the acceptability of management techniques for owned cats; and (d) the acceptability of population management techniques for un-owned cats. The highest concern was expressed regarding the predation of non-native and native wildlife by feral cats (60 and 86% repectively), followed by unmanaged stray cats (59 and 86% respectively), managed stray cats (54 and 82% respectively), and finally owned cats (38 and 69% repectively). Limits to the number of cats owned and cat restriction zones received high levels of support (>65%), and compulsory microchipping, Council registration, and de-sexing were supported by the majority (>58%). Public support of population control methods for unowned cats was explored, and the influence of participant demographic variables on responses is described. These findings provide insight into public opinion regarding the management of cats in New Zealand, which should be considered during the development of legislation in this area.

Resveratrol and cancer: Challenges for clinical translation

PubMed Central

Singh, Chandra K.; Ndiaye, Mary A.; Ahmad, Nihal

2014-01-01

Significant work has been done towards identifying the health-beneficial effects of the grape antioxidant resveratrol in a variety of bioassay- and disease- models, with much research being focused on its possible application to cancer management. Despite the large number of preclinical studies dealing with different aspects of the biological effects of resveratrol, it’s translation to clinics is far from reality due to a variety of challenges. In this review, we discuss the issues and questions associated with resveratrol becoming an effective in vivo anticancer drug, from basic metabolic issues to the problems faced by incomplete understanding of the mechanism(s) of action in the body. We also explore efforts taken by researchers, both public and private, to contend with some of these issues. By examining the published data and previous clinical trials, we have attempted to identify the problems and issues that hinder the clinical translation of resveratrol for cancer management. PMID:25446990

The Effect of Public Service Advertising on Cardiovascular Disease in Korea.

PubMed

Jang, Juhyun; Na, Baeg Ju; Lee, Moo-Sik; Seo, Soonryu; Sung, Changhyun; Kim, Hyun Joo; Lee, Jin Yong

2016-08-01

Public Service Advertising (PSA) is a public interest message disseminated in the form of an advertisement communication and its main purpose is to promote public behavioral changes regarding a social issue. Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) has been delivering PSA by various media. However, the effect of PSAs has never been evaluated. The purpose of this study was to estimate the effects of broadcasted PSA produced by KCDC on cardiovascular disease (CVD). One thousand adult participants throughout 15 provinces in Korea were chosen through the quota sampling method in 2012. A face-to-face research survey with 13 questions was conducted using a Computer Assisted Personal Interview (CAPI) system. Previous exposure to the PSA message, understanding, and behavioral intention to change was assessed. After watching the PSA, about 75% of participants answered that they could understand the contents well and 70% had willingness to change their behaviors associated with CVD. However, only 24% of participants answered they watched the PSA during the past year. The PSA had positive effects on increasing the level of understanding and intention to change behaviors regarding CVD. However, the level of exposure was low. KCDC should make an effort to increase the public exposure level, which could be an important success factor regarding the PSA. In addition, KCDC should consider customized PSA for vulnerable people such as multi-cultural families, the disabled, and the elderly.

Public health workforce research in review: a 25-year retrospective.

PubMed

Hilliard, Tracy M; Boulton, Matthew L

2012-05-01

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation commissioned a systematic review of public health workforce literature in fall 2010. This paper reviews public health workforce articles published from 1985 to 2010 that support development of a public health workforce research agenda, and address four public health workforce research themes: (1) diversity; (2) recruitment, retention, separation, and retirement; (3) education, training, and credentialing; and (4) pay, promotion, performance, and job satisfaction. PubMed, ERIC, and Web of Science databases were used to search for articles; Google search engine was used to identify gray literature. The study used the following inclusion criteria: (1) articles written in English published in the U.S.; (2) the main theme(s) of the article relate to at least one of the four public health workforce research themes; and (3) the document focuses on the domestic public health workforce. The literature suggests that the U.S. public health workforce is facing several urgent priorities that should be addressed, including: (1) developing an ethnically/racially diverse membership to meet the needs of an increasingly diverse nation; (2) recruiting and retaining highly trained, well-prepared employees, and succession planning to replace retirees; (3) building public health workforce infrastructure while also confronting a major shortage in the public health workforce, through increased education, training, and credentialing; and (4) ensuring competitive salaries, opportunities for career advancement, standards for workplace performance, and fostering organizational cultures which generate high levels of job satisfaction for effective delivery of services. Additional research is needed in all four thematic areas reviewed to develop well-informed, evidence-based strategies for effectively addressing critical issues facing the public health workforce. Copyright © 2012 American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Nanotechnology: Small Matters

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Cynthia Needham

2008-06-30

The primary objective of this project was to engage members of the public in an active and balanced deliberative discussion about the social, ethical, legal, environmental, and policy issues arising from nanotechnologies. A second but equally important objective was to interest members of the public in learning more about science and technology and nanotechnology specifically by understanding how it will affect their lives. The objectives were met through a series of electronic and face-to-face citizen forums conducted in conjunction with three Fred Friendly Seminars being taped on the University of California, Berkeley campus in partnership with Lawrence Hall of Sciencemore » (this forum was conducted in partnership with the St. Louis Science Center); the Boston Museum of Science in Boston, MA; and the State Museum of South Carolina in Columbia, South Carolina. The topical area for each forum paralleled the content of the Fred Friendly Seminars series being taped at each location, but specific topics/issues were drawn from the concerns and interests of the communities. The three topical areas included Environmental Impact (St. Louis), Privacy vs. Security (Boston), and Health and Enhancement (Columbia). The PI and project leader worked with the local science centers to identify stakeholder groups, such as academic, corporate and government scientists; environmental advocates; business leaders; science and technology journalists; and public policy makers within each community. Representatives from each group along with members of the general public were invited to participate in a series of on line and in person deliberations that were designed to provide basic information about the science, its potential benefits and risks, and avenues for public participation in policy formulation. On line resources were designed and managed by ScienceVIEW at Lawrence Hall of Science and Earth & Sky, Inc. The activities at each site were evaluated by Inverness Research Associates to assess whether they have achieved the objectives.« less

No One Likes a Snitch.

PubMed

Redman, Barbara; Caplan, Arthur

2015-08-01

Whistleblowers remain essential as complainants in allegations of research misconduct. Frequently internal to the research team, they are poorly protected from acts of retribution, which may deter the reporting of misconduct. In order to perform their important role, whistleblowers must be treated fairly. Draft regulations for whistleblower protection were published for public comment almost a decade ago but never issued (Dahlberg 2013). In the face of the growing challenge of research fraud, we suggest vigorous steps, to include: organizational responsibility to certify the accuracy of research including audit, required whistleblower action in the face of imminent or grave harm to subjects, strengthened legal protections against retaliation including prompt enactment of Federal whistleblower protections and consideration of criminalizing the most egregious cases of research misconduct.

Occupational Safety and Related Impacts on Health and the Environment

PubMed Central

Watterson, Andrew

2016-01-01

The inter-relationship between safety, health and the ‘environment’ is a complex and at times a relatively neglected topic. In this issue, ‘safety’ is often viewed by contributors as ‘health and safety’ and includes occupationally-related ill health as well as injury or harm to employees and the wider public. ‘Environment’ is also interpreted in the widest sense covering both physical and work environments with upstream work hazards presenting risks to downstream communities. The focus is very much on exploring and where possible addressing the challenges, some old and some facing workers in a range of public and private settings and also at times their nearby communities. The 19 papers in the issue cover public and private sectors, global and very local populations, macro-theoretical perspectives, large epidemiological and some single factory or hospital site small case studies. A number of the papers are just beginning to explore and draw out for the first time the risks from hazards in their part of the world. The methodologies adopted also range from lab-based studies through ergonomic assessments and interventions to therapeutic approaches. PMID:27782047

Using the Freshman On-Track Indicator to Predict Graduation in Two Urban Districts in the Midwest Region. Summary. Issues & Answers. REL 2012-No. 134

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Norbury, Heather; Wong, Manyee; Wan, Yinmei; Reese, Kelly; Dhillon, Sonica; Gerdeman, R. Dean

2012-01-01

Recent estimates suggest that of U.S. public high school freshmen in the fall of 2005 24.5 percent did not graduate on time in 2008/09 (Stillwell, Sable, and Plotts 2011). As states and school districts attempt to boost graduation rates, they face the challenge of identifying which students are at risk of not graduating on time. Early warning…

78 FR 938 - Notification of a Public Meeting and a Public Teleconference of the Clean Air Scientific Advisory...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-01-07

.... to 4:00 p.m. (Eastern Time). ADDRESSES: The CASAC Lead Review Panel face-to-face public meeting will... Quality Standards (First External Review Draft--January 2013). DATES: The CASAC Lead Review Panel face-to-face public meeting will be held on Tuesday, February 5, 2013, from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. (Eastern...

Prenatal care services in the public and private arena.

PubMed

Blackwell, Deborah A

2002-12-01

This exploratory study described the prenatal care experience in the public and private arena from the perceptions of childbearing women using interpretive interactionism. A face-to-face interview comprised of eight open-ended questions was used to obtain pregnant women's perceptions of their prenatal care experience and prenatal care needs. The purposive sample consisted of six women who received private prenatal care and 14 women who received public prenatal care. Five essential elements of the prenatal care experience were identified. Prenatal care was viewed as a cooperative effort between informal self-care and formal care by health professionals. Issues related to individuality and normality were important considerations in the delivery of prenatal care. Controversy exists over the effectiveness of prenatal care in preventing poor outcomes, as the definition of what constitutes adequate prenatal care remains unclear. Advanced practice nurses (APNs) continue to play a pivotal role in the provision of prenatal care services. The expanded knowledge and skills possessed by APNs place them in a pivotal position to develop and implement individualized, developmentally appropriate prenatal care that the women in this study so desperately wanted. In addition, they can assist women in continuing the health promoting behaviors initiated prenatally through out their lifespan.

Integration of legal aspects and human rights approach in palliative care delivery-the Nyeri Hospice model.

PubMed

Musyoki, David; Gichohi, Sarafina; Ritho, Johnson; Ali, Zipporah; Kinyanjui, Asaph; Muinga, Esther

2016-01-01

Palliative care is patient and family-centred care that optimises quality of life by anticipating, preventing, and treating suffering. Open Society Foundation public health program (2011) notes that people facing life-threatening illnesses are deeply vulnerable: often in severe physical pain, worried about death, incapacitation, or the fate of their loved ones. Legal issues can increase stress for patients and families and make coping harder, impacting on the quality of care. In the absence of a clear legal provision expressly recognising palliative care in Kenya, providers may face numerous legal and ethical dilemmas that affect the availability, accessibility, and delivery of palliative care services and commodities. In order to ensure positive outcomes from patients, their families, and providers, palliative care services should be prioritised by all and includes advocating for the integration of legal support into those services. Palliative care service providers should be able to identify the various needs of patients and their families including specific issues requiring legal advice and interventions. Access to legal services remains a big challenge in Kenya, with limited availability of specialised legal services for health-related legal issues. An increased awareness of the benefits of legal services in palliative care will drive demand for easily accessible and more affordable direct legal services to address legal issues for a more holistic approach to quality palliative care.

HIV in Indian MSM: reasons for a concentrated epidemic & strategies for prevention.

PubMed

Thomas, Beena; Mimiaga, Matthew J; Kumar, Senthil; Swaminathan, Soumya; Safren, Steven A; Mayer, Kenneth H

2011-12-01

Men who have sex with men (MSM) in India are disproportionately likely to be HIV-infected, and face distinct psychosocial challenges. Understanding the unique socio-cultural issues of MSM in India and how they relate to HIV risk could maximize the utility of future prevention efforts. This review discusses: (i) the importance of addressing co-occurring mental health issues, such as depression, which may interfere with MSM's ability to benefit from traditional risk reduction counselling, (ii) reducing HIV-related stigma among health providers, policymakers and the lay public, and (iii) the role for non-governmental organizations that work with the community to play in providing culturally relevant HIV prevention programmes for MSM.

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

PubMed Central

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 field. More importantly, these ethical issues cannot be managed without a careful consideration for the complexity of contexts in which nutrition-related interventions are expected to be implemented. These interventions engage a variety of actors with diverse perspectives and interests. We discuss these challenges and also comment on the importance of considering ethical impacts in the monitoring and evaluation of such interventions. Conclusion General ethical frameworks or recommendations–although useful–cannot be expected to provide policy makers, implementators and other public health personnel with sufficient practical ethical guidance as they cannot consider and anticipate the particularities of all specific nutrition-related public health interventions and the complexity of the contexts in which they are implemented. Further research is needed in order to develop more targeted ethical frameworks. PMID:29073186

"Let Me Keep My Dead Husband's Sperm": Ethical Issues in Posthumous Reproduction.

PubMed

Panagiotopoulou, Nikoletta; Karavolos, Stamatios

2015-01-01

The feasibility of posthumous reproduction when the surviving partner is female has brought to light many ethical, moral, social, and legal issues. This review aims to summarize these issues and to assist clinicians who may be faced with such requests. A question list, used for health technologies assessment, was utilized in a question-answer approach as the review methodology. Of the 1,208 publications identified through a comprehensive literature search in biomedical, psychological, and ethical databases, 31 articles included arguments related to one or more questions from the predefined question set. Key stakeholders identified include the deceased, the requesting party, the resultant child, the physician, and society. Key ethical issues relevant to posthumous reproduction include the four traditional pillars of medical ethics--autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence, justice--as well as the stakeholders' rights and sociocultural attitudes. The ethical framework formulated by these issues has been incorporated in a clinical ethics decision-making tool that could prove useful to clinicians and decision makers. Copyright 2015 The Journal of Clinical Ethics. All rights reserved.

Priority setting of ICU resources in an influenza pandemic: a qualitative study of the Canadian public's perspectives

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background Pandemic influenza may exacerbate existing scarcity of life-saving medical resources. As a result, decision-makers may be faced with making tough choices about who will receive care and who will have to wait or go without. Although previous studies have explored ethical issues in priority setting from the perspective of clinicians and policymakers, there has been little investigation into how the public views priority setting during a pandemic influenza, in particular related to intensive care resources. Methods To bridge this gap, we conducted three public town hall meetings across Canada to explore Canadian's perspectives on this ethical challenge. Town hall discussions group discussions were digitally recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using thematic analysis. Results Six interrelated themes emerged from the town hall discussions related to: ethical and empirical starting points for deliberation; criteria for setting priorities; pre-crisis planning; in-crisis decision-making; the need for public deliberation and input; and participants' deliberative struggle with the ethical issues. Conclusions Our findings underscore the importance of public consultation in pandemic planning for sustaining public trust in a public health emergency. Participants appreciated the empirical and ethical uncertainty of decision-making in an influenza pandemic and demonstrated nuanced ethical reasoning about priority setting of intensive care resources in an influenza pandemic. Policymakers may benefit from a better understanding the public's empirical and ethical 'starting points' in developing effective pandemic plans. PMID:22449119

Public understanding of cyclone warning in India: Can wind be predicted?

PubMed

Dash, Biswanath

2015-11-01

In spite of meteorological warning, many human lives are lost every year to cyclone mainly because vulnerable populations were not evacuated on time to a safe shelter as per recommendation. It raises several questions, most prominently what explains people's behaviour in the face of such danger from a cyclonic storm? How do people view meteorological advisories issued for cyclone and what role they play in defining the threat? What shapes public response during such situation? This article based on an ethnographic study carried out in coastal state of Odisha, India, argues that local public recognising inherent limitations of meteorological warning, fall back on their own system of observation and forecasting. Not only are the contents of cyclone warning understood, its limitations are accommodated and explained. © The Author(s) 2014.

Pharmacy executive leadership issues and associated skills, knowledge, and abilities.

PubMed

Meadows, Andrew B; Maine, Lucinda L; Keyes, Elizabeth K; Pearson, Kathy; Finstuen, Kenn

2005-01-01

To identify challenges that current and future pharmacy executives are facing or will face in the future and to define what skills, knowledge, and abilities (SKAs) are required to successfully negotiate these challenges. Delphi method for executive decision making. Civilian pharmacy profession. 110 pharmacists who graduated from the GlaxoSmithKline Executive Management Program for Pharmacy Leaders. Two iterations of the Delphi method for executive decision making separated by an expert panel content analysis. Round 1--participants were asked to identify five major issues they believed to be of greatest importance to pharmacy leaders in the next 5-10 years and name specific SKAs that might be needed by future leaders to successfully deal with those issues. An expert panel reviewed the issues, classified issues into specific domains, and titled each domain. Round 2-participants rated the SKAs on a 7-point scale according to their individual assessment of importance in each domain. For Delphi rounds 1 and 2, response rates were 21.8% and 18.2%, respectively. More than 100 total issue statements were identified. The expert panel sorted the issues into five domains: management and development of the pharmacy workforce, pharmacy finance, total quality management of work-flow systems, influences on the practice of pharmacy, and professional pharmacy leadership. Five of the top 15 SKAs-and all four highest ranked items--came from the professional pharmacy leadership domain, including ability to see the big picture, ability to demonstrate the value of pharmacy services, ability to lead and manage in an ethical manner, and skills for influencing an organization's senior leadership. Through successful integration of communication skills, critical thinking, and problem solving techniques, future public-sector pharmacy executives will be better equipped to effectively position their organizations and the profession for the challenges that lie ahead.

Virtual versus face-to-face clinical simulation in relation to student knowledge, anxiety, and self-confidence in maternal-newborn nursing: A randomized controlled trial.

PubMed

Cobbett, Shelley; Snelgrove-Clarke, Erna

2016-10-01

Clinical simulations can provide students with realistic clinical learning environments to increase their knowledge, self-confidence, and decrease their anxiety prior to entering clinical practice settings. To compare the effectiveness of two maternal newborn clinical simulation scenarios; virtual clinical simulation and face-to-face high fidelity manikin simulation. Randomized pretest-posttest design. A public research university in Canada. Fifty-six third year Bachelor of Science in Nursing students. Participants were randomized to either face-to-face or virtual clinical simulation and then to dyads for completion of two clinical simulations. Measures included: (1) Nursing Anxiety and Self-Confidence with Clinical Decision Making Scale (NASC-CDM) (White, 2011), (2) knowledge pretest and post-test related to preeclampsia and group B strep, and (3) Simulation Completion Questionnaire. Before and after each simulation students completed a knowledge test and the NASC-CDM and the Simulation Completion Questionnaire at study completion. There were no statistically significant differences in student knowledge and self-confidence between face-to-face and virtual clinical simulations. Anxiety scores were higher for students in the virtual clinical simulation than for those in the face-to-face simulation. Students' self-reported preference was face-to-face citing the similarities to practicing in a 'real' situation and the immediate debrief. Students not liking the virtual clinical simulation most often cited technological issues as their rationale. Given the equivalency of knowledge and self-confidence when undergraduate nursing students participate in either maternal newborn clinical scenarios of face-to-face or virtual clinical simulation identified in this trial, it is important to take into the consideration costs and benefits/risks of simulation implementation. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

[Description of the process of preparation and response of local health authorities facing the introduction of the Chikungunya virus in Colombia, 2014].

PubMed

Alarcón-Cruz, Ángela P; Prieto-Suárez, Edgar

2016-06-01

Objective To describe the process of preparation and response of local health authorities in key public health issues while facing the introduction stage of an unusual virus: Chikungunya in Colombia in 2014. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted using a survey that was developed for this study and sent to Public Health coordinators and to the person in charge of vector borne-diseases in the country's territorial entities. Results 23 out of the 35 territories at risk from the transmission of Chikungunya agreed to answer the survey. A global review of the survey scores for each evaluated section shows better performances in the areas of knowledge management, comprehensive patient care, epidemiological intelligence, and health promotion. According to the results of this study, the epidemiological surveillance system during the Chikungunya epidemic had a low acceptability and flexibility, possibly contributing to the underreporting of cases. Conclusions In general, knowledge and implementation by local authorities of the Integrated Health Strategy- EGI (Estrategia de Gestión Integral, by its Spanish acronym)- for vector-borne diseases was evident from the themes evaluated in this study. However, it is necessary to reinforce the communication of risks, laboratory, and outbreak and contingencies management areas faced during the introduction of new viruses.

Social Capital Accumulation in Location-Based Mobile Game Playing: A Multiple-Process Approach.

PubMed

Sung, Hei-Tung; Sigerson, Leif; Cheng, Cecilia

2017-08-01

In the summer of 2016, the widespread popularization of the game Pokémon Go brought the public's attention to the possible socialization benefits associated with location-based mobile games (LBMGs), yet no studies to date have investigated this issue. LBMGs deserve greater research attention because this type of game provides a unique gaming experience that encourages players to leave their homes and navigate around their neighborhood. This distinctive feature may promote more face-to-face interactions among LBMG players. Grounded in social capital theories, the present study compared the levels of both bridging and bonding social capital between LBMG and non-LBMG players. More important, we formulated a multiple-process model to explain the hypothesized psychological mechanisms underlying social capital accumulation among LBMG players. Participants were 349 U.S. participants (57 percent men; M age  = 32.40, SD age  = 7.92, age range = 19-66). Results supported the proposed model by revealing that face-to-face interaction was crucial to the accrual of both bridging and bonding social capital among LBMG players, through enhancing their levels of communication frequency and self-disclosure. The present findings have implications for the utilization of LBMG as a potential tool to promote face-to-face interactions and accumulate social capital.

Special Issues in Working with Gifted Minority Adolescents.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lindstrom, Rena R.; Van Sant, Sondra

1986-01-01

Gifted adolescents from minority groups face the same issues all gifted young people face, but the addition of racial and cultural factors increases the complexity of these issues. Discusses individual versus cultural pressures that affect identity, issues related to assisting students with long-range planning, and two models for programming.…

Load research manual. Volume 3. Load research for advanced technologies

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Brandenburg, L.; Clarkson, G.; Grund, Jr., C.

1980-11-01

This three-volume manual presents technical guidelines for electric utility load research. Special attention is given to issues raised by the load data reporting requirements of the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 and to problems faced by smaller utilities that are initiating load research programs. The manual includes guides to load research literature and glossaries of load research and statistical terms. In Volume 3, special load research procedures are presented for solar, wind, and cogeneration technologies.

Annual Faculty Research Report of the Department of Systems Engineering and the Operations Research Center for the Academic Year 2007

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-01-01

execution, a summary of results, a list of presentations and publications and a current status. Additional information is provided on the senior...Cadets learn best when they are challenged and when they are interested. The introduction of current issues facing the military into their...faculty, officers conduct research on relevant projects to remain current in their operational branch or in the Functional Areas 49, 51, 53 and 57. The

Public Charter Schools in the District of Columbia. Hearing before a Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations, United States Senate, One Hundred Eighth Congress, Second Session, Special Hearing (May 4, 2004) S. Hrg. 108-774

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

US Senate, 2005

2005-01-01

The Subcommittee convened this hearing to examine the challenges facing charter schools as they expand in the District of Columbia. They heard testimony from witnesses who are all founders and directors of innovative charter schools in the District. These witnesses shared their success stories as well as the individual issues and challenges facing…

Infertility in public health: the case of Norway

PubMed Central

Sundby, J.

2010-01-01

Infertility is a health issue that demonstrates how unequal access to health care is at a global level. In the poorer segments of the world, and in poor parts of wealthy societies, access is often minimal or non-existent. Public and lay attitudes to modern infertility treatment have been heavily debated alongside development of methods. I have looked at the changes in the public discourse in modern media, legislation, politics, and among professionals. The paper seeks to present and discuss some of these changes as they have evolved in one of the countries that have had one of the more strict laws regulating access to treatment, namely Norway. It is a country that nevertheless offers treatment in the public health system. The paper also tries to connect this discussion to the difficulties faced in every attempt to expand infertility services to the developing world. PMID:25013709

Letter from Chile: Re-establishing health care in Chile

PubMed Central

Jiménez, Jorge

1993-01-01

Chile's long term social policy has produced very impressive outcomes in general health indicators, with a national health service established as early as 1952. During the years of the Pinochet dictatorship (1973-89) public health institutions were greatly affected, with sharp diminution in financing which affected investment and salaries. The democratic government initiated in 1990 faced a difficult situation, with underpaid staff and decrepit hospitals. The ministry took immediate action to improve salaries and start an ambitious health sector reform including investment in infrastructure, technology, and modern management. Decentralisation and autonomy, changes in payment for service mechanisms, and a public-private mix are the main objectives of this reform, keeping the public role as predominant in the proposed structure. This process has been affected by union unrest and public opinion dissatisfaction, which tend to present obstacles to progress in this complicated issue. Imagesp729-ap730-a

Advancing adolescent sexual and reproductive health by promoting healthy relationships.

PubMed

Tharp, Andra Teten; Carter, Marion; Fasula, Amy M; Hatfield-Timajchy, Kendra; Jayne, Paula E; Latzman, Natasha E; Kinsey, Jennine

2013-11-01

The field of public health faces a challenge in preventing adverse sexual and reproductive health outcomes such as sexually transmitted diseases, unintended pregnancy, and dating and sexual violence among adolescents. Innovative approaches are needed to better address these issues. Focusing on healthy relationships is an emerging approach that may be used to promote adolescent sexual and reproductive health. In this report, we discuss the need for innovative and efficient strategies for adolescent sexual and reproductive health, the benefits of a healthy relationships approach, describe the need for a science-based conceptual framework on healthy relationships, and provide some considerations for developing a conceptual framework of healthy relationships in order to move the field of public health forward.

The Zika Virus Outbreak in Brazil: Knowledge Gaps and Challenges for Risk Reduction.

PubMed

Garcia Serpa Osorio-de-Castro, Claudia; Silva Miranda, Elaine; Machado de Freitas, Carlos; Rochel de Camargo, Kenneth; Cranmer, Hilarie Hartel

2017-06-01

We analyzed uncertainties and complexities of the Zika virus outbreak in Brazil, and we discuss risk reduction for future emergencies. We present the public health situation in Brazil and concurrent determinants of the epidemic and the knowledge gaps that persist despite building evidence from research, making public health decisions difficult. Brazil has adopted active measures, but producing desired outcomes may be uncertain because of partial or unavailable information. Reducing population group vulnerabilities and acting on environmental issues are medium- to long-term measures. Simultaneously dealing with information gaps, uncontrolled disease spread, and vulnerabilities is a new risk scenario and must be approached decisively to face emerging biothreats.

The Role of Virtual Globes in Geoscience

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bailey, John E.; Chen, Aijun

2011-01-01

One of the difficulties faced by Earth scientists of all disciplines is how to effectively communicate their research to both other scientists and the general public. With increased attention paid to the health of the planet, the activities of geoscientists in particular are falling under the spotlight of public interest. In age where the internet availability has brought an expectation of information being instantly visible in a graphically rich format, the development of Virtual Globes --computer-based representations of the real-world--has become a natural progression for how best to view these data. In this special issue we bring together a cross-selection of the many examples of how Virtual Globe technologies are being used for geoscience.

Primary care pediatrics and public health: meeting the needs of today's children.

PubMed

Kuo, Alice A; Etzel, Ruth A; Chilton, Lance A; Watson, Camille; Gorski, Peter A

2012-12-01

The proportion of children suffering from chronic illnesses--such as asthma and obesity, which have significant environmental components--is increasing. Chronic disease states previously seen only in adulthood are emerging during childhood, and health inequalities by social class are increasing. Advocacy to ensure environmental health and to protect from the biological embedding of toxic stress has become a fundamental part of pediatrics. We have presented the rationale for addressing environmental and social determinants of children's health, the epidemiology of issues facing children's health, recent innovations in pediatric medical education that have incorporated public health principles, and policy opportunities that have arisen with the passage of the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Differences in Attributions for Public and Private Face-to-face and Cyber Victimization Among Adolescents in China, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, India, Japan, and the United States.

PubMed

Wright, Michelle F; Yanagida, Takuya; Aoyama, Ikuko; Dědková, Lenka; Li, Zheng; Kamble, Shanmukh V; Bayraktar, Fatih; Ševčíková, Anna; Soudi, Shruti; Macháčková, Hana; Lei, Li; Shu, Chang

2017-01-01

The authors' aim was to investigate gender and cultural differences in the attributions used to determine causality for hypothetical public and private face-to-face and cyber victimization scenarios among 3,432 adolescents (age range = 11-15 years; 49% girls) from China, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, India, Japan, and the United States, while accounting for their individualism and collectivism. Adolescents completed a questionnaire on cultural values and read four hypothetical victimization scenarios, including public face-to-face victimization, public cyber victimization, private face-to-face victimization, and private cyber victimization. After reading the scenarios, they rated different attributions (i.e., self-blame, aggressor-blame, joking, normative, conflict) according to how strongly they believed the attributions explained why victimization occurred. Overall, adolescents reported that they would utilize the attributions of self-blame, aggressor-blame, and normative more for public forms of victimization and face-to-face victimization than for private forms of victimization and cyber victimization. Differences were found according to gender and country of origin as well. Such findings underscore the importance of delineating between different forms of victimization when examining adolescents' attributions.

Sustainability assessment for the transportation environment of Darjeeling, India.

PubMed

Nag, Dipanjan; Paul, Subrata Kr; Saha, Swati; Goswami, Arkopal K

2018-05-01

Darjeeling is an important tourist hill town of West Bengal, India. It suffers from an acute problem of transportation, particularly during its peak tourist seasons due to limited road space, inadequate public transport facilities and indiscriminate use of automobiles. This hill town was originally designed for a population of 10,000, but over the years, it has come face-to-face with rapid urbanization, a rising population of both tourists and residents and intensifying motor vehicle usage. These factors together are posing a threat to its transport environment. This study identifies the Sustainable Transport Indicators (STIs) available in the existing literature to identify the critical stretches using Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) based on experts' consensus. It was found that the experts placed emphasis on the mobility of the town, talking about vehicular impact on air pollution and encroachment of roads as the main issues affecting the sustainability of the transport environment. Thereafter, policy-level interventions have been suggested in accordance with the identified sustainability issues. We trust that other tourist hill towns with issues similar to Darjeeling could easily emulate the study methodology to assess their transport environment sustainability, or replicate on the lines of the recommended policy interventions. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

An Exploration of the Characteristics of Public Relations in Regards to Face-to-Face versus Distance Learning in Two Private Liberal Arts Higher Education Settings

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Winslow, Cessna Catherine Smith

2014-01-01

This study explored perceptions of Public Relations (PR) among graduate higher education publics regarding distance learning as contrasted with face-to-face learning contexts. The research questions assessed student, faculty and administrator perceptions of characteristics of PR: trust, communication, quality, respect and rigor. Participants…

Differences in Coping Strategies for Public and Private Face-to-Face and Cyber Victimization among Adolescents in Six Countries

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wright, Michelle F.; Yanagida, Takuya; Ševcíková, Anna; Aoyama, Ikuko; Dedková, Lenka; Machácková, Hana; Li, Zheng; Kamble, Shanmukh V.; Bayraktar, Fatih; Soudi, Shruti; Lei, Li; Shu, Chang

2016-01-01

The aim of this study was to examine the role of publicity (private versus public) and medium (face-to-face versus cyber) in adolescents' coping strategies for hypothetical victimization, while also considering culture. Participants were adolescents from China, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, India, Japan, and the United States. The study also…

A profession under threat? An exploratory case study of changes in Norwegian public health nursing.

