Country-specific Studies Research Articles

Determinants of E-Learning Acceptance in Indonesia Post-COVID-19 and Its Impact on Students’ Technopreneurship

Objective: This research aims to address the gaps in country-specific e-learning studies by examining the key factors influencing e-learning adoption in Indonesia. Grounded in a comprehensive literature review on flow theory, service quality, and technology acceptance models, the study develops a research model that includes four independent variables (instructor characteristics, teaching materials, content design, and enjoyment), two belief variables (perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use), and one dependent variable (intention to use e-learning). Method: Data were collected from 404 respondents, comprising students and lecturers at state Islamic universities in Indonesia, using convenience sampling. The study employed SEM-PLS for data analysis, validating the research instrument's reliability and validity. Results: The results offer insights into the managerial implications and suggest directions for future research in e-learning adoption. Its results confirm six hypotheses. Novelty: This study fills a gap in e-learning adoption research by focusing on Indonesia and integrating flow theory, service quality, and technology acceptance models. It highlights the roles of perceived playfulness, ease of use, and instructional content design in influencing e-learning adoption while challenging the expected impact of instructor characteristics. This research provides fresh insights into technology-driven learning in the context of developing countries.

Corruption in Namibia: Examining the Nexus Between Survey-Identified Causes and Empirical Validation

This study investigates the causal relationship between the factors identified in the 2016 National Corruption Perception Survey Report and corruption levels in Namibia. By analysing data from 2000 to 2022, the Toda-Yamamoto VAR Granger causality test was employed to investigate the impact of greed, poor leadership and law enforcement, poverty (working poverty), and poor pay (compensation to employees) on corruption levels. The results revealed statistically significant causal linkages between greed, poor leadership and law enforcement, and poverty. Poor pay, however, showed no significant causal influence on corruption. These findings highlight the necessity of tackling issues such as equal income distribution, poverty, and governance inadequacies in anti-corruption initiatives. Targeted measures based on empirical evidence can effectively reduce corruption and increase transparency in governance. Additionally, conducting more recent corruption surveys in Namibia could yield up-to-date perceptions that could be adopted in similar country-specific studies elsewhere.

Faltering mortality improvements at young-middle ages in high-income English-speaking countries.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, stagnating life expectancy trends were reported in some high-income countries (HICs). Despite previous evidence from country-specific studies, there is a lack of comparative research that provides a broader perspective and challenges existing assumptions. This study aims to examine longevity trends and patterns in six English-speaking countries (Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, United Kingdom, United States) by combining period and cohort perspectives and to compare them with other HICs. Using data from the Human Mortality and World Health Organization Mortality Databases, we estimated partial life expectancy, lifespan inequality and cohort survival differences for 1970-2021, as well as the contribution of causes of death to the gap in life expectancy between English-speaking countries and the average for other HICs in 2017-19. In the pre-pandemic period, the increase in life expectancy slowed in all English-speaking countries, except Ireland, mainly due to stagnating or rising mortality at young-middle ages. Relative to other HICs, those born in Anglophone countries since the 1970s experienced relative survival disadvantage, largely attributable to injuries (mainly suicides) and substance-related mortality (mainly poisonings). In contrast, older cohorts enjoyed advantages for females in Australia and Canada and for males in all English-speaking countries except the United States. Although future gains in life expectancy in wealthy societies will increasingly depend on reducing mortality at older ages, adverse health trends at younger ages are a cause for concern. This emerging and avoidable threat to health equity in English-speaking countries should be the focus of further research and policy action.

Shifting police strategies: US aid and repression by public safety institutions in Latin America

This article studies the international determinants of extrajudicial police killings in Latin America. Human rights violations by security forces are a problem that has plagued Latin American countries, despite broad democratization efforts in the region. Addressing the problem requires a better understanding of the processes that underlie it. Although existing literature has explored the determinants of police repression in Latin America through country-specific studies, there has been a lack of cross-national analyses. In this article we use original data on human rights violations by security forces in Latin America between 1998 and 2018 to argue that, beyond domestic factors, foreign aid provided by the United States in the War on Drugs era has influenced police repression both by encouraging heavy-handed policies and by driving a substitution dynamic between violations by different security forces.

