Suchergebnisse

Purpose
Hypertension, obesity, hyperlipidemia, and type 2 diabetes contribute primarily to noncommunicable disease deaths and together with human immunodeficiency virus contribute largely to mortality in South Africa. Our longitudinal study provides the necessary data and insights over a 10-year period to highlight the areas where improved management is required in urban and rural localities.


Methods
This study included 536 rural and 387 urban Black participants aged 32 to 93 years from the North-West province, South Africa. Disease prevalence, treatment, and control were determined in 2005 and were re-evaluated in 2015. Multiple measures analyses were used to determine the trends of blood pressure and waist circumference.


Results
The initial prevalence of hypertension was 53.2%, obesity was 23.6%, hyperlipidemia was 5.1%, diabetes was 2.9%, and human immunodeficiency virus was 10.7% in 2005. By 2015, the rural population had higher rates of hypertension (63.7% versus 58.5%) and lower rates diabetes (4.3% versus 7.9%) and hyperlipidemia (6.6% versus 18.0%) with similar obesity rates (41.7% versus 42.4%). The average blood pressure levels of urban hypertensives decreased (Ptrend<.001), whereas levels were maintained in the rural group (Ptrend=.52). In both locations, treatment and control rates increased from 2005 to 2015 for all conditions (all ≥6.7%), except for diabetes in which a decrease in control was observed. Waist circumference increased (Ptrend>.001) in both sex and locality groups over the 10-year period.


Conclusion
Although average blood pressure of urban hypertensive individuals decreased, urgent measures focused on early identification, treatment, and control of the respective conditions should be implemented to decrease the burden of noncommunicable diseases.

In this article, we examine policies related to in-state resident tuition and state financial aid policies aimed at undocumented students. To help frame the discussion and spark further debate and research in this area the article seeks to do three things. First, it provides a comprehensive review of state and institutional in-state tuition policies aimed at undocumented students as well as state college or university system responses. Second, it charts the policy landscape for state financial aid access for this population. Third, it examines the numerous implications that such policies engender and highlights the role of the federal government and the proposed Dream Act in mitigating some of these concerns. It closes by underscoring the important financial role played by the critical interaction of state, institutional, and federal policies in making college going a reality for these students while proposing avenues for future study around the issue.

Abstract
Today management competencies are seen as the only long-term strategic advantage of any company. However, from corporate experience we know that only 10 % of the knowledge acquired is transferred into entrepreneurial practice. Current trends in management development often overemphasize individual learning and ignore the missing fit between individual behavior and organizational performance. To meet these demands, we collected competency attributions of managers attending executive courses in Austria and Slovenia. A questionnaire with closed and open question will help to explore and compare the relation between organizational performance and current management competencies in these countries. The results confirm our predictions to a lesser extent. However, they represent a basis for further examination of the relationship between managerial competencies and organizational performance.

While some of the UN member states refrain from providing peacekeepers due to security reasons, the UN frequently turns to the private security market for support. In turn, private military and security companies (PMSCs) take on risky missions and fill in the procurement gaps. It is common practice to criticize PMSCs for not having a clear international legal status, operating in the "grey" area of the law and not being accountable for their actions. Furthermore, the UN often equates PMSCs to mercenaries of the past and calls for strict regulation and surveillance of their activities. This practice has remained unchanged since the 1992 reforms, and the UN has done nothing to reduce the involvement of PMSCs in peacekeeping missions. On the contrary, it has, under pressure from lobbyists for the private security industry, actually increased security expenditures for PMSCs by unprecedented amounts. The UN's position as a unique universal intergovernmental organization exempts it from a great deal of transparency, accountability and reform. While the private security industry includes various PMSCs that compete for contracts in conflict zones and post-conflict areas, the UN does not have any kind of competitor in peacekeeping procedures. The UN criticizes PMSCs for their blatant human rights violations and disregard of international law, yet continues to contract them for its peacekeeping missions. This paper examines the problem of involving PMSCs in UN peacekeeping operations. It aims to answer the following main questions: How do PMSCs, as partners of the UN in the peacekeeping process, contribute to the protection of human rights, which is one of the organization's basic declared principles? Can PMSCs become a recognized instrument within the UN system? Would UN peacekeeping eff orts improve as a result of hiring PMSCs?

his report was written by the Committee on International Economic Policy and Reform, a non-partisan, independent group of experts, comprised of academics and former government and central bank officials. Its objective is to analyze global monetary and financial problems, offer systematic analysis, and advance reform ideas. The committee attempts to identify areas in which the global economic architecture should be strengthened and recommend solutions intended to reconcile national interests with broader global interests. Through its reports, it seeks to foster public understanding of key issues in global economic management and economic governance. Each committee report will focus on a specific topic and will emphasize longer-term rather than conjunctural policy issues. In this September 2012 report, the committee lays out a framework for cross-border banking flows and for improved regulatory coordination.

The impetus of religious reform between ca. 1380-1520, which expressed itself in a variety of Observant initiatives in many religious orders all over Europe, and also brought forth the Devotio moderna movement in the late medieval Low Countries, had considerable repercussions for the production of a wide range of religious texts, and the embrace of other forms of cultural production (scribal activities, liturgical innovations, art, music, religious architecture). At the same time, the very impetus of reform within late medieval religious orders and the wish to return to a more modest religious lifestyle in accordance with monastic and mendicant rules, and ultimately with the commands of Christ in the Gospel, made it difficult to wholeheartedly embrace the material consequences of learning, literary and artistic prowess, as the very pursuit of such pursuits ran against basic demands of evangelical poverty and humility. This volume explores how this tension was negotiated in various Observant and Devotio moderna contexts, and how communities connected with these movements instrumentalized various types of writing, learning, and other forms of cultural expression to further the cause of religious reform, defend it against order-internal and external criticism, to shape recognizable reform identities for themselves, and to transform religious life in society as a whole.

