Prepaid Managed Health Care: The Emergence of Health Maintenance Organizations as Alternative Financing Schemes in the Philippines

Viewed as an opportunity to critically investigate the mode of U.S. health care financing that has been slowly taking root in the Philippine soil, this research study identifies and characterizes the various HMOs operating within the greater Metro Manila area. It also describes the environment and the nature of these organizations the advantages of HMOs and the processes through which they finance and deliver health care services to their member. It also establishes areas of policy intervention through which the Philippine government can more clearly signal to HMOs their appropriate role in the country’ quest for a national health care financing policy.health sector, health maintenance organizations, health care financing, health management

Quo Vadis? LIS Postgraduate Education in the Philippines / Fernan R. Dizon, Karryl Kim Sagun and Ana Grace P. Alfiler

The paper intends to shed light on the predicament faced by many Filipino librarians: the lack of local institutions offering Library and Information Science (LIS) post graduate degrees. The study also aims to look at Filipino librarians who have either completed and are currently pursuing LIS and non-LIS postgraduate education, either locally or abroad. The paper aims to illustrate the state of Philippine LIS postgraduate education by considering the number of librarians who pursued and are still pursuing postgraduate degrees, and identifying the universities they selected, locally and overseas. The data was gathered from responses to an online questionnaire posted on websites of local libraries as well as professional networks, and supported by phone interviews. Responses were further validated through electronic correspondences. The study yielded constructive information on the state of Library and Information Science postgraduate education. Most respondents pursued or are pursuing Education related postgraduate degrees within the country. Of the number of respondents, only a few pursued or are pursuing postgraduate education in Library and information Science in other countries like the United States of America, Canada, Japan and United Kingdom

Green public spaces in the cities of South and Southeast Asia: Protecting needs towards sustainable well-being

The significance of green public spaces is well documented in relation to social inclusiveness, human health, and biodiversity, yet how green public spaces achieve what Gough (2017) has termed sustainable wellbeing is less understood. This contribution presents preliminary results from a study of green public spaces in four mega-cities of South and Southeast Asia: Chennai (the Republic of India), Metro Manila (the Republic of the Philippines), Singapore (the Republic of Singapore), and Shanghai (the People\u27s Republic of China), cities that have climates ranging from tropical, to subtropical and temperate. The conceptual framework brings together social practice theories with human development theories, methodological implications for the study of park usage, and Protected Needs. This study sets out to understand how parks satisfy human needs by uncovering practices in relation to activities and material arrangements. Central to the research design and sampling strategy is a desire to understand park-related practices in all of their diversity, and accounting for how different activities are carried out by diverse groups of people. The paper presents exemplary results showing that parks provide a space in which a multitude of needs are satisfied, and that parks cannot be substituted by other settings such as commercialized spaces. The paper will conclude by discussing tensions between types of park usage, and in relation to commercial encroachments on public space

Intermittent Departures, Returns, and the Incremental Acts of the Everyday: Paid Domestic Work and Insurgency in Sitio Sibol, Bohol

Our understanding of maids and their condition is confined within the current discourse of domestic labor exploitation and its general assumptions. This study presents an expansion of the discussion as experienced by residents of Sitio Sibol, Bohol including past experiences of NPA (New People’s Army) insurgency and counterinsurgency that partly played an instrumental role in shaping the maid’s experience. Informed by ethnographic research among former and current maids and their community in Sitio Sibol, this study problematizes how the changing context in the community affects the emergence and proliferation of local domestic work. It traces back the community’s history and analyzes both individual and collective experiences, attitudes, and practices as exercises of human creativity when faced with adversity and different conditions of injustice. The shared community life in the sitio established active and passive social networks; and changing political conditions shaped and illustrated the complex process of “pagpapa-maid” revealing realities of human costs usually unaccounted for

Uncovering the Molecular Mechanism Behind Associative Learning in C. elegans

The current project uses the Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) model organism to investigate the cellular and molecular mechanisms behind associate learning. Calcium/calmodulin-kinase II (CaMKII) is a molecule that has long been linked to learning. In C. elegans the gene unc-43 encodes the ortholog of CaMKII. Our lab has previously demonstrated that worms have deficits in learning when a particular isoform of CaMKII is knocked out. The worm CaMKII strain, unc-43(gk452), carries a deletion mutation for the CaMKIIT isoform and shows learning deficits as measured by assays including, associative chemotaxis, and chemoavoidance. The current study aims to determine if this strain shows similar deficits following introduction of a rapid acquisition protocol involving stimulus pairing. To this end, a low frequency tone (100 Hz; CS) produces a vibration that the worm comes to associate with a light (either UV or blue wavelength; US). Data indicate that the unc-43(gk452) strain responds differently following pairing compared to controls. Current work includes generating a rescue strain using microinjection to restore exon 1 of this CaMKII isoform and determining if this is sufficient to return learning to wild-type levels

