Principles Of Access Research Articles

Financial crisis and income-related inequalities in the universal provision of a public service: the case of healthcare in Spain

BackgroundThe objective of this paper is to analyse whether the recent recession has altered health care utilisation patterns of different income groups in Spain.MethodsBased on information concerning individuals ‘income and health care use, along with health need indicators and demographic characteristics (provided by the Spanish National Health Surveys from 2006/07 and 2011/12), econometric models are estimated in two parts (mixed logistic regressions and truncated negative binominal regressions) for each of the public health services studied (family doctor appointments, appointments with specialists, hospitalisations, emergencies and prescription drug use).ResultsThe results show that the principle of universal access to public health provision does not in fact prevent a financial crisis from affecting certain income groups more than others in their utilisation of public health services.ConclusionsSpecifically, in relative terms the recession has been more detrimental to low-income groups in the cases of specialist appointments and hospitalisations, whereas it has worked to their advantage in the cases of emergency services and family doctor appointments.

What Are the Factors Influencing Implementation of Advanced Access in Family Medicine Units? A Cross-Case Comparison of Four Early Adopters in Quebec.

Introduction Advanced access is an organizational model that has shown promise in improving timely access to primary care. In Quebec, it has recently been introduced in several family medicine units (FMUs) with a teaching mission. The objectives of this paper are to analyze the principles of advanced access implemented in FMUs and to identify which factors influenced their implementation. Methods A multiple case study of four purposefully selected FMUs was conducted. Data included document analysis and 40 semistructured interviews with health professionals and staff. Cross-case comparison and thematic analysis were performed. Results Three out of four FMUs implemented the key principles of advanced access at various levels. One scheduling pattern was observed: 90% of open appointment slots over three- to four-week periods and 10% of prebooked appointments. Structural and organizational factors facilitated the implementation: training of staff to support change, collective leadership, and openness to change. Conversely, family physicians practicing in multiple clinical settings, lack of team resources, turnover of clerical staff, rotation of medical residents, and management capacity were reported as major barriers to implementing the model. Conclusion Our results call for multilevel implementation strategies to improve the design of the advanced access model in academic teaching settings.

Zero Rating As The Demon And The Saviour: Rethinking Net Neutrality And Freedom Of Expression For The Global South

"Zero-rated mobile applications like Internet. org have been characterised both as a supposed exterminator of the digital divide and as a violation of net neutrality in developing countries like India. This serves to illustrate how net neutrality and bridging digital divide have been posited as goals in contradiction to each other. How this seeming contradiction is relevant to developing a more nuanced understanding of the freedom of speech and expression and of net neutrality is the subject of the present paper. Accordingly, the paper is divided into three broad sections: I begin by analysing how far different conceptions of freedom of speech and expression respond to private forms of clamping of speech. To do this, I invoke Jack Balkin’s theory of democratic culture and contextualise it against the jurisprudence on freedom of expression in contexts of private discrimination in India. I then illustrate how a negative interpretation of net neutrality is able to successfully address some of these forms of private discrimination. Thereafter, the second section begins by tracing the forms of private discrimination, which negative net neutrality is unable to address by delineating the different kinds of (lack of) internet access. It then maps these factors hindering internet access against two important aspects of freedom of speech and expression, viz. the principle of media diversity and the goal of expanding citizens’ access to media infrastructure, some aspects of which can be termed structural media access. In the third section of this paper, I argue that the delinking of the principles of media diversity and structural media access in law and policy debates hinders an inclusive response to all forms of private discrimination. Thereafter, through an examination of TRAI’s policy engagement with these issues, I argue that these principles need to be relinked for the development of a concept of net neutrality which comprehensively addresses the concerns of freedom of speech and expression for citizens in the global south."

