9,904 research outputs found
Increasing Accessibility to Birth Control: Over the Counter Oral Birth Control
The increasing barriers to the accessibility of birth control have prompted a need for a solution. One long standing solution suggested to diminish the barriers is by removing the prescription requirement of oral contraceptives. Removing the prescription requirement not only breaks down barriers for women without healthcare access but also allows women an opportunity to control their reproduction with more accessibility. Although this solution appears to be concise, the reality is there are many different views regarding offering birth control over the counter, including some healthcare professionals who believe the health risks outweigh the access benefit. On the contrary, those in support of removing the prescription barrier for oral contraceptives, including the American Medical Association, argue that the risks women undergo through pregnancy outweigh the risks of consuming oral contraceptives. Throughout this review article, research investigating both the advantages and disadvantages of the suggested solution is discussed assessing the potential outcomes of having oral contraceptives offered over the counter
Towards sustainable urban development: the social acceptability of high-rise buildings in a Ghanaian city
Over the years, many city managers, policy makers and academics alike have turned to high-rise buildings as pathway to sustainable urban development. However, the sustainability of such types of development in various geographical contexts, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, is a subject less explored. Amidst the promotion of high-rise development in a rapidly urbanizing metropolis in Ghana, Kumasi, the research empirically examined the social acceptability of high-rise residential facilities and the institutional capacity for their effective management. By conducting face-to-face interviews with sampled households, and critical public service providers in the metropolis, the study uncovered that, contrary to the evidence from many Asian cities, there is generally low social acceptability of high-rise developments, and a weak institutional capacity for effective service delivery. The research concludes that, whilst it is tempting to embrace high-rise buildings as sustainable development pathway, it is crucial they are pursued with much circumspection. In addition to their design being tailored to the local needs of the people for whom they are built, the promotion of high-rise development should recognize the importance of effective service delivery, and general social acceptability
Modelling inspection and replacement quality for a protection system
An inspection and replacement policy for a protection system is described by a mathematical model that incorporates multiple aspects of maintenance quality. A three-state component failure model is assumed, with a defective state preceding failure. The quality of maintenance intervention is modelled by supposing that inspections may misclassify defects (false positives and false negatives) and further that an inspection may induce a defect. The quality of replacement is modelled by supposing that a component arises from a heterogeneous population, composed of weak and strong items and with the mixing parameter determining quality. Isolation valves used in water distribution systems motivate the model development, and a case study is considered in this context. We evaluate the impact of these aspects of the quality of maintenance upon cost and production losses. Defect induction is found to be a key determinant of the cost-optimal policy. The proposed model allows us to verify conditions that justify investment in higher quality maintenance, and thus to provide guidance for prioritization of this investment
It is Time for New Perspectives on How to Fight Bloat in GP
The present and future of evolutionary algorithms depends on the proper use
of modern parallel and distributed computing infrastructures. Although still
sequential approaches dominate the landscape, available multi-core, many-core
and distributed systems will make users and researchers to more frequently
deploy parallel version of the algorithms. In such a scenario, new
possibilities arise regarding the time saved when parallel evaluation of
individuals are performed. And this time saving is particularly relevant in
Genetic Programming. This paper studies how evaluation time influences not only
time to solution in parallel/distributed systems, but may also affect size
evolution of individuals in the population, and eventually will reduce the
bloat phenomenon GP features. This paper considers time and space as two sides
of a single coin when devising a more natural method for fighting bloat. This
new perspective allows us to understand that new methods for bloat control can
be derived, and the first of such a method is described and tested.
Experimental data confirms the strength of the approach: using computing time
as a measure of individuals' complexity allows to control the growth in size of
genetic programming individuals
General multimode polarization splitter design in uniaxial media
Quasiconformal transformation optics is used to design two-dimensional polarization beam splitters. The resulting media present inhomogeneous uniaxial permittivity and nonmagnetic response. The compact devices are theoretically designed and investigated for symmetrical and asymmetrical geometries, with footprint of 64 and 110 mu m(2), respectively. The polarization splitter performance is evaluated for the fundamental mode and third mode, exhibiting an insertion loss closer to 0 dB and extinction ratio above 40 dB over a broad wavelength range573CONSELHO NACIONAL DE DESENVOLVIMENTO CIENTÍFICO E TECNOLÓGICO - CNPQCOORDENAÇÃO DE APERFEIÇOAMENTO DE PESSOAL DE NÍVEL SUPERIOR - CAPESFUNDAÇÃO DE AMPARO À PESQUISA DO ESTADO DE MINAS GERAIS - FAPEMIGnão temnão temnão te
MS Prevalence and Patients' Characteristics in the District of Braga, Portugal
Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a chronic autoimmune disease of the Central Nervous System causing inflammation and neurodegeneration. There are only 3 epidemiological studies in Portugal, 2 in the Centre and 1 in the North, and there is the need to further study MS epidemiology in this country. The objective of this work is to contribute to the MS epidemiological knowledge in Portugal, describing the patients' epidemiological, demographic, and clinical characteristics in the Braga district of Portugal. This is a cross-sectional study of 345 patients followed in two hospitals of Braga district. These hospitals cover a resident population of 866,012 inhabitants. The data was collected from the clinical records, and 31/12/2009 was established as the prevalence day. For all MS patients, demographic characteristics and clinical outcomes are reported. We have found an incidence of 2.74/100,000 and a prevalence of 39.82/100,000 inhabitants. Most patients have an EDSS of 3 or lower and a mean age of 42 years. The diagnosis was done at mean age of 35, with RRMS being the disease type in more than 80% of patients. In this cohort, we found a female : male ratio of 1.79. More than 50% of patients are treated with Interferon β-1b IM or IFNβ-1a SC 22 μg
The Collaborative Curator: a methodological enquiry into negotiated mediation and audience participation
This practice-based curatorial investigation comprised a series of four case study
exhibitions, which sought to identify curatorial methods for collaborative and
relational practices, which further the challenge that these modes of art production
pose to mediation conditions. Modes of artistic production that incorporate human
relations, participative processes and shared experiences aim to subvert traditional
processes of presentation, mediation, legitimisation and distribution of artworks
practiced in art institutions.
This exegesis presents the premise of the practical research. With reference to
literature that relates to the 1990’s artistic challenge to mediation conditions, it argues
that despite recent reconfigurations of exhibition practices to accommodate 1990’s
new modes of production and presentation within the mediating and legitimising
apparatus, the conditions in which this apparatus mediates and legitimises the
artworks have not been adequately considered.
The aim of this research was to develop a curatorial method for the re-presentation of
artistic content that is embodied in shared experiences and takes generative and openended
forms. In curating the artworks that comprised the research, my aim was to
incorporate the artistic challenge made to mediation conditions not only in the context
of the original audiences that helped to formulate the works, but as part of the representations
of such artworks to secondary audiences.
The investigation of the proposed curatorial method was developed throughout an
accumulative process that integrated the findings from the four case study exhibitions
that comprised the research. These were designed to observe and test conditions of
mediation determined by different modes of address and the audiences they
constitute, as well as the kind of content and modes of communication they produce.
The curatorial method produced, re-presents collaborative, generative and open-ended
artworks as counter spaces of shared experience in which the communication of the
subject of art is determined, not by an authoritative and unilateral communication, but
by a collaborative one. The role of the curator is to locate and re-present the communication nexus generated at the moment of collaborative authorship, which is
the engine for the production of generative open-ended content.
The research concluded that the role of the curator is instrumental in the representation
of artistic content embodied in shared experiences. A key curatorial
function is to specify the nexus of communication in order to make it the basis of a
subsequent communication frame to extend the work to a broader audience. This
approach to curatorial practice offers an alternative to currently practiced curatorial
methods to communicate and legitimise collaborative and relational artworks
Public and patient involvement in needs assessment and social innovation: a people-centred approach to care and research for congenital disorders of glycosylation
Background: Public and patient involvement in the design of people-centred care and research is vital for communities whose needs are underserved, as are people with rare diseases. Innovations devised collectively by patients, caregivers, professionals and other members of the public can foster transformative change toward more responsive services and research. However, attempts to involve lay and professional stakeholders in devising community-framed strategies to address the unmet needs of rare diseases are lacking. In this study, we engaged with the community of Congenital Disorders of Glycosylation (CDG) to assess its needs and elicit social innovations to promote people-centred care and research.
Methods: Drawing on a qualitative study, we conducted three think tanks in France with a total of 48 participants, including patients/family members (n = 18), health care professionals (n = 7), researchers (n = 7) and people combining several of these roles (n = 16). Participants came from 20 countries across five continents. They were selected from the registry of the Second World Conference on CDG through heterogeneity and simple random sampling. Inductive and deductive approaches were employed to conduct interpretational analysis using open, axial and selective coding, and the constant-comparison method to facilitate the emergence of categories and core themes.
Results: The CDG community has unmet needs for information, quality health care, psychosocial support and representation in decision-making concerned with care and research. According to participants, these needs can be addressed through a range of social innovations, including peer-support communities, web-based information resources and a CDG expertise platform.
Conclusion: This is one of the few studies to engage lay and professional experts in needs assessment and innovation for CDG at a global level. Implementing the innovations proposed by the CDG community is likely to have ethical, legal and social implications associated with the potential donation of patients’ clinical and biological material that need to be assessed and regulated with involvement from all stakeholders. To promote people-centred care for the CDG community, and increase its participation in the governance of care and research, it is necessary to create participatory spaces in which the views of people affected by CDG can be fully expressed.FCT - Foundation for Science and Technology (Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education), the Social European Fund and the POPH Programme supported this study with research grants: SFRH/BPD/111344/2015 (CF) and IF/01674/2015 (SS)
Photosynthetic and biochemical characterization of in vitro-derived African violet (Saintpaulia ionantha H. Wendl) plants to ex vitro conditions
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