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We delve into whether the equalization of basic public services can mitigate regional disparities in China's economic resilience. Our analysis reveals that COVID-19 has diminished economic resilience and exacerbated regional differences. Notably, these regional disparities constitute the primary cause of spatial variations in economic resilience. Despite the initially low level of basic public services in Chinese cities, there is a discernible upward trend, indicating a gradual narrowing of regional disparities. Furthermore, we uncover a substantial positive correlation between the equalization of public services and variations in regional economic resilience, thereby offering fresh empirical evidence that the equalization of public services can help bridge the gap in regional economic resilience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to enhance the post-training evaluation of the annual performance agreement (APA) training organized by the Bangladesh Public Administration Training Centre (BPATC), the apex training institute for civil servants. Utilizing fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) and artificial neural network (ANN) techniques within Kirkpatrick's four-stage model framework, data were collected from a self-administered questionnaire survey of 71 in-service civil servants who participated in the APA training program. This study employs an asymmetric, non-linear model analyzed through a configurational approach and ANN to explore interrelationships among the four Kirkpatrick levels namely, reaction, learning, behavior, and results. Findings indicate that trainees were satisfied across all levels, identifying a non-linear relationship among these levels in post-training evaluation process. The research highlights that "learning skills" are most significant in the APA post-training evaluation, followed by behavior, results, and reaction. Theoretically, this research advances Kirkpatrick's model and adds to the literature on public service post-training evaluation. Practically, it recommends prioritizing strategies that address cognitive barriers to enhance training effectiveness. This study's innovative approach lies in its concurrent use of fsQCA and ANN methods to analyze the success or failure of APA-related trainees, offering alternative pathways to desired outcomes and contrasting traditional quantitative methods that provide a single solution. The findings have practical implications for public service training institutions and bureaucratic policymakers involved in capacity development, guiding the creation of more effective in-service training courses for public officials. The methodology and analysis can be applied in other contexts, allowing bureaucratic policymakers to replicate these findings in their learning institutes to identify unique configurations that lead to successful or unsuccessful training outcomes, adopt effective strategies, and avoid detrimental ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wars increase the importance of government functions, yet they also constrain their ability to fulfill these functions. In particular, wars hinder economic activity, thereby limiting governments' capacity to raise the revenues required to maintain stability and meet the heightened needs of citizens. Effective governance is therefore severely undermined in times of war. However, empirical research on how wars affect government procurement is limited. We address this gap by exploring procurement dynamics using over one million public purchases of goods and services in Ukraine between January 2021 and October 2022, corresponding to the Russian invasion of the country. We document a large fall in the total number of purchases since the invasion and an increase in the share of successfully completed procurements. This higher success rate comes at the cost of efficiency, with the government paying more to source their goods. This can be attributed to the decline in the share of government purchases via online auctions and the reduced competition. Thus, the prioritization of the quick acquisition of goods and services forced governments to sacrifice cost-effectiveness. In summary, the war did not lower the successful purchasing of private goods and services, and transparency was not decreased. However, the trade-off of speed and transparency for greater costs may become increasingly problematic with the growing budget constraints resulting from the war. This article contributes to our understanding of the Ukrainian government choices during the early phase of the war. The results also highlight the importance of ensuring procurement efficiency and transparency when the war ends as reconstruction efforts will require substantial increases in government procurements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studying the electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) in the foodservice industry can not only provide guidance for merchants, but also spatially optimize the urban foodservice industry, restaurants' location selection, and customers' purchasing decisions. In this study, taking Sanya city as the research object, using big data crawling technology to collect the directory and their attribute information of 2107 restaurants with more than 100 reviews. Kernel density analysis, grid analysis and the geographically weighted regression (GWR) model were applied to reveal the distribution characteristics and influencing factors of eWOM in the foodservice industry in Sanya, China. The main results are as follows. The foodservice industry in Sanya extends along the southern coastline and is characterized by little dispersion and agglomeration at the macro level. The overall eWOM score of the foodservice industry is low. Market popularity, restaurant rating, transportation conditions, and commercial development all have a positive impact on the eWOM of the foodservice industry. Population and price have both positive and negative effects and the public services has a nonsignificant impact on the eWOM. This study not only improves the theoretical understanding of the foodservice industry, but also provides a general reference for its development in other industries and cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite significant growth in fiscal expenditure, the overall level of public services in China remains inadequate. One approach to improving government public service efficiency from the perspective of management psychology is to strengthen government competition. However, only a few studies have explored the improvement of public service efficiency through government competition, with even fewer addressing the phenomena of market segmentation and spatial effects that accompany the process of government competition. This paper aims to fill this research gap by examining the effects of government competition and market segmentation on public service efficiency, as well as their spatial disparities. We initially employs the DEA method to assess the efficiency of public services based on inputs and outputs, and examines its spatial variations. Subsequently, a semi-parametric spatial lag panel model is utilized to validate the effects of market segmentation and government competition on public service efficiency. Our findings indicate that inter-provincial market segmentation leads to a decline in public service efficiency. Moreover, the influence of horizontal competition between local governments on public service efficiency varies depending on the degree of positive and negative effects in their competition dynamics. The impact of vertical competition between central and local governments on public service efficiency is influenced by the degree of fiscal decentralization. When the level of fiscal decentralization is below 0.808, vertical competition between central and local governments has a promoting effect on public service efficiency. However, when the degree of fiscal decentralization exceeds 0.08, this promoting effect weakens and gradually transforms into a negative influence. The insights and evidence provided by this study offer valuable guidance for for effectively reshaping the fiscal relations between the central and local governments in China and improving public service efficiency in the context of a new round of fiscal and tax system reforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As China continues to implement its progressive fertility promotion policy, there has been a drastic decline in the fertility rate. Given that the migrant population constitutes more than a quarter of China's total population, enhancing the willingness of this demographic to have additional children through policy-guided urban public services is pivotal for optimizing China's population development strategy. This study analyzes the influence of urban public services on the reproductive intentions of the migrant population, utilizing data from 110,667 migrant families with one child, drawn from China's Migrant Population Dynamic Monitoring data in 2016 and 2018. The data analysis reveals several key findings: (1) Urban public services, overall, exhibit a notable positive effect on the willingness of the migrant population to have more children, albeit with limitations and a declining trend. (2) Among urban public services, primary basic education significantly impacts the willingness of the migrant population to expand their families. (3) Large cities have created a 'reverse screening' effect on the migrant population, leading to differential access to public services. This scenario caters effectively to the high human capital migrant individuals while reducing accessibility to livelihood public services for the low human capital migrant population. This paper critically evaluates China's progressively adjusted fertility policy from the perspective of the migrant population. It underscores the necessity of establishing a comprehensive fertility support policy system across China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper applies Fuzzy Cognitive Maps (FCMs) to understand the diverse behavior of municipal governments in Ecuador to find common elements that influence the well-being of citizens in the short and long term. Information gathering was conducted in two stages: in the first one, a group of 16 national experts was consulted to develop the initial FCM; in the second stage, local experts from 220 municipalities were interviewed to collect information on the general validity of initial FCMs and specific values given to concepts and relationships in their municipalities. Results show the importance of certain concepts for