Access Restrictions Research Articles

A method for automatically identifying vacant area in the current urban environment based on open source data

Urban development and effective land use planning are critical factors in creating sustainable and functional cities. Identifying vacant areas with development potential plays a crucial role in optimizing urban resources and contributes to making informed decisions for new projects and urban transformations. This paper presents a method for identifying vacant territories in the current urban environment to accommodate different infrastructures. The method uses modern technology and open-source data to identify vacant area that can become the object of urban planning and new construction projects. Taking into account such factors as accessibility, zoning rules and urban planning restrictions, the method offers a systematic approach to the assessment of urban development potential. The article describes the main steps of the method, including site selection, extracting sites and functional zones from public data sources, checking for compliance with urban planning regulations and restrictions, and cleaning up the data to eliminate geometric inconsistencies and shallow areas. Through detailed explanations, examples, and recommendations, this paper aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the method and its application in urban planning practice. The results of this study have important implications for sustainable urban development by enabling informed decision-making that meets the needs and aspirations of communities, contributing to economic growth and improving the overall quality of life. Ultimately, the method developed to identify vacant spaces offers a valuable tool for urban planners and decision-makers seeking to optimize land use and create dynamic and sustainable cities.

'Loob' and 'labas': Spatial constructions of safety and risk amid the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines.

This article argues that local constructions of risky and safe spaces, as articulated by the notions 'loob' (inside) and 'labas' (outside), informed popular and political responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines, leading to an overemphasis on staying at home and, conversely, a general avoidance or fear of outdoor spaces that was at times reinforced by public health authorities. Practices and policies related to the pandemic response rendered this binary opposition between 'loob' and 'labas' visible, from regulations concerning the use of personal protective equipment to restrictions of access to outdoor spaces. While this emergent form of bodily proxemics was contested and negotiated over time, its tenacity throughout the pandemic underscores the importance of understanding how people spatialize risk in times of health crises.

Restrictions of access to services and a decrease in their quality under crisis conditions – study results

Restrictions of access to services and a decrease in their quality under crisis conditions – study results

THE IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON SOCIAL LIFE IN IRAQ

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the world unprecedentedly, and Iraq is no exception. This study investigates how the pandemic affected people's regular activities, free time, and interpersonal connections in Iraq. Data for this qualitative study was gathered via interviews with Iraqi citizens. The data show that the outbreak has significantly altered social life in Iraq. Due to social isolation strategies, many people have altered their daily routines to avoid contracting the disease.Consequently, more and more individuals rely on technological forms of interaction. This has been a challenge for many Iraqis because of the country's technology and internet access restrictions. Due to the pandemic, many celebrations and activities must be postponed or canceled. Consequently, people need a greater sense of belonging and involvement in their communities. Some people's stress and anxiety levels increased due to the outbreak, the study found, perhaps due to the loss of social connections. The COVID-19 pandemic still ravages Iraqi society.While there is no denying the benefits of technological progress, many have also seen a decline in their interest in traditional forms of entertainment and interpersonal contact. It is essential to deal with these problems to enhance the lives of Iraqis and make communities more resilient to future calamities.Keywords:COVID-19, pandemic, Iraq, daily routines, social activities, interpersonal relationships, socialdistancing, community cohesion, social support, well-being.

Ex-ante and Ex-post Access Restrictions in Marketplaces’ Terms of Service

Ex-ante and Ex-post Access Restrictions in Marketplaces’ Terms of Service

Security and Privacy in a Blockchain-Powered Access Control System for Low Emission Zones

Low Emission Zones (LEZ)s are areas where access restrictions to polluting vehicles are enforced. These infrastructures have become a main mechanism in large cities to deal with urban traffic and environmental pollution. A main problem of practical LEZs is that they generally depend on a camera network that identifies users and jeopardizes their privacy. In the literature, there are some privacy-preserving works that rely on camera-free approaches; however, they still suffer from a major issue: they depend on centralized entities to manage the vehicles’ accesses/departures and their corresponding fee payment. Those centralized entities represent a critical single point of failure in the system, endangering its security and availability. In order to address this situation, this paper proposes a new scheme that decentralizes the LEZ management, dealing with vehicle accesses as blockchain transactions, and pricing and charging them using smart contracts. In order to validate the deployability of the new scheme in real scenarios, it has been implemented and tested in both a controlled environment and a low-traffic street. The evaluation of the smart contracts’ costs in terms of gas has been included in the performed tests. The results obtained are satisfactory and show the feasibility of the new proposal.

