Boston Unplugged: Mapping a Wireless Future

Reviews a variety of models that would allow Boston to provide free or low-cost high-speed Internet access citywide. Outlines the benefits and mechanics of citywide WiFi, and lists factors to consider in designing, developing, and deploying a system

Health Care Policy Making in Canada as Rhetorical Transcendence: 1944-2014

Canada’s national program for health services was conceived in the late 1960’s after protracted advocacy on the provincial level – most notably from Tommy Douglas, premier of Saskatchewan. After insured services for both hospital and physician services had been secured in the province in 1961, the Government of Canada faced increasing pressure to nationalize universal health care. Largely in response to the advocacy of Mr. Justice Emmett Hall in his 1964 Commission Report, a national system was instituted into law in 1968 under Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson. Since that time, robust advocacy has waned and successive federal governments have instead focused on defending Medicare through the enactment of rigid legislation such as the Canada Health Act. This legislation and other advocacy has enshrined universal health care into the Canadian psyche making it highly resistant to change. I sought to assess the nature of the advocacy that has served to perpetuate the status quo at all costs and have suggested ways in which the rhetorical landscape could be altered to reinvigorate public discussion to keep Medicare up to date and to ultimately strengthen health care services in Canada. I employed rhetorical and communication theory as a lens for providing suggested pathways for clash and reform. The following findings were noted in the dissertation. First, rhetorically induced value principles associated with Medicare have devolved into an institutionalized system that has been reinforced through its strong connection with Canadian identity. Second, there has been a marked de-emphasis of rhetoric which has been supplanted by a focus on funding mechanisms and point of service delivery. Third, the more flexible argumentation associated with the legislative realm has been neglected and largely replaced by the more adversarial and rigid enforcement of perceived rights for health care through judicial review. Throughout the dissertation I argued for the need for rhetoric to be resurrected in Canada perhaps through the vehicle of egoistic charismatic political leaders. All in all, I envision a health care system that is more flexible, molded by rhetoric and allows for greater innovation while retaining core principles such as universality

Health Care Policy Making in Canada as Rhetorical Transcendence: 1944-2014

Canada’s national program for health services was conceived in the late 1960’s after protracted advocacy on the provincial level – most notably from Tommy Douglas, premier of Saskatchewan. After insured services for both hospital and physician services had been secured in the province in 1961, the Government of Canada faced increasing pressure to nationalize universal health care. Largely in response to the advocacy of Mr. Justice Emmett Hall in his 1964 Commission Report, a national system was instituted into law in 1968 under Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson. Since that time, robust advocacy has waned and successive federal governments have instead focused on defending Medicare through the enactment of rigid legislation such as the Canada Health Act. This legislation and other advocacy has enshrined universal health care into the Canadian psyche making it highly resistant to change. I sought to assess the nature of the advocacy that has served to perpetuate the status quo at all costs and have suggested ways in which the rhetorical landscape could be altered to reinvigorate public discussion to keep Medicare up to date and to ultimately strengthen health care services in Canada. I employed rhetorical and communication theory as a lens for providing suggested pathways for clash and reform. The following findings were noted in the dissertation. First, rhetorically induced value principles associated with Medicare have devolved into an institutionalized system that has been reinforced through its strong connection with Canadian identity. Second, there has been a marked de-emphasis of rhetoric which has been supplanted by a focus on funding mechanisms and point of service delivery. Third, the more flexible argumentation associated with the legislative realm has been neglected and largely replaced by the more adversarial and rigid enforcement of perceived rights for health care through judicial review. Throughout the dissertation I argued for the need for rhetoric to be resurrected in Canada perhaps through the vehicle of egoistic charismatic political leaders. All in all, I envision a health care system that is more flexible, molded by rhetoric and allows for greater innovation while retaining core principles such as universality

jodyphelan/TBProfiler

Profiling tool for Mycobacterium tuberculosis to detect ressistance and strain type from WGS dat

Multisensoral Topsoil Mapping in the Semiarid Lake Manyara Region, Northern Tanzania

This study pursues the mapping of the distribution of topsoils and surface substrates of the Lake Manyara area of northern Tanzania. The nine soil and lithological target classes were selected through fieldwork and laboratory analysis of soil samples. High-resolution WorldView-2 data, TerraSAR-X intensity data, medium-resolution ASTER spectral bands and indices, as well as ENVISAT ASAR intensity and SRTM-X-derived topographic parameters served as input features. Objects were derived from image segmentation. The classification of the image objects was conducted applying a nonlinear support vector machine approach. With the recursive feature elimination approach, the most input-relevant features for separating the target classes were selected. Despite multiple target classes, an overall accuracy of 71.9% was achieved. Inaccuracies occurred between classes with high CaCO3 content and between classes of silica-rich substrates. The incorporation of different input feature datasets improved the classification accuracy. An in-depth interpretation of the classification result was conducted with three soil profile transects