184 research outputs found
Difficulty of Management of Retinoblastoma about Two Cases Report in North Benin and Literature Review
No full text"The Community Reinvestment Act, Lending Discrimination, and the Role of Community Development Banks"
No full textThe Community Development Banks (CDBs) should not be seen as a substitute for the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) or for other programs designed to revitalize lower income areas. Rather, they should be seen as a complement for existing programs and for other programs that will be proposed by the Clinton administration. As discussed above, the CRA process ensures that a dialogue takes place among regulators, financial institutions, and served communities: it ensures that banks identify their communities and that they satisfy some of the needs of these communities. Moreover, it helps to expand the awareness of bankers such that their expectations about presently undeserved areas are revised. It is unrealistic to expect that any financial institution can meet all the needs of any community; this, there is a role for a CDB to play in some communities that supplements the role played by traditional financial institutions. Similarly, while we believe that CDBs have an important role to play in revitalizing low income communities, we certainly do not see these as a substitute for the wide range of programs (both public and private) that will be needed to reverse long trends of deterioration experienced by some distressed communities. Finally, the CDBs are not intended to be welfare programs but to provide services to the community's residents, and consequently, they must meet the long-run market tests of profitability. Aside from the service aspect, community development banks will: (i)improve the well-being of our citizens not now served because of unresponsive, yet traditional loan qualification norms, and (ii) directly increase the opportunities for potential entrepreneurs and potential employees. The basic assumption underlying the community development bank is that all areas of the country need banks that are clearly oriented toward the small customer: households that have a small net worth, a small IRA account, and a small transactions account, and businesses that need financing measured in thousands rather then millions or billions of dollars.
Connecticut's Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) / by Alex Reger, associate analyst
No full text1 online resource (4 pages)"January 26, 2021."Summarizes Connecticut's Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) (CGS § 36a-30 et seq.) as it applies to banks, including the evaluation standards banks must meet. Updates OLR research report 2003-R-015
"Optimal CRA Reform Balancing Government Regulation and Market Forces"
No full textAt issue in the debate over the renewal of the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 (CRA) are the various yardsticks regulators use to judge whether individual institutions are meeting the credit and service needs of low- and moderate-income (LMI) communities. Based on careful examination of new CRA data and assessments of comments by selected stakeholders, the author concludes that if the new rules are to succeed, regulators will have to strike a careful balance between various competing interests vying to tip the balance of power in their favor. For example, to offset the effects of a possibly too-close relationship between industry and government agencies, the rules could mandate very explicit and objective measures of institutions' lending performance. To relieve the burden of compliance, the rules could be simplified and pared down to their essentials. And to prevent banks from taking advantage of vulnerable members of LMI communities, rule makers could adopt strong measures against "predatory lending."
Optimal CRA reform: Balancing government regulation and market forces
No full textAt issue in the debate over the renewal of the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) of 1977 are the various yardsticks regulators use to judge whether individual institutions are meeting the credit and service needs of low- and moderate-income (LMI) communities. Based on careful examination of new CRA data and assessments of comments by selected stakeholders, the author concludes that if the new rules are to succeed, regulators will have to strike a careful balance between various competing interests vying to tip the balance of power in their favor. For example, to offset the effects of a possibly too-close relationship between industry and government agencies, the rules could mandate very explicit and objective measures of institutions' lending performance. To relieve the burden of compliance, the rules could be simplified and pared down to their essentials. And to prevent banks from taking advantage of vulnerable members of LMI communities, rule makers could adopt strong measures against redatory lending
Native vegetation of the southern forests : south-east highlands, Australian alps, south-west Slopes, and SE Corner bioregions
No full textThe Southern Forests study area covers an area of about six million hectares of south-eastern New South Wales, south of Oberon and Kiama and east of Albury and Boorowa (latitude 33° 02’–37 ° 06’ S; longitude 146° 56’ – 147° 06’ E). The total area of existing vegetation mapped was three million hectares (3 120 400 hectares) or about 50% of the study area. Terrestrial, wetland and estuarine vegetation of the Southern Forests region were classified into 206 vegetation groups and mapped at a scale between 1: 25 000 and 1: 100 000. The classification was based on a cluster analysis of detailed field surveys of vascular plants, as well as field knowledge in the absence of field survey data. The primary classification was based on 3740 vegetation samples with full floristics cover abundance data. Additional classifications of full floristics presence-absence and tree canopy data were carried out to guide mapping in areas with few full floristic samples. The mapping of extant vegetation was carried out by tagging vegetation polygons with vegetation codes, guided by expert knowledge, using field survey data classified into vegetation groups, remote sensing, and other environmental spatial data. The mapping of pre-1750 vegetation involved tagging of soils mapping with vegetation codes at 1: 100 000 scale, guided by spatial modelling of vegetation groups using generalised additive statistical models (GAMS), and expert knowledge. Profiles of each of the vegetation groups on the CD-ROM* provide key indicator species, descriptions, statistics and lists of informative plant species.
