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mary goglio

World News: High-Speed Train Links Beijing, Shanghai --- Cornerstone of China's Rail Ex... - 0 views

search.proquest.com/...874008822

rail High-Speed train shanghai

shared by mary goglio on 18 Oct 11 - No Cached
  • mary goglio on 18 Oct 11
     
    "Corrections & Amplifications The cheapest ticket on the 300-kilometer-an-hour service on China's new high-speed rail line between Beijing and Shanghai costs 555 yuan ($86), which equals about 35% of monthly disposable per capita income for China's urban…"
gtjunur

Technology behind China's crash / A case for MagLev in California - 3 views

Explaining the causes behind China's catastrophe: http://truthdive.com/2011/10/03/Chinese-engineers-failed-to-understand-imported-high-speed-rail-network-components-working.html and an argument f...

MagLev China

started by gtjunur on 27 Oct 11 no follow-up yet
olivialum

Mental Health Care in West Africa Is Often a Product of Luck - The New York Times - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...s-often-a-product-of-luck.html

shared by olivialum on 12 Oct 15 - No Cached
  • A growing number of innovative groups have begun experimenting with a similar approach in Africa and Asia: providing therapy without clinics or doctors, relying instead on mobile nurses, cheap generic drugs and community support systems.
  • In impoverished parts of the world where psychiatry is virtually nonexistent, they say, it is the only way to begin reaching the millions of people in need.
  • “Here, if we had to wait for a psychiatrist, the people who desperately need treatment would never get it,”
  • ...19 more annotations...
  • slash rates of premature death from mental disorders by a third by 2030.
  • By one analysis, which includes Western countries and developing regions like West Africa, depression, drug abuse and schizophrenia are on track to be the three leading causes of lost economic output by 2030.
  • Among the successes have been group therapy for rape victims in the Democratic Republic of Congo, family and individual counseling for survivors of torture in Myanmar, and talk therapy and medication for people with depression in rural India.
  • But without reliable support, follow-up and medical supplies — particularly psychiatric drugs when needed — interventions can quickly lose traction, no matter how well trained and devoted the workers are.
  • One moment, she was dozing off during a rest period; the next, she felt the presence of strange men coming after her. She screamed at them to stop. “My shouting didn’t stop the men; they kept coming for me,” she said. “So, what did I do? I ripped off my school uniform and ran.”
  • The medical staff had little training in how to handle a psychotic break: the hallucinations and delusions characteristic of schizophrenia. They sent her home, where the sensation of being hunted seeped back into her thoughts.
  • Sometimes, she ran out onto the open savanna to escape the demons pursuing her.
  • Family members took turns keeping watch and exhausted traditional methods of healing. Precious animals were sacrificed to drive away the spirits disturbing her. Healers administered herbal powders, and one applied a pale dye to her face and body in an effort to purge demons.
  • Mental illness is a source of shame here, as in most of the world, and families do not advertise its presence. Yet each community has a chief or subchief responsible for keeping an eye out for the sick.
  • One is known as task sharing.
  • The second is community self-help.
  • The third is raising awareness
  • The evidence that a combination of these services can lead to lasting improvement for people with severe mental illnesses is thin, but a foundation is being laid.
  • “The key thing is that it’s not simply home-based care for people with schizophrenia,” Laura Asher, who is running the study, said by email. “It also involves awareness raising and community mobilization.”
  • the cost of these programs is minute compared with the cost of standard psychiatry
  • $8 per client per month on average, according to Peter Yaro, its executive director. In the United States, it costs $200 to $700 for a single appointment with a psychiatrist, depending on the provider, the type of care and the location.
  • In global cost-benefit terms, economists typically rate health care programs by the amount of disability they reduce per dollar. Historically, mental health interventions have scored poorly compared with efforts that save young lives, like neonatal care or treatment of diarrhea. A new analysis of mental health strategies in Ethiopia, for instance, found that treating schizophrenia with generic medications was about as cost-effective as treating heart disease with a combination of drugs, like aspirin and a statin — and much less cost-effective than treating depression or epilepsy. The findings, though preliminary, suggest that treating psychosis is relatively costly.
  • the studies do not take into account the effect of chronic psychosis on an entire family. “The person with psychosis becomes a full-time job for someone else in the family, and depending on how aggressive the person is, maybe more than one person,” said Dr. Simliwa Kolou Valentin Dassa, a psychiatrist in neighboring Togo
  • And if the disorder is seen as a result of a curse on the family, carried down through generations — a common interpretation here — the entire clan comes under suspicion.
mary goglio

overview-history of hsr projects around the world from Trains Magazine. - 0 views

go.galegroup.com/...i.do

rail history japan china u.s.

