Official Government Data Research Articles

Association of increased monetary cost of dietary intake, diet quality and weight management in Spanish adults.

Higher monetary diet cost is associated with healthier food choices and better weight management. How changes in diet cost affect changes in diet quality and weight remains unknown. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of changes in individual monetary diet cost on changes in diet quality, measured by the modified Mediterranean diet score recommendations (MDS-rec) and by energy density (ED), as well as changes in weight and BMI. We conducted a prospective, population-based study of 2181 male and female Spaniards aged between 25 and 74 years, who were followed up to the 2009-2010 academic year. We measured weight and height and recorded dietary data using a validated FFQ. Average food cost was calculated from official Spanish government data. We fitted multivariate linear and logistic regression models. The average daily diet cost increased from 3·68(SD0.0·89)€/8·36 MJ to 4·97(SD1·16)€/8·36 MJ during the study period. This increase was significantly associated with improvement in diet quality (Δ ED and Δ MDS-rec; P<0·0001). Each 1€ increase in monetary diet cost per 8·36 MJ was associated with a decrease of 0·3 kg in body weight (P=0·02) and 0·1 kg/m(2) in BMI (P=0·04). These associations were attenuated after adjusting for changes in diet quality indicators. An improvement in diet quality and better weight management were both associated with an increase in diet cost; this could be considered in food policy decisions.

Modal Insan dan Agihan Pendapatan di Malaysia (Malay Version)

In order to achieve a status of developed country, the Malaysian government carried out various measures in the economic, political and social aspects. The clear thing to us is that the economic aspect is emphasized because it is considered as the engine of economic growth and development that is able to accelerate the achievement of developed countries. Generally, this book is divided into two parts, namely the writing of which is based on secondary data obtained from official government data and the writing of which is based on primary data collected through field work in 2007/2008. This book contains nine chapters and the discussion is focused on the impact of human capital on the level and distribution of household income and individuals in Malaysia. The power of human capital in developing countries cannot be question. The educated population leaves greater impact on the increase in the social, political and economic growth of a country. In view of this problem various approaches have been made and various measurements were used.

Mapowanie sektorów kreatywnych. W poszukiwaniu definicji i metody

The author discusses a new method, rarely used in Poland so far − a method of mapping cultural industries and creative industries. The concept of mapping creative industries is founded on the Anglo-Saxon ground and goes beyond the usual plotting of the maps. This method enables countries, regions and cities to estimate the value of the creative sectors. It is based on determining a set of analytical methods for collecting and presenting information on the scale and the scope of the creative industries. In mapping, both quantitative and qualitative methods are used, as well as such sources of knowledge, as literature review, analysis of official government data, research on specific sectors, analysis of data from non-governmental sources, analysis of the industry informants and case studies. Mapping can be a valuable tool in lobbying the creative class, but its main purpose is to deepen the knowledge about this sector of the economy, which is still not sufficiently analyzed. The author considers and analyses not only mapping as a way to describe the dynamic sectors of culture, but also the very definition of mapping the creative sector, outlining the opinion and comments of Krzysztof Stachowiak, a researcher of problems of concentration of cultural industries. What serves as a frame of the article, is the description of the film industry growing currently in Gdynia and the ways in which this mini-industry can be described using the principles of mapping creative industries.

Automatically enhancing CityGML LOD2 models with a corresponding indoor geometry

The international standard CityGML defines five levels of detail (LODs) for 3D city models, but only the highest of these (LOD4) supports modelling the indoor geometry of a building, which must be acquired in correspondingly high detail and therefore at a high cost. Whereas simple 3D city models of the exterior of buildings (e.g. CityGML LOD2) can be generated largely automatically, and are thus now widely available and have a great variety of applications, similarly simple models containing their indoor geometries are rare.In this paper we present two contributions: (i) the definition of a level of detail LOD2+, which extends the CityGML LOD2 specification with indoor building geometries of comparable complexity to their exterior geometries in LOD2; and more importantly (ii) a method for automatically generating such indoor geometries based on existing CityGML LOD2 exterior geometries. We validate our method by generating LOD2+ models for a subset of the Rotterdam 3D data set and visually comparing these models to their real counterparts in building blueprints and imagery from Google Street View and Bing Maps. Furthermore, we use the LOD2+ models to compute the net internal area of each dwelling and validate our results by comparing these values to the ones registered in official government data sets.

Active shooter in educational facility.

