CAT (Curator Archiving Tool): improving access to web archives

PADICAT is the web archive created in 2005 in Catalonia (Spain ) by the Library of Catalonia (BC ) , the National Library of Catalonia , with the aim of collecting , processing and providing permanent access to the digital heritage of Catalonia . Its harvesting strategy is based on the hybrid model ( of massive harvesting . SPA top level domain ; selective compilation of the web site output of Catalan organizations; focused harvesting of public events) . The system provides open access to the whole collection , on the Internet . We consider necessary to complement the current search for new and visualization software with open source software tool, CAT ( Curator Archiving Tool) , composed by three modules aimed to effectively managing the processes of human cataloguing ; to publish directories where the digital resources and special collections ; and to offer statistical information of added value to end users. Within the framework of the International Internet Preservation Consortium meeting ( Vienna 2010) , the progress in the development of this new tool, and the philosophy that has motivated his design, are presented to the international community.

Access to information in Switzerland : From secrecy to transparency

Access to information legislations are now present in over 50 countries world-wide. Lagging behind some of its own Cantons, the Swiss Federal government was until recently one of the few hold outs in Europe. But, in December 2004, the Confederation voted the 'Loi sur la Transparence de l'administration' or Law on Transparency (LTrans) a Law that came into effect in July 2006. This paper presents an overview of the new Law and underlines the main institutional challenges to its introduction in Switzerland.

trEST, trGEN and Hits: access to databases of predicted protein sequences.

High throughput genome (HTG) and expressed sequence tag (EST) sequences are currently the most abundant nucleotide sequence classes in the public database. The large volume, high degree of fragmentation and lack of gene structure annotations prevent efficient and effective searches of HTG and EST data for protein sequence homologies by standard search methods. Here, we briefly describe three newly developed resources that should make discovery of interesting genes in these sequence classes easier in the future, especially to biologists not having access to a powerful local bioinformatics environment. trEST and trGEN are regularly regenerated databases of hypothetical protein sequences predicted from EST and HTG sequences, respectively. Hits is a web-based data retrieval and analysis system providing access to precomputed matches between protein sequences (including sequences from trEST and trGEN) and patterns and profiles from Prosite and Pfam. The three resources can be accessed via the Hits home page (http://hits. isb-sib.ch).

Improving Patients' Access to Medicines: A Guide to Implementing Nurse and Pharmacist Independent Prescribing within the HPSS in Northern Ireland (PDF 704 KB)

A Guide to Implementing Nurse and Pharmacist Independent Prescribing within the HPSS in Northern Ireland

Access to specialized pediatric cancer care in Switzerland.

BACKGROUND: Specialized pediatric cancer centers (PCCs) are thought to be essential to obtain state-of-the-art care for children and adolescents. We determined the proportion of childhood cancer patients not treated in a PCC, and described their characteristics and place of treatment. PROCEDURE: The Swiss Childhood Cancer Registry (SCCR) registers all children treated in Swiss PCCs. The regional cancer registries (covering 14/26 cantons) register all cancer patients of a region. The children of the SCCR with data from 7 regions (11 cantons) were compared, using specialized software for record linkage. All children <16 years of age at diagnosis with primary malignant tumors, diagnosed between 1990 and 2004, and living in one of these regions were included in the analysis. RESULTS: 22.1% (238/1,077) of patients recorded in regional registries were not registered in the SCCR. Of these, 15.7% (169/1,077) had never been in a PCC while 6.4% (69/1,077) had been in a PCC but were not registered in the SCCR, due to incomplete data flow. In all diagnostic groups and in all age groups, a certain proportion of children was treated outside a PCC, but this proportion was largest in children suffering from malignant bone tumors/soft tissue sarcomas and from malignant epithelial neoplasms, and in older children. The proportion of patients treated in a PCC increased over the study period (P < 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: One in six childhood cancer patients in Switzerland was not treated in a PCC. Whether these patients have different treatment outcomes remained unclear.

Report: Access to the New Social Work Degree for Relevant Graduate in Northern Ireland (PDF 36 KB)

Report: Access to the New Social Work Degree for Relevant Graduate in Northern Ireland

Asylum Seekers And Refugees Policy Guidance On Access To Health And Social Services (PDF 136 KB)

This policy guidance is intended for staff working within the Health and Personal Social Services sector in Northern Ireland, and aims to provide advice and information on the provision of health and social care services to asylum seekers and refugees. The purpose of the policy is to ensure that asylum seekers and refugees are given equitable access to health and social care services under the terms of the current legislation, with the overall aim of providing a culturally competent health and social care services. åÊ

Use of Existing Meningococcal Group C Vaccine - Students in Higher Education (PDF 20KB)

This document is also available in the Publications Section of the DHSS website at:www.dhssni.gov.uk åÊ åÊ

Improving Access to Green Spaces

Evidence Review 8 - Improving access to green spaces Briefing 8 - Improving access to green spaces This pair of documents, commissioned by Public Health England, and written by the UCL Institute of Health Equity, address the role of green space in improving health locally. The first part of the evidence review defines ‘accessible’ green space and provides an overview of the evidence linking access to green spaces with health benefits, setting out the potential for reducing health inequalities. The second part provides an overview of interventions implemented at the local level to increase equitable access and use of good quality green spaces. Local authorities and local organisations have taken action on these issues through the implementation of interventions to: 1. Create new areas of green space and improve the quality of existing green spaces 2. Increase accessibility, engagement and use of green spaces The full evidence review and a shorter summary briefing are available to download above. This document is part of a series. An overview document which provides an introduction to this and other documents in the series, and links to the other topic areas, is available on the ‘Local Action on health inequalities’ project page. A video of Michael Marmot introducing the work is also available on our videos page.