Recommendations for the Victim Assistance Provisions in a Treaty Banning Cluster Munitions: A Practitioners’ Perspective

With the aim of contributing to the Oslo process, Handicap International launched an initiative with civil society and international organizations to find common recommendations for the victim assistance provisions in a treaty banning cluster munitions. Together we shared our experience in affected countries and our lessons learned, exchanging ideas through an electronic discussion forum and then meeting in a practitioners’ workshop in Paris. Colleagues from Afghanistan, Cambodia, Iraq, Lebanon, Tajikistan and Uganda participated in these exercises along with practitioners from a variety of backgrounds experienced in working on victim assistance programs in mine and cluster munition affected countries. This document presents what this group believes should be included in a future treaty to ensure that its implementation will respond to the needs and rights of cluster submunition victims

The Critical Challenges from International High-Tech and Computer-Related Crime at the Millennium

The automotive industry stands in front of a great challenge, to decrease its impact on the environment. One important part in succeeding with this is to decrease the structural weight of the body structure and by that the fuel consumption or the required battery power. Carbon fibre composites are by many seen as the only real option when traditional engineering materials are running out of potential for further weight reduction. However, the automotive industry lacks experience working with structural composites and the methods for high volume composite manufacturing are immature. The development of a composite automotive body structure, therefore, needs methods to support and guide the conceptual work to improve the financial and technical results. In this thesis a framework is presented which will provide guidelines for the conceptual phase of the development of an automotive body structure. The framework follows two main paths, one to strive for the ideal material diversity, which also defines an initial partition of the body structure based on the process and material selection. Secondly, a further analysis of the structures are made to evaluate if a more cost and weight efficient solution can be found by a more differential design and by that define the ideal part size. In the case and parameter studies performed, different carbon fibre composite material systems and processes are compared and evaluated. The results show that high performance material system with continuous fibres becomes both more cost and performance effective compared to industrialised discontinuous fibre composites. But also that cycle times, sometimes, are less important than a competitive feedstock cost for a manufacturing process. When further analysing the manufacturing design of the structures it is seen that further partition(s) can become cost effective if the size and complexity is large enough.      QC 20140527</p

Study of Dockage in Gloucester’s Designated Port Area: Summary

The Urban Harbors Institute (UHI), University of Massachusetts Boston assisted the Gloucester Fisheries Commission to conduct a study of commercial dockage in Gloucester Inner Harbor. The study presents a review of existing conditions and expected needs to serve as the basis for the Fisheries Commission to formulate recommendations for ensuring sufficient commercial dockage to support the future fishery. Strategies for the future Gloucester fisheries include measures to increase landings of groundfish, landings of alternative species, and value-added processing. The Dockage Subcommittee of the Fisheries Commission was instrumental to the study, meeting periodically to guide the process, reviewing progress, and providing assistance with filling in data gaps. The following narrative and tables provide a synopsis of the data and findings of the study. Spreadsheets of all data collected have been submitted in electronic format

School Leader Update, November 2002

Monthly newsletter produced by Iowa Department of Educatio

Event Planner Sensitivity to the Needs of Individuals with Visual Disability at Meetings and Events

Special events, such as fairs, conventions, ballgames, and concerts are typically activities people attend to participate in the festivities and enjoy with friends and family members. For individuals with disabilities, however, these types of events can create more challenges than enjoyment. Despite a thorough review of the literature, no studies were found which evaluated the experiences of individuals who are blind and have visual impairments at events and meetings. The aim of this study was to determine the current level of accessibility at meetings perceived by consumers who are blind and visually impaired. Respondents to the survey indicated many obstacles to accessing meetings including: discrimination, a paucity of accessible features, and accessibility features that are not truly accessible for consumers who are blind and visually impaired. Recommendations are provided for increasing meeting and event accessibility for consumers who are blind and visually impaired

Fiscal Update, July 26, 2007

The Fiscal Division newsletter, published weekly during session and periodically during the interim

Release Planning for Successful Reentry: A Self-Assessment Tool For Corrections

Offers tools for evaluating prison services to help exiting prisoners meet basic needs including financial resources, housing, employment, and education; setting goals for improvement; and developing strategies for policy change. Lists best practices

HITECH Revisited

Assesses the 2009 Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act, which offers incentives to adopt and meaningfully use electronic health records. Recommendations include revised criteria, incremental approaches, and targeted policies