GLOBAL CHANGE, DOMESTIC POLICY, AND LIFE COURSE INFLUENCES ON PERCEPTIONS OF HEALTH EQUITY AMONG OLDER CUBANS

Cubas provision of free health services to the entire population via neighborhood-based family doctors produced dramatic health gains and achieved a relative state of health equality. Since 1989, however, the termination of Soviet trade, a grave economic crisis, intensification of the US embargo, welfare reductions, and population aging have placed Cubas health successes and elder care services in jeopardy. Little independent research, though, has focused on the influence of post-Cold War circumstances on citizen attitudes about health programs and resources targeting Cubas older population. This research examined global and domestic factors since 1989 that have most influenced perceptions of the equitability and inequitability of health resources among older Cubans. Its multi-layered design drew on new International Political Economy, crystallization, and aspects of Grounded Theory. In-depth narrative interviews were conducted with Cubans age 60 years or older, their families and community support group members, family physicians and other medical personnel, and key health and government informants. Perceptions of health equity were found to correspond most with the geographic proximity and nearly unhindered physical access of older patients to their family doctors and the temporal availability of family physicians to their older patients. Conversely, perceptions of health inequity corresponded most with the older persons experience of medicine shortages and health resource rationing following global socio-political-economic change and domestic policy shifts after 1989. Furthermore, the life course influences of the pre- and post-revolutionary eras and pre-1989 and post-Cold War period were seminal in shaping the perceptions and expectations of the older participants regarding health care, the leadership, and Cuban socialism. The findings have added to the international health and cross-cultural gerontology literature. Decision-makers and health practitioners in Cuba and elsewhere have been informed about the importance of popular perceptions of the impact of health and elder policy change in an era of globalized social relations and capital. The research also has contributed a gerontological dimension and a narrative perspective to further the development of new International Political Economy

Relevanz der Zinsschranke: Eine empirische Untersuchung der betroffenen Unternehmen von 2008 bis 2012

Die Einführung der Zinsschranke im Zuge der Unternehmensteuerreform 2008 hat für rege Diskussionen in Theorie und Praxis darüber gesorgt, wie viele Unternehmen vom Zinsabzugsverbot überhaupt betroffen sind und in welchem Umfang. Die vorliegende Arbeit nimmt nun, etwa sieben Jahre nach erstmaliger Anwendung der Regelung, eine rückblickende Perspektive ein und betrachtet die Relevanz im Bezug auf die Betroffenheit von der Zinsschranke auf Basis handelsrechtlicher Jahresabschlüsse der Jahre 2008 bis 2012. Der Fokus liegt hierbei auf Kapitalgesellschaften, geschätzte Zins- und EBITDA-Vorträge werden berücksichtigt. Wie sich zeigt, sind abhängig vom jeweiligen Jahr und den jeweils getroffenen Schätzannahmen zwischen 420 und 495 der 22.751 Unternehmen in der Stichprobe potentiell betroffen. Dieses approximierte Ergebnis gibt Anlass zur Befürchtung, dass die teils von der Politik proklamierte Zahl von maximal 300 betroffenen Unternehmen in der Grundgesamtheit überstiegen wird. Des Weiteren ergeben sich Hinweise darauf, dass ein großer Teil der Unternehmen, die von der Zinsschranke zumindest in einem Jahr potentiell betroffen sind, auch über einen längeren Zeitraum betroffen bleiben. Unter den mutmaßlich betroffenen Unternehmen erfahren schätzungsweise ca. 61% - 76% auch eine steuerliche Mehrbelastung durch die Zinsschranke, die in vielen Fällen die Steuerlast erheblich steigert. Zudem lassen die Daten vermuten, dass die Berücksichtigung von Zins- und EBITDA-Vorträgen grundsätzlich entlastend wirkt, es aber dennoch zu einer Anhäufung der Vorträge im Zeitablauf kommt. Die barwertige Summe der Steuermehraufwendungen sinkt um 12,80%, verglichen mit einem Szenario in dem derartige Vorträge nicht berücksichtigt werden. Darüber hinaus deutet sich an, dass den Unternehmen nur selten ein (vollständiger) Abbau der Zinsvorträge gelingt. Es zeigt sich zudem, dass potenziell betroffene Unternehmen tendenziell höhere Fremdkapitalquoten aufweisen und größer sind als nicht betroffene Unternehmen. Besonders problematisch dürfte sein, dass die betroffenen Unternehmen unter anderem durch eine niedrigere Rentabilität, ein erhöhtes operatives Risiko, ein erhöhtes Insolvenzrisiko und schlechtere Liquidität gekennzeichnet sind. Des Weiteren zeigen sich deutliche Hinweise auf eine Branchensensitivität. Der Einbezug neuerer Daten und die Berücksichtigung mehrerer Perioden (in balancierter Panelstruktur) inklusive einer Berücksichtigung der sich verändernden Rechtsgrundlage, grenzt die vorliegende Arbeit von bereits bestehenden Forschungsbeiträgen ab

