scholarly journals Organizational Learning in Housing Sector Nongovernmental Development Organizations: Recommendations for Enhancing Development Effectiveness

2010 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 27
Author(s):  
Anna Zimbrick
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Learning ◽  
Development Assistance ◽  
Development Aid ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
The Past ◽  
Development Organizations ◽  
Slum Dwellers ◽  
Nongovernmental Development Organizations ◽  
The U.S

Despite sizable investment over the last forty years to improve housing conditions and quality of life in substandard settlements, success has been elusive. Meeting the United Nation’s Millennium Development Goal of achieving significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers by 2020 seems unlikely given recent projections. The 2006 report of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme indicates that nearly one billion people live in slums, with that number predicted to double by 2030. Given the current debate on U.S. foreign assistance reform and serious questions about the effectiveness of development aid, it is more important than ever to candidly examine initiatives to improve slums and the lives of slum dwellers and to grapple with the question of why existing funding levels and good intentions have not resulted in the hoped-for improvements in the lives of the world’s most poor. The U.S. Agency for International Development, the U.S. Department of State and other donors of official U.S. foreign aid channel significant development assistance through nongovernmental development organizations (NGDO). NGDOs that choose to accept government funds are impacted by U.S. development policy, and the effectiveness of U.S. development assistance is deeply impacted by the quality of NGDOs’ work. Given the reality that housing interventions have grossly inadequately addressed the housing crisis in developing countries, the ability of NGDOs to learn from the past and adapt their approach for the future is of pressing importance to meet the need for adequate housing and to meet other global challenges. This paper examines factors that hinder the ability of NGDOs working on slum issues to learn from the past, especially those related to NGDO success at organizational learning. Key lessons learned are examined and recommendations are proposed to enhance the ability of NGDOs to learn and thus better serve the needs of their focus population.

Theory and Practice of International Development Assistance in Third World Countries: Background for the 1980's

1981 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 566-582 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seleshi Sisaye
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Economic Growth ◽  
International Development ◽  
Third World ◽  
Development Assistance ◽  
The United States ◽  
Development Aid ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Development Objective

Since the beginnings of development assistance to Third World countries during the post-World War II period, there have been some philosophical changes in the theory and practice of development aid programmes. Western development aid ( i.e., of the United States and West European countries), can be classified into two main conceptual types. These include economic growth as development objective and economic growth with an increased quality of life as development objective. The first two decades of development assistance 1950–1970 focused on economic growth objectives with increased production. The period, 1970–1980 concentrated on redistributive measures to improve the quality of life of the rural poor, the provision of basic needs, creation of employment opportunities, and the implementation of policy measures to reduce relative inequality and absolute poverty. The main purpose of this article is to discuss the changes in the theory and practice of Western aid programmes in Third World countries from 1945–1979. We will look into the underlying international causes that contributed to these changes. We will also review the evolution of aid to Third World countries for the last thirty years by examing the economic, political and social background for the changes in development assistance from urban to rural development programmes and from an emphasis in increasing production to that of redistribution with growth. These problems are discussed in the hight of their relevance for policy-onented rescoorch in Third World Comtnes.

Lessons Learned From EHDI: Where Do We Go From Here?

2012 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-31
Author(s):  
Tamala S. Bradham ◽  
K. Todd Houston ◽  
Karen Muñoz
Keyword(s):  
Hearing Loss ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Hearing Screening ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Program Administrators ◽  
The Past ◽  
Significant Achievement ◽  
Birthing Center ◽  
Children With Hearing Loss ◽  
The U.S

Over the past 60 years, experts have made tremendous strides to establish and strengthen early hearing detection and intervention (EHDI) programs in all 50 states and the U.S. territories. Today, approximately 97% of all newborns are screened for hearing loss prior to discharge from a birthing center or hospital (White, Forsman, Eichwald, & Muñoz, 2010). This level of hearing screening is a significant achievement that requires ongoing collaboration among program administrators, policymakers, service providers, and, most importantly, families and children with hearing loss. Although we have learned many lessons that have strengthened the efficiency of the EHDI system, challenges do remain. In this paper, we will share lessons learned in the trenches and provide insights into where we go from here.

