Civil Affairs Research Articles

Current Status of Nursing Home Distribution in China: ANational Cross-Sectional Study.

Population aging is a challenge that the whole world is facing, especially in China. This study aims to investigate the current distribution status of nursing homes in China using spatial epidemiology methods. Cross-sectional study in China. The data were obtained from the Integrated Civil Affairs Government Service Platform 'China County Statistical Yearbook' for 2020 and the 'China City Statistical Yearbook' for 2020. Using global Moran's index to test the clustering of nursing homes, inter-group and intra-group Theil index was utilised to differentiate the sources of differences. The coupling coordination analysis was conducted to explore the coordination. Geographically weighted regression was utilised to investigate the impact of economic development and aging on nursing home resources. All analyses were conducted by Arcgis 10.8 and R Studio 4.3.2. Global Moran's index indicated that the distribution of nursing homes in China exhibited clustering. The Theil index values for institutions and beds at the national county were 0.32450 and 0.30675. However, upon comparing provinces and regions, it was found that the differences across the country mainly stem from within provinces (contribution rate: institutions 65.0%; beds 73.0%) and within regions (contribution rate: institutions 99.0%; beds 91.0%). The majority of districts and counties had a coupling coordination index of institutions and bed numbers, both of which were < 0.5. The development of nursing home resources in China has been rapid, generally presenting a balanced state, but further optimisation is needed. This study established a foundation for the targeted distribution of essential public services, focusing on nursing home healthcare resources tailored to the needs of older persons. The study underscored the urgent need for targeted elderly care policies, emphasising the optimisation of resource distribution to enhance the overall quality of care provided to the aging population. The study did not involve humans.

The Opinio Juris and Opinio Moris in the Anglo-American Interventions During the Greek Civil War: An Archival Study of Legal Narratives

Abstract This article investigates the British and American interventions in Greece during the Greek Civil War, examining their legal and moral justifications. Using archival documents, the study uncovers two primary layers of discourse: the official diplomatic language of opinio juris (conviction of legality) and opinio moris (conviction of morality), alongside the covert political interests that drove these interventions. The research argues that British and American actions were primarily motivated by a ‘conviction of interest,’ with legal and moral narratives used tactically to justify their interventions. The archival materials reveal a notable lack of empathy and understanding from British and American officials regarding the trauma endured by the Greek populace due to the German occupation and collaborationist violence. Additionally, there was a significant neglect of the will of the Greek people. The study critically examines the Caserta and Civil Affairs Agreements, which provided a legal basis for British intervention, arguing that these agreements, when viewed in light of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, fail to justify the extent of foreign interference, thus questioning the authenticity of Greek consent. The article also explores the transition from British to American dominance in Greek affairs. As Britain faced economic constraints after the end of WWII, it ceded its role to the U.S., leading to the formulation of the Truman Doctrine and the implementation of the Marshall Plan. The U.S. intervention is analyzed through legal and geopolitical lenses, revealing a strategic focus on preventing communist expansion rather than providing purely legal or moral support for Greece’s recovery. Similar to British actions, American involvement often overlooked the political situation and the will of the Greek people, thereby contributing to prolonged instability.

Damages Caused by the Non-Entitlement of the Seller's Income in the Laws of Iran and England

This research examines the concept of seller's warranty in transferring ownership of goods during a sale contract. In Iranian law (Article 362 of the Civil Code), a seller guarantees ownership of the sold item and the right price. However, ambiguity exists regarding compensation for the buyer if the seller lacks ownership. A landmark court decision (consensus decision of 811) allowed the buyer to claim the difference in price due to inflation (in cases of seller ignorance) based on similar goods. This decision considered principles outside the Civil Code and the 2000 General and Revolutionary Law of Civil Affairs. In English law (Sale of Goods Act 1979, Section 12(1)), the seller has a primary obligation to transfer ownership to the buyer. The aim of this research (descriptive-analytical method) is to compare remedies for a seller's wrongful transfer under Iranian law, particularly considering decision 811.The research seeks to establish a clear basis for seller liability in compensating the buyer. This would create a unified and consistent legal system for compensating damages suffered by wronged parties. Ultimately, the research aims to identify the most effective method of compensation that restores the buyer's position to pre-damage conditions. Based on the research findings, determining damages based on the price at the time of sale is found to be a suitable solution for compensating the buyer.

