Suchergebnisse

California was the first state to legalize marijuana for medical purposes. Individuals are issued identification card for medical marijuana use for patients with chronic medical conditions if directed by a physician. Surveys have suggested there are regional differences between northern California residents, particularly the Bay Area, and southern California residents with respect to medical marijuana use and legalization. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the California Department of Public Health statistics regarding medical marijuana card registrations over various geographic areas of California. The California Department of Public Health Medical Marijuana Card Registration database reflects this with more individuals in the Bay Area registered compared to those in the ten southernmost counties of California. The reasons for this are unclear but could fall along political party lines as more registered Democrats support medical marijuana legalization compared to registered Republicans. The benefits of medical marijuana and potential adverse medical and socioeconomic effects have not been fully elucidated. Conclusion: There is a need for further study of the potential benefits for medical marijuana use and the reasons for apparent regional different beliefs of medical marijuana use and medical marijuana card registration.

AbstractTaiwan has prioritized bed and breakfast (B&B) business performance improvement in its tourism policies because B&Bs are a sustainable business model that can boost local economy through rural tourism. In order to identify the factors that can improve business performance, this research uses directional distance function and metafrontier approach to evaluate the technical efficiency of 18 cities and counties with B&Bs in Taiwan from 2011 to 2016. Results are divided into four geographic regions: Northern, Central, Southern, and Eastern Taiwan; technology gap ratios are computed to determine the degree of technical gaps for each region in order to provide information to potential B&B owners when selecting their accommodation location or region, to aid B&B managers in tailoring their business models and marketing strategies to maximize total revenues or minimize inputs, and to facilitate tourism, small businesses, and local economy with the support of the Taiwanese government.

A decline in human sperm quality and quantity has been reported in numerous Western countries. This observation was also accompanied by an increase in urogenital malformations. The need for epidemiological studies dealing with unbiased populations in order to understand the causes of these observations is obvious. In Switzerland, the large majority of young men are asked to attend a military camp to be drafted into the army. A few weeks before this camp, conscripts were contacted and invited to participate in a large national study on semen quality. The participation was totally voluntary and anonymous. From September 2005 to June 2007, 770 volunteers filled out a questionnaire, underwent a clinical examination and provided sperm, blood and urine samples. Using self-rated health assessments, the observed cohort could be considered as healthy and no testicular cancer was found. Moreover, the testicular volumes, measured using Prader's orchidometry and ultrasonography, were comparable to those already published for young male populations. The median sperm concentration was 47 × 106/ml, which is close to the concentration reported in Denmark, known to have the highest incidence of testicular cancer in Europe. Statistically significant differences were observed between regions with a lower sperm concentration for men residing in the Alps (43 × 106/ml) and in the Zürich area (36 × 106/ml) compared to men from West Plateau (54 × 106/ml) and from the Jura (54 × 106/ml). Such a regional discrepancy could be related to environmental factors, including endocrine disruptors. In order to confirm such regional differences more volunteers from the already studied regions should be studied and other parts of the country should be investigated. The rather low sperm concentration of Swiss young volunteers should be considered as a national health issue and investigated further.

International audience ; Natural disasters-flood, cyclonic tidal/storm surge, land slide, river bank erosion, drought and earthquakes are the main hindrance to the sustainable development of Bangladesh. In recent years, these have caused extra burden for the marginal people of the country jeopardising country's economic growth as a whole. Although it is a small country, its culture, disaster types, availability of building materials are diverse and the housing practices in different regions vary widely too. A large number of rural houses are damaged due to disaster on a regular basis and cause economic losses and sufferings to the people. Repetitive constructions of such houses also impart deterioration of the environment as much of the construction materials are obtained locally from surrounding nature and thus sustainable development is also hampered significantly. The past experiences on post-disaster shelter response have emphasised the need for more contextual approaches to develop disaster resilient low-cost rural houses. Based on lessons learnt from shelter response after Sidr 2007 and Aila 2009 cyclones, Caritas Bangladesh took an initiative jointly with BUET, Bangladesh and CRAterre-ENSAG of France to develop design of disaster resilient low-cost houses involving local communities. Also, attention was given to develop design of houses that can be built quickly after a disaster. To this context, a seven year project is being carried out in eight different geographic regions of Bangladesh. To develop the design, at first the local practices and availability of local materials were studied. Besides, it was considered essential to understand and accommodate the need and culture of the community. At the same time it is important to consider environmental issues. Three-stage community level meetings attended by people, leaders and local masons were held to gather their views, demand and experience. Properties of the local construction materials were ascertained from laboratory tests. Respecting local affordability and considering the service and environmental loads, designs were finalized based on FEM analyses. Model houses were constructed at the selected locations to demonstrate them to the local community with an aim that new design or at least some features would be replicated. Different treatment schemes for increasing the durability of materials were employed to study their effectiveness. Thirty five designs have been developed in this research for eight different geographic regions of Bangladesh which will be useful for any individual, the Government and NGOs for constructing disaster resilient sustainable rural houses. Performances of these model houses are being monitored. The designs have been found to be accepted by the local community and some features are already replicated.