Clinical Characteristics and Prognosis of ICU-Admitted Patients with Guillain-Barre Syndrome: A Report from a Large Teaching Hospital in South Iran.

Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS) is the most prevalent acute peripheral polyneuropathy disorder. The disparities between populations and variations in the major risk factors highlight the importance of country-specific studies. This study aimed to report clinical characteristics and outcomes of ICU-admitted patients with GBS in an academic medical center in Iran. The data were collected retrospectively from all patients with GBS admitted to Namazi Hospital, affiliated with Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, (Shiraz, Iran), between March 2016 to March 2021. Specialized neurological information and the Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE II) score were recorded. The SPSS software was used to analyze the data. The analyzed data were reported as numbers and percentages, or mean±SD, or median(Interquartile). The study included 132 GBS patients, with an average age of 47.87±15.4 years and a male-to-female ratio of 1.69:1. More than half of the patients (58.5%) were classified as having an axonal disease. In patients with axonal illness, 51.4% of patients had lower limb powers<3, while only 36% of those had the demyelinating disease. This group also required mechanical ventilation more frequently (54% vs. 46%) and for a longer duration (26 [9-37] vs. 10 [1-61]) days. Pneumonia and sepsis were each observed in 16% of patients, and 12% developed a urinary tract infection. The most common type of GBS was acute inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (AIDP). Only 6 (3.8%) patients died. The axonal type of GBS was more frequent, and these patients required mechanical ventilation more frequently and for a longer duration than those in other electrophysiological categories. A preprint version of the manuscript is available at DOI: https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-2181605/v1.

FINANCIAL LITERACY AND GOVERNMENT POLICIES: AN INTERNATIONAL STUDY

Financial literacy is crucial for individual financial well-being and overall economic stability. Despite its importance, significant disparities in financial literacy levels exist across different countries. This research, titled "Global Financial Literacy: A Comparative Study," aims to provide a comprehensive analysis of these disparities, identifying the factors influencing financial literacy and evaluating the effectiveness of various national strategies. The purpose of this study is to compare financial literacy levels and educational approaches in countries including Estonia, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Poland, Croatia, Turkey, Romania, and Ukraine. By examining the policies and initiatives implemented in these countries, the study seeks to offer insights into best practices and recommend strategies for improving financial literacy globally. A mixed-methods approach was employed, combining quantitative data analysis from the "OECD/INFE 2023 International Survey of Adult Financial Literacy" and other relevant reports with qualitative case studies and interviews with key stakeholders. The methodology included a thorough literature review, data collection from international surveys, detailed country-specific case studies, and comparative analysis. The main results of the study highlight both common features and differences in financial literacy levels and educational approaches across the examined countries. Common features include the integration of financial literacy into educational curricula, government and institutional support, and the increasing importance of digital literacy. Differences are noted in the compulsory nature of financial education, the balance between theoretical and practical financial skills, and the impact of cultural and economic contexts on financial education effectiveness. The study concludes that while common strategies provide a foundation, improving financial literacy globally requires tailored, context-specific approaches. Recommendations include making financial education compulsory, enhancing practical financial skills, investing in digital training for educators, and leveraging public-private partnerships. These strategies can help foster a financially literate global population, contributing to greater economic stability and individual financial well-being.

Disinformation and Regime Survival.

Disinformation has transformed into a global issue and while it is seen as a growing concern to democracy today, autocrats have long used it as a part of their propaganda repertoire. Yet, no study has tested the effect of disinformation on regime stability and breakdown beyond country-specific studies. Drawing on novel measures from the Digital Society Project (DSP) estimating the levels of disinformation disseminated by governments across 148 countries between 2000-2022 and from the Episodes of Regime Transformation (ERT) dataset, we provide the first global comparative study of disinformation and survival of democratic and authoritarian regimes, respectively. The results show that in authoritarian regimes, disinformation helps rulers to stay in power as regimes with higher levels of disinformation are less likely to experience democratization episodes. In democracies, on the other hand, disinformation increases the probability of autocratization onsets. As such, this study is the first to provide comparative evidence on the negative effects of disinformation on democracy as well as on the prospects of democratization.

