Local Inequality Research Articles

Rural Public Health Data Challenges During the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Case for Building Better Systems Ahead of a Public Health Crisis.

Rural public health personnel serve communities that have been particularly susceptible to COVID-19 and yet faced the pandemic with far less well-resourced capacity than their urban counterparts. A critical aspect of addressing local health inequities is access to high-quality population data and the capacity to effectively use data to support decision making. However, much of the data required to investigate inequities are not readily available to rural local health departments and the tools and training to analyze data are often lacking. The purpose of our effort was to explore rural data challenges related to COVID-19 and provide recommendations for improving rural data access and capacity ahead of future crises. We gathered qualitative data in 2 phases, more than 8 months apart, from rural public health practice personnel. Initial data were gathered in October-November 2020 regarding rural public health data needs during the COVID-19 pandemic and then to later identify whether the same findings held true in July 2021 or whether access to and capacity to use data to address the pandemic and related inequities improved as the pandemic progressed. In our 4-state exploration focused on access and use of data among rural public health systems to promote health equity in the Northwest United States, we found tremendous and ongoing unmet data needs, challenges with communicating data, and a lack of capacity to meet this public health crisis. Recommendations for addressing these challenges include increasing dedicated resources specifically to rural public health systems, improving data access and infrastructure, and providing dedicated data-related workforce development.

Countering or Reinforcing (Gendered) Inequalities? Ramifications of the Covid-19 Pandemic in and Through Media

The Covid-19 pandemic reveals and exacerbates inequalities in various ways. Gender inequalities—intertwined with intersectional differences along class, ethnicity, or origin—are highly visible. Legacy and social media around the world cover and perform these issues as much as they conceal them. On the one hand, they have the ability to give those affected a voice and to intervene in public discourse. On the other hand, they reproduce stereotypes and imbalances and rely on gendered (infra)structures. This thematic issue explores the entanglement between empowering and restricting forms of media discourse and media practices. Ten contributions from different world regions, which analyze various media, and involve diverse methodological approaches, make visible reproductions of established power structures as well as new visibilities and counter-practices of marginalized groups. In sum, they generate a complex body of knowledge about global and local inequalities and the ramifications of the pandemic in and through media.

A fixed-time gradient algorithm for distributed optimization with inequality constraints

In this paper, a distributed fixed time gradient algorithm for neurodynamic systems is proposed for solving optimization problems with local inequality constraints. The algorithm is designed using fixed time theory and sliding model control techniques, where each agent has a local objective function known only to itself, and the optimal solution of each local objective function sum can be obtained in a fixed time by the information interaction between neighbors under the condition of local inequality constraints. In addition, the upper bound of the fixed time can be obtained and it is proved theoretically that the upper bound of the fixed time is independent of the initial value. Finally, the stability and effectiveness of the algorithm are verified by numerical examples.

Some Local Fractional Hilbert-Type Inequalities

The main purpose of this paper is to prove some new local fractional Hilbert-type inequalities. Our general results are applicable to homogeneous kernels. Furthermore, the best possible constants in terms of local fractional hypergeometric function are obtained. The obtained results prove that the employed method is very simple and effective for treating various kinds of local fractional Hilbert-type inequalities.

Generalized m -preinvexity on fractal set and related local fractional integral inequalities with applications

In this work, we address and explore the concept of generalized \(m\)-preinvex functions on fractal sets along with linked local fractional integral inequalities. Additionally, some engrossing algebraic properties are presented to facilitate the current initiated idea. Furthermore, we prove the latest variant of Hermite-Hadamard type inequality employing the proposed definition of preinvexity. We also derive several novel versions of inequalities of the Hermite-Hadamard type and Fejér-Hermite-Hadamard type for the first-order local differentiable generalized \(m\)-preinvex functions. Finally, some new inequalities for the generalized means and generalized random variables are established as applications.

Levelling Up the UK: If not the Conservatives, will Labour Learn the Lessons from Past Policy Failings?

AbstractThis article considers the levelling‐up agenda in the UK, examining the Johnson government's original proposals to tackle regional and local inequality and its continuation under new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak following the short‐lived premiership of Liz Truss. The 2022 Levelling Up in the United Kingdom White Paper is notable for the frank and wholesale critique it provides of previous governments’—both Tory and Labour—efforts to address the pressing issue of geographic inequality. The assessment was that a pattern of ad hoc and incoherent reforms needed to be replaced by a stable, long term and system‐wide approach to change. Yet, under Johnson, Truss and now Sunak, policy churn is continuing, with an approach that falls short in following the lessons set out in the White Paper. We provide a detailed analysis of the government's critique of past reforms, the lessons it has set out and why its reform programme is likely to repeat past failings. Crucially, the approach leaves the structure of central government almost untouched, with substantive reforms instead focussed at the local governance level. We argue the government's programme perpetuates the ‘power‐hoarding’ tendencies of the Westminster model, a key bulwark against meaningfully addressing the UK's spatial inequality problem. We conclude that the levelling‐up agenda, missions and targets are unlikely to be met under Rishi Sunak, reflecting the endemic nature of short‐termism and centralisation of power in the UK's public policy approach. We then consider the approach of Starmer's Labour Party to levelling up and the issues it needs to confront if it forms the next government.