The last decade has seen several of the most heinous acts imaginable committed against our educational facilities. In light of the recent shooting in Sandy Hook Elementary School in Monroe (Newtown), CT, which took the lives of 20 children and six employees, a new heightened sense of awareness for safety and security among our educational facilities was created.(1) The law enforcement and public-safety community is now looking to work together with many of the educational representatives across the nation to address this issue, which affects the educational environment now and in the future. The US public and private elementary and secondary school systems' population is approximately 55.2 million students with an additional 19.1 million students attending a 2- and 4-year college or university. These same public and private school and degree-granting institutions employ approximately 7.6 million staff members who can be an enormous threshold of potential targets.(2) A terrorist's act, whether domestic, international, or the actions of a Lone Wolf against one of our educational facilities, would create a major rippling effect throughout our nation. Terrorists will stop at nothing to advance their ideology and they must continue to advance their most powerful tool-fear-to further their agenda and mission of destroying our liberty and the advanced civilization of the Western hemisphere. To provide the safety and security for our children and those who are employed to educate them, educational institutions must address this issue as well as nullify the possible threat to our national security. This thesis used official government reports and data interview methodologies to address various concerns from within our nation's educational system. Educational personnel along with safety and security experts identified, describe, and pinpointed the recommended measures that our educational institutions should include to secure our nation from within. These modifications of evaluating and updating their current emergency operations plan, if implemented correctly, will bring heightened awareness, as well as define roles and responsibilities, to everyone involved. In addition, these implementations will assist in coordinating and strengthening a multiagency partnership's among the public-safety community that will mitigate the risk to our student body, faculty, and staff, and strengthen our national security.

Further Education as a Post-Secondary Destination for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Young People: A Review of the Literature and Analysis of Official Statistics in England

This article concerns further education (FE) as a post-16 destination for deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) young people. It addresses: (1) the size and characteristics of the DHH population within the FE sector; (2) the perceived functions of FE for DHH young people; (3) the trends, progress, and achievements of DHH learners within FE provision. A narrative literature review drawing on international sources is combined with a specific analysis of two official government data sets in England, the National Pupil Database and the Individualized Learner Record, in order to establish some baseline data on the DHH, FE population in England. The analysis includes data on 6758 DHH students aged 16 to 19. Results demonstrate that DHH learners are far more likely than their hearing peers to leave school at 16 and to progress to FE colleges. FE is regarded as a suitable destination for DHH young people both to enable social maturity and to improve educational attainment. Within FE in England, DHH young people are more likely to be on part-time courses and more than double the number drop out of FE provision in comparison with the wider population. DHH learners with no additional needs significantly underperform in comparison with hearing learners with no additional needs within the FE setting. Nearly one-quarter (23.2 per cent) of young people recorded in the data sets analysed showed no recognized qualification on leaving FE.

Logging concessions enable illegal logging crisis in the Peruvian Amazon.

The Peruvian Amazon is an important arena in global efforts to promote sustainable logging in the tropics. Despite recent efforts to achieve sustainability, such as provisions in the US–Peru Trade Promotion Agreement, illegal logging continues to plague the region. We present evidence that Peru's legal logging concession system is enabling the widespread illegal logging via the regulatory documents designed to ensure sustainable logging. Analyzing official government data, we found that 68.3% of all concessions supervised by authorities were suspected of major violations. Of the 609 total concessions, nearly 30% have been cancelled for violations and we expect this percentage to increase as investigations continue. Moreover, the nature of the violations indicate that the permits associated with legal concessions are used to harvest trees in unauthorized areas, thus threatening all forested areas. Many of the violations pertain to the illegal extraction of CITES-listed timber species outside authorized areas. These findings highlight the need for additional reforms.

Investigating the Congruence of Crowdsourced Information With Official Government Data: The Case of Pediatric Clinics