Democratization, Local Government and Political Parties during the Allied Occupation of Southern Italy after 1943

The article seeks to cast doubt on the prevailing notion that regards the Allied occupation of (Southern) Italy as a harbinger of democracy by examining it from a local, decidedly bottom-up analytical perspective. I argue that the Allies disfavored the formation of political parties and the expression of political thought, even though ‘you can't have a democracy without political parties’, as the Italian-American Charles Poletti, one of the principal American civil affairs officers (CAO) organizing the occupation on-site, phrased it. This was particularly true during the first phase of the occupation, when military priorities reigned supreme. However, even at a later point, after the CAOs had theoretically assumed the role of an external supervising authority, a deep distrust of the country's political parties informed much of the Allies’ attitudes. Rather than serving as a foundational layer for democracy, the Allies perceived the country's political parties as a threat to democratization insofar as these were believed to obstruct the former's political and economic agendas. Such antagonisms between occupier and occupied, of course, especially applied to Italy's largest and most well-organized party during the period of the Allied occupation – the Partito Comunista Italiano (PCI).

Palmar Dermatoglyphic Pattern in Relation to Blood Group and Gender in Saudi Population.

Forensic medicine deals with the identification of individuals, but it also involves legal documents, financial transactions, and civil affairs. One of the most established and trustworthy biometric techniques is the fingerprint, which is accepted as valid identification documentation for individuals. This cross-sectional research involved 420 Saudi students, including 300 males and 120 females, aged between 18 and 27. On a white A4-sized Performa, rolled imprints of each participant's ten fingers were obtained, and these were categorized into loops, whorls, arches, and composites. The relationship between the ABO and Rh blood groups and fingerprint patterns were compared using the Chi-square test to see for any correlation. The study included 420 participants in total. Of these 420, there were males 300 (71.4%), and females 112 (28.6%) participants, respectively. Of the 420 participants, blood groups, such as A, B, AB, and O, were represented by 112 (26.7%), 75 (17.8%), 20 (4.8%), and 213 (50.7%) of the participants, respectively. Out of the 4200 fingerprints, 127 (3.0%) were composite, 1547 (36.8%) were whorl, 197 (4.7%) were arch, and 2329 (55.5%) were loop. An analysis of the fingerprint patterns of the ABO blood group revealed a statistically significant variance (P = 0.0002). According to this study, the most common fingerprints were loop (55.5%) and whorl (36.8%). ABO blood group differences in fingerprint patterns were found to be statistically significant.

Forecast of the number of nursing beds per 1000 older people from 2023 to 2025: Empirical quantitative research.

This research aims to offer a reference point for relevant departments to enhance the allocation of ageing resources and formulate policies accordingly. This study is designed as empirical quantitative research. Data from the National Bureau of Statistics and the Ministry of Civil Affairs regarding older adults (aged≥60) from 2000 to 2022 and nursing beds from 1978 to 2022 were analysed. The differential autoregressive integrated moving averages model and Monte Carlo simulation were used to predict the growth of nursing beds per 1000 older people in China for the Years 2023-2025. It is projected that from 2023 to 2025, China will experience a further increase in its ageing population, with an average annual growth rate of 3.1%. By 2025, the number of older people in China is expected to surpass 300 million. Additionally, there will be a rise in the number of nursing beds, with an average annual growth rate of 1.9%, leading to a total of 8.79 million nursing beds by 2025. However, due to the rapid growth of the older population, there will be a slight decline in the number of nursing beds per 1000 older people in China, with an average annual growth rate of -1.00%.