The 206 vegetation groups cover the full range of natural vegetation, including rainforests, moist eucalypt forests, dry shrub forests, grassy forests, mallee low forests, heathlands, shrublands, grasslands and wetlands. There are 138 groups of Eucalyptus forests or woodlands, 12 rainforest groups, and 46 non-forest groups. Of the 206 groups, 193 were classified and mapped in the study area. Thirteen vegetation groups were not mapped because of their small size and lack of samples, or because they fell outside the study area.
Updated regional extant and pre-1750 vegetation maps of southern New South Wales have been produced in 2005, based on those originally prepared in 2000 for the southern Regional Forest Agreement (RFA). Further validation and remapping of extant vegetation over 10% of the study area has subsequently improved the quality of the vegetation map, and removed some of the errors in the original version. The revised map provides a reasonable representation of native vegetation at a scale between 1: 25 000 and 1: 100 000 across the study area.
In 2005 native vegetation covers 50% of the study area. Environmental pressures on the remaining vegetation include clearing, habitat degradation from weeds and nutrification, severe droughts, changing fire regimes, and urbanisation. Grassy woodlands and forests, temperate grasslands, and coastal and riparian vegetation have been the most reduced in areal extent. Over 90% of the grassy woodlands and temperate grasslands have been lost. Conservation of the remaining vegetation in these formations is problematic because of the small, discontinuous, and degraded nature of the remaining patches of vegetation
Cecorectal (CRA) versus ileorectal (IRA) anastomosis after colectomy for slow transit constipation (STC): a meta-analysis
No full textIntroduction: We conducted this meta-analysis, to compare cecorectal (CRA) and ileorectal anastomosis (IRA), regarding perioperative safety and efficacy, in patients submitted to colectomy for refractory slow transit constipation (STC). Methods: This study followed the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions and the PRISMA guidelines. To identify all eligible records, a systematic literature search in the electronic scholar databases (Medline, Scopus, Web of Science) was performed. Results: Overall, 5 trials and 291 patients were included in this meta-analysis. Pooled comparisons confirmed the comparability of the two techniques regarding perioperative complications (p = 0.55). CRA was associated with a shorter operation (p = 0.0004) and hospitalization duration (p = 0.001). Although there was no difference in terms of gastrointestinal symptoms, functional outcomes, and patient satisfaction, CRA resulted in lower long-term Wexner scores (p < 0.0001). Conclusion: Due to several study limitations, further large-scale RCTs are required to verify the findings of the present meta-analysis. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature
Concentric Ring Array Synthesis for Low Side Lobes: An Overview and a Tool for Optimizing Ring Radii and Angle of Rotation
No full textA comprehensive review on the approaches for synthesizing low side lobe concentric ring array (CRA) antennas is given. An Iterative Convex Optimization (ICO) based array layout synthesis technique is proposed for peak side-lobe level (PSLL) minimization over a given circular field-of-view in steerable uniform-amplitude concentric ring array (UA-CRA) antennas. For a given number of rings and number of uniformly-distributed elements in each ring, the ICO algorithm optimizes the ring radii and angle of rotation, with possible constraints on the minimum element separation and largest array size. As compared to the existing UA-CRA synthesis techniques, the proposed method presents unique features as it combines the capability of optimization of angle of rotation of the rings and PSLL minimization for multiple elevation scan angles in a computationally-efficient and easy-to-solve procedure. Through numerical design examples, it is demonstrated how the ICO technique can be effectively used (i) to synthesize sparse UA-CRA topologies generating low PSLL steerable beams, and (ii) to assess and improve the PSLL suppression performance of various known optimization algorithms. Based on the UA-CRA topologies synthesized via competitive methods in the recent literature, a new set of improved array topologies are presented.Microwave Sensing, Signals & System