Does Renewable Energy Consumption Have an Effect on Health Expenditures? Example of EU Countries

Due to the harmful effects of traditional energy sources on the environment and health, the consumption of renewable energy sources has recently come to the fore on the world agenda. In order for national economies to maintain their existence, individuals must ensure their health and welfare. In this context, the priority duty of countries should be to protect public health and ensure its sustainability. There are many factors that determine a country's level of healthcare expenditures; environmental conditions are also one of them. The increase in greenhouse gas emissions resulting from the consumption of non-renewable energy sources can pose a great danger to human welfare and the environment. Environmental problems caused by greenhouse gas emissions negatively affect human health in many ways, such as affecting the nervous system, lungs, and causing respiratory diseases. In addition, environmental pollution resulting from greenhouse gas emissions increases health expenditures and causes a decrease in labor productivity. Considering these negative effects, increasing the use of wind, solar, geothermal, and other environmentally friendly energy sources, which are renewable energy sources, will contribute to environmental improvement by meeting the energy needs of countries. Recently, the increase in the resources allocated to health expenditures from the national income of countries has made the discussion of sustainability in the relevant field a current issue. In this respect, researching the factors affecting health expenditures will provide important information to policy makers. This study examines the health expenditures of renewable energy consumption in 13 EU countries (Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Austria, Spain, Sweden, Italy, Portugal, Greece, Finland, France, and the Netherlands) selected considering data availability between 2000 and 2020 investigating in which direction it affects. In the study, countries with the highest consumption of renewable energy were selected. Since the sustainability of the recently increasing health expenditures is important, the variables of renewable energy consumption and economic growth were analyzed and the subject was limited. In this context, it is believed that the findings will provide important information to policy makers. The main motivation of the study is that there are limited studies on the relevant subject in the literature and panel cointegration and panel cointegration coefficient estimator tests are not used. Obtaining renewable energy consumption and health expenditure data from 2000 to 2020 constitutes the main limitation of the study. As analysis methods, Lagrange multiplier (LM) cointegration and Common Corelated Effect (CCE) cointegration estimator tests were used. Before the application of these tests, cross-sectional dependence and homogeneity were determined. Fourier LM unit root test was used in examining the unit root process. Then, cointegration test and cointegration coefficient estimators, which is the last stage of the application, were determined. According to the panel cointegration coefficient estimation results, in the general analysis conducted for 13 EU countries, the effect of renewable energy consumption on health expenditures is statistically significant at the 10% level. Accordingly, a 1% increase in renewable energy consumption decreases health expenditures by 0.197%. In country-specific studies, the effect of renewable energy consumption on health expenditures was statistically significant and negative in Denmark, Spain, Sweden, and Greece, reducing health expenditures by 0.132%, 0.111%, 1.288%, and 0.782%, respectively. The effect of GDP on health expenditures appears to be statistically significant at the 1% level. Accordingly, a 1% increase in income increases health expenses by 1.071%. In country-based analyses, the coefficients are statistically significant and positive in Germany, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Spain, Sweden, Italy, Portugal, and Greece. These findings indicate that the increase in environmentally friendly, reusable energy consumption will have a positive impact on the environment, reduce health expenditures and contribute positively to the sustainability of health financing. In addition, it emphasizes that increases in GDP are reflected in health expenditures, thus increasing the quality of health.