Tackling diabetic foot: limb salvage during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lower extremity amputation resulting from diabetic foot ulcer, with neuropathic and/or ischemic etiologies, remains a devastating and costly complication of diabetes mellitus. This study evaluated changes in care delivery of diabetic foot ulcer patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. A longitudinal assessment evaluating the ratio of major lower extremity amputation to minor lower extremity amputations after implementation of novel strategies to combat access restrictions was compared to the pre-COVID-19 era. The ratio of major to minor lower extremity amputation (i.e. the high-to-low ratio) was assessed at two academic institutions, the University of Michigan, and University of Southern California, in a population of patients with diabetes who had direct access to multidisciplinary foot care clinics in the 2 years prior to the pandemic and the first 2 years of the COVID-19 pandemic. Patient characteristics and volumes including patients with diabetes and those with a diabetic foot ulcer were similar between eras. In addition, inpatient diabetic foot-related admissions were similar, but were suppressed by government shelter in placed mandates and subsequent COVID-19 variants surges (e.g. delta, omicron). In the control group, the Hi-Lo ratio increased every 6 months by an average of 11.8%. Meanwhile, following STRIDE implementation during the pandemic, the Hi-Lo ratio reduced by (-)11% (p < 0.001) and doubled limb salvage efforts as compared to the baseline era. The reduction of the Hi-Lo ratio was not influenced significant by patient volumes or inpatient admissions for foot infections. These findings signify the importance of podiatric care in the at-risk diabetic foot population. Through strategic planning and rapid implementation of at-risk diabetic foot ulcer triage, multidisciplinary teams were able to maintain accessible care during the pandemic which resulted in a reduction of amputations. Furthermore, this manuscript highlights the value of the Hi-Lo ratio as an indicator of institutional limb salvage efforts.

Accumulation by dispossession: The timber ‘salvage’ project on Ghana's Volta Lake

In this paper, we analyse how processes of accumulation by dispossession take place and are exacerbated on Ghana's Volta Lake, the largest artificial lake in the world. Drawing on the case of an underwater timber ‘salvage’ project on the lake, we argue that contrary to dominant discourses in policy circles that the project would boost the local economy, enhance safer lake transport, and help to mitigate climate change, the project led to the commodification of the lake thereby negatively affecting fishers’ livelihoods. Following David Harvey, we argue that the underwater timber ‘salvage’ project on the Volta Lake is just another vehicle of ‘accumulation by dispossession’. The study shows that the state and extractive company accumulate profit at the expense of fishers whose livelihoods have been curtailed following restrictions in access to the lake and landowners who are challenging ownership of the timber being extracted from the lake. Global connections are made, and the inequalities and injustice enacted through the execution of the project are amplified.

Augmented reality strategy as a didactic alternative in rural public schools in Colombia

AbstractThere are access restrictions to the technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution for rural schools in Colombia. These schools, with few students and teachers geographically dispersed, do not benefit from the possibilities of these technologies in the classroom. These educational institutions are governed by the “Escuela Nueva” model that defines several specific methodological moments. The objective of this study was to design a strategy based on augmented reality (AR) for didactic intervention in the classroom, which allows students to interact with educational resources and break down barriers both related to access to technology and related to the role in learning processes. Educational activities were defined, and a mobile application based on AR was developed for schools in Samaná‐Colombia, integrated with the pedagogical moments of the educational model and at the same time strengthening AMID skills (information literacy and digital media) in the teaching work. Instruments were applied seeking to know the benefits in the classroom and the perception of students and teachers. The results show, preliminarily, that the use of AR in learning activities in this rural school makes it possible to bring students and teachers closer to these technologies, generating motivation and improving the effectiveness of the process, additionally is well accepted in the academic community. Experiments show that if they are included harmoniously in the pedagogical model, it does not interfere, nor is it a distraction for other academic activities. The Contribution paper to empirically validate AR in education generate learning in students of armed conflict zones.

