Renewable Energy Rural Areas Of China - 1520 Words

Renewable Energy in Rural areas of China Introduction Currently , the development of renewable energy resources , reduce consumption of fossil energy , environmental protection and mitigation of global warming has become a common sense of every country in the world. Despite China as a developing country and its historically low emissions, China faces international pressure to control its carbon emissions, which China is already the world s largest carbon emitter, sharing 29% of global carbon emission in 2013 (Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, 2014). Moreover, the demand and consumption is relatively high in the next decades (BP, 2015). China is a large agricultural country, around half of the population live in rural areas.†¦show more content†¦Energy reduction and energy efficiency policy has become a national priority for the Chinese government. Renewable energy development in rural areas plays a significant role in promoting this national policy. Renewable energy development in rural places is not only the urgent needs of the majority of farmers , but also to target the national strategic objectives, to achieve sustainable development. 1. The current situation of energy demand /consumption in rural places The energy supply and demand in rural places has been basically improved, but from the well-off level of energy demand is still a wide gap. In the proceeding decades, the annul increasing rate of energy demand in rural places is 11%, compared to 5% in urban area. However, About 50% of Chinese rural households still depend heavily on traditional firewood for heating and cooking, the overall energy efficiency less than 25% which means huge potential to improve. (Ministry of Agriculture of China). According to the China`s energy policy, The energy demand of rural areas will be greatly enhanced in next decades. 2. It is necessary to increase the clean , high-quality energy supply in rural places whether it is from a structural shortage of energy resources, or from sustainable economic development, the construction of energy system in rural places can not continue past development model. Renewable energy, such as photovoltaic and solar water heating, can significantly improve the livelihood

Affirmative Action As A Means To Diversify The U.S. Workforce Free Essays

In the USA, federal affirmative action regulations are supplemented by state and municipal laws and ordinances. Furthermore, the laws that constrain affirmative action in the workplace are related but not identical to those that control affirmative action in university and college admissions. At the federal level, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) are responsible for most equal opportunity and affirmative action regulations and enforcement. We will write a custom essay sample on Affirmative Action As A Means To Diversify The U.S. Workforce or any similar topic only for you Order Now When considering the effects of affirmative action, the interests of various stakeholders must be taken into account. The primary stakeholders are the target groups, other non-target groups, organizations that have affirmative action plans (AAPs) and society at large. The phrase ‘effects of’ implies a causal relation. However, causal conclusions can rarely be drawn in affirmative-action research because scholars cannot control whether organizations have AAPs or the dimensions (e.g. race and gender) that determine who is targeted by those plans. The purpose of affirmative action is to improve the outcomes of target groups. Research indicates that the size and even the existence of demonstrated benefits on employment have varied across time, location, target group and job level (Holzer and Neumark 2000; Smith 2001). In addition, minority status (African American or Hispanic) contributes to college and university admission only among the most selective institutions, where it increases the probability of admission by up to 10 per cent (Kane 1998). Among African Americans, admission to such selective colleges and universities is associated with an increased probability of graduation, post-baccalaureate education and professional success (Bowen and Bok 1998). On the other hand, the use of affirmative action in the USA is associated with decreased employment outcomes for white males (Holzer and Neumark 1999, 2000). The relative paucity of ‘reverse discrimination’ charges filed with the EEOC suggests that these effects are due primarily to the elimination of the privileges often enjoyed by white males rather than to the use of strong preferences for female or minority applicants. Because elite universities reject so many whites and accept so few minority students, the negative impact of affirmative action on white applicants is quite small (Kane 1998). On a broader scale, the long-term effect of having a diverse student body appears to be positive for all groups and for society as a whole. Diversity in higher education is associated with individual changes in attitudes and abilities that enhance participation and success in an increasingly diverse democratic society (Bowen and Bok 1998; Gurin et al 2004). Opponents of affirmative action argue that workplace AAPs depress the performance of organizations, which are forced to hire less competent employees. Supporters argue that affirmative action improves organizational performance by eliminating economically inefficient discrimination and increasing workforce diversity. Research finds that organizations that use affirmative action in selection tend to hire minority individuals whose educational credentials are slightly lower than those of their white male hires. However, this difference in education does not lead to a corresponding difference in performance, perhaps because these organizations have developed superior human resource practices that enable them to identify high potential individuals and improve their capacities after they are hired. In short, workplace affirmative action does not appear to have a substantial effect, either positive or negative, on organizational performance (Holzer and Neumark 1999, 2000). An important question is whether individuals who are selected in the context of an AAP are stigmatized by others. The discounting principle of attribution theory suggests that one’s confidence in the importance of a potential cause is lower when other plausible causes are available. For example, if a Hispanic man is hired by an organization with an AAP, two plausible causes for his selection are competence and ethnicity. But if the organization does not have an AAP or if the new hire is a white male, the remaining plausible cause for selection is competence. Ratings of the new hire’s competence would therefore be lower when he or she is a target group member than in other situations. Experimental research finds precisely this effect. This stigmatization can be eliminated by providing unequivocal evidence of the new hire’s competence, but it is not eliminated by ambiguous evidence of competence (Heilman et al. 1998). Given the continued prevalence of negative stereotypes of racial minorities, along with the common assumption that affirmative action involves preferential selection, it is likely that stigmatization is relatively common. Although most research on stigmatization has focused on the workplace, the same logic applies to college and university admissions. Virtually all research in this area has been limited to evaluations of paper stimuli; the extent to which such stigmatization is maintained in the context of workplace interactions is unclear. How to cite Affirmative Action As A Means To Diversify The U.S. Workforce, Papers