From here to where: assessing the infrastructure financialization in urban China

PurposeInfrastructure financialization plays a critical role in infrastructure development and urban growth around the world. However, on the one hand, the existing research on the infrastructure financialization focuses on qualitative and lacks quantitative country-specific studies. On the other hand, the spatial heterogeneity and influencing factors of infrastructure financialization are ignored. This study takes China as a typical case to identify and analyze the spatial characteristics, development process and impact factors of infrastructure financialization.Design/methodology/approachTo assess the development and characteristics of infrastructure financialization in China, this study constructs an evaluation index of infrastructure financialization based on the infrastructure financialization ratio (IFR). This study then analyzes the evolution process and spatial pattern of China's infrastructure financialization through the spatial analysis method. Furthermore, this study identifies and quantitatively analyzes the influencing factors of infrastructure financialization based on the spatial Dubin model. Finally, this study offers a policy suggestion as a governance response.FindingsThe results demonstrate that infrastructure financialization effectively promotes the development of infrastructure in China. Second, there are significant spatial differences in China’s infrastructure financialization. Third, many factors affect infrastructure financialization, with government participation having the greatest impact. In addition, over-financialization of infrastructure has the potential to lead to government debt risks, which is a critical challenge the Chinese Government must address. Finally, this study suggests that infrastructure financialization requires more detailed, tailored,and place-specific policy interventions by the government.Originality/valueThis study not only contributes to enriching the knowledge body of global financialization theory but also helps optimize infrastructure investment and financing policies in China and provides peer reference for other developing countries.

Green Trade Opportunities and Challenges within the Belt and Road Initiative

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) presents new opportunities for global sustainable development, with a particular emphasis on promoting green trade. Green trade not only contributes significantly to economic growth in participating countries but also strives to balance environmental protection with efficient resource utilization. However, the development of green trade faces formidable challenges, including inadequate policy implementation, difficulties in technology transfer, and inherent conflicts between environmental conservation and economic interests. This study critically examines the successes and lessons learned from two key projects: the China-Europe Green Bridge Project and Pakistan's Karot Hydropower Project. The findings highlight that effective collaboration between China and Europe in policy coordination, green technology transfer, and financial support played a pivotal role in the success of the China-Europe Green Bridge Project. In contrast, deficiencies in policy execution, technological-adaptation mismatches, and socio-environmental conflicts contributed to the challenges faced by the Karot Hydropower Project. Building on these insights, the study proposes several strategic recommendations. These include conducting comprehensive, country-specific studies, quantitative analyses, and interdisciplinary research to enhance policy coherence, deepen international cooperation, strengthen financial support for green initiatives, and bolster environmental impact assessments and regulatory frameworks. These measures are aimed at advancing green trade under the BRI and fostering sustainable development on a global scale.

Institutional quality, information and communication technologies and gender inclusion nexus: global comparative evidence

PurposeDespite the longstanding male dominance in the socio-politico-economic spheres, recent decades have witnessed remarkable improvements in gender inclusion. Although the issue of gender inclusion has been widely documented, answers to the question of whether institutional arrangements and information technology shape gender inclusion remain contentious. This study, therefore, empirically examines the effects of institutional quality and information and communication technology (ICT) penetration on gender inclusion on a global scale.Design/methodology/approachTo control for the endogeneity of modeled variables and cross-sectional dependence inherent with large panel datasets, the study employs the Driscoll-Kraay fixed effects (DKFE) and the system generalised method of moments (GMM) estimators for a panel of 142 countries from 1996 to 2020.FindingsThe empirical findings from the DKFE and system GMM estimators reveal that strong institutions significantly enhance gender inclusion. Moreover, by disaggregating institutional quality into various governance indicators, we show that besides corruption control, which has a positive but insignificant effect on women’s empowerment, other governance indicators significantly enhance gender inclusion. Furthermore, there is evidence that various ICT measures promote gender inclusion.Practical implicationsThe study results suggest that policymakers in developing countries should implement stringent measures to curb corruption. Moreover, policymakers in low-income countries should create avenues to facilitate women’s access to ICTs. Hence, policymakers in low-income countries should create and equip ICT training centers and render them accessible to all categories of women. Furthermore, developed countries with high-tech knowledge could help developing countries by organizing free training workshops and sensitization campaigns concerning the use of ICTs vis-à-vis women empowerment in various fields of life.Originality/valueThe present study fills a significant research gap by comprehensively exploring the nexuses between governance, ICT penetration and the socio-politico-economic dimensions of gender inclusion from a global perspective. Besides the paucity of studies in this regard, the few existing studies have been focused on either region and country-specific case studies in developed or developing economies. Moreover, this study is timely, given the importance placed on gender inclusion (SDG5), quality of institutions (SDG16) and ICT penetration (SDG9) in the 2015–2030 global development agenda.

