191 research outputs found

    The benefits of growth for Indonesian Workers

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    Indonesia's adopted development model has proved to be the most successful in alleviating poverty and benefiting workers in developing countries. The government's development efforts focused on agriculture, education, and transport infrastructure. It emphasized providing productive employment opportunities and gradually improving the labor quality through education and training. The wage, employment, and income growth rates were left to market forces. Although the rapid growth of labor-intensive manufacturing has led to more jobs and higher wages benefiting workers, workers employed in these industries have expressed growing dissatisfaction. They complain about problems of child labor, the denial of centrally mandated wages and benefits to workers, poor working conditions, and the abuse of young female workers. The government has tried to improve worker's wages and working conditions by centrally mandating higher labor standards, relying principally on minimum wages. Enforcement has improved and, despite low compliance, minimum wages are beginning to bite. Indonesians are debating whether they need labor intensive industries and whether it is a mistake to base Indonesia's growth on cheap labor. They argue that if labor is more expensive, manufacturers must substitute some capital for labor. However, if labor-intensive industries are rejected, the capacity of the economy to absorb plentiful workers will be reduced. The main alternatives are to push up wages now, or to let wages be determined by market forces and strengthen institutions that could improve working conditions, such as labor unions. The author recommends maintaining flexible labor markets and allowing market forces to set the pace of change, while strengthening labor unions.Environmental Economics&Policies,Public Health Promotion,Labor Policies,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Work&Working Conditions,Environmental Economics&Policies,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Banks&Banking Reform,Work&Working Conditions,Municipal Financial Management

    Improving the efficiency of urban bus services in India

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    This dissertation analyzed the performance of public bus services in Indian cities and explored factors that affect their efficiency. Following the Road Transport Corporation Act of 1950, most states in India established State Road Transport Corporations to provide public bus services in their respective states. By early 1990s, most of the State Transport Undertakings (STUs) had become large monopolistic operations that incurred huge losses. The government of India started to encourage the STUs to resort to privatization to expand their services and stopped providing funds for purchase of new vehicles. Delhi and Bangalore privatized part of their urban bus services to increase the supply of buses in the city. The analysis involved quantitative analysis of the performance of urban transport companies, the efficiency of their operations and a comparison of the privatization experience of Delhi and Bangalore to understand the differences in their experience. Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) was used to estimate the relative efficiencies of public bus companies. Then, tobit regression and truncated regression were performed on the estimated efficiencies to explore the exogenous factors that influence efficiency. Results from the multivariate analysis showed that privatization significantly affects service efficiency. Privatization led to an increase in the supply of buses, a decrease in crowding on buses and overall improvements in the quality of service. However, its impact on production efficiency was insignificant. The results from regression analyses indicated that factors other than privatization, such as higher population density and regular revisions of fares influence efficiency. Higher traffic speeds can also improve efficiency of bus systems. While some these factors can be directly controlled by the bus operator, others are beyond their control and have to be addressed though overall planning for land use and traffic management. The research also offers several practical implications to cities that are planning to privatize their operations. The comparison of the privatization experiences of Delhi and Bangalore does not support the theory that competition between operators improves efficiency. Regardless of the method of privatization chosen, the nature of regulations imposed on the private operators determines the outcome from privatization.Ph.D.Includes bibliographical referencesIncludes vitaby Nisha Korattyswaroopa

    Population aging and the labor market : the case of Sri Lanka

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    Sri Lanka's population is predicted to age vary fast during the next 50 years, bringing a slowdown of labor force growth and after 2030its contraction. Based on a 2006 representative survey of old people in Sri Lanka, the paper examines labor market consequences of this process, focusing on retirement pathways and the determinants of labor market withdrawal. The paper finds that a vast majority of Sri Lankan old workers are engaged in the informal sector, work long hours, and are paid less than younger workers. Moreover, the paper shows that labor market duality carries over to old age: (i) previous employment is the most important predictor of the retirement pathway; (ii) older workers fall into two categories: civil servants and formal private sector workers, who generally stop working before they reach 60 because they are forced to do so by mandatory retirement regulations, and casual workers and the self-employed, who work until very old age (or death) due to poverty and insufficient income and who stop working primarily because of poor health; and (iii) the option of part-time work is used primarily by workers who held regular jobs in their prime age employment, but not by casual workers and self-employed.Labor Markets,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Labor Policies,Work&Working Conditions,

    How can LGBTQ cultural competency be increased in a health care setting?