shared by mary goglio on 17 Oct 11 - No Cached
  • mary goglio on 17 Oct 11
     
    Good overview-history of hsr projects around the world from Trains Magazine.
mary goglio

Fast, faster, fastest: high-speed intercity passenger rail is gaining momentum in the U... - 0 views

go.galegroup.com/...i.do

rail u.s. high-speed rail

shared by mary goglio on 18 Oct 11 - No Cached
  • mary goglio on 18 Oct 11
     
    Fast, faster, fastest: high-speed intercity passenger rail is gaining momentum in the United States. But are fast trains a smart public investment? Good overview article
Ben Mittelberger

Trans-atlantic vacuum tube train feasible - 13 views

http://www.wpi.edu/Pubs/E-project/Available/E-project-101207-130034/unrestricted/IQP.pdf also really informative

Industrialized Democracies rail high-speed rail

started by Ben Mittelberger on 27 Oct 11 1 follow-up, last by Ben Mittelberger on 27 Oct 11
Katie Despain

Leadership and Calm Are Urged in Ebola Outbreak - 2 views

www.nytimes.com/...alm-are-urged-in-outbreak.html

ebola

shared by Katie Despain on 02 Sep 14 - No Cached
  • Katie Despain on 02 Sep 14
     
    In order to remedy Ebola, Nations most affected by the virus, namely Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone, must allow their leaders to calm and heal the general public. If political and social leaders fail to eradicate the disease, the number of people infected will quickly rise from 3000 to 20,000. So far, several countries have mismanaged the outbreak. Governments quarantined rural and urban areas of aforementioned African countries; a slum in Monrovia, the Capitol of Liberia, was one of the blocked off places. Instead of helping the people, as intended, the quarantines trap people. These people feel disregarded and sentenced to death. Fear causes people to run from the spaces and further spread Ebola, defeating the purpose of the quarantine. Even if African governments take necessary steps to prevent the spread of the disease, Western aid is still essential. Western countries should not supply weapons to help contain quarantines, but rather provide medicine and experienced medical personnel. Unfortunately, the pay is not high enough for many medics to risk their lives treating a disease that is the highest risk to doctors and nurses. The solution to Ebola is not an obvious one; the entire process is experimental. However, U.N. experts say a medical center need be established in West Africa where representatives of every African country can convene to discuss the disease.
  • big_red on 03 Sep 14
     
    Very interesting article. It is interesting how psychology must be considered in giving aid to African countries infected with Ebola (for example, the article mentions that soldiers shouldn't brandish their weapons so Ebola patients won't be afraid of the quarantine). The quarantines seem like an extra cause for panic. Imagine a Liberian seeing a quarantine being set up. Do you think they would act calmly and happily admit themselves to the quarantine, or just simply run away and spread the virus further?
  • Kay Bradley on 04 Sep 14
     
    Great analysis--see quotes below--but my question is, can the widespread response that is needed actually be pulled together? Especially, can it be pulled together fast? "Most agreed on many basic principles. All, for example, were sure the outbreak could be stopped without experimental drugs or vaccines. None expected it to take less than six months." "Pay is also an issue, experts said. Health workers taking huge risks must be compensated, and so must their families if they die." "Also, this outbreak is like SARS in that doctors and nurses are in the highest risk group. Training must be extra-thorough - especially in taking off protective gear that might be smeared with virus. Nigeria, for example, does not let anyone near victims without three days of training on wearing protective gear, said its health minister, Dr. Onyebuchi Chukwu." "The new W.H.O. road map calls for 12,000 local health workers and 750 expatriates." ""There's no part of this you can't break down and make work," Dr. Aylward said. "But it took us 20 years to build the polio response, and this has to be done in 20 days."
jacquelinec56

Nigeria History of Modern Medical Services - Flags, Maps, Economy, History, Climate, Na... - 0 views

www.photius.com/...istory_of_modern_me~10005.html

shared by jacquelinec56 on 04 Jan 16 - No Cached
  • jacquelinec56 on 04 Jan 16
     
    Before the British colonial government set up hospitals for native Nigerians, Catholic Missions not only set up hospitals but were responsible for the training and education of nurses while many doctors were educated in Europe. The British government set up hospitals but initially these hospitals were only for Europeans, It was not until after WWII that the British government tried to expand medical and hospital access to native Nigerians and medical education. After Nigerian independence a federal republic was set up and ownership of health facilities is distributed between the federal government, the states, and local governments. States hold the largest share of hospital beds at 43% and the federal and local governments at 13% and 11% respectively.
Kay Bradley

