Insufficient Government Funding Research Articles

Age-Friendly Transportation Policies and Practices in the U.S. and China: A Comparative Study

Despite significant political, cultural, and socioeconomic differences, the U.S. and China share some common development issues, including, but not limited to, an aging population, deficient age-friendly transportation systems, and insufficient government funding support to address the issues faced by their transportation-disadvantaged populations (TDP). Through an extensive literature review, this paper first evaluates and compares the major TDP-related laws, regulations, transportation service delivery procedures, and existing age-friendly transportation improvements made in the U.S. and China. Next, it highlights the differences between the U.S. and China in their socioeconomic characteristics and the implications these have on transportation modal shares and age-friendly transportation planning priorities. In the concluding section, it summarizes the research findings and makes preliminary recommendations.

Research on the Problems and Causes of Home and Community Elderly Care Services

From the development status of home and community elderly care services in XX County, we can see the following problems in this field: insufficient public participation; The effectiveness of public value creation is insufficient; The realization of public value is insufficient. These problems are mainly attributed to the following aspects: single publicity means of government and relevant departments, no enough promotion of it, unchanged public pension concept and insufficient government funding.

Barriers identification, analysis and solutions to rural clean energy infrastructures development in China: Government perspective

Under the carbon neutrality target, it is significant to build a clean, low-carbon, efficient and safe energy system in the whole society. As farmers and agriculture remain an important social and industrial component of China, good development of rural clean energy infrastructures (RCEIs) has great meaning for reducing carbon emissions. However, limited by various objective conditions, the current status of RCEIs is lagging behind, and existing studies do not change this situation very well. This research establishes a comprehensive barrier analysis system and gives specific recommendations for the government's reference. Firstly, a complete barrier list is identified according to the literature surveys, industry reports and expert consultations, which consists of 15 barriers. Then, the decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) is extended to the interval trapezoidal type-II fuzzy number (IT2TrFN) to convey more decision-making information, and the K-means clustering algorithm is utilized to optimize the objectivity of the threshold value. The results show that Insufficient government funding is the most important barrier, Energy consumption patterns, Lack of other infrastructure and Inadequate administration are all critical barriers for RCEIs project. At last, corresponding strategies are formulated from three aspects including Subsidy policy, Technology and talents, Administration system for the government's theoretical support and reference.

Differential Evolution Based Simulated Annealing Method for Vaccination Optimization Problem

Infectious diseases pose a severe threat to human health, especially the outbreak of COVID-19. After the infectious disease enters the stage of large-scale epidemics, vaccination is an effective way to control infectious diseases. However, when formulating a vaccination strategy, some restrictions still exist, such as insufficient vaccines or insufficient government funding to afford everyone's vaccination. Therefore, in this paper, we propose a vaccination optimization problem with the lowest total cost based on the susceptible-infected-recovered (SIR) model, which is called the Lowest Cost Of Vaccination Strategy (LCOVS) problem. We first establish a mathematical model of the LCOVS problem. Then we propose a practical Differential Evolution based Simulated Annealing (DESA) method to solve the mathematical optimization problem. We use the simulated annealing algorithm (SA) as a local optimizer for the results obtained by the differential evolution algorithm (DE) and optimized the mutation and crossover steps of DE. Finally, the experimental results on the six data sets demonstrate that our proposed DESA can achieve a more low-cost vaccination strategy than the baseline algorithms.

The USA and the energy transition of the 21st century: Measures to overcome dependence on China in critical minerals

