1,744 research outputs found
Policy initiatives to address low-income households’ nutritional needs in the UK
Members of low-income households in the UK are more likely to have patterns of food and nutrient intakes that are less inclined to lead to good health outcomes in the short and long term. Health inequalities, including the likelihood of child and adulthood obesity, have long been documented in the UK and show little sign of improving so far, despite 10 years of attention from a government that has committed itself to addressing them. Following the Acheson Inquiry into Inequalities in Health (1998) in England a number of initiatives to tackle inequalities in food and diet were established, both nationally and within the devolved nations of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Nevertheless, until recently, there has been no overall strategic policy addressing the food and nutritional needs of low-income households. The present paper reviews how the problems have been constructed and understood and how they have been addressed, briefly drawing on recent evaluations of food and nutrition policies in Scotland and Wales. The contemporary challenge is to frame cross-cutting policy initiatives that move beyond simple targeting and local actions, encompass a life-course approach and recognise both the diversity of households that fall into ‘low-income’ categories and the need for ‘upstream’ intervention
Italian center for Astronomical Archives publishing solution: modular and distributed
The Italian center for Astronomical Archives tries to provide astronomical
data resources as interoperable services based on IVOA standards. Its VO
expertise and knowledge comes from active participation within IVOA and VO at
European and international level, with a double-fold goal: learn from the
collaboration and provide inputs to the community. The first solution to build
an easy to configure and maintain resource publisher conformant to VO standards
proved to be too optimistic. For this reason it has been necessary to re-think
the architecture with a modular system built around the messaging concept,
where each modular component speaks to the other interested parties through a
system of broker-managed queues. The first implemented protocol, the Simple
Cone Search, shows the messaging task architecture connecting the parametric
HTTP interface to the database backend access module, the logging module, and
allows multiple cone search resources to be managed together through a
configuration manager module. Even if relatively young, it already proved the
flexibility required by the overall system when the database backend changed
from MySQL to PostgreSQL+PgSphere. Another implementation test has been made to
leverage task distribution over multiple servers to serve simultaneously: FITS
cubes direct linking, cubes cutout and cubes positional merging. Currently the
implementation of the SIA-2.0 standard protocol is ongoing while for TAP we
will be adapting the TAPlib library. Alongside these tools a first
administration tool (TASMAN) has been developed to ease the build up and
maintenance of TAP_SCHEMA-ta including also ObsCore maintenance capability.
Future work will be devoted at widening the range of VO protocols covered by
the set of available modules, improve the configuration management and develop
specific purpose modules common to all the service components.Comment: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation 2018, Software and
Cyberinfrastructure for Astronomy V, pre-publishing draft proceeding (reduced
abstract
The ATLAS liquid argon hadronic end-cap calorimeter: construction and selected beam test results
ATLAS has chosen for its Hadronic End-Cap Calorimeter (HEC) the copper-liquid
argon sampling technique with flat plate geometry and GaAs pre-amplifiers in
the argon. The contruction of the calorimeter is now approaching completion.
Results of production quality checks are reported and their anticipated impact
on calorimeter performance discussed. Selected results, such as linearity,
electron and pion energy resolution, uniformity of energy response, obtained in
beam tests both of the Hadronic End-Cap Calorimeter by itself, and in the ATLAS
configuration where the HEC is in combination with the Electromagnetic End-Cap
Calorimeter (EMEC) are described.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures,IPRD04 conferenc
Inequalities in diet and physical activity in Europe
The contribution of food, nutrition and physical activity to inequalities in health across Europe is largely unexplored. This paper summarizes cross sectional survey data on food patterns and nutrient intakes, and briefer data on physical activity, by various indicators of socio-economic status for countries across Europe. Factors are examined which underlie the outcome data seen. These include structural and material conditions and circumstances which contribute to excluding sociodemographic groups from participating in mainstream patterns of living. Trends in social and economic conditions, and their implications for nutritional and physical wellbeing are briefly outlined
Just and sustainable? : examining the rhetoric and potential realities of UK food security
The dominant discourse in 20th century UK food and agricultural policies of a liberal, free trade agenda was modified at the turn of the 21st to embrace ecological sustainability and "food security." The latter term has a long international history; the relationship between issues of technical production and equality of distributional access are also much debated. The paper examines shifts in UK policy discourse in the context of international research, policy, and initiatives to promote food security, and highlights the implications for social justice in and through the food system
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Food projects in London: Lessons for policy and practice - A hidden sector and the need for 'more unhealthy puddings ... sometimes'
Background and Objective: Successive governments have promoted local action to address food components of public health. This article presents findings from research commissioned by the (then) London NHS Office, scoping the range of food projects in the London area, and the potential challenges to public health practice.
Methods: Research followed four overlapping phases with a London focus: (1) a systemized review of the literature, (2) analysis of health authority Health Improvement Plans (HImPs) and Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) local implementation plans and Health Action Zone reports, (3) a scoping exercise of`food projects' and community-based participatory projects with a food focus using food databases and directories, and (4) 29 in-depth interviews with individuals responsible for commissioning and running projects.
Results: There were, in 2001/2, a variety of food projects in the London area, ranging from small-scale social enterprises to those whose turnover marked them out as small businesses. There was a significant human resource cost in maintaining and setting up such projects both from NHS staff and in terms of volunteer and paid labour. The lack of an overall or area-based approach to food policy development in London was apparent, and little thought seemed to have been given to creating a supportive policy environment. Food projects often existed as isolated entities in a borough or health authority area, with short-term funding and little systemic long-term support. The majority employed what might best be called health education approaches. This is now partially addressed by the draft London Food Strategy.
Conclusions: Food projects run by local professionals and/or volunteers operated within an isolated policy and suffered from a lack of support both from financial and human resources perspectives. The potential for long-term delivery of improved health was unrealized, as was their potential contribution to a London-wide food economy and to London food policy
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