Opinion | Impeach and Convict Trump. Right Now. - The New York Times - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...impeach-trump.html

shared by Kay Bradley on 09 Jan 21 - No Cached
  • Kay Bradley on 09 Jan 21
     
    "Above all there is the president, not complicit but wholly, undeniably and unforgivably responsible. For five years, Republicans let him degrade political culture by normalizing his behavior. For five years, they let him wage war on democratic norms and institutions. For five years, they treated his nonstop mendacity as a quirk of character, not a disqualification for office. For five years, they treated his rallies as carnivals of democracy, not as training grounds for mob rule. For five years, they thought this was costless. On Wednesday - forgive the cliché, but it's apt here - their chickens came home to roost. Every decent society depends for its survival on its ability to be shocked - and stay shocked - by genuinely shocking behavior. Donald Trump's entire presidency has been an assault on that idea."
Kay Bradley

Police Reform Is Necessary. But How Do We Do It? - The New York Times - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...police-reform.html

shared by Kay Bradley on 27 Aug 20 - No Cached
  • The United States spends more on public safety than almost all its peer countries and much less, relatively speaking, on social services
  • Now we’re having a conversation that’s not just about how black communities are policed, and what reforms are required, but also about why we’ve invested exclusively in a criminalization model for public safety, instead of investing in housing, jobs, health care, education for black communities and fighting structural inequality.
  • Budgets are moral documents, reflecting priorities and values.
  • ...21 more annotations...
  • Garza: In 2018 and 2019, my organization, Black Futures Lab, did what we believe is the largest survey of black communities in America. It’s called the Black Census Project. We asked more than 30,000 black people across America what we experience, what we want to see happen instead and what we long for, for our futures.
  • the No.1 issue facing them, and keeping them up at night, is that their wages are too low to support a family.
  • Imagine that you have a tool chest for solving social problems. It gives you options. Then you lose the tool of mental-health resources. You lose the tool of public education. They take out the tool of job placement. And then all you’ve got left is this one rusty hammer. That’s policing.
  • Simply defunding the police cannot be a legacy of this moment. I want to hear about investing in black communities more than I want to hear about defunding.
  • There has been such a massive disinvestment in the social safety net that should exist to give black communities an opportunity to thrive, whether it’s access to health care or housing or education or jobs.
  • They cause others to be armed, out of fear, who shouldn’t have to worry about defending themselves
  • The dispatcher would route calls that aren’t about crimes or a risk of harm to social workers, mediators and others.
  • In many cities, the police spend a lot of time “on traffic and motor-vehicle issues, on false burglar alarms, on noise complaints and on problems with animals,”
  • When a police report leads to criminal charges — only a subset of the whole — about 80 percent of them are for misdemeanors. Friedman argues that we should hand off some of what the police do to people who are better trained for it.
  • A tiny percentage of people are the ones destabilizing communities
  • There are a host of things that the police are currently responding to that they have no business responding to.
  • If you have a car accident, why is somebody with a gun coming to the scene?
  • Or answering a complaint about someone like George Floyd, who the store clerk said bought a pack of cigarettes with a counterfeit $20 bill?
  • Similarly, if you have a homeless man panhandling at a red light and you say to a cop, “Go fix it,” he’ll arrest the man. And now he has a $250 ticket. And how does he pay that? And what does any of this accomplish?
  • domestic disputes. They’re the subject of 15 to more than 50 percent of calls to the police
  • But might we get further in the long run if someone with other skills — in social work or mediation — actually handled the incident?
  • The women were deeply wary of the police in general, but 33 of them had called them at least once, often for help with a teenager. “Calling the police on family members deepens the reach of penal control,” Bell wrote. But the mothers in her study have scant options.
  • hey knew that if they called the police that real harm could come, and they didn’t want that.
  • When I did investigations for the Justice Department, I would hear police officers say: “I didn’t sign up to the police force to be a social worker. I don’t have that training.” They know they’re stuck handling things because there is a complete lack of investment in other approaches and responses.
  • In Eugene, Ore., some 911 calls are routed to a crisis-intervention service called Cahoots, which responds to things like homelessness, substance abuse and mental illness. Houston routes some mental-health calls to a counselor if they’re not emergencies. New Orleans is hiring people who are not police officers to go to traffic collisions and write reports, as long as there are no injuries or concerns about drunken driving. I’m borrowing these examples from Barry Friedman’s article. The point is that some cities are beginning to reduce the traditional scope of police work.
  • One of the most interesting studies about policing is a randomized comparison of different strategies for dealing with areas of Lowell, Mass., that were hot spots for crime. One was aggressive patrols, which included stop-and-frisk encounters and arrests on misdemeanor charges, like drug possession. A second was social-service interventions, like mental-health help or taking homeless people to shelters. A third involved physical upkeep: knocking down vacant buildings, cleaning vacant lots, putting in streetlights and video cameras. The most effective in reducing crime was the third strategy.
Alex Sommer

