182 research outputs found
Spaces of contestation: the everyday experiences of ten African migrants in Cape Town
No full textIncludes bibliographical references.Xenophobia in South Africa is so overt that it has take a covert form. The 'xenocide' events that took place in 2008 were called xenophobic acts. It is the recurrent denialism of xenophobia on an everyday basis that this project has explored through the narrative accounts of ten African migrants in Cape Town. The lived everyday experiences of ten African migrants have brought forward the central argument of this thesis. From the data, it is evident that as a reponse to everyday pressures of prejudices and xenophobia in social and physical spaces, African migrants have developed mutable, unsettled and vagrant identities in order to cope with everyday low level violence. This argument emerged as four key stressors have been identified as the components of a more substantial explanation of xenophobia in South Africa. The four key components are: the enforcement of identity (national and group), the demarcation of spaces of belonging, the experiences of economic insecurity, and lastly a 'culture of violence' in South Africa. This thesis argues that these four stressors are the result of an on-going active process of xenophobic attitudes
Does Wal-Mart Cause an Increase in Anti-Poverty Program Expenditures?
No full textAs the largest private sector employer in the United States, Wal-Mart experiences considerable scrutiny over its influence on a number of regional fiscal and economic issues. These include its impact on the local retail market structure, land use patterns, local fiscal conditions and general business practices. Criticism of Wal-Mart’s business practices include, but are not limited to its anti-unionization efforts, sale of imported goods, wage and compensation structure and the use of Federal and state anti-poverty transfers by its employees. In this paper I evaluate the concerns regarding the role of Wal-Mart in changing expenditures on Federal and state anti-poverty transfers in the United States. Using a panel of the conterminous 48 states, correcting for time and spatial autocorrelation and local government mix and policy changes, I find the number of Wal-Marts, and their employment share in the retail sector have no impact on Foodstamps expenditures. Expenditures on AFDC/TANF are unaffected by Wal-Mart in the test using the number of stores to represent Wal-Mart’s presence. In the retail employment share, the impact is negative, with a 1 percent increase in Wal-Mart’s share reduced AFDC/TANF expenditures by 3.3 percent. I find that Wal-Mart does increase Medicaid expenditures by roughly $898 per worker, which is consistent with other studies of the Medicaid costs per low wage worker across the United States.
The Impact of Wal-Mart on Local Fiscal Health: Evidence from a Panel of Ohio Counties
No full textThis research analyzes selected fiscal impacts of Wal-Mart in Ohio from 1985 through 2003. Using a panel of counties, and accounting for spatial autocorrelation in an instrumental variable model I estimate impact of Wal-Mart and Super-Centers on selected revenues and transfer payments. On revenues I find that the presence of a Wal-Mart increases local commercial property tax assessments, resulting in collection increases of between 1.3 million. Wal-Mart also is associated with higher levels of local labor force participation. On expenditures I also find that the presence of a Wal-Mart dramatically increases the per capita EITC claims in a county (between 18 and 43 percent), while the dollar value of these claims experiences mixed impacts between Wal-Mart and a Supercenter. Similarly, the impact of Wal-Mart on Foodstamps expenditures is mixed, but small in any case. There are no in-county impacts of Wal-Mart on expenditures on Temporary Assistance to Needy Families and its predecessor Aid to Families with Dependent Children. However, Medicaid expenditures experience growth which may amount to roughly 16 additional cases per county attributable to a single Wal- Mart. The per worker costs of Medicaid estimated in this study is consistent with reported levels in a number of states, and study estimates by Dube and Jacobs [2004], Carlson [2005] and Hicks [2005a]. The magnitude and statistical certainty of these findings, accompanied by a review of previous research suggests that local fiscal intervention, either through incentives or the much touted “Wal-Mart Tax” is unwarranted.
NDE application of air-coupled ultrasonic array system and f-k domain analysis for delamination-like defect detection in bridge deck
No full textMolecular mechanisms in schwann cell survival and death during peripheral nerve development, injury and disease
No full textCharacterization of the effects of vibration on seated driver alertness
No full textAlthough performance of vehicle drivers under
fatigue conditions has been investigated in many types of
environments, there is insufficient research data about the
effects of vibration specifically on levels of mental alertness
in seated drivers. In addition to the paucity of research
in this area, the study of drowsiness caused by
whole body vibration is complex due to several confounding
factors (such as lack of sleep, air temperature, health).