Intro -- Acknowledgments -- Contents -- Notes on Contributors -- Chapter 1: Sino-German Relations, Historiography, and Organization -- Brief Overview of Sino-German Relations, 1890-1950 -- A Historiographical Landscape -- The Organization of This Volume -- Conclusion -- Bibliography -- Part I: Politics, Business, and Teaching in the Age of German Colonialism, 1890-1914 -- Chapter 2: Elisabeth von Heyking: China Through the Eyes of a Female Aristocrat -- German Aristocracy, Imperialism, and German Colonialism in China -- The Heykings' Encounters with Chinese Aristocrats in Elisabeth's Journals -- Sympathy Toward China in Elisabeth's Epistolary Novel -- Conclusion -- Bibliography -- Chapter 3: A "War for Peace"? German-Speaking Pacifists' Views on the Boxer Conflict -- The Boxer Uprising and Reaction on the Right and the Left -- The German-Speaking Pacifist Movement Before the Boxer Uprising -- Pacifists' Reaction to the Boxer Uprising -- Conclusion -- Bibliography -- Periodicals -- Other Primary Sources -- Secondary Sources -- Chapter 4: Investing in "German Hong Kong": The Building of a Global Economic Presence in Qingdao, 1898-1914 -- The German Imperial Project in Qingdao: The Customs Agreement -- The Commercial and Industrial Development of Qingdao -- Revision of the Customs Agreement and the Realization of German Hong Kong -- Conclusion -- Bibliography -- Unpublished Archival Sources -- Published Sources -- Chapter 5: "One Has to Rely Completely on Oneself": The Challenging Life of German Teachers at German-Chinese Schools, 1898-1914 -- The Historical Background -- The German Occupation of Jiaozhou -- German-Chinese Schools and the Intentions Behind Them -- Problems of German Teachers at German-Chinese Schools -- The Source: The "Ostasiatische Lehrerzeitung" -- Problems of German Teachers -- Flaws of the German-Chinese Education System.

With articles by a high quality set of contributors including Darrell Slider and Vladimir Gel'man, this title explores the increasingly authoritarian character of Putin's rule, especially in his second term since 2004.

New information technologies are slowly changing the conduct of campaigns and elections in the United States. This article provides an overview and synthesis of extant research on the use of this technology by candidates, journalists, and voters and discusses the implications for elections and democratic governance in the United States.

Since 2012, Beninese magistrates have gone on multiple strikes. Most of them complain about their substantial workload, low pay, and poor working conditions. They also highlight the discrepancies between magistrates' social status and what their families expect from them. However, judges and prosecutors also insist on the importance of their work and on the ethics that goes together with it. This paper analyses the discourses and representations of the social and professional status of Beninese judges, showing that they are contingent upon gender, political and economic contexts. It delves into the magistrate's changing relationship to the state, as well as into their professional identities and daily practices. ; Peer reviewed

This Briefing Paper presents one of six analyses of cross-sectoral coordination challenges that were conducted as part of the STEER research project and on which separate Briefing Papers are available.The extraction of minerals and metals comes with a large water footprint, both in terms of water needed for extraction itself and in terms of wastewater discharge and the potential pollution of water resources. Thus, coordination between the mining and water sectors is key. A number of instruments to that end have been devised, which aim to mitigate the negative impacts of mining on water resources and on water-resource dependent communities. Among these are environmental impact assessments (EIAs), stakeholder involvement within these processes and within river basin management, and payment schemes that incentivise wastewater treatment at the mine. Whether and how these instruments are implemented depends on the national, provincial and local context, since each instrument involves a number of preconditions. Assessing the effectiveness of these instruments thus requires a sound analysis of the governance system within which they operate.In this Briefing Paper, we focus on Mongolia as an example case study and look at stakeholder involvement and incentivising wastewater treatment as two key strategies to increase coordination. We assess how these strategies are translated into policies and how they are implemented on the ground in two adjacent river basins. In doing so, we pay particular attention to the human and financial capacities of lower-level administrative entities, as well as to the availability of water-related information, as essential prerequisites for effective natural resource governance.We find that the Mongolian governance system stipulates the implementation of stakeholder involvement through multiple processes, most importantly through River Basin Multi-Stakeholder Platforms (RB-MSPs) and community consultation within the EIA procedure. In practice, however, the RB-MSP in the study area has yet to diversify its membership from mostly lower-level administrative staff, and community consultations rarely take place. In terms of incentivising wastewater treatment, Mongolia passed amendments to its Water Pollution Fee Law in summer 2019 and is now working on implementation guidelines. Challenges here relate to the collection of data for a baseline on water quality and to guarantees for adequate sampling and analysis. This is tied to the limited human and financial capacity of lower-level administrative entities, which struggle to access or evaluate relevant data.We recommend that:• the diversity of stakeholders in RB-MSPs is increased to better include the private sector and civil society, with sensitivity to differences in socioeconomic standing to ensure equitable access to and deliberation within the platform;• the enacting of public consultations as part of EIAs is ensured and governmental procedures (i.e. mining licensing and approval of EIAs) are made more transparent and accountable;• public availability of water data is increased;• the Water Pollution Fee Law is implemented swiftly to provide incentives for the treatment of mining wastewater before discharge;• funding and institutional capacity development for lower-level administrative bodies are increased and funding for RB-MSPs is provided to enable them to fulfill their mandates.