A qualitative study on gender barriers to access cataract surgery in rural Gurugram, Haryana, India

This study aims to comprehend nuances of gender barriers to access cataract surgery in the rural population of Gurugram district, Haryana, India. Data from 100 male and 100 female cataract surgery patients who underwent surgery at the university-affiliated hospital’s department of ophthalmology were examined. Data on the patients’ ages, the better eye’s and operated eye’s visual acuity, the cataract’s maturity at the time of surgery and the type of cataract surgery chosen were examined. Visual impairment was defined when the better eye’s visual acuity was less than 6/18 (0.32). At the time of surgery, women had a serious visual impairment in the better eye and also opted for a less expensive surgery option. In-depth interviews and focus group discussions were planned to understand the attitude, social norms and nuances of women’s accessibility to cataract surgery. This essay includes a qualitative investigation on access restrictions based on gender.

Association Between State-Level Access to Reproductive Care and Suicide Rates Among Women of Reproductive Age in the United States

Many states in the United States enforce restrictions to reproductive care, with access to abortion remaining a highly divisive issue. Denial of abortion is linked with heightened stress and anxiety among reproductive-aged women. However, no studies have tested whether access to reproductive care is linked to suicide. To evaluate whether state-level restrictions in access to reproductive care in the United States were associated with suicide rates among reproductive-aged women from 1974 to 2016. A longitudinal ecologic study with a difference-in-differences analysis assessed whether annual changes in the enforcement of state-level restrictions to reproductive care were related to annual state-level suicide rates vs rates of death due to motor vehicle crashes. Duration of follow-up varied between different states (range, 4-40 years), contingent on the first year that restrictions were implemented. Models controlled for year and state fixed effects and other relevant demographic and economic factors. Analyses were conducted between December 2021 and January 2022. Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers (TRAP) laws index measuring state-year-level restrictions to reproductive care. Annual state-level suicide rates and motor vehicle crash death rates among reproductive-aged women (ages 20-34 years; target group) vs women of postreproductive age (ages 45-64 years; control group). Twenty-one US states enforced at least 1 TRAP law between 1974 and 2016. Annual rates of death by suicide ranged from 1.4 to 25.6 per 100 000 women of reproductive age to 2.7 to 33.2 per 100 000 women of postreproductive age during the study period (1974-2016). Annual motor vehicle crash death rates among women of reproductive age ranged from 2.4 to 42.9 per 100 000. Enforcement of TRAP laws was associated with higher suicide rates among reproductive-aged women (β = 0.17; 95% CI, 0.03 to 0.32; P = .02) but not women of postreproductive age (β = 0.06; 95% CI, -0.11 to 0.24; P = .47) nor to deaths due to motor vehicle crashes (β = 0.03, 95% CI, -0.04 to 0.11; P = .36). Among reproductive-aged women, the weighted average annual-state level suicide death rate when no TRAP laws were enforced was 5.5 per 100 000. Enforcement of a TRAP law was associated with a 5.81% higher annual rate of suicide than in pre-enforcement years. Findings remained significant when using alternative, broader indices of reproductive care access and different age categorizations. In this study with a difference-in-differences analysis of US women, restrictions on access to reproductive care from 1974 to 2016 were associated with suicide rates among reproductive-aged women. Given the limitations of the ecologic design of this study, further research is needed to assess whether current factors affecting access to reproductive care services are related to suicide risk among women of reproductive age and to inform suicide prevention strategies.

Impact of pharmacist intervention to improve medication access for patients with diabetes

BackgroundDespite newer guideline-recommended antidiabetic agents demonstrating a reduction of disease burden and improved health outcomes, high drug cost and restrictive insurance coverage limit public access. To address this issue, many manufacturers offer free medication through manufacturer patient assistance programs. ObjectivesThis study aimed to determine the impact of pharmacist intervention using manufacturer patient assistance programs in individuals who are uninsured or enrolled in Medicare Part D prescription drug plan and to evaluate the impact of pharmacist utilization in meeting diabetic quality measures set forth by accountable care organizations (ACOs). MethodsThis single-center, retrospective cohort study evaluated 171 participants enrolled into a manufacturer patient assistance program owing to pharmacist intervention compared with 171 participants receiving usual care. The primary outcome was the change in glycosylated hemoglobin (A1c) between groups. Secondary outcomes included the impact of pharmacist management on change in weight, change in blood pressure, and the number of participants meeting ACO quality measures. ResultsThe average change in A1c in the intervention group was –2.5% compared with an average A1c reduction of –1.3% in the control group (95% CI –2.11 to –1.67, P < 0.001). The average change in weight of the intervention group was –4.01 kg, whereas the control group had an average weight reduction of –1.4 kg from baseline (95% CI –3.95 to –1.61, P < 0.05). The body mass index (BMI) of the intervention group was a value of 1.4 kg/m2 lower whereas the BMI of the control group was 0.6 kg/m2 lower than at baseline (95% CI –1.38 to –0.61, P < 0.05). ConclusionParticipants who were enrolled in a manufacturer patient assistance program by a pharmacist and were followed for diabetes care management experienced greater A1c lowering and weight loss than participants receiving usual care.