La definición de nuevos estándares en materia de participación ciudadana en el sistema de evaluación de impacto ambiental

La Ley 19.300, sobre Bases Generales del Medio Ambiente, del año 1994, brindó el primer marco legal para la protección ambiental en el país, en el contexto de la Cumbre de Río realizada dos años antes. Luego de las recomendaciones efectuadas por la OCDE en el sentido de fortalecer la institucionalidad ambiental (2005), el legislador dicta la Ley 20.417 que introduce la reforma ambiental (2010) y la Ley 20.600 que crea los tribunales ambientales (2012). La primera amplía el ámbito de aplicación de la participación ciudadana del sistema de evaluación de impacto ambiental; sin embargo, es el trabajo jurisprudencial del Segundo Tribunal Ambiental el que permitirá comprender el real alcance de la modificación legislativa. Esta judicatura especializada desarrolla nuevos estándares de participación ciudadana en el marco del proyecto de la Empresa de Ferrocarriles del Estado. Se trata de una interpretación amplia del principio en miras a una aplicación real y no únicamente formal del mismo, lo que contribuye al fortalecimiento de esta institución en relación al principio de acceso a la información y a la justicia en materia ambiental.

Motivational Factors for Faculty Contribution to Institutional Repositories and their Awareness of Open Access Publishing

The main objective of the study was to examine the perceptions and attitudes towards Institutional Repositories (IR) and open access publishing among the faculty members in the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka. Survey method was adapted and a questionnaire was distributed among all permanent academics in the Faculty of Arts, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka. The results revealed that only 40% of the respondents were aware of open access publishing and nearly 15% of them had never heard of "open access". These results gave an insight that majority of the respondents are not familiar with 'open access'. The results further revealed that 15% of the respondents learnt about institutional repositories through web search engine while 13% learnt from information provided at faculty or meeting held in the university and by working in subject based archives. Only 44% of the respondents were aware of the university digital repository and 47% mentioned that they were not aware of it. The interesting finding is that 55% of the respondents reported their willingness to contribute to the university digital repository in future while 18% of them were not willing to contribute. Most of the respondents contributed to IR because they support the principle of open access and the major barrier to contribute to IR is fear of plagiarism.

Los sistemas de información en Udelar. Un camino sin retorno.

So documented since 2000 the university of the republic included in their development plans the need for an integrated information system. This longing has been historically linked to specific management needs. It has never been clearly defined as a predominantly academic activity, tending to confuse, information system with system of indicators. The combination of these three elements (management specific needs, attention to needs of specific information in the hands of administrative and technical staff, with little formal participation), has led to the creation of systems with low level of integration, based on management platforms, storage and development of heterogeneous applications (GIEPE, 2016). Technological speed change is the engine of inevitable transformations. However, they can take more or less time, implying higher or lower costs, depending on the resistances that oppose it. Likewise, their most immediate benefits tend, and will continue to tend to diminish the quantity and quality of “face-to-face” interactions and, with them, weaken some of the processes of construction and accumulation of knowledge that characterize institutions such as ours. So, to the characteristics and functionalities, which traditionally define information systems, it is necessary to add the horizontal basic management information. Definitely, current efforts to create a system of cross horizontal management information are affected by old and new dangers: reduce information to the indicators, determine centrally what information is required and administratively govern access to it. The longing for strategic planning, as well as the goal of university development based on the principles of equity and free access, can not survive in the suffocating confinement of property and the concealment of information, vices in which the institution seems to be anchored. The whole world is going the other way. However, we continue to hesitate. Do not delay or pay more than necessary to achieve this.

Barriers to Primary Care in Lima, Peru

Given Peru's epidemiologic transition, this exploratory study sought to understand the role that primary care holds in Lima's medical system. Key stakeholders in Peru were administered semi‐structured qualitative interviews to understand the factors that influence the availability and quality of primary care. Five areas were targeted for inquiry: financing, the training of primary care providers, access to services, patients’ first contact with the health‐care system, and treatment coordination. Interviewees described primary health‐care services as having a lack of treatment continuity, inconsistent record keeping, and often staffed by recent medical graduates with little primary care training, which can manifest to reduce the use of primary care services. Despite identifying numerous barriers to quality primary care services, interviewees remained committed to the principles of universal access espoused by Peruvian legislation and offered recommendations related to metrics, financing, technology, and workforce development to improve both primary care access and quality.

The place of periodontal examination and referral in general medicine.