BackgroundHealth 2.0 is a benefit to society by helping patients acquire knowledge about health care by harnessing collective intelligence. However, any misleading information can directly affect patients’ choices of hospitals and drugs, and potentially exacerbate their health condition.ObjectiveThis study investigates the congruence between crowdsourced information and official government data in the health care domain and identifies the determinants of low congruence where it exists. In-line with infodemiology, we suggest measures to help the patients in the regions vulnerable to inaccurate health information.MethodsWe text-mined multiple online health communities in South Korea to construct the data for crowdsourced information on public health services (173,748 messages). Kendall tau and Spearman rank order correlation coefficients were used to compute the differences in 2 ranking systems of health care quality: actual government evaluations of 779 hospitals and mining results of geospecific online health communities. Then we estimated the effect of sociodemographic characteristics on the level of congruence by using an ordinary least squares regression.ResultsThe regression results indicated that the standard deviation of married women’s education (P=.046), population density (P=.01), number of doctors per pediatric clinic (P=.048), and birthrate (P=.002) have a significant effect on the congruence of crowdsourced data (adjusted R 2=.33). Specifically, (1) the higher the birthrate in a given region, (2) the larger the variance in educational attainment, (3) the higher the population density, and (4) the greater the number of doctors per clinic, the more likely that crowdsourced information from online communities is congruent with official government data.ConclusionsTo investigate the cause of the spread of misleading health information in the online world, we adopted a unique approach by associating mining results on hospitals from geospecific online health communities with the sociodemographic characteristics of corresponding regions. We found that the congruence of crowdsourced information on health care services varied across regions and that these variations could be explained by geospecific demographic factors. This finding can be helpful to governments in reducing the potential risk of misleading online information and the accompanying safety issues.

Dynamics of Sheep Production in Brazil

Sheep production is present on all continents and has been practiced in Brazil since the colonization. In this study, the multitemporal dynamics of sheep production in Brazil is examined using official government data (Brazilian Institute for Geography and Statistics-IBGE) from 1976 to 2010. Maps of flock growth rates and growth acceleration maps by municipality were elaborated. The Southern states are seen to show a reduction in production mainly due to the wool crisis in the 1970s and 80s. The Northeast is seen to be important for meat production. More recently, centerwest and northern states have shown an increase in growth rates but this is still incipient. The maps of growth, acceleration and midpoint for sheep production showed a noticeable return to an increase in production in the South in recent years. The midpoint of production flow was in the northeast direction, which has stagnated. There was great dynamics in sheep production over the whole Brazilian territory, which affected supply chains due to the expansion of domestic and foreign markets. Areas with higher fluctuations in production are more vulnerable in terms of investment policies.

Educational, Economic and Social Status of Muslims in Western Uttar Pradesh (A Case Study of Aligarh, Bulandshaher, Meerut and Moradabad Districts)

Marginalization and under-development of the Muslim communities in India has been the subject of public debates and discussions in recent years. Very few empirical research studies exist on the social, economic, and educational conditions of Muslims across the country. Need of the day is to gather more data on the situation of the Muslim community in order to effectively develop programs and influence policy-making that will promote their development and empowerment in India. Thus, the present study is an attempt to describe the educational, economic and social status of Muslims in western Uttar Pradesh. The districts of Aligarh, Bulandshahr, Meerut, and Moradabad in western Uttar Pradesh have substantial Muslim populations and were thus chosen for field work. This study also tries to identify local Muslim organizations and social activists working in these districts in order to enable NGOs and other similar groups to establish links and develop joint activities for the empowerment of Muslims in an informed manner. The study has used both qualitative and quantitative methods of data collection. In order to document the views and perceptions of specific groups, the present study took recourse to questionnaire, interview schedule and focused group interview. In addition to this, the study has also taken into account some important secondary sources like official government data, reports, existing academic literature and the National Minority Commission. The study reveals that Muslim localities in urban as well as rural areas are considerably marginalized and discriminated against in terms of government resource allocation and left out of the development process. The deleterious impact of globalization and neo-liberal economic policies on vulnerable rural communities is obvious, and in particular, many rural Muslim families have been hit severely by these. It also shows that the situation of Muslims is quite similar to those of Dalits. Evidence suggests that the Muslims are treated like Dalits and second class citizens and are socially discriminated against. A host of factors, as the study points out, have been responsible for the marginalization of Muslims and thus the situation calls for urgent steps to remedy the situation and ameliorate their condition educationally, economically, socially and politically.