Defense Secretary Address on Country's Vulnerabilities - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...ire-threat-of-cyberattack.html

shared by Alex Sommer on 15 Oct 12 - No Cached
  • Alex Sommer on 15 Oct 12
     
    An interesting and scary article from the US Defense Secretary's address last week. He explained that the country is vulnerable to foreign computer terrorists and a "Pearl Habor-like" attack is possible. The hackers could derail trains, contaminate water supplies, and knock out electrical grids throughout the country.
olivialum

Welcome to Italy: this is what a real immigration crisis looks like » The Spe... - 2 views

www.spectator.co.uk/...the-invasion-of-italy

shared by olivialum on 16 Sep 15 - No Cached
  • Well, Italy has been invaded in just this way, by migrants from many nations all coming over here from Libya. And Italy’s unelected government has agreed to take them all. This makes the Italian people — who are among the least racist in Europe — very angry. It’s hard to blame them.
  • This hugely expensive operation — ‘Mare Nostrum’ — ran until October last year and rescued nearly 190,000 people.
  • ‘They don’t want to be identified here — otherwise, under the Dublin Accords, they would have to stay in our country. So when a police officer is in front of an Eritrean who is two metres tall who doesn’t want his fingerprints taken, he can’t break his fingers, but must respect his human rights.’
  • ...10 more annotations...
  • Last year, most were from sub-Saharan Africa.
  • It’s worth remembering here that the majority of the boat people are Muslims and reports suggest that a small number are Islamic terrorists. The terrorists of ISIS are, we know from their Twitter feeds, obsessed with taking their crusade to Rome.
  • no intention of staying in Italy
  • has been mired in recession for most of the past six years, with an official unemployment rate of 13 per cent (the real rate is probably 20 per cent) and the youth unemployment rate at a staggering 43 per cent.
  • A couple of months ago, there was much talk about UN sanctioned military action by the EU to stop the smugglers’ boats putting to sea from the Libyan coast.
  • The French have ‘closed’ their border with Italy on the Côte d’Azur in defiance of the Schengen Agreement, which guarantees free movement within member nations. They are rigorously checking trains, cars and even footpaths across the mountains, and sending any illegal migrants back to Italy; they say they have sent back 6,000 this year. The justification is simple: the Italians are failing to identify these people and distinguish economic migrants from refugees. Who can argue with that? The Austrians are doing the same at the Brenner Pass in the Alps.
  • ‘an attack against life’ akin to abortion
  • All of us feel it to be our moral duty to save lives where we can. Yet it cannot be our moral duty to ferry such vast numbers across the Mediterranean into Italy and Europe for ever, unless they are genuine refugees.
  • Prime Minister Renzi tried to pretend that the migrant crisis did not exist, but now that it has turned into an emergency he can remain silent no longer. He blames other EU countries for putting the nation before the union — in this latest meltdown of EU collective responsibility — and the British and the French in particular for getting rid of Muammar Gaddafi and turning Libya into a failed state.
  • ‘Plan B’
Lexi Gentry

Volunteers, Many Once Refugees Themselves, Help as Guides in Vienna - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...-help-as-guides-in-vienna.html

shared by Lexi Gentry on 25 Sep 15 - No Cached
  • Lexi Gentry on 25 Sep 15
     
    VIENNA - At the migration center in the east wing of the main train station here, Ragad al-Rachid, a petite 19-year-old psychology student and a Syrian Muslim, is immersed in the logistical details of helping dozens of people a day adjust to new lives in her adopted country.
Kay Bradley

China Bullet Train Crash Cover-Up? - YouTube - 0 views

www.youtube.com/watch

rail high-speed rail China

shared by Kay Bradley on 19 Oct 11 - No Cached
  • Kay Bradley on 19 Oct 11
     
    Post accident damage control by Chinese government
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