Aspects epidemiologiques, cliniques et therapeutiques des atteintes oculaires au cours des traumatismes cranio-faciaux au CHUD/BA
No full textIntroduction : Au cours des traumatismes crânio-faciaux, plusieurs organes dont leglobe oculaire et ses annexes sont souvent concernés à cause de leur position dans lapartie antérieure de l’extrémité céphalique. Objectif : Etudier les aspectsépidémiologiques, cliniques, thérapeutiques et évolutifs des atteintes oculaires dans lestraumatismes crânio-faciaux au Centre Hospitalier Départemental du Borgou deParakou.Patients et méthodes : Il s’agissait d’une étude transversale à visée descriptive etanalytique ; rétrospective sur 3 ans (1er Janvier 2011 au 31 Décembre 2013) etprospective sur 6 mois (1er Janvier au 30 Juin 2014). Ont été inclus les dossiers completsde tous les patients admis dans le service d’anesthésie, de réanimation et des urgencespour traumatisme crânio-facial associé à des atteintes oculaires et ayant bénéficié d’uneconsultation ophtalmologique. La classification internationale des traumatismesoculaires BETT (Birmingham Eye Trauma Terminology System) avait été utilisée.Résultats : La fréquence des atteintes oculaires dans les traumatismes crânio-faciauxétait de 8,6%. L’âge médian était de 27,95 ans, avec une prédominance masculine(72,3%) et un pic entre 16 à 45ans. Les écoliers, élèves et étudiants étaient les plustouchés (31,3%). Les accidents de la voie publique ont été la circonstance de survenuela plus incriminée (60,8%). 10,8% des patients ont été vus dans les 6 premières heures.L’oeil gauche était le plus atteint (49,3%). Les lésions d’annexes étaient fréquentes(72,6%), avec 36,5% d’atteintes conjonctivales. Les traumatismes à globe fermé étaientles plus rencontrés avec en tête les contusions oculaires (83,7%). La rupture du globe(4,8%) était le principal traumatisme à globe ouvert (7,2%). Le traitement avait étémédical (60%). Cinq patients (3,01%) avaient subi une énucléation. Quatre yeux (6,1%)étaient en état de cécité et trois patients (5%) ont gardé des séquelles anatomiques.Conclusion : Afin de réduire la fréquence et la gravité des lésions de l’oeil et sesannexes, il faut renforcer les actions de prévention à divers niveaux. Un meilleuréquipement, une bonne répartition du personnel qualifié pourrait améliorer la qualité dela prise en charge.Mots-clés : traumatisme oculaire, annexes, traumatisme crânio-facial
A systematic review of the effectiveness of the community reinforcement approach in alcohol, cocaine and opioid addiction.
No full textAbstract The community reinforcement approach (CRA) has been applied in the treatment of disorders resulting from alcohol, cocaine and opioid use. The objectives were to review the effectiveness of (1) CRA compared with usual care, and (2) CRA versus CRA plus contingency management. Studies were selected through a literature search of RCTs focusing on substance abuse. The search yielded 11 studies of mainly high methodological quality. The results of CRA, when compared to usual care: there is strong evidence that CRA is more effective with regard to number of drinking days, and conflicting evidence with regard to continuous abstinence in the alcohol treatment. There is moderate evidence that CRA with disulfiram is more effective in terms of number of drinking days, and limited evidence that there is no difference in effect in terms of continuous abstinence. Furthermore, there is strong evidence that CRA with ‘incentives’ is more effective with regard to cocaine abstinence. There is limited evidence that CRA with ‘incentives’ is more effective in an opioid detoxification program. There is limited evidence that CRA is more effective in a methadone maintenance program. Finally, there is strong evidence that CRA with abstinence-contingent ‘incentives’ is more effective than CRA (non-contingent incentives) treatment aimed at cocaine abstinence. Author Keywords: Author Keywords: Systematic review; Community reinforcement approach; Alcohol; Cocaine; Opioi
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