The ultraviolet photolysis of inositol hexaphosphate

Thesis (B.S.) in Science and Letters in Chemistry--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1989.Includes bibliographical references (leaf 24)Microfiche of typescript. [Urbana, Ill.]: Photographic Services, University of Illinois, U of I Library, [1989]. 2 microfiches (41 frames): negative.s 1989 ilu n

Effect of heat treatment on mechanical dissipation in Ta2_2O5_5 coatings

Thermal noise arising from mechanical dissipation in dielectric reflective coatings is expected to critically limit the sensitivity of precision measurement systems such as high-resolution optical spectroscopy, optical frequency standards and future generations of interferometric gravitational wave detectors. We present measurements of the effect of post-deposition heat treatment on the temperature dependence of the mechanical dissipation in ion-beam sputtered tantalum pentoxide between 11\,K and 300\,K. We find the temperature dependence of the dissipation is strongly dependent on the temperature at which the heat treatment was carried out, and we have identified three dissipation peaks occurring at different heat treatment temperatures. At temperatures below 200\,K, the magnitude of the loss was found to increase with higher heat treatment temperatures, indicating that heat treatment is a significant factor in determining the level of coating thermal noise.Comment: accepted Classical and Quantum Gravity 201

Iron Oxide Nanoparticles Employed as Seeds for the Induction of Microcrystalline Diamond Synthesis

Iron nanoparticles were employed to induce the synthesis of diamond on molybdenum, silicon, and quartz substrates. Diamond films were grown using conventional conditions for diamond synthesis by hot filament chemical vapor deposition, except that dispersed iron oxide nanoparticles replaced the seeding. X-ray diffraction, visible, and ultraviolet Raman Spectroscopy, energy-filtered transmission electron microscopy , electron energy-loss spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) were employed to study the carbon bonding nature of the films and to analyze the carbon clustering around the seed nanoparticles leading to diamond synthesis. The results indicate that iron oxide nanoparticles lose the O atoms, becoming thus active C traps that induce the formation of a dense region of trigonally and tetrahedrally bonded carbon around them with the ensuing precipitation of diamond-type bonds that develop into microcrystalline diamond films under chemical vapor deposition conditions. This approach to diamond induction can be combined with dip pen nanolithography for the selective deposition of diamond and diamond patterning while avoiding surface damage associated to diamond-seeding methods

Functioning Nanomachines Seen in Real-Time in Living Bacteria Using Single-Molecule and Super-Resolution Fluorescence Imaging

Molecular machines are examples of “pre-established” nanotechnology, driving the basic biochemistry of living cells. They encompass an enormous range of function, including fuel generation for chemical processes, transport of molecular components within the cell, cellular mobility, signal transduction and the replication of the genetic code, amongst many others. Much of our understanding of such nanometer length scale machines has come from in vitro studies performed in isolated, artificial conditions. Researchers are now tackling the challenges of studying nanomachines in their native environments. In this review, we outline recent in vivo investigations on nanomachines in model bacterial systems using state-of-the-art genetics technology combined with cutting-edge single-molecule and super-resolution fluorescence microscopy. We conclude that single-molecule and super-resolution fluorescence imaging provide powerful tools for the biochemical, structural and functional characterization of biological nanomachines. The integrative spatial, temporal, and single-molecule data obtained simultaneously from fluorescence imaging open an avenue for systems-level single-molecule cellular biophysics and in vivo biochemistry

A review of the distribution of particulate trace elements in urban terrestrial environments and its application to considerations of risk

We review the evolution, state of the art and future lines of research on the sources, transport pathways, and sinks of particulate trace elements in urban terrestrial environments to include the atmosphere, soils, and street and indoor dusts. Such studies reveal reductions in the emissions of some elements of historical concern such as Pb, with interest consequently focusing on other toxic trace elements such as As, Cd, Hg, Zn, and Cu. While establishment of levels of these elements is important in assessing the potential impacts of human society on the urban environment, it is also necessary to apply this knowledge in conjunction with information on the toxicity of those trace elements and the degree of exposure of human receptors to an assessment of whether such contamination represents a real risk to the city’s inhabitants and therefore how this risk can be addressed

Optical diagnostics in combustion systems

Imperial Users onl

Aircraft fatality investigation as a function of a comprehensive health service

CITATION: Schwar, T.G. 1977. Aircraft fatality investigation as a function of a comprehensive health service. S Afr Med J, 51(7):153.The original publication is available at http://www.samj.org.za[No abstract available]Publisher’s versio