PubMed

Clancy, Anne

2007-06-01

The first courses for public health nurses in Norway were held in the 1920s-1930s. In 1957, the Act regulating public health nursing was passed. Norwegian public health nurses have a primary role in promoting health and preventing illnesses. Their role has changed with a changing society. This article shows some of the challenges the nurses have faced. It focuses on collaboration, tasks, leadership and authority/status. The study's intentions are exploratory. It looks into how the nurses experience their changing role. A single case with an embedded design is the method chosen; the case is 'Changes in the role of the Norwegian public health nurse during the period 1984-2005'. Document analysis and interviews are sources of evidence. The findings show that public health nurses' visibility seems to be an important issue. There are some divergences between relevant literature on the nurses' professional status and the views of the nurses in the study. Several other public health professionals have lost tasks and formal positions of authority. The nurses interviewed still feel that they are a respected and trusted profession despite being less visible. A recent study among parents who frequent local clinics confirms their important role. Can the nurses' lack of visibility have undesired outcomes? A profession that is unassuming, not visible and that fights silent battles may have problems being heard when it tries to promote issues concerning family health. Further studies are indicated.

Employee empowerment, innovative behavior and job productivity of public health nurses: a cross-sectional questionnaire survey.

PubMed

Chang, Li-Chun; Liu, Chieh-Hsing

2008-10-01

Employee empowerment is an important organizational issue. Empowered employees with new ideas and innovative attributes may increase their ability to respond more effectively to face extensive changes in current public health care work environments. The objective of this study was to investigate the relationships between employee empowerment, innovative behaviors and job productivity of public health nurses (PHNs). This study conducted a cross-sectional research design. Purposive sampling was conducted from six health bureaus in northern Taiwan. 670 PHNs were approached and 576 valid questionnaires were collected, with a response rate of 85.9%. Structured questionnaires were used to collect data by post. Meaning and competence subscales of psychological empowerment, information and opportunity subscales of organizational empowerment, and innovative behaviors were the predictors of job productivity, only accounting for 16.4% of the variance. The competence subscale of psychological empowerment made the most contribution to job productivity (beta = 0.31). Meaning subscale of psychological empowerment has a negative impact on job productivity. Employee empowerment and innovative behavior of PHNs have little influence on job productivity. Employees with greater competence for delivering public health showed higher self-evaluated job productivity. The negative influences on job productivity possibly caused by conflict meaning on public health among PHNs in current public health policy. It should be an issue in further researches. Public health department should strengthen continuing education to foster competence of psychological sense of empowerment and innovative behavior to increase job productivity

Older LGBT adult training panels: an opportunity to educate about issues faced by the older LGBT community.

PubMed

Rogers, Anissa; Rebbe, Rebecca; Gardella, Chanel; Worlein, Mary; Chamberlin, Mya

2013-01-01

Older lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) adults face unique issues that can impede their well-being. Although many advances have helped address these issues, there is a need for education efforts that raise awareness of service providers about these issues. This study explores evaluation data of training panels provided by older LGBT adults and the views of training participants on issues faced by the older LGBT community after attending the panels. Participants were 605 students and professionals from over 34 education and communication settings. Implications for trainings on participants and older LGBT trainers are discussed.

[Women's health in violent situations: municipal administrative roles and decision-making in the Brazilian public health system].

PubMed

Porto, Madge; McCallum, Cecilia; Scott, Russell Parry; de Morais, Heloísa M Mendonça

2003-01-01

The aim of this study was to investigate the role of health management staff concerning the health of women facing violent situations and the impact these roles have on decisions concerning health measures targeting these women. The study employed a qualitative, descriptive methodology including 18 health management staff members from three municipalities classified as having fully autonomous municipal management systems under the Unified National Health System (SUS) in Greater Metropolitan Recife, Pernambuco State, Brazil. Staff members were divided into three distinct groups according to their opinions on women in violent situations and women's health interventions. However, the three groups were convergent with respect to their roles in determining decisions on health actions for these women. The health management staff's commitment to the feminist movement proved to be the most relevant factor. Common issues among staff members, such as the problem of public health and quality of living, or more technically, the cost-benefit issue, did appear as key arguments.

[Mass culling in the context of animal disease outbreaks--veterinarians caught between ethical issues and control policies].

PubMed

Hartnack, Sonja; Doherr, Marcus G; Grimm, Herwig; Kunzmann, Peter

2009-04-01

In recent years controversial discussions arose during major animal disease outbreaks in the EU about the ethical soundness of mass culling. In contrast to numerous publications about ethical issues and laboratory animals/animal experiments, literature concerning ethical deliberations in the case of mass culling as a means of outbreak control remain scarce. Veterinarians in charge of decision about and implementation of mass culling actions find themselves in an area of conflict in between the officially required animal disease control policy and a public that is increasingly critical. Those veterinarians are faced with the challenge to defend the relevant decisions against all stakeholders and also themselves. In this context an interdisciplinary workshop was initiated in Switzerland in October 2007 with ethicians and (official) veterinarians from Germany, Switzerland and Austria. With the aim to identify ethical components of animal disease control for official veterinarians, talks and moderated group discussions took place. This article summarizes selected discussion points and conclusions.

Firearms injuries and deaths: a critical public health issue. American Medical Association Council on Scientific Affairs.

PubMed Central

1989-01-01

The prevention of firearm deaths and injuries is one of the most complex and controversial issues facing the public health profession in recent years. Laws have been enacted to control or discourage private gun ownership, and especially to eliminate guns from the hands of criminals, but the laws' effects in reducing crime and firearm-related injuries and deaths have been disappointing. Gunshot wounds are the 12th leading cause of death in the United States and more than half of all suicides are committed with guns. There are virtually no reliable data on the number of nonfatal firearm injuries. One of the most troubling aspects of handgun violence is that children often are the victims. Educational efforts have been attempted to promote the safer use of firearms, but they have not led to a significant reduction in the number of fatalities, since most firearm incidents are intended to do harm. PMID:2495544

Integrating ethics in public health education: the process of developing case studies.

PubMed

Tulchinsky, Theodore; Jennings, Bruce; Viehbeck, Sarah

2015-01-01

The study of ethics in public health became a societal imperative following the horrors of pre World War II eugenics, the Holocaust, and the Tuskegee Experiment (and more recent similar travesties). International responses led to: the Nuremberg Doctors' Trials, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), and the Convention on Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (CCPCG, 1948), which includes sanctions against incitement to genocide. The Declaration of Geneva (1948) set forth the physician's dedication to the humanitarian goals of medicine, a declaration especially important in view of the medical crimes which had just been committed in Nazi Germany. This led to a modern revision of the Hippocratic Oath in the form of the Declaration of Helsinki (1964) for medical research ethical standards, which has been renewed periodically and adopted worldwide to ensure ethical research practices. Public health ethics differs from traditional biomedical ethics in many respects, specifically in its emphasis on societal considerations of prevention, equity, and population-level issues. Health care systems are increasingly faced with the need to integrate clinical medicine with public health and health policy. As health systems and public health evolve, the ethical issues in health care also bridge the gap between the separation of bioethics and public health ethics in the past. These complexities calls for the inclusion of ethics in public health education curricula and competencies across the many professions in public health, in the policy arena, as well as educational engagement with the public and the lay communities and other stakeholders.

DOT's Budget: Safety, Management, and Other Issues Facing the Department in Fiscal Year 1998 and Beyond

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1997-03-06

This testimony discusses key resource management issues and performance challenges facing the Department of Transportation in 1998 and beyond. 1. Increased safety and security concerns prompted by accidents and maintenance issues. 2. Important manage...

Blame the Patient, Blame the Doctor or Blame the System? A Meta-Synthesis of Qualitative Studies of Patient Safety in Primary Care

PubMed Central

Daker-White, Gavin; Hays, Rebecca; McSharry, Jennifer; Giles, Sally; Cheraghi-Sohi, Sudeh; Rhodes, Penny; Sanders, Caroline

2015-01-01

Objective Studies of patient safety in health care have traditionally focused on hospital medicine. However, recent years have seen more research located in primary care settings which have different features compared to secondary care. This study set out to synthesize published qualitative research concerning patient safety in primary care in order to build a conceptual model. Method Meta-ethnography, an interpretive synthesis method whereby third order interpretations are produced that best describe the groups of findings contained in the reports of primary studies. Results Forty-eight studies were included as 5 discrete subsets where the findings were translated into one another: patients’ perspectives of safety, staff perspectives of safety, medication safety, systems or organisational issues and the primary/secondary care interface. The studies were focused predominantly on issues seen to either improve or compromise patient safety. These issues related to the characteristics or behaviour of patients, staff or clinical systems and interactions between staff, patients and staff, or people and systems. Electronic health records, protocols and guidelines could be seen to both degrade and improve patient safety in different circumstances. A conceptual reading of the studies pointed to patient safety as a subjective feeling or judgement grounded in moral views and with potentially hidden psychological consequences affecting care processes and relationships. The main threats to safety appeared to derive from ‘grand’ systems issues, for example involving service accessibility, resources or working hours which may not be amenable to effective intervention by individual practices or health workers, especially in the context of a public health system. Conclusion Overall, the findings underline the human elements in patient safety primary health care. The key to patient safety lies in effective face-to-face communication between patients and health care staff or between the different staff involved in the care of an individual patient. Electronic systems can compromise safety when they override the opportunities for face-to-face communication. The circumstances under which guidelines or protocols are seen to either compromise or improve patient safety needs further investigation. PMID:26244494

Radiotherapy for Metastatic Breast Cancer in Mexico: Results from the 2015 National Survey.

PubMed

Álvarez-Águila, Nora; Cook, Hilary; Prada, Diddier; Mota-García, Aida; Herrera, Luis A; Mohar-Betancourt, Alejandro; Meneses-García, Abelardo; Knaul, Felicia M

2017-01-01

Radiation therapy is a keystone to improve survival and quality of life in breast cancer patients. In Mexico, however, scarce information is available on the obstacles faced by radio-oncologists to provide appropriate treatment. To determine the most frequent issues faced by physicians to provide radiation therapy for metastatic breast cancer in Mexico. A survey of 16 multiple-choice questions to be answered electronically by 167 radio-oncologists currently working in Mexico was designed and thereafter analyzed for differences between private and public practices, based on the responses from the surveyed participants. 98.5% of surveyed responders attended patients with breast cancer. We observed a significant difference between private vs. public practice for the main difficulties in providing radiation therapy, with an increased frequency (85.8%) of "treatment cost by itself" in private practice vs. 50.7% in public practice (p < 0.05). Significant differences were observed in the "Time to initiate treatment" question, with "Less than one week" as the response in 86% of those physicians in private practice vs. 50% for those in public practice (p < 0.001). Using a survey targeted at radio-oncologists, we analyzed the most important obstacles for accessing radiation therapy for metastatic breast cancer in Mexico. This information may be useful for healthcare decisions related to radiation therapy in women with breast cancer in Mexico.

The Effect of Public Service Advertising on Cardiovascular Disease in Korea

PubMed Central

JANG, Juhyun; NA, Baeg Ju; LEE, Moo-Sik; SEO, Soonryu; SUNG, Changhyun; KIM, Hyun Joo; LEE, Jin Yong

2016-01-01

Background: Public Service Advertising (PSA) is a public interest message disseminated in the form of an advertisement communication and its main purpose is to promote public behavioral changes regarding a social issue. Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) has been delivering PSA by various media. However, the effect of PSAs has never been evaluated. The purpose of this study was to estimate the effects of broadcasted PSA produced by KCDC on cardiovascular disease (CVD). Methods: One thousand adult participants throughout 15 provinces in Korea were chosen through the quota sampling method in 2012. A face-to-face research survey with 13 questions was conducted using a Computer Assisted Personal Interview (CAPI) system. Previous exposure to the PSA message, understanding, and behavioral intention to change was assessed. Results: After watching the PSA, about 75% of participants answered that they could understand the contents well and 70% had willingness to change their behaviors associated with CVD. However, only 24% of participants answered they watched the PSA during the past year. Conclusion: The PSA had positive effects on increasing the level of understanding and intention to change behaviors regarding CVD. However, the level of exposure was low. KCDC should make an effort to increase the public exposure level, which could be an important success factor regarding the PSA. In addition, KCDC should consider customized PSA for vulnerable people such as multi-cultural families, the disabled, and the elderly. PMID:27928529

A comparative analysis of traditional and online lab science transfer courses in the rural community college

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Scott, Andrea

Through distance learning, the community college system has moved beyond geographical boundaries to serve all students and provide educational opportunities at a distance to individuals previously out of reach of the college community. With the inception of the Mississippi Virtual Community College (MSVCC) in January 2000, Mississippi's public community colleges have experienced unprecedented growth in online enrollments and online course offerings to include the laboratory sciences; however, transfer of online lab science courses are problematic for individuals who wish to gain admittance to Medical, Dental, and Pharmacy schools in Mississippi. Currently online lab science courses are not accepted for transfer for students seeking admission to Mississippi Medical, Dental, or Pharmacy schools. The need for this study, the statement of the problem, and the purpose of the study address transfer issues related to the transfer of online lab science courses in Mississippi and the impact of such on the student and community college. The study also addresses existing doubts regarding online course delivery as a viable method of lab science delivery. The purpose of the study was to investigate differences between online instructional delivery as compared to traditional face-to-face delivery with the following research questions to: (1) Investigate the perception of quality of online courses as compared to traditional face-to-face courses. (2) Investigate the difference in student performance in online transfer lab science courses as compared to student performance in traditional face-to-face lab science courses. The results of this 13 semester study show significant differences in both perception of quality and student performance between online instructional delivery as compared to traditional face-to-face delivery. The findings demonstrate a need for Mississippi Dental, Medical, and Pharmacy schools to reexamine the articulation agreement between IHL and Community and Junior Colleges and consider accepting online lab sciences courses taken at the community college as transfer for admission to Medical, Dental, and Pharmacy schools. Conclusions are included in the study; however, additional studies are needed to address the issue of student performance in the online lab science classroom.

Gender Inequality for Women in Plastic Surgery: A Systematic Scoping Review.

PubMed

Bucknor, Alexandra; Kamali, Parisa; Phillips, Nicole; Mathijssen, Irene; Rakhorst, Hinne; Lin, Samuel J; Furnas, Heather

2018-06-01

Previous research has highlighted the gender-based disparities present throughout the field of surgery. This study aims to evaluate the breadth of the issues facing women in plastic surgery, worldwide. A systematic scoping review was undertaken from October of 2016 to January of 2017, with no restrictions on date or language. A narrative synthesis of the literature according to themed issues was developed, together with a summary of relevant numeric data. From the 2247 articles identified, 55 articles were included in the analysis. The majority of articles were published from the United States. Eight themes were identified, as follows: (1) workforce figures; (2) gender bias and discrimination; (3) leadership and academia; (4) mentorship and role models; (5) pregnancy, parenting, and childcare; (6) relationships, work-life balance, and professional satisfaction; (7) patient/public preference; and (8) retirement and financial planning. Despite improvement in numbers over time, women plastic surgeons continue to be underrepresented in the United States, Canada, and Europe, with prevalence ranging from 14 to 25.7 percent. Academic plastic surgeons are less frequently female than male, and women academic plastic surgeons score less favorably when outcomes of academic success are evaluated. Finally, there has been a shift away from overt discrimination toward a more ingrained, implicit bias, and most published cases of bias and discrimination are in association with pregnancy. The first step toward addressing the issues facing women plastic surgeons is recognition and articulation of the issues. Further research may focus on analyzing geographic variation in the issues and developing appropriate interventions.

Why Research Design and Methods Is So Crucial to Understanding Drug Use/Abuse: Introduction to the Special Issue.

PubMed

Scheier, Lawrence M

2018-06-01

The collection of articles in this special issue both raise the bar and inspire new thinking with regard to both design and methodology concerns that influence drug use/abuse research. Thematically speaking, the articles focus on issues related to missing data, response formats, strategies for data harmonization, propensity scoring methods as an alternative to randomized control trials, integrative data analysis, statistical corrections to reduce bias from attrition, challenges faced from conducting large-scale evaluations, and employing abductive theory of method as an alternative to the more traditional hypothetico-deductive reasoning. Collectively, these issues are of paramount importance as they provide specific means to improve our investigative tools and refine the logical framework we employ to examine the problem of drug use/abuse. Each of the authors addresses a specific challenge outlining how it affects our current research efforts and then outlines remedies that can advance the field. To their credit, they have included issues that affect both etiology and prevention, thus broadening our horizons as we learn more about developmental processes causally related to drug use/abuse and intervention strategies that can mitigate developmental vulnerability. This is the essential dialogue required to advance our intellectual tool kit and improve the research skills we bring to bear on the important questions facing the field of drug use/abuse. Ultimately, the goal is to increase our ability to identify the causes and consequences of drug use/abuse and find ways to ameliorate these problems as we engage the public health agenda.

Population health intervention research training: the value of public health internships and mentorship.

PubMed

Hamelin, Anne-Marie; Paradis, Gilles

2018-01-01

Better alignment between academia and public health practice and policies are critical to improve public health actions. Training of future researchers to address complex issues and to conduct transdisciplinary and collaborative research will help improve this alignment. In this paper, we describe the role of internship placements and mentorship for trainees' skills development in population health intervention research and the benefits of embedding research trainees within public health organizations. This qualitative descriptive study assessed the perceptions of the role and benefits of internships and mentorship for population health intervention research training among former doctoral and postdoctoral students, public health mentors, and senior public health managers who participated in the 4P Program, a research training program which bridges academic training and the public health system in Quebec, Canada. Two types of interviews were conducted: telephone semi-structured interviews by an external evaluator and face-to-face trainee "exit" interviews by the Program co-director. Semi-annual evaluation reports from each trainee were also reviewed. Qualitative data were subjected to a thematic analysis. Internships provided trainees with a working knowledge of the public health system and the context in which decisions and public health interventions are implemented. It was an opportunity for trainees to interact with knowledge-user partners and assess the gap between research and practice. Effective mentorship was key to help trainees interpret the public health reality and develop population health intervention research skills. Trainees learned to ask the "how" questions that are critical for in-depth understanding of complex interventions and the conditions under which they can be best implemented. Conditions of success of internships and mentorship for population health intervention research included the alignment of the interests between the trainee, the mentor and the public health organization, quality mentoring, and the acquisition of specific population health intervention skills, especially collaborative research skills. The findings suggest that public health internships and mentorship facilitate trainee engagement in applied public health research.

State of security at US colleges and universities: a national stakeholder assessment and recommendations.

PubMed

Greenberg, Sheldon F

2007-09-01

In 2004 the US Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, sponsored a National Summit on Campus Public Safety. The summit brought together various stakeholders including campus police and security officials, local police chiefs, college and university faculty and administrators, federal officials, students and parents, and community leaders to address the issues and complexities of campus safety. Delegates to the summit identified key issues in campus safety and security, which included establishing a national center on campus safety, balancing traditional open environments with the need to secure vulnerable sites, improving coordination with state and local police, reducing internal fragmentation, elevating professionalism, and increasing eligibility of campus police and security agencies to compete for federal law enforcement funds. Focus on "active shooters" on campus, resulting from the Virginia Tech incident, should not diminish attention placed on the broader, more prevalent safety and security issues facing the nation's educational campuses. Recommendations resulting from the summit called for establishing a national agenda on campus safety, formation of a national center on campus public safety, and increased opportunity for campus police and security agencies to compete for federal and state funds.

Don't look at me in anger! Enhanced processing of angry faces in anticipation of public speaking.

PubMed

Wieser, Matthias J; Pauli, Paul; Reicherts, Philipp; Mühlberger, Andreas

2010-03-01

Anxiety is supposed to enhance the processing of threatening information. Here, we investigated the cortical processing of angry faces during anticipated public speaking. To elicit anxiety, a group of participants was told that they would have to perform a public speech. As a control condition, another group was told that they would have to write a short essay. During anticipation of these tasks, participants saw facial expressions (angry, happy, and neutral) while electroencephalogram was recorded. Event-related potential analysis revealed larger N170 amplitudes for angry compared to happy and neutral faces in the anxiety group. The early posterior negativity as an index of motivated attention was also enhanced for angry compared to happy and neutral faces in participants anticipating public speaking. These results indicate that fear of public speaking influences early perceptual processing of faces such that especially the processing of angry faces is facilitated.

Evolutionary concepts in biobanking - the BC BioLibrary

PubMed Central

2009-01-01

Background Medical research to improve health care faces a major problem in the relatively limited availability of adequately annotated and collected biospecimens. This limitation is creating a growing gap between the pace of scientific advances and successful exploitation of this knowledge. Biobanks are an important conduit for transfer of biospecimens (tissues, blood, body fluids) and related health data to research. They have evolved outside of the historical source of tissue biospecimens, clinical pathology archives. Research biobanks have developed advanced standards, protocols, databases, and mechanisms to interface with researchers seeking biospecimens. However, biobanks are often limited in their capacity and ability to ensure quality in the face of increasing demand. Our strategy to enhance both capacity and quality in research biobanking is to create a new framework that repatriates the activity of biospecimen accrual for biobanks to clinical pathology. Methods The British Columbia (BC) BioLibrary is a framework to maximize the accrual of high-quality, annotated biospecimens into biobanks. The BC BioLibrary design primarily encompasses: 1) specialized biospecimen collection units embedded within clinical pathology and linked to a biospecimen distribution system that serves biobanks; 2) a systematic process to connect potential donors with biobanks, and to connect biobanks with consented biospecimens; and 3) interdisciplinary governance and oversight informed by public opinion. Results The BC BioLibrary has been embraced by biobanking leaders and translational researchers throughout BC, across multiple health authorities, institutions, and disciplines. An initial pilot network of three Biospecimen Collection Units has been successfully established. In addition, two public deliberation events have been held to obtain input from the public on the BioLibrary and on issues including consent, collection of biospecimens and governance. Conclusion The BC BioLibrary framework addresses common issues for clinical pathology, biobanking, and translational research across multiple institutions and clinical and research domains. We anticipate that our framework will lead to enhanced biospecimen accrual capacity and quality, reduced competition between biobanks, and a transparent process for donors that enhances public trust in biobanking. PMID:19909513

Science-policy challenges for biodiversity, public health and urbanization: examples from Belgium

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Keune, H.; Kretsch, C.; De Blust, G.; Gilbert, M.; Flandroy, L.; Van den Berge, K.; Versteirt, V.; Hartig, T.; De Keersmaecker, L.; Eggermont, H.; Brosens, D.; Dessein, J.; Vanwambeke, S.; Prieur-Richard, A. H.; Wittmer, H.; Van Herzele, A.; Linard, C.; Martens, P.; Mathijs, E.; Simoens, I.; Van Damme, P.; Volckaert, F.; Heyman, P.; Bauler, T.

2013-06-01

Internationally, the importance of a coordinated effort to protect both biodiversity and public health is more and more recognized. These issues are often concentrated or particularly challenging in urban areas, and therefore on-going urbanization worldwide raises particular issues both for the conservation of living natural resources and for population health strategies. These challenges include significant difficulties associated with sustainable management of urban ecosystems, urban development planning, social cohesion and public health. An important element of the challenge is the need to interface between different forms of knowledge and different actors from science and policy. We illustrate this with examples from Belgium, showcasing concrete cases of human-nature interaction. To better tackle these challenges, since 2011, actors in science, policy and the broader Belgian society have launched a number of initiatives to deal in a more integrated manner with combined biodiversity and public health challenges in the face of ongoing urbanization. This emerging community of practice in Belgium exemplifies the importance of interfacing at different levels. (1) Bridges must be built between science and the complex biodiversity/ecosystem-human/public health-urbanization phenomena. (2) Bridges between different professional communities and disciplines are urgently needed. (3) Closer collaboration between science and policy, and between science and societal practice is needed. Moreover, within each of these communities closer collaboration between specialized sections is needed.

U.S. drinking water challenges in the twenty-first century.

PubMed

Levin, Ronnie B; Epstein, Paul R; Ford, Tim E; Harrington, Winston; Olson, Erik; Reichard, Eric G

2002-02-01

The access of almost all 270 million U.S. residents to reliable, safe drinking water distinguishes the United States in the twentieth century from that of the nineteenth century. The United States is a relatively water-abundant country with moderate population growth; nonetheless, current trends are sufficient to strain water resources over time, especially on a regional basis. We have examined the areas of public water infrastructure, global climate effects, waterborne disease (including emerging and resurging pathogens), land use, groundwater, surface water, and the U.S. regulatory history and its horizon. These issues are integrally interrelated and cross all levels of public and private jurisdictions. We conclude that U.S. public drinking water supplies will face challenges in these areas in the next century and that solutions to at least some of them will require institutional changes.

U.S. drinking water challenges in the twenty-first century.

PubMed Central

Levin, Ronnie B; Epstein, Paul R; Ford, Tim E; Harrington, Winston; Olson, Erik; Reichard, Eric G

2002-01-01

The access of almost all 270 million U.S. residents to reliable, safe drinking water distinguishes the United States in the twentieth century from that of the nineteenth century. The United States is a relatively water-abundant country with moderate population growth; nonetheless, current trends are sufficient to strain water resources over time, especially on a regional basis. We have examined the areas of public water infrastructure, global climate effects, waterborne disease (including emerging and resurging pathogens), land use, groundwater, surface water, and the U.S. regulatory history and its horizon. These issues are integrally interrelated and cross all levels of public and private jurisdictions. We conclude that U.S. public drinking water supplies will face challenges in these areas in the next century and that solutions to at least some of them will require institutional changes. PMID:11834462

Chronic disease management in Sub-Saharan Africa: whose business is it?

PubMed

Bischoff, Alexander; Ekoe, Tetanye; Perone, Nicolas; Slama, Slim; Loutan, Louis

2009-08-01

Public health specialists and clinicians alike agree that Humanity faces a global pandemic of chronic diseases in the 21(st) century. In this article we discuss the implications of this pandemic on another global issue, the health workforce. Because both issues are particularly acute in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), we will focus on this region and use Cameroon as a case in point. We first gauge the epidemic of chronic conditions in SSA. We then discuss the implications of chronic conditions for the reshaping of health systems and the health workforce. We conclude by making a strong case for the building up and strengthening the health workforce, insisting on the crucial role of nurses, their training, and involvement in chronic disease management.

Chronic Disease Management in Sub-Saharan Africa: Whose Business Is It?

PubMed Central

Bischoff, Alexander; Ekoe, Tetanye; Perone, Nicolas; Slama, Slim; Loutan, Louis

2009-01-01

Public health specialists and clinicians alike agree that Humanity faces a global pandemic of chronic diseases in the 21st century. In this article we discuss the implications of this pandemic on another global issue, the health workforce. Because both issues are particularly acute in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), we will focus on this region and use Cameroon as a case in point. We first gauge the epidemic of chronic conditions in SSA. We then discuss the implications of chronic conditions for the reshaping of health systems and the health workforce. We conclude by making a strong case for the building up and strengthening the health workforce, insisting on the crucial role of nurses, their training, and involvement in chronic disease management. PMID:19742159

Ensuring living condition for ageing population by public-private partnership (PPP)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Konjar, Miha; Nikšič, Matej; Grom, Janez Peter; Mujkić, Sabina; Fikfak, Alenka

2018-03-01

Lack of financial resources has become one of the main issues in fulfilling social and physical needs in urban development. The declining levels of public resources make the collaboration between public and private investors necessary. When facing the challenges of ageing population, shared investment may contribute to the appropriate development of sheltered housing to meet the goals of spatial planning as well as certain standards at the level of urban design. By ensuring appropriate living conditions for all generations such urban PPP projects may contribute to the fulfilment of the public interest. The paper presents practice of PPP implementation in Ljubljana, Slovenia, where local authority with the collaboration of private partners ensured more than 400 sheltered apartments in the last years. Examples show the extension of the idea from the 70s onwards in finding new models of housing for the aging population. The development of new models can be a good example of strengthening the cooperation between public and private partners in the field of urban development practice.

The ethics of health service delivery: a challenge to public health leadership.

PubMed

DeLuca, D M

1989-01-01

The ethical distribution of health care is a central issue now that AIDS has started to be a drain on health care resources. If the worst predictions are true, the next half century will be capitalized by a great stress of the health care delivery system in the Pacific. The critical challenges that face the current leadership are: sustaining commitment to all levels of administration to reduce social and health inequities; making sound decisions on policies, priorities and goals that are based on valid information; strengthen health infrastructure, based on the principle of primary health care, including appropriate distribution of staffing, skills, technology and resources. The goals of the Pacific Health Promotion and Development center must not focus exclusively on AIDs. Hepatitis B control measures, hypertension and diabetes, primary care in remote areas, and rehabilitation initiatives must be kept in place. Humanitarian interests for AIDs patients must be balanced with the pragmatic reality of saving children's hearing, or extending useful lives. The attributes of respect, accountability, leadership, judgement, fairness, integrity and honesty controlled by principles of social justice must be part of the administrative decision making process. The 2 major issues facing public health professional are: (1) the financial considerations involved with increasingly expensive technology, services and research, contrasted against the need to prioritize their use and development; (2) pragmatic and ideological needs must be balanced to maximize preventative and curative services and make them available to those who can benefit from them.

Addressing global change challenges for Central Asian socio-ecosystems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Qi, Jiaguo; Bobushev, Temirbek S.; Kulmatov, Rashid; Groisman, Pavel; Gutman, Garik

2012-06-01

Central Asia is one of the most vulnerable regions on the planet earth to global climate change, depending on very fragile natural resources. The Soviet legacy has left the five countries (Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan) with a highly integrated system but they are facing great challenges with tensions that hinder regional coordination of food and water resources. With increasing climate variability and warming trend in the region, food and water security issues become even more crucial now and, if not addressed properly, could affect the regional stability. The long-term drivers of these two most critical elements, food and water, are climate change; the immediate and probably more drastic factors affecting the food and water security are land uses driven by institutional change and economic incentives. As a feedback, changes in land use and land cover have directly implications on water uses, food production, and lifestyles of the rural community in the region. Regional and international efforts have been made to holistically understand the cause, extent, rate and societal implications of land use changes in the region. Much of these have been understood, or under investigation by various projects, but solutions or research effort to develop solutions, to these urgent regional issues are lacking. This article, serves as an introduction to the special issue, provides a brief overview of the challenges facing the Central Asian countries and various international efforts in place that resulted in the publications of this special issue.

Temporal trends in pharmacology publications by pharmacy institutes: A deeper dig.

PubMed

Bhatt, Parloop Amit; Patel, Zarana

2016-10-01

Publications in Indian Journal of Pharmacology (IJP) are the face of contemporary pharmacology practices followed in health-care profession - a knowledge-based profession. It depicts trends in terms of quantity (proportions), quality, type (preclinical/clinical), thrust areas, etc., of pharmacology followed by biomedical community professions both nationally and internationally. This article aims to establish temporal trends in pharmacology research by pharmacy institutes in light of its publications to IJP from 2010 to 2015. The website of IJP was searched for publications year and issue wise for contributing authors from pharmacy institutions and analyzed for types of publications, their source and the categories of research documented in these publications. A total of 1034 articles were published, of which 189 (18%) articles were published by pharmacy institutes, of which 90% ( n = 170) were contributed from pharmacy institutes within India whereas 10% ( n = 19) from international pharmacy institutes. 75% of these were research publication, the majority of which (65%) were related to preclinical screening of phytochemical constituents from plants. With multi and interdisciplinary collaborations in pharmacy profession the trend needs to improve toward molecular and cellular pharmacology and clinical studies.