Smart Contract-Based Secure Decentralized Smart Healthcare System

Social distancing has been imposed to prevent substantial transmission of the COVID-19 outbreak, which is presently a global public health issue. Medical healthcare providers rely on telemedicine to monitor their patients, particularly those with chronic conditions. However, telemedicine faces many implementation-related risks, including data breaches, access restrictions within the medical community, inaccurate diagnosis, fraud, etc. The authors propose a transparent, tamper-proof, distributed, decentralized smart healthcare system (DSHS) that uses blockchain-based smart contracts. The authors use an immutable modified Merkel tree structure to hold the transaction for viewing contracts on a public blockchain, updating patient health records (PHR), and exchanging PHR to all entities. It is verified by a performance evaluation based on the Ethereum platform. The simulation results show that the proposed system outperforms existing approaches by enhancing transparency, boosting efficiency, and reducing average latency in the system. The proposed system improves the functionality of the SHS environment.

Randomized Trials Fit for the 21st Century: A Joint Opinion From the European Society of Cardiology, American Heart Association, American College of Cardiology, and the World Heart Federation.

Randomized Trials Fit for the 21st Century: A Joint Opinion From the European Society of Cardiology, American Heart Association, American College of Cardiology, and the World Heart Federation.

Distributed query execution under access restrictions

The availability of a multitude of data sources has naturally increased the need for subjects to collaborate for supporting distributed computations that combine different data collections for their elaboration and analysis. Due to the quick pace at which datasets grow, often the authorities collecting and owning such datasets resort to external third parties (e.g., cloud providers) for their storage and management. Data under the control of different authorities are autonomously encrypted (using different encryption schemes and keys) for their external storage. This makes distributed computations combining these sources difficult to support. In this paper, we propose an approach enabling collaborative computations over data encrypted in storage, selectively involving also subjects that might not be authorized for accessing the data in plaintext when their collaboration is considered economically convenient. We also consider the possible adoption of trusted hardware components, to enable the evaluation of operations over plaintext data at non-fully trusted computational providers. The experimental results confirm the economic benefits that can be enabled by our proposal.

Histone H3.3 deposition in seed is essential for the post-embryonic developmental competence in Arabidopsis

The acquisition of germination and post-embryonic developmental ability during seed maturation is vital for seed vigor, an important trait for plant propagation and crop production. How seed vigor is established in seeds is still poorly understood. Here, we report the crucial function of Arabidopsis histone variant H3.3 in endowing seeds with post-embryonic developmental potentials. H3.3 is not essential for seed formation, but loss of H3.3 results in severely impaired germination and post-embryonic development. H3.3 exhibits a seed-specific 5′ gene end distribution and facilitates chromatin opening at regulatory regions in seeds. During germination, H3.3 is essential for proper gene transcriptional regulation. Moreover, H3.3 is constantly loaded at the 3′ gene end, correlating with gene body DNA methylation and the restriction of chromatin accessibility and cryptic transcription at this region. Our results suggest a fundamental role of H3.3 in initiating chromatin accessibility at regulatory regions in seed and licensing the embryonic to post-embryonic transition.

The new Colombian law on abortion.

On February 21, 2022, the Colombian Constitutional Court decided that the existing regulation of abortion was unconstitutional and repealed it (Sentencia C-055/2022). The new abortion law, as per the Court's decision, considers the voluntary interruption of a pregnancy a crime only when it happens after week 24 and does not fall under the health, rape, or malformation indications developed through precedent from 2006 to 2022. The decision is generally binding and of immediate application. The decision's rationale builds on the right to health, substantive equality, and freedom of conscience. It acknowledges severe restrictions in access to abortion faced by Colombian women and the costs these restrictions have on their lives. It also recognizes that the indications model forces women to obtain permission from medical doctors to access abortion, and thus fails to recognize women's freedom of conscience.