long-term municipal performance, such as the need for a competitive entrepreneurial sector, improving human resources in the municipality, and, particularly, having a competent mayor with leadership skills and a forward-looking vision that enables the development of municipal projects required to reach an efficient and equitable coverage of goods and services throughout the city. Through the application of genetic algorithms, the FCM was calibrated to ascertain the long-term dynamics of municipal development and the optimal values of the concepts that would optimize the attainment of the set objectives. The derived outcomes suggest the desirability of the maintenance of, in principle, unwanted structures like financial transfers from the central government and the need to exploit natural resources to attain urban development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to enhance governmental decision-making by leveraging advanced topic modeling algorithms to analyze public letters on the "People Call Me" online government inquiry platform in Zhejiang Province, China. Employing advanced web scraping techniques, we collected publicly available letter data from Hangzhou City between June 2022 and May 2023. Initial descriptive statistical analyses and text mining were conducted, followed by topic modeling using the BERTopic algorithm. Our findings indicate that public demands are chiefly focused on livelihood security and rights protection, and these demands exhibit a diversity of characteristics. Furthermore, the public's response to significant emergency events demonstrates both sensitivity and deep concern, underlining its pivotal role in government emergency management. This research not only provides a comprehensive landscape of public demands but also validates the efficacy of the BERTopic algorithm for extracting such demands, thereby offering valuable insights to bolster the government's agility and resilience in emergency responses, enhance public services, and modernize social governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid urbanization and population growth have increased the need for optimizing the location of health services in highly urbanized countries like Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). This study employs a multiple-criteria decision making (MCDM) approach, e.g., fuzzy overlay technique by combining the P-Median location-allocation model, for optimizing health services. First, a geodatabase, containing public hospitals, road networks and population districts, was prepared. Next, we investigated the location and services of five public hospitals in Jeddah city of KSA, by using a MCDM model that included a fuzzy overlay technique with a location-allocation model. The results showed that the allocated five hospitals served 94 out of 110 districts in the study area. Our results suggested additional hospitals must be added to ensure that the entire city is covered with timely hospital services. To improve the existing situation, we prioritized demand locations using the maximize coverage (MC) location problem model. We then used the P-Median function to find the optimal locations of hospitals, and then combined these two methods to create the MC-P-Median optimizer. This optimizer eliminated any unallocated or redundant information. Health planners can use this model to determine the best locations for public hospitals in Jeddah city and similar settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Poverty is not only an economic problem but also a social problem, and there are certain limitations of objective poverty based on the population's income. It does not reflect the residents' true feelings regarding education opportunities, pension and medical security, and participation in decision-making. Researchers have studied it intensively in different objective dimensions of Chinese poverty, and little attention has been paid to subjective poverty. This study analyzes how public services supply, livelihood capital, and livelihood strategies affect subjective perceptions of poverty. The results show that public services supply, livelihood capital, and livelihood strategies significantly correlate with subjective poverty. Physical capital and social capital have the greatest effects on the occurrence of subjective poverty. The probability of subjective poverty decreases by 0.149 and 0.107 for each unit change in physical and social capital, respectively. What's more, public services supply, physical capital, financial capital, and human capital affect the subjective poverty of urban and rural residents at different significance levels. It means that the formation of subjective poverty results from the superposition of multiple factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Since the implementation of various maternal health programs, Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) has significantly declined in India through improvements in maternal health services. However, inequality persists at the regional and socio-economic levels. In light of this, the present study aims to assess the existing regional disparities in utilising various government initiatives for safe motherhood in India. Methods: National-level datasets such as National Family and Health Surveys (NFHS-3 (2005–06); NFHS-4 (2015–16) and NFHS-5(2019–21); Health Management Information System (HMIS), 2019–20; Sample Registrar System (SRS), 2001–2018) were used in the study. In addition, composite Index and inequality measures (Range, Ratio, and Gini) were calculated to examine inequality. At the same time, the Pearson correlation was used to investigate the correlation between various components of maternal health services and Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR). Results: The composite index score (0.65) reflects that India is still far behind the targets of the utilisation of maternal health care services. Within the utilisation of services, the Gini coefficient reveals that the least inequality was recorded in skilled birth assistance deliveries (0.03) and institutional deliveries (0.04). In contrast, the highest inequality was recorded in receiving Iron and Folic Acid (IFA) Tablets for 100 days (0.19) and four Antenatal Care (ANC) visits (0.13) among selected states. Based on the composite score for maternal health utilisation, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, and Delhi were amongst the best performers, whereas Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, and Assam were amongst the worst performers. Conclusion: This indicates that the government's single-minded focus on enhancing institutional deliveries and skilled health-assisted deliveries has detracted from other essential interventions related to maternal health. Therefore, the states with the utilisation of maternal services need to initiate immediate action to increase the ANC and Post-natal Care (PNC utilisation with more attention towards better implementation of existing ANC programmes by the government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, public sports services have attracted great attention owing to their increasingly important role in public health. However, effective evaluation metrics measuring the efficiency of such services from a spatial perspective (e.g., accessibility and distribution of sports parks) remain absent. Indeed, most designs of sports park distribution in urban areas did not consider practical factors such as local road networks, population distribution, and resident preference, resulting in low utilization rates of these parks. In this study, a spatial accessibility-based method is proposed for evaluation of the distributions of sports parks. As a demonstration, the distribution of sports parks in the central urban area of Changsha, China was investigated using the proposed method by the GIS network analysis. Additionally, optimization strategies for sports park distribution (in terms of spatial distribution and overall accessibility) were developed by using spatial syntax. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Constructing and validating a theoretical model of relationships between dental services use and socioeconomic characteristics, oral health status, primary care coverage, and public dental services. Methods: The first stage of the study consisted of developing a theoretical-conceptual model to demonstrate the expected relationships between variables based on the literature. In the second stage, we tested the proposed theoretical model using the Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) technique, using data from the Brazilian National Health Survey conducted in 2019 with a sample of 41,664 individuals aged 15 or older. Results: This study successfully defined a theoretical model that explains the systematic relationships involving public dental services utilization. Socioeconomic status was negatively associated with oral health status (β = -0.376), enrollment in primary care facilities (β = -0.254), and the use of public dental consultations (β = -0.251). Being black, indigenous, or living in a rural area was directly associated with lower socioeconomic status and greater use of public dental services. Conclusions: The identified relationships, establishing a theoretical basis for further investigations, also provide evidence of a public access policy's effect on oral health services on equity, supporting the construction of more effective and equitable public policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rural public services and rural tourism are interdependent, and their coordinated development is crucial for promoting rural revitalization and overall growth in China. So far, the existing studies mainly focus on the mutual influence, mutual promotion, and coordination paths of rural public services and rural tourism but fail to conduct an empirical analysis on the coupling coordination of rural public services and rural tourism or summarize the spatial and temporal differences of the coupling coordination. Therefore, we adopt an evaluation index system for rural public services and rural tourism. To measure the development level and the coupling coordination degree of rural public services and rural tourism in southwestern China from 2012 to 2019, we used a comprehensive evaluation model and a coupling coordination degree model. Additionally, geographic detectors were utilised to detect the causative factors of their coupling coordination development. Based on the analysis of research results, we made the following observations. In southwestern China, the comprehensive development of rural public services and rural tourism indicated an