Tackling foreclosure

With foreclosure rates rising nationwide, public officials, financial institutions, and community organizations are launching prevention programs and educating housing counselors and attorneys on the issue.Foreclosure - Massachusetts

Tackling the Minimal Superpermutation Problem

A superpermutation on $n$ symbols is a string that contains each of the $n!$ permutations of the $n$ symbols as a contiguous substring. The shortest superpermutation on $n$ symbols was conjectured to have length $\sum_{i=1}^n i!$. The conjecture had been verified for $n \leq 5$. We disprove it by exhibiting an explicit counterexample for $n=6$. This counterexample was found by encoding the problem as an instance of the (asymmetric) Traveling Salesman Problem, and searching for a solution using a powerful heuristic solver.Comment: 5 page

The Tackling Men's Health Evaluation Study

Tackling Men’s Health is an intervention developed out of a partnership between the Department of Health, Leeds Rhinos Rugby League Club and Leeds Metropolitan University. The intervention was designed to target men attending Headingley Carnegie Stadium, with the aim of promoting engagement with health services and therefore promoting improved health and wellbeing. The primary aim of the of the Tackling Men’s Health study is to assess engagement in an intervention targeting men attending rugby matches. Secondary aims of the research study are to: To assess the barriers and facilitators associated with implementing a health promotion intervention targeting men attending rugby league games To examine the effect of a multi-component targeted intervention on men’s self reported engagement with health services To examine the effect of a multi-component targeted intervention on men’s awareness of key health issues To examine the effect of multi-component targeted intervention on men’s perceived health status The research study monitored the evolution of the Tackling Men’s Health intervention, which was delivered in sports settings over the course of the 2009 Engage Super league Rugby league season. Seven stakeholders and 20 men who attended Rugby league matches were interviewed to achieve a broad understanding of appropriateness of the processes used in the planning and delivery of the Tackling Men’s Health intervention

Pakistan in 2009: Tackling the Taliban?

Party-based political competition played an important part in shaping key events in Pakistan in 2009. This article examines the impact of party-based competition on the much-delayed restoration of Supreme Court Chief Justice Mohammad Iftikhar Chaudhry, efforts to address (with U.S. assistance) Pakistan’s growing Taliban-affiliated insurgency, and both federal and provincial economic policies. This article concludes that party-based competition will continue to shape Pakistan’s evolving security and economic situation in 2010

Tackling disinvestment in health care services

Rising levels of demand due to ageing populations and increases in long term conditions (White 2007), increased levels of expectation amongst patients and inflationary pressure caused by the rising cost of new technologies are amongst the explanations for the funding shortfalls in government funded health systems across the world (Newhouse 1992). The challenge facing these health systems has also been intensified by the worldwide economic downturn. Within health systems, efforts have been made to increase productivity and efficiency and to control costs without reducing quality (Garner and Littlejohns 2011) but the scale of the task necessitates further action (Donaldson et al. 2010). Beyond productivity and efficiency gains the next logical step for decision makers is disinvestment in cost-ineffective services, prioritisation of funding for one service over another or what Prasad (2012) refers to as ‘medical reversal’. The aims of this study were to explore the experiences of budget holders within the English National Health Service (NHS) in their attempts to implement programmes of disinvestment, and to consider factors which influence the success (or otherwise) of this activity. This paper begins with clarification of terminology and a summary of the current state of knowledge with regard to health service disinvestment, before presenting and discussing findings. The research suggests that disinvestment activity is varied across organisations and ranges from ‘invest to save’ schemes through to ‘true disinvestment.’ Although the majority of interviewees accept that disinvestment is necessary most had made little progress at the time of interview beyond ‘picking the low hanging fruit’. Interviewees identify a number of determinants of disinvestment such as: local/national relationships, co-ordination/ collaboration and; professional understanding and support

Tackling unemployment, supporting business and developing careers

The issue of unemployment remains high on the political agenda. However, there is evidence that employers can be wary of employing people who are out of work. Employer practice is key, both in terms of providing employment opportunities to job seekers, and in providing space for low-skilled people to develop their skills and cement their attachment to the labour market. This report discusses the role of career guidance in mediating between job seekers and employers to allow both to achieve their objectives.The issue of unemployment remains high on the political agenda. However, there is evidence that employers can be wary of employing people who are out of work. Employer practice is key, both in terms of providing employment opportunities to job seekers, and in providing space for low-skilled people to develop their skills and cement their attachment to the labour market. This report discusses the role of career guidance in mediating between job seekers and employers to allow both to achieve their objectives