Planning Practices (planning + practice)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Awareness and determinants of family planning practice in Jimma, Ethiopia

INTERNATIONAL NURSING REVIEW, Issue 4 2006
A. T. Beekle rgn
Background:, The continuing growth of the world population has become an urgent global problem. Ethiopia, like most countries in sub-Saharan Africa, is experiencing rapid population growth. Currently, the country's population is growing at a rate of 3%, one of the highest rates in the world and if it continues unabated, the population will have doubled in 23 years, preventing any gain in the national development effort. Aim:, To determine the level and determinants of family planning awareness and practice in one Ethiopian town. Methodology:, A quantitative study using a descriptive survey design was conducted in Jimma University Hospital. Discussion:, The findings revealed that the knowledge and practice of modern contraception methods was low. Most women's contraceptive knowledge and practice was influenced by socio-cultural norms such as male/husband dominance and opposition to contraception, and low social status of women. A lack of formal education for women was identified as a key factor in preventing change in the patterns of contraceptive knowledge and use by women in this part of Ethiopia. Conclusion:, The support and encouragement for women and men to enter and complete formal education is essential in bringing about a cultural and social change in attitude towards the economic and social value of family planning. This study and others suggest that education can address the imbalance in decision making about contraception and the role of women in society generally. [source]


Modell und Programm CLIMT zur einfachen Ermittlung der Raumlufttemperatur und Raumluftfeuchte bei freier Klimatisierung

BAUPHYSIK, Issue 3 2010
Peter Häupl Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. i. R., bis 30.
Berechnungsverfahren; Feuchte; Wärme Abstract In der Planungspraxis besteht Bedarf nach einem vergleichsweise (siehe TRNSYS, ENERGY PLUS) einfachen und zuverlässigen Handwerkszeug zur Quantifizierung des Raumklimas. In diesem Beitrag wird ein praktikables Modell zur Ermittlung der Stundenwerte für die Raumlufttemperatur, die Empfindungstemperatur (Mitteltemperatur aus Raumluft- und Umschließungsflächentemperatur) und die Raumluftfeuchte in Abhängigkeit vom Außenklima (Außenlufttemperatur, Wärmestrahlung und relative Luftfeuchtigkeit der Außenluft), von den Gebäudeparametern (Geometrie, Wärmetransportwiderstände der Hüllkonstruktion, Wärme- und Feuchteabsorptionsvermögen der Bauteile), von der Lüftung und der Raumnutzung (innere Wärmequellen, innere Feuchtequellen und raumluftregulierte Heizung) bei freier Klimatisierung vorgestellt. Die Ergebnisse bilden den Quelltext für das nutzerfreundliche Windows-Programm CLIMT (CLimate-Indoor-Moisture-Temperature). Modell und Programm CLIMT werden durch einen Vergleich mit Rechenwerten nach TRNSYS und Messwerten in einem Testhaus validiert. Die Ergebnisse stimmen sehr gut überein. Das Programm CLIMT ist anwenderfreundlich und praxistauglich. Model and program CLIMT for a simplified determination of room temperature and relative humidity under arbitrary climate conditions. In planning practice there is a need for a comparably simple (cf. TRNSYS, ENERGY PLUS), reliable tool for quantifying an indoor climate. In this article a practicable model is put forward for determining the hourly values for natural conditioning of indoor air temperature, the perceived temperature (average of air and enclosing surface temperatures) and the interior air humidity in relation to the external climate (external air temperature, radiant heat and relative humidity of the outside air), the building parameters (geometry, heat transfer resistance of the shell structure, heat and moisture absorption properties of the components), the ventilation and the use of the space (interior heat sources, interior moisture sources and interior air-regulated heating). The results form the source text for the user-friendly Windows program CLIMT (CLimate-Indoor-Moisture-Temperature). The CLIMT model and program are validated in a test house by comparing values calculated using TRNSYS with measured values. The results agree very well. The CLIMT program is user-friendly and practically-oriented. [source]


Criteria for the assessment of processes for sustainable river basin management and their congruence with the EU Water Framework Directive

ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY AND GOVERNANCE, Issue 4 2008
Beatrice Hedelin
Abstract In order to manage the increasing pressure on the world's water resources, new planning methodologies/processes for sustainable river basin management are currently being developed. For such processes to work well, however, the legal context must allow, or support, such processes. In this study, a set of criteria relating to methodologies/processes for sustainable water management is used to assess the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD). The study suggests that the WFD erects few formal barriers to good planning practices. However, planning processes will need to be adapted to compensate for the weak legal support in a number of important areas, namely the use of knowledge from beyond the natural sciences, the use of methodologies for the explicit handling of values and the use of procedures for democratic participation. In so doing the issues identified here provide a basis for systematic thinking about how to design the necessary planning processes. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [source]