upward trend. An additional interactive coupling relationship between the two systems is observed, and its coupling coordination degree increases, with the increment varying from slow to rapid. The type of coupling coordination changes from rural tourism lagging type to rural public service lagging type, and there are spatial differences in the degree of coupling coordination between the two. The coupling coordination development of the two systems is affected by multiple causative forces, such as economic, industrial, resource attraction, and service guarantee forces, and some differences distinguish the driving strengths of both single and interaction factors. The main contribution of this article is to reveal the coupling and coordination relationship between rural public services and rural tourism, to explore the driving factors affecting the degree of coupling and coordination between them, and to make relevant policy recommendations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the leadership-member exchange perspective, this study proposes that subordinates are more likely to express their voice in a leader-supported work environment, and this relationship is stronger when they have close social ties with their supervisor. In the case of subordinates supported by supervisors, public service motivation serves as a psychological mechanism to promote them to express voice behavior. This study also explains the boundary effect of the supervisor-subordinate's guanxi perspective in affecting supervisor support and subordinate's voice behavior. A longitudinal survey of 136 front-line public officers has been conducted to check this theoretical model in China, and their data verified the moderated-mediation model results. Implications for management theory and practice are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the current era of big data, the exponential increase in the volume of social data has exerted a significant influence on the government and all sectors of society, with the opening of government data becoming an irresistible trend. In this paper, several regional central cities are selected as the representatives of municipal governments to analyze the characteristics and weaknesses of their data-opening policies from various perspectives including policy effectiveness, policy tools, and policy targets. This is of reference significance for the municipal governments of an individual country in the formulation of data opening policies. To be specific, with 2015–2021 as the timeline, based on the six regions of the country, the central cities of each region are selected as representatives of municipal cities, and the text coding of 85 data opening policies implemented in regional central cities are performed. On this basis, a "policy tool-policy targets-policy effectiveness" collaborative measurement model is constructed through the policy tool theory, and the co-evolution analysis of the relevant policies is conducted. The research results are as follows. Firstly, there is a positive correlation between the total policy effectiveness and its quantity, indicating that the number of data-opening policies plays a positive role to a certain extent. However, the average effectiveness shows no significant increase, indicating the inadequate specificity of each policy. Secondly, the degree of synergy between policy tools fluctuates periodically, indicating that the government is constantly trying new methods, with more importance attached to the synergy between government capacity cultivation and positive incentive tools. Thirdly, policy targets continue to show new connotations over time, and there has been new progress made in the coordination between the other three objectives driven by data opening. However, it is imperative to enhance the synergy between the objectives of building a smart city and improving the services related to livelihood. Finally, some targeted suggestions are put forward on how to further improve the data opening policy implemented by municipal governments from three perspectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Impartiality in public services provision is an important dimension that explains the quality of government (QoG). The analysis of impartiality has boomed in recent years at different territorial levels, like countries or regions. The impartiality measures depend on several attributes that are aggregated using different methods. However, little attention has been given to the effects of negative wording attributes and the number of format answers, despite the efforts made by previous studies to build robust composite impartiality indices. This study corrects this existing gap partly using one of the most extensive surveys (the European Quality of Government Index 2021) that include attributes related to impartiality (six attributes and 129,991 citizens). The method will be based on a fuzzy clustering approach, the extended Apostle model and an ordinary binary probit model. The results show that the type of wording and the number of answer options affect impartiality. The analysis of the main differences observed is affected by some insightful covariates such as country, gender, being native, town size, occupation, and the perception of the economic situation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Professional fact-checkers and fact-checking organizations provide a critical public service. Skeptics of modern media, however, often question the accuracy and objectivity of fact-checkers. The current study assessed agreement among two independent fact-checkers, The Washington Post and PolitiFact, regarding the false and misleading statements of then President Donald J. Trump. Differences in statement selection and deceptiveness scaling were investigated. The Washington Post checked PolitiFact fact-checks 77.4% of the time (22.6% selection disagreement). Moderate agreement was observed for deceptiveness scaling. Nearly complete agreement was observed for bottom-line attributed veracity. Additional cross-checking with other sources (Snopes, FactCheck.org), original sources, and with fact-checking for the first 100 days of President Joe Biden's administration were inconsistent with potential ideology effects. Our evidence suggests fact-checking is a difficult enterprise, there is considerable variability between fact-checkers in the raw number of statements that are checked, and finally, selection and scaling account for apparent discrepancies among fact-checkers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 had a huge impact on the transportation industry. In the post-epidemic stage, intercity transportation will face great challenges as places are unsealed, tourism and other service industries begin to recover, and residents' travel demand gradually increases. An in-depth study of residents' intercity travel behavior during holidays in the post-epidemic era will help restore public trust in public transportation and improve the quality of public transportation services. Based on traditional research on ways of travelling, the study adopted the Complex Network Analysis Theory. The city clusters of Shandong Peninsula were taken as the research region. The research studied the impact of the differences in regional attributes of the cities in Shandong Peninsula on residents' intercity travel in the post-epidemic times. A dynamic evolution model of how residents choose to travel was built to simulate the changes to their ways of traveling in the post-epidemic era under two conditions, which are: traveling under the government's supervision of intercity travel and traveling under the government's optimization of intercity travel conditions. The conclusions drawn from the analyses of Complex Network Theory and Evolutionary Game Theory are as follows. First, in the holiday intercity travel in the post-epidemic times, the neighboring cities of Shandong Peninsula are closely connected, thus traveling between neighboring cities dominates intercity travel. Second, the travel network concentration of residents on long-term holidays is lower than that on short-term holidays, and the migration intensity of residents is higher than that on short-term holidays, while the willingness of residents' migration on short-term holidays is higher than that on long-term holidays. The willingness to migrate on holidays is generally lower than that before the epidemic. Third, in a normal intercity travel network, the travel between two cities with medium and long distances is mainly by public transport. However, the dominance of public transport will be affected under the impact of the epidemic. In short-distance travel between two cities, private transport is in an advantageous position, and under the impact of the epidemic, this advantage will become more significant. The government can improve the position of public transport in short-distance travel by making optimizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes how housing prices affect innovation and entrepreneurship. We construct a city-level panel dataset including 281 cities between 2009 and 2019 by merging housing price data from China Statistical Yearbook for Regional Economy with innovation and entrepreneurship data from Peking University Open Research Data Platform. Our results suggest that housing prices are positively associated with the vitality of innovation and entrepreneurship (VIE). The results remain consistent with a series of robustness checks. We also find that rising house prices promote VIE through the wealth effect and the siphon effect. Spatial effect analysis further shows that housing prices not only positively affect the VIE of local cities, but also positively affect the VIE of neighboring cities. These findings imply the necessity of curbing the excessive rise of housing prices and decoupling public services and benefits related to homeownership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the spatial distribution of urban forest ecosystem services is essential for urban planners and managers to effectively manage cities and is an essential part of sustainable urban development. Mapping the spatial distribution of urban forest ecosystem services and improving the accuracy of its assessment scale will undoubtedly provide a more accurate reference basis for later management. In this study, we used the i-Tree Eco model and kriging interpolation to quantify and map urban forest ecosystem services and their spatial distribution in Zhengzhou, a city along the lower reaches of the Yellow River in China; analyzed the mapping errors and applicable conditions; and further explored the spatial differences using geographic probes. The