IBCA: An Intelligent Platform for Social Insurance Benefit Qualification Status Assessment

Social insurance benefits qualification assessment is an important task to ensure that retirees enjoy their benefits according to the regulations. It also plays a key role in curbing social security frauds. In this paper, we report the deployment of the Intelligent Benefit Certification and Analysis (IBCA) platform, an AI-empowered platform for verifying the status of retirees to ensure proper dispursement of funds in Shandong province, China. Based on an improved Gated Recurrent Unit (GRU) neural network, IBCA aggregates missing value interpolation, temporal information, and global and local feature extraction to perform accurate retiree survival rate prediction. Based on the predicted results, a reliability assessment mechanism based on Variational Auto-Encoder (VAE) and Monte-Carlo Dropout (MC Dropout) is executed to perform reliability assessment. Deployed since November 2019, the IBCA platform has been adopted by 12 cities across the Shandong province, handling over 50 terabytes of data. It has empowered human resources and social services, civil affairs, and health care institutions to collaboratively provide high-quality public services. Under the IBCA platform, the efficiency of resources utilization as well as the accuracy of benefit qualification assessment have been significantly improved. It has helped Dareway Software Co. Ltd earn over RMB 50 million of revenue.

The institute of small cases in the civil procedure of Ukraine as an obstacle for the effective principles of the rule of law and the accessibility of justice

The article is devoted to the analysis of the institute of civil procedural law — «minor cases». The purpose of the article is to find out whether this institution of civil procedural law an obstacle in the implementation of the principles of the rule of law and access to justice. In the course of the study, the practice of the ECtHR, the provisions of the domestic legislation of Ukraine and the acts of interpretation of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine were analysed. This made it possible to illustrate the lack of unity in understanding not only the essence of the principle of the rule of law, but also the content of the legal category «minor cases». The criteria for assigning civil cases to the «insignificant» category were analysed; it is determined that the procedural law identifies three criteria for classifying a case as insignificant: 1) a direct indication in the law (regardless of the price of the claim); 2) the marginal indicator of the price of the claim; 3) judicial discretion, taking into account the price of the claim. When analysing these criteria, a comparative legal characterization of the size of the living wage for able-bodied persons in relation to the size of the minimum wage was carried out. Along with the analysis of the practice of the ECtHR, this gave grounds for the conclusion that the establishment of the limitation of the right to cassation appeal of minor cases (with the exception of some exceptions) generally corresponds to international standards of judicial development and European recommendations on the introduction and improvement of the functioning of systems and procedures of appeal in civil and economic affairs. At the same time, it was established that clauses 1 and 5, part 6 of Art. 19 of the Code of Civil Procedure of Ukraine by the civil procedural legislation, the limit indicators of the price of the claim (one hundred and two hundred and fifty amounts of the subsistence minimum for able-bodied persons) violate a reasonable balance between the interests of the state (regarding the relief of the courts and the improvement of the functioning of systems and procedures of appeal in civil cases) and the needs of the protection of fundamental rights person, taking into account the property status of the main social and demographic groups of the population of Ukraine. And such a restriction is not compatible with the clause of Art. 6 of the European Conference, as there is no reasonable relationship of proportionality between the means used and the goal they are trying to achieve. Therefore, it is proposed to revise the marginal indicators of the price of the claim and the definition of its relevant indicator for the qualification of cases as insignificant.