Decommissioning in the United States: Past, Present and Future

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jas S. Devgun
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Spent Nuclear Fuel ◽  
The United States ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Department Of Energy ◽  
Research Reactors ◽  
The Past ◽  
The U.S

The experience related to decommissioning of nuclear facilities in the United States is very substantial and covers power reactors, research reactors, and many facilities in the Department of Energy complex. The focus of this paper however is on the commercial power plants. With 104 operating reactors, the U.S. fleet of civilian reactors is still the largest in the world. Nuclear power industry in the United States has undergone a dramatic upturn after decades of stalemate. One effect of this nuclear renaissance has been that the plans have changed for several reactors that were initially destined for decommissioning. Instead, the focus now is on relicensing of the reactors and on power uprates. In fact, after the peak period between 1987 and 1998, no additional power reactors have been shutdown. On the contrary, power uprates in the past twenty years have added a cumulative capacity equivalent to five new reactors. Almost all the operating reactors plan to have license extensions, thus postponing the eventual decommissioning. Nevertheless, in addition to the 9 reactors where licenses have been terminated following decommissioning, 12 power and early demonstration reactors and 14 test & research reactors are permanently shutdown and are in decommissioning phase. Substantial experience and lessons learned are available from the U.S. projects that are of value to the international decommissioning projects, especially where such projects are in early stages. These lessons cover a wide array of areas from decommissioning plans, technology applications, large component removal, regulatory and public interface, decommissioning funding and costs, clean up criteria, surveys of the decommissioned site, and license termination. Additionally, because of the unavailability of a national spent fuel disposition facility, most decommissioning sites are constructing above ground interim storage facilities for the spent nuclear fuel. The U.S. nuclear power projects are also gearing up for the design and licensing of new reactors. Lessons from the past are useful in the development of such designs so that along with the other factors, the designs are optimized for eventual decommissioning as well. This paper provides an overview of the past reactor decommissioning, lessons learned from the past experience, and status of the current decommissioning activities and issues. It also presents some long term projections for the future of decommissioning in the United States.

scholarly journals Are Self-Participation Rates Predictive of Accuracy in the U.S. Census?

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (6) ◽  
pp. 23
Author(s):  
William P. O’Hare
Keyword(s):  
Census Bureau ◽  
Participation Rates ◽  
Quality Of Data ◽  
Demographic Groups ◽  
The Past ◽  
Highly Correlated ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The U.S

Metrics related to the U.S. Census have been widely available for several decades but there has been a dearth of studies examining the relationship among key metrics in the Census. This paper provides empirical evidence about the link between self-participation rates and census accuracy using data from the 1990, 2000, and 2010 U.S Censuses. The preponderance of the evidence shows lower self-participation rates are highly correlated with higher net undercounts and omissions rates for key socio-demographic groups and states. Nine out of 11 correlations examined in this paper are statistically significant and in the predicted direction. One key reason self-participation rates are associated with census accuracy is the fact that the population not captured in the self-participation operation goes into the households for the Nonresponse Followup (NRFU) operation. Census Bureau data show data collected in NRFU is not as accurate as that collected in self-response. The larger the share of data collected for a population that is collected in NFRU, the lower the quality of data for that group. The connection between self-participation rates and census accuracy mean the differential self-participation rates seen in the 2020 Census suggest patterns of net Census undercounts seen in the past are likely to be seen in the 2020 Census.

Moving Beyond CAP-X to Combinations of Alternative Intersections That Might Be Worth Further Investigation

2020 ◽  
Vol 2674 (8) ◽  
pp. 902-910
Author(s):  
Joseph E. Hummer
Keyword(s):  
North Carolina ◽  
Hybrid Design ◽  
Right Of Way ◽  
The Past ◽  
Efficiency Increase ◽  
Design Options ◽  
Alternative Designs ◽  
The U.S ◽  
Do So

Many intersection project sites in North Carolina, and probably across the U.S., have asymmetric conditions. There is typically heavier demand from one approach than the others, right of way is more restricted in one or two quadrants than in the others, pedestrian demand is concentrated in one crosswalk, and so forth. However, the literature on alternative intersections and the software that planners and engineers use to explore suitable alternatives primarily provide symmetric and full designs. Analysts reading the FHWA guidebooks on alternative designs or looking at the menus of CAP-X or VJUST would be led to believe that their options were limited. Fortunately, in the past few years it has become apparent that there are many more intersection design options than presented in CAP-X or VJUST. The objective of this paper is to demonstrate that designers can combine pieces of the alternatives in many creative ways to find asymmetric designs that better fit whatever asymmetric conditions they are given. This paper shows some hybrid at-grade and grade-separated intersection designs that seem to have potential to increase efficiency, increase the quality of the pedestrian and bicyclist crossing experience, decrease impacts, and have other benefits. Based on these examples, it should be apparent that many interesting combinations are possible. Designers wanting to explore a hybrid cannot use the usual software to do so, but the tools to analyze a hybrid design are available if one knows where to look.