What do you mean by a periodical? Forms and functions

PubMed Central

Corsi, Pietro

2016-01-01

The word ‘periodical’ immediately calls to mind huge stacks of bound volumes neatly arranged on library shelves. Yet, in historical terms, it would be hard to claim that ‘periodical’ is a word endowed with a definite and univocal connotation. Even the criterion of ‘periodicity’ leaves a lot out of account. Forms historically assumed by periodicals often envisaged regular schedules of appearance, but this was often more of a wish than a reality. Thus, great care needs to be taken in accepting at face value the dating of issues and volumes. Scientific periodicals, whether purely professional or purely commercial (and the many forms in between), existed in given historical circumstances and had to compete with different and alternative forms of publication which were also issued in instalments (especially dictionaries and encyclopaedias). They were not the only or even the preferred vehicle for a scientist to communicate or engage in debate. The role of the reading public, in science as well as in many other matters, was never one of a passive receiver: during the long nineteenth century, in several countries, readers claimed the right to intervene in scientific debates, and favoured publications that appeared to accommodate their demands.

The challenges of social marketing of organ donation: news and entertainment coverage of donation and transplantation.

PubMed

Harrison, Tyler R; Morgan, Susan E; Chewning, Lisa V

2008-01-01

While great strides have been made in persuading the public to become potential organ donors, actual behavior has not yet caught up with the nearly universally favorable attitudes the public expresses toward donation. This paper explores the issue by situating the social marketing of organ donation against a broader backdrop of entertainment and news media coverage of organ donation. Organ donation storylines are featured on broadcast television in medical and legal dramas, soap operas, and other television serials approximately four times per month (not including most cable networks), and feature storylines that promote myths and fears of the organ donation process. National news and other non-fictionalized coverage of organ donation are even more common, with stories appearing over twenty times a month on average. These stories tend to be one-dimensional and highly sensationalized in their coverage. The marketing of organ donation for entertainment essentially creates a counter-campaign to organ donation, with greater resources and reach than social marketers have access to. Understanding the broader environmental context of organ donation messages highlights the issues faced by social marketing campaigns in persuading the public to become potential donors.

Occupational Safety and Related Impacts on Health  and the Environment.

PubMed

Watterson, Andrew

2016-10-05

The inter-relationship between safety, health and the 'environment' is a complex and at times a relatively neglected topic. In this issue, 'safety' is often viewed by contributors as 'health and safety' and includes occupationally-related ill health as well as injury or harm to employees and the wider public. 'Environment' is also interpreted in the widest sense covering both physical and work environments with upstream work hazards presenting risks to downstream communities. The focus is very much on exploring and where possible addressing the challenges, some old and some facing workers in a range of public and private settings and also at times their nearby communities. The 19 papers in the issue cover public and private sectors, global and very local populations, macro-theoretical perspectives, large epidemiological and some single factory or hospital site small case studies. A number of the papers are just beginning to explore and draw out for the first time the risks from hazards in their part of the world. The methodologies adopted also range from lab-based studies through ergonomic assessments and interventions to therapeutic approaches.

Current status of coastal zone issues and management in China: a review.

PubMed

Cao, Wenzhi; Wong, Ming H

2007-10-01

This paper identifies and examines social-economic and environmental issues recently emerged in China's coastal zone. Evaluation of management scheme and progress in perspectives of coordinated legislation, institutional arrangement, public participation, capacity building, and scientific research (mainly coastal planning and functional zoning) in China's coastal zone are made. The Chinese government has made a significant effort in developing legislation for the coastal zone. Jurisdictional and zoning boundaries, and allocating use rights for coastal and marine resources have been established. State Oceanic Administration is the leading agency responsible for China's ocean policymaking and overall management of ocean and coastal affairs. A demonstrated project for integrated coastal management in Xiamen has been implemented, and is characterized as "decentralization" approach in decision-making process. In view of the above, comprehensive coastal management in China is a big challenge, facing with many difficulties. Finally, recommendations are raised for tackling these issues for China's coastal zone management.

Facilitating reintegration for military service personnel, veterans, and their families: An introduction to the special issue.

PubMed

Elnitsky, Christine A; Kilmer, Ryan P

2017-01-01

As service members return from active duty and, in some cases, exit the military, they face a process of reintegration (also referred to as community reintegration) as they seek to resume participation in their life roles as civilians. Facilitating this dynamic process of reintegration for service members, veterans, and their families-including outlining potential strategies for supporting this return to civilian life and its demands, roles, and responsibilities-is the focus of this Special Issue. Reintegration has been framed as a national priority (U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, 2015) and has been a point of emphasis of efforts at federal, state, and local levels. As the articles in this issue suggest, multiple public, private, and voluntary systems and the communities to which service members, veterans, and their families return can help influence their health outcomes and, ultimately, their reintegration. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Policy issues facing the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and prospects for the future

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sweeney, J.

1999-04-01

This report is divided into the following 5 sections: (1) Background; (2) Major Issues Facing Ratification of CTBT; (3) Current Status on CTBT Ratification; (4) Status of CTBT Signatories and Ratifiers; and (5) CTBT Activities Not Prohibited. The major issues facing ratification of CTBT discussed here are: impact on CTBT of START II and ABM ratification; impact of India and Pakistan nuclear tests; CTBT entry into force; and establishment of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty Organization.

Critical Social Theory: Core Tenets, Inherent Issues

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Freeman, Melissa; Vasconcelos, Erika Franca S.

2010-01-01

This chapter outlines the core tenets of critical social theory and describes inherent issues facing evaluators conducting critical theory evaluation. Using critical pedagogy as an example, the authors describe the issues facing evaluators by developing four of the subtheories that comprise a critical social theory: (a) a theory of false…

Banning shisha smoking in public places in Iran: an advocacy coalition framework perspective on policy process and change.

PubMed

Khayatzadeh-Mahani, Akram; Breton, Eric; Ruckert, Arne; Labonté, Ronald

2017-07-01

Shisha smoking is a widespread custom in Iran with a rapidly growing prevalence especially among the youth. In this article, we analyze the policy process of enforcing a federal/state ban on shisha smoking in all public places in Kerman Province, Iran. Guided by the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF), we investigate how a shisha smoking ban reached the political agenda in 2011, how it was framed by different policy actors, and why no significant breakthrough took place despite its inclusion on the agenda. We conducted a qualitative study using a case study approach. Two main sources of data were employed: face-to-face in-depth interviews and document analysis of key policy texts. We interviewed 24 policy actors from diverse sectors. A qualitative thematic framework, incorporating both inductive and deductive analyses, was employed to analyze our data. We found that the health sector was the main actor pushing the issue of shisha smoking onto the political agenda by framing it as a public health risk. The health sector and its allies advocated enforcement of a federal law to ban shisha smoking in all public places including teahouses and traditional restaurants whereas another group of actors opposed the ban. The pro-ban group was unable to neutralize the strategies of the anti-ban group and to steer the debate towards the health harms of shisha smoking. Our analysis uncovers three main reasons behind the policy stasis: lack of policy learning due to lack of agreement over evidence and related analytical conflicts between the two groups linked to differences in core and policy beliefs; the inability of the pro-ban group to exploit opportunities in the external policy subsystem through generating stronger public support for enforcement of the shisha smoking ban; and the nature of the institutional setting, in particular the autocratic governance of CHFS which contributed to a lack of policy learning within the policy subsystem. Our research demonstrated the utility of ACF as a theoretical framework for analyzing the policy process and policy change to promote tobacco control. It shows the importance of accounting for policy actors' belief systems and issue-framing in understanding how some issues get more prominence in the policy-making process than others. Our findings further indicate a need for significant resources employed by the state through public awareness campaigns to change public perceptions of shisha smoking in Iran which is a deeply anchored cultural practice. Published by Oxford University Press in association with The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine © The Author 2017; all rights reserved.

Financing care for the uninsured: the dilemma vexes New Jersey hospitals and payers.

PubMed

Wells, E V

1996-05-01

New Jersey's diverse constituencies and special interest groups don't usually agree on a public policy issue. However, almost everyone in the public policy arena agrees that hospitals should treat people who show up in emergency departments with problems requiring medical attention. For over a decade, Garden State policymakers, payers, and providers have faced the dilemma of excess demand on hospitals that treat the uninsured. This demand has risen due to increasing health care costs, development of costly technology, state deregulation of hospital payments, and employers' reluctance to insure workers and their families coupled with a mobile workforce holding part-time and seasonal jobs. The fiscal solvency of inner-city hospitals is threatened yet the problem continues to elude resolution.

Primary Care Pediatrics and Public Health: Meeting the Needs of Today’s Children

PubMed Central

Etzel, Ruth A.; Chilton, Lance A.; Watson, Camille; Gorski, Peter A.

2012-01-01

The proportion of children suffering from chronic illnesses—such as asthma and obesity, which have significant environmental components—is increasing. Chronic disease states previously seen only in adulthood are emerging during childhood, and health inequalities by social class are increasing. Advocacy to ensure environmental health and to protect from the biological embedding of toxic stress has become a fundamental part of pediatrics. We have presented the rationale for addressing environmental and social determinants of children’s health, the epidemiology of issues facing children’s health, recent innovations in pediatric medical education that have incorporated public health principles, and policy opportunities that have arisen with the passage of the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. PMID:23078463

Scholarly Electronic Full-Text Publications via the Internet: Issues and Impacts

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kosmin, Linda J.

1999-01-01

On-line access to complete texts of scholarly journal articles, conference papers, and books is facilitated by rapidly developing World-wide Web Internet access and capabilities. Meanwhile, print publications continue to be produced and read in spite of the proliferation of many networked electronic publications. The purpose of this presentation is to highlight fundamental issues impacting stakeholder groups, as the trend continues towards migration from paper to affordable ubiquitous networked full-text publications. Librarians, publishers, authors and end-users have various viewpoints, interests, and concerns. There are many issues challenging all stakeholder groups. For instance, all share concerns about administering copyright compliance and enforcing fair use. Uncontrollable electronic downstreaming could result in infringed copyright, while limiting a publisher's entitled revenue stream. Moreover, metered fee-based access may hamper scholarly information research. And, self-authoring on the Internet without peer filtering could lead to information clutter. Many related issues challenge librarians in particular. Among these are rising journal subscription prices, regardless if offered in print or electronic. Some electronic offerings are independent of print, others supplement or duplicate print; several publishers presently require subscribing to print in order to access electronic. Furthermore, numbers of publications are n'ow being marketed via the Internet directly to end-users, which can be viewed as encouraging users to bypass the traditional library. A key issue challenging publishers today is the rapidly expanding electronic user base that is demanding delivery of added-value full-text to desktop computers. Also of growing concern appears to be the decline in print sales to libraries, thereby reducing traditional revenue stream potential. Nowadays, publishers are more hesitant about investing in the production of publications geared toward small niche subjects, since these tend to require higher pricing and carry limited sales potential. Both electronic and print publications necessitate similar editorial, production, operating, and marketing dollars. Tradeoffs owing to delivery format difference do not necessarily mean less dollars need to be spent. Authors wishing to publish books are facing a decline in the role of scholarly monographs in electronic media. However, they are witnessing increased roles of electronic preprints and electronic journal articles. Moreover, the Internet fosters self-publishing without peer monitoring or formal review. Issues challenging end-users include electronic barriers to peer-reviewed formal published works (i.e., fee-based subscriptions to journal literature vs. traditional free-library concept). This often means password only access or IP address controlled site-licensed access. Also, in an uncontrolled Internet environment, sometimes there is a blurring of publication authorship/ownership, as various pieces of publications are cut/pasted into/re-posted on various, disconnected Web searchable home pages.

Lay and Expert Perceptions of Planetary Protection

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Race, Margaret S.; MacGregor, Donald G.; Slovic, Paul

2000-01-01

As space scientists and engineers plan new missions to Mars and other planets in our solar system, they will face critical questions about the potential for biological contamination of planetary surfaces. In a society that places ever-increasing importance on the role of public involvement in science and technology policy, questions about risks of biological contamination will be examined and debated in the media, and will lead to the formation of public perceptions of planetary-contamination risks. These perceptions will, over time, form an important input to the development of space policy. Previous research in public and expert perceptions of technological risks and hazards has shown that many of the problems faced by risk-management organizations are the result of differing perceptions of risk (and risk management) between the general public and scientific and technical experts. These differences manifest themselves both as disagreements about the definition (and level) of risk associated with a scientific, technological or industrial enterprise, and as distrust about the ability of risk-management organizations (both public and private) to adequately protect people's health and safety. This report presents the results of a set of survey studies designed to reveal perceptions of planetary exploration and protection from a wide range of respondents, including both members of the general public and experts in the life sciences. The potential value of this research lies in what it reveals about perceptions of risk and benefit that could improve risk-management policies and practices. For example, efforts to communicate with the public about Mars sample return missions could benefit from an understanding of the specific concerns that nonscientists have about such a mission by suggesting areas of potential improvement in public education and information. Assessment of both public and expert perceptions of risk can also be used to provide an advanced signal of aspects of planetary exploration and protection that may be particularly sensitive or controversial and that could prove problematic from a risk-management standpoint, perhaps warranting a more stringent risk-management approach than would otherwise be the case based on technical considerations alone. The design of the study compares perceptions and attitudes about space exploration relevant to a Mars sample return mission between three respondent groups: (1) members of The Planetary Society, a group representing individuals with a strong interest in space-related issues, (2) a group of university-aged students, representing a population relatively sensitive to environmental hazards, and (3) a group of life scientists outside of the space research community. Members of The Planetary Society received the survey as part of a special issue of The Planetary Report on planetary protection, which contained a number of background articles on planetary protection and related topics. A synopsis of the issue was prepared as an introduction to the survey for the other two groups.

Face Values: The Use of Sensitive Error Correction to Address Adolescents' "Face" Issues in the Modern Languages Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Crichton, Hazel; Templeton, Brian; Valdera, Francisco

2017-01-01

Anxiety about "performing" in a foreign language in front of classmates may inhibit learners' contributions in the modern languages class through fear of embarrassment over possible error production. The issue of "face", perceived social standing in the eyes of others, presents a sensitive matter for young adolescents…

Critical Problems Facing Technology Education: Perceptions of Indiana Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lazaros, Edward J.; Rogers, George E.

2006-01-01

In 1993 Wicklein conducted a study to determine the present and the future critical issues and problems facing the technology education (TE) profession. The Wicklein study questioned 25 panelists from 15 states and the District of Columbia to ascertain the issues and problems facing TE. However, in the Wicklein study, only seven of the panelists…

The cost of Latin American science Introduction for the second issue of CBP-Latin America.

PubMed

Zenteno-Savín, Tania; Beleboni, René Oliveira; Hermes-Lima, Marcelo

2007-04-01

Latin American researchers in science and engineering (S&E), including those in biology and biomedical sciences, are frequently exposed to unstable conditions of financial support, material and human resources, and a limited number of positions at public and private institutions. Such uncertainties impose continuous challenges for the scientific community which, in the best of cases, responds with careful planning and creativity, and in the worst scenario endures the migration of scientists to the USA or Europe. Still, the number of scientific publications from Latin American institutions in the last decade increased at a much faster rate than publications from the USA and Canada. A brief analysis per country of the gross domestic product (GDP) spent in research and development (R&D) and the S&E production reported by the Pascal bibliographic database suggests that the number and quality of S&E publications is directly proportional to the financial support for R&D. However, the investment in R&D in Latin America did not increase at the same rate (from 0.49 to 0.55% of GDP, from 1990 to 2003) at which S&E publications did in the same period (2.9-fold increase, from 1988 to 2001). In Latin America, the traditional financial support for scientific research continues to be from federal and state government funds, associated in some cases with institutional funds that are mostly directed towards administrative costs and infrastructure maintenance. The aim of this introduction is to briefly discuss the production cost of articles published in refereed S&E journals, including the cost of the scientific research behind them, and, at the same time, to increase the awareness of the high quality of scientific research in Latin American institutions despite the many challenges, especially financial constraints, faced by their scientists. The second issue of Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology dedicated to Latin America ("The Face of Latin American Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology") celebrates, by means of 26 manuscripts from five countries, the diversity and quality of biological science in the continent.

Examining the ethical and social issues of health technology design through the public appraisal of prospective scenarios: a study protocol describing a multimedia-based deliberative method

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background The design of health technologies relies on assumptions that affect how they will be implemented, such as intended use, complexity, impact on user autonomy, and appropriateness. Those who design and implement technologies make several ethical and social assumptions on behalf of users and society more broadly, but there are very few tools to examine prospectively whether such assumptions are warranted and how the public define and appraise the desirability of health innovations. This study protocol describes a three-year study that relies on a multimedia-based prospective method to support public deliberations that will enable a critical examination of the social and ethical issues of health technology design. Methods The first two steps of our mixed-method study were completed: relying on a literature review and the support of our multidisciplinary expert committee, we developed scenarios depicting social and technical changes that could unfold in three thematic areas within a 25-year timeframe; and for each thematic area, we created video clips to illustrate prospective technologies and short stories to describe their associated dilemmas. Using this multimedia material, we will: conduct four face-to-face deliberative workshops with members of the public (n = 40) who will later join additional participants (n = 25) through an asynchronous online forum; and analyze and integrate three data sources: observation, group deliberations, and a self-administered participant survey. Discussion This study protocol will be of interest to those who design and assess public involvement initiatives and to those who examine the implementation of health innovations. Our premise is that using user-friendly tools in a deliberative context that foster participants’ creativity and reflexivity in pondering potential technoscientific futures will enable our team to analyze a range of normative claims, including some that may prove problematic and others that may shed light over potentially more valuable design options. This research will help fill an important knowledge gap; intervening earlier in technological development could help reduce undesirable effects and inform the design and implementation of more appropriate innovations. PMID:24952582

Examining the ethical and social issues of health technology design through the public appraisal of prospective scenarios: a study protocol describing a multimedia-based deliberative method.

PubMed

Lehoux, Pascale; Gauthier, Philippe; Williams-Jones, Bryn; Miller, Fiona A; Fishman, Jennifer R; Hivon, Myriam; Vachon, Patrick

2014-06-21

The design of health technologies relies on assumptions that affect how they will be implemented, such as intended use, complexity, impact on user autonomy, and appropriateness. Those who design and implement technologies make several ethical and social assumptions on behalf of users and society more broadly, but there are very few tools to examine prospectively whether such assumptions are warranted and how the public define and appraise the desirability of health innovations. This study protocol describes a three-year study that relies on a multimedia-based prospective method to support public deliberations that will enable a critical examination of the social and ethical issues of health technology design. The first two steps of our mixed-method study were completed: relying on a literature review and the support of our multidisciplinary expert committee, we developed scenarios depicting social and technical changes that could unfold in three thematic areas within a 25-year timeframe; and for each thematic area, we created video clips to illustrate prospective technologies and short stories to describe their associated dilemmas. Using this multimedia material, we will: conduct four face-to-face deliberative workshops with members of the public (n=40) who will later join additional participants (n=25) through an asynchronous online forum; and analyze and integrate three data sources: observation, group deliberations, and a self-administered participant survey. This study protocol will be of interest to those who design and assess public involvement initiatives and to those who examine the implementation of health innovations. Our premise is that using user-friendly tools in a deliberative context that foster participants' creativity and reflexivity in pondering potential technoscientific futures will enable our team to analyze a range of normative claims, including some that may prove problematic and others that may shed light over potentially more valuable design options. This research will help fill an important knowledge gap; intervening earlier in technological development could help reduce undesirable effects and inform the design and implementation of more appropriate innovations.

A review of the Generic Design Assessment (GDA) Public Dialogue Pilot (2015) for new nuclear build in the UK: lessons for engagement theory and practice.

PubMed

Whitton, John; Parry, Ioan; Grundy, Colette; Lillycrop, Annabelle; Ross, David

2016-06-01

We have discussed previously that a community-based, asset-based approach is required to achieve any sense of how social sustainability can be defined in a community setting within the context of energy developments. Our approach aims to initiate a lasting change within 'energy' communities through building social capital; focusing on community assets not deficits to define their social priorities. Through deliberation, we develop an understanding of social sustainability so that a community is well placed to enter discussions with government and industry regarding large energy developments that will directly affect them. We review the 2015 Generic Design Assessment (GDA) Public Dialogue Pilot process for potential new nuclear reactors in the UK. We examine the aims of the dialogue, giving particular attention to a comparison between the national sampling of citizens for the GDA and the local community-based, deliberative approach we have proposed previously. We find an ongoing tension between 'national' engagement processes (such as the GDA Public Dialogue Pilot process) and the specific requirements of those energy communities that live adjacent or close to energy infrastructure, manifested here by a conflict between the requirements of the convenor and those of participants regarding priority issues for discussion. We also reveal a paradox; despite participant preference for a remote, internet-based engagement process, they agreed that face to face contact is a priority to encourage trust building between participants and the convenor of the process-a desired outcome of the process. The GDA Public Dialogue Pilot process has demonstrated that stakeholders are willing to engage with and be more directly involved in local energy-related decisions that affect them directly, provided there is opportunity to discuss locally-relevant and site-specific issues in addition to those of a broader nature. There exists a disparity and conflict between 'national' engagement processes and the 'local' priorities of those energy communities that are adjacent or close to energy infrastructure. In this process and others, we have seen an imbalance between the requirements of the convenor and those of participants regarding priority issues for discussion. This continues to be a persistent challenge for those convening stakeholder engagement events where the scope and context is not primarily site-specific. However, it is encouraging that convenors and participants alike continue to be willing to work towards resolving this.

Challenge theme 2: assuring water availability and quality in the 21st century: Chapter 4 in United States-Mexican Borderlands: Facing tomorrow's challenges through USGS science

USGS Publications Warehouse

Callegary, James; Langeman, Jeff; Leenhouts, Jim; Martin, Peter

2013-01-01

Along the United States–Mexican border, the health of communities, economies, and ecosystems is inextricably intertwined with the availability and quality of water, but effective water management in the Borderlands is complicated. Water users compete for resources, and their needs are increasing. Managers are faced with issues such as finding a balance between agriculture and rapidly growing cities or maintaining public supplies while ensuring sufficient resources for aquatic ecosystems. In addition to human factors, the dry climate of the Borderlands, as compared to more temperate regions, also increases the challenge of balancing water supplies between humans and ecosystems. Warmer, drier, and more variable conditions across the southwestern United States—the projected results of climate change (Seager and others, 2007)—would further stress water supplies.

Teaching Environmental Geology in the 21St Century: A Workshop Report

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mogk, D. W.; Wiese, K.; Castendyk, D.; McDaris, J. R.

2012-12-01

Environmental Geology encompasses a range of topics that include geohazards, natural resources, issues such as climate change, human health, and environmental policy. Instruction in Environmental Geology provides students the opportunity to address the grand challenges facing humanity regarding how to live sustainably and responsibly on Earth. Instruction in Environmental Geology ranges from dedicated introductory courses, instructional modules in upper division Earth Science "core" classes, to courses in related disciplines such as environmental science, ecology, and the social and political sciences. To explore the opportunities of teaching Environmental Geology in all these contexts, the On the Cutting Edge program convened a workshop in June 2012 to bring together instructors representing a diversity of instructional settings. The goals of the workshop were to: 1) Share innovative teaching methods, approaches, and activities for teaching Environmental Geology and share ideas on how to teach in various contexts. 2) Examine where and how environmental geology topics are taught in the geoscience curriculum from introductory courses for non-majors to "core" geoscience courses for majors. 3) Consider the ways that Environmental Geology courses and topical materials can contribute to public science literacy, particularly how to make personal and societal decisions about the range of issues facing humanity and to live responsibly and sustainably on this planet. 4) Develop a list of best practices for integrating emerging environmental issues, recent natural disasters, and issues related to natural resources into course work and identifying how scientific data and research outcomes can inform public discourse on topical issues. 5) Develop strategies to reach under-represented groups and expand the diversity of students who enroll in our courses. 6) Identify topics of high interest and need for future development as teaching modules and courses. The workshop program included keynote talks, small group discussion sessions, interactive demonstrations, and opportunities to network and develop ideas for new instructional resources. The participants also reviewed over 300 teaching activities, and contributed to additional online resources focused on Environmental Geology. Field trips demonstrated teaching activities about environmental issues in local contexts. All workshop presentations, discussion summaries, teaching activity collections and related on-line resources are available on the workshop website. Faculty are encouraged to submit additional examples of Environmental Geology instructional resources.

Do I need training in public health ethics? A survey on Italian residents' beliefs, knowledge and curricula.

PubMed

Colucci, Massimiliano; Chellini, Martina; Anello, Paola; Arru, Benedetto; Tettamanti, Glenda; Marcon, Elena

2017-01-01

Ethics is needed to support the decision-making process in public health and to face moral issues during practice. However, professionals are often not adequately trained. In 2015, the National Conference of Public Health Medical Residents of the Italian Society of Public Health started the "Public Health Ethics" workgroup to evaluate how the Italian Schools of Public Health train their residents in ethics, and which are residents' beliefs, knowledge and attitudes about public health ethics. A survey was built and emailed to the Italian public health residents. Residents are interested in ethics/bioethics (83.2%) and are aware of its importance for professional practice (97.2%). However, few of them (19.6%) evaluated their competence above a satisfactory level. They believe that a training in ethics should be offered during residency (92.1%). Nonetheless, in Italy only two schools required a course on bioethics, and one a course in public health ethics. According to residents, a public health ethics trainer should be a public health professional (23.2%) or a social scientist (22.8%). In Italy, Schools of Public Health do not train future professionals in ethics or public health ethics during residency. Training should be implemented in curricula, and trainers should have a strong competence in both public health and ethics.

Ethical issues in health philanthropy.

PubMed

Reid, Lynette

2017-11-01

Health leaders in Canada face a myriad of challenges with healthcare philanthropy-not just the practical question of how to be successful but also ethical questions. Is fundraising in partnership with companies that are implicated in the so-called lifestyle diseases appropriate? When does appropriate recognition for donors or volunteers cross the line into facilitating preferential access to care? Ethical decision-making in health philanthropy considers appropriate recognition or partnership in donor relations in the context of the public good with which healthcare institutions are entrusted and the fiduciary responsibilities of hospitals and clinicians to patients.

Poverty and palliative care in the US: issues facing the urban poor.

PubMed

Hughes, Anne

2005-01-01

Poverty is a significant public health and social problem in the US. The urban poor living with life-limiting illnesses are a particularly vulnerable population. The literature related to the experiences of the urban poor at the end of life is sparse. Most relates to the experiences of patients with cancer. The purpose of this literature review is to describe the problem of poverty in the US, to identify challenges in providing palliative care to the urban poor, and lastly, to articulate implications for nursing practice and nursing research.

Relationship challenges and relationship maintenance activities following disclosure of transsexualism.

PubMed

Alegría, C Aramburu

2010-12-01

• Transsexual persons are increasing their visibility in society, and health care providers and others (such as social workers) will be called upon to help with issues that transsexual persons face. Challenges that face transsexual persons often include issues involving relationships. Psychiatric and mental health nurses and other caregivers can increase their therapeutic skills in working with couples that include transsexual persons by becoming aware of these challenges and subsequent activities that can help with them. • This research study looks at couple relationships in which one partner reveals male-to-female transsexual identity. These are relationships that were established as man-woman and now will transition into relationships that include a male-to-female person and a female partner. • Common challenges for these couples include issues related to: (1) sexual identity and relationship uncertainty; (2) male-to-female transition decision making; and (3) presenting in public. • Relationship maintenance activities that helped the couples in the study maintain and strengthen their relationships through these challenges include: (1) communication; (2) self-talk (for example, putting the situation in perspective); (3) social networks; (4) positive interactions; (5) impression management (for example, managing displays of affection in public); and (6) social activism. This qualitative study describes the relational dynamics that help sustain relationships of couples that include male-to-female transsexual persons (MTF) and their natal female partners (NF) following disclosure of transsexualism. Relationship challenges and relationship maintenance activities are identified. Each partner in 17 MTF-NF couples participated in individual surveys and interviews. The data were coded for themes related to relationship challenges and activities. MTF-NF couples experience challenges within the contexts of their relationships and of society. These challenges include: (1) sexual identity and relationship uncertainty; (2) male-to-female transition decision making; and (3) public presentation. Relationship maintenance activities enabled the study couples to maintain and strengthen their relationships through these challenges. These activities include: (1) communication; (2) self-talk; (3) social networks; (4) positivity; (5) impression management; and (6) social activism. Via this report, psychiatric and mental health nurses can increase their therapeutic skills in working with MTF-NF couples. © 2010 Blackwell Publishing.

Recreating America's Community Colleges: Critical Policy Issues Facing America's Community Colleges

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Honeyman, David S.; Sullivan, Michael D.

2006-01-01

During the conduct of the 2004 Community Colleges Futures Assembly, sponsored by the University of Florida, delegates to the meeting identified three critical policy issues facing America's community colleges and challenged the delegates attending the 2005 Assembly to debate these issues and make recommendations. A total of 252 higher-education…

Critical Issues Children Face in the 2000s

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Crockett, Deborah

2003-01-01

Children will face many critical issues in the 21st century. Unfortunately, most of these issues are not new and have remained the same from previous years. Millions of children lack safe, affordable, quality child care and early childhood education while their parents work. Seven and one-half million children are at home alone without…

Challenges Faced by Teachers Implementing Socio-Scientific Issues as Core Elements in Their Classroom Practices

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bossér, Ulrika; Lundin, Mattias; Lindahl, Mats; Linder, Cedric

2015-01-01

Teachers may face considerable challenges when implementing socio-scientific issues (SSI) in their classroom practices, such as incorporating student-centred teaching practices and exploring knowledge and values in the context of socioscientific issues. This year-long study explores teachers' reflections on the process of developing their…

Effectiveness of public health spending on infant mortality in Florida, 2001-2014.

PubMed

Bernet, Patrick M; Gumus, Gulcin; Vishwasrao, Sharmila

2018-05-26

Studies investigating the effectiveness of public health spending typically face two major challenges. One is the lack of data on individual program spending, which restricts researchers to rely on aggregate expenditures. The other is the failure to address issues of endogeneity and serial correlation between health outcomes and spending. In this study, we demonstrate that the use of specific spending items as opposed to overall spending, combined with Generalized Method of Moments estimation techniques can do a far better job in revealing the effectiveness of public health services on health outcomes. As an example, we consider the effects of infant-related public health programs on infant mortality rates. Focus on programs expressly related to maternal and infant health was made possible by a unique longitudinal dataset from the Florida Department of Health containing information for all 67 Florida counties spanning 2001 through 2014. Our empirical methodology, by addressing potential endogeneity issues along with serial correlation, allows us to estimate the causal impact of specific public health investments in maternal and infant-related programs on infant mortality. We find that a 10 percent increase in targeted public health spending per infant leads to a 2.07 percent decrease in infant mortality rates. We also find that targeted spending may be more effective in reducing infant mortality among blacks than among whites. The use of targeted spending data along with the Generalized Method of Moments technique can provide stronger evidence to guide future resource allocation and policy decisions in public health. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

How 'blended' is blended learning?: students' perceptions of issues around the integration of online and face-to-face learning in a Continuing Professional Development (CPD) health care context.