i-Tree Eco model estimation results showed that the total carbon storage in the urban forest of Zhengzhou city was 75.7 tons, the annual carbon sequestration was 14.66 tons, the trees and shrubs in the urban area of Zhengzhou city could effectively avoid a total of 307.86 m3 of surface runoff per year, and trees and shrubs removed 411.8 kg/year of air pollution (O3, CO, NO2, PM2.5, PM10, and SO2). The spatial distribution of all urban forest ecosystem services showed significant heterogeneity, but the spatial evaluation precision of different factors varied. GDP and population data showed a negative correlation with ecosystem services, and ecosystem services were abundant in watershed and woodland areas. This study differs from traditional assessments based on regional data due to its improved spatial evaluation accuracy, and the results, discussion, and analysis not only help Zhengzhou's own urban development, but also provide a basis for the future construction and management of other cities, the Central Plains urban agglomeration, and the surrounding larger regions. This will contribute to the enhancement of ecosystem services and thus improve the ecological conditions of the region. This will also have a positive effect on the health of urban residents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Farmers coping strategies against harvest failures have implication for future adaptation to such shocks. Previous studies on farmers' vulnerability and response to shocks have emphasized on adaptation, at the expense of their coping to such shocks. Using a survey data from 299 farm households in northern Ghana, this study has analyzed farmers' coping strategies against harvest failure, and the drivers of the choice and intensity of the coping strategies. The empirical results show that most of the households used liquidation of productive assets, reduction in consumption, borrowing from family and friends, diversification of livelihoods, and migration to cities for off-farm jobs as coping measures in response to harvest failure. The empirical results from a multivariate probit model indicate that the choice of coping strategies is influenced by farmers' access to radio, net value of livestock produced per man-equivalent (ME), experience of yield loss in the previous year, farmers' perception about the fertility status of their crop fields, access to credit, distance to market, farm-to-farmer extension, location of the respondent, cropland per ME, and access to off-farm income. Empirical results from a zero-truncated negative binomial regression model also indicate that the number of coping strategies adopted increases with the value of farm implements, access to radio, farmer-to-farmer extension and being located in the regional capital. It however decreases with the age of the household head, number of family members abroad, a positive perception about the fertility status of crop fields, access to government extension services, distance to market, and access to off-farm income. Limited access to credit, radio, and markets renders farmers more vulnerable and pushes them to adopt more costly coping strategies. In addition, an increase in income earned from secondary livestock products decreases incentive for farmers to adopt liquidation of productive assets as coping strategy after a harvest failure. Policy makers and stakeholders could make smallholder farmers less vulnerable to harvest failure by enhancing their access to radio, credit, off-farm income and market, promotion of farmer-to-farmer extension, implementing measure to improve the fertility of crop fields in the study area, and enhancing farmers' engagement in the production and selling of secondary livestock products [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to differentiate between perceived quality culture (QC) and service quality (SQ) in public and private universities; and to examine the effect of QC on SQ in both types of universities, individually and collectively. This is a quantitative study in which data are collected from administrative and quality managers of randomly selected universities in Pakistan through face-to-face and online surveys. Of the 150 questionnaires distributed, a total of 111 questionnaires are received, of which 105 are valid, giving a response rate of 70%. The collected data are then analyzed by descriptive and causal research methods using SPSS-25 and PLS-SEM. The findings reveal significant differences in perceived QC and SQ between public and private universities; however, public universities scored higher on both variables than private universities. Furthermore, the results show the significant effect of QC on SQ individually and collectively in public and private universities; however, this relationship is stronger for private universities than for public universities. The findings of the study may help administrative and quality managers to improve SQ by cultivating QC in their respective universities, thereby improving organizational performance. This study extends theoretical knowledge by introducing QC as a predictor variable and then measuring SQ from a dual perspective (internal and external customers) in a university setting, which is less explored in the existing literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Blockchain is rapidly becoming established as the core technology of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. By combining blockchain to improve processes in existing industries, innovative new services will emerge, but services not effectively applied by blockchain will also develop. This study investigated the factors to be considered when applying the characteristics of blockchain technology to business. We developed a framework of blockchain service utility evaluation indexes using the analytic hierarchy process method. The Delphi method is used to identify highly effective blockchain application service cases by applying the evaluation framework to actual use cases in the public sector. By proposing a framework of utility evaluation factors for blockchain application services, this study provides a systematic foundation for blockchain business review. We address the question of "why blockchain should be applied to this service" by providing a more comprehensive approach than existing research, such as a fragmentary decision tree. Blockchains are expected to become more active along with the full-scale digital transformation of industries, and thus, we must examine the ways to broadly use blockchain as a base technology in a form applicable to the diverse industries and societies constituting the digital economy. Accordingly, this study presents an evaluation solution for promoting efficient policies and developing successful blockchain application services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Pregnancy is a time when the body is under a lot of stress, which increases your dietary needs. Under nutrition is a worldwide health issue, especially among pregnant women. Malnutrition during pregnancy can result in miscarriages, fetal deaths during pregnancy, pre-term delivery, and maternal mortality for both the mother and her fetus. Therefore, this research aimed to assess the prevalence of under nutrition and associated factors among pregnant woman attending antenatal care services at public hospitals in west Ethiopia. Objective: To assess the prevalence of under nutrition and associated factors among pregnant women attending Antenatal Care service in Public Hospitals of western Ethiopia. Methods: Facility based cross-sectional study was conducted from April 10 to May 10, 2020 among 780 pregnant mothers. The study participants were selected by systematic random sampling methods from antenatal care clinics of the hospitals. Interviewer administered structured questionnaire was used to collect the data and Mid-upper arm circumference, height and weight were measured to determine the magnitude of under nutrition among the study participants. The data were entered to Epi Info version 7.2.3, and then exported to SPSS version 24 for analysis. Multivariable logistic regression was used to identify independent predictors considering adjusted odd ratio (AOR) at p-value ≤ 0.05 to measure the strength of association between dependent and independent variables. Result: The prevalence of under nutrition among pregnant women was found to be 39.2% (95%CI: 35.7%, 42.6%). Rural residence [(AOR = 1.97, 95% CI: (1.24, 3.14)], substance use [(AOR: 3.33, 95% CI: (1.63, 6.81)], low dietary diversity of women [(AOR = 7.56, 95% CI: (4.96, 11.51)], mildly food insecure household [(AOR = 4.36, 95% CI: (2.36, 8.79)], moderately food insecure household [(AOR = 3.71, 95%CI: (1.54, 8.79), and severely food insecure household [(AOR = 6.96, 95% CI: (3.15, 15.42)] were factors significantly associated with under nutrition. Conclusion: The study showed that the prevalence of under nutrition is very high among pregnant women. Factors associated with under nutrition of pregnant women were rural residency, household food insecurity, dietary diversity and substance use. All concerned bodies should made efforts to reduce the risk of under nutrition by reducing substance use and improving household food security there by to increase women's dietary diversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Client satisfaction reflects the gap between the expected service and the experience of the service, from the client's point of view. Maternal satisfaction with delivery services affects the selection of birthplaces and helps to identify gaps between actual health care and desired health care outcomes. There is a dearth of evidence on the factors of client satisfaction towards delivery services in the Somali region. Objective: The aim of this study was to assess maternal satisfaction and associated factors towards institutional delivery service at public hospitals in the Somali region, Eastern Ethiopia, in 2018. Methods: An institution-based cross-sectional study design was conducted from December 1–30, 2018, on a total of 320 delivering mothers who gave birth. A systematic random sampling technique was used. A pretested structured questionnaire was used for data collection through a face-to-face interview. The data was checked for completeness and entered into EpiData. Statistical analysis was done by SPSS version.20. Binary logistic regression was used to identify factors. Multivariable analysis was done to compute adjusted odds ratios at 95% CI and a P-value <0.05 was used to declare a statistically significant association. Results: The overall maternal satisfaction towards delivery service was 76.60% (95%CI: 71.90, 80.90). The short duration of labor below 12 hours (AOR = 1.80, 95%CI: 1.01, 3.2), waiting time below 15 minutes (AOR = 2.78, 95%CI: 1.10, 6.99) and planned pregnancy (AOR = 3.68, 95%CI: 1.59, 8.47) were significantly associated with mother's satisfaction towards delivery services. Conclusions: This study revealed that more than three-quarters of mothers were satisfied with the institutional delivery service. Longer waiting time, suffering from persistent labor and having unplanned pregnancies hindering factors for maternal satisfaction. Therefore, programs on education and counseling towards pregnancy planning should be strengthened. Efforts should be made on availing adequate skilled birth attendants to manage persistent labor and handle longer waiting times. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Providing access to non-confidential government data to the public is one of the initiatives adopted by many governments today to embrace government transparency practices. The initiative of publishing non-confidential government data for the public to use and re-use without restrictions is known as Open Government Data (OGD). Nevertheless, after several years after its inception, the direction of OGD implementation remains uncertain. The extant literature on OGD adoption concentrates primarily on identifying factors influencing adoption decisions. Yet, studies on the underlying factors influencing OGD after the adoption phase are scarce. Based on these issues, this study investigated the post-adoption of OGD in the public sector, particularly the data provider agencies. The OGD post-adoption framework is crafted by anchoring the Technology–Organization–Environment (TOE) framework and the innovation adoption process theory. The data was collected from 266 government agencies in the Malaysian public sector. This study employed the partial least square-structural equation modeling as the statistical technique for factor analysis. The results indicate that two factors from the organizational context (top management support, organizational culture) and two from the technological context (complexity, relative advantage) have a significant contribution to the post-adoption of OGD in the public sector. The contribution of this study is threefold: theoretical, conceptual, and practical. This study contributed theoretically by introducing the post-adoption framework of OGD that comprises the acceptance, routinization, and infusion stages. As the majority of OGD adoption studies conclude their analysis at the adoption (decisions) phase, this study gives novel insight to extend the analysis into unexplored territory, specifically the post-adoption phase. Conceptually, this study presents two new factors in the environmental context to be explored in the OGD adoption study, namely, the data demand and incentives. The fact that data providers are not influenced by data requests from the agency's external environment and incentive offerings is something that needs further investigation. In practicality, the findings of this study are anticipated to assist policymakers in strategizing for long-term OGD implementation from the data provider's perspective. This effort is crucial to ensure that the OGD initiatives will be incorporated into the public sector's service thrust and become one of the digital government services provided to the citizen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: As pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) scales up in sub-Saharan Africa, governments and implementers need to understand how to best manage national programs. Kenya's national PrEP program offers an opportunity to review elements of program success within the health system and evaluate the utility of a national implementation framework. We explored health system considerations for PrEP implementation to understand how Kenya's national PrEP implementation priorities align with those of PrEP service providers, peer educators, and program or county managers. Methods: We conducted twelve key informant interviews (KII) and nine focus group discussions (FGDs) with PrEP program and county managers (n = 12), peer educators (n = 44), and PrEP service providers (n = 48). We recruited participants across a variety of cadres and experiences with PrEP programs. KIIs and FGDs focused on PrEP service delivery and program implementation. Data were collected by trained study staff, audio recorded, translated into English, and transcribed. We used framework analysis methods to systematically apply Kenya's 2017 National PrEP Implementation Framework to the data and summarized findings according to the seven Implementation Framework domains. Results: All respondents emphasized the important role of communication, coordination, training, and leadership in PrEP implementation. PrEP service providers and program and county managers highlighted the importance of efficient data collection and utilization, and improved resource allocation. Commodity security and research, while key elements of the PrEP Implementation Framework, were less commonly discussed, and research was less prioritized by respondents. Respondents highlighted the importance of coordinated PrEP service delivery across sites and programs to improve overall client experiences. Conclusion: In the context of a nationally-scaled PrEP program, PrEP service providers, peer educators, and program and county managers value strong leadership, close coordination of services across sites, and expedient use of data to improve strategies and services. Kenya's PrEP Implementation Framework aligns closely with the priorities of individuals involved in PrEP service delivery and management, and provides a comprehensive overview of health system considerations for effective implementation of a PrEP program at scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The discovery of human mobility patterns of cities provides invaluable information for decision-makers who are responsible for redesign of community spaces, traffic, and public transportation systems and building more sustainable cities. The present article proposes a possibilistic fuzzy c-medoid clustering algorithm to study human mobility. The proposed medoid-based clustering approach groups the typical mobility patterns within walking distance to the stations of the public transportation system. The departure times of the clustered trips are also taken into account to obtain recommendations for the scheduling of the designed public transportation lines. The effectiveness of the proposed methodology is revealed in an illustrative case study based on the analysis of the GPS data of Taxicabs recorded during nights over a one-year-long period in Budapest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Government transparency and openness are key factors to bring forth the modernization of the state. The combination of transparency and digital information has given rise to the concept of Open Government, that increases citizen understanding and monitoring of government actions, which in turn improves the quality of public services and of the government decision making process. With the goal of improving legislative transparency and the understanding of the Brazilian regulatory process and its characteristics, this paper introduces RegBR, the first national framework to centralize, classify and analyze regulations from the Brazilian government. A centralized database of Brazilian federal legislation built from automated ETL routines and processed with data mining and machine learning techniques was created. Our framework evaluates different NLP models in a text classification task on our novel Portuguese legal corpus and performs regulatory analysis based on metrics that concern linguistic complexity, restrictiveness, law interest, and industry-specific citation relevance. Our results were examined over time and validated by correlating them with known episodes of regulatory changes in Brazilian history, such as the implementation of new economic plans or the emergence of an energy crisis. Methods and metrics proposed by this framework can be used by policy makers to measure their own work and serve as inputs for future studies that could analyze government changes and their relationship with federal regulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are increasing efforts to scale up services globally for families raising children with developmental disabilities (DDs). Existing interventions, often developed in high income, Western settings, need substantial adaptation before they can be implemented in different contexts. The aim of this study was to explore perspectives on the role that context plays in the adaptation and implementation of interventions targeting caregivers of children with DDs across settings. The study question was applied to the Caregiver Skills Training (CST) programme of the World Health Organization specifically, as well as to stakeholder experiences with caregiver interventions more broadly. Two focus group discussions (FGDs; n = 15 participants) and 25 individual semi-structured interviews were conducted. Participants were caregivers of children with DDs and professionals involved in adapting or implementing the CST across five continents and different income settings. Data were analysed thematically. Four main themes were developed: 1) Setting the scene for adaptations; 2) Integrating an intervention into local public services; 3) Understanding the reality of caregivers; 4) Challenges of sustaining an intervention. Informants thought that contextual adaptations were key for the intervention to fit in locally, even more so than cultural factors. The socio-economic context of caregivers, including poverty, was highlighted as heavily affecting service access and engagement with the intervention. Competing health priorities other than DDs, financial constraints, and management of long-term collaborations were identified as barriers. This study validates the notion that attention to contextual factors is an essential part of the adaptation of caregiver interventions for children with DDs, by providing perspectives from different geographical regions. We recommend a stronger policy and research focus on contextual adaptations of interventions and addressing unmet socio-economic needs of caregivers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Municipal amalgamation is one of the core policy tools for Chinese government intervention in urbanization. The city-county merger policy provides a valuable research object for examining whether government-led urban expansion improves the quality of public services. By using city panel data from 2003 to 2019, this paper examines the