Digital Health Innovation for Consumers

Question: Discuss about the Digital Health Innovation for Consumers. Answer: Introduction: My Health Record is a very new proposal that has been laid down by the eminent researchers working under the Australian Digital Health Agency by the Australian government. It is suggested by them that My Health Record will mainly act as an online portal which will contain all the health related information of each and every individual of Australia. This is mainly done with an intention to acquire the health information of citizens to have a detailed idea about the various kind of diseases and disorders they are facing, what kind of treatments they are opting to for their betterment, what kind of plans and procedures are taken by the hospitals, their admission details, their discharge details, details of the treatment conducted and many more. It is also believed that the government will try to gain information from this portal in order to understand the working techniques of both the private and governmental hospitals, the total charges for the patients, whether they are costing since rely, the major diseases that are affecting humans, the interventions and policy changes that they require to undertake and so on (Kraan et al., 2015). The government believes that with the health records if properly maintained by the citizens and the healthcare centers in turn will help in developing better options in healthcare. However, it becomes extremely important for critically analyzing the problems, capabilities and also benefits of the new venture before the government introduces it to the nation. This will help the government in properly utilizing the approved fund so that the fund is not wasted on a failed project. The report will mainly highlight three important domain s of the problems, capabilities and the benefits that the project will experience so that one can develop an idea about how the project will excel in Australia. A large number of problems are expected to arise from the present mode of online portal for keeping records. The first would include the lack of education and financial strength of low socioeconomic classes to register themselves and maintain their records on the portal. This may be due to their inability to handle digital media or may be their inability to afford such mediums. This may in turn lead to improper collection of data that may hamper the statistical study and data analysis that the government aims to perform (Chow et al., 2016). Another issue that may also arise is the discrepancy which might be followed by healthcare sectors while uploading their data for any concealing of documents concerning financial information will not be able to be judges properly. Therefore, unnecessary healthcare costs if charged by hospital sectors may not come under governmental scrutiny. This ultimately leads to the failure of the main mission of the government. Moreover other issue may also a rise like many patients may update certain portions of their medical records without continuing their updates for certain period of time. This inconsistency in their updates may not only hamper the hospitals from critically analyzing the health of the patient but might also affect the government while conducting their surveys and taking suitable steps (Bhimdhim, Hawkey Trevena, 2015). Moreover, privacy concerns always play a great role while establishing any online portals or applications as cyber crimes are seen to increase in rate every year. Capabilities: In order to describe about the capabilities, one can explain the positive results that it tends to bring out from differ regions of Australia. As the application will be online, it will have the capability to reach each and every corner of Australia and therefore connecting with every such individual and gathering their data would become not only easier and also would be cheap (Miyamoto et al., 2016). Moreover it would also help in many older citizens to upload their details as they may not have the mobility power to reach hospitals and similar sectors (Hemsley et al., 2017). It would have the capability for the government to manage its resources effectively rightfully tackling the health equity and efficiency provided by them. It will also have the ability to judge whether the requirement of a patient is a demand or a need and this will indirectly help the government to understand whether the resources are effectively used. Therefore the health record application will mainly help th e government in monitoring each and every record of the patients and also of the healthcare sectors so that concrete