Since the middle of 2010s, international community (developed economies primarily) has been paying increasing attention to the reduction of carbon footprint in the environment by means of large-scale deployment of renewable energy, electrification of transport system and sustainable production of goods. Aspiring to become a global leader of energy transition, the United States of America has already taken a set of measures to stimulate technological growth. Such a challenging task cannot be accomplished without a guaranteed access to the so-called critical minerals. However, the US has encountered growing competition from China in this field. From the beginning of 2000s, China has amassed within its territory a dominant share of global production of critical minerals, acquired access to key foreign extraction centers and thus become virtually a monopolist in the markets. Hence the United States government urgently needs to devise measures to overcome the dependence from China in this regard. The author of the article dwells on the factors which have made the issue of critical minerals (as a recent development of international relations) relevant and politically charged. In its turn, it has led to the securitization of the subject in American official discourse during Trump administration which manifested itself in the ‘mineral security’ concept. The article contains comparative analysis of Trump and Biden administration approaches to navigating the country out of the dependence from China for critical minerals; it also identifies key focus areas of the current US mineral strategy. Respective analysis indicates that Trump administration prioritized bolstering domestic extraction capacity, whereas Biden-Harris administration underscores processing and production segments, mostly due to the pressure from local communities and environmental groups. The author stresses that the Unites States, being unable to contest China’s monopoly as producer and supplier of critical minerals with market instruments, tends to employ human rights discourse to compete with its rival. The ultimate expression of such an approach is Energy Resource Governance Initiative which has been designed to foster high ecological and social standards in global extraction sector. Relying on its partners, the United States intends to use the program to challenge China in commodity markets. The author concludes that despite the effort Washington won’t be able to rid itself of the dependence for Chinese imports in the near future. As for the long-term goals, their achievement is complicated due to both China’s production capacity and experience and insufficient government funding of renewable energy projects in the United States.

Social aspect of forestry land use balance in Ukraine

The purpose of the article is to identify the social component of forestry land use for decision-making at the national level to ensure the balanced use of forestlands both at the regional level and at the level of state forest enterprises. Theoretical and methodological bases of the research are based on the analysis of a set of social, economic and ecological indicators of reporting of forestry enterprises as indicators of the state of use of forest lands in the context of balanced development. Several aspects of the activity of the state forest enterprises in the period 2016-2020 by regions and climatic zones were studied in detail, and the scope of forest certification in Ukraine was assessed for a better ecological understanding of social processes in forestry in the country. A positive relationship with a significant correlation rate (r = 0.9078) is proved between the capital investments in forestry production and employment in the forest sector. In addition, fluctuations of the capital investments correlate with the staff qualification (r = 0.816). Assessment results for the level of technical provision of forestry enterprises point to the relationships between the level of technical provision and labour productivity (r = 0.7515) and the level of staff qualification (r = 0.7494). The strength of the relationship between labour productivity and labour remuneration varies over the regions of Ukraine with the correlation rate ranging between 0.7222 and 0.9852. We discuss key asymmetries, interactions and conflicts based on natural and regional specifics of forestry land use. Based on the results of the assessment of the relationships and dynamics of selected indicators, the present study substantiates the necessity to take into account both national and stakeholders’ interests in view of the social aspects of forestry land use with a focus on balance. Regional imbalance in income and labour productivity, insufficient training of employees, insufficient government funding and certification of forests, no practice of carbon units accounting at the regional and local levels, illegal felling are proven to be the restraining factors of the social balance of forestry land use. The results obtained in the study could help to identify potential levers of influence to ensure the balance of forestry land use and a better understanding of the social balance of forestry activities of enterprises.

A Socio-ecological Framework for Understanding Workplace Violence in China's Health Sector: A Qualitative Analysis of Health Workers' Responses to an Open-ended Survey Question.

Workplace violence (WPV) in the health sector is a global public health issue. The magnitude of WPV is a particular concern in China's health system. To examine the potential causes of WPV, we analyzed 3,045 qualitative responses to an open-ended question in a survey with health workers in the Zhejiang province, China. We adapted a four-level socio-ecological framework (societal/systemic, community/organizational, interpersonal, and individual) to thematically analyze the data. Ten sub-themes emerged. Within the societal/systemic level, we identified three sub-themes: (a) lack of legislation against WPV, (b) suboptimal accessibility and affordability of health services due to maldistributed health resources, commercialized health services, and inadequate health insurance, and (c) unregulated mass media reports. Within the community/organizational level, three sub-themes emerged: (a) lack of supportive health facility leadership, (b) inaction by government authorities, and (c) inefficient law enforcement agencies. Within the interpersonal level, two sub-themes were identified: (a) poor provider-patient communication and (b) distrust between health workers and patients. Finally, we identified the personal characteristics of health workers (e.g., competence and professionalism) and patients (e.g., sociodemographic background and expectations/satisfaction) as two individual-level sub-themes.We recognized interactions among different levels. The weak state of Chinese legislation in this area and lack of high-level political will and guidance (societal/systemic) has left health facilities and law enforcement agencies (community/organizational) unclear about how to address WPV. The maldistribution of quality health resources (societal/systemic) has led to overcrowded outpatient clinics at higher-level care facilities (community/organizational). In light of the insufficient government funding and profit-oriented health services (societal/systemic), health workers were motivated to seek profits by providing unnecessary services, which compromised their professionalism (individual). Provider-patient relationships deteriorated (interpersonal), and patients sometimes held unrealistically high expectations associated with high medical expenses (individual). We propose multisectoral prevention strategies to address WPV in the health sector at all levels using a socio-ecological framework.

