Suchergebnisse

This article presents the results of a study of the impact of the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) 1995 on the provision of wayfinding aids in local authority buildings in Scotland. The study found that although the DDA has raised awareness in local authorities of the needs of disabled users of buildings, it has not necessarily led to the incorporation of wayfinding aids in new or refurbished buildings.

The investigation examines both the theoretical and logistical characteristics of property taxation. The investigation considers the fairness of property taxation and evaluates it as both a wealth tax and as a benefit tax. By examining past government decisions there was sufficient justification for evaluating property tax as both a wealth tax and a benefit tax. In evaluating the fairness of property taxation from a condominium perspective, the study uses the City of Winnipeg as a case study. The study examines the accuracy of assessments and compares property tax revenues from condominiums to apportioned municipal expenditures. By examining property tax fairness using the definition of a wealth tax, condominiums are taxed unfairly but not inequitably. When condominium property taxation was evaluated as a benefit tax there was evidence to suggest that condominiums were taxed fairly according to theory. However, when considering Provincial and Winnip g court decisions, the definition of tax fairness becomes less apparent. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

The introduction in Britain of advance directives--which allow a person to state in advance of becoming incompetent that they wish to take part in treatment decisions when no longer mentally competent--has now been advocated by the medical and legal establishments. The practical application of directives relating to health care would be simplified by the adoption of a standard model document together with guidelines summarising the background clinical conditions and any subsequent acute events that may make it appropriate to trigger the use of a directive. As no specific legislation exists, good communication is needed at the various stages between the drafting and implementation of directives if the system of directives is to be successful.

The paper traces the development of home improvement policy in Scotland, illustrating how the traditional tenemental housing form for a long time hindered, then eventually distinctively shaped, this policy. Tenement housing was a constraint on the promotion of home improvement policy due to a variety of technical and administrative factors. It was, however, the political prejudice against landlords and the social attitudes about tenement housing that proved to be the most difficult to overcome. Reference is also made to the policy-making process within a Scottish context through the examination of a number of influential policy reports, advocating the adoption of home improvement, and how they eventually worked themselves into legislation. The central significance of Glasgow in framing this policy approach is clearly illustrated.

Using National Acccident Sampling System files for the calendar years 1982-1986, shoulder belt use and effectiveness were compared among 1974-1980 model year cars with and without window shade devices, which human factors research has found to produce excess slack in the belts. Although shoulder belt use was not correlated to presence or absence of the window shade mechanism when model year and calendar year effects were controlled statistically, the effectiveness of belts in cars with the window shade device was consistently less than in cars without the device, particularly so in larger vehicles.

In the operation of a health care system, defining the limits of medical care is the joint responsibility of many parties including clinicians, patients, philosophers and politicians. It is suggested that changes in the potential for prolonging life make it necessary to give doctors guidance which may have to incorporate certain features of utilitarianism, individualism and patient-autonomy.

SummaryThe fifty states of the US were compared in 1971–72 and 1974–75 with respect to percentage apparent conceptions aborted and infant mortality rates attributed to various causes. Only non-vehicle accidental deaths were consistently related to abortion. The correlation is non-linear; non-vehicle accidental deaths were especially high in states with little or no abortion. A decline in non-vehicle accidental deaths from before to after the Supreme Court decision was most pronounced in states where there were fewest abortions before the decision and where increases in abortion occurred following the decision.