Superpixel and Supervoxel Segmentation Assessment of Landslides Using UAV-Derived Models

Reality capture technologies such as Structure-from-Motion (SfM) photogrammetry have become a state-of-the-art practice within landslide research workflows in recent years. Such technology has been predominantly utilized to provide detailed digital products in landslide assessment where often, for thorough mapping, significant accessibility restrictions must be overcome. UAV photogrammetry produces a set of multi-dimensional digital models to support landslide management, including orthomosaic, digital surface model (DSM), and 3D point cloud. At the same time, the recognition of objects depicted in images has become increasingly possible with the development of various methodologies. Among those, Geographic Object-Based Image Analysis (GEOBIA) has been established as a new paradigm in the geospatial data domain and has also recently found applications in landslide research. However, most of the landslide-related GEOBIA applications focus on large scales based on satellite imagery. In this work, we examine the potential of different UAV photogrammetry product combinations to be used as inputs to image segmentation techniques for the automated extraction of landslide elements at site-specific scales. Image segmentation is the core process within GEOBIA workflows. The objective of this work is to investigate the incorporation of fully 3D data into GEOBIA workflows for the delineation of landslide elements that are often challenging to be identified within typical rasterized models due to the steepness of the terrain. Here, we apply a common unsupervised image segmentation pipeline to 3D grids based on the superpixel/supervoxel and graph cut algorithms. The products of UAV photogrammetry for two landslide cases in Greece are combined and used as 2D (orthomosaic), 2.5D (orthomosaic + DSM), and 3D (point cloud) terrain representations in this research. We provide a detailed quantitative comparative analysis of the different models based on expert-based annotations of the landscapes and conclude that using fully 3D terrain representations as inputs to segmentation algorithms provides consistently better landslide segments.

Socio-economic inequalities in the effect of public policies and the COVID-19 pandemic on exclusive breastfeeding in Chile

ObjectiveTo assess the impact of the addition of 12 maternity leave (ML) weeks (2011), a pay for performance (P4P) exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) promotion strategy (2015), and the COVID-19 pandemic in EBF inequalities in Chile. Study designInterrupted time-series analyses (ITSAs). MethodsAggregated national EBF data by municipality and month were collected from 2009 to 2020. We assess the impact of the three events in EBF inequalities using two procedures: 1. ITSA stratified by municipal SES quintiles (Q1-Q5); 2. Calculating the EBF slope index of inequality (SII). ResultsThe EBF prevalence was higher in lower SES municipalities before and after the three time-events. No impact in EBF inequalities was observed after the extended ML. The P4P strategy increased EBF at six months in all SES quintiles (effect size between 4% and 5%), but in a higher level in poorer municipalities (SII: −0.36% and −1.05%). During COVID-19, wealthier municipalities showed a slightly higher EBF at six months prevalence (SII: 1.44%). ConclusionThe null impact of the extended ML in EBF inequalities could be explained by a low access to ML among affiliated to the public health system (20%). The P4P strategy includes multiple interventions that seemed effective in increasing EBF across all SES quintiles, but further in lower quintiles. The restrictions in healthcare access in poorer municipalities could explain EBF inequalities during COVID-19.

Implementation of Bandwidth Management and Access Restrictions Using PCQ and Firewall Methods in SMP Tunas Bangsa Network

Internet virtual classes as a substitute for face-to-face learning are becoming common use in schools during the pandemic, which activities outside the home is restricted. SMP Tunas Bangsa has an internet hotspot to access Zoom as a virtual class while browsing activities carried out by the teachers. Diverse activities and high traffic loads cause internet traffic congestion and frequent connection failures. The hotspot requires bandwidth management and access restrictions in order to efficient internet usage. Bandwidth management is carried out by the method Per Connection Queue (PCQ), and access restrictions are carried out with the firewall mangle. Mikrotik router OS configuration in practice manages bandwidth starting with connection marks and packet marks to separate connections to the router, through the router, and from the router to the internet. The parameter used to distinguish the traffic is the IP address which is grouped in dst-address and src-address to fulfill the pcq-classifier. Meanwhile, the blocking of access to streaming activities and online games is intended so the teachers only access related to education matters. To determine the success of the configuration, the Quality of service was calculated both before and after configuration. The results of the QoS throughput parameter which increased from 4.39% to 84.99%, the delay decreased from 462.52 ms to 146.87ms, and packet loss decreased from 27.94% to 0% on the network.