PubMed

Glogowska, Margaret; Young, Pat; Lockyer, Lesley; Moule, Pam

2011-11-01

This paper explores students' perceptions of blended learning modules delivered in a Continuing Professional Development (CPD) health care context in the UK. 'Blended learning' is the term used to describe a hybrid model of learning where traditional face-to-face teaching approaches and newer electronic learning activities and resources are utilised together. A new model of CPD for health care practitioners based on a blended learning approach was developed at a university in the south west of England. As part of the evaluation of the new modules, a qualitative study was conducted, in which 17 students who had experienced the modules were interviewed by telephone. Three main themes emerged from the interviews relating to the 'blended' nature of the blended learning modules. These were i) issues around the opportunities for discussion of online materials face-to-face; ii) issues of what material should be online versus face-to-face and iii) balancing online and face-to-face components. Teaching staff engaged in the development of blended learning courses need to pay particular attention to the ways in which they develop and integrate online and face-to-face materials. More attention needs to be paid to allowing opportunity for students to come together to create a 'community of inquiry'. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Growing Up Whole

PubMed Central

Alarcon, Renato D.

2005-01-01

Objective: This is the second phase of a study aimed at determining the cultural characteristics, psychiatric needs, acculturative stressors, and management approaches of immigrant Somali children's experience in the United States. Methods: A 10-year demographics review of the Minnesota Departments of Human Services, and Children, Families, and Learning was completed. Data was obtained through unstructured interviews with educational staff, healthcare providers, and Somali children and their families in three communities, regarding cultural characteristics, barriers to care, perceptions of medical/psychiatric needs, and issues of acculturation. Health professionals/psychiatrists at a tertiary care center were also surveyed. Results: Identified acculturation issues of adolescent Somali immigrants included acculturative stress, racial discrimination, khat use, legal difficulties, language barriers, school opportunities, changes in family dynamics and developmental issues, clinical vulnerabilities, unique experiences of adolescent females, and development of new public/social behavior patterns. Conclusion: Immigrant Somali adolescents are at high risk for mental health problems due to the unique challenges they face as they attempt to assimilate two very polar cultures into one self-identity during a phase of development characterized by physical, cognitive, and emotional upheaval. Current management experiences warrant recommendations that include integration of community services, schools, and the medical system to provide education in cultural diversity, multicultural school and community publications, team sports, individual education plans, support groups, and Somali representation in school staff that has established trust with families and acceptance of mental health issues and care. PMID:21152169

Generation of global political priority for early childhood development: the challenges of framing and governance.

PubMed

Shawar, Yusra Ribhi; Shiffman, Jeremy

2017-01-07

Despite progress, early childhood development (ECD) remains a neglected issue, particularly in resource-poor countries. We analyse the challenges and opportunities that ECD proponents face in advancing global priority for the issue. We triangulated among several data sources, including 19 semi-structured interviews with individuals involved in global ECD leadership, practice, and advocacy, as well as peer-reviewed research, organisation reports, and grey literature. We undertook a thematic analysis of the collected data, drawing on social science scholarship on collective action and a policy framework that elucidates why some global initiatives are more successful in generating political priority than others. The analysis indicates that the ECD community faces two primary challenges in advancing global political priority. The first pertains to framing: generation of internal consensus on the definition of the problem and solutions, agreement that could facilitate the discovery of a public positioning of the issue that could generate political support. The second concerns governance: building of effective institutions to achieve collective goals. However, there are multiple opportunities to advance political priority for ECD, including an increasingly favourable political environment, advances in ECD metrics, and the existence of compelling arguments for investment in ECD. To advance global priority for ECD, proponents will need to surmount the framing and governance challenges and leverage these opportunities. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Addressing the Economic Security Issues Facing Same-Sex Couples.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dolan, Elizabeth M.; Stum, Marlene S.; Rupured, Michael

1999-01-01

Provides educators and researchers with an awareness of the financial security issues faced by same-sex couples and offers suggestions for incorporating the discussion of these ideas into existing curricula and research. (Author/JOW)

The public's trust in scientific claims regarding offshore oil drilling.

PubMed

Carlisle, Juliet E; Feezell, Jessica T; Michaud, Kristy E H; Smith, Eric R A N; Smith, Leeanna

2010-09-01

Our study examines how individuals decide which scientific claims and experts to believe when faced with competing claims regarding a policy issue. Using an experiment in a public opinion survey, we test the source content and credibility hypotheses to assess how much confidence people have in reports about scientific studies of the safety of offshore oil drilling along the California coast. The results show that message content has a substantial impact. People tend to accept reports of scientific studies that support their values and prior beliefs, but not studies that contradict them. Previous studies have shown that core values influence message acceptance. We find that core values and prior beliefs have independent effects on message acceptance. We also find that the sources of the claims make little difference. Finally, the public leans toward believing reports that oil drilling is riskier than previously believed.

Challenges facing the finance reform of the health system in Chile.

PubMed

Herrera, Tania

2014-05-28

Financing is one of the key functions of health systems, which includes the processes of revenue collection, fund pooling and acquisitions in order to ensure access to healthcare for the entire population. The article analyzes the financing model of the Chilean health system in terms of the first two processes, confirming low public spending on healthcare and high out-of-pocket expenditure, in addition to an appropriation of public resources by private insurers and providers. Insofar as pooling, there is lack of solidarity and risk sharing leading to segmentation of the population that is not consistent with the concept of social security, undermines equity and reduces system-wide efficiency. There is a pressing need to jumpstart reforms that address these issues. Treatments must be considered together with public health concerns and primary care in order to ensure the right to health of the entire population.

Assessing decision making and dispute resolution in environmental policy: Regulatory negotiations at the Environmental Protection Agency

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lyons, E.A.

This dissertation is an evaluation of the use of negotiations in the rule-making context at the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The goal is to assess the benefits and the limitations of negotiation as a policy process, and to make explicit the values which are expected from a negotiation process as well as the conditions which must be met in order for those values to be realized. Three distinct values are expected of negotiation processes: (1) negotiation is promoted as an efficient process that can save time and money in public decision making by avoiding protracted and expensive legal actions;more » (2) it is expected that a negotiation process which provides a mechanism for reaching accommodation among all competing perspectives can yield good policy outcomes; face-to-face interactions among parties with competing interests should provide opportunities for building better relationships among individuals and also for building community. The usefulness of negotiation as a policy tool is limited by the fact that negotiation is only appropriate in a few select cases in which the issues are mature and the parties affected by the issues are prepared for negotiation.« less

Teacher Victimization in Authoritative School Environments.

PubMed

Kapa, Ryan R; Luke, Jeremy; Moulthrop, Dorothy; Gimbert, Belinda

2018-04-01

Victimization in schools is not limited to students. Teachers increasingly face threats and attacks from their students. An authoritative school environment, characterized by high structure and support, has been associated with lower rates of victimization. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between authoritative school environments and teacher victimization rates. Researchers examined public school teacher responses (N = 37,497) from the Schools and Staffing Survey regarding rules and issues facing the school community. Descriptive statistics were gathered, and a hierarchical regression technique was employed to assess the impact of a structured, supportive school environment on teacher victimization. Results indicate an authoritative school environment helped reduce rates of teacher victimization. White, female teachers are among the teachers most likely to experience violence from students. Enforcing school rules, by both teachers and administrators, is the most effective way to diminish episodes of teacher victimization. P-12 school personnel should emphasize the importance of enforcing school rules and reducing negative issues, such as student truancy and apathy within each school. As high levels of structure and support reduce instances of violence, these findings have important implications for school environments and teacher health. © 2018, American School Health Association.

World blindness and the medical profession: conflicting medical cultures and the ethical dilemmas of helping.

PubMed

Gray, B H

1992-01-01

This is an account of a thwarted humanitarian effort and the strategic and ethical issues that is raised. Between 14 and 17 million people in the world are blind with cataract, a condition readily corrected by surgery. In 1989 a proposal was developed to attack this problem by supplying volunteer ophthalmologists to the world's leading private voluntary organizations that carry out programs in less developed countries. The proposal was rejected. This article describes the proposal and the issues on which it foundered: cost effectiveness, appropriate technology, changing ideologies of assistance, and conflict between the cultures of medicine and public health. The account illustrates the far-flung consequences of technological change in medicine, as well as the practical and ethical questions facing organizations that carry out overseas assistance programs.

Final report of the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission: will we get the health care governance reform we need?

PubMed

Stoelwinder, Johannes U

2009-10-05

The National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission (NHHRC) has recommended that Australia develop a "single health system", governed by the federal government. Steps to achieving this include: a "Healthy Australia Accord" to agree on the reform framework; the progressive takeover of funding of public hospitals by the federal government; and the possible implementation of a consumer-choice health funding model, called "Medicare Select". These proposals face significant implementation issues, and the final solution needs to deal with both financial and political sustainability. If the federal and state governments cannot agree on a reform plan, the Prime Minister may need to go to the electorate for a mandate, which may be shaped by other economic issues such as tax reform and intergenerational challenges.

Polio immunization in Pakistan: ethical issues and challenges.

PubMed

Basharat, Sarah; Shaikh, Babar Tasneem

2017-01-01

Immunization should be considered a basic human right to health and well-being. It is everybody's business, and it is everybody's responsibility: the individual, the community, the health system and the state. This paper attempts to review some of the literature that highlights the ethical and religious concerns surrounding polio vaccination and what approaches may be used to counter the problems faced in Pakistan. This paper is developed through a literature review on public health and polio in Pakistan, consulting local, regional and globally published peer reviewed articles focussing on religion, culture, ethics and public health. Human behaviour, including the utilization and acceptability of healthcare services, is greatly influenced by religious beliefs and dogmas. Immunization, specifically for the purpose of polio eradication, has been a topic under focus and in the news in Pakistan. The government is doing its best through a variety of interventions to increase access, inform the public and increase vaccination rates. Nevertheless, the country still faces a huge challenge from certain stern pockets of uncompromising populations who resist and refuse vaccination. Beliefs, practices and cultural norms overshadow public health priorities and ethics. Understanding of the context, therefore, is critical to determine the social hindrances in polio eradication and strategize thereon. Having programmatic, system-wide, socio-cultural and of course ethical dimensions, the policy makers and the programme managers in Pakistan must attempt to address the multitude of challenges to polio vaccination, whereby the plan of action developed within the ethical norms could potentially lead to an ultimate success.

Negative Public Attitudes Towards Cancer Survivors Returning to Work: A Nationwide Survey in Korea.

PubMed

Shim, Hye-Young; Shin, Ji-Yeon; Kim, Jong Heun; Kim, So-Young; Yang, Hyung-Kook; Park, Jong-Hyock

2016-04-01

Early diagnosis and an improved survival rate have emerged as important issues for cancer survivors returning to work during the prime of their working life. This study investigated the attitudes of the general public towards cancer survivors returning to work in Korea and attempted to identify the factors influencing this negative attitude. A general public perception survey regarding cancer survivors returning to work, targeting 2,000 individuals between 40-70 years of age, was conducted as face-to-face home visit. The public expressed a negative attitude towards cancer survivors returning to work, in terms of both perception and acceptance. Negative perception was higher among those in metropolitan areas compared with urban/rural areas (odds ratio [OR], 1.71), with monthly incomes < $2,000 compared with > $4,000 (OR, 1.54), and with patient care experience compared with those without (OR, 1.41). Negative acceptance was higher among those with monthly incomes < $2,000 compared with > $4,000 (OR, 1.71) and those with patient care experience compared with those without (OR, 1.54). The common factors between acceptance and perception that influenced negative attitude included area of residence, patient care experience, and monthly income. This study identified negative attitudes towards cancer survivors returning to work in South Korea and the factors influencing the reintegration of cancer survivors into society. It is necessary to promote community awareness and intervention activities to enable access to community, social, and individual units for the social reintegration of cancer survivors.

The role of the food industry in health: lessons from tobacco?

PubMed

Capewell, Simon; Lloyd-Williams, Ffion

2018-03-01

In this review, we highlight poor diet as the biggest risk factor for non-communicable diseases. We examine the denial tactics used by the food industry, how they reflect the tactics previously used by the tobacco industry, and how campaigners can use this knowledge to achieve future public health successes. Data sources are wide ranging, notably publications relating to public health, obesity and processed food, the effectiveness hierarchy and food industry denialism tactics. Global burden of disease analyses consistently demonstrate that poor diet produces a bigger burden of non-communicable disease than tobacco, alcohol and inactivity put together. The lessons learnt from the tobacco control experience of successfully fighting the tobacco industry can be applied to other industries including processed food and sugary drinks. Tackling obesity and poor diet is a more complex issue than tobacco. Food industries continue to promote weak or ineffective policies such as voluntary reformulation, and resist regulation and taxation. However, the UK food industry now faces increasing pressure from professionals, public and politicians to accept reformulation and taxes, or face more stringent measures. The rise in childhood and adult obesity needs to be arrested and then reversed. Unhealthy processed food and sugary drinks are a major contributing factor. There is increasing interest in the tactics being used by the food industry to resist change. Advocacy and activism will be essential to counter these denialism tactics and ensure that scientific evidence is translated into effective regulation and taxation.

Policy Making to Build Relationships: A Grounded Theory Analysis of Interviews and Documents Relating to H1N1, Ebola, and the U.S. Public Health Preparedness Network.

PubMed

Myers, Nathan

2016-01-01

In the last five years, the American public health emergency preparedness and response system has been tested by two significant threats, H1N1 and Ebola. While neither proved as dangerous as initially feared, these viruses highlighted on-going issues with collaborations in the field of public health and health care. Strengths were identified within the network, but also challenges that must be resolved before the U.S. faces a major pandemic. Employing interview data from public health emergency response practitioners and documentary evidence from the H1N1 and Ebola responses, this qualitative analysis uses the grounded theory approach to identify key areas for collaborative improvement. The grounded theory developed calls for a stronger policy framework at the federal level to facilitate more collaboration between U.S. agencies and facilitate more collaboration at the state and local level.

Women and the opioid crisis: historical context and public health solutions.

PubMed

Terplan, Mishka

2017-08-01

Driven by a legitimate but overly opioid-focused response to pain, the United States is currently experiencing an opioid crisis, a crisis with parallels to the first opioid epidemic at the turn of the 20th century. Women, particularly white reproductive-age women, are increasingly the face of the opioid crisis. Given the penetration of opioid misuse and addiction across all income and insurance strata, any provider who cares for women needs to be prepared to assess and evaluate opioid use, misuse, and addiction. Although responsible opioid prescribing is essential, treatment capacity must be expanded and be inclusive of the unique needs of women. However, the public and public health response to the opioid crisis must include rolling back the war on drugs. The continued criminalization of the public health issue of drug use and the medical condition of addiction is unethical, ineffective, and inhumane. Copyright © 2017 American Society for Reproductive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Issues and Impediments Faced by Canadian Teachers While Integrating ICT in Pedagogical Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Saxena, Anoop

2017-01-01

Teachers in many schools struggle to integrate Information and Communications Technology (ICT) as part of their teaching practice. Among the issues faced by teachers when attempting to integrate ICT into their classrooms are gaps in ICT knowledge and skills, lack of training and inadequate support and scaffolding. Other issues include inability to…

Issues Facing Urban Agriscience Teachers: A Delphi Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Warner, Wendy J.; Washburn, Shannon G.

2009-01-01

This national study used the Delphi technique to identify the issues facing urban agriscience teachers. The first round of the study used a questionnaire with one open-ended question to generate responses from the expert panel. In the second round, respondents were asked to rate their level of agreement with 72 issues identified in round one using…

The many faces of research on face perception.

PubMed

Little, Anthony C; Jones, Benedict C; DeBruine, Lisa M

2011-06-12

Face perception is fundamental to human social interaction. Many different types of important information are visible in faces and the processes and mechanisms involved in extracting this information are complex and can be highly specialized. The importance of faces has long been recognized by a wide range of scientists. Importantly, the range of perspectives and techniques that this breadth has brought to face perception research has, in recent years, led to many important advances in our understanding of face processing. The articles in this issue on face perception each review a particular arena of interest in face perception, variously focusing on (i) the social aspects of face perception (attraction, recognition and emotion), (ii) the neural mechanisms underlying face perception (using brain scanning, patient data, direct stimulation of the brain, visual adaptation and single-cell recording), and (iii) comparative aspects of face perception (comparing adult human abilities with those of chimpanzees and children). Here, we introduce the central themes of the issue and present an overview of the articles.

Challenges created by data dissemination and access restrictions when attempting to address community concerns: individual privacy versus public wellbeing.

PubMed

Colquhoun, Amy; Aplin, Laura; Geary, Janis; Goodman, Karen J; Hatcher, Juanita

2012-05-08

Population health data are vital for the identification of public health problems and the development of public health strategies. Challenges arise when attempts are made to disseminate or access anonymised data that are deemed to be potentially identifiable. In these situations, there is debate about whether the protection of an individual's privacy outweighs potentially beneficial public health initiatives developed using potentially identifiable information. While these issues have an impact at planning and policy levels, they pose a particular dilemma when attempting to examine and address community concerns about a specific health problem. Research currently underway in northern Canadian communities on the frequency of Helicobacter pylori infection and associated diseases, such as stomach cancer, is used in this article to illustrate the challenges that data controls create on the ability of researchers and health officials to address community concerns. Barriers are faced by public health professionals and researchers when endeavouring to address community concerns; specifically, provincial cancer surveillance departments and community-driven participatory research groups face challenges related to data release or access that inhibit their ability to effectively address community enquiries. The resulting consequences include a limited ability to address misinformation or to alleviate concerns when dealing with health problems in small communities. The development of communication tools and building of trusting relationships are essential components of a successful investigation into community health concerns. It may also be important to consider that public wellbeing may outweigh the value of individual privacy in these situations. As such, a re-evaluation of data disclosure policies that are applicable in these circumstances should be considered.

The making and breaking of relationships: organizational and clinical questions in providing services for looked after children?

PubMed

Simmonds, John

2010-10-01

The mental health of children in public care has received considerable attention in recent years. There are significant differences in the prevalence rates compared to children living at home and not in public care and these are added to by other adverse lifestyle issues. Considerable attention has been focused on the importance of stable and secure placements supported by access to a range of services including education, health and mental health. Identifying and classifying mental health needs proves to be challenging as the child's genetic inheritance, pre- and post-birth experiences, including maltreatment, interact with the uncertainty and delays commonly associated with child protection processes, action in the legal system and the difficulty in establishing secure and permanent placements. Clinical need is also related to the age of the child and the reasons they came into care and the length of time they remain. A case illustrating many of these issues, publicly reported in the court's judgement, is used as the basis for exploring the complexity for the identified child in understanding and making sense of their experiences as placement plans are made for them. These are used to explore the difficulties in establishing clinical protocols such as those recently published in the USA. Particular emphasis is given to the issues faced by children and their carers in establishing new family relationships which address the child's inheritance from their family of origin especially where these are traumatic and conflicted in origin.

Advocating for responsible oil and natural gas extraction policies; FracTracker as a mechanism for overcoming the barriers to scientific advocacy for academics and communities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ferrar, K. J.; Malone, S.; Kelso, M.; Lenker, B.

2013-12-01

The inability to translate data to scientific information that can readily be incorporated by citizens into the public arena is an obstacle for science-based advocacy. This issue is particularly poignant for shale oil and natural gas development via hydraulic fracturing, as the issue has become highly politicized. Barriers to engaging in policy debate are different but highly related for community members and scientists. For citizens and interest groups, barriers including accessibility, public awareness and data presentation limit the motivation for community involvement in political interactions. To overcome such barriers, social researchers call for public engagement to move upstream and many call for a broad engagement of scientists in science-based advocacy. Furthermore surveys have shown that citizens, interest groups, and decision-makers share a broad desire for scientists to engage in environmental policy development. Regardless, scientists face a number of perceived barriers, with academics expressing the most resistance to overcoming the tension created by adherence to the scientific method and the need to engage with the broader society, described by Schneider (1990) as the 'double ethical bind'. For the scientific community the appeal of public dissemination of information beyond the scope of academic journals is limited for a number of reasons. Barriers include preservation of credibility, peer attitudes, training, and career trajectory. The result is a lack of translated information available to the public. This systematic analysis of the FracTracker platform provides an evaluation of where the features of the public engagement, GIS platform has been successful at overcoming these barriers to public dissemination, where the platform needs further development or is ill-suited to address these issues, and the development of FracTracker as an outlet for scientific researchers to engage with citizens. The analysis will also provide insight into what information the public is most interested in concerning hydraulic fracturing and unconventional oil and natural gas development. The evaluations in consideration of these core barriers to public engagement and science-based advocacy will provide insight into the future development of programs, as well as the improvement of the FracTracker platform.

Analysis of the Questions Asked through Digital and Face-to-Face Reference Services

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tsuji, Keita; Arai, Shunsuke; Suga, Reina; Ikeuchi, Atsushi; Yoshikane, Fuyuki

2013-01-01

In Japan, only a few public libraries provide e-mail reference services. To help public libraries start e-mail reference services, the authors investigated reference questions received by libraries via e-mail and traditional face-to-face services. The authors found that research questions are more frequently observed among e-mail questions and…

Emotional Responses to Bullying among Japanese Adolescents: Gender, Context, and Incidence Visibility

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aoyama, Ikuko; Yanagida, Takuya; Wright, Michelle F.

2018-01-01

Bullying can occur with differing levels of visibility (e.g., public or private) and in various contexts (e.g., face-to-face or online). This study examined 474 Japanese middle-school students' emotional responses to public versus private bullying scenarios in face-to-face and digital contexts. After reading four hypothetical bullying vignettes,…

The Effects of Health Education through Face To Face Teaching and Educational Movies, on Suburban Women in Childbearing Age.

PubMed

Vameghi, R; Mohammad, K; Karimloo, M; Soleimani, F; Sajedi, F

2010-01-01

The aim of the study was to compare the effects of 'face-to-face education' and 'educational movies' on 'knowledge' and 'practice' of women of child-bearing-age, in terms of health-care during pregnancy and during infancy in a suburban region near Tehran City, Iran. In this quasi-experimental study, the sample included 873 married women. Questionnaires for knowledge and practice assessment were designed. The women were assigned to three groups: control (group I), face-to-face education (group II), and educational movie (group III). Knowledge questionnaires were completed before and immediately after intervention. Practice questionnaires were completed before and three months after intervention. Both questionnaires consisted of two types of questions: type A (concerning infant care issues) and type B (concerning prenatal health care). There was a significant difference in post-test knowledge between groups I and II and between groups I and III, but not between groups II and III. In terms of post-test practice, the changes were determined for every individual question, and significantly, better results were seen in group II, especially concerning type B questions. Face to face education lead to better practice than educational movies. In addition, significantly better practice occurred regarding child health care issues rather than prenatal issues in both groups. Realistic and tangible issues, those easy to practice, and with little or no economical burden imposed on the family, progressed from the knowledge state to the practice state more successfully in both groups.

Rural roads and bridges : management issues facing local highway officials

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1996-09-01

The report documents management practices used by, and issues facing, local transportation administrators. Data are drawn from a national survey of county and town highway officials, in Fall 1994 and Spring 1995, which provided usable information fro...

Science communication in the field of fundamental biomedical research (editorial).

PubMed

Illingworth, Sam; Prokop, Andreas

2017-10-01

The aim of this special issue on science communication is to inspire and help scientists who are taking part or want to take part in science communication and engage with the wider public, clinicians, other scientists or policy makers. For this, some articles provide concise and accessible advice to individual scientists, science networks, or learned societies on how to communicate effectively; others share rationales, objectives and aims, experiences, implementation strategies and resources derived from existing long-term science communication initiatives. Although this issue is primarily addressing scientists working in the field of biomedical research, much of it similarly applies to scientists from other disciplines. Furthermore, we hope that this issue will also be used as a helpful resource by academic science communicators and social scientists, as a collection that highlights some of the major communication challenges that the biomedical sciences face, and which provides interesting case studies of initiatives that use a breadth of strategies to address these challenges. In this editorial, we first discuss why we should communicate our science and contemplate some of the different approaches, aspirations and definitions of science communication. We then address the specific challenges that researchers in the biomedical sciences are faced with when engaging with wider audiences. Finally, we explain the rationales and contents of the different articles in this issue and the various science communication initiatives and strategies discussed in each of them, whilst also providing some information on the wide range of further science communication activities in the biomedical sciences that could not all be covered here. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

The Future of ECHO: Evaluating Open Source Possibilities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pilone, D.; Gilman, J.; Baynes, K.; Mitchell, A. E.

2012-12-01

NASA's Earth Observing System ClearingHOuse (ECHO) is a format agnostic metadata repository supporting over 3000 collections and 100M science granules. ECHO exposes FTP and RESTful Data Ingest APIs in addition to both SOAP and RESTful search and order capabilities. Built on top of ECHO is a human facing search and order web application named Reverb. ECHO processes hundreds of orders, tens of thousands of searches, and 1-2M ingest actions each week. As ECHO's holdings, metadata format support, and visibility have increased, the ECHO team has received requests by non-NASA entities for copies of ECHO that can be run locally against their data holdings. ESDIS and the ECHO Team have begun investigations into various deployment and Open Sourcing models that can balance the real constraints faced by the ECHO project with the benefits of providing ECHO capabilities to a broader set of users and providers. This talk will discuss several release and Open Source models being investigated by the ECHO team along with the impacts those models are expected to have on the project. We discuss: - Addressing complex deployment or setup issues for potential users - Models of vetting code contributions - Balancing external (public) user requests versus our primary partners - Preparing project code for public release, including navigating licensing issues related to leveraged libraries - Dealing with non-free project dependencies such as commercial databases - Dealing with sensitive aspects of project code such as database passwords, authentication approaches, security through obscurity, etc. - Ongoing support for the released code including increased testing demands, bug fixes, security fixes, and new features.

A Variety of Diversity: Facing Higher Education's Educational Challenges

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dey, Eric L.

2008-10-01

First among the many important challenges facing American higher education is the need to improve the effectiveness of our educational programs. Public concern has heightened the sense of urgency for colleges and universities to make progress on improving and measuring educational outcomes, which is made more challenging by the varieties of diversity facing us. Diversity is not just an issue related to student recruitment or experience, but rather it is one that also relates to institutions and their faculties. New educational methods must address such diversity to be effective, and one possible example can be found in ongoing research at the University of Michigan that explores the educational implications of implementing a web-based lecture capture system in large lecture courses. Student use of and reactions to such systems is important, as is the potential to influence course performance for students in general, but also for underrepresented and at-risk student subpopulations. In addition to helping bring our current landscape into focus, this paper will identify effective practices as well as continuing challenges to improving educational practice for undergraduate students.

An appreciation of Bruce and Young's (1986) serial stage model of face naming after 25 years.

PubMed

Hanley, J Richard

2011-11-01

The current status of Bruce and Young's (1986) serial model of face naming is discussed 25 years after its original publication. In the first part of the paper, evidence for and against the serial model is reviewed. It is argued that there is no compelling reason why we should abandon Bruce and Young's claim that recall of a name is contingent upon prior retrieval of semantic information about the person. The current status of the claim that people's names are more difficult to recall than the names of objects is then evaluated. Finally, an account of the anatomical location in the brain of Bruce and Young's three processing stages (face familiarity, retrieval of semantic information, retrieval of names) is suggested. In particular, there is evidence that biographical knowledge about familiar people is stored in the right anterior temporal lobes (ATL) and that the left temporal pole (TP) is heavily involved in retrieval of the names of familiar people. The issue of whether these brain areas play a similar role in object processing is also discussed. ©2011 The British Psychological Society.

England's Healthy Living Pharmacy (HLP) initiative: Facilitating the engagement of pharmacy support staff in public health.

PubMed

Donovan, G R; Paudyal, V

2016-01-01

The concept of the Healthy Living Pharmacy (HLP) in England was first piloted in Portsmouth in 2010. HLPs proactively promote health and wellbeing, offering brief advice, services or signposting on a range of health issues such as smoking, physical activity, sexual health, healthy eating and alcohol consumption. To explore the views and attitudes of pharmacy support staff on the Healthy Living Pharmacy (HLP) initiative. Qualitative semi-structured, face-to-face interviews were conducted with pharmacy support staff recruited from community pharmacies involved in the HLP initiative in the Northumberland region of England. A topic guide was developed which underwent face validity testing and piloting with one participant. Interviews were audio recorded, transcribed verbatim and analyzed using framework technique. A total of 21 pharmacy support staff from 12 HLPs participated in the study. Results suggest that involving pharmacy support staff at very early stages of the HLP planning process drives their motivation for service delivery. Level of engagement with HLP services was often related to support staff roles within pharmacy. Integration of public health roles with routine pharmacy activities was perceived to be more suited to pharmacy counter based roles than dispensing roles. Further training needs were identified around how to proactively deliver public health advice, mainly in service areas perceived 'difficult' by the participants, such as weight management. A total of 19 facilitators/barriers were identified from the data including training, access to information, client feedback, availability of space and facilities within pharmacies, time and competing priorities. Pharmacy support staff engagement with the HLP initiative can be promoted by involving them from the outset of the service introduction process. Support staff might benefit from targeted training around certain public health areas within the HLP initiative. Facilitators/barriers identified in this study will inform development and further roll out of HLP initiative in wider areas. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Contributions and challenges for worldwide vaccine safety: The Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety at 15 years.

PubMed

Asturias, Edwin J; Wharton, Melinda; Pless, Robert; MacDonald, Noni E; Chen, Robert T; Andrews, Nicholas; Salisbury, David; Dodoo, Alexander N; Hartigan-Go, Kenneth; Zuber, Patrick L F

2016-06-17

In 1999, the Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety (GACVS) was established by the World Health Organization (WHO) to provide independent scientific advice on issues relating to the safety of vaccines and immunization. Fifteen years onward, we conducted a multi-faceted review to evaluate the impact, reach and challenges facing GACVS, including the role GACVS plays in informing global, regional and WHO member state vaccine policy. The methods included measures of organizational structure, citation impact, themes approached, and a discussion by previous and current members to evaluate past, present and future challenges. Given the increasing range of data sources and the deployment of many new vaccines, the Committee is facing the complex task of identifying the best available evidence for recommendations on vaccine safety. To help meet the increased demand for public transparency in decision making, GACVS-structured methodology for evidence-based decisions is evolving. GACVS also promotes best practices and capacity building for timely and accurate risk assessment; risk communications; outreach to help countries maintain and, if needed, rebuild public trust in vaccines; and advocacy for bridging the major gaps in vaccine safety capacity globally. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

When is it permissible to dismiss a family who refuses vaccines? Legal, ethical and public health perspectives.