Measuring local, salient economic inequality in the UK

Neighbourhood-level economic inequality is thought to have important implications for social, political, and economic attitudes and behaviours. However, due to a lack of available data, to date it has been impossible to investigate how inequality varies across neighbourhoods in the UK. In this paper, I develop a novel measure of within-neighbourhood inequality in the UK by exploiting data on housing values for over 26.6 million addresses – nearly the universe of residential properties in the UK. Across two surveys, I demonstrate that housing value inequality is perceptually-salient – what people see around them in terms of housing discrepancies is associated with their beliefs about inequality. This new measure of local, salient inequality represents a powerful tool with which to investigate both the anatomy of local inequality in the UK, as well as its attitudinal and behavioural consequences.

The effects of the local and regional conditions and inequalities on urban shrinkage: a multilevel analysis focusing on local population decline

ABSTRACT Urban shrinkage is becoming a worldwide issue. However, empirical investigation still lacks an understanding of the spatial extent of the factors that drive local population decline, a prevalent aspect of urban shrinkage. Empirical evidence on multilevel factors relating to population decline is particularly scarce. We investigated the influences by analyzing economic, social, physical, and policy conditions at the local and regional levels. Regional conditions, as well as local conditions, are also related to the decline of the local population. The effect goes beyond economic and demographic conditions; conditions such as the local infrastructure level and development policy also significantly influence.

On the local systolic optimality of Zoll contact forms

We prove a normal form for contact forms close to a Zoll one and deduce that Zoll contact forms on any closed manifold are local maximizers of the systolic ratio. Corollaries of this result are: (1) sharp local systolic inequalities for Riemannian and Finsler metrics close to Zoll ones, (2) the perturbative case of a conjecture of Viterbo on the symplectic capacity of convex bodies, (3) a generalization of Gromov’s non-squeezing theorem in the intermediate dimensions for symplectomorphisms that are close to linear ones.

Local inequities in the relative production of and exposure to vehicular air pollution in Los Angeles

Vehicular air pollution has created an ongoing air quality and public health crisis. Despite growing knowledge of racial injustice in exposure levels, less is known about the relationship between the production of and exposure to such pollution. This study assesses pollution burden by testing whether local populations’ vehicular air pollution exposure is proportional to how much they drive. Through a Los Angeles, California, case study we examine how this relates to race, ethnicity and socio-economic status – and how these relationships vary across the region. We find that, all else equal, tracts whose residents drive less are exposed to more air pollution, as are tracts with a less-White population. Commuters from majority-White tracts disproportionately drive through non-White tracts, compared to the inverse. Decades of racially-motivated freeway infrastructure planning and residential segregation shape today’s disparities in who produces vehicular air pollution and who is exposed to it, but opportunities exist for urban planning and transport policy to mitigate this injustice.

Escalation of civil war in Nepal: The role of local poverty, inequality and caste polarization

Abstract A growing literature examines the effects of poverty, inequality and polarization on civil war but analyses typically use spatially aggregated data. Many civil wars exhibit great spatial heterogeneity so very local effects may be obscured. We study Nepal’s civil war that escalated sharply from 2001 to contribute evidence on these local effects. We combine geo-coded data on 15 000 conflict deaths spread over a decade with small-area estimates of poverty and inequality for almost 4000 localities in Nepal. We model the likelihood of a locality being affected by conflict and the intensity of the conflict, in terms of the number of deaths. Higher local poverty rates are negatively related to an increased risk of conflict and deaths, due to a shift in strategy by the rebels to target richer middle class and urban areas for accessing resources to win the war. Local relative wealth inequality is postively associated with the escalation of conflict, suggesting that relative wellbeing affects decisions about rebellion and conflict. Caste polarization also raises conflict risk and deaths, especially where dominant caste groups were more numerous. These support an agnostic view that poverty is neither a necessary nor sufficient condition for the escalation of civil conflict. The strategy used by the rebels in Nepal saw the conflict escalate away from poor areas even as conflict was more likely in unequal and caste-polarized areas.

Culture vultures: HIV/AIDS, structured disparities and stigma in Sindh province of Pakistan

AbstractThe transmission rate of human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is significantly increasing in Pakistan, which amounts to the second most rapid spread in Asia. In early 2019, the media reported on a HIV outbreak in the Taluka (sub-district) of Ratodero, located in the Larkana district of Pakistan’s Sindh province. In just one village, approximately 1,150 cases were diagnosed. Unfortunately, most of them were children. The outbreak, on the one hand, is a result of a conjuncture of local, national, and global economic and political inequalities. On the other hand, it is multiplying the adverse consequences for the economically and politically marginalized segments of society, such as children and women. This paper proposes strategies to address the outbreak and provides model questions for studying it. Outbreaks such as HIV pose a significant challenge to human existence. They require specific attention at different levels in order to be dealt with effectively. They require studies to examine the crucial role of sociocultural, economic and political factors in their origin and prevalence as well as the impact of sociocultural differences on the outcome.

Some Local Fractional Inequalities Involving Fractal Sets via Generalized Exponential (s,m)-Convexity

Research in this