Effectiveness of Official Development Assistance in the Health Sector in Africa: A Case Study of Uganda.

This qualitative explanatory case study assessed the influence of Official Development Assistance on selected health development indicators in Uganda between 2005 and 2013 by reviewing development partners' perceptions. Key health indicators included the following: (a) under 5-year-old mortality rates, (b) infant mortality rates, and (c) maternal mortality ratio. Results indicated slow progress in reducing infant mortality and under-5 mortality rates and almost no progress in the maternal mortality ratio despite the disbursement of a yearly average of nearly $400 million USD in the last 7 years to the health sector in Uganda. Five bottlenecks in the influence of development assistance on health indicators were identified: (a) poor governance and accountability framework in the country, (b) ineffective supply chain of health commodities, (c) negative cultural beliefs, (d) insufficient government funding to health care, and (e) insufficient alignment of development assistance to the National Development Plan and noncompliance with the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness.

Innovative development of human capital as an important factor of the economic growth of construction industry

In Ukraine, with relatively large amounts of investment in human capital, investment efficiency remains relatively low, so the problem of increasing innovative human capital by improving the efficiency of investing and improving the efficiency of public institutions responsible for its formation and development, which is the basis of economic growth and competitiveness construction industry.The purpose of the article is to conduct analytical studies of the process of investing in the innovative development of human capital and foreign experience of investing in the development of human capital.It is determined that investments in innovative development of human capital depend to a large extent on the expenditures of the consolidated budget of Ukraine for socio-cultural events and education, which have significantly decreased in recent years (for education - from 19.1% in 2014 to 16.8% in 2018). ., for health care - from 10.9% in 2014 to 9.3% in 2018, for social protection - by 1.7%). Insufficient government funding for education, health care, spiritual and physical development has hindered the development of innovative human capital, economic growth and increased competitiveness of the construction industry in recent years.The article discusses the impact of innovative human capital development on the economic growth of the construction industry. Much attention is paid to investing in the innovative development of human capital of Ukraine and the progressive foreign experience of solving this problem. It is noted that the orientation of the Ukrainian economy and construction industry in particular on the formation and development of innovative human capital should be ensured by comprehensive measures implemented by central and territorial bodies of state power, bodies of management of the construction industry, employers and representatives of education and science, public employment service by deepening engagement with the EU through existing partnership programs with European countries on innovative human capital development.