PubMed

Halperin, Beth; Melnychuk, Ryan; Downie, Jocelyn; Macdonald, Noni

2007-12-01

Although immunization is one of the most important health interventions of the 20th century, cases of infectious disease continue to occur. There are parents who refuse immunization for their children, creating a dilemma for the primary care physician who must consider the best interest of the individual child as well as that of the community. Some physicians, when faced with parents who refuse immunization on behalf of their children, choose to dismiss these families from their practice. Given the existing shortage of primary care physicians across Canada, this decision to dismiss families based on vaccine refusal has far-reaching implications. The present article explores this issue in the Canadian context from a legal, ethical and public health perspective.

Essential Questions on Suicide Bereavement and Postvention

PubMed Central

Andriessen, Karl; Krysinska, Karolina

2011-01-01

During the past decades public and research interest in postvention, i.e., support for families and communities after a suicide, has increased. However, the postvention field is still facing a number of important challenges and questions. This article aims to discuss a series of essential issues on suicide bereavement and postvention, regarding the current state of the art and future developments. Who is a suicide survivor and how many suicide survivors are there? Is suicide bereavement different from other types of bereavement? What are the needs of suicide survivors and what is postvention from a clinical perspective and from a public health perspective? Can postvention be prevention? With this last question, the article concludes with a series of recommendations in order to strengthen the potential of postvention as prevention. PMID:22470275

A balanced intervention ladder: promoting autonomy through public health action.

PubMed

Griffiths, P E; West, C

2015-08-01

The widely cited Nuffield Council on Bioethics 'Intervention Ladder' structurally embodies the assumption that personal autonomy is maximized by non-intervention. Consequently, the Intervention Ladder encourages an extreme 'negative liberty' view of autonomy. Yet there are several alternative accounts of autonomy that are both arguably superior as accounts of autonomy and better suited to the issues facing public health ethics. We propose to replace the one-sided ladder, which has any intervention coming at a cost to autonomy, with a two-sided 'Balanced Intervention Ladder,' where intervention can either enhance or diminish autonomy. We show that not only the alternative, richer accounts of autonomy but even Mill's classic version of negative liberty puts some interventions on the positive side of the ladder. Crown Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

DOT's budget : management and performance issues facing the department in fiscal year 1999

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1998-02-12

This testimony discusses key resource management issues and performance challenges facing the Department of Transportation in 1999 and beyond. 1. There is a need for increased management attention to highway, transit, and rail programs - which accoun...

Future Issues Facing Administrators in Pharmaceutical Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fink, Joseph L., III

1986-01-01

Issues facing pharmaceutical education include the need to keep up with advancing technology, the need to keep faculty from overemphasizing technology to the detriment of other responsibilities, motivating and rewarding faculty, dealing with loss of faculty productivity, and part-time faculty. (MSE)

An analysis of computer-assisted pre-screening prior to elective surgery.

PubMed

Grant, C; Ludbrook, G L; O'Loughlin, E J; Corcoran, T B

2012-03-01

In order to assess the potential utility of guided patient self-assessment as an early preoperative triage tool, a computer-assisted questionnaire delivered by a non-clinician via telephone was 1) compared to face-to-face interview and examination by anaesthetists in outpatient clinics and 2) evaluated as a mechanism to stream patients to day of surgery assessment. In total, 514 patients scheduled for elective surgery in two tertiary public hospitals were assessed initially by telephone and then in an outpatient clinic. Both forms of assessment were marked by panels of specialist anaesthetists, who also provided an opinion on which patients would have been suitable to bypass preoperative anaesthetic outpatient assessment based upon information provided by the telephone interview. Overall, the quality of assessment provided by non-clinician telephone interview was comparable to face-to-face interview by anaesthetists, although more complex issues required face-to-face assessment. Panel review considered that 398 patients (60%) would not have required evaluation by an anaesthetist until the day of surgery, thus avoiding the need to separately attend a preoperative outpatient clinic. The sensitivity of telephone interview provided information to correctly classify patients as suitable for day of surgery evaluation was 98% (95% confidence interval 96 to 99%) with a specificity of 97% (95% confidence interval 92 to 98%). This study demonstrates that remote computer-assisted assessment can produce quality patient health information and enable early patient work-up and triage with the potential to reduce costs through more efficient use of resources.

Temporal trends in pharmacology publications by pharmacy institutes: A deeper dig

PubMed Central

Bhatt, Parloop Amit; Patel, Zarana

2016-01-01

Objective: Publications in Indian Journal of Pharmacology (IJP) are the face of contemporary pharmacology practices followed in health-care profession - a knowledge-based profession. It depicts trends in terms of quantity (proportions), quality, type (preclinical/clinical), thrust areas, etc., of pharmacology followed by biomedical community professions both nationally and internationally. This article aims to establish temporal trends in pharmacology research by pharmacy institutes in light of its publications to IJP from 2010 to 2015. Methodology: The website of IJP was searched for publications year and issue wise for contributing authors from pharmacy institutions and analyzed for types of publications, their source and the categories of research documented in these publications. Results: A total of 1034 articles were published, of which 189 (18%) articles were published by pharmacy institutes, of which 90% (n = 170) were contributed from pharmacy institutes within India whereas 10% (n = 19) from international pharmacy institutes. 75% of these were research publication, the majority of which (65%) were related to preclinical screening of phytochemical constituents from plants. Conclusion: With multi and interdisciplinary collaborations in pharmacy profession the trend needs to improve toward molecular and cellular pharmacology and clinical studies. PMID:28031614

Law, liability, and public health emergencies.

PubMed

Hoffman, Sharona; Goodman, Richard A; Stier, Daniel D

2009-06-01

According to many experts, a public health emergency arising from an influenza pandemic, bioterrorism attack, or natural disaster is likely to develop in the next few years. Meeting the public health and medical response needs created by such an emergency will likely involve volunteers, health care professionals, public and private hospitals and clinics, vaccine manufacturers, governmental authorities, and many others. Conducting response activities in emergency circumstances may give rise to numerous issues of liability, and medical professionals and other potential responders have expressed concern about liability exposure. Providers may face inadequate resources, an insufficient number of qualified personnel, overwhelming demand for services, and other barriers to providing optimal treatment, which could lead to injury or even death in some cases. This article describes the different theories of liability that may be used by plaintiffs and the sources of immunity that are available to public health emergency responders in the public sector, private sector, and as volunteers. It synthesizes the existing immunity landscape and analyzes its gaps. Finally, the authors suggest consideration of the option of a comprehensive immunity provision that addresses liability protection for all health care providers during public health emergencies and that, consequently, assists in improving community emergency response efforts.

Addressing health care market reform through an insurance exchange: essential policy components, the public plan option, and other issues to consider.

PubMed

Fronstin, Paul; Ross, Murray N

2009-06-01

HEALTH INSURANCE EXCHANGE: This Issue Brief examines issues related to managed competition and the use of a health insurance exchange for the purpose of addressing cost, quality, and access to health care services. It discusses issues that must be addressed when designing an exchange in order to reform the health insurance market and also examines state efforts at health reform that use an exchange. RISK VS. PRICE COMPETITION: The basic component of managed competition is the creation an organized marketplace that brings together health insurers and consumers (either as individuals or through their employers). The sponsor of the exchange would set "rules of engagement" for participating insurers and offer consumers a menu of choices among different plans. Ultimately, the goal of a health insurance exchange is to shift the market from competition based on risk to competition based on price and quality. ADVERSE SELECTION AND AFFORDABILITY: Among the issues that need to be addressed if an exchange that uses managed competition has a realistic chance of reducing costs, improving quality, and expanding coverage: Everyone needs to be in the risk pool, with individuals required to purchase insurance or face significant financial consequences; effective risk adjustment is essential to eliminate risk selection as an insurance business model--forcing competition on costs and quality; the insurance benefit must be specific and clear--without standards governing cost sharing, covered services, and network coverage there is no way to assess whether a requirement to purchase or issue coverage has been met; and subsidies would be necessary for low-income individuals to purchase insurance. THE PUBLIC PLAN OPTION: The public plan option is shaping up to be one of the most contentious issues in the health reform debate. Proponents also believe of a public plan is necessary to drive private insurers toward true competition. Opponents view it as a step toward government-run health care and are wary of cost shifting from the public plan to private insurers. FUTURE OF EMPLOYMENT-BASED COVERAGE: The availability of a health insurance exchange may have implications for the future of the employment-based health benefits system and raises major questions for workers. Will employers provide a fixed contribution for the purchase of insurance through an exchange? Would that be large enough to purchase coverage? Would it be flat or vary by such factors as worker health status, age, and/or marital status or the presence of children? Would it be taxed? For both employers and workers, the implications are enormous.

Really Reaching the Public, Face-to-Face

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Foukal, Peter

2014-02-01

This past summer I was able to provide a young couple with their first view of Saturn through a telescope, and afterward they told me what a profound experience this look into space had been for them. It wasn't the first time I'd seen such an emotional response since I opened the East Point Solar Observatory, a small public observatory in Nahant, Mass., in 1995. But listening to them reminded me how lucky we scientists are to pursue a career that brings out such warm feelings in our neighbors. It also made me wonder whether the effectiveness of our national approach to public outreach might be increased by more face-to-face contact between scientists and the public.

Global water fluoridation: what is holding us back?

PubMed

Botchey, Sally-Ann; Ouyang, Jing; Vivekanantham, Sayinthen

2015-01-01

Artificial water fluoridation was introduced more than 60 y ago as a public health intervention to control dental caries. Despite wide recommendations for its use from the World Health Organization (WHO) and studies showing the benefits of water fluoridation, many countries have opted out. Currently, only 25 countries, including the United Kingdom, the United States, and Australia have schemes for artificial water fluoridation. The issues faced in efforts to promote the global uptake of water fluoridation and the factors that affect the decision to implement it are unique in both developed and developing countries and must be explored. This article addresses the benefits and challenges of artificial water fluoridation. Further, it tackles the complexities faced with uptake of water fluoridation globally, such as ethical and political controversies and the use of alternative fluoride therapies. Potential future strategies to encourage the uptake of artificial water fluoridation are also discussed.

Animal models of binge drinking, current challenges to improve face validity.

PubMed

Jeanblanc, Jérôme; Rolland, Benjamin; Gierski, Fabien; Martinetti, Margaret P; Naassila, Mickael

2018-05-05

Binge drinking (BD), i.e., consuming a large amount of alcohol in a short period of time, is an increasing public health issue. Though no clear definition has been adopted worldwide the speed of drinking seems to be a keystone of this behavior. Developing relevant animal models of BD is a priority for gaining a better characterization of the neurobiological and psychobiological mechanisms underlying this dangerous and harmful behavior. Until recently, preclinical research on BD has been conducted mostly using forced administration of alcohol, but more recent studies used scheduled access to alcohol, to model more voluntary excessive intakes, and to achieve signs of intoxications that mimic the human behavior. The main challenges for future research are discussed regarding the need of good face validity, construct validity and predictive validity of animal models of BD. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Incidence and cost of non-fatal burns in Iran: a nationwide population-based study.

PubMed

Abouie, Abolfazl; Salamati, Payman; Hafezi-Nejad, Nima; Rahimi-Movaghar, Afarin; Saadat, Soheil; Amin-Esmaeili, Masoumeh; Sharifi, Vandad; Hajebi, Ahmad; Rahimi-Movaghar, Vafa

2018-03-01

To determine the incidence and cost of non-fatal burns in Iran; this cross-sectional household survey of a nationally representative sample of 15-64 years old was conducted. Through face-to-face interviews and telephone calls, the data on the demographics, history and cost of burns were collected. The annual incidence rate of burns was estimated 129.85 per 1000 population. Burns occurred higher in younger age, female gender and urban residency. The most common burn description was as follows: unpaid work (activity during burn), home (place of burn), heat and hot substances (mechanism of burn) and upper limb (site of burn). The average total cost of burn includes victims seeking medical care was US$124 per case. The main findings of this study suggest that burns are a major public health concern in Iran. To stop this important health issue, a national program for burn prevention and education must be developed.

Role of comparative effectiveness research in cancer funding decisions in Ontario, Canada.

PubMed

Hoch, Jeffrey S; Hodgson, David C; Earle, Craig C

2012-12-01

Recently, the evidence-based drug funding process in Ontario, Canada, was challenged by a young mother with a breast tumor too small, based on the evidence that existed at the time, to qualify for an expensive drug. In reality, this is only the latest in a number of challenges the publicly funded health care system has had to deal with in the face of an evolving drug policy landscape. This article defines comparative effectiveness research (CER), considering how it is viewed differently in the United States and Canada. It also reviews the role CER now plays in the Ontario drug funding process and concludes with a review of the challenges and opportunities of using observational data to conduct CER and incorporate it into policy making within a universal health care system. Many of the issues faced by Ontario are relevant beyond Canada, including in the United States during this period of health care reform.

When the private sphere goes public: exploring the issues facing family caregiver organizations in the development of long-term care policies.

PubMed

Rozario, Philip A; Palley, Elizabeth

2008-01-01

Though family caregiving forms the backbone of the long-term care system in the United States, long-term care policies have traditionally focused on paid services that frail older people and people with disabilities utilize for their day-to-day functioning. Part of the exclusion of family caregiving from the long-term care discourse stems from the traditional separation of the private sphere, where family caregiving occurs, from the public sphere of policy making. However, the passage of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), the National Family Caregiver Support Program (NFCSP) and Medicaid waiver legislation may reflect recent changes in the government's position on their role in addressing issues related to the "private spheres." In this article, we explore the nature of family caregiving in the United States, the divide between the public and private spheres and provide an overview of family caregiving-related policies and programs in the U.S. In our review, we examine the provisions in the FMLA, NFCSP, and Medicaid waiver legislation that support family caregiving efforts. We also examine the roles of family caregiver organizations in making family caregiving an important element of long-term care policy and influencing policy-making.

Changing the hearts and minds of policy makers: an exploratory study associated with the West Virginia Walks campaign.

PubMed

Leyden, Kevin M; Reger-Nash, Bill; Bauman, Adrian; Bias, Tom

2008-01-01

To pilot test whether West Virginia Walks changed local policy makers' awareness of walking-related issues. A quasi-experimental design with preintervention and postintervention mail surveys. Morgantown, WV (intervention community), and Huntington, WV (comparison community). One hundred thirty-three and 134 public officials in Morgantown and 120 and 116 public officials in Huntington at baseline and at follow-up, respectively. An 8-week mass media social ecological campaign designed to encourage moderate-intensity walking among insufficiently active persons aged 40 to 65 years. Policy makers listed three problems they believed needed to be addressed in their community. They then rated the severity of several problems that many communities face using a Likert scale, with 1 representing "not a problem" and 5 representing "an extremely important problem." Independent sample t-tests were used to examine differences in mean responses at baseline and at follow-up. Statistically significant increases in the perceived importance of walking-related issues were observed among policy makers in Morgantown but not in the comparison community. Integrated communitywide health promotion campaigns designed to influence the public can also affect the perceptions of policy makers. Future research should examine this linkage and determine whether resource allocation and policy changes follow such interventions.

Key water issues now facing our nation

USGS Publications Warehouse

Hirsch, Robert M.; Miller, Timothy L.; Hamilton, Pixie A.; Gilliom, Robert J.

2008-01-01

Challenges to sustaining sufficient and high-quality water for human consumption, industry, farms, energy production, and ecosystem services continue to intensify in many parts of the Nation. We face four key water issues that call for support from the science and engineering communities.

Cost of illness for outpatients attending public and private hospitals in Bangladesh.

PubMed

Pavel, Md Sadik; Chakrabarty, Sayan; Gow, Jeff

2016-10-10

A central aim of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) is protection for all against the cost of illness. In a low income country like Bangladesh the cost burden of health care in tertiary facilities is likely to be significant for most citizens. This cost of an episode of illness is a relatively unexplored policy issue in Bangladesh. The objective of this study was to estimate an outpatient's total cost of illness as result of treatment in private and public hospitals in Sylhet, Bangladesh. The study used face to face interviews at three hospitals (one public and two private) to elicit cost data from presenting outpatients. Other socio-economic and demographic data was also collected. A sample of 252 outpatients were randomly selected and interviewed. The total cost of outpatients comprises direct medical costs, non-medical costs and the indirect costs of patients and caregivers. Indirect costs comprise travel and waiting times and income losses associated with treatment. The costs of illness are significant for many of Bangladesh citizens. The direct costs are relatively minor compared to the large indirect cost burden that illness places on households. These indirect costs are mainly the result of time off work and foregone wages. Private hospital patients have higher average direct costs than public hospital patients. However, average indirect costs are higher for public hospital patients than private hospital patients by a factor of almost two. Total costs of outpatients are higher in public hospitals compared to private hospitals regardless of patient's income, gender, age or illness. Overall, public hospital patients, who tend to be the poorest, bear a larger economic burden of illness and treatment than relatively wealthier private hospital patients. The large economic impacts of illness need a public policy response which at a minimum should include a national health insurance scheme as a matter of urgency.

Prioritising public health: a qualitative study of decision making to reduce health inequalities.

PubMed

Orton, Lois C; Lloyd-Williams, Ffion; Taylor-Robinson, David C; Moonan, May; O'Flaherty, Martin; Capewell, Simon

2011-10-20

The public health system in England is currently facing dramatic change. Renewed attention has recently been paid to the best approaches for tackling the health inequalities which remain entrenched within British society and across the globe. In order to consider the opportunities and challenges facing the new public health system in England, we explored the current experiences of those involved in decision making to reduce health inequalities, taking cardiovascular disease (CVD) as a case study. We conducted an in-depth qualitative study employing 40 semi-structured interviews and three focus group discussions. Participants were public health policy makers and planners in CVD in the UK, including: Primary Care Trust and Local Authority staff (in various roles); General Practice commissioners; public health academics; consultant cardiologists; national guideline managers; members of guideline development groups, civil servants; and CVD third sector staff. The short term target- and outcome-led culture of the NHS and the drive to achieve "more for less", combined with the need to address public demand for acute services often lead to investment in "downstream" public health intervention, rather than the "upstream" approaches that are most effective at reducing inequalities. Despite most public health decision makers wishing to redress this imbalance, they felt constrained due to difficulties in partnership working and the over-riding influence of other stakeholders in decision making processes. The proposed public health reforms in England present an opportunity for public health to move away from the medical paradigm of the NHS. However, they also reveal a reluctance of central government to contribute to shifting social norms. It is vital that the effectiveness and cost effectiveness of all new and existing policies and services affecting public health are measured in terms of their impact on the social determinants of health and health inequalities. Researchers have a vital role to play in providing the complex evidence required to compare different models of prevention and service delivery. Those working in public health must develop leadership to raise the profile of health inequalities as an issue that merits attention, resources and workforce capacity; and advocate for central government to play a key role in shifting social norms.

Translating human biology (introduction to special issue).

PubMed

Brewis, Alexandra A; Mckenna, James J

2015-01-01

Introducing a special issue on "Translating Human Biology," we pose two basic questions: Is human biology addressing the most critical challenges facing our species? How can the processes of translating our science be improved and innovated? We analyze articles published in American Journal of Human Biology from 2004-2013, and find there is very little human biological consideration of issues related to most of the core human challenges such as water, energy, environmental degradation, or conflict. There is some focus on disease, and considerable focus on food/nutrition. We then introduce this special volume with reference to the following articles that provide exemplars for the process of how translation and concern for broader context and impacts can be integrated into research. Human biology has significant unmet potential to engage more fully in translation for the public good, through consideration of the topics we focus on, the processes of doing our science, and the way we present our domain expertise. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Major Issues Facing the Conservation Movement in the Coming Decade and Beyond.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Strong, Maurice

1984-01-01

The key issues facing the conservation movement may be grouped into three areas: (1) threats to human health; (2) threats to food and fuel supplies; and (3) long-term threats to the biosphere. Each of these areas is discussed. (JN)

Coming to grips with consumerism. [Panel answers on utility operations and problems

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

Utility companies, as regulated monopolies, are facing increasing questioning and challenges from consumers. Representatives of the Consumer Federation of America, The Department of Energy, and Edison Electric Institute discuss the kind of information that consumers want and how they can get satisfactory responses from utility companies. The movement, seen as a healthy way for citizens to understand how utilities operate and to learn how to communicate their concerns, is assuming more of a conciliatory than adversary nature. In a panel discussion, the participants outline the issues of communication, rate structure, public relations, utility decision making, and regulation.

Regulatory considerations for global transfer of cryopreserved fish gametes

USGS Publications Warehouse

Jenkins, Jill A.; Tiersch, Terrence R.; Green, Christopher C.

2011-01-01

Federal and state resource managers, scientists, lawmakers, business and development investors, and the general public all struggle with issues surrounding the conservation of our biological heritage, especially in the face of increased population growth and consequent anthropogenic disturbances. Conservation interests include recovering exploited aquatic populations, decreasing the loss of genetic diversity, and reintroducing locally depleted species. However, research on husbandry and other techniques critical to implementing conservation strategies is often not started until few individuals remain. A program in the cryopreservation of gametes and embryos from aquatic species would address several of these conservation concerns by allowing the establishment of gene banks

Diagnosis: Michael Moore--media paint filmmaker to be health care system's main problem.

PubMed

Kao, Caroline

2008-01-01

The media reporting on Sicko, Michael Moore's documentary about the failures of the U.S. health care system, provides an example of how corporate media continue to twist and restrict the much-needed debate on health care reform. Aside from an occasional concession that having 46 million uninsured Americans is indeed problematic, the media's hype-filled conversation on health care avoids the issues and echoes old myths about the dangers of "government-run" and "socialized" health care. But in the face of the media demonization, universal health care is remarkably popular among the public.

Policy analysis for prenatal genetic diagnosis.

PubMed

Thompson, M; Milunsky, A

1979-01-01

Consideration of the analytic difficulties faced in estimating the benefits and costs of prenatal genetic diagnosis, coupled with a brief review of existing benefit-cost studies, leads to the conclusion that public subsidy of prenatal testing can yield benefits substantially in excess of costs. The practical obstacles to such programs include the attitudes of prospective parents, a lack of knowledge, monetary barriers, inadequately organized medical resources, and the political issue of abortion. Policy analysis can now nevertheless formulate principles and guide immediate actions to improve present utilization of prenatal testing and to facilitate possible future expansion of these diagnostic techniques.

Delivering End-of-Life Cancer Care: Perspectives of Providers.

PubMed

Patel, Manali I; Periyakoil, Vyjeyanthi S; Moore, David; Nevedal, Andrea; Coker, Tumaini R

2018-03-01

Persistent gaps in end-of-life cancer care delivery and growing associated expenditures remain imminent US public health issues. The objective of this study was to understand clinical providers' experiences delivering cancer care for patients at the end of life and their perspectives on potential solutions to improve quality of care. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 75 cancer care providers across the United States. The interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using constant comparative method of qualitative analysis. Providers identified 3 major cancer care delivery challenges including lack of time to educate patients and caregivers due to clinical volume and administrative burdens, ambiguity in determining both prognosis and timing of palliative care at the end-of-life, and lack of adequate systems to support non-face-to-face communication with patients. To address these challenges, providers endorsed several options for clinical practice redesign in their settings. These include use of a lay health worker to assist in addressing early advance care planning, proactive non-face-to-face communication with patients specifically regarding symptom management, and community and in-home delivery of cancer care services. Specific strategies for cancer care redesign endorsed by health-care providers may be used to create interventions that can more efficiently and effectively address gaps in end-of-life cancer care.

[In the era of the Royal Society of Medicine].

PubMed

Gramain, Pascale

2013-01-01

In the May 2013 issue of medecine/sciences, the Rob Laffecteur complained about the constraints imposed by the Société Royale de Médecine in 1779, bearing on the labelling of remedies. Though, he did take advantage of the evaluation from an advertising point of view; though in this prospect he diverted his evaluation's report, in order to present it in a flattering manner. The Société Royale de Médecine was founded in 1778; its mission was to cover everything that had to do with public healthcare. Active, age-old and competent, it was submitted to many of contemporary issues that we are facing nowadays in the matter of medicines' evaluation, which is based on a rigorous scientific evaluation, itself based on knowledge's state-of-the-art. © 2013 médecine/sciences – Inserm.

Telecommunications companies and health in West Africa: the issues.

PubMed

Ankri, R; Maroune, M-H

2017-11-01

West Africa still faces important public health issues today: improving the health infrastructure, compensating for the lack of medical personnel, and bringing the rural "lost-to-follow-up" population into an inclusive healthcare system. At the same time, the boom in the mobile telephone market is providing important business opportunities for telecommunications companies in this field, leading to the rapid propagation of eHealth solutions. Thus, the telecom companies' technical innovations enable the creation of digital health solutions adapted to the specific needs of the West African market. The companies can thus increase their business through eHealth and simultaneously generate positive externalities (a healthier population), meeting the goals of their corporate social responsibility policies. We will see how these companies, aware of this opportunity, build these solutions and they meet the challenges they will confront.

Issues and special features of animal health research

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

In the rapidly changing context of research on animal health, INRA launched a collective discussion on the challenges facing the field, its distinguishing features, and synergies with biomedical research. As has been declared forcibly by the heads of WHO, FAO and OIE, the challenges facing animal health, beyond diseases transmissible to humans, are critically important and involve food security, agriculture economics, and the ensemble of economic activities associated with agriculture. There are in addition issues related to public health (zoonoses, xenobiotics, antimicrobial resistance), the environment, and animal welfare. Animal health research is distinguished by particular methodologies and scientific questions that stem from the specific biological features of domestic species and from animal husbandry practices. It generally does not explore the same scientific questions as research on human biology, even when the same pathogens are being studied, and the discipline is rooted in a very specific agricultural and economic context. Generic and methodological synergies nevertheless exist with biomedical research, particularly with regard to tools and biological models. Certain domestic species furthermore present more functional similarities with humans than laboratory rodents. The singularity of animal health research in relation to biomedical research should be taken into account in the organization, evaluation, and funding of the field through a policy that clearly recognizes the specific issues at stake. At the same time, the One Health approach should facilitate closer collaboration between biomedical and animal health research at the level of research teams and programmes. PMID:21864344

Issues and special features of animal health research.

PubMed

Ducrot, Christian; Bed'hom, Bertrand; Béringue, Vincent; Coulon, Jean-Baptiste; Fourichon, Christine; Guérin, Jean-Luc; Krebs, Stéphane; Rainard, Pascal; Schwartz-Cornil, Isabelle; Torny, Didier; Vayssier-Taussat, Muriel; Zientara, Stephan; Zundel, Etienne; Pineau, Thierry

2011-08-24

In the rapidly changing context of research on animal health, INRA launched a collective discussion on the challenges facing the field, its distinguishing features, and synergies with biomedical research. As has been declared forcibly by the heads of WHO, FAO and OIE, the challenges facing animal health, beyond diseases transmissible to humans, are critically important and involve food security, agriculture economics, and the ensemble of economic activities associated with agriculture. There are in addition issues related to public health (zoonoses, xenobiotics, antimicrobial resistance), the environment, and animal welfare.Animal health research is distinguished by particular methodologies and scientific questions that stem from the specific biological features of domestic species and from animal husbandry practices. It generally does not explore the same scientific questions as research on human biology, even when the same pathogens are being studied, and the discipline is rooted in a very specific agricultural and economic context.Generic and methodological synergies nevertheless exist with biomedical research, particularly with regard to tools and biological models. Certain domestic species furthermore present more functional similarities with humans than laboratory rodents.The singularity of animal health research in relation to biomedical research should be taken into account in the organization, evaluation, and funding of the field through a policy that clearly recognizes the specific issues at stake. At the same time, the One Health approach should facilitate closer collaboration between biomedical and animal health research at the level of research teams and programmes.

Geology for a changing world 2010-2020-Implementing the U.S. Geological Survey science strategy

USGS Publications Warehouse

Gundersen, Linda C.S.; Belnap, Jayne; Goldhaber, Martin; Goldstein, Arthur; Haeussler, Peter J.; Ingebritsen, S.E.; Jones, John W.; Plumlee, Geoffrey S.; Thieler, E. Robert; Thompson, Robert S.; Back, Judith M.

2011-01-01

This report describes a science strategy for the geologic activities of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) for the years 2010-2020. It presents six goals with accompanying strategic actions and products that implement the science directions of USGS Circular 1309, 'Facing Tomorrow's Challenges-U.S. Geological Survey Science in the Decade 2007-2017.' These six goals focus on providing the geologic underpinning needed to wisely use our natural resources, understand and mitigate hazards and environmental change, and understand the relationship between humans and the environment. The goals emphasize the critical role of the USGS in providing long-term research, monitoring, and assessments for the Nation and the world. Further, they describe measures that must be undertaken to ensure geologic expertise and knowledge for the future. The natural science issues facing today's world are complex and cut across many scientific disciplines. The Earth is a system in which atmosphere, oceans, land, and life are all connected. Rocks and soils contain the answers to important questions about the origin of energy and mineral resources, the evolution of life, climate change, natural hazards, ecosystem structures and functions, and the movements of nutrients and toxicants. The science of geology has the power to help us understand the processes that link the physical and biological world so that we can model and forecast changes in the system. Ensuring the success of this strategy will require integration of geological knowledge with the other natural sciences and extensive collaboration across USGS science centers and with partners in Federal, State, and local agencies, academia, industry, nongovernmental organizations and, most importantly, the American public. The first four goals of this report describe the scientific issues facing society in the next 10 years and the actions and products needed to respond to these issues. The final two goals focus on the expertise and infrastructure needed to ensure the long-term sustainability of the geological sciences in the USGS. The ultimate goal of USGS science and of the strategy laid out in this document is to contribute to the development of a sustainable society that operates in harmony with the Earth systems that society depends upon. As we begin the second decade of the 21st century, our Nation faces growing challenges in resource availability, climate and environmental change, and natural hazards. Meeting these challenges will require strong collaboration across the natural and social sciences and extensive partnerships with both the public and private sectors. The six goals described in this document represent a mix of scientific focus areas and operational necessities that together provide a comprehensive roadmap for USGS geologic science to effectively contribute to the USGS mission, providing science for a changing world.

Workforce Issues Facing HRD.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

1995

These four papers are from a symposium facilitated by Eugene Andette on work force issues facing human resources development (HRD) at the 1995 Academy of Human Resource Development conference. "Meaning Construction and Personal Transformation: Alternative Dimensions of Job Loss" (Terri A. Deems) reports a study conducted to explore the ways…

Medical students' reflective writing about a task-based learning experience on public health communication.

PubMed

Koh, Yang Huang; Wong, Mee Lian; Lee, Jeanette Jen-Mai

2014-02-01

Medical educators constantly face the challenge of preparing students for public health practice. This study aimed to analyze students' reflections to gain insight into their task-based experiences in the public health communication selective. We have also examined their self-reported learning outcomes and benefits with regard to application of public health communication. Each student wrote a semi-structured reflective journal about his or her experiences leading to the delivery of a public health talk by the group. Records from 41 students were content-analyzed for recurring themes and sub-themes. Students reported a wide range of personal and professional issues. Their writings were characterized by a deep sense of self-awareness and social relatedness such as increased self-worth, communications skills, and collaborative learning. The learning encounter challenged assumptions, and enhanced awareness of the complexity of behaviour change Students also wrote about learning being more enjoyable and how the selective had forced them to adopt a more thoughtful stance towards knowledge acquisition and assimilation. Task-based learning combined with a process for reflection holds promise as an educational strategy for teaching public health communication, and cultivating the habits of reflective practice.