policy effects of city-county mergers on the quality of public services using the Propensity Score Matching-Difference-in-Differences (PSM-DID) model. The results indicate that, after controlling for other factors, city-county mergers have increased the quality of public services by 1.2%. A placebo test has validated the robustness of this positive effect. Through further tests, the paper finds that the policy has positively affected all three aspects of the quality of public services in China: education, health care, and transport infrastructure, with the greatest impact being on education. Using a case study of a city-county merger in the Fenghua District of Ningbo, this paper depicts the transmission mechanism and argues that the policy affects the quality of public services by providing institutional security (financial and administrative power) and promoting regional integration in the new city area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Gender-inclusive adoption of multipurpose national-identity smart cards (MNIS) is important to ensure gender equality, particularly in accessing public services offered by the card e.g. identity verification, healthcare, transit, banking, driving license, passport, etc. The aim is to study the gender differences in terms of the motivation and impediments of adopting MNIS to recommend gender-specific adoption strategies. Methodology: The research framework is based on the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) with the added constructs of perceived credibility and anxiety. The data was collected through five hundred questionnaires from Malaysia (the MNIS pioneer) and analyzed using structural equation modeling. Findings: The results show that females have significantly higher perceived credibility while males have significantly higher performance expectancy for MNIS. The correlation between performance expectancy and perceived credibility is significantly stronger among males. Practical implications: Strategies recommended to policymakers include having social messages related to MNIS utility and convenience in campaigns targeting males while alleviating concerns over security and privacy for campaigns targeting females. Originality/value: This is the first study that investigated the gender differences in adoption of MNIS by comparing the structural UTAUT models of both genders. The gender differences in MNIS adoption were explained using gender theories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the development of information technology, improving the efficiency of public services with the help of the Internet has become an important work of local governments. However, under different institutional environments, the impact mechanism of Internet development on the supply efficiency of government public services is still unclear. Based on China's interprovincial panel data from 2011 to 2019, this paper constructs a threshold effect model, sets the institutional environment as the threshold variable, and empirically analyzes the impact of Internet development on the supply efficiency of government public services. The results show that the difference in regional institutional environment will lead to the obvious threshold effect of Internet development on the supply efficiency of government public services: When the institutional environment is poor, the role of Internet development on the supply efficiency of government public services is not significant. With the improvement of the institutional environment, the role of Internet development in promoting the supply efficiency of government public services gradually appears, but the marginal intensity of promotion weakens. Compared with existing studies that mostly use linear models, this paper incorporates the institutional environment into the complex relationship between Internet development and government public service supply efficiency, and clarifies the role of the institutional environment in the process of Internet development affecting government public service supply efficiency and the non-linear relationship among the three. This paper reveals the mechanism of Internet development affecting the supply efficiency of government public services under different institutional environments and provides a new perspective for solving the shortage of public services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Migrant workers greatly contributing to China's industrialization and urbanization are confronted with increasing health risks. This study empirically investigates the effects of public employment services on the self-rated health of migrant workers in Shanghai China, by using data from the National Bureau of Statistics from 2015 to 2020. The estimation results under the Ordered Probit model illustrate that public employment services significantly improve the self-rated health of migrant workers, and vocational training, job development and other related services show an apparently positive correlation with the self-rated health. The marginal effect analysis reveals that public employment services obviously reduce the probability of health satisfaction as "average", "relatively satisfied" and "relatively dissatisfied", which translate into a significant increase in the probability of "very satisfied". The mechanism analysis verifies that public employment services enhance the self-rated health by increasing the proportion of medical insurance and injury insurance of migrant workers. The results are still reliable by adopting the methods of subsample regression, Propensity Score Matching and variable substitution to conduct robustness checks. This study further enriches the literature on public employment services and the health status of migrant workers, and provides policy implications on improving the health status of migrant workers and the public employment service system of China under the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following the 'people-oriented' concept, increased attention should be paid to the heterogeneity of community residents when configuring public service facilities. Taking Shanghai as an example, this study analyzed the spatial pattern of urban and rural community differentiation and evaluated spatial differences in the level of accessibility to four types of public service facilities based on the shortest travel distance. There were significant differences between community types in Shanghai, with a clear circular structure in the urban and rural spaces. Here, facility accessibility decreased from the core to the periphery. Population density, income level, and the shortest walking distance to facilities revealed a significant negative correlation. Age level, household registration, and the shortest walking distance to facilities were partially weakly correlated or uncorrelated. The spatial matching of population density and facility accessibility simultaneously presented a circular pattern and heterogeneity, while planned new towns in suburbs and mid-suburbs presented a double-medium-sized match of the same community type. From the perspective of community differentiation, mechanisms behind the formation of the spatial pattern of facility accessibility included urban-rural pattern continuity and differences in allocation specifications, the continuity of population agglomeration and the accumulation of facility construction, and urban planning guidance and population agglomeration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The stateless population in Thailand live by accessing all public services, including the health care system. Stigma is a crucial factor impacting these individuals' lives and their access to medical care. This study aimed to understand the experience of the stateless population in Thailand and how they overcome the problem of stigma. Methods: A qualitative method was used to elicit information from key informants who were members of the stateless population, which was classified as those who did not hold Thai identification cards (IDs). A questionnaire was used to guide the interview, which was conducted in a private and confidential room. The interviews were conducted after voluntary agreement was obtained from the participants; each interview was held in August 2021 and lasted for approximately 45 minutes. Results: Fifty-one people participated in the study; 68.6% were females, 86.3% were married, and 90.2% were Akha or Lahu. The stateless population in Thailand reported four types of perceived stigma: having a lower ability to request that their needs be met, not being equal to others, not being able to qualify for health care services and being ranked below other hill tribe people who have IDs. The phrase "life is nothing" was presented by the participants, who reported that they felt like an invisible population in Thailand. Some participants reported that other hill tribe people who have IDs act as stigma perpetuators among members of the stateless population who do not have IDs. Maintaining their privacy within their village, trying to obtain a Thai ID, and practicing the Thai language were the main ways of avoiding the stigma reported by the stateless population. Obtaining a Thai ID was detected as the top goal in their aim to overcome the stigma problem. Conclusions: The stateless population in Thailand live as an invisible population and are negatively treated via various patterns from others. Accessing Thai IDs and education are argued to be the most effective procedures for addressing the problem under the implementation schemes of the relevant organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the satisfaction and adequacy of citizens through the expected quality and perceived quality in the areas of planning and territorial viability, experience in the provision of municipal services and citizen experience in environmental issues, in order to provide tools for territorial decision making for the citizens' well-being. In our research PLS software is used for the analysis of hypotheses. A questionnaire was delivered to a sample of 521 citizens, representing the spectrum of the population, and the statistical study of the responses yielded results on citizen satisfaction and loyalty. Our research includes the study of moderating effects on the causal ratio of perceived value and satisfaction in territorial planning and viability, the perceived quality in the provision of municipal services and the perceived quality in the citizen experience in the environmental management of the territory on the value relationship perceived by the citizen and general satisfaction. A second objective of the study is to see if there are significant differences in