Examining the roles of meteorological variables in COVID-19 spread in Malaysia

There are limited studies that established significant relationships between meteorological variables and COVID-19 spread in Malaysia. Although knowledge from studies conducted in other countries can be utilised as a basis for the policy formulation in general, country-specific studies are necessary as meteorological parameters and COVID-19 spread vary from country to country. This study investigated the potential roles of five meteorological parameters (average relative humidity, maximum temperature, average temperature, minimum temperature, and average wind speed) on COVID-19 spread in each of the 13 states and the entire Malaysia. The state-wise daily COVID-19-confirmed cases and daily meteorological parameters from 1 August 2020 to 31 March 2021 were acquired from Ministry of Health Malaysia and Malaysia Meteorological Department, respectively. The correlations between state-wise daily COVID-19-confirmed cases and daily meteorological parameters were ascertained via Pearson’s and Spearman’s correlation tests at 5% significance level. Overall, significant correlations exist between all meteorological parameters considered in this study and daily COVID-19-confirmed cases throughout Malaysia. Average wind speed was positively correlated with COVID-19-confirmed cases, whereas average relative humidity, maximum temperature, average temperature, and minimum temperature were negatively associated with COVID-19-confirmed cases. These study findings build up knowledge pertaining the association between important meteorological factors and COVID-19 spread in various regions with different climates. The research outcomes could be helpful in understanding, bringing awareness, and educating Malaysian citizens through communication between citizens and governmental as well as non-governmental agencies via official portals to develop a better response mechanism for the Malaysian perspective.

Does social trust promote the size of enterprises? Evidence from China

Existing research on the relationship between social trust and enterprise size primarily relies on cross-country analysis, but country-specific studies are still rare, especially for developing countries. Drawing on Fukuyama’s proposition that social trust fosters enterprise expansion, this study empirically investigates the effect of social trust on the size of enterprises in China. We analyze industrial enterprise data from the China Industrial Enterprise Database and manually collected data on blood donations, a proxy for social trust, at the prefecture level. Our findings indicate that regions with higher social trust have both larger enterprises and a greater prevalence of large enterprises than regions with low social trust. This study offers an explanation for the “riddle of the absence of large enterprises in China” by considering the role of social trust and provides an empirical examination of Fukuyama’s proposition in the unique context of China.

Do green bonds reduce CO2 emissions? Evidence from developed and developing nations

PurposeThe rapid global economic development in the last century, led by industrialization, brings environmental issues to the forefront as a serious concern. While some country-specific studies are undertaken to find the effectiveness of different mechanisms for funding environment-friendly projects, to the authors' knowledge, no study has been conducted to examine the impact of green bonds (GBs) on CO2 emissions for a global sample. Against this backdrop, this study examines the general impact of GBs on CO2 emissions and its differential impact for developed and developing countries and country categorizations based on sustainable development.Design/methodology/approachThe study selects a sample of 44 countries from 2016–2020. The authors use trend analysis and box plots to analyze the present GBs and CO2 emissions scenarios. Further, the panel data regression model is used to examine the overall impact of GBs on CO2 emissions and uncover the variation in such relationships regarding country-level economic and sustainable development. Generalized methods of moments (GMM) and instrumental variables (IV) models are used for robustness.FindingsThe yearly trend of GBs is upward at the global level, while CO2 emissions exhibit a marginal decline during the study period. However, significant variations are observed in such trends between developed and developing countries and country-level sustainable development. The authors' regression results show that GBs significantly negatively impact CO2 emissions globally. In addition, the effect of GBs on CO2 emissions is strongly negative for developing countries, while the same influence becomes weak for developed nations. Similar variations exist between countries based on sustainable development.Originality/valueThis is the first study in extant literature to examine such a relationship for a global sample of 44 countries. Further, this study makes a novel contribution by analyzing the variations in the GBs-CO2 emissions nexus for developed and developing countries and country-level sustainable development.