Hence, we investigated the relationship between whole
body vibration and driver drowsiness. A human vibration
test setup was designed for this study. Ten subjects were
exposed to low frequency sinusoidal and random whole
body vibration in multi-axial vibration at 0.3 m/s2 (rms)
for 20 minutes. Changes in drowsiness during vibration
exposure were measured by recording electroencephalographic
signals. Two brainwave spectrums (theta and beta
waves) were used for analysis. Exposure to whole body
vibration was found to be correlated with a reduction in
alertness. Reduction in beta wave and increase in theta
wave activity, caused by vibration, were found to be statistically
significant. The data presented here quantify for the
first time the drowsiness caused by whole body vibration
and will help define the threshold limit for safe driving
Penetration of a glass-faced transparent elastomeric resin by a lead-antimony-cored bullet
No full textThe penetration of the lead antimony-cored 7.62 mm × 51 mm bullet into a glass- faced polyurethane elastomeric polymer resin has been studied. The resulting craters in the resin contained elongated bullet core material that had a significant amount of porosity. A simple linear viscoelastic model was applied to AUTODYN-2D to describe the behaviour of the resin and numerical results of the penetration mechanism and depth-of-penetration appeared to match experimental observations well. Analysis of the high speed photography and a numerical model of this bullet penetrating a viscoelastic polymer showed that during the initial stages of penetration, the projectile is essentially turned inside out. Furthermore, the shape of the cavity was defined by the elastic relaxation of the polymer that led to compression of the core material. A weight analysis of the penetrated materials showed that using a thicker tile of glass resulted in better ballistic performance.International Journal of Impact Engineerin
Chiropractic treatment including instrument-assisted manipulation for non-specific dizziness and neck pain in community-dwelling older people: a feasibility randomised sham-controlled trial
No full textAbstract Background Dizziness in older people is a risk factor for falls. Neck pain is associated with dizziness and responds favourably to neck manipulation. However, it is unknown if chiropractic intervention including instrument-assisted manipulation of the neck in older people with neck pain can also improve dizziness. Methods This parallel two-arm pilot trial was conducted in Melbourne, Australia over nine months (October 2015 to June 2016). Participants aged 65–85 years, with self-reported chronic neck pain and dizziness, were recruited from the general public through advertisements in local community newspapers and via Facebook. Participants were randomised using a permuted block method to one of two groups: 1) Activator II™-instrument-assisted cervical and thoracic spine manipulation plus a combination of: light massage; mobilisation; range of motion exercises; and home advice about the application of heat, or 2) Sham-Activator II™-instrument-assisted manipulation (set to zero impulse) plus gentle touch of cervical and thoracic spinal regions. Participants were blinded to group allocation. The interventions were delivered weekly for four weeks. Assessments were conducted one week pre- and post-intervention. Clinical outcomes were assessed blindly and included: dizziness (dizziness handicap inventory [DHI]); neck pain (neck disability index [NDI]); self-reported concerns of falling; mood; physical function; and treatment satisfaction. Feasibility outcomes included recruitment rates, compliance with intervention and outcome assessment, study location, success of blinding, costs and harms. Results Out of 162 enquiries, 24 participants were screened as eligible and randomised to either the chiropractic (n = 13) or sham (n = 11) intervention group. Compliance was satisfactory with only two participants lost to follow up; thus, post-intervention data for 12 chiropractic intervention and 10 sham intervention participants were analysed. Blinding was similar between groups. Mild harms of increased spinal pain or headaches were reported by 6 participants. Costs amounted to AUD$2635 per participant. The data showed a trend favouring the chiropractic group in terms of clinically-significant improvements in both NDI and DHI scores. Sample sizes of n = 150 or n = 222 for dizziness or neck pain disability as the primary outcome measure, respectively, would be needed for a fully powered trial. Conclusions Recruitment of participants in this setting was difficult and expensive. However, a larger trial may be feasible at a specialised dizziness clinic within a rehabilitation setting. Compliance was acceptable and the outcome measures used were well accepted and responsive. Trial registration Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ANZCTR) ACTRN12613000653763. Registered 13 June 2013. Trial funding: Foundation for Chiropractic Research and Postgraduate Education (Denmark)
Telemedicine Experience for Chronic Care in COPD
No full textInformation and telecommunication technologies are called to play a major role in the changes that healthcare systems have to face to cope with chronic disease. This paper reports a telemedicine experience for the home care of chronic patients suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and an integrated system designed to carry out this experience. To determine the impact on health, the chronic care telemedicine system was used during one year (2002) with 157 COPD patients in a clinical experiment; endpoints were readmissions and mortality. Patients in the intervention group were followed up at their homes and could contact the care team at any time through the call center. The care team shared a unique electronic chronic patient record (ECPR) accessible through the web-based patient management module or the home visit units. Results suggest that integrated home telemedicine services can support health professionals caring for patients with chronic disease, and improve their health.We have found that simple telemedicine services (ubiquitous access to ECPR, ECPR shared by care team, accessibility to case manager, problem reporting integrated in ECPR) can increase the number of patients that were not readmitted (51% intervention, 33% control), are acceptable to professionals, and involve low installation and exploitation costs. Further research is needed to determine the role of telemonitoring and televisit services for this kind of patients
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