The Political Economy of Stabilisation Funds: Measuring their Success in Resource‐Dependent Countries

SummaryThis paper seeks to make a meaningful contribution to the literature on the use of stabilisation funds in resource‐dependent countries, by proposing a new manner by which to measure their effectiveness. Since the 1950s, over 30 countries have used these instruments to stabilise resource revenues into their budgets to avoid the resource curse and Dutch disease and/or to save income from non‐renewables. As has been documented by case studies, these countries have had a mixed record in attaining their goals.This paper is novel in that it aggregates quantitative results of fund performance through the compilation of a new database of detailed fiscal indicators for, put together through the extraction of data from hundreds of IMF documents containing official government data. The cross‐country analysis of fiscal performance provides a new direction for the measurement of the effectiveness of stabilisation funds and the underlying political economy reasons for their success or failure.Because these funds serve a purpose of both stabilisation and savings, it is argued that their effectiveness should be measured by a success variable which is an indicator of sustainable fiscal performance. This is defined by its impact along three dimensions: fiscal revenues, fiscal expenditures and savings. By looking at the underlying economic and political conditions, as well as the attributes of stabilisation funds which drive success, some interesting conclusions are reached.First, stabilisation funds matter. Although there is no a priori economic reason to create one, their presence leads to better fiscal outcomes.Second, the governance of stabilisation funds is the most important factor in determining their success. An independent civil service is positive for success, while open and regulated political systems are actually found to be detrimental, contrary to what the literature assumed.Finally, the rules of the stabilisation fund are also crucial. Discretion over resources is negative for success, while earmarking is positive. This means that these funds work best when they are relatively rigid and less susceptible to capture by politicians.

Comparative analysis of the carbon footprints of conventional and online retailing

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to focus on the carbon intensity of “last mile” deliveries (i.e. deliveries of goods from local depots to the home) and personal shopping trips.Design/methodology/approachSeveral last mile scenarios are constructed for the purchase of small, non‐food items, such as books, CDs, clothing, cameras and household items. Official government data, operational data from a large logistics service provider, face‐to‐face and telephone interviews with company managers and realistic assumptions derived from the literature form the basis of the calculations. Allowance has been made for home delivery failures, “browsing” trips to the shops and the return of unwanted goods.FindingsOverall, the research suggests that, while neither home delivery nor conventional shopping has an absolute CO2 advantage, on average, the home delivery operation is likely to generate less CO2 than the typical shopping trip. Nevertheless, CO2 emissions per item for intensive/infrequent shopping trips by bus could match online shopping/home delivery.Research limitations/implicationsThe number of items purchased per shopping trip, the choice of travel mode and the willingness to combine shopping with other activities and to group purchases into as few shopping trips or online transactions as possible are shown to be critical factors. Online retailers and home delivery companies could also apply measures (e.g. maximising drop densities and increasing the use of electric vehicles) to enhance the CO2 efficiency of their logistical operations and gain a clearer environmental advantage.Practical implicationsBoth consumers and suppliers need to be made more aware of the environmental implications of their respective purchasing behaviour and distribution methods so that potential CO2 savings can be made.Originality/valueThe paper offers insights into the carbon footprints of conventional and online retailing from a “last mile” perspective.

Costs of Mediterranean and western dietary patterns in a Spanish cohort and their relationship with prospective weight change

Background:There is a scarcity of studies evaluating the relationship between food costs and adherence to different food patterns and obesity.Methods:This was a dynamic cohort of Spanish university graduates (n =...

Epidemiological pattern and mortality rates for hepatitis A in Brazil, 1980-2002: a review

The prevalence of hepatitis A virus (HAV) infection is high in developing countries, in which low standards of sanitation promote the transmission of the virus. In Latin America, which is considered an area of high HAV endemicity, most HAV-positive individuals are infected in early childhood However recent studies have shown that prevalence rates are decreasing. Herein, we review the data on HAV prevalence and outbreaks available in scientific databases. We also use official government data in order to evaluate mortality rates in Brazil over the last two decades. Studies conducted in the northernmost regions of Brazil have indicated that, although improved hygiene has led to a reduction in childhood exposure to HAV, the greatest exposure still occurs early in life. In the Southeastern region, the persistence of circulating HAV has generated outbreaks among individuals of low socioeconomic status, despite adequate sanitation. Nationwide, hepatitis A mortality rates declined progressively from 1980 to 2002. During that period, mortality rates in the Northern region consistently exceeded the mean national rate and those for other regions. Excluding the North, the rates in all regions were comparable. Nevertheless, the trend toward decline observed in the South was paralleled by a similar trend in the North.