In many countries, dental services, unlike other health-care services, are not covered by the principle of universal access. It is only in the last couple of decades that there has been a greater interaction between medicine and dentistry. Various health-care systems worldwide may provide public dental services to the young and the disadvantaged, but few provide access to all. Public policy does not appear to appreciate the vast economic, health and social implications of poor oral health on the overall health of an individual. Recognizing and acting on the interrelatedness between oral health and overall health helps to protect patients from pathological diseases, such as infective endocarditis, suboptimal glycemic control and deterioration in renal function. This review article examines some of the medical conditions to which patients are predisposed as a result of poor dental care. Additionally, the paper provides some real-life case examples to support this hypothesis, reinforces the importance of a strong relationship that needs to be embedded between the dentist and the physician and finally provides some suggestions for a multidisciplinary approach.

Improving agricultural knowledge management: The AgTrials experience

Background: Opportunities to use data and information to address challenges in international agricultural research and development are expanding rapidly. The use of agricultural trial and evaluation data has enormous potential to improve crops and management practices. However, for a number of reasons, this potential has yet to be realized. This paper reports on the experience of the AgTrials initiative, an effort to build an online database of agricultural trials applying principles of interoperability and open access. Methods: Our analysis evaluates what worked and what did not work in the development of the AgTrials information resource. We analyzed data on our users and their interaction with the platform. We also surveyed our users to gauge their perceptions of the utility of the online database. Results: The study revealed barriers to participation and impediments to interaction, opportunities for improving agricultural knowledge management and a large potential for the use of trial and evaluation data. Conclusions: Technical and logistical mechanisms for developing interoperable online databases are well advanced. More effort will be needed to advance organizational and institutional work for these types of databases to realize their potential.

Active encouragement of accessing archives: a prerequisite for democracy

How do archival institutions organize themselves actively and systematically to encourage and inspire citizens to use their right to access official documents? 2016 is the 250th anniversary of the Swedish Freedom of the Press Act. Archival institutions are key to enable this Act and its principle of public access to official documents. However, the public role of archival institutions is not something commonly discussed or prioritized – either in practice or in legislation. This article introduces a model describing different functions within the public role of archival institutions. The roles of the archivist and of the archive learning officer are analysed as mutually supportive and beneficial. Both roles are equally crucial to the public but have differing points of departure and focus on different needs and prerequisites of the users and of potential users of archives and records. To achieve the mind-set manifested in the model, both the staff of archival institutions and the public need help to change existing ideas and attitudes, but help is also needed in the form of legislation and professional training which prioritize these issues. Being a democratic institution means taking an active stance towards accessing archives in order to facilitate learning and development for everyone.

English

This paper looks at the relevance of archiving to legal education; especially in the area of case laws, differentiation of issues in a case, legal precedents and critiquing skills. It addresses the method of imparting legal knowledge which teaches law without including the indigenous background surrounding issues and principles of law; for a proper connection between the past and the present. It shows that legal education can never be complete if there is no recourse to indigenous historical background that connects legal precedents, using it to explain and differentiate legal principles; thereby portraying the essence of Archives as evidential by-products that provides precedents that could show when an issue in the past has re occurred; and thus provide information on legal steps to follow in the present. This, in effect, show that archives has the prospects of providing a new paradigm to legal education in the area of legal precedence, review of laws, foreknowledge of effects of laws and societal norms. Thereby producing a well educated lawyer who is able to handle confidently issues in any case and challenge extant laws based on its effect on the indigenous society. This paper shows how the principles of provenance, original order, access and appraisal of information could be applied in Nigerian legal education. Key words: Archives, Law archives, Nigerian Law Library, legal records, legal services, legal education and legal precedent.