the hypotheses raised by gender by performing a multigroup analysis. This difference has been appreciated in two of the hypotheses. The study shows that the policies exercised by the territorial managers of the different areas have a significant influence on the value perceived by citizens, satisfaction and loyalty, which shape their general well-being. Areas for improvement in territorial policies and municipal services such as citizen security, air quality, public lighting and sports services have been identified. Knowing these shortcomings allows politicians to focus their efforts on improving the quality of life in cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developing food supply chains in the African agriculture could be one of the keys for higher value-added activities and for the fair income of the stakeholders along the chains. Our research aims to investigate how these agricultural value chains are working in Northern Ghana and how to develop them. To estimate meat demand in the Tamale Metropolis, we carried out a large-scale survey with more than 300 interviews. Furthermore, we also measured the awareness of processed meat products. Based on the results, our conclusions are as follows: Development of public services offers the opportunity to (1) gaining market power for ourselves while losing market power for others, (2) indirect takeover of control on political and civil societies while losing control for others, (3) to win allies and friends on one hand, potentially losing allies and friends on the other. After spatial analyses of grazing areas, animal markets, trading routes and witnessing the descriptions of basic macroeconomic differences within Ghana; we must conclude that live animal trade is south-orientated, where traders are able to bargain higher prices. Due to northern locational advantages, the price of animals could be reduced. The presumably cheaper workforce and dozens of unemployed young males could also alleviate the financial burdens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since ride-hailing has become an important travel alternative in many cities worldwide, a fervent debate is underway on whether it competes with or complements public transport services. We use Uber trip data in six cities in the United States and Europe to identify the most attractive public transport alternative for each ride. We then address the following questions: (i) How does ride-hailing travel time and cost compare to the fastest public transport alternative? (ii) What proportion of ride-hailing trips do not have a viable public transport alternative? (iii) How does ride-hailing change overall service accessibility? (iv) What is the relation between demand share and relative competition between the two alternatives? Our findings suggest that the dichotomy—competing with or complementing—is false. Though the vast majority of ride-hailing trips have a viable public transport alternative, between 20% and 40% of them have no viable public transport alternative. The increased service accessibility attributed to the inclusion of ride-hailing is greater in our US cities than in their European counterparts. Demand split is directly related to the relative competitiveness of travel times i.e. when public transport travel times are competitive ride-hailing demand share is low and vice-versa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the increasing pressures and demands from the public sector to be more efficient and effective and accountable, the idea of Public Service Motivation (PSM) and Organization Performance (OP) has become more relevant and critical. This quantitative research hypothesizes that PSM leads towards higher level of organizational performance among public sector officials and also explores the intervening effects of Altruism (ALT), Perceived Social Impact (PSI) and Political Support (PS) in this context. Based on self-administered questionnaire, data was collected from 405 public officials using random sampling strategy. Covariance Based Structural Equation Modelling was used to test the hypothesized model. Following the validation of the measurement model, structural model was developed to test the various paths predicted in the hypotheses. Analysis revealed that PSM, PS and ALT have a positive relationship with OP whereas PSM relationship with PS could not be established. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a framework for a layout evaluation of urban public sports facilities. First, the buffer analysis method is used to measure the service level of public sports facilities. The study findings indicate that the overall service level of public sports facilities presents the spatial characteristics of a central agglomeration, and the value of the service level diffuses outward from high to low. There is evident spatial heterogeneity in the layout of public sports facilities in Hangzhou. Second, the Gini coefficient, Lorenz curve, and location entropy are employed to measure the equity of the distribution among spatial units and the intradistrict disparity. The results show a mismatch between the spatial distribution of the facilities and the distribution of the permanent population. The patterns of distribution of the location entropy classes of Hangzhou can be divided into three types: balanced, alternating, and divergent districts. The method in this paper is effective in measuring spatial equity and visualizing it. it has a certain degree of systemicity, universality and operability. At the same time, this method can compare the diachronic characteristics of the same city and the synchronic characteristics of different cities, which has universal application value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This study verified the association between contextual and individual factors and public dental services utilisation in Brazil. Methods: The study was conducted based on a cross-sectional population-based household survey performed in Brazil (National Health Survey– 2019)). Data was collected between August 2019 and March 2020. Total sample included 43,167 individuals aged ≥15 years who had at least one dental appointment in the last 12 months before interview. Study outcome was 'public dental service utilisation', and Andersen's behavioral model was adopted for selecting independent variables. A multilevel analysis was performed using individual factors as first level and federation units as second level. Results: The highest prevalence of public dental service utilisation on an individual level was observed among unable to read or write people (PR: 3.31; p<0.001), indigenous (PR: 1.40; p<0.001), black or brown (PR: 1.16; p<0.001), with per capita household income of up to U$124 (PR: 2.40; p<0.001), living in the rural area (PR: 1.28; p<0.001), and who self-rated oral health as regular (PR: 1.15; p<0.001) or very bad/bad (PR: 1.26; p<0.001). On the contextual level, highest PR of public dental service utilisation was observed among those living in federal units with increased oral health coverage in primary health care. Conclusions: Public dental service utilisation is associated with individual and contextual factors. These results can guide decision-making based on evidence from policymakers, demonstrating the potential for mitigating oral health inequalities and increasing service coverage in a public and universal health system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Access to major services, often located in urban centres, is key to the realisation of numerous Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In Kenya, there are no up-to-date and localised estimates of spatial access to urban centres. We estimate the travel time to urban centres and identify marginalised populations for prioritisation and targeting. Methods: Urban centres were mapped from the 2019 Kenya population census and combined with spatial databases of road networks, elevation, land use and travel barriers within a cost-friction algorithm to compute travel time. Seven travel scenarios were considered: i) walking only (least optimistic), ii) bicycle only, iii) motorcycle only, iv) vehicle only (most optimistic), v) walking followed by motorcycle transport, vi) walking followed by vehicle transport, and vii) walking followed by motorcycle and then vehicle transport (most pragmatic). Mean travel time, and proportion of the population within 1-hour and 2-hours of the urban centres were summarized at sub-national units (counties) used for devolved planning. Inequities were explored and correlations between the proportion of the population within 1-hour of an urban centre and ten SDG indicators were computed. Results: A total of 307 urban centres were digitised. Nationally, the mean travel time was 4.5-hours for the walking-only scenario, 1.0-hours for the vehicle only (most optimistic) scenario and 1.5-hours for the walking-motorcycle-vehicle (most pragmatic) scenario. Forty-five per cent (21.3 million people) and 87% (41.6 million people) of Kenya's population resided within 1-hour of the nearest urban centre for the least optimistic and most pragmatic scenarios respectively. Over 3.2 million people were considered marginalised or living outside the 2-hour threshold in the pragmatic scenario, 16.0 million Kenyans for walking only, and 2.2 million for the most optimistic scenario. County-level spatial access was highly heterogeneous ranging between 8%-100% and 32%-100% of people within the 1-hour threshold for the least and most optimistic scenarios, respectively. Counties in northern and eastern parts of Kenya were generally most marginalised. The correlation coefficients for nine SDG indicators ranged between 0.45 to 0.78 and were statistically significant. Conclusion: Travel time to urban centres in Kenya is heterogeneous. Therefore, marginalised populations should be prioritised during resource allocation and policies should be formulated to enhance equitable access to public services and opportunities in urban areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To evaluate the impact of an intervention improving the continuum of care monitoring (CCM) within HIV public healthcare services in São Paulo, Brazil, and implementing a clinical monitoring system. This system identified three patient groups prioritized for additional care engagement: (1) individuals diagnosed with HIV, but not receiving treatment (the treatment gap group); (2) individuals receiving treatment for >6 months with a detectable viral load (the virologic failure group); and (3) patients lost to follow-up (LTFU). Methods: The implementation strategies included three training sessions, covering system logistics, case discussions, and