A Kingdom of Possibility

A Kingdom of Possibility

Bridging the gap: coordinating equity and efficiency in older people care resource allocation in China

BackgroundWith the increasing global aging population, how to allocate older people care resources reasonably has become an increasingly urgent international issue. China, as the largest developing country, has made many efforts to actively respond to the challenges of an aging population. However, there are still problems with uneven allocation of older people care resources and low efficiency of allocation. Therefore, this study evaluates the regional differences and dynamic evolution of the equity and efficiency of older people care resource allocation in China from 2009 to 2020, and explores ways to change the current situation.MethodsThe data used in this study were derived from the “China Statistical Yearbook” and the “China Civil Affairs Statistical Yearbook” for the period of 2010–2021. Firstly, the equity of older people care resource allocation was measured using the Gini coefficient, the Theil index, the Older People Care Resource Density Index, and the Older People Care Resource Agglomeration Degree. Secondly, the dynamic Slack-Based Measure data envelopment analysis method was adopted to evaluate efficiency. Lastly, the Z-score is used to normalize the equity index and perform classification matching with the efficiency value. Spatial autocorrelation analysis and hotspot analysis were conducted using GIS technology to examine the dynamic evolution process of older people care resource allocation equity and efficiency, as well as their spatial distribution patterns and coordination across provinces from 2009 to 2020.ResultsThe equity analysis showed that the spatial distribution of various types of older people care resources was uneven, and the differences were mainly due to internal differences within each region, with the largest equity differences observed in western provinces. Currently, older people care resources are mainly concentrated in eastern regions, while the total amount of older people care resources in western regions and some central regions is relatively small, which cannot meet the older people care needs of residents. The efficiency analysis results showed that the efficiency of older people care resource allocation has been improving over the past 12 years, and in 2020, 77.42% of provinces were located on the efficiency frontier with an average efficiency value of 0.9396. Finally, the coordination analysis results showed that there were significant spatiotemporal differences in the equity and efficiency of older people care resources allocation.ConclusionWith the development of society and economy, the total amount and service capacity of older people care resources in China have greatly improved. However, there are still significant spatiotemporal differences in the equity and efficiency of older people care resource allocation. The development of older people care services in central and eastern provinces is unbalanced, and there is a polarization trend in terms of equity and efficiency of older people care resource allocation. Most provinces in western regions face the dual dilemma of inadequate older people care resources and low utilization efficiency. It is recommended that policymakers comprehensively consider population and geographic factors in different provinces, establish relevant allocation standards according to local conditions, improve the redistribution system, and focus on increasing the total amount of older people care resources in underdeveloped provinces while promoting resource flow.

Policy implementation deviation of government purchase of old age care services in Jiangsu, China: based on empirical and policy analysis

BackgroundGovernment purchase of social forces to participate in old age care services can release the burden of social care. Current research on performance evaluation in this field mainly focussed on the establishment of appropriate evaluation indices. However, discussion on the policy implementation deviation is scarce. This study aimed to evaluate the performance of China’s local government purchase of old age care services, analyse the characteristics of related policies and explore their deviation.MethodsThe persons who participated in the Training of the Trainer (ToT) organized by the Red Cross Society were enrolled. The policy documents were obtained from the official websites. The K-means cluster was used to determine the project performance grades. We compared the project performance grades between service objects and undertakers with different characteristics utilizing the non-parametric test. Based on the framework of ‘Collaborative Participation – Project Performance Objective’, we analysed the content of relevant policy aiding by NVivo 12.ResultsData of project performance were collected from 306 participants. The standardized mean score of the efficiency dimension was the lowest (0.70 ± 0.24). The projects were divided into four grades: poor (17.0%), average (27.5%), good (12.4%) and excellent (43.1%). There were statistically significant differences in project performance grades only between advanced ageing groups (Z = 2.429, P = 0.015). As well, the policy also mentioned that the services focus should be tilted towards the oldest old. The purchasers mainly involved the Ministry of Civil Affairs and Health management departments in the policy. Respite services were less mentioned in the responsibilities of the undertakers. The requirement for efficiency and effectiveness was mentioned in less than half of the policy documents.ConclusionPolicy attention is needed for the responsibilities and functions of the intermediate purchasing force, as well as more precise directions and responsibilities of undertakers. The purchasers and undertakers should improve management abilities and capacity of old age care services and focus on associated factors to achieve the best marginal benefit. In addition, the embedded performance evaluation needs to be updated periodically to bridge the deviation between policy implementation and policy formulation.