Preface

The 3rd International Conference on Environmental Sustainability in Natural Resource Management (ISCES 2023) is a peer-reviewed international conference with international participation of experts in sustainable development research, resource management, and the circular economy. ISCES 2023 conference was held on October 20, 2023 in the form of a hybrid conference combining a live in person event with a virtual component. ISCES 2023 is organized by Batumi Navigation Teaching University, University of Bari Aldo Moro, National University of Water and Environmental Engineering in partnership with the National Technical University of Ukraine “Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute”.The aim of the ISCES 2023 conference is to explore environmental sustainability trends in natural resource management, circular management, and environmental engineering. Conceptual, empirical, and methodological studies, as well as country-specific case studies on various topics of sustainable development, were presented at the conference. Reports and presentations cover theoretical, methodological and practical aspects of sustainable development and natural resource management.ISCES 2023 covered a wide range of scientific topics:Green Business and Corporate GovernanceDigital Sustainability and Net-Zero EconomyCircular Economy and BioeconomyNatural Resource DevelopmentSocial Responsibility ResourcesEcologically Safe Technological ProcessesEnvironmental Regulations and Legal Aspects of Sustainable DevelopmentEnvironmentally Sustainable Infrastructure and Renewable EnergySustainable Water Use, Agriculture and Organic FarmingThe conference was attended by more than 100 leading researchers, engineers, and scientists from Bulgaria, Italy, Indonesia, Georgia, Lithuania, Poland, Turkey, Sweden, and Ukraine. The conference model was split into two parts, including keynote presentations and online discussions of their talks using Zoom.All papers have been thoroughly reviewed to meet the requirements of the International Publication Standard. Papers were reviewed by qualified experts in the field selected by the conference committee. A total of 82 papers were submitted, and 46 papers were accepted at an acceptance rate of 56%.All the participants and organizers express their gratitude to the publishing office and to the editing group of IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science for publishing the proceeding of the conference.List of Organizing Committees, Scientific Committee are available in this Pdf.

Impact of COVID-19 on tourism demand in European regions - An analysis of the factors affecting loss in number of guest nights

The outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020 had a major impact on the European tourism sector, with substantial variations recorded between regions. To build a more resilient tourism ecosystem, a deeper knowledge of the factors underscoring tourism demand loss is necessary. However, research is still limited to country-specific case studies. In this paper, we investigate COVID-19's impact on tourism demand in EU-27 and EFTA countries at the NUTS2 level during the pandemic's first year. Through a fractional response model we find (1) higher losses of tourism demand in urban destinations and in destinations highly dependent on foreign tourism, (2) lower losses in domestic destinations, in proximity, or that have natural assets. Recommendations to build a more resilient tourism ecosystem are outlined.

Archetype-based energy and material use estimation for the residential buildings in Arab Gulf countries

Residential buildings account for a significant portion of global energy and material use, particularly in developing countries such as those in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) where rising income, urbanization, and construction material use have led to increased energy use. To reduce greenhouse gas emissions, resource efficiency strategies in residential buildings are crucial. To better capture and reduce regional CO2 emissions rooted in residential building stocks in the developing world, country-specific studies are crucial and should consider building-specific factors and their effects on the environment. This paper explores the characteristics of residential buildings in all GCC countries, where arid climatic conditions and urbanization create a high energy demand, particularly for cooling. Using a five-stage bottom-up archetype development methodology, the authors created 153 multi-scale archetype models for the GCC region considering each residential building stocks’ cultural, historical, technological, climatic, and economic conditions. The simulations conducted using the BuildME tool revealed the energy and material intensity of six typology groups of buildings, including apartments, villas, skyscraper flats, Arabic-traditional houses, vernacular houses, and informal houses. The archetypes were used to investigate resource use rates across various administrative levels, climate regions, typologies, cohorts, and countries. The findings were discussed in the nexus of occupant behaviors, cultural lifestyles, demographics, extreme climate conditions, and building standards across various administrative levels, typologies, cohorts, and countries in the GCC. According to the results, residential buildings in Kuwait have the highest energy use per capita, and Saudi Arabia has the highest energy use overall. Also, the cooling loads represent the largest energy demand in all GCC countries, ranging from 58% in Oman to 75% in Bahrain, and 63% for the entire region. The study’s insights into the high residential material use patterns and trends across the GCC countries, with SAU leading other GCC countries in residential material demand, and Oman having the highest material use per capita. The results can help identify opportunities to cut emissions and develop resource-efficient construction practices and tailored policies targeting the resource efficiency of buildings in regions with high energy burdens caused by residential buildings.