Analysis of residual load with increasing market share of wind and solar power production in Scandinavia

Tidligere studier indikerer utfordringer ved integrasjon av vind- og solkraft. Variabiliteten og lokasjonen av vind- og solkraft knyttes til disse utfordringene. Økende markedsandeler av variabel kraftproduksjon kan forsterke utfordringene dersom kraftsystemet evne til å tilpasse seg disse overstiges. I denne studien brukes varighetskurver for residuallast for å undersøke hvordan økende markedsandeler av vind- og solkraft påvirker følgende systemmessige utfordringer i de skandinaviske landene: behov for reservekapasitet, reduksjon av brukstiden eksisterende mellomlast- og grunnlastteknologi, og overproduksjon. Varighetskurven for residuallast inneholder viktig informasjon om variabiliteten til vind og sol, korrelasjonen med forbruket. Residuallasten er beregnet ut i fra historiske forbruksdata og produksjonsserier for vind- og solkraft. Disse er gjort på timenivå fra 1996 til 2012. Ved 1% markedsandel for sol er kapasitetskreditt mindre enn 4%. For vind ved tilsvarende markedsandel kapasitetskreditten er høyere (32% i Danmark, 23% i Norge 23% og 16% i Sverige). Redusert brukstid for mellomlast for vind ved 50% markedsandel er høyere i Norge (78%) enn i Sverige (71%) og Danmark (66%). For sol er reduksjonen mindre ved tilsvarende markedsandel (37% i Danmark og 30% i Sverige). Reduksjonen i brukstid for grunnlast ved 40% markedsandel er større for sol (16% i Sverige og 15% i Danmark) enn for vind (10% i Danmark, 7% i Sverige og 4% i Norge). Andelen overproduksjon ved 50% markedsandel er større for sol (52% i Sverige og 48% i Danmark) enn for vind (11% i Danmark, 9% i Sverige og 5% i Norge). Resultatene finner at sol i større grad enn vind øker behovet for reservekapasitet, reduserer brukstiden for grunnlast og overproduserer. Vind vil i større grad enn sol redusere brukstid for mellomlast. Som ventet finner studien at utfordringene øker når markedsandelen av variabel kraftproduksjon blir større. En fornuftig miks kan dempe utfordringene, men den optimale miksen varierer avhengig av land og hvilken utfordring man ser på. ***Abstract*** Previous studies indicate integration challenges for wind and solar power generation. Variability and location are linked to these challenges. Increasing market share of variable power generation can amplify these challenges if these exceed the power system’s ability to adapt. This thesis uses residual load duration curves to examine how increased market share of wind and solar power in affect the following challenges in the Scandinavian countries: the need for reserve capacity, reduction in full load hours of existing intermediate and baseload technologies and overproduction. Information about wind and solar variability, as well as correlation with power consumption is contained in the residual load duration curve. Residual load is calculated using historical power consumption and production series for wind and solar with an hourly temporal resolution from 1996 to 2012. At 1% market share of solar capacity credit is less than 4%. For wind at the same market share, the capacity credit is greater (32% in Denmark, 23% in Norway and 16% in Sweden). The reduction in full load hours for intermediate load at 50% market share of wind is greater in Norway (78%) than in Sweden (71%) and Denmark (66%). At the same level of penetration, this reduction in smaller for solar (37% in Denmark and 30% in Sweden). The reduction in full load hours for base load at 40% market share is greater for solar (16% in Sweden and 15% in Denmark) than for wind (10% in Denmark, 7% in Sweden and 4% in Norway). The amount of overproduction at 50% market share is greater for solar (52 in Sweden and 48% in Denmark) than for wind (11% in Denmark, 9% in Sweden and 5% in Norway). The results find that solar to a greater extent than wind increases the need for reserve capacity and reduction of full load hours for base load, as well as overproduction. Wind will to greater extent than solar increase the reduction of full load hours for intermediate load. As expected, the study finds that the challenges increase with greater penetration of variable power generation. A reasonable mix can reduce these challenges. However, the optimal mix vary depending on the country and challenge one consider.M-FORN

To flee, or not to flee : intersections of paid domestic work and insurgency in Central Visayas