Pilot testing of the Becoming Breastfeeding Friendly toolbox in Ghana

BackgroundGhana has achieved significant progress in breastfeeding practices in the past two decades. Further progress is, however, limited by insufficient government funding and declining donor support for breastfeeding programs. The current study pretested feasibility of the Becoming Breastfeeding Friendly (BBF) toolbox in Ghana, to assess the existing enabling environment and gaps for scaling-up effective actions.MethodsBetween June 2016 and April 2017, a 15-person expert country committee drawn from government and non-government agencies was established to implement the BBF toolbox. The committee used the BBF index (BBFI), comprising of 54 benchmarks and eight gears of the Breastfeeding Gear Model (advocacy; political will; legislation and policy; funding and resources; training and program delivery; promotion; research and evaluation; and coordination, goals and monitoring). Available evidence (document reviews, and key informant interviews) was used to arrive at consensus-scoring of benchmarks. Benchmark scores ranged between 0 (no progress) and 3 (major progress). Scores for each gear were averaged to estimate the Gear Total Score (GTS), ranging from 0 (least) to 3.0 (strong). GTS’s were aggregated as a weighted average to estimate the BBFI which ranged from 0 (weak) to 3.0 (outstanding). Gaps in policy and program implementation and recommendations were proposed for decision-making.ResultsThe BBFI score was 2.0, indicating a moderate scaling-up environment for breastfeeding in Ghana. Four gears recorded strong gear strength: advocacy (2.3); political will (2.3); legislation and policy (2.3); and coordination, goals and monitoring (2.7). The remaining four gears had moderate gear strength: funding and resources (1.3); training and program delivery (1.9); promotion (2.0); and research and evaluation (1.3). Key policy and program gaps identified by the committee included sub-optimal coordination across partners, inadequate coverage and quality of services, insufficient government funding, sub-optimal enforcement of policies, and inadequate monitoring of existing initiatives. Prioritized recommendations from the process were: 1) strengthen advocacy and empower breastfeeding champions, 2) strengthen breastfeeding regulations, including maternity protection, 3) strengthen capacity for providing breastfeeding services, and 4) expand and sustain breastfeeding awareness initiatives.ConclusionsThe moderate environment for scaling-up breastfeeding in Ghana can be further strengthened by addressing identified gaps in policy and programs.

ОЦІНКА РОЗВИТКУ ЛЮДСЬКОГО КАПІТАЛУ УКРАЇНИ У СВІТОВИХ РЕЙТИНГАХ В УМОВАХ СТАЛОГО РОЗВИТКУ

The article is devoted to the analysis tools for assessing human capital based on world rankings in the context of sustainable development. The most famous world rankings of human capital, studied by such international organizations as the World Bank, the United Nations, the World Economic Forum, the University of Groningen in collaboration with the University of California at Davis and others, are considered. Quantifying human capital as the economic and social value of a skill set is measured through an index. Each organization makes measurements according to its own method. The application of different criteria and indicators for assessing human capital at the macroeconomic level is analyzed. The considered assessment methodologies are overwhelmingly based on statistical approaches. Analyzed the position of Ukraine in the world rankings in recent years in dynamics. It has been confirmed that these international ratings can be considered as a reflection of the state of human capital in Ukraine. Revealed quite high rating positions of Ukraine in comparison with other countries. The results allow us to conclude that there is insufficient government funding for the development of human capital. It is concluded that Ukraine needs to improve the quality of human capital as a leading factor in increasing the efficiency of the country's economy in the context of sustainable development. The study showed that the use of high-quality, highly qualified human capital leads to an improvement in the country's position in the world rankings.

The Status of the US High-Temperature Gas Reactors

In 2005, the US passed the Energy Policy Act of 2005 mandating the construction and operation of a high-temperature gas reactor (HTGR) by 2021. This law was passed after a multiyear study by national experts on what future nuclear technologies should be developed. As a result of the Act, the US Congress chose to develop the so-called Next-Generation Nuclear Plant, which was to be an HTGR designed to produce process heat for hydrogen production. Despite high hopes and expectations, the current status is that high temperature reactors have been relegated to completing research programs on advanced fuels, graphite and materials with no plans to build a demonstration plant as required by the US Congress in 2005. There are many reasons behind this diminution of HTGR development, including but not limited to insufficient government funding requirements for research, unrealistically high temperature requirements for the reactor, the delay in the need for a “hydrogen” economy, competition from light water small modular light water reactors, little utility interest in new technologies, very low natural gas prices in the US, and a challenging licensing process in the US for non-water reactors.

Mitigating India's health woes: Can health insurance be a remedy to achieve universal health coverage?