COVID-19 coverage from six network and cable news sources in the United States: Representation of misinformation, correction, and portrayals of severity.

The COVID-19 pandemic in the United States is marked by divisions in perceptions of disease severity as well as misperceptions about the virus and vaccine that vary along ideological and political party lines. Perceptual differences may be due to differences in the information about the virus that individuals are exposed to within their own identity-affirming ideological news bubbles. This content analysis of six different national network transcripts highlights differences in coverage of severity, and the prevalence of misinformation and its correction that are consistent with previously established preferred news channels of conservatives/Republicans and liberals/Democrats and their perceptions and misperceptions about the pandemic. Results contribute to the growing body of country-specific COVID-19 media studies that allow for comparisons across nations with different cultures and media systems, as these factors play a pivotal role in national responses and experiences.

Recommendations for patient involvement in health technology assessment in Central and Eastern European countries.

Meaningful patient involvement in health technology assessment (HTA) is essential in ensuring that the interests of the affected patient population, their families, and the general public are accurately reflected in coverage and reimbursement decisions. Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries are generally at less advanced stages of implementing HTA, which is particularly true for patient involvement activities. As part of the Horizon2020 HTx project, this research aimed to form recommendations for critical barriers to patient involvement in HTA in CEE countries. Built on previous research findings on potential barriers, a prioritisation survey was conducted online with CEE stakeholders. Recommendations for prioritised barriers were formed through a face-to-face workshop by CEE stakeholders and HTx experts. A total of 105 stakeholders from 13 CEE countries completed the prioritisation survey and identified 12 of the 22 potential barriers as highly important. The workshop had 36 participants representing 9 CEE countries, and 5 Western European countries coming together to discuss solutions in order to form recommendations based on best practices, real-life experience, and transferability aspects. Stakeholder groups involved in both phases included HTA organisation representatives, payers, patients, caregivers, patient organisation representatives, patient experts, health care providers, academic and non-academic researchers, health care consultants and health technology manufacturers/providers. As a result, 12 recommendations were formed specified to the CEE region's context, but potentially useful for a broader geographic audience. In this paper, we present 12 recommendations for meaningful, systematic, and sustainable patient involvement in HTA in CEE countries. Our hope is that engaging more than a hundred CEE stakeholders in the study helped to spread awareness of the importance and potential of patient involvement and that the resulting recommendations provide tangible steps for the way forward. Future studies shall focus on country-specific case studies of the implemented recommendations.

Governance of research involving people with psychosocial disabilities.

Health-related research with human participants is governed by research ethics regulations in most jurisdictions. Globally, the 2016 International Ethical Guidelines for Health-related Research Involving Humans, published by the Council for International Organizations of Medical Sciences (CIOMS), are especially influential and widely held as an international standard. The CIOMS guidelines support the inclusion of people with psychosocial disabilities in research and offer clear guidance to promote their recruitment, including by outlining provisions for substitute decision-making. The CIOMS guidelines sit alongside the United Nations' Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). Adopted in 2006 and ratified in 2008, the CRPD offers a robust framework for recognizing the rights of persons with disabilities, including individuals with psychosocial disabilities. Though the CRPD does not explicitly reference research inclusion, its core principles-especially pertaining to the right to universal legal capacity-have clear implications for research ethics governance, specifically with respect to the use of substitute decision-making for research participation. In this paper, we review the extent to which existing research ethics regulations across selected jurisdictions concord with each of these two frameworks, offering first a broad analysis of regulations across 26 African countries, and then exploring two country-specific case studies from Malaysia and Peru. We find that, while many countries' research ethics regulations align with key aspects of the CIOMS guidelines, core principles of the CRPD are absent. Given the shortcomings of existing regulations, we analyse a key point of tension between CIOMS and the CRPD-the right to participate in research-and offer a proposal for revised regulations that aims to bridge this tension and meet the standards of both frameworks.