decisions can be taken by the government while evaluating heath of its nation and suggesting policies for them. It also helps the hospitals to showcase their names and also explain the care that they give in order to increase their patient base (Neubeck et al., 2015). Moreover as they are providing information to patients over internet, they tend to save more resources and time which would not have been possible in one to one patent doctor meetings. Benefits: A large number of benefits can be achieved by both the patients and the healthcare sectors if they continue their updates and record maintenance on the internet. It is suggested that the portal will have a detailed record of the patients which can be viewed by the doctors and other associated caregivers who may provide valuable advice and guidance to the patient (Huckvale et al., 2015). Even if the patient travels interstate, he does not have to carry documents making it accessible from anywhere in the country (Almond, Cummings Turner, 2016). Moreover the person can also control who can see it. This ultimately helps in improving the safety as the doctors can readily access the information in case of any sort of emergency. Another benefit it has on patients is that they do not have to repeat their medical history, disease or disorder states, result dates and many others every time they change doctors. It also helps the patients for personal remembrance also like that of their childre ns immunizations, medical tests and others (Scott et al., 2016). Another benefit of this application is that it will have a very strong security system which will help to maintain privacy and confidentiality about the patients. Conclusion: Therefore, the government has to clearly assess the problem, capabilities as well as the benefits that each and every stakeholder will face on the introduction of the new application called the My Health Record. If eminent researchers and policy maker along with the different app developer work accordingly to overcome the problems, enhance their capabilities and increase the benefits of the health record, the noble initiative will definitely succeed in its mission to create a system where government can reduce financial burden on patients and also develop an overall monitoring bodies of healthcare system in Australia. References: Almond, H., Cummings, E., Turner, P. (2016, August). Avoiding Failure for Australias Digital Health Record: The Findings from a Rural E-Health Participatory Research Project. InDigital Health Innovation for Consumers, Clinicians, Connectivity and Community: Selected Papers from the 24th Australian National Health Informatics Conference (HIC 2016)(Vol. 227, p. 8). IOS Press. BinDhim, N. F., Hawkey, A., Trevena, L. (2015). A systematic review of quality assessment methods for smartphone health apps.Telemedicine and e-Health,21(2), 97-104. Chow, C. K., Ariyarathna, N., Islam, S. M. S., Thiagalingam, A., Redfern, J. (2016). mHealth in cardiovascular health care.Heart, Lung and Circulation,25(8), 802-807. Hemsley, B., McCarthy, S., Adams, N., Georgiou, A., Hill, S., Balandin, S. (2017). Legal, ethical, and rights issues in the adoption and use of the My Health Record by people with communication disability in Australia.Journal of Intellectual Developmental Disability, 1-9. Huckvale, K., Prieto, J. T., Tilney, M., Benghozi, P. J., Car, J. (2015). Unaddressed privacy risks in accredited health and wellness apps: a cross-sectional systematic assessment.BMC medicine,13(1), 214. Kraan, C. W., Piggott, J. J. H., van der Vegt, F., Wisse, L. (2015). Personal Health Records: Solving barriers to enhance adoption. Miyamoto, S. W., Henderson, S., Young, H. M., Pande, A., Han, J. J. (2016). Tracking health data is not enough: A qualitative exploration of the role of healthcare partnerships and mhealth technology to promote physical activity and to sustain behavior change.JMIR mHealth and uHealth,4(1). Neubeck, L., Coorey, G., Peiris, D., Mulley, J., Heeley, E., Hersch, F., Redfern, J. (2016). Development of an integrated e-health tool for people with, or at high risk of, cardiovascular disease: The Consumer Navigation of Electronic Cardiovascular Tools (CONNECT) web application.International journal of medical informatics,96, 24-37. Neubeck, L., Lowres, N., Benjamin, E. J., Freedman, S. B., Coorey, G., Redfern, J. (2015). The mobile revolution [mdash] using smartphone apps to prevent cardiovascular disease.Nature Reviews Cardiology,12(6), 350-360. Scott, K. M., Gome, G. A., Richards, D., Caldwell, P. H. (2015). How trustworthy are apps for maternal and child health?.Health and Technology,4(4), 329-336.