Effects of Face-to-Face and Computer-Mediated Constructive Controversy on Social Interdependence, Motivation, and Achievement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roseth, Cary J.; Saltarelli, Andy J.; Glass, Chris R.

2011-01-01

Cooperative learning capitalizes on the relational processes by which peers promote learning, yet it remains unclear whether these processes operate similarly in face-to-face and online settings. This study addresses this issue by comparing face-to-face and computer-mediated versions of "constructive controversy", a cooperative learning procedure…

Negative Public Attitudes Towards Cancer Survivors Returning to Work: A Nationwide Survey in Korea

PubMed Central

Shim, Hye-Young; Shin, Ji-Yeon; Kim, Jong Heun; Kim, So-Young; Yang, Hyung-Kook; Park, Jong-Hyock

2016-01-01

Purpose Early diagnosis and an improved survival rate have emerged as important issues for cancer survivors returning to work during the prime of their working life. This study investigated the attitudes of the general public towards cancer survivors returning to work in Korea and attempted to identify the factors influencing this negative attitude. Materials and Methods A general public perception survey regarding cancer survivors returning to work, targeting 2,000 individuals between 40-70 years of age, was conducted as face-to-face home visit. Results The public expressed a negative attitude towards cancer survivors returning to work, in terms of both perception and acceptance. Negative perception was higher among those in metropolitan areas compared with urban/rural areas (odds ratio [OR], 1.71), with monthly incomes < $2,000 compared with > $4,000 (OR, 1.54), and with patient care experience compared with those without (OR, 1.41). Negative acceptance was higher among those with monthly incomes < $2,000 compared with > $4,000 (OR, 1.71) and those with patient care experience compared with those without (OR, 1.54). The common factors between acceptance and perception that influenced negative attitude included area of residence, patient care experience, and monthly income. Conclusion This study identified negative attitudes towards cancer survivors returning to work in South Korea and the factors influencing the reintegration of cancer survivors into society. It is necessary to promote community awareness and intervention activities to enable access to community, social, and individual units for the social reintegration of cancer survivors. PMID:26044157

Army Communicator. Volume 32, Number 3, Summer 2007

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-01-01

goal of bringing people from across the Army together to talk about the issues and challenges they are experiencing in the field and try to work out...actually facing the challenges . Each work- shop had a mediator who collected information on issues being faced and suggested solutions to these problems...these possible items that Signal Center actions may be put forth to bring about resolutions to the challenges facing the warfighter in the field. “I

Issues in the implementation and evolution of the commercial recreational cannabis market in Colorado.

PubMed

Subritzky, Todd; Pettigrew, Simone; Lenton, Simon

2015-12-15

For almost a century, the cultivation, sale and use of recreational cannabis has been prohibited by law in most countries. Recently, however, under ballot initiatives four states in the US have legalised commercial, non-medical (recreational) cannabis markets. Several other states will initiate similar ballot measures attached to the 2016 election that will also appoint a new President. As the first state to implement the legislation in 2014, Colorado is an important example to begin investigating early consequences of specific policy choices while other jurisdictions consider their own legislation although the empirical evidence base is only beginning to accrue. This paper brings together material sourced from peer reviewed academic papers, grey literature publications, reports in mass media and niche media outlets, and government publications to outline the regulatory model and process in Colorado and to describe some of the issues that have emerged in the first 20 months of its operation. These issues include tension between public health and profit, industry and investment, new methods of consumption, the black market and product testing. The paper concludes that, while it is too early to determine the impact of the scheme, and noting that it includes some features designed to mitigate adverse impacts, it faces major challenges. Not least of these are the lack of an effective overarching federal regulatory structure, as a consequence of the federal prohibition on cannabis, combined with a rapidly growing cannabis industry which, like other industries, will seek to exploit loopholes to maximise profit. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Integrating global animal health, public health and tropical animal health issues into the veterinary curriculum: a South African/African perspective.

PubMed

Swan, G E; Coetzer, J A W; Terblanche, H M

2009-08-01

The globalisation of trade and food, the increased volume and speed of international travel, climate change, and the related escalation of emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases mean that countries are now more interconnected and interdependent than ever before. Africa is beleaguered by a range of endemic infectious and parasitic tropical diseases which, due to its diverse wildlife populations and indigenous livestock, can serve as a reservoir of high-impact or transboundary diseases and play a role in the emergence of disease, particularly at the wildlife, domestic animal and human interfaces. It is therefore essential to integrate animal and public health issues into the veterinary curriculum. Veterinary training in most parts of sub-Saharan Africa has focused on producing veterinarians to serve the livestock sector although socio-economic changes and privatisation of Veterinary Services have caused curriculum adjustments, as have globalisation and the increased risk of the spread of transboundary diseases. In South Africa, undergraduate veterinary training is more clinically oriented than in other regions. Animal and public health issues are covered in the curriculum, although their global relevance is not emphasised. The authors describe the undergraduate veterinary curriculum and summarise post-graduate programmes in South Africa. They also discuss a more comprehensive core-elective approach to the current curriculum and the need to adapt to new challenges facing the profession. Finally, they examine the potential use of innovative technology in undergraduate and post-graduate training and professional development, the importance of regional and international collaboration and the accreditation and recognition of veterinary training.

Civil Rights Issues Facing Arab Americans in Michigan.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Michigan State Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.

This report is a summary statement of the Michigan Advisory Committee's study on civil rights issues facing Arab American communities in Michigan. It is based on information received by the Committee at a community forum held in Dearborn, Michigan, in 1999. Six sections focus on: (1) "Introduction," including Arab American demographics…

The Importance of Exposure in Addressing Current and Emerging Air Quality Issues

EPA Science Inventory

The air quality issues that we face today and will face in the future are becoming increasingly more complex and require an improved understanding of human exposure to be effectively addressed. The objectives of this paper are (1) to discuss how concepts of human exposure and ex...

Review of Issues Facing Congress. News from Capitol Hill.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Heinz, Ann Simeo

2001-01-01

Discusses various topics that have faced the 107th U.S. Congress, such as tax cuts, judicial appointments, domestic issues, patients' bill of rights, stem cell research, election law, and campaign finance reform. Includes information on U.S. Senate and federal judicial appointments. Provides ideas for student learning activities. (CMK)

Workforce Issues Facing HRD. [Concurrent Symposium Session at AHRD Annual Conference, 1997.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

1997

This document contains three papers from a symposium on work force issues facing human resource development (HRD). "Diversity Management in Nonprofit Women's Health Care Settings: A Qualitative Study of Race, Class, and Gender Influences" (Camille A. Cordak) demonstrates which organizational activities support diversity and how an…

Outsourcing issues for nurse practitioner practices.

PubMed

Mackey, Thomas A; McNiel, Nancy O; Klingensmith, Kenneth

2004-01-01

Nurse practitioner managed practices face multiple business and clinical processes. While most practice managers are prepared as clinicians, they are not well prepared to deal with the daily multiple business infrastructure issues they face. To provide for increased efficiency and effectiveness, nurse practitioner practices should consider outsourcing context business functions.

Critical Issues Facing America's Community Colleges: A Summary of the Community College Futures Assembly 2008

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Basham, Matthew J.; Campbell, Dale F.; Mendoza, Pilar

2008-01-01

Three focus groups consisting of board of trustee members, community college presidents, senior administrators, administrators, and faculty members developed critical issues facing community colleges with respect to instructional planning and services; planning, governance, and finance; and workforce development. Thereafter, the delegation of more…

Health Risks Faced by Public School Band Directors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Woolery, Danielle N.; Woolery, Jesse A.

2013-01-01

Public school band directors face many work-related hazards in their grueling, yet rewarding job. As a school year progresses, directors are expected to work long hours, while trying to balance professional and personal responsibilities. A band director whose career spans multiple decades can potentially face a number of serious medical problems.…

The politics and science behind GMO acceptance.

PubMed

Varzakas, Theodoros H; Arvanitoyannis, Ioannis S; Baltas, Haralambos

2007-01-01

The question of nutritional quality has arisen in the International Community over the last few years along with other important issues such as population aging, multipopulation societies, and political conflicts. The nutritional issue is questioned both quantitatively and qualitatively. It is well known that the planet faces enormous problems with food that is available. Nowadays 20% of the population consumes approximately 80% of the produced energy and natural resources. During the last 15 years, a series of food scares and crises (BSE, dioxin, foot and mouth disease, bird flu) have seriously undermined public confidence in food producers and operators and their capacity to produce safe food. As a result, food safety has become a top priority of the European legislative authorities. Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) is the new food safety concern which despite the intense reactions from Non Governmental Organizations and consumer organizations have entered our lives with inadequate legislative measures to protect consumers from their consumption. The GMO issue will be the issue for discussion in the long run not only for the European Community but also for the international community as far as scientific, economical, political, ideological, ethical, and human issues are concerned. These issues are discussed in this paper along with a case of study of GM fish.

Interplay between Public Attention and Public Emotion toward Multiple Social Issues on Twitter

PubMed Central

Peng, Tai-Quan; Sun, Guodao; Wu, Yingcai

2017-01-01

This study aims to elucidate the intricate interplay between public attention and public emotion toward multiple social issues. A theoretical framework is developed based on three perspectives including endogenous affect hypothesis, affect transfer hypothesis, and affective intelligence theory. Large-scale longitudinal data with 265 million tweets on five social issues are analyzed using a time series analytical approach. Public attention on social issues can influence public emotion on the issue per se. Social issues interact with one another to attract public attention in both cooperative and competitive ways. Instead of a direct transfer from public emotion to public attention, the public emotion toward a social issue moderates the interaction between the issue and other issue(s). PMID:28081117

Accuracy of Answers Provided by Digital/Face-to-Face Reference Services in Japanese Public Libraries and Q & A Sites

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tsuji, Keita; To, Haruna; Hara, Atsuyuki

2011-01-01

We asked the same 60 questions using DRS (digital reference services) in Japanese public libraries, face-to-face reference services and Q & A (question and answer) sites. It was found that: (1) The correct answer ratio of DRS is higher than that of Q & A sites; (2) DRS takes longer to provide answers as compared to Q & A sites; and (3)…

Placing learning needs in context: distance learning for clinical officers in Tanzania.

PubMed

Brigley, Stephen; Hosein, Ian; Myemba, Irnei

2009-04-01

Poor public health indicators in Tanzania have led to the upgrading of nursing and clinical personnel who currently have just core training. Clinical officers (COs) have 3 years training in basic and applied medicine and are responsible for healthcare of large and dispersed rural populations. UNESCO-Wales has funded colleagues in Wales (UK) to assist the upgrade of COs. An inquiry into their learning needs and the Tanzanian context has produced a framework for design of a module for COs on sexually transmissible infections and HIV & AIDS by distance learning. Face-to-face discussions were held with the Ministry of Health, healthcare workers, educators and administrators in Tanzania; a review of training documents was carried out; and a follow-up questionnaire issued to COs. The discussions and review highlighted teacher-centred approaches, and management, infrastructure and resources obstacles to curriculum change. Principal learning needs of COs around STIs were: counselling, syndromic management, drugs management, laboratory diagnosis, health education, resources, staffing and service morale. Placing learning needs in context in dialogue with Tanzanian colleagues was an advance on simple transfer of educational technologies and expertise. The inquiry resulted in a draft study guide and resources pack that were positively reviewed by Tanzanian tutors. Management and resources issues raised problems of sustainability in the module implementation.

Opinions concerning euthanasia, life-sustaining treatment and acceleration of death: results of an Italian Association of Medical Oncology (AIOM) survey.

PubMed

Catania, C; Zagonel, V; Fosser, V; La Verde, N; Bertetto, O; Iacono, C; Venturini, M; Radice, D; Adamoli, L; Boccardo, F

2008-11-01

Advance directives, acceleration of death, euthanasia and 'life-sustaining treatment' have sparked much heated debate among the media, the public, doctors and political leaders. We evaluate the personal opinions of Italian Association of Medical Oncology (AIOM) members. A 30-item questionnaire was developed and delivered to all 1,832 AIOM members. Six-hundred and eighty-five (37%) oncologists completed and returned the questionnaires. Sixty-three per cent felt culturally and psychologically prepared to face these issues. Fifty-four per cent believed that what had been decided while the patient enjoyed good health is no longer applicable in an advanced state of terminal illness. Thirty-nine per cent believed that doctors should abide by these directives, while 49% believed that this should be discussed on a case-by-case basis. Fourteen per cent of oncologists were favourable towards euthanasia and 42% only in particular circumstances. Fifty-six per cent had received at least one request for accelerating death: 15% consented, 50% discussed it with the patient and 31% refused. Advance directives, euthanasia, accelerated death and life-sustaining treatment represent considerable challenges for Italian oncologists. Although prepared to face these issues, AIOM members ask for a debate within the medical world and for a shared judicial regulation.

Professional Medical Organizations and Commercial Conflicts of Interest: Ethical Issues

PubMed Central

Brody, Howard

2010-01-01

The American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) has recently been criticized for accepting a large corporate donation from Coca-Cola to fund patient education on obesity prevention. Conflicts of interest, whether individual or organizational, occur when one enters into arrangements that reasonably tempt one to put aside one’s primary obligations in favor of secondary interests, such as financial self-interest. Accepting funds from commercial sources that seek to influence physician organizational behavior in a direction that could run counter to the public health represents one of those circumstances and so constitutes a conflict of interest. Most of the defenses offered by AAFP are rationalizations rather than ethical counterarguments. Medical organizations, as the public face of medicine and as formulator of codes of ethics for their physician members, have special obligations to adhere to high ethical standards. PMID:20644191

Professional medical organizations and commercial conflicts of interest: ethical issues.

PubMed

Brody, Howard

2010-01-01

The American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) has recently been criticized for accepting a large corporate donation from Coca-Cola to fund patient education on obesity prevention. Conflicts of interest, whether individual or organizational, occur when one enters into arrangements that reasonably tempt one to put aside one's primary obligations in favor of secondary interests, such as financial self-interest. Accepting funds from commercial sources that seek to influence physician organizational behavior in a direction that could run counter to the public health represents one of those circumstances and so constitutes a conflict of interest. Most of the defenses offered by AAFP are rationalizations rather than ethical counterarguments. Medical organizations, as the public face of medicine and as formulator of codes of ethics for their physician members, have special obligations to adhere to high ethical standards.

Assessment method of accessibility conditions: how to make public buildings accessible?

PubMed

Andrade, Isabela Fernandes; Ely, e Vera Helena Moro Bins

2012-01-01

The enforcement of accessibility today has faced several difficulties, such as intervention in historic buildings that now house public services and cultural activities, such as town halls, museums and theaters and should allow access, on equal terms to all people. The paper presents the application of a method for evaluating the spatial accessibility conditions and their results. For this, we sought to support the theoretical foundation about the main issue involved and legislation. From the method used--guided walks--it was possible to identify the main barriers to accessibility in historic buildings. From the identified barriers, possible solutions are presented according to the four components of accessibility: spatial orientation, displacement, use and communication. It is hoped also that the knowledge gained in this research contributes to an improvement of accessibility legislation in relation to the listed items.

Influences of face, stigma, and psychological symptoms on help-seeking attitudes in Macao.

PubMed

Cheang, Sut Ieng; Davis, J Mark

2014-09-01

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between concerns about loss of face, stigma, psychological symptoms, and attitudes toward seeking mental health services such as counseling in Macao. Participants included 391 students attending the largest public university in Macao: 277 were from Macao and 114 were from Mainland China. Participants completed questionnaires measuring attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help, concerns about loss of face, self-stigma, public-stigma, and psychological symptoms. Results showed that positive attitudes toward help-seeking were significantly negatively correlated with self-stigma, public-stigma, and concerns about loss of face but there was no significant correlation with psychological symptoms. Psychological symptoms were positively correlated with face concerns, self-stigma, and public-stigma. Stigma (self and public) was found to be significantly positively associated with face concerns, but the correlations were weak. Findings also showed that Macao students had higher levels of distress, and endorsed greater self- and public-stigma than Mainland Chinese students; however, the groups did not differ in face concerns or attitudes toward help-seeking. Regression analysis indicated that group membership was not a significant predictor of help-seeking. Self-stigma was the strongest predictor of professional help-seeking. Age and sex were also found to be significant predictors. Results suggested that younger students were more likely to seek help and that female students reported greater levels of distress and tended to have more positive attitudes toward seeking psychological services than male students. © 2014 The Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Wiley Publishing Asia Pty Ltd.

Self-stigma and affiliate stigma in first-episode psychosis patients and their caregivers.

PubMed

Chen, Emily S M; Chang, Wing Chung; Hui, Christy L M; Chan, Sherry K W; Lee, Edwin Ho Ming; Chen, Eric Y H

2016-09-01

Stigma is a major factor causing delayed help-seeking and poor treatment adherence in patients with psychotic disorders. Previous research has mostly focused on chronic samples and the impact of culturally-relevant variables on both patients' and their caregivers' stigmatization is understudied. This study aimed to examine the relationships between various forms of stigma, "face concern", and clinical characteristics in a group of Chinese first-episode psychosis (FEP) patients and their caregivers. Forty-four Hong Kong Chinese aged 15-54 years presenting with FEP to psychiatric services and their caregivers were recruited. Assessments on self-stigma, affiliate stigma, perceived public stigma, "face concern", symptom severity and subjective quality of life (QoL) were conducted. Self-stigma of FEP patients was correlated with perceived public stigma, "face concern", insight and psychological health of QoL. Multiple regression analysis revealed that perceived public stigma and "face concern" independently predicted self-stigma. Mediation analysis further suggested that "face concern" partially mediated the relationship between perceived public stigma and self-stigma. Caregivers' affiliate stigma was significantly associated with higher levels of stress, and symptoms of depression and anxiety. Affiliate stigma did not correlate with perceived public stigma and "face concern". Our results indicate a critical role of perceived public stigma and fear of losing face in determining self-stigma in Chinese patients with FEP. Caregivers with greater degree of affiliate stigma experience increased stress and emotional distress. Our findings highlight the importance to examine culturally specific factors that may contribute to the development of self-stigma in first-episode populations of different ethnicities.

Public Engagement on Climate Change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Curry, J.

2011-12-01

Climate change communication is complicated by complexity of the scientific problem, multiple perspectives on the magnitude of the risk from climate change, often acrimonious disputes between scientists, high stakes policy options, and overall politicization of the issue. Efforts to increase science literacy as a route towards persuasion around the need for a policy like cap and trade have failed, because the difficulty that a scientist has in attempting to make sense of the social and political complexity is very similar to the complexity facing the general public as they try to make sense of climate science itself. In this talk I argue for a shift from scientists and their institutions as information disseminators to that of public engagement and enablers of public participation. The goal of engagement is not just to inform, but to enable, motivate and educate the public regarding the technical, political, and social dimensions of climate change. Engagement is a two-way process where experts and decision-makers seek input and learn from the public about preferences, needs, insights, and ideas relative to climate change impacts, vulnerabilities, solutions and policy options. Effective public engagement requires that scientists detach themselves from trying to control what the public does with the acquired knowledge and motivation. The goal should not be to "sell" the public on particular climate change solutions, since such advocacy threatens public trust in scientists and their institutions. Conduits for public engagement include the civic engagement approach in the context of community meetings, and perhaps more significantly, the blogosphere. Since 2006, I have been an active participant in the climate blogosphere, focused on engaging with people that are skeptical of AGW. A year ago, I started my own blog Climate Etc. at judithcurry.com. The demographic that I have focused my communication/engagement activities are the technically educated and scientifically literate public, many of whom have become increasingly skeptical of climate science the more they investigate the topic. Specific issues that this group has with climate science include concerns that science that cannot easily be separated from risk assessment and value judgments; concern that assessments (e.g. IPCC) have become a Maxwell's daemon for climate research; inadequate assessment of our ignorance of this complex scientific issue; elite scientists and scientific institutions losing credibility with the public; political exploitation of the public's lack of understanding; and concerns about the lack of public accountability of climate science and climate models that are being used as the basis for far reaching decisions and policies. Individuals in this group have the technical ability to understand and examine climate science arguments and are not prepared to cede judgment on this issue to the designated and self-proclaimed experts. This talk will describe my experiences in engaging with this group and what has been learned, both by myself and by participants in the discussion at Climate Etc.

45 CFR 1638.2 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... 45 Public Welfare 4 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Definitions. 1638.2 Section 1638.2 Public Welfare Regulations Relating to Public Welfare (Continued) LEGAL SERVICES CORPORATION RESTRICTION ON SOLICITATION § 1638.2 Definitions. (a) In-person means a face-to-face encounter or a personal encounter via other...

45 CFR 1638.2 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... 45 Public Welfare 4 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false Definitions. 1638.2 Section 1638.2 Public Welfare Regulations Relating to Public Welfare (Continued) LEGAL SERVICES CORPORATION RESTRICTION ON SOLICITATION § 1638.2 Definitions. (a) In-person means a face-to-face encounter or a personal encounter via other...

45 CFR 1638.2 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 45 Public Welfare 4 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Definitions. 1638.2 Section 1638.2 Public Welfare Regulations Relating to Public Welfare (Continued) LEGAL SERVICES CORPORATION RESTRICTION ON SOLICITATION § 1638.2 Definitions. (a) In-person means a face-to-face encounter or a personal encounter via other...

The social and gender context of HIV disclosure in sub-Saharan Africa: a review of policies and practices.

PubMed

Bott, Sarah; Obermeyer, Carla Makhlouf

2013-07-01

This paper reviews the legal and policy context of HIV disclosure in sub-Saharan Africa, as well as what is known about rates, consequences and social context of disclosure, with special attention to gender issues and the role of health services. Persistent rates of nondisclosure by those diagnosed with HIV raise difficult ethical, public health and human rights questions about how to protect the medical confidentiality, health and well-being of people living with HIV on the one hand, and how to protect partners and children from HIV transmission on the other. Both globally and within the sub-Saharan African region, a spate of recent laws, policies and programmes have tried to encourage or - in some cases - mandate HIV disclosure. These policies have generated ethical and policy debates. While there is consensus that the criminalization of transmission and nondisclosure undermines rights while serving little public health benefit, there is less clarity about the ethics of third party notification, especially in resource-constrained settings. Despite initiatives to encourage voluntary HIV disclosure and to increase partner testing in sub-Saharan Africa, health workers continue to grapple with difficult challenges in the face of nondisclosure, and often express a need for more guidance and support in this area. A large body of research indicates that gender issues are key to HIV disclosure in the region, and must be considered within policies and programmes. Taken as a whole, this evidence suggests a need for more attention to the challenges and dilemmas faced by both clients and providers in relation to HIV disclosure in this region and for continued efforts to consider the perspectives and rights of all those affected.

Debt, shame, and survival: becoming and living as widows in rural Kerala, India

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background The health and well-being of widows in India is an important but neglected issue of public health and women’s rights. We investigate the lives of Indian women as they become widows, focussing on the causes of their husband’s mortality and the ensuing consequences of these causes on their own lives and identify the opportunities and challenges that widows face in living healthy and fulfilling lives. Methods Data were collected in a Gram Panchayat (lowest level territorial decentralised unit) in the south Indian state of Kerala. Interviews were undertaken with key informants in order to gain an understanding of local constructions of ‘widowhood’ and the welfare and social opportunities for widows. Then we conducted semi-structured interviews with widows in the community on issues related to health and vulnerability, enabling us to hear perspectives from widows. Data were analysed for thematic content and emerging patterns. We synthesized our findings with theoretical understandings of vulnerability and Amartya Sen’s entitlements theory to develop a conceptual framework. Results Two salient findings of the study are: first, becoming a widow can be viewed as a type of ‘shock’ that operates similarly to other ‘economic shocks’ or ‘health shocks’ in poor countries except that the burden falls disproportionately on women. Second, widowhood is not a static phenomenon, but rather can be viewed as a multi-phased process with different public health implications at each stage. Conclusion More research on widows in India and other countries will help to both elucidate the challenges faced by widows and encourage potential solutions. The framework developed in this paper could be used to guide future research on widows. PMID:23126457

Interweaving climate research and public understanding

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Betts, A. K.

2016-12-01

For the past 10 years I have been using research into land-atmosphere-cloud coupling to address Vermont's need to understand climate change, and develop plans for greater resilience in the face of increasing severe weather. The research side has shown that the fraction of days with snow cover determines the cold season climate, because snow acts as a fast climate switch between non-overlapping climates with and without snow cover. Clouds play opposite roles in warm and cold seasons: surface cooling in summer and warming in winter. The later fall freeze-up and earlier spring ice-out on lakes, coupled to the earlier spring phenology, are clear markers both of a warming climate, as well as the large interannual variability. Severe flooding events have come with large-scale quasi-stationary weather patterns. This past decade I have given 230 talks to schools, business and professional groups, as well as legislative committees and state government. I have written 80 environmental columns for two Vermont newspapers, as part of a weekly series I helped start in 2008. Commentaries and interviews on radio and TV enable me to explain directly the issues we face, as the burning of fossil fuels destabilizes the climate system. The public in Vermont is eager to learn and understand these issues since many have roots in the land; while professional groups need all the information and guidance possible to prepare for the future. My task as a scientist is to map out what we know in ways that can readily be grasped in terms of past experience, even though the climate system is already moving outside this range - and at the same time outline general principles and hopeful strategies for dealing with global and local climate change.

Mainstream Issues of Education and Public Awareness of Space Activities and Sciences among universities and Scientific Institutes.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Singh, Balbir

This paper is an effort to study and analyze several constraints and issues of space technology and education that organizations other than governmental organizations face in awareness program. In recent years, advancements in technologies have made it possible for Volunteer and Technical Communities, non-government organizations, private agencies and academic research institutions to provide increasing support to space education management and emphasis on response efforts. Important cornerstones of this effort and support are the possibility to access and take advantage of satellite imagery as well as the use of other space-based technologies such as telecommunications satellites and global navigation satellite systems included in main curriculum plus the implementation of programs for use of high class sophisticated technologies used by industries to the students and researchers of non-space faring nations. The authors recognize the importance of such new methodologies for education and public Awareness. This paper demonstrates many hurdles universities and scientific institutions face including lack of access in terms of financial and technical resources for better support. A new model for coordinated private sector partnership in response to space sciences and education has been discussed. In depth analysis and techniques need to connect these pioneering communities with the space industry as well as the space governmental agencies, with special emphasis on financial constraints. The paper mandates its role to promote the use of space-based information; its established networks bringing together national institutions responsible for these space based activities, as well as other end users, and space solution experts; and its technical foundation, particularly in the area of information technologies. To help building a tighter cooperation and further understanding among all these communities, paper delivers an intensive report and solutions for future coordination and ease

Transparent Reporting of Data Quality in Distributed Data Networks

PubMed Central

Kahn, Michael G.; Brown, Jeffrey S.; Chun, Alein T.; Davidson, Bruce N.; Meeker, Daniella; Ryan, Patrick B.; Schilling, Lisa M.; Weiskopf, Nicole G.; Williams, Andrew E.; Zozus, Meredith Nahm

2015-01-01

Introduction: Poor data quality can be a serious threat to the validity and generalizability of clinical research findings. The growing availability of electronic administrative and clinical data is accompanied by a growing concern about the quality of these data for observational research and other analytic purposes. Currently, there are no widely accepted guidelines for reporting quality results that would enable investigators and consumers to independently determine if a data source is fit for use to support analytic inferences and reliable evidence generation. Model and Methods: We developed a conceptual model that captures the flow of data from data originator across successive data stewards and finally to the data consumer. This “data lifecycle” model illustrates how data quality issues can result in data being returned back to previous data custodians. We highlight the potential risks of poor data quality on clinical practice and research results. Because of the need to ensure transparent reporting of a data quality issues, we created a unifying data-quality reporting framework and a complementary set of 20 data-quality reporting recommendations for studies that use observational clinical and administrative data for secondary data analysis. We obtained stakeholder input on the perceived value of each recommendation by soliciting public comments via two face-to-face meetings of informatics and comparative-effectiveness investigators, through multiple public webinars targeted to the health services research community, and with an open access online wiki. Recommendations: Our recommendations propose reporting on both general and analysis-specific data quality features. The goals of these recommendations are to improve the reporting of data quality measures for studies that use observational clinical and administrative data, to ensure transparency and consistency in computing data quality measures, and to facilitate best practices and trust in the new clinical discoveries based on secondary use of observational data. PMID:25992385

Health needs, access to healthcare, and perceptions of ageing in an urbanizing community in India: a qualitative study.

PubMed

Bhan, Nandita; Madhira, Pavitra; Muralidharan, Arundati; Kulkarni, Bharati; Murthy, Gvs; Basu, Sanjay; Kinra, Sanjay

2017-07-19

India's elderly population is rising at an unprecedented rate, with a majority living in rural areas. Health challenges associated with ageing, changing social networks and limited public health infrastructure are issues faced by the elderly and caregivers. We examined perceptions of health needs of the elderly across local stakeholders in an urbanizing rural area. The qualitative study was conducted among participants in the Andhra Pradesh Children and Parents Study (APCAPS) site in Rangareddy district, Telangana. We collected data using focus group discussions and interviews among communities (n = 6), health providers (n = 9) and administrators (n = 6). We assessed stakeholders' views on the influence of urbanization on health issues faced and interventions for alleviating these challenges. We used a conceptual-analytical model to derive themes and used an inductive approach to organizing emerging codes as per a priori themes. These were organized as per thematic groups and ranked by different authors in order of importance. Bronfebrenner's theory was used to understand stakeholder perspectives and suggest interventions within four identified spheres of influence - individual, household, community and services. Stakeholders reported frailty, lack of transport and dependence on others as factors impacting health access of the elderly. Existing public health systems were perceived as overburdened and insensitive towards the elderly. Urbanization was viewed positively, but road accidents, crime and loneliness were significant concerns. Interventions suggested by stakeholders included health service outreach, lifestyle counseling, community monitoring of healthcare and engagement activities. We recommend integrating outreach services and lifestyle counseling within programs for care of the elderly. Community institutions can play an important role in the delivery and monitoring of health and social services for the elderly.

The social and gender context of HIV disclosure in sub-Saharan Africa: A review of policies and practices

PubMed Central

Bott, Sarah; Obermeyer, Carla Makhlouf

2013-01-01

This paper reviews the legal and policy context of HIV disclosure in sub-Saharan Africa, as well as what is known about rates, consequences and social context of disclosure, with special attention to gender issues and the role of health services. Persistent rates of nondisclosure by those diagnosed with HIV raise difficult ethical, public health and human rights questions about how to protect the medical confidentiality, health and wellbeing of people living with HIV on the one hand, and how to protect partners and children from HIV transmission on the other. Both globally and within the sub-Saharan African region, a spate of recent laws, policies and programs have tried to encourage or—in some cases—mandate HIV disclosure. These policies have generated ethical and policy debates. While there is consensus that the criminalization of transmission and nondisclosure undermines rights while serving little public health benefit, there is less clarity about the ethics of third party notification, especially in resource constrained settings. Despite initiatives to encourage voluntary HIV disclosure and to increase partner testing in sub-Saharan Africa, health workers continue to grapple with difficult challenges in the face of nondisclosure, and often express a need for more guidance and support in this area. A large body of research indicates that gender issues are key to HIV disclosure in the region, and must be considered within policies and programs. Taken as a whole, this evidence suggests a need for more attention to the challenges and dilemmas faced by both clients and providers in relation to HIV disclosure in this region and for continued efforts to consider the perspectives and rights of all those affected. PMID:23808487

The future of urban health: needs, barriers, opportunities, and policy advancement at large urban health departments.