Determinan Kepuasan Kerja Serta Dampaknya Terhadap Kinerja Pegawai Pada Kelurahan Di Kecamatan Pondok Aren Tangerang Selatan

This study aims to determine the determinants of job satisfaction and its impact on employee performance at Kelurahan in Kecamatan Pondok Aren District, South Tangerang City. The research method used in this study is an associative method with a qualitative approach. The number of respondents to the study used was 75 ASN (Civil Affairs Apparatus) employees in Kelurahan in Pondok Aren District, South Tangerang City, with a sampling technique that is saturated samples because the entire population is taken as a whole. The results of the study were (a) leadership style has a positive and significant effect on employee job satisfaction, (b) organizational culture has a positive and significant effect on employee job satisfaction, (c) leadership style has an insignificant effect on employee performance, (d) organizational culture has an insignificant effect on employee performance, (e) job satisfaction has a positive and significant effect on employee performance, (f) leadership style has a positive and significant effect on employee performance on employee performance through job satisfaction, and (g) organizational culture has an insignificant effect on employee performance through job satisfaction.

Double Standard dan “Open Minded”: Stigma Terhadap Social Justice Warrior pada Isu Feminisme di Twitter

Social Justice Warrior (SJW) is a pejorative term for someone who espouses progressivist views, such as civil affairs, multiculturalism, identity politics, and feminism. The accusation that someone is a SJW implies that they are seeking self-justification rather than truly believing in their views and are pretending to join in the debate. This creates a stigma against SJWs. Previous studies on stigma have focused more on sexual orientation and on people with certain diseases. This article will focus more on SJW on the issue of feminism.&#x0D; This qualitative research was conducted virtually examining stigma toward SJW in Twitter. It involves ten informants, consisting of a male and nine female informants whose age ranges between 20 and 33 years old. Data was collected using in-depth interview and observation.&#x0D; The study shows that SJW are stigmatized because the way they deliver their opinions that are considered to demean others, they have liberal thought, they equalise feminists as women who hate men and controversial opinions. There are two form of stigma to label SJW on Twitter, namely “open minded” and “double standard” insinuations. It turns out that stigma is impacted on SJW itself, which consist of being a victim of doxing, verbal abuse, and receiving blasphemy.

May 2021 Riots by the Arab Minority in Israel: National, Civil or Religious?

This study seeks to understand what was behind the May 2021 violence of the Arab minority in Israel, particularly in mixed cities: was it national, religious or civic motives, or a combination of them? Historically, relations between Jews and non-Jews (mostly Muslims) in Israel circle around three axes: religious, national, and civic. While the fragile relations between the parties enjoy a quiet routine, a serious escalation is recorded from time-to-time, leading to a crisis between the parties. This was the case in May 2021, when an outbreak of severe Arab violence was recorded in mixed cities in Israel that resulted in three victims (two Jews, one Arab), dozens of injuries, and heavy damage to Jewish property. This qualitative research, based on interviews with Arab residents in mixed cities and media reports during the clashes and afterward, concludes that despite all three components having a significant contribution to May 2021 violent conflicts, civil affairs were the main reason for riots in mixed cities; however, the outbreak has a national and religious historical background.

Civil Affairs in Antwerp 1944-1945: Critical Infrastructure and Civil Defense

In the autumn of 1944, as the Allies moved through France and towards Germany, the city of Antwerp became a key logistics hub owing to its large, and for the time, modern port facilities. Owing to its strategic significance, it became a prime target for German V-1 and V-2 rocket strikes. In order to keep the population in the bombarded city, 1st Canadian Army Civil Affairs took on the challenge of Civil Defense to keep the population safe and the port operational.

Религиозно-духовные и гражданско-деятельностные аспекты программных документов российских мусульман в общественно-политическом контексте

This article provides information on how relevant the role of religious organizations as subjects of civil initiatives, presented as subjects of civil society, and highlights the main and functional features of these organizations. A content analysis of the text from the Moscow Theological Declaration on Jihad, Takfir and Caliphate as a document of the Russian Muslim Ummah is carried out, with an emphasis on the religious spiritual and civil affairs aspects of this document.