development of maintenance goals. These strategies were conducted within 30 HIV public healthcare services (May 2019 to April 2020). After each training session, professionals shared their experiences with CCM at regional meetings. Before and after the intervention, providers were invited to answer 23 items from the normalization process theory questionnaire (online) to understand contextual factors. The mean item scores were compared using the Mann–Whitney U test. The RE-AIM implementation science framework (evaluating reach, effectiveness, adoption, implementation, and maintenance) was used to evaluate the integration of the CCM. Results: In the study, 47 (19.3%) of 243 patients with a treatment gap initiated treatment, 456 (49.1%) of 928 patients with virologic failure achieved suppression, and 700 of 1552 (45.1%) LTFU patients restarted treatment. Strategies for the search and reengagement of patients were developed and shared. Providers recognized the positive effects of CCM on their work and how it modified existing activities (3.7 vs. 4.4, p<0.0001, and 3.9 vs. 4.1, p<0.05); 27 (90%) centers developed plans to sustain routine CCM. Conclusion: Implementing CCM helped identify patients requiring more intensive attention. This intervention led to changes in providers' perceptions of CCM and care and management processes, which increased the number of patients engaged across the care continuum and improved outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite its risks for accident and illegality, little is known about the magnitude and associated social and cognitive factors that motivate drivers to use mobile phone while driving. The present study, guided by theory of planned behavior, aimed at describing the magnitude of mobile use while driving and examining the role of attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, and risk perceptions in predicting drivers' intentions to use mobile phone while driving. A total of 155 public service vehicle drivers, who were selected from Debre Markos Town and its vehicle terminal took part in the study. To select study participants, systematic random sampling technique was employed. The instrument used to collect data was self-report questionnaire. The results indicated that more than two-third (69%) of the participants used their mobile phone while driving over the past week. Hierarchical regression analysis displayed that perceived behavioral control, risk perception, and attitude were found to be the most significant social and cognitive predictors of public service vehicle drivers' intention to use mobile phone while driving, but not age and subjective norm variables. So as to reduce drivers' intention to use mobile phone while driving, intervention strategies should focus on enhancing their confidence to avoid this behavior; alerting drivers to the traffic control regulation and the dangers of using mobile phones while driving. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to understand the level of residential satisfaction of the host communities' aftermath of the influx of Rohingya in Bangladesh. A total of 151 household heads were randomly interviewed from Ukhiya and Ramu Upazila of Cox's Bazar district, Bangladesh. A residential satisfaction index is developed with a total of twenty-two variables comprised of four components- social environment (SE), neighbourhood environment (NE), public services and facilities (PS&F), and dwelling units (DU). The coefficients of the components indicate that the PS&F, SE, and NE impact much on the overall residential satisfaction compare to the DU. The analysis demonstrates that the people who have tertiary level education, who is Muslim and whose work opportunities remain the same as before, are more satisfied, but older people are less satisfied than younger. Besides, the degradation of social harmony, livestock and agricultural land losses, and decreased wages were the significant causes of dissatisfaction. These findings may contribute to taking appropriate policies and programs for the host communities taken by the government and non-government organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bangladesh faces a severe rural to urban migration challenge, which is accentuated by climate change and the Rohingya crisis. These migrants often reside in urban slums and struggle to access public services, which are already short in supply for existing slum dwellers. Given the inadequacy of governmental efforts, nonprofits have assumed responsibility for providing essential services such as housing, healthcare, and education. Would local slum-dwellers in Dhaka be willing to support such nonprofits financially? We deploy an in-person survey experiment with three frames (generic migrants, climate migrants, and religiously persecuted Rohingya migrants) to assess Dhaka slum-dwellers' willingness to support a humanitarian charity that provides healthcare services to migrants. Bangladesh is noted as a climate change hotspot and its government is vocal about the climate issue in international forums. While we expected this to translate into public support for climate migrants, we find respondents are 16% less likely to support climate migrants in relation to the generic migrants. However, consistent with the government's hostility towards Rohingya, we find that respondents are 9% less likely to support a charity focused on helping Rohingya migrants. Our results are robust even when we examine subpopulations such as recent arrivals in Dhaka and those who have experienced floods (both of which could be expected to be more sympathetic to climate migrants), as well as those who regularly follow the news (and hence are well informed about the climate and the Rohingya crisis). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Households are important sites for transmission of SARS-CoV-2 and preventive measures are recommended. This study aimed to 1) investigate the impact of living with a person infected with SARS-CoV-2; 2) understand how household members implemented infection control recommendations in their home; and 3) identify the information and support needs of household members. Methods: For this observational mixed-methods study, households with a person with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection were recruited via drive-through testing sites of Municipal Health Services, healthcare worker screening or hospital emergency visits in the University Medical Centre Utrecht, the Netherlands and via primary care physicians, hospital emergency visits or preoperative screening in the University Hospital of Antwerp, Belgium. We recorded household characteristics, including characteristics of all household members, together with their views on prevention measures. In a subset of households one adult household member was asked to participate in an interview investigating their views on preventive measures. Survey data were analysed using descriptive statistics and interview data by rapid framework analysis. A triangulation protocol was used to integrate findings. Results: Thirty-four households (120 household members) were included in the quantitative survey. Twenty-two households were invited to be interviewed, of which 18 completed an interview (response 81.8%). Survey data showed that almost all households implemented some preventive measures, the use of face masks being least frequently reported. Measures taken depended on what was physically possible, the perceived severity of illness of the index patient and to what extent household members were willing to limit social interaction. Respondents did not believe in the effectiveness of wearing face masks within the house, and from the interviews this was explained by media coverage of face masks, impracticality and the stigma associated with wearing masks. Interviewees reported that quarantine had a high emotional burden and wished to have more information about the exact duration of quarantine, their own COVID-19 status, symptoms and when to seek medical help. Conclusion: People were willing to implement prevention measures, however actual adherence depended on perceived severity of illness and the perceived risk of becoming infected. Homes are social environments and recommendations for infection prevention should account for this context. Incorporating our findings into policy making could provide households with more relevant and actionable advice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A wide range of analytical methods applied to urban systems address the modeling of pedestrian behavior. These include methods for multimodal trip service areas, access to businesses and public services, diverse metrics of "walkability", and the interpretation of location data. Infrastructure performance metrics in particular are an increasingly important means by which to understand and provide services to an urbanizing population. In contrast to traditional one-size-fits all analyses of street networks, as more detailed pedestrian-specific transportation network data becomes available, the opportunity arises to model the pedestrian network in terms of individual experiences. Here, we present a formalized and city-scale framework, personalized pedestrian network analysis (PPNA), for embedding and retrieving pedestrian experiences. PPNA enables evaluation of new, detailed, and open pedestrian transportation network data using a quantitative parameterization of a pedestrian's preferences and requirements, producing one or more weighted network(s) that provide a basis for posing varied urban pedestrian experience research questions, with four approaches provided as examples. We introduce normalized sidewalk reach (NSR), a walkshed-based metric of individual pedestrian access to the sidewalk network, and sidewalk reach quotient (SRQ), an estimate of inequity based on comparing the normalized sidewalk reach values for different pedestrian profiles at the same location. Next, we investigate a higher-order and combinatorial research question that enumerates pedestrian network-based amenity access between pedestrians. Finally, we present city-scale betweenness centrality calculations between unique pedestrian experiences, highlighting disagreement between pedestrians on the "importance" of various pedestrian network corridors. Taken together, this framework and examples represent a significant emerging opportunity to promote the embedding of more explicit and inclusive hypotheses of pedestrian experience into research on urban pedestrian accessibility, multimodal transportation modeling, urban network analysis, and a broader range of research questions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]