A low level of public investments in preventive health facilities and medical care facilities and health professionals has given rise to poor health status for an average Indian. Insufficient government funding for health care, inadequate and ineffective health financing mechanisms, poor delivery of health care, especially in public facilities, and excessive reliance on unregulated high-cost private providers have contributed to the poor accomplishment of Millennium Development Goals, especially in the informal sector. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) consider health to be one of the important objectives to be achieved by all the nations in the world. This paper reappraises the current status, unmet needs, challenges, and the way forward to implement and achieve universal health coverage (UHC) in India by thrusting the focus on three elements (pillars) of universal access to health services. Despite seven decades of independence, India does still face the formidable challenge of providing health services to its population at an affordable cost. One of the major obstacles in reaching universal coverage and universal health entitlement of every Indian citizen has been the absence of effective health financing mechanism that promotes affordable access to weaker and vulnerable sections of the society. In this respect, health insurance certainly does have the potential to expedite the process of UHC if various stakeholders work in cohesion under the government stewardship. In rural India, the health infrastructure and workforce are inadequate to serve the unserved and underserved population. Hence, the government should invest in public health facilities while promoting pan-India health insurance to ensure and guarantee easy access and affordability for its citizens. The way forward should not only be centered on financial protection, but also to have renewed emphasis on restructuring the health-care system, ensuring the adequate availability of infrastructure, skilled workforce, and access to affordable drugs and technologies. Integration and strengthening of different health financing and delivery mechanisms would undoubtedly enable us to achieve the Alma-Ata declaration of “health for all” and the ambitious target United Nations SDGs of “UHC” by 2025 in India's “Bharat” and “modern” India.

Impact of supplementary private health insurance on stomach cancer care in Korea: a cross-sectional study.

BackgroundKorea achieved universal health insurance coverage in only 12 years; however, insufficient government funding has resulted in high out-of-pocket payments and, in turn, a demand for supplementary private health insurance (PHI). Supplementary PHI provides a fixed amount of benefits in the event of critical illness (e.g., cancer or stroke), surgery, or hospitalization. In this study, we tried to identify factors that influence the decision to purchase supplementary PHI and investigate the impacts of PHI on various aspects of cancer care.MethodsIn a cross-sectional study of 391 patients with gastric cancer, we collected data on demographic and clinical variables, coverage by PHI at the time of diagnosis, and patients' cancer care experiences from surgery databases and patient questionnaires. Two separate multivariate logistic regression models were used 1) to determine whether various sociodemographic and clinical variables influence the purchase of supplementary PHI, and 2) to determine if there is a difference in various outcome measures between individuals with and without PHI.ResultsWe studied 187 subjects (49.6%) who were covered under PHI at the time of diagnosis. Subjects who purchased PHI tended to be younger (aOR = 5.01, 95% C.I. = 2.05 – 12.24), and more educated (aOR = 2.67, 95% C.I. = 1.04 – 6.86). Supplementary PHI coverage was significantly associated with financial independence (aOR = 2.07, 95% CI = 1.19 – 3.61), but not with other aspects of cancer care, such as access to healthcare, quality of care, communication and patient autonomy.ConclusionOur findings demonstrate that supplementary PHI neither serves as a safety net for vulnerable patients nor improves cancer care experience, except for maintaining the financial independence of beneficiaries.

Provincial road condition and round wood timber transport in South Africa

The context of the study is the concern over declining provincial road conditions due to insufficient government funding for road maintenance. The roads are used by a wide variety of commercial and private interests that contribute a broad range of axle loads. There is no information available on the use of these roads, nor on their condition from forest companies and other users. A nation-wide survey, in the form of a questionnaire, was subsequently conducted to determine the condition and length of each segment of provincial road in use by forest companies, as well as the volume of wood transported over them. In addition, an attempt was made to gather data on other road users over each section of road surveyed. The questionnaire results show that there is great degree of variation in the condition of provincial roads, with 50% of them being serviceable over only 50% of their total lengths. There is a 20% reduction in the road condition during wet periods, which would indicate poor drainage and/or use of...

Budgets, pricing policies and user fees in Canadian parks' tourism

The nature-based tourism industry in Canada is substantially based upon an extensive system of national and provincial parks. Over the last two decades public demand has resulted in increases in the number of parks and in tourism use. However, fiscal restraint has caused budget reduction with the associated loss of management effectiveness. What fiscal and management responses have there been to this problem? This paper summarizes the data from a national survey of all provincial, territorial and national park agencies' budget, fiscal and pricing policies. Two major observations are evident. One is the continuing loss of management capability due to the reliance on insufficient government funding for capital and operational needs. The other is a shift from government budget funding to a higher utilization of tourism-based fees and charges. Overall the trend is away from tax-based government allocations, towards income derived from fees for the services and facilities provided to the park visitors.