Modelling the Replication Management in Information Systems

IntroductionThis paper presents the development stages of a model of a distributed system in which the primordial abstract elements are the process and the connection (link) between processes. This paper deals with the problem of communication between the processes within the distributed system, with the concept of message exchange between processes, and also presents the problem of distributed agreement.This paper presents the importance of two concepts: the logical time of a distributed system and the causal order of messages. All of these concepts are necessary to define a model of a distributed system in which some processes have the role of management of the operations carried out by other processes which only have an execution role.After presenting of the processes of the system components, there is an abstraction of the exchange of messages between the processes of the distributed system. In the next step, an abstract model of a distributed system is proposed and analyzed, in which there are modelled several worker-processes controlled by a manager-process, which runs on different host than the worker's. The model described here forms the basis for the development of a distributed system tolerant of faults, which uses the replication of operations.Based on the abstract model of the distributed system previously presented, a replication model is proposed, for operations and data based on the structure of a distributed system containing several worker-processes. After the presentation of a list of objectives for the fault-tolerant system, a logical separation of management operations from the execution operations and data storage is proposed.Web services are increasingly used in distributed systems, applications and services of outmost importance. For distributed systems, the architecture oriented on services, SOA - Service Oriented Architecture is already accepted as being the architecture able to interconnect applications running on different operating systems and facilitates the complex interactions between autonomous systems and heterogeneous ones, either within organizations or between organizations in relations of B2B (business-to-business) type. Web services allow software applications found in different organizations (company) to interact with each other, even if those organizations use different hardware systems, or operating systems and even different programming languages. Web services are able to standardize and improve the effectiveness of business activities on the Internet by automatically invoking operations which otherwise should be invoked manually by a human operator. So, Web services allow direct interactions between computers located in different organizations.Based on Web services it is possible to build technologies to support interoperability with Decision Support Systems. Important aspects for healthcare systems are described in [1], where the proposed technology is meant to raise the interoperability degree between different medical information systems is described. Web Services ensure communication between medical units automatically with minimum human intervention, which is an essential requirement when designing applications for users in the medical domain.The design of applications based on Web services can take into account important aspects in creation of new levels of abstraction, giving a special importance to scalability and adaptability. Due to a growing importance given to resource-oriented Web services, the authors must implement the principle of organizing the algorithmic resources in multi-level hierarchy and the principle of uniform access to resources. In order to implement these principles, an architectural model of Web applications is promoted in [2].2Availability and Reliability of Distributed SystemsThe failures and damages of web applications may lead to incorrect processing or even to the system failure in the business of e-commerce type, e-banking or other systems based on transactions. …

Improving agricultural knowledge management: The AgTrials experience.

Background: Opportunities to use data and information to address challenges in international agricultural research and development are expanding rapidly. The use of agricultural trial and evaluation data has enormous potential to improve crops and management practices. However, for a number of reasons, this potential has yet to be realized. This paper reports on the experience of the AgTrials initiative, an effort to build an online database of agricultural trials applying principles of interoperability and open access. Methods: Our analysis evaluates what worked and what did not work in the development of the AgTrials information resource. We analyzed data on our users and their interaction with the platform. We also surveyed our users to gauge their perceptions of the utility of the online database. Results: The study revealed barriers to participation and impediments to interaction, opportunities for improving agricultural knowledge management and a large potential for the use of trial and evaluation data. Conclusions: Technical and logistical mechanisms for developing interoperable online databases are well advanced. More effort will be needed to advance organizational and institutional work for these types of databases to realize their potential.

Towards a multidimensional framework for measuring household energy access: Application to South Africa

Debate continues around appropriate metrics to measure energy access for the poor. Whilst the underlying principles of energy access, for example affordability or safety, may be universal, the ways in which we define or measure these may vary across different regions. Much of the literature on metrics focuses on standardisation of measures that can have universal applicability. Whilst important for the international community, there is also a need to develop metrics that reflect contextual specificities to be useful to in-country stakeholders. This study has sought to develop a multi-dimensional framework of indicators, with the focus on how to operationalise these in contextually distinct ways that respond to local issues. A framework is developed representing four key dimensions: fuel use, affordability, safety and reliability. The paper offers methodological insights into the development of each and they are developed for the South African context. This illustrates the ways in which a particular context influences both how an indicator is conceptualised, as well as the choice of methods to operationalise it. Indicators aim to be responsive to, and informed by, localised factors such as the particular energy user and supply contexts, the policy environment and data availability.

