Suchergebnisse

Health insurance in the small business market: availability, coverage and the effect of tax incentives / Quantria Strategies LLC --Small employer health tax credit: factors contributing to low use and complexity / Unites States Government Accountability Office.

Many organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) pose risks to human health; so, their levels in foods should be constantly monitored. In the present work, the potential health risks of 21 OCPs residues and 16 carcinogenic PAHs in Jordanian olive oil were evaluated. A total of 27 olive oil samples were obtained from nine olive mills in Jordan. The levels of PAHs and OCPs were evaluated by gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry detector. Among the studied pesticides, only 4,4-Dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylen (4,4-DDE) was found in the tested samples. The estimated average dietary intake (EADI) and hazard risk index (HRI) were then assessed for the 4,4-DDE. The estimated HRI value of 4,4-DDE was less than 1, thus indicating no health risk to consumers. Regarding PAHs, the average concentration of 16 PAHs in the tested olive oil was 36.5 µg/kg. Health risks due to PAH contamination were estimated by determining the dietary daily intake (DDI) and toxic equivalent quotient (TEQ). The values ranged from 0.139 × 10-2 to 7.70 × 10-2 and 0.01 to 0.57 µg/kg for DDI and TEQ, respectively. Light PAHs were predominant in the samples, while no heavy PAHs were detected. The incremental lifetime cancer risk (ILCR) was estimated, and the values ranged from 0.1 × 10-7 to 5.62 × 10-7, and none of the olive oil samples exceeded the limit value of 10-6, thus indicating insignificant potential risk.

In May 2001, the Government of Kuwait awarded a build, operate and transfer (BOT) contract to a local company to finance, design, build and operate an advanced wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) at Sulaibiya. The contract has a 30-year life, comprising 30 months of design and build and 27.5 years of operation and management. The total project cost was K.D. 116 million (US$ 442 million). The Sulaibiya plant currently treats up to 375 million imperial gallons. It is designed for extension to 600 million imperial gallons and is the first of its kind to be built in the Middle East. It is the largest in the world to use ultrafiltration (UF) and reverse osmosis (RO) for water purification. Ultrafiltration will remove all suspended solids and will provide a substantial reduction in micro biological activities. The main obstacle against the use of ultrafiltration membranes for WWTP has always been the higher operating cost of ultrafiltration. Up until now, this higher cost has prevented implementation of UF in all plants. A new membrane has been designed with the aim of tailoring it toward lowest total cost of ownership. Typical operating conditions have been used to quantify the following parameters for a potential large scale wastewater treatment system (UF + RO): amortization of investment in UF membranes and equipment; operating costs of the UF system; reduction in operating costs of the RO, when being compared against a conventional treatment system; and the increased output of the RO plant due to higher availability and shorter construction time. The total cost of ownership of a UF based RO plant has been determined (expressed in US$/m3 of water produced). Taking all factors into account, the total cost of ownership of a dual membrane WWTP (UF + RO) will be 2–7% lower than the total cost of ownership of on conventional retreatment plant.

The challenges of how to ensure sustainable urban development are currently one of the important agenda among governments around the world. The stakeholders require the latest and high volume of geographic information for the decision making process to efficiently respond to challenges, improve service delivery to citizens, and plan a successful future of the city. However, it is time-consuming and costly to get the available information and some of the information is not up-to-date. Recently, GeoWeb 2.0 technological advances have increased the number of volunteers from non-professional citizen to contribute to the collection, sharing, and distribution of geographic information. The information known as Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) has generated another approach of spatial data sources that can give up-to-date, huge volume of data, and available geographic information in a low cost for various applications. With this in mind, this paper presents a review of literature based on the potential use of Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) in measuring sustainability of urban development. The review highlighted that social, economic, and environment as three pertinent pillars relating to the use of VGI for measurement sustainable urban development.

The challenges of how to ensure sustainable urban development are currently one of the important agenda among governments around the world. The stakeholders require the latest and high volume of geographic information for the decision making process to efficiently respond to challenges, improve service delivery to citizens, and plan a successful future of the city. However, it is time-consuming and costly to get the available information and some of the information is not up-to-date. Recently, GeoWeb 2.0 technological advances have increased the number of volunteers from non-professional citizen to contribute to the collection, sharing, and distribution of geographic information. The information known as Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) has generated another approach of spatial data sources that can give up-to-date, huge volume of data, and available geographic information in a low cost for various applications. With this in mind, this paper presents a review of literature based on the potential use of Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) in measuring sustainability of urban development. The review highlighted that social, economic, and environment as three pertinent pillars relating to the use of VGI for measurement sustainable urban development.

This report addresses work covered in ANROWS research project 4.1 "Domestic and family violence protection orders in Australia: An investigation of information sharing and enforcement".

Throughout the 1980s, every Australian state or territory moved to enact legislation with the purpose of protecting women from intimate partner violence through the provision of a civil court order, or Domestic Violence Protection Order (DVPOs). Enforcement of DVPOs, including across state and territory borders, is the primary focus of this project, which draws on empirical research conducted in 2014-16. The research highlights that issues that compromise victim safety do not occur in legislation, but in its implementation and enforcement. Further, inconsistencies and competing interests at the intersections of domestic and family violence, child protection, and family law remain an impediment to effective implementation and enforcement of DVPOs. Effectiveness of the National Domestic Violence Order Scheme, a national information system to enable courts and police in different jurisdictions to share relevant information, will be compromised without the removal of inconsistencies, along with the safety of women and their children being given the greatest priority. ; Associated Grant:This material was produced with funding from the Australian Government and the Australian state and territory governments