When We Tell You We Can Do It, Believe Us: An Analysis of the Legislation and Policies Related to the Employment of Women with Disabilities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

This dissertation aims at exploring the barriers to the adequate implementation of the legislation, policies and regulations related to the employment of women with disabilities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the private sector. It uses Article 27 of the United Nations Convention for Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) as an international standard. This dissertation explores the strengths and challenges of Saudi Arabia’s Labor Law and regulations in protecting the employment related rights of women with disabilities in Saudi Arabia. It adopts a multi-component analysis by comparing standards (a, b, e and h) of Article 27 of the CRPD with the relevant policies and regulations adopted by Saudi Arabia and supplements the understanding of the impact of these policies and regulations with data from interviews of with stakeholder. Using a template for examining compliance to the international laws proposed by Frey (2010), the study additionally analyzes the text of the Labor Law, the interpretation of the law, the enforcement of the law and the social norms and conventions that impact their social legitimacy. Finally, the study examines the impact of the legislation and policies on the employment of women with disabilities in Saudi Arabia. This analysis is informed by policy review and interviews of 12 women with disabilities, 7 employers, 11 representatives from relevant government departments from the Western and Central regions which was conducted in the cities of Riyadh and Jeddah. The policy review revealed that the Saudi Labor Law and its regulations align with standards (a, b, e, and h) of Article 27 of the CRPD. The results showed that there is a noteworthy lack of adherence to the policies and regulations related to the employment of women with disabilities. The results indicated that the social norms and social conventions significantly impact the employment of women with disabilities. On these bases, the dissertation recommends that the Ministry of Labor and Social Development promotes awareness campaigns about the rights of persons with disabilities to employment with special attention to the specific needs of women with disabilities. In addition, the dissertation suggests a comprehensive evaluation of the current enforcement processes of legislation and policies related to the employment of women with disabilities

Integrated source and channel encoded digital communication system design study

The particular Ku-band carrier, PN despreading, and symbol synchronization strategies, which were selected for implementation in the Ku-band transponder aboard the orbiter, were assessed and evaluated from a systems performance viewpoint, verifying that system specifications were met. A study was performed of the design and implementation of tracking techniques which are suitable for incorporation into the Orbiter Ku-band communication system. Emphasis was placed on maximizing tracking accuracy and communication system flexibility while minimizing cost, weight, and system complexity of Orbiter and ground systems hardware. The payload communication study assessed the design and performance of the forward link and return link bent-pipe relay modes for attached and detached payloads. As part of this study, a design for a forward link bent-pipe was proposed which employs a residual carrier but which is tracked by the existing Costas loop

Study to investigate and evaluate means of optimizing the Ku-band combined radar/communication functions for the space shuttle

The Ku band radar system on the shuttle orbiter operates in both a search and a tracking mode, and its transmitter and antennas share time with the communication mode in the integrated system. The power allocation properties and the Costa subloop subcarrier tracking performance associated with the baseline digital phase shift implementation of the three channel orbiter Ku band modulator are discussed

Socio-demographic correlates of mental and behavioural disorders of children in Southern Ethiopia

Objective: To describe the magnitude and socio-demographic correlates of specific mental and behavioural disorders.Design: A cross-sectional survey.Setting: Butajira district, southern Ethiopia.Participants: The Amharic version of the Diagnostic Instrument for Children and Adolescents (DICA) was used to interview parents of 1,477 children.Main outcome measures: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Disruptive behaviour disorders, mood and anxiety disorders.Results: Using a multivariate logistic model, age was significantly associated with ADHD. Children between 10 and 14 years of age had more than three-fold increased risk of ADHD compared to younger children: adjusted odds ratio and 95% confidence interval (OR, 95%CI) = 3.17 (1.16, 8.67), p=0.02. Residence in urban area was also significantly associated with ADHD: adjusted OR (95% CI) = 2.84 (1.14-7.07), p=0.03. Disruptive behaviour disorders were significantly associated with increasing age: adjusted OR (95% CI)= 4.24 (1.43, 12.6). Mood and anxiety disorders were not significantly associated with any of the sociodemographic variable studied.Conclusion: The study shows that age and residence in urban areas are significant correlates of behavioural disorders in children

Practicable robust stochastic optimization under divergence measures with an application to equitable humanitarian response planning

We seek to provide practicable approximations of the two-stage robust stochastic optimization (RSO) model when its ambiguity set is constructed with an f-divergence radius. These models are known to be numerically challenging to various degrees, depending on the choice of the f-divergence function. The numerical challenges are even more pronounced under mixed-integer first-stage decisions. In this paper, we propose novel divergence functions that produce practicable robust counterparts, while maintaining versatility in modeling diverse ambiguity aversions. Our functions yield robust counterparts that have comparable numerical difficulties to their nominal problems. We also propose ways to use our divergences to mimic existing f-divergences without affecting the practicability. We implement our models in a realistic location-allocation model for humanitarian operations in Brazil. Our humanitarian model optimizes an effectiveness-equity trade-off, defined with a new utility function and a Gini mean difference coefficient. With the case study, we showcase 1) the significant improvement in practicability of the RSO counterparts with our proposed divergence functions compared to existing f-divergences, 2) the greater equity of humanitarian response that our new objective function enforces and 3) the greater robustness to variations in probability estimations of the resulting plans when ambiguity is considered

An evaluation of financial institutions: Impact on consumption and investment using panel data and the theory of risk-bearing

The theory of the optimal allocation of risk and the Townsend Thai panel data on financial transactions are used to assess the impact of the major formal and informal financial institutions of an emerging market economy. We link financial institution assessment to the actual impact on clients, rather than ratios and non-performing loans. We derive both consumption and investment equations from a common core theory with both risk and productive activities. The empirical specification follows closely from this theory and allows both OLS and IV estimation. We thus quantify the consumption and investment smoothing impact of financial institutions on households including those running farms and small businesses. A government development bank (BAAC) is shown to be particularly helpful in smoothing consumption and investment, in no small part through credit, consistent with its own operating system, which embeds an implicit insurance operation. Commercial banks are smoothing investment, largely through formal savings accounts. Other institutions seem ineffective by these metrics

A descriptive analysis of admissions to Amanuel Psychiatric Hospital in Ethiopia

Background: The care of patients with severe mental disorder in Ethiopia remains centralized in the capital city. Objective: To assess pattern of psychiatric admission and its implication for service provision. Methods: A descriptive analysis of one-year admission data was undertaken from the only psychiatric hospital in Ethiopia. Results: The annual age-sex standardized admission rate was 4 per 100 000 (n=1564). Two-thirds of the patients came from Addis Ababa and the immediate surrounding areas. Nearly three-quarters were men, and aged 30 years or younger. Schizophrenia and bipolar disorder were the top two discharge diagnoses. The median length of hospital stay (LOS) was 63 days. Diagnosis of schizophrenia and place of residence, i.e. living outside of Addis Ababa independently predicted LOS above the median. Conclusion: Admission data demonstrated a huge mental health unmet need in Ethiopia. Providing adequate resources for modernization and well-supervised decentralization may be vital steps in the quest for accessible and equitable psychiatric care.The Ethiopian Journal of Health Development Vol. 21 (2) 2007: pp. 173-17