A ESTABILIZAÇÃO DA TUTELA ANTECIPADA COMO INSTRUMENTO DE EFETIVIDADE DA JURISDIÇÃO EM FACE DO DIREITO FUNDAMENTAL AO CONTRADITÓRIO

O presente artigo tem como objeto de estudo o instituto processual de estabilização da tutela antecipada de urgência e como perspectiva de análise a teoria dos direitos fundamentais. Pretende-se investigar a fundamentalidade material do instituto tomando como premissa teórica a dupla natureza do princípio do acesso à justiça enquanto direito e garantia fundamental. Nessa linha de pesquisa, defende-se a tutela antecipada de urgência e sua estabilização como regra instrumental do direito fundamental de acesso à justiça e como conteúdo assecuratório derivado da garantia fundamental de acesso à justiça. Defende-se, contudo, que a fundamentalidade material do instituto somente poderá ser sustentada se a estabilidade de uma tutela proferida no âmbito da cognição sumária não ofender, em sua gênese, o direito fundamental ao contraditório.

Image-ining resistance: using participatory action research and visual methods in sport for development and peace

Sport for development and peace scholars have recently called for a move towards participatory action research (PAR). In this paper, I discuss the utility of visual research methods, guided by a postcolonial feminist (PF)PAR approach that was taken up in two studies examining SDP programmes: the first with Indigenous young women in Canada, and the second with young women in Nicaragua. To conclude, I illustrate how the Indigenous-guided research principles of ownership, control, access and possession may usefully frame a discussion of the challenges involved in pursuing a PFPAR approach.

Liberalism, Disfigured

Liberalism, Disfigured

Features of the Principle of Ensure Non-Discriminatory Interested Non-Owner Access to Public Property Objects

The paper contains the results of author’s analysis of constitutional fundamentals of the existence and implementation of the prin- ciple providing a nondiscriminatory access to the public property assets for the interested third parties. On the basis of legal dogmatic approach strengthened with methodologies of legal axiology and legal constructivism there are arguments represented in the paper, which make evident that this principle is being extracted from the relevant provisions of the Russian Constitution as well as having in fact its use in the framework of law-creation and law-execution activities. At the same time, the aforementioned principle yet has no its plain and consistent fixation in the texts of sub-constitutional normative acts. This is the reason of certain difficulties concerning the issue of regulatory meaning of the principle, which is being explored in the paper. Author makes general conclusion that the criterial indicator, which demonstrates whether a required balance of conditions, regulating an access to the public property assets for the interested third parties, is achieved, should be the good faith of legislative and law-executive decisions undertaken by governmental institutions in the framework of their public administration in the field of public property relations. However, in this context the absence of legal discrimination of the interested third parties should not necessarily imply that their eco- nomic inequality is inadmissible.

Attitudes to justice in a rural community

This paper offers a timely investigation into access to justice in rural areas through place-based research. The paper reports an empirical study designed to gain the local knowledge and personal experience of one particular group of rural dwellers in the hope that it might help encourage a wider discussion on access to rural justice. The research has been conducted within the wider socio-political context of austerity that provides a challenge to public-sector service delivery in general, alongside the particular legal impact of budget cuts on the provision of justice, with closures of large amounts of courts, the decline in legal aid provision and reductions in police numbers. Such are important issues for England and Wales as a whole, meaning that this research is contemporary and represents one of the first academic studies to specifically deal with the impact of austerity on access to justice. The value of this research is further heightened with its focus on the specific rural impact of such cuts as rural areas are those likely to face the biggest effect on provision while concomitantly being the least studied area of legal provision, with notably little scholarship in the past two decades into justice in rural England and Wales. Considering the damage these cuts may cause to rural justice is a current issue of utmost importance to the principle of access to justice. The paper offers the foundations upon which a new wave of academic attention to justice in rural areas should be developed, reflecting the need to give due credence to the rural in contemporary socio-legal scholarship.

Responses to Salduz : Procedural Tradition, Change and the Need for Effective Defence

This article examines the responses of national courts to the ECtHR's decision in Salduz v Turkey that suspects be provided with access to a lawyer before they are first interrogated by the police. It argues that harmonious application of human rights standards in criminal proceedings should build upon common values underpinning the procedural traditions of member states. ECtHR success in gaining acceptance for the principle of access to a lawyer during police interrogation, anchoring it in the privilege against incrimination, is contrasted with resistance towards giving the defence any active role during criminal investigations. It is argued that this resistance can be overcome by an appeal to safeguards that have long dominated the trial process. As the investigation phase increasingly determines the outcome of criminal proceedings, standards of fairness traditionally reserved for the trial process should be applied also to this phase in order to provide suspects with an effective defence.