STRATEGIC PLANNING AND PERFORMANCE: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY OF HOUSING ASSOCIATIONS IN NORTHERN IRELAND

FINANCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY & MANAGEMENT, Issue 1 2009
Roger Courtney
Based on qualitative data this paper explores the resons for the non-profit housing sectors enthusiastic embrace of strategic planning practices. Evidence is presented on the use of specified techiniques by housing associations in Northeren Ireland and their impact on the performance of the assocaitions. Without dismissing rational goel seeking explanations for adoption, the study concludes the strategic planning is also a legimation seeking practice. Evidence suggest that the contested nature of performance in the non-profit sector makes it hard for chief executives to sustain a rational goal based argument for adopting strategic planing. [source]


A regional frequency analysis of United Kingdom extreme rainfall from 1961 to 2000

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CLIMATOLOGY, Issue 11 2003
H. J. Fowler
Abstract Multi-day rainfall events are an important cause of recent severe flooding in the UK, and any change in the magnitude of such events may have severe impacts upon urban structures such as dams, urban drainage systems and flood defences and cause failures to occur. Regional pooling of 1-, 2-, 5- and 10-day annual maxima for 1961 to 2000 from 204 sites across the UK is used in a standard regional frequency analysis to produce generalized extreme value growth curves for long return-period rainfall events for each of nine defined climatological regions. Temporal changes in 1-, 2-, 5- and 10-day annual maxima are examined with L-moments using both a 10 year moving window and the fixed decades of 1961,70, 1971,80, 1981,90 and 1991,2000. A bootstrap technique is then used to assess uncertainty in the fitted decadal growth curves and to identify significant trends in both distribution parameters and quantile estimates. There has been a two-part change in extreme rainfall event occurrence across the UK from 1961 to 2000. Little change is observed at 1 and 2 days duration, but significant decadal-level changes are seen in 5- and 10-day events in many regions. In the south of the UK, growth curves have flattened and 5- and 10-day annual maxima have decreased during the 1990s. However, in the north, the 10-day growth curve has steepened and annual maxima have risen during the 1990s. This is particularly evident in Scotland. The 50 year event in Scotland during 1961,90 has become an 8-year, 11-year and 25-year event in the East, South and North Scotland pooling regions respectively during the 1990s. In northern England the average recurrence interval has also halved. This may have severe implications for design and planning practices in flood control. Copyright © 2003 Royal Meteorological Society [source]


Painful Steps of Progress from Crisis Planning to Contingency Planning: Changes for Disaster Preparedness in Turkey

JOURNAL OF CONTINGENCIES AND CRISIS MANAGEMENT, Issue 1 2002
Murat Balamir
Excessive losses in natural disasters in Turkey are, to a large extent, a consequence of omissions and deficiencies in the structuring of ,disasters' and ,development' laws, as well as negligent land-use practices and avoidance of control in building processes. Two extreme forms of legal and organizational structures in disasters policy could be formulated as the ,fatalist' and ,self-reliance, models. Their contrasts can be investigated in terms of (a) the use of information concerning natural phenomena in formal planning procedures; (b) pre- or post-disaster emphasis in preparations; (c) the political or technical basis of decisions; (d) the extraordinary or routine nature of responses; (e) the general or specialized nature of financial sources used; (f) and their compatibility with the order of priorities in risk management. An evaluation of the conventional policy in Turkey clarifies a position closer to the ,fatalist' model and indicates the lines of action for improvements. However, after the 1999 earthquakes, the conventional approach in disaster policy has been restructured. With the newly introduced ,Obligatory Building Insurance', ,Building Control', and ,Professional Proficiency' systems, greater emphasis is now given to mitigation efforts, and the introduction of contingency planning practices is more likely to happen. [source]


Regulating More Effectively: The Relationship between Procedural Justice, Legitimacy, and Tax Non-compliance