Play as the main event in international and UK culture

Play has become a dominant trend in the culture of Western adults. This chapter of Cultural Trends looks at its prevalence and growth. The first section briefly discusses what play is. The second provides an overview of playful varieties of leisure in the US and worldwide, and sums up some of the main trends that have emerged. The third follows the same method in relation to the UK. The fourth section looks at the increasing incidence of play at work, while the final section draws conclusions from the evidence presented. Throughout, special attention is played to the role of information technology in play. Five industries are covered extensively ‐ computer games; gambling; sport; performing arts; and fairs, theme parks and adventure holidays. Attendance at, participation in and paid employment in play constitute three levels of engagement in it. This chapter tries to measure these levels of engagement by bringing together just some of the vast but disparate literature and statistics on play. The range of sources drawn upon is varied. Inspired by the perspectives of writers in economics, politics, sociology and technology, this chapter uses official government data, and data taken from the business press, to illustrate its ideas. The chapter asks and answers the following three questions: • Does play provide spaces and moments of freedom that, fortunately enough, lie beyond the grasp of market forces? • Is the entertainment provided by play genuinely educational, or does absorption in play instead represent a degraded notion of the Self? • By favouring mass attendance at, mass participation in and mass employment in playful activities, have UK government policies advanced the cause of culture ‐ or have they set it back?

Gender and Pay in Taiwan: Men's Attitudes in 1963 and 1991

On May 22, 1994 more than a thousand university students and women's rights advocates marched through the streets of Taipei. The protest sought to push the government into action against sexual harassment in schools, hospitals and the workplace, and to heighten awareness of male chauvinism in Taiwan. The protesters decried discrimination in the workplace and called for equal pay for equal work (Chan, 1994b: 4). The latter issue is the subject of this paper. Some feminists argue that discrimination against women is a result of (Hartmann, 1976). To sustain this claim, it is necessary to identify the specific elements of patriarchy that lead to specific aspects of discrimination. While many feminist studies focus exclusively on women, this paper deals with the attitudes of men. This makes sense given the theory of patriarchy: Hartmann's (1976) classic formulation argued that women are kept out of good jobs by a collusion among - as husbands, employers, legislators and workers. Such a cartel or gentlemen's agreement is seen as benefiting as a group at the expense of women as a group. The paper first reviews official government data from the Republic of China on women's earnings as a percentage of men's earnings in Taiwan. Hypotheses are then formulated to account for (1) stability or change in Taiwanese men's attitudes toward gender pay equality, as measured in two surveys in Taipei conducted 28 years apart, in 1963 and in 1991, and (2) why, in both the 1963 and the 1991 samples, some favored, while others opposed, equal pay for equal work for and women. Following the description of the methods and data we present the findings and discuss their implications. Gender Wage Differences in Taiwan The earliest data I have been able to find for Taiwan indicate that in 1973 women on average earned 54.5% of men's wages in manufacturing and 71.3% in service industry jobs (Cheng and Hsiung, 1993). Gannicott (1986) reported that women in Taiwan earned only 64% of men's earnings in 1982. When he decomposed these gross salary differentials, he found that Even in the absence of any discrimination, women would still earn only about 85% of the male salary. This is because women as a group are far less endowed with productivity-enhancing characteristics (Gannicott, 1986: 724). But he stressed that men in Taiwan receive a constant premium over the female salary, even for approximately equal work for equal productivities (Gannicott, 1986: 725; for a similar finding in the United States, see Treiman, Hartmann and Roos, 1984). The wage rate of women in Taiwan's Export Processing Zones is set 10% to 20% lower than that of employed in similar work (Fitting, 1982: 737). Cheng and Hsiung (1993: 48) found that the ratio of average wages for women compared to in Taiwan in 1988 varied by occupational level - from only 48% of men's wages among production workers to 62% in clerical work and a high of 80% in managerial and administrative occupations. For 1991, the data in Table 1 indicate that average monthly earnings of women as a percent of men's earnings in Taiwan varied from a low of 60.1% among salaried (i.e., white collar) employees in manufacturing to a high of 85.3% for non-supervisory personnel in financial and other business service industry jobs. The focus of organizers of the women's movement in Taiwan, beginning in the 1980s, was mainly on equal pay and work opportunities and shared household responsibilities between and women (Lee, 1991: 219). But the official data we have summarized show that the goal of equal pay for equal work for women and is still far from realized in Taiwan. There is no law in the Republic of China as of 1994 that requires employers to give equal pay for equal work, but the Council of Labor Affairs has a draft law with provisions for equal pay for equal work and fines for employers with more than 30 employees who discriminate against women when determining salaries, granting promotions and offering benefits. …