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    The LGBTQ+ community faces unique challenges related to their sexual orientation and gender identity when trying to access healthcare services. Issues such as discrimination, lack of access to care and lack of cultural or knowledge competency from the healthcare system are prevalent in today's society and leads to worsening health outcomes. Understanding specific needs of this community can improve health outcomes and patient satisfaction leading to better overall health outcomes for the LGBTQ+ community. Literature review of 20 peer reviewed articles. Utilized several databases such as PubMed, CINAHL, PsychInfo, Academic Search Complete, MEDLINE, and ScienceDirect. Utilized a matrix format to gather and organize information. After completion of the cultural competency training, the AIM scores increased significantly in all three categories ‚ knowledge and skills, openness and support, and oppression awareness. Implicating this into psychiatric nursing practice, we see the importance of incorporating a solid knowledge base regarding LGBTQ individuals. This can be achieved via workplace workshops, implementation of courses in undergraduate classes, and taking personal responsibility to learn topics on your own time. Reinforces the importance of self-reflection and checking your own personal biases when working with transgender patients. This results in a health care environment that is free from judgment. Poster submission was sponsored by Ruhina Rana, (Health Sciences Department) for Psychiatric Nursing course and was presented at the Coquitlam campus on April 5, 2023, for Student Research Days 2023.Not peer reviewedStudent Research Day People's Choice AwardStudent Research Day Award WinnerStudent Research Day Poster (2023

    Development of anion-binding approaches to asymmetric catalysis

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    The dual catalytic approach in asymmetric catalysis has gained considerable attention in recent times. Many otherwise inefficient and unattainable chemical processes can be accomplished by this approach. Outlined within this dissertation are recent efforts in improving the overall efficiency of this process as well as expanding this method involving nucleophilic/anion-binding catalysis to the kinetic resolution of allylic amines and 1,2-diamines. An efficient catalytic system has been identified through targeted structural modifications of both the achiral nucleophilic catalyst and the chiral anion-binding co-catalyst. This has resulted in increased selectivities while simultaneously allowing for significantly reduced catalyst loadings. Based on the mechanistic insight into the anion binding approach for the kinetic resolution of amines, we established that there was a 1:1 catalyst to benzoate anion binding ratio. Cooperative approaches in which Brønsted acids act in concert with other Brønsted acids or (thio) urea co-catalysts have gained significance. This study describes the synthesis of a new class of chiral conjugate-base-stabilized Brønsted acid catalysts and a new concept for cooperative hydrogen bonding/ Brønsted acid catalysis. These chiral Brønsted acids contain a carboxylic acid group which is connected via an appropriate linker to an anion receptor moiety such as a thiourea. Substrate protonation by the catalyst results in the association of the conjugate base with the anion recognition site, resulting in the formation of a rigid catalyst/substrate ion pair. We were able to successfully apply this concept to the catalytic enantioselective Povarov and Pictet-Spengler reactions.Ph. D.Includes bibliographical referencesby Nisha Mitta

    ON-BOARD MONITORING OF CRACK AND CORROSION USING WIRELESS NETWORK

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    Structural health monitoring is an important safety factor in aviation that might benefit from advanced smart systems for damage sensing. This paper presents a new concept for a wireless crack and corrosion detection system for onboard health monitoring of aircraft. The sensor which is use to identify the structural damage and material loss on the surface of the aircraft by Ferrous Fluid under magnetic field. The Ferro fluid shall be applied as an emulsion on the test substrate. When a crack occurs, due to the crack there will a flux leakage. By constantly monitoring the flux on the surface of the substrate, whenever there is a flux leakage we can correlate it to a crack. The Ferro fluid shall be a ferromagnetic material and the particles should be in sub micron or nanometer region. These particles shall be mixed in suitable surfactants to get a uniformly monodispersed emulsion. This emulsion is to be applied on the test substrate and then the flux generated due to the emulsion shall be first measured. This measured flux density shall be taken as the baseline. Any deviation from the baseline shall be considered as flux leakage. It is possible to differentiate between the signals received from a crack and corrosion. One of the advantages of the present set up using Ferrous Fluid Sensor (FFS) for the generation and detection of signals can be easily processed by wireless application. The signal sensed by the FFS is transmitted to the cockpit through the wireless sensor network for monitoring of crack and corrosion on the surface of the aircraft

    Substrate noise analysis and techniques for mitigation in mixed-signal RF systems

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    Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2005.This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.Includes bibliographical references (p. 151-158).Mixed-signal circuit design has historically been a challenge for several reasons. Parasitic interactions between analog and digital systems on a single die are one such challenge. Switching transients induced by digital circuits inject noise into the common substrate creating substrate noise. Analog circuits lack the large noise margins of digital circuits, thus making them susceptible to substrate voltage variations. This problem is exacerbated at higher frequencies as the effectiveness of standard isolation technique diminishes considerably. Historically, substrate noise was not a problem because each system was fabricated in its own package shielding it from such interactions. The work in this thesis spans all areas of substrate noise: generation, propagation, and reception. A set of guidelines in designing isolation structures was developed to assist designers in optimizing these structures for a particular application. Furthermore, the effect of substrate noise on two key components of the RF front end, the voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) and the low noise amplifier (LNA), was analyzed. Finally, a CAD tool (SNAT) was developed to efficiently simulate large digital designs to determine substrate noise performance.(cont.) Existing techniques have prohibitively long simulation times and are only suitable for final verification. Determination of substrate noise coupling during the design phase would be extremely beneficial to circuit designers who can incorporate the effect of the noise and re-design accordingly before fabrication. This would reduce the turn around time for circuits and prevent costly redesign. SNAT can be used at any stage of the design cycle to accurately predict (less than 12% error when compared to measurements) the substrate noise performance of any digital circuit with a large degree of computational efficiency.by Nisha Checka.Ph.D
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