Social Infrastructure

Those who take pains to foster joy accomplish a work as profitable for humanity as those who build 

Engineers and technologists might be tempted to point to medical technology as the one major contributor to human health care, but Hertzman (2001) gives evidence to the contrary. For instance. 

FIGURE 6.22.11 Social intrastructure is extremely important for human health. Here we see that tuberculosis declined markedly before the causative agent was identified, antibiotics were available, or vaccination was developed. (From Hertzman, C., Am. Sci., 89, 538, 2001. With permission.) 

Some slowed their rates of work, some would not take the cucumber, and some would throw the cucumber out of the testing area in a dramatic show of disgust. In dogs, too, unfair rewards lead to uncooperative animals (Range et al., 2009). A similar sense of justice may be present in other species that have a developed social infrastructure, especially when it depends on cooperation. This implies that a sense of fairness may somehow be an artifact of evolution, that there has been a survival advantage to individuals who are fair in their dealings with others. 

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By contrast, the bicycle suiwives as basic transportation in the Netherlands and Germany because those nations have a social infrastructure built to make it possible. Those countries have a neighborhood-centered way of life, and the trip distances on a bicycle are often two or three kilometers or less. People cycle slowly out of politeness to others on the crowded streets. Public transit is also far better than in the United States. It is amusing to see a German commuter train station with virtually no auto parking available, but hundreds of bike parking spots. 

In addressing the question of how income inequality is linked to population health, Muntaner and Lynch (1999) identified two strands of causation, thus combining the approaches of Kaplan and Wilkinson. First, they claim that income inequality is associated with a set of social processes and economic policies that systematically under-invest in physical and social infrastructure (e.g. education). Secondly, large disparities in income distribution may have direct consequences on people s perceptions of their relative place in the social environment, which leads to behavioral and cognitive states that influence health. 

Banks and Financial Institutions high interest rates and difficulty getting loans for investment in social infrastructure are real constraints faced by exporters ... 

For the inhabitants of the exclusion zone, situated in a forested region without well-developed economic and social infrastructures, it is of interest to estimate the relative contributions to internal exposure of forest food (berries and mushrooms) and conventional agricultural food (potatoes and milk). Some specialist studies have assumed that forest food represents only a small part of the diet of inhabitants of the exclusion zone, but we would suggest that in fact, it plays a major role. Typically, the consumption of forest food contributes 50% of the internal exposure dose, while for some critical population groups, it can exceed 80%. The definition of the spatial variation in pollution, the prevailing ecological conditions, and the diet should allow a scientifically-based prediction to be made of the internal exposure dose to the local population, and will help to identify the major risk factors within a certain time period following the Chernobyl catastrophe. 

The defence departments also had to compete with political pressure for extra Exchequer funds to help to deal with the housing problem that had worsened during the war (when few houses were built), as well as to pay for health services and education. Churchill, when arguing in 1924 for a reduction in the naval estimates, referred to the need to spend money on social reform. Failure to do so, he warned, would lead to a Socialist victory in the next election, and greater cuts in naval expenditure. There were also pressures to build roads and to provide other social infrastructure. Between 1932/3 and 1938/9 civil expenditure of all kinds that had to be paid for out of the chancellor s budget increased by 70 million, or 20 per cent. ... 

Social Infrastructure Systems Company TOSHIBA CORPORATION... 

Whether someone becomes an ethically responsible engineer depends partly on her/his personal values, ideals, and resolve. However, society can encourage engineers to be ethically responsible in their professional practice by introducing appropriate incentives, social innovations, and legislation to enable, benefit, and protect those who want to fulfill their ethical responsibilities. In the contemporary United States, the social infrastructure supportive of ethically responsible engineering practice is modest. Nevertheless, would-be ethically responsible engineers should be aware of the resources and options available to them. Discussion follows of three kinds of relevant resources and options, two societal and one individual in nature. ... 

The modest social infrastructure currently in place in the contemporary United States to support ethically responsible engineering practice suggests that in most cases an engineer-employee s decision to be an ethically... 

Under-developed social infrastructures (health, education, electrical power, transportation, etc.)... 

The Japanese Hydrogen Highway Project, started by METI in 2009, falls under the umbrella of the Hydrogen Energy Social Infrastructure Development Demonstration Project, which aims at creation of a hydrogen society in the future. ... 

METI (2011) Launch of Hydrogen Town Project under the Hydrogen Energy Social Infrastructure Development Demonstration Project , http //www.meti.go.jp/en ish/press/2011/ 0113 02.html (last accessed 30 August 2011). 

Catholic parishes were adopted as the basic territorial units for the development of the scheme. Parishes had a social infrastructure in place with representative councils and community organizations, as well as leaders who would act as promoters and innovators of the scheme. Clergy, for instance, were important in this regard, with many parish priests preaching mral electrification on Sundays to encourage residents who were often reluctant, skeptical, and even fearful of the electric as it was called. In total c. 800 local areas were targeted for connection. 

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