메타버스 환경에서 지식 그래프 기반 AI 챗봇을 이용한 민원 서비스 구현 및 최적화

메타버스 환경에서 지식 그래프 기반 AI 챗봇을 이용한 민원 서비스 구현 및 최적화

Analysis on the Retirement Model of “Medical Combined with Nursing” for Commercial Insurance Companies to Cope with the Demographic Situation in China

China’s population is characterized by an aging problem and a widespread situation where elderly people live with illnesses, which leads to a constant increase in the demand for medical and nursing resources among the elderly. In 2014 September, National Development and Reform Commission jointly with the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the Ministry of Finance and nine other departments jointly issued the “Notice on Accelerating the Promotion of Health and Elderly Services Project Construction”, formally referred to the “medical combined with nursing” expression for the first time. Since then, various industries have been actively exploring the retirement model of “medical combined with nursing”, the insurance industry has also been actively participating in exploring the layout. The retirement model of “medical combined with nursing” can integrate medical and nursing resources to effectively address the reality of China’s demographic situation. In this context, this paper analyzes the participation of China’s commercial insurance companies in the retirement model of “medical combined with nursing” and puts forward optimization suggestions.

Analysis of the factors influencing the effectiveness of local government's purchase of older adults care services - a grounded theory study based on typical cases.

Population aging is a basic national condition in China at present and for a long time to come, forcing the country to accelerate the pace of building its public older adults care system. The government's purchase of older adults care services has become an effective way to make up for the lack of the family's older adults care function, to which the Chinese government attaches particular importance. The article selects 11 typical cases from the excellent case base released by the Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs officials in 2022 to study the influencing factors of the effect of local government purchase of older adults care service supply. NVivo data analysis tools have significant advantages in retrieving, analyzing and coding data more efficiently and accurately, which helps to construct theoretical propositions and formulate hypotheses to be tested in qualitative research. The study intends to adopt the grounded theory approach to analyze the text with the help of NVivo12 software, to condense the practice mechanism of local governments' purchasing of older adults care services and to construct a relational model. Taking "the supply effect of local government purchasing older adults services" as the main logic line, the article summarizes the four main influencing factors of the supply effect of government purchasing older adults services: the real demand of the society, the government's power and responsibility system, the government's governance ability, and the society's acceptance ability. The sense of gain, happiness and security of the older adults group is the starting point and landing point of the older adults service policy formulation and implementation. Policy guidance and decision-making have an important impact on the quality of the supply of older adults care services and the development of the older adults care services industry. Clarifying the direction of policy guidance, reflecting the comprehensive efficiency of government governance and utilizing the professional advantages of social forces, is the key to improving the effectiveness of the government's purchase of older adults care services.

Peacekeepers Without Helmets: How Violence Shapes Local Peacebuilding by Civilian Peacekeepers

While United Nations (UN) peacekeeping operations are increasingly deployed during ongoing violent conflict, they are also increasingly staffed with civilian personnel tasked with peacebuilding at the local level. How does violent conflict affect civilian peacekeepers’ peacebuilding efforts locally? Shifting the research focus from military to civilian peacekeepers, we argue that the latter have various incentives and the capacity to concentrate their local-level peacebuilding efforts in violence-affected areas. We test our argument using novel, georeferenced data on peacebuilding by “Civil Affairs” personnel of the peacekeeping operation in the Central African Republic. Consistent with our expectation, violence positively correlates with civilian peacekeepers’ peacebuilding interventions both within and across localities. Furthermore, mediation analyses suggest that this correlation is not merely due to greater UN military deployments in violence-affected areas. Instrumental variable regression supports a causal interpretation: violence leads to more efforts by civilian peacekeepers. These findings inform expectations and assessments of peacekeeping effectiveness.