PubMed

Hearne, Shelley; Castrucci, Brian C; Leider, Jonathon P; Rhoades, Elizabeth K; Russo, Pamela; Bass, Vicky

2015-01-01

More than 2800 local health departments (LHDs) provide public health services to more than 300 million individuals in the United States. This study focuses on departments serving the most populous districts in the nation, including the members of the Big Cities Health Coalition (BCHC) in 2013. To systematically gather leadership perspectives on the most pressing issues facing large, urban health departments. In addition, to quantify variation in policy involvement between BCHC LHDs and other LHDs. We used a parallel mixed-methods approach, including interviews with 45 leaders from the BCHC departments, together with secondary data analysis of the National Association of County & City Health Officials' (NACCHO) 2013 Profile data. Forty-five local health officials, chiefs of policy, and chief science/medical officers from 16 BCHC LHDs. The BCHC departments are more actively involved in policy at the state and federal levels than are other LHDs. All BCHC members participated in at least 1 of the 5 policy areas that NACCHO tracks at the local level, 89% at the state level, and 74% at the federal level. Comparatively, overall 81% of all LHDs participated in any of the 5 areas at the local level, 57% at the state level, and 15% at the federal level. The BCHC leaders identified barriers they face in their work, including insufficient funding, political challenges, bureaucracy, lack of understanding of issues by key decision makers, and workforce competency. As more people in the United States are living in metropolitan areas, large, urban health departments are playing increasingly important roles in protecting and promoting public health. The BCHC LHDs are active in policy change to improve health, but are limited by insufficient funding, governmental bureaucracy, and workforce development challenges.

The Future of Urban Health: Needs, Barriers, Opportunities, and Policy Advancement at Large Urban Health Departments

PubMed Central

Hearne, Shelley; Castrucci, Brian C.; Leider, Jonathon P.; Rhoades, Elizabeth K.; Russo, Pamela; Bass, Vicky

2015-01-01

Context: More than 2800 local health departments (LHDs) provide public health services to more than 300 million individuals in the United States. This study focuses on departments serving the most populous districts in the nation, including the members of the Big Cities Health Coalition (BCHC) in 2013. Objective: To systematically gather leadership perspectives on the most pressing issues facing large, urban health departments. In addition, to quantify variation in policy involvement between BCHC LHDs and other LHDs. Design: We used a parallel mixed-methods approach, including interviews with 45 leaders from the BCHC departments, together with secondary data analysis of the National Association of County & City Health Officials' (NACCHO) 2013 Profile data. Participants: Forty-five local health officials, chiefs of policy, and chief science/medical officers from 16 BCHC LHDs. Results: The BCHC departments are more actively involved in policy at the state and federal levels than are other LHDs. All BCHC members participated in at least 1 of the 5 policy areas that NACCHO tracks at the local level, 89% at the state level, and 74% at the federal level. Comparatively, overall 81% of all LHDs participated in any of the 5 areas at the local level, 57% at the state level, and 15% at the federal level. The BCHC leaders identified barriers they face in their work, including insufficient funding, political challenges, bureaucracy, lack of understanding of issues by key decision makers, and workforce competency. Conclusions: As more people in the United States are living in metropolitan areas, large, urban health departments are playing increasingly important roles in protecting and promoting public health. The BCHC LHDs are active in policy change to improve health, but are limited by insufficient funding, governmental bureaucracy, and workforce development challenges. PMID:25423056

The use of online discussions for post-clinical conference.

PubMed

Berkstresser, Kristie

2016-01-01

Nurse educators, at every level of pre-licensure nursing education, are charged with developing critical thinking skills within their students. Post-clinical conference is one teaching strategy that nurse educators can employ to help promote the development of critical thinking skills in pre-licensure nursing students. However, traditional face-to-face post-clinical conference is marred with issues and concerns, as identified in the nursing education literature. An alternative to face-to-face post-clinical conference, asynchronous online learning environment, mitigates the issues and concerns associated with traditional post-clinical conference. Adult learning theory supports the use of asynchronous online learning environment because the asynchronous online learning environment promotes student-centered teaching strategy in place of teacher-centered learning, which by its nature traditional face-to-face post-clinical conference tends to support. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The politics of public health policy.

PubMed

Oliver, Thomas R

2006-01-01

Politics, for better or worse, plays a critical role in health affairs. The purpose of this article is to articulate a role for political analysis of public health issues, ranging from injury and disease prevention to health care reform. It begins by examining how health problems make it onto the policy agenda. Perceptions regarding the severity of the problem, responsibility for the problem, and affected populations all influence governmental responses. Next, it considers how bounded rationality, fragmented political institutions, resistance from concentrated interests, and fiscal constraints usually lead political leaders to adopt incremental policy changes rather than comprehensive reforms even when faced with serious public health problems. It then identifies conditions under which larger-scale transformation of health policy can occur, focusing on critical junctures in policy development and the role of policy entrepreneurs in seizing opportunities for innovation. Finally, it reviews the challenges confronting officials and agencies who are responsible for implementing and administering health policies. Public health professionals who understand the political dimensions of health policy can conduct more realistic research and evaluation, better anticipate opportunities as well as constraints on governmental action, and design more effective policies and programs.

Stories of Success: Understanding Academic Achievement of Hispanic Students in Science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Harris, Amanda

A review of the literature shows that there is much evidence to suggest the challenges facing Hispanic students in American public schools. Hispanic enrollment in K--12 public schools has increased from 6 to 19% in the last thirty years, yet schools have not made adequate adjustments to accommodate this changing population. Issues such as remedial tracking and cultural differences have led to low high school graduate rates for Hispanic students and inequities in schooling experiences (Gay, 2000). Particularly in the area of science, Hispanic students struggle with academic success (Cole & Espinoza, 2008). Despite these obstacles, some Hispanic students are academically successful (Rochin & Mello, 2007; Merisotis & Kee, 2006). This dissertation tells the stories of these Hispanic students who have been successful in science in secondary public schools. This study followed a grounded theory methodology and utilized individual interviews to collect data about Hispanics who have demonstrated achievement in the area of science. Through the analysis of these interviews, factors were identified which may have contributed to the success of these Hispanics in the field of science. Implications for future practice in public schools are also discussed.

Public security female workers at the coast of Paraná, Brazil: intersections of gender, work, violence(s), and health.

PubMed

Schneider, Daniele; Signorelli, Marcos Claudio; Pereira, Pedro Paulo Gomes

2017-09-01

This study aimed to promote visibility of women working in public security along the Parana coast, articulating issues of gender, violence(s), and the health-disease process. The methodology was qualitative, through an ethnographic research which included 50 women (civilians, military policewomen, and prison officers) from municipalities along the Parana coast, between March 2014 and March 2015. Results revealed: 1) the dilemmas that these women are subjected to, facing the seasonal dynamics in the field of public security in the region; 2) exposure to violence (mainly institutional and gender-based) and its impact on these women's health; 3) power relations, marked by corporations' hierarchies and gender asymmetries between men and women in professional settings. In summary, this research highlighted the need to promote visibility of women working in public security institutions, considering the impact of violence and gender inequalities in their personal and professional lives, including the resistance and rearrangements promoted by these women in the institutions in response to their presence in a hegemonic and traditionally male environment.

Negotiating the new health system: purchasing publicly accountable managed care.

PubMed

Rosenbaum, S

1998-04-01

The transformation to managed care is one of the most important and complex changes ever to take place in the American health system. One key aspect of this transformation is its implications for public health policy and practice. Both public and private buyers purchase managed care; increasingly, public programs that used to act as their own insurers (i.e., Medicare, Medicaid and CHAMPUS) are purchasing large quantities of managed care insurance from private companies. The transformation to managed care is altering the manner in which public health policy makers conceive of and carry out public health activities (particularly activities that involve the provision of personal health services). The degree to which managed care changes public health and in turn is altered by public health will depend in great measure on the extent to which public and private policy makers understand the implications of their choices for various aspects of public health and take steps to address them. Because both publicly and privately managed care arrangements are relatively deregulated, much of the dialogue between public health and managed care purchasers can be expected to take place within the context of the large service agreements that are negotiated between buyers and sellers of managed care products. This is particularly true for Medicaid because of the importance of Medicaid coverage, payment and access policies to public health policy makers, and because of the public nature of the Medicaid contracting process. A nationwide study of Medicaid managed care contracts offers the first detailed analysis of the content and structure of managed care service agreements and the public health issues they raise. Four major findings emerge from a review of the contracts. First, most of the agreements fail to address key issues regarding which Medicaid-covered services and benefits are the contractor's responsibility and which remain the residual responsibility of the state agency. Second, most contracts fail to address the legal and structural issues arising from the relationship between the managed care service system and the public health system, including such key matters as access to care for communicable diseases and contractors' relationship to state public health laboratories. Third, many contracts are silent on health agencies' access to data for surveillance and community health measurement purposes. Finally, many contracts may be developed with only a limited understanding of the key public health-related issues facing the community from which the members will be drawn. The CDC and state and local public health agencies must expand their activities in the area of managed care contract specifications. For several years the CDC has been involved in an ongoing effort to develop quality of care measures to be collected from all companies through the HEDIS process. As important as this effort is, it represents only an attempt to measure what managed care does rather than an a priori effort to shape the underlying policy and organizational structure of managed care itself. Integrating managed care with public health policy will require this type of affirmative effort with both Medicaid agencies as well as other managed care purchasers.

How does the media portray drinking water security in Indigenous communities in Canada? An analysis of Canadian newspaper coverage from 2000-2015.

PubMed

Lam, Steven; Cunsolo, Ashlee; Sawatzky, Alexandra; Ford, James; Harper, Sherilee L

2017-03-27

Drinking water insecurity and related health outcomes often disproportionately impact Indigenous communities internationally. Understanding media coverage of these water-related issues can provide insight into the ways in which public perceptions are shaped, with potential implications for decision-making and action. This study aimed to examine the extent, range, and nature of newspaper coverage of drinking water security in Canadian Indigenous communities. Using ProQuest database, we systematically searched for and screened newspaper articles published from 2000 to 2015 from Canadian newspapers: Windspeaker, Toronto Star, The Globe and Mail, and National Post. We conducted descriptive quantitative analysis and thematic qualitative analysis on relevant articles to characterize framing and trends in coverage. A total of 1382 articles were returned in the search, of which 256 articles were identified as relevant. There was limited coverage of water challenges for Canadian Indigenous communities, especially for Métis (5%) and Inuit (3%) communities. Most stories focused on government responses to water-related issues, and less often covered preventative measures such as source water protection. Overall, Indigenous peoples were quoted the most often. Double-standards of water quality between Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities, along with conflict and cooperation efforts between stakeholders were emphasized in many articles. Limited media coverage could undermine public and stakeholder interest in addressing water-related issues faced by many Canadian Indigenous communities.

Legally protecting and compelling veterinarians in issues of animal abuse and domestic violence.

PubMed

Robertson, I A

2010-06-01

The majority of veterinarians recognise their important role and responsibility to society and animal welfare in the detection and reporting of suspected abuse of animals and humans. In spite of the existing moral, ethical, and legal duties applied to veterinarians, they face substantial barriers that prohibit them from fulfilling their professional role in handling cases of suspected abuse. With increasing public and legal attention on issues of animal welfare, the non-fulfillment of these duties places the profession and its members at considerable risk of public criticism and adverse legal accountability. The issue is raised here that the veterinary profession in New Zealand needs to provide a clear policy statement and take pro-active measures that provide practical enforceable solutions to these existing barriers and legal risks. Such an initiative will assist in ensuring that all registered members consistently fulfil their obligations, and are legally protected while doing so. Veterinary counterparts overseas already provide a legislative immunity for their veterinarians who report suspected abuse as part of a mandated duty to report. Implementation of such a duty has significant benefits for all veterinarians, including the requirement for education and effective support systems. In the absence of such a mandatory duty, intermediary measures can be introduced, demonstrating social responsibility and commitment by the profession to their existing duty of care.

Turn and Face the Strain: Age Demographic Change and the near Future of American Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ladner, Matthew

2015-01-01

"Turn and Face the Strain: Age Demographic Change and the Near Future of American Education" outlines a fierce battle looming between the needs of public health care and education. A crisis is fast approaching that makes comprehensive improvement of America's public schools more important than ever. Faced with rapidly expanding…

Challenges Faced by Undergraduate Military Students at American Public University System

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Machuca, Ana; Torres, Karin; Morris, Pamela; Whitley, William

2014-01-01

This paper will summarize some of challenges faced by military students enrolled in an associate and bachelors online program at American Public University System (APUS). The survey results on which the study is based exposed the following problems faced by military personnel: 48.7% had difficulties working around military obligations, 33.3%…

Families Facing the Nuclear Taboo.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jacobs, Judith Bula

1988-01-01

Discusses attitudes of 12 families participating in group which was formed to focus on issues related to the possibility of a nuclear disaster. Why and how these families are facing the nuclear taboo plus various outcomes of doing so are discussed as well as the role of the professional in encouraging such openness about these difficult issues.…

Emerging Issues, 2006. Policy Brief

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Howard, Mimi

2006-01-01

The Education Commission of the States (ECS) recently conducted analyses, interviews and a survey for a study designed to identify the most pressing early learning issues facing policymakers. The goal was to hear both from those who are faced with making decisions and from those who are on the ground conducting research and developing programs. To…

Critical Issues Facing America's Community Colleges: A Summary of the Community Colleges Futures Assembly 2006

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Campbell, Dale F.; Basham, Matthew J.

2007-01-01

Three focus groups consisting of 42 board of trustee members, community college presidents, senior administrators, and faculty members developed critical issues facing community colleges with respect to instructional planning and services; planning, governance, finance; and workforce development. Thereafter, the delegation of more than 200 voted…

MO-FG-BRB-02: Debater [medical physics education

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hazle, J.

Building on the energy and excitement of Washington DC in a presidential election year, AAPM will host its own Presidential Debate to better understand the views of the AAPM membership! Past presidents of the AAPM, Drs. Bayouth, Hazle, Herman, and Seibert, will debate hot topics in medical physics including issues facing education, professional practice, and the advancement of science. The moderators, Drs. Brock and Stern, will also draw in topics from Point-Counterpoint articles from the Medical Physics Journals. Wrapping up the debate, the audience will have the opportunity to question the candidates in a town hall format. At the conclusionmore » of this lively debate, the winner will be decided by the audience, so bring your Audience Response Units! Be part of Medical Physics - Decision 2016! Learning Objectives: Understand AAPM members’ views and opinions on issues facing medical physics education Learn AAPM members’ views and opinions on issues facing professional practice Identify AAPM members’ view and opinions on issues facing the advancement of science in medical physics J. Bayouth, Funding support from NCI;Scientific Advisory Board member - ViewRay.« less

MO-FG-BRB-00: AAPM Presidential Debate [medical physics education

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

NONE

Building on the energy and excitement of Washington DC in a presidential election year, AAPM will host its own Presidential Debate to better understand the views of the AAPM membership! Past presidents of the AAPM, Drs. Bayouth, Hazle, Herman, and Seibert, will debate hot topics in medical physics including issues facing education, professional practice, and the advancement of science. The moderators, Drs. Brock and Stern, will also draw in topics from Point-Counterpoint articles from the Medical Physics Journals. Wrapping up the debate, the audience will have the opportunity to question the candidates in a town hall format. At the conclusionmore » of this lively debate, the winner will be decided by the audience, so bring your Audience Response Units! Be part of Medical Physics - Decision 2016! Learning Objectives: Understand AAPM members’ views and opinions on issues facing medical physics education Learn AAPM members’ views and opinions on issues facing professional practice Identify AAPM members’ view and opinions on issues facing the advancement of science in medical physics J. Bayouth, Funding support from NCI;Scientific Advisory Board member - ViewRay.« less

MO-FG-BRB-04: Debater [Medical physics education

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Seibert, J.

Building on the energy and excitement of Washington DC in a presidential election year, AAPM will host its own Presidential Debate to better understand the views of the AAPM membership! Past presidents of the AAPM, Drs. Bayouth, Hazle, Herman, and Seibert, will debate hot topics in medical physics including issues facing education, professional practice, and the advancement of science. The moderators, Drs. Brock and Stern, will also draw in topics from Point-Counterpoint articles from the Medical Physics Journals. Wrapping up the debate, the audience will have the opportunity to question the candidates in a town hall format. At the conclusionmore » of this lively debate, the winner will be decided by the audience, so bring your Audience Response Units! Be part of Medical Physics - Decision 2016! Learning Objectives: Understand AAPM members’ views and opinions on issues facing medical physics education Learn AAPM members’ views and opinions on issues facing professional practice Identify AAPM members’ view and opinions on issues facing the advancement of science in medical physics J. Bayouth, Funding support from NCI;Scientific Advisory Board member - ViewRay.« less

MO-FG-BRB-01: Debater [medical physics education

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bayouth, J.

Building on the energy and excitement of Washington DC in a presidential election year, AAPM will host its own Presidential Debate to better understand the views of the AAPM membership! Past presidents of the AAPM, Drs. Bayouth, Hazle, Herman, and Seibert, will debate hot topics in medical physics including issues facing education, professional practice, and the advancement of science. The moderators, Drs. Brock and Stern, will also draw in topics from Point-Counterpoint articles from the Medical Physics Journals. Wrapping up the debate, the audience will have the opportunity to question the candidates in a town hall format. At the conclusionmore » of this lively debate, the winner will be decided by the audience, so bring your Audience Response Units! Be part of Medical Physics - Decision 2016! Learning Objectives: Understand AAPM members’ views and opinions on issues facing medical physics education Learn AAPM members’ views and opinions on issues facing professional practice Identify AAPM members’ view and opinions on issues facing the advancement of science in medical physics J. Bayouth, Funding support from NCI;Scientific Advisory Board member - ViewRay.« less

MO-FG-BRB-03: Debater [medical physics education

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Herman, M.

Building on the energy and excitement of Washington DC in a presidential election year, AAPM will host its own Presidential Debate to better understand the views of the AAPM membership! Past presidents of the AAPM, Drs. Bayouth, Hazle, Herman, and Seibert, will debate hot topics in medical physics including issues facing education, professional practice, and the advancement of science. The moderators, Drs. Brock and Stern, will also draw in topics from Point-Counterpoint articles from the Medical Physics Journals. Wrapping up the debate, the audience will have the opportunity to question the candidates in a town hall format. At the conclusionmore » of this lively debate, the winner will be decided by the audience, so bring your Audience Response Units! Be part of Medical Physics - Decision 2016! Learning Objectives: Understand AAPM members’ views and opinions on issues facing medical physics education Learn AAPM members’ views and opinions on issues facing professional practice Identify AAPM members’ view and opinions on issues facing the advancement of science in medical physics J. Bayouth, Funding support from NCI;Scientific Advisory Board member - ViewRay.« less

[European public health professionals express ten priorities for the European Union...to be followed].

PubMed

Oberlé, D; Weil, O; McKee, M; Brodin, M

1999-12-01

Even if the European Union acquired explicit competencies in public health with the Maastricht and Amsterdam Treaties (articles 129 and 152), public health professionals still have not had their word in the definition of public health priorities. Yet it is they, whatever their mission, who must take into consideration the new constraints imposed by Community directives. The French Society for Public Health (FSPH) took the initiative of running a project, financed by the European Commission, aiming to shed light on some of the public health problems considered priority in the 15 member states, and to provide suggestions for facing them. The FSPH adopted a resolutely participative and pragmatic process. At each step (definition of priorities and compiling arguments), the intention of the SFPH was more to allow different, even diverging, points of view to be expressed, than to aim for a hypothetical representativeness. The undertaken themes are the social gradients in health, alcohol, illicit drugs, tobacco, surveillance of health issues, quality of care, older persons, mental health, the environment, nutrition and food security. This work marks the wish of the FSPH for international openness toward Europe. The FSPH hopes that this work becomes a platform for the development of a reinforced dialogue between public health professionals and European decision makers.

Facing Diabetes: What You Need to Know

MedlinePlus

... of this page please turn Javascript on. Feature: Diabetes Facing Diabetes: What You Need to Know Past Issues / Fall ... your loved ones. Photos: AP The Faces of Diabetes Diabetes strikes millions of Americans, young and old, ...

Request a Speaker

Science.gov Websites

. Northern Command Speakers Program The U.S. Northern Command Speaker's Program works to increase face-to -face contact with our public to help build and sustain public understanding of our command missions and

Participation in the city: where do women fit in?

PubMed

Beall, J

1996-02-01

Women's priorities have often been ignored in the design of human settlements, the location of housing, and the provision of urban services. New forms of urban partnership are needed to develop participatory processes which include women and men at all stages of urban development. Participation is most commonly associated with political participation or activity. The author gives an overview of the "gendered city", then looks at how men and women benefit and contribute to urban life, through examples of opportunities for making a living and for using urban resources and services. She then moves away from participation as entitlement to consider participation as empowerment, looking at some problems faced by women in public office and grassroots organizations. The paper concludes in arguing that a gender perspective will not inform urban policy and planning processes automatically. Sections discuss gender and poverty in the city, making a living in the city, urban planning as a gender issue, getting around the city, access to resources and services, violence in the city, women's participation in urban governance, women's representation in public office, community organization and advocacy, men and gender issues, and forging linkages through participation.

Livestock services and the poor.

PubMed

Ahuja, V; Redmond, E

2004-04-01

This paper reviews the economic framework for the delivery of livestock services to the poor. It is argued that the demand for livestock products is likely to increase rapidly and the ability of the poor to participate in the opportunities presented by this growth is linked critically to the availability of good service support, both on the input and output side. Governments therefore have a responsibility to supply the necessary public goods (including the institutions and legal frameworks), and the market infrastructure for facilitating the emergence of efficient markets for livestock services. The paper further argues that the dynamics of public policy in developing countries are much more complex than the simple application of economic logic. It is the larger political economy that often dictates policy choices. It is therefore important to integrate political economy and governance issues into the economic debate on livestock service delivery. The paper also reviews the context in which the markets for livestock services will need to function. Different countries are facing very different sets of issues, and the identification of possible interventions in livestock service markets would require careful field research and analysis. In this context, the paper suggests the elements of a research agenda for the next few years.

Geoethical implications for geoarchaeology. The Laacher See and AD 536 case studies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Riede, Felix; Price, Neil; Andersen, Per

2017-04-01

Environmental catastrophes represent profound challenges faced by societies today. Numerous scholars in the climate sciences as well as the Humanities have argued for a greater ethical engagement with these pressing issues. At the same time, several disciplines concerned with hazards are moving towards formalized ethical codes or promises that guide not only the dissemination of data but oblige scientists to relate to fundamentally political issues. With its starting point in the recently proposed geoethical promise, this paper reports on two case studies of how past natural hazards have affected vulnerable societies in Europe's past. We ask whether cases of past calamities and their societal effects should not play a greater role in public debates and whether geo-archaeologists working with past environmental hazards should be more outspoken in their ethical considerations. We offer no firm answers, but suggest that geo-archaeologists engage with debates of human-environment relations at this interface between politics, public affairs and science. We argue for greater communication between the human and natural sciences and further suggest that outreach institutions such as museums - both natural and cultural - could and perhaps should play a key role in staging such engagements.

Control of fraud and abuse in Medicare and Medicaid.

PubMed

Pies, H E

1977-01-01

This Comment explores issues concerning the control of fraud and abuse in health programs financed with public funds, specifically the Medicare and Medicaid programs. It summarizes the nature, scope, and possible causes of what some regard as a fraud and abuse "crisis," and points out the difficulties and obstacles facing those who attempt to develop legislative and executive action aimed at controlling fraud and abuse. Recent federal initiatives in fraud and abuse control are examined, and a brief summary of key provisions of H.R. 3 (the Medicare-Medicaid Anti-fraud and Abuse Amendments, which may prove to be a landmark piece of legislation in this area) is provided. The author emphasizes that more effective control of fraud and abuse is necessary if further expansion of government financing of health programs, including national health insurance, is to occur in the near future. At the same time, caution must be taken not to neglect the appropriate use of other mechanisms necessary for reducing the costs of medical care and improving its quality. In addition, it is likely that efforts to stem fraud and abuse will raise important medicolegal and public policy issues that will require careful interdisciplinary consideration.

Rising youth suicide and the changing cultural context in South Korea.

PubMed

Park, B C Ben; Soo Im, Jeong; Strother Ratcliff, Kathryn

2014-01-01

South Korean society faces a serious challenge in the increasing rates of youth suicidal behavior. There is a need both to gain a better understanding of the causes of this behavior and to develop strategies for responding to this critical public health issue. This article analyzes how psychological, sociopsychological, and subcultural factors influence suicidal proneness among Korean youth as well as makes suggestions for developing social policies that could reduce Korean youth suicidal behaviors. Correlation and multivariate regression analyses on suicide proneness and depression were employed using a sample of 172 South Korean youths (aged 18-24) selected from the 2009 General Social Survey collected through face-to-face interviews. Young people's suicidal proneness is associated with depression, a tolerant attitude toward suicide, strained family relations, living in rural areas, being female, and being closely related to survivors of suicide or potential suicides. The findings from this study reveal the significance of social and cultural factors as influences on recent youth suicidal behavior in Korea. The analysis suggests that the underlying risk factors of suicidal behavior are embedded in the changing social and cultural context of Korean society. Thus, suicide prevention efforts should involve more than merely treating any underlying psychiatric disorders.

The UNESCO Bioethics Programme: a review.

PubMed

Langlois, Adéle

2014-01-01

UNESCO's Bioethics Programme was established in 1993. In twenty years it has adopted three international declarations, on the human genome (1997), human genetic data (2003) and bioethics (2005); produced reports on a wide range of bioethics issues; and developed capacity building and public education programmes in bioethics. Yet UNESCO has sometimes struggled to assert its authority in the wider bioethics world. Some bioethicists have criticized the 2005 declaration and suggested that the World Health Organization might be better placed to advance bioethics. In 2011, after four years of debate, UNESCO decided not to draft a convention on human reproductive cloning, because consensus on the issue proved impossible. This article reviews the standard setting and capacity building activities of the UNESCO Bioethics Programme. While the Programme faces challenges common to most intergovernmental organizations, its achievements in expanding international law and building bioethics capacity should not be underestimated.

Ecological literacy and beyond: Problem-based learning for future professionals.

PubMed

Lewinsohn, Thomas M; Attayde, José Luiz; Fonseca, Carlos Roberto; Ganade, Gislene; Jorge, Leonardo Ré; Kollmann, Johannes; Overbeck, Gerhard E; Prado, Paulo Inácio; Pillar, Valério D; Popp, Daniela; da Rocha, Pedro L B; Silva, Wesley Rodrigues; Spiekermann, Annette; Weisser, Wolfgang W

2015-03-01

Ecological science contributes to solving a broad range of environmental problems. However, lack of ecological literacy in practice often limits application of this knowledge. In this paper, we highlight a critical but often overlooked demand on ecological literacy: to enable professionals of various careers to apply scientific knowledge when faced with environmental problems. Current university courses on ecology often fail to persuade students that ecological science provides important tools for environmental problem solving. We propose problem-based learning to improve the understanding of ecological science and its usefulness for real-world environmental issues that professionals in careers as diverse as engineering, public health, architecture, social sciences, or management will address. Courses should set clear learning objectives for cognitive skills they expect students to acquire. Thus, professionals in different fields will be enabled to improve environmental decision-making processes and to participate effectively in multidisciplinary work groups charged with tackling environmental issues.

Embodied Work: Insider Perspectives on the Work of HIV/AIDS Peer Counselors

PubMed Central

Messias, DeAnne K. Hilfinger; Moneyham, Linda; Vyavaharkar, Medha; Murdaugh, Carolyn; Phillips, Kenneth D.

2009-01-01

Our aim in this study was to explore HIV/AIDS peer counseling from the perspective of women actively engaged in this work within the context of a community-based program in rural areas of the southeastern United Sates. Based on this research we suggest that the embodied work of HIV/AIDS peer counselors is constructed around their personal identities and experiences. This work involves gaining entry to other HIV-positive women's lives, building relationships, drawing on personal experiences, facing issues of fear and stigma, tailoring peer counseling for diversity, balancing risks and benefits, and terminating relationships. Peer counselors recognize the personal and collective value of their work, which, like much of women's work within the context of family and community, lacks public visibility and acknowledgement. We discuss implications for the training and support of peer-based interventions for HIV and other women's health issues across diverse contexts and settings. PMID:19492204

Managing United States public lands in response to climate change: a view from the ground up.

PubMed

Ellenwood, Mikaela S; Dilling, Lisa; Milford, Jana B

2012-05-01

Federal land managers are faced with the task of balancing multiple uses and goals when making decisions about land use and the activities that occur on public lands. Though climate change is now well recognized by federal agencies and their local land and resource managers, it is not yet clear how issues related to climate change will be incorporated into on-the-ground decision making within the framework of multiple use objectives. We conducted a case study of a federal land management agency field office, the San Juan Public Lands Center in Durango, CO, U.S.A., to understand from their perspective how decisions are currently made, and how climate change and carbon management are being factored into decision making. We evaluated three major management sectors in which climate change or carbon management may intersect other use goals: forests, biofuels, and grazing. While land managers are aware of climate change and eager to understand more about how it might affect land resources, the incorporation of climate change considerations into everyday decision making is currently quite limited. Climate change is therefore on the radar screen, but remains a lower priority than other issues. To assist the office in making decisions that are based on sound scientific information, further research is needed into how management activities influence carbon storage and resilience of the landscape under climate change.

United States Geological Survey Annual Report, Fiscal Year 1975

USGS Publications Warehouse

,

1976-01-01

The Survey resumes the practice of annually summarizing the progress it has made in identifying the Nation's land, water, energy, and mineral resources, classifying federally owned mineral lands and waterpower sites, and in supervising the exploration and development of energy and mineral resources on Federal and Indian lands. The Annual Report for 1975 consists of five parts: * The Year in Review - a review of the issues and events which affected Survey programs and highlights of program accomplishments. * Perspectives - several short papers which address major resource issues and summarize recent advances in the earth sciences. * A description of the Survey's budget, programs, and accomplishments. * A set of statistical tables and related information which documents program trends, workloads, and accomplishments. * A compendium of Survey publications and information services available to the public. One purpose of this report is to increase public awareness and understanding of the Geological Survey's programs and, more generally, of the role of earth sciences information in helping to resolve many of the natural resource conflicts that face our society now and in the years ahead. To be useful, however, information must be available and readily accessible to those responsible for natural resource policy at the time that the decisions are made. This report emphasizes the types of information products and services provided by the Survey and tells how to obtain additional information.