JOURNAL OF LAW AND SOCIETY, Issue 4 2005
Kristina Murphy
In recent years, a significant number of middle-income taxpayers have been making use of aggressive tax planning strategies to reduce tax. In many cases, it is unclear whether these are designed and used by taxpayers to minimize tax legally or to avoid tax illegally. Those that are designed to exploit loopholes in tax law need to be dealt with in a way that restores faith and equity to the system. But how can tax authorities best manage taxpayers who may have inadvertently become involved in such illegal tax planning practices? Using longitudinal survey data, it will be shown that attempts to coerce and threaten taxpayers into compliance can undermine the legitimacy of the Tax Office's authority, which in turn can affect taxpayers' subsequent compliance behaviour. Responsive regulation, which is based on principles of procedural justice, will be discussed as an alternative enforcement strategy. [source]


Mantle planning: Report of the Australasian Radiation Oncology Lymphoma Group film survey and consensus guidelines

JOURNAL OF MEDICAL IMAGING AND RADIATION ONCOLOGY, Issue 4 2000
Michael B Barton
SUMMARY The purpose of the present paper was to measure the variation in mantle planning in Australia and New Zealand. A chest X-ray (CXR) of a patient in the supine position with a neck node marked by wire was sent to every radiation oncologist in Australia and New Zealand. They were to mark on the CXR the lung blocks that they would use to treat this patient, assuming that the patient had stage IA Hodgkin's disease. These marks were compared with a small sample of radiologists who were asked to define the mediastinum on the same CXR. Radiation oncologists were also asked to complete a short questionnaire about other modifications to their treatment fields and their experience with this technique. One hundred and six films were sent out and 44 radiation oncologists replied. There was a maximum variation in the placement of their lung blocks of 6 cm. Half of the lung blocks were within a 2-cm range. One respondent said they would not use a mantle field to treat this patient. Mediastinal coverage was inadequate in at least 50% of cases. There was a very large variation in mantle field planning practices within Australia and New Zealand. For this reason Australasian Radiation Oncology Lymphoma Group has produced consensus guidelines for mantle block design. These are appended to the present paper. [source]


CULTIVATING JUST PLANNING AND LEGAL INSTITUTIONS: A CRITICAL ASSESSMENT OF THE SOUTH CENTRAL FARM STRUGGLE IN LOS ANGELES

JOURNAL OF URBAN AFFAIRS, Issue 1 2009
CLARA IRAZÁBAL
ABSTRACT:,The South Central Farm (SCF) in Los Angeles was a 14-acre urban farm in one of the highest concentrations of impoverished residents in the county. It was destroyed in July 2006. This article analyzes its epic as a landscape of resistance to discriminatory legal and planning practices. It then presents its creation and maintenance as an issue of environmental justice, and argues that there was a substantive rationale on the basis of environmental justice and planning ethics that should have provided sufficient grounds for the city to prevent its dismantling. Based on qualitative case study methodology, the study contributes to the formulation of creation and preservation rationales for community gardens and other "commons" threatened by eventual dismantlement in capitalist societies. [source]


Breaking New Ground in Juvenile Justice Settings: Assessing for Competencies in Juvenile Offenders

JUVENILE AND FAMILY COURT JOURNAL, Issue 2 2005
JULIETTE R. MACKIN
ABSTRACT The field of juvenile justice has made great strides in developing a research base of effective practices and principles, including an understanding of risk factors and needs that contribute to juvenile offending. However, the research base and practice of systematic assessment has not yet fully incorporated youth, family, and community strengths. To address this need, three juvenile justice agencies in the northwestern United States participated in a pilot study to develop and implement an assessment tool (the Youth Competency Assessment) and process that would identify and utilize strengths to help balance the risk and needs focus of their assessment and case planning practices. This article provides descriptions and implementation strategies of the three pilot sites. The article concludes with recommended system changes and policy interventions to support ongoing utilization of this kind of strength-based tool in juvenile justice settings, and a clear set of recommendations for other communities wishing to implement strength-based assessment in their own agencies. [source]


Assessing and Managing Environmental Risk: Connecting Local Government Management with Emergency Management

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION REVIEW, Issue 2 2009
Scott Somers
Ensuring that a community is prepared to deal with a disaster is among the many tasks public managers are charged with addressing. Disaster preparedness and response requires adherence to standard planning practices, yet disasters are typically unpredictable. Dealing with disasters, therefore, requires a blend of traditional management skills and improvisation. Furthermore, like other aspects of administrative leadership, the top administrator must blend initiation and responsiveness in interactions with elected officials and a careful delineation of responsibility in handling actual emergencies. This article discusses how local administrators assess risk and balance preparedness needs within a universe of daily operational needs. Managing environmental risk is also explored from a political and legal context. [source]