Immunoferritin localization of intracellular antigens in positively stained frozen sections

1978 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 168-169
Author(s):  
K. T. Tokuyasu
Keyword(s):  
Surface Tension ◽  
Water Surface ◽  
Thin Layers ◽  
The Other ◽  
Positive Staining ◽  
Frozen Sections ◽  
The Past ◽  
Ultrathin Frozen Sections ◽  
Definition Of

During the past investigations of immunoferritin localization of intracellular antigens in ultrathin frozen sections, we found that the degree of negative staining required to delineate u1trastructural details was often too dense for the recognition of ferritin particles. The quality of positive staining of ultrathin frozen sections, on the other hand, has generally been far inferior to that attainable in conventional plastic embedded sections, particularly in the definition of membranes. As we discussed before, a main cause of this difficulty seemed to be the vulnerability of frozen sections to the damaging effects of air-water surface tension at the time of drying of the sections.Indeed, we found that the quality of positive staining is greatly improved when positively stained frozen sections are protected against the effects of surface tension by embedding them in thin layers of mechanically stable materials at the time of drying (unpublished).

Exercise Capacity in Chronic Heart Failure

2012 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-60 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gina G Mentzer ◽  
Alex J Auseon
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Heart Failure ◽  
Exercise Training ◽  
Exercise Capacity ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Pharmacologic Therapy ◽  
The Past ◽  
Diagnosis And Prognosis ◽  
Future Therapy

Heart failure (HF) affects more than 5 million people and has an increasing incidence and cost burden. Patients note symptoms of dyspnea and fatigue that result in a decreased quality of life, which has not drastically improved over the past decades despite advances in therapies. The assessment of exercise capacity can provide information regarding patient diagnosis and prognosis, while doubling as a potential future therapy. clinically, there is acceptance that exercise is safe in hf and can have a positive impact on morbidity and quality of life, although evidence for improvement in mortality is still lacking. specific prescriptions for exercise training have not been developed because many variables and confounding factors have prevented research trials from demonstrating an ideal regimen. Physicians are becoming more aware of the indices and goals for hf patients in exercise testing and therapy to provide comprehensive cardiac care. it is further postulated that a combination of exercise training and pharmacologic therapy may eventually provide the most benefits to those suffering from hf.

Bioethics In Neurospinal Patient Care

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Andi Asadul Islam
Keyword(s):  
Time Frame ◽  
Hippocratic Oath ◽  
Moral Vision ◽  
Human Identity ◽  
The Past ◽  
Harvey Cushing ◽  
Sharp Focus ◽  
Realistic Approach ◽  
Cord Injury

Neurosurgery is among the newest of surgical disciplines, appearing in its modern incarnation at the dawn of twentieth century with the work of Harvey Cushing and contemporaries. Neurosurgical ethics involves challenges of manipulating anatomical locus of human identity and concerns of surgeons and patients who find themselves bound together in that venture.In recent years, neurosurgery ethics has taken on greater relevance as changes in society and technology have brought novel questions into sharp focus. Change of expanded armamentarium of techniques for interfacing with the human brain and spine— demand that we use philosophical reasoning to assess merits of technical innovations.Bioethics can be defined as systematic study of moral challenges in medicine, including moral vision, decisions, conduct, and policies related to medicine. Every surgeon should still take the Hippocratic Oath seriously and consider it a basic guide to follow good medical ethics in medical practice. It is simple and embodies three of the four modern bioethics principles – Respecting autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence, and justice.Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a devastating condition often affecting young and healthy individuals around the world. Currently, scientists are pressured on many fronts to develop an all-encompassing “cure” for paralysis. While scientific understanding of central nervous system (CNS) regeneration has advanced greatly in the past years, there are still many unknowns with regard to inducing successful regeneration. A more realistic approach is required if we are interested in improving the quality of life of a large proportion of the paralyzed population in a more expedient time frame.

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