Comparing Online and Face-to-Face Instruction at a Large Virtual University: Data and Issues in the Measurement of Quality. AIR 2001 Annual Forum Paper.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wisan, Gail; Nazma, Shirin; Pscherer, Charles P., Jr.

The fiscal year 2000 Alumni Survey at a large, substantially online university was used to assess undergraduate students' satisfaction with both online and face-to-face academic quality and student services. Students who had taken online classes evaluated both their online and face-to-face classes. In addition, students who took only face-to-face…

Training the Next Generation: Developing Health Education Skills in Undergraduate Public Health Students at a Historically Black College and University.

PubMed

Mincey, Krista; Gross, Tyra

2017-01-01

With the looming workforce crisis, undergraduate public health students could be an important link in filling this demand. As public health continues to face challenges in the future, it is important that the future workforce is not only diverse but also trained in a manner that exposes them to real-world experiences that give them an opportunity to apply coursework to solve problems. This article outlines how a health program planning course was taught at a Historically Black College and University using assignments that promote active learning. Students were assessed on their ability to plan and implement a health activity based on a developed metric. Student and instructor reflections were collected from final assessments of the health programs by both groups. All elements of the course are discussed from course design, structure, assignments, and outcomes along with student and instructor reflections and lessons learned. Results suggest that including assignments focused on active learning are beneficial to helping students learn course material. As public health continues to change, more work needs to focus on teaching pedagogies that better prepare students to address future public health issues.

Web-assisted tobacco interventions: empowering change in the global fight for the public's (e)Health.

PubMed

Norman, Cameron D; McIntosh, Scott; Selby, Peter; Eysenbach, Gunther

2008-11-25

Tobacco control in the 21(st) century faces many of the same challenges as in the past, but in different contexts, settings and enabled by powerful new tools including those delivered by information and communication technologies via computer, videocasts, and mobile handsets to the world. Building on the power of electronic networks, Web-assisted tobacco interventions (WATI) provide a vehicle for delivering tobacco prevention, cessation, social support and training opportunities on-demand and direct to practitioners and the public alike. The Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, the world's first global public health treaty, requires that all nations develop comprehensive tobacco control strategies that include provision of health promotion information, population interventions, and decision-support services. WATI research and development has evolved to provide examples of how eHealth can address all of these needs and provide exemplars for other areas of public health to follow. This paper discusses the role of WATI in supporting tobacco control and introduces a special issue of the Journal of Medical Internet Research that broadens the evidence base and provides illustrations of how new technologies can support health promotion and population health overall, empowering change and ushering in a new era of public eHealth.

Visual Search for Faces with Emotional Expressions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Frischen, Alexandra; Eastwood, John D.; Smilek, Daniel

2008-01-01

The goal of this review is to critically examine contradictory findings in the study of visual search for emotionally expressive faces. Several key issues are addressed: Can emotional faces be processed preattentively and guide attention? What properties of these faces influence search efficiency? Is search moderated by the emotional state of the…

Turn and Face the Strain: Age Demographic Change and the Near Future of American Education. Policy Paper Brief

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ladner, Matthew

2015-01-01

"Turn and Face the Strain: Age Demographic Change and the Near Future of American Education" outlines a fierce battle looming between the needs of public health care and education. A crisis is fast approaching that makes comprehensive improvement of America's public schools more important than ever. Faced with rapidly expanding…

Western Region: A Report Identifying and Addressing the Educational Needs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

US Department of Education, 2011

2011-01-01

During a four-week period (May 23, 2011-June 21, 2011), the Western Regional Advisory Committee (RAC) held a series of public meetings to solicit input and deliberate on key educational needs facing the four states in the region--Arizona, California, Nevada, and Utah. A two-day, face-to-face, public meeting was held May 23-24, 2011 in Arlington,…

The Public-Service Tax Credit: A Proposed Solution to the Problems of Off-Air Videotaping.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Troost, F. William

1982-01-01

Proposes a public-service tax credit that would allow copyright owners of any television program broadcast on the public airwaves to claim a limited tax credit in exchange for school rights to copy programs and retain them indefinitely for face-to-face, nonprofit, instructional purposes. (Author/MLF)

78 FR 52996 - Culturally Significant Objects Imported for Exhibition Determinations: “Face to Face: Flanders...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-08-27

... DEPARTMENT OF STATE [Public Notice 8441] Culturally Significant Objects Imported for Exhibition Determinations: ``Face to Face: Flanders, Florence, and Renaissance Painting'' Exhibition SUMMARY: Notice is... objects to be included in the exhibition ``Face to Face: Flanders, Florence, and Renaissance Painting...

Developing Medical Geology in Uruguay: A Review

PubMed Central

Mañay, Nelly

2010-01-01

Several disciplines like Environmental Toxicology, Epidemiology, Public Health and Geology have been the basis of the development of Medical Geology in Uruguay during the last decade. The knowledge and performance in environmental and health issues have been improved by joining similar aims research teams and experts from different institutions to face environmental problems dealing with the population’s exposure to metals and metalloids and their health impacts. Some of the Uruguayan Medical Geology examples are reviewed focusing on their multidisciplinary approach: Lead pollution and exposed children, selenium in critically ill patients, copper deficiency in cattle and arsenic risk assessment in ground water. Future actions are also presented. PMID:20623004

Developing medical geology in Uruguay: a review.

PubMed

Mañay, Nelly

2010-05-01

Several disciplines like Environmental Toxicology, Epidemiology, Public Health and Geology have been the basis of the development of Medical Geology in Uruguay during the last decade. The knowledge and performance in environmental and health issues have been improved by joining similar aims research teams and experts from different institutions to face environmental problems dealing with the population's exposure to metals and metalloids and their health impacts. Some of the Uruguayan Medical Geology examples are reviewed focusing on their multidisciplinary approach: Lead pollution and exposed children, selenium in critically ill patients, copper deficiency in cattle and arsenic risk assessment in ground water. Future actions are also presented.

Sexuality and the older woman.

PubMed

Tremayne, Penny; Norton, Wendy

2017-07-27

Sexual health is a key public health issue. The older woman faces a number of changes to her sexual health, wellbeing and sexuality. These changes result in many older women having to adapt to a series of complex transitions that can be challenging. This article aims to identify and explore some of these changes and how they can have a significant impact on women's quality of life. Nurses play an important role in assessing and helping women to manage normal and pathological age-related changes in order to improve the sexual health of older women and ensure they receive the advice and support needed at this stage of their life.

[Health education: adjusting to parents' expectations. Results of a quantitative and qualitative survey in Morbihan].

PubMed

Bourhis, Cathy; Tual, Florence

2013-01-01

Health education among children and adolescents tends to be more effective if the objectives are shared, supported and promoted by parents. Professionals and policy-makers are therefore keen to promote the active involvement of parents. However, they face the same challenge: how to get parents involved. To address this issue, we need to examine parents' concerns and expectations directly. Professionals will need to adapt the proposed responses to the identified needs. This approach is a basic methodological and ethical principle in health education and requires the ability to change perceptions and practices while taking into account public expectations.

The lab without walls: a deployable approach to tropical infectious diseases.

PubMed

Inglis, Timothy J J

2013-04-01

The Laboratory Without Walls is a modular field application of molecular biology that provides clinical laboratory support in resource-limited, remote locations. The current repertoire arose from early attempts to deliver clinical pathology and public health investigative services in remote parts of tropical Australia, to address the shortcomings of conventional methods when faced with emerging infectious diseases. Advances in equipment platforms and reagent chemistry have enabling rapid progress, but also ensure the Laboratory Without Walls is subject to continual improvement. Although new molecular biology methods may lead to more easily deployable clinical laboratory capability, logistic and technical governance issues continue to act as important constraints on wider implementation.

Aging and Cognitive Performance: Challenges and Implications for Physicians Practicing in the 21st Century

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Durning, Steven J.; Artino, Anthony R.; Holmboe, Eric; Beckman, Thomas J.; van der Vleuten, Cees; Schuwirth, Lambert

2010-01-01

The demands of physician practice are growing. Some specialties face critical shortages and a significant percentage of physicians are aging. To improve health care it is paramount to understand and address challenges, including cognitive issues, facing aging physicians. In this article, we outline several issues related to cognitive performance…

Friending, IMing, and Hanging out Face-to-Face: Overlap in Adolescents' Online and Offline Social Networks

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reich, Stephanie M.; Subrahmanyam, Kaveri; Espinoza, Guadalupe

2012-01-01

Many new and important developmental issues are encountered during adolescence, which is also a time when Internet use becomes increasingly popular. Studies have shown that adolescents are using these online spaces to address developmental issues, especially needs for intimacy and connection to others. Online communication with its potential for…

2009 Division 35 Presidential Address: Feminist Psychology and Women with Disabilities--An Emerging Alliance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Banks, Martha E.

2010-01-01

This article is an application of the "Guidelines for Psychological Practice with Girls and Women" to psychological issues faced by Women with Disabilities. It includes culture-specific issues faced by Women with Disabilities, the multiple roles of Women with Disabilities, the importance of informal support systems, and the intersection between…

Conflict in Multiculturalism Classes: Too Much Heat or Too Little?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Meacham, Jack

1995-01-01

The issues that arise in a college course on multiculturalism can touch students very personally and may be a first opportunity for many students to talk face-to-face about important social issues. Anticipating when students may become defensive, angry, hurt, or when conflict might erupt will help faculty know when to lower or raise the…

Psychosocial Crises of Older Men.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Solomon, Kenneth

Retirement is a major issue facing the older American man. Not only must he give up his work, a source of identity and self-esteem, the retiree must also face new relationships with his spouse, children, and peers; and he must learn to use leisure time appropriately. Widowerhood is a second major issue. Aside from deep emotional loss, the widower…

As the World Turns: The Shifting Developmental Issues Facing Today's College Man, Part II.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Franklin, E. Bernard

1997-01-01

Discusses issues facing black male college students, and ways colleges and universities can support their growth more effectively. Identifies and explores students' unmet needs: to feel loved, feel accepted, feel competent, have power, resolve pain and anger from lack of appropriate male guidance, find meaning and purpose in life's struggles, and…

Collaboration on contentious issues: research partnerships for gender equity in Nicaragua's Fair Trade coffee cooperatives.

PubMed

Hanson, Lori; Terstappen, Vincent

2009-01-01

In recent years, the use of collaborative and partnership approaches in health and agricultural research has flourished. Such approaches are frequently adopted to ensure more successful research uptake and to contribute to community empowerment through participatory research practices. At the same time that interest in research partnerships has been growing, publications on methods, models, and guidelines for building these partnerships have proliferated. However, partnership development is not necessarily as straightforward or linear a process as such literature makes it appear, particularly when the research involves divisive or contentious issues. This paper explores prevailing views on research partnerships, and also questions the applicability of partnership models using an emerging research program around gender equity and health in Fair Trade coffee cooperatives in Nicaragua as an example. Moreover, the paper introduces some of the complicated issues facing the authors as they attempt to develop and expand partnerships in this research area. The paper culminates with a series of strategies that the authors plan to use that offer alternative ways of thinking about building research partnerships concerning controversial or complex issues in the field of community health and development.

Assisted suicide: implications for nurses and nursing.

PubMed

Daly, B J; Berry, D; Fitzpatrick, J J; Drew, B; Montgomery, K

1997-01-01

Assisted suicide is an issue of great importance to nurses. This issue reflects our values and beliefs as a society, calls for a clear and precise response as a profession, and challenges individual nurses to think about their own moral views. The history of the debate and the compelling moral arguments on both sides attest to the complexity of the issue and also suggest that it will not soon be resolved. The current position of the profession, as expressed in the ANA Code for Nurses and a specific position statement, were reviewed. The dilemma faced by the individual nurse who perceives an obligation to adhere to the guidelines specified by his or her profession's code and yet whose conscience dictates an act in violation of this code has been discussed as an instance of conscientious objection. While this analysis has been necessarily brief, it was intended to illustrate the importance of being clear about one's personal moral views and equally clear about one's duty to fulfil the obligations stemming from the profession's public statements. It is essential that the profession continue to explore the moral issues involved in requests for assistance in dying and provide additional guidelines for practicing nurses, with sound rationale for the profession's position.

Ethnic minority psychology in the 20th century: reflections and meditations on what has been and what is next.

PubMed

Jones, J M

1998-01-01

The launching of a new journal on ethnic minority psychology is placed in the context of events of the 20th century that precede it and make it possible. Citing the Dulles conference in 1978 on the role of ethnic minority issues in psychology, the author describes how the creation of the American Psychological Association (APA's) Office of Ethnic Minority Affairs and related governance structures made the creation of APA Division 45 (Society for the Psychological Study of Ethnic Minority Issues) possible, and hence their journal, Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology. Issues of conflict and cooperation among ethnic minority groups are discussed as the challenge to create unity from diversity is faced. Consideration of the steady increase in doctorally trained ethnic minority psychologists, relevant research, and organizational structures provides a basis for a publication outlet for these ideas. The challenges for ethnic minority psychology in the 21st century include research on the cultural diversity underlying ethnic minority groups and the similarities revealed by these differences, as well as the differences themselves. The new journal must fulfill the broad promise of the psychological study of ethnic minority issues on which Division 45 was founded.

How can young women be encouraged to attend cervical cancer screening? Suggestions from face-to-face and internet focus group discussions with 30-year-old women in Stockholm, Sweden.

PubMed

Blomberg, Karin; Tishelman, Carol; Ternestedt, Britt-Marie; Törnberg, Sven; Levál, Amy; Widmark, Catarina

2011-01-01

cervical cancer screening (CCS) using Pap-smears has been carried out for decades and is still an essential tool for secondary cancer prevention. Focus has traditionally been on what hinders women's attendance, instead of researching this issue from a positive standpoint, i.e. what factors encourage women to take a Pap-smear? In this article, we therefore explore issues that 30-year-old women have addressed as encouraging CCS attendance, with particular focus on aspects susceptible to intervention. through the population-based cervical cancer screening (PCCSP) registry in Stockholm, Sweden, a stratified random sampling technique was used to recruit women from the same birth cohort with varied CCS histories and results. Nine face-to-face focus groups discussions (FGDs) and 30 internet-based FGDs were conducted with a total of 138 women aged 30. Qualitative analysis was inspired by interpretative description, to generate clinically relevant and useful data. in general, these women expressed positive views about the PCCSP as an existing service, regardless of screening history. They described a wide range of factors encompassing the entire screening trajectory from invitation through follow-up which could motivate young women to CCS participation, including social marketing. Many of the suggestions related to individualization of the PCCSP, as well as a need to understand the relationship between human papilloma virus (HPV) and cervical cancer. [corrected these results are discussed in terms of the inherent tension between population-based public health initiatives and individually-oriented health care provision. Many suggestions given are already incorporated into the existing Stockholm-Gotland screening program, although this information may not reach women who need it. New research should test whether systematic information on HPV may provide a missing link in motivating young women to attend CCS, and which of their suggestions can serve to increase CCS participation.

Women's health is a community issue.

PubMed

Irvin, A

1997-01-01

When a member of the Community Life Project in Nigeria led a group of women in a discussion about HIV/AIDS, the women reported that they understood that condom use is the best means of protection but that they were unable to negotiate condom use with their husbands. Even if the women were economically independent, they would rather face the risk of HIV/AIDS than divorce. Thus, efforts to improve women's health have not generated much change on the local level. This can also be seen by the facts that current programs have failed to reduce the numbers of women dying from pregnancy-related causes each year, nearly 3000 women die from tuberculosis each day, women suffer occupational health risks, and domestic violence is an important determinant of health problems for women. Because women lack power in many societies, efforts to effect individual change may be blocked by a woman's particular circumstances. Thus, the involvement of entire communities is necessary to improve the conditions affecting women's health. Community-level discussions may open the door for couples to discuss sexuality and gender-based issues as well as safer sex behavior. Despite the important role they can play, women's community health groups face stiff challenges because of a lack of knowledge or training and because of the difficulty in overcoming gender-based discrimination. The Hesperian Foundation's publication, "Where Women Have No Doctor," is an excellent resource for understanding how poverty and gender issues affect women's health. The book contains practical information, promotes a model of community-based responses to problems with social origins, and shares experiences of grassroots groups world-wide.

Health care in China: improvement, challenges, and reform.

PubMed

Wang, Chen; Rao, Keqin; Wu, Sinan; Liu, Qian

2013-02-01

Over the past 2 decades, significant progress has been made in improving the health-care system and people's health conditions in China. Following rapid economic growth and social development, China's health-care system is facing new challenges, such as increased health-care demands and expenditure, inefficient use of health-care resources, unsatisfying implementation of disease management guidelines, and inadequate health-care insurance. Facing these challenges, the Chinese government carried out a national health-care reform in 2009. A series of policies were developed and implemented to improve the health-care insurance system, the medical care system, the public health service system, the pharmaceutical supply system, and the health-care institution management system in China. Although these measures have shown promising results, further efforts are needed to achieve the ultimate goal of providing affordable and high-quality care for both urban and rural residents in China. This article not only covers the improvement, challenges, and reform of health care in general in China, but also highlights the status of respiratory medicine-related issues.

The ugly face of tourism: Marine debris pollution linked to visitation in the southern Great Barrier Reef, Australia.

PubMed

Wilson, Scott P; Verlis, Krista M

2017-04-15

Marine debris is one of the most significant issues facing oceans worldwide. The sources of this debris vary depending on proximity to urban centres and the nature of activities within an area. This paper examines the influence of tourism in the southern Great Barrier Reef (GBR), and its contribution to litter levels in the region. By conducting beach debris surveys on occupied and unoccupied islands, this study found that debris was prevalent throughout the region with significant differences in material types between locations. The greatest source of debris from publically accessible islands was tourist-related, with this source also influencing debris loads on nearby uninhabited islands. A focus on debris at Heron Island, showed that sites close to amenities had greater levels of tourist-sourced items like cigarette butts. These findings indicate the contribution of tourists to this problem and that working with operators and managers is needed to minimise visitor impacts. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

[The roles and functions of volunteer counselors to the elderly].

PubMed

Chen, Chun-Yu

2004-06-01

In Taiwan's current counseling centers for the elderly, large numbers of volunteers are supervised by only a few social workers or nurses, so the roles and functions of these volunteers are very important. A neat summary of the services provided by the volunteers would include: (1) Direct services: telephone counseling, telephone interviewing, case handling, mail counseling, resource provision. (2) Indirect services: fundraising, supervision. (3) Administration: administrative assistance, management of institutional web sites. (4) Strategic consultancy: consultancy, provision of expertise. (5) Advocacy: service as educators and spokespersons; public relations and marketing. (6) MANAGEMENT: team leadership, plan implementation. To sum up, their functions are, by means of telephone and face-to-face contact, to provide information to the elderly about finances, medical services, housing, citizenship, the dignity of life and death, and related issues, as well as to serve as advocates for the provision of resources--such as educational courses--and to facilitate such provision. Indeed, the roles and functions of volunteer counselors become more diverse and more comprehensive by the day.

The precautionary principle and pharmaceutical risk management.

PubMed

Callréus, Torbjörn

2005-01-01

Although it is often vigorously contested and has several different formulations, the precautionary principle has in recent decades guided environmental policy making in the face of scientific uncertainty. Originating from a criticism of traditional risk assessment, the key element of the precautionary principle is the justification for acting in the face of uncertain knowledge about risks. In the light of its growing invocation in various areas that are related to public health and recently in relation to drug safety issues, this article presents an introductory review of the main elements of the precautionary principle and some arguments conveyed by its advocates and opponents. A comparison of the characteristics of pharmaceutical risk management and environmental policy making (i.e. the setting within which the precautionary principle evolved), indicates that several important differences exist. If believed to be of relevance, in order to avoid arbitrary and unpredictable decision making, both the interpretation and possible application of the precautionary principle need to be adapted to the conditions of pharmaceutical risk management.

Effects of Synchronicity and Belongingness on Face-to-Face and Computer-Mediated Constructive Controversy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Saltarelli, Andy J.; Roseth, Cary J.

2014-01-01

Adapting face-to-face (FTF) pedagogies to online settings raises boundary questions about the contextual conditions in which the same instructional method stimulates different outcomes. We address this issue by examining FTF and computer-mediated communication (CMC) versions of constructive controversy, a cooperative learning procedure involving…

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Barbose, Galen; Wiser, Ryan; Bolinger, Mark

Increasing levels of financial support for customer-sited photovoltaic (PV) systems, provided through publicly-funded incentive programs, has heightened concerns about the long-term performance of these systems. Given the barriers that customers face to ensuring that their PV systems perform well, and the responsibility that PV incentive programs bear to ensure that public funds are prudently spent, these programs should, and often do, play a critical role in ensuring that PV systems receiving incentives perform well. To provide a point of reference for assessing the current state of the art, and to inform program design efforts going forward, we examine the approachesmore » to encouraging PV system performance used by 32 prominent PV incentive programs in the U.S. We identify eight general strategies or groups of related strategies that these programs have used to address performance issues, and highlight important differences in the implementation of these strategies among programs.« less

Psychologists and detainee interrogations: key decisions, opportunities lost, and lessons learned.

PubMed

Pope, Kenneth S

2011-01-01

After the 9-11 terrorist attacks, U.S. psychologists faced hard choices about what roles, if any, were appropriate for psychologists in the detainee interrogations conducted in settings such as the Bagram Airbase, the Abu Ghraib Prison, and the Guantanamo Bay Detention Camps. The American Psychological Association (APA) sparked intense controversy with its policies and public statements. This article reviews APA decisions, documents, and public statements in this area, in the context of major criticisms and responses to those criticisms. The review focuses on key issues: how the APA created and reported policies in the areas of ethics and national security; transparency; psychologists' professional identities; psychologists' qualifications; ethical-legal conflicts; policies opposing torture; interpretations of avoiding harm; and effective interrogations. It suggests lessons learned, missed opportunities, and questions in need of a fresh approach. © 2011 by Annual Reviews. All rights reserved

Digital Distribution of Advertising for Publications (DDAP): a graphic arts prototype of electronic intermedia publishing (EIP)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dunn, Patrice M.

1998-01-01

The Digital Distribution of Advertising for Publications (DDAP) is a graphic arts industry prototype of Electronic Intermedia Publishing (EIP). EIP is a strategic, multi- industrial concept that seeks to enable the capture and input of volumes of data (i.e., both raster and object oriented data -- as well as the latter's antecedent which is vector data -- color data and black-and-white data) from a multiplicity of devices; then flowing, controlling, manipulating, modifying, storing, retrieving, transmitting, and shipping, that data through an industrial process for output to a multiplicity of output devices (e.g., ink on paper, toner on paper, bits and bytes on CD ROM, Internet, Multimedia, HDTV, etc.). As the technical requirements of the print medium are among the most rigorous in the Intermedia milieu the DDAP prototype addresses some of the most challenging issues faced in Electronic Intermedia Publishing (EIP).

Achieving recognition that mental health is part of the mission of CDC.

PubMed

Safran, Marc A

2009-11-01

For much of its history the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) considered mental health to be outside of its mission. That assumption persisted even after CDC became a leading public health agency and began to face important mental health issues. This narrative describes how the organizational paradigm indicating that mental health was not mission related was challenged and superseded by a new paradigm recognizing mental health as part of CDC's public health mission. Even after the CDC Mental Health Work Group's establishment in 2000, CDC took eight more years to overcome powerful remnants of the old paradigm that had for so long excluded, minimized, or discouraged attention to mental health. The CDC Mental Health Work Group led the agency's mental health efforts without funding or dedicated staffing but with more than 100 CDC professionals from multiple disciplines and centers serving as voluntary members, in addition to their other CDC responsibilities.

Communicating about risk: strategies for situations where public concern is high but the risk is low.

PubMed

Hooker, Claire; Capon, Adam; Leask, Julie

2017-01-15

In this article, we summarise research that identifies best practice for communicating about hazards where the risk is low but public concern is high. We apply Peter Sandman's 'risk = hazard + outrage' formulation to these risks, and review factors associated with the amplification of risk signals. We discuss the structures that determine the success of risk communication strategies, such as the capacity for early communication to 'capture' the dominant representation of risk issues, the importance of communicating uncertainty, and the usefulness of engaging with communities. We argue that, when facing trade-offs in probable outcomes from communication, it is always best to choose strategies that maintain or build trust, even at the cost of initial overreactions. We discuss these features of successful risk communication in relation to a range of specific examples, particularly opposition to community water fluoridation, Ebola, and routine childhood immunisation.

Non-voluntary licensing of antivirals under patent: options the Australian Government should consider in light of a potential bird flu pandemic.

PubMed

Davies, Tim

2006-05-01

In the face of a potential bird flu pandemic, Australian Federal Health Minister, Tony Abbott, has recently dismissed expert advice that the government should begin, or even publicly consider, authorising generic manufacturers to produce antivirals, such as Tamiflu and Relenza, under patent via non-voluntary licensing methods. This is despite the fact that the demand for antivirals in Australia, and throughout the world, cannot be met by manufacturers under the control of limited patent owners alone. This article proposes that Australian patent law, which allows for non-voluntary licensing when it comes to important public health issues that affect Australian citizens, is relevant in meeting the demand for increased antiviral treatments during a possible bird flu pandemic, domestically and abroad. It argues that the Australian Government must go beyond what is currently being done and investigate and pursue such options.

Effect of Internet-Based Learning in Public Health Training: An Exploratory Meta-Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Peng, Ying; Yan, Weirong

2017-01-01

Internet-based learning is increasingly applied in medical education, but its effect in the field of public health training is still unclear. This meta-analysis was undertaken to explore the impact of Internet-based learning on students'/professionals' knowledge of public health compared with no intervention and with traditional face-to-face (FTF)…

The nurse as a social worker.

PubMed

La Motte, Ellen

2012-01-01

In the early twentieth century the role of the public health nurse (PHN) was expanding to meet the needs of individuals, families, and communities. Among the ideas discussed in the early nursing literature was that of the social nurse. This role was conceptualized as a combined nurse and social worker. Much of the PHNs work was with people of the poorer classes who needed assistance with both the medical aspects of their disease, as well as help with social needs such as food, rent money, and bedding. In this reprint from The Visiting Nurse Quarterly (1911), Ellen La Motte, Nurse-in-Chief with the Tuberculosis Division of the Baltimore Health Department, argued for this combined role based on economic efficiency. As she pointed out, it was "economic waste" to have two sets of workers going into homes when the nurse was capable, with additional education, of carrying out both roles. Additionally, from La Motte's perspective the only way the nurse could move beyond her role as the "physician's handmaiden" was through "social training" that prepared her for a broader scope of practice than that received in the hospital-based nursing schools. In the end, however, she left it open to nurses as "reasonable beings" to determine the direction the profession would take on this issue. La Motte's words provide historical context for issues contemporary public health nursing leaders are addressing, such as inter-professional boundaries between nurses and public health workers, reductions in the public health workforce, and economic constraints faced by the healthcare system. The Institute of Medicine mandate for inter-professional practice within the healthcare system, however, presents opportunities for exploring new roles and practice models for nurses in conjunction with our partners in public health. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Prioritising public health: a qualitative study of decision making to reduce health inequalities

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background The public health system in England is currently facing dramatic change. Renewed attention has recently been paid to the best approaches for tackling the health inequalities which remain entrenched within British society and across the globe. In order to consider the opportunities and challenges facing the new public health system in England, we explored the current experiences of those involved in decision making to reduce health inequalities, taking cardiovascular disease (CVD) as a case study. Methods We conducted an in-depth qualitative study employing 40 semi-structured interviews and three focus group discussions. Participants were public health policy makers and planners in CVD in the UK, including: Primary Care Trust and Local Authority staff (in various roles); General Practice commissioners; public health academics; consultant cardiologists; national guideline managers; members of guideline development groups, civil servants; and CVD third sector staff. Results The short term target- and outcome-led culture of the NHS and the drive to achieve "more for less", combined with the need to address public demand for acute services often lead to investment in "downstream" public health intervention, rather than the "upstream" approaches that are most effective at reducing inequalities. Despite most public health decision makers wishing to redress this imbalance, they felt constrained due to difficulties in partnership working and the over-riding influence of other stakeholders in decision making processes. The proposed public health reforms in England present an opportunity for public health to move away from the medical paradigm of the NHS. However, they also reveal a reluctance of central government to contribute to shifting social norms. Conclusions It is vital that the effectiveness and cost effectiveness of all new and existing policies and services affecting public health are measured in terms of their impact on the social determinants of health and health inequalities. Researchers have a vital role to play in providing the complex evidence required to compare different models of prevention and service delivery. Those working in public health must develop leadership to raise the profile of health inequalities as an issue that merits attention, resources and workforce capacity; and advocate for central government to play a key role in shifting social norms. PMID:22014291

Exploring recruitment issues in stroke research: a qualitative study of nurse researchers' experiences.

PubMed

Boxall, Leigh; Hemsley, Anthony; White, Nicola

2016-05-01

To explore the practice of experienced stroke nurse researchers to understand the issues they face in recruiting participants. Participant recruitment is one of the greatest challenges in conducting clinical research, with many trials failing due to recruitment problems. Stroke research is a particularly difficult area in which to recruit; however various strategies can improve participation. Analysis revealed three main types of problems for recruiting participants to stroke research: those related to patients, those related to the nurse researcher, and those related to the study itself. Impairments affecting capacity to consent, the acute recruitment time frame of most stroke trials, paternalism by nurse researchers, and low public awareness were especially pertinent. The disabling nature of a stroke, which often includes functional and cognitive impairments, and the acute stage of illness at which patients are appropriate for many trials, make recruiting patients particularly complex and challenging. An awareness of the issues surrounding the recruitment of stroke patients may help researchers in designing and conducting trials. Future work is needed to address the complexities of obtaining informed consent when patient capacity is compromised.

Prenatal Testing for Adult-Onset Conditions: the Position of the National Society of Genetic Counselors.

PubMed

Hercher, Laura; Uhlmann, Wendy R; Hoffman, Erin P; Gustafson, Shanna; Chen, Kelly M

2016-12-01

Advances in genetic testing and the availability of such testing in pregnancy allows prospective parents to test their future child for adult-onset conditions. This ability raises several complex ethical issues. Prospective parents have reproductive rights to obtain information about their fetus. This information may or may not alter pregnancy management. These rights can be in conflict with the rights of the future individual, who will be denied the right to elect or decline testing. This paper highlights the complexity of these issues, details discussions that went into the National Society of Genetic Counselors (NSGC) Public Policy Task Force's development of the Prenatal testing for Adult-Onset Conditions position statement adopted in November 2014, and cites relevant literature on this topic through December 2015. Issues addressed include parental rights and autonomy, rights of the future child, the right not to know, possible adverse effects on childhood and the need for genetic counseling. This paper will serve as a reference to genetic counselors and healthcare professionals when faced with this situation in clinical practice.

Future Critical Issues and Problems Facing Technology and Engineering Education in the Commonwealth of Virginia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Katsioloudis, Petros; Moye, Johnny J.

2012-01-01

The purpose of this research was to determine the future critical issues and problems facing the K-12 technology and engineering education profession in the Commonwealth of Virginia. This study was based on the Wicklein nationwide studies (1993a, 2005). Even though this study did not exactly replicate the Wicklein studies--since it was limited to…