Providing HR professionals and other business executives with key United States-based health care benefits measures, this book explains benchmarking and how it can help identify an organization's strategic benefits plan's strengths and weaknesses, create a framework for managing change, and encourage employees toward continuous improvement. When it comes to measuring benefits plans some HR professionals find that concrete measures can feel elusive: numbers that relate to the context of a specific business, particularly the same industry, employee size, and geographic location, are usually difficult to find. It is precisely this organizational profiling that is most beneficial to enable similar organizations to compare themselves to each other. The six industries covered in this book are finance, government, health care services, high tech, manufacturing (durable goods), and manufacturing (nondurable goods). Additionally, the five United States-based geographic regions are the northeast, southeast, north central, southwest central, and Pacific west. The four employee sizes are under 250 full-time employees (FTE), 250 to 999 FTE, and 1,000 or more FTE. Containing more than 60 metrics about health care plans, such as premiums, deductibles, and copay amounts, this reference is detailed enough to assist HR professionals in managing benefits plans for their organization

Rural roads are important for the communities in the hilly areas of Nepal as they introduce livelihood opportunities at the local level, and provide better access to the healthcare, education, and resources. Yet, most of the rural roads in Nepal are unplanned and non-engineered, and these roads are often closed for many months during and after the monsoon. Such roads require huge investments, especially post-monsoon, to clear debris and to keep them operational. In parallel, there is evidence that such roads lead to a large number of slope failures and accelerated sedimentation, which degrade the environment and ecosystem services. To remedy such roadside slope failures, eco-engineering practices were tested and demonstrated in partnership with three communities in the Panchase Region of the Nepal&rsquo ; s Central&ndash ; Western hills. Eco-engineering is a hybrid approach, combining civil engineering works for drainage and slope stability, with the plantation of deep-rooted vegetation. It is one activity contributing to nature-based solutions (NbS) for the sustainable and long-term operation of the rural roads in the Panchase geographic region. This paper describes the inter-disciplinary and community-based research, monitoring, and evaluation methods applied, including the establishment of onsite demonstration plots and rhizotrons in which key performance indicator (KPI) analysis of plant species was performed. The results demonstrated the effectiveness of eco-engineering for reducing risk, while creating ecological co-benefits along rural roads (or eco-safe roads) in hilly areas. Based on this research, an &ldquo ; eco-safe rural road assessment framework&rdquo ; was developed, outlining the systematic process to be followed for the design of eco-safe rural roads for more sustainable road construction and maintenance. The eco-engineering practices which are being promoted by this framework were accepted by communities and could be further implemented by local government bodies and upscaled in other similar hilly areas around the country.

ABSTRACT Introduction: Knowledge about risky sexual behavior among young people has been widely acknowledged as a key tool to controlling the spread of HIV. This article aimed at presenting the risk behavior of Brazilian Army conscripts toward HIV infection according to the country's geographic regions. . Method: We collected data from 37,282 conscripts, aged 17 to 22, during enlistment in the Brazilian Army in 2016. The prevalence of HIV infection, both self-reported and measured through laboratory results, and risk behavior factors were estimated by region. Results: 75% of the sample of conscripts reported to have already started sexual activity, and the average age of their sexual initiation was 15. Condom use varied according to the type of sexual relationship, being lower among steady partners and greater among less stable relationships. HIV prevalence assessed by laboratory tests was 0.12% across the country and the highest prevalence was observed in the North region (0.24%). Alcohol and illicit drug usage was higher in the South region. Discussion: The study allowed the observation of risk behavior monitoring for HIV infection among young Brazilians. Lower condom usage among steady partners may be contributing to an increase in the number of HIV-infected individuals. Conclusion: Results suggest the need to intensify prevention campaigns to disseminate safe sex practices among young people, in addition to the expansion of testing offer to this population.