human settlements experience continual change. in recent years, many rural areas have experienced dispersed grow (rural sprawl) and population declines in traditional village centers (hollowing). these paradoxical phenomena have occurred in most developing countries, including rural iran. this study examines this phenomena in three iranian villages of kahak area of qom province, and develops a ...

OBJECTIVE Despite national guidelines recommending early concurrent palliative care for individuals newly diagnosed with metastatic cancer, few community cancer centers, especially those in underserved rural areas do so. We are implementing an early concurrent palliative care model, ENABLE (Educate, Nurture, Advise, Before Life Ends) in four, rural-serving community cancer centers. Our objectiv...

INTRODUCTION Minority populations, including those from rural areas, continue to be underrepresented in medical schools despite increased efforts to recruit them. Although family physicians are more highly represented in rural areas, and medical students from rural areas are more likely to return to rural areas, relatively few medical students enter the specialty of family medicine in the USA. ...

Many states across the United States have significant rural populations, which typically face different sets of challenges than those closer to urban populations. This is particularly evident in types opportunities that small businesses areas. In recent years, various efforts - both at a national and local level been taken increase for businesses. However, not always produced results are envisi...

The paper discusses the institutional reforms for rural electrification (RE) in Thailand and Bangladesh and analyses the impacts of private sector participation in electricity generation and tariff reforms on the poor in Thailand. RE program in Thailand, initiated in 1977, increased electricity access by rural households from 7% in early 70s to 97% by 2000. In Bangladesh the RE program, initiat...

Socioeconomic trends and developments within the U.S. healthcare system have challenged rural hospitals' ability to maintain adequate operating margins and offer needed services. However, some hospitals have fared better in this negative environment than have others. To clarify factors that distinguish the most viable rural Catholic hospitals from the least viable, our study identified a group ...

The New South Wales Department of Health (NSW Health) wishes to make appropriate use of casemix data as inputs to the determination of funding levels for small rural hospitals. However, other factors such as hospital size and degree of isolation might need to be taken into account. The study reported here involved correlation of actual expenditures with those predicted by use of a casemix model...