Since the 1970s, a huge segment of the Bohol population, including the maids and other residents of Sitio Sibol, has been forced to seek employment outside the province. Past studies of domestic work often reach a conclusion tying paid household work and poverty as the only possible explanation for engaging in domestic service. Our understanding of their condition is confined within the limited discourse of domestic labor exploitation and its general assumptions of household workers as exploited and undervalued. This study presents an expansion of the discussion of paid domestic work which includes conditions of insurgency and counter-insurgency that partly played an instrumental role in shaping the maids experience.This thesis asks the following questions: how does the changing context in the community affect the emergence and proliferation of domestic work? How did entry to paid domestic work shape the consciousness and practices prior and under conditions of long running political insurgency? Conversely, how did the sitios everyday experience of poverty and insurgency shape the imagining and making of maids and paid domestic work? How did the experience of insurgency and paid domestic work underlie and form relations inside and outside the sitio?This thesis traces back the communitys history, its landscapes, and as embodied by the lives and journeys of the maids and other residents in the sitio. It analyzes both individual and collective experiences, attitudes and practices to better their conditions. Informed by ethnographic research among former and current maids, and their community of Sitio Sibol, paid domestic work, which appears to be invisible, chaotic and disorganized employment, is actually the complex outcome of efforts of persons in action immersed in the practical world and everyday life as they strive to live with dignity and maximize opportunities even in oppressive and conflict-ridden situations

Analyse av residuallast ved økende markedsandeler av vind- og solkraftproduksjon i Skandinavia

Tidligere studier indikerer utfordringer ved integrasjon av vind- og solkraft. Variabiliteten og lokasjonen av vind- og solkraft knyttes til disse utfordringene. Økende markedsandeler av variabel kraftproduksjon kan forsterke utfordringene dersom kraftsystemet evne til å tilpasse seg disse overstiges. I denne studien brukes varighetskurver for residuallast for å undersøke hvordan økende markedsandeler av vind- og solkraft påvirker følgende systemmessige utfordringer i de skandinaviske landene: behov for reservekapasitet, reduksjon av brukstiden eksisterende mellomlast- og grunnlastteknologi, og overproduksjon. Varighetskurven for residuallast inneholder viktig informasjon om variabiliteten til vind og sol, korrelasjonen med forbruket. Residuallasten er beregnet ut i fra historiske forbruksdata og produksjonsserier for vind- og solkraft. Disse er gjort på timenivå fra 1996 til 2012. Ved 1% markedsandel for sol er kapasitetskreditt mindre enn 4%. For vind ved tilsvarende markedsandel kapasitetskreditten er høyere (32% i Danmark, 23% i Norge 23% og 16% i Sverige). Redusert brukstid for mellomlast for vind ved 50% markedsandel er høyere i Norge (78%) enn i Sverige (71%) og Danmark (66%). For sol er reduksjonen mindre ved tilsvarende markedsandel (37% i Danmark og 30% i Sverige). Reduksjonen i brukstid for grunnlast ved 40% markedsandel er større for sol (16% i Sverige og 15% i Danmark) enn for vind (10% i Danmark, 7% i Sverige og 4% i Norge). Andelen overproduksjon ved 50% markedsandel er større for sol (52% i Sverige og 48% i Danmark) enn for vind (11% i Danmark, 9% i Sverige og 5% i Norge). Resultatene finner at sol i større grad enn vind øker behovet for reservekapasitet, reduserer brukstiden for grunnlast og overproduserer. Vind vil i større grad enn sol redusere brukstid for mellomlast. Som ventet finner studien at utfordringene øker når markedsandelen av variabel kraftproduksjon blir større. En fornuftig miks kan dempe utfordringene, men den optimale miksen varierer avhengig av land og hvilken utfordring man ser på. ***Abstract*** Previous studies indicate integration challenges for wind and solar power generation. Variability and location are linked to these challenges. Increasing market share of variable power generation can amplify these challenges if these exceed the power system’s ability to adapt. This thesis uses residual load duration curves to examine how increased market share of wind and solar power in affect the following challenges in the Scandinavian countries: the need for reserve capacity, reduction in full load hours of existing intermediate and baseload technologies and overproduction. Information about wind and solar variability, as well as correlation with power consumption is contained in the residual load duration curve. Residual load is calculated using historical power consumption and production series for wind and solar with an hourly temporal resolution from 1996 to 2012. At 1% market share of solar capacity credit is less than 4%. For wind at the same market share, the capacity credit is greater (32% in Denmark, 23% in Norway and 16% in Sweden). The reduction in full load hours for intermediate load at 50% market share of wind is greater in Norway (78%) than in Sweden (71%) and Denmark (66%). At the same level of penetration, this reduction in smaller for solar (37% in Denmark and 30% in Sweden). The reduction in full load hours for base load at 40% market share is greater for solar (16% in Sweden and 15% in Denmark) than for wind (10% in Denmark, 7% in Sweden and 4% in Norway). The amount of overproduction at 50% market share is greater for solar (52 in Sweden and 48% in Denmark) than for wind (11% in Denmark, 9% in Sweden and 5% in Norway). The results find that solar to a greater extent than wind increases the need for reserve capacity and reduction of full load hours for base load, as well as overproduction. Wind will to greater extent than solar increase the reduction of full load hours for intermediate load. As expected, the study finds that the challenges increase with greater penetration of variable power generation. A reasonable mix can reduce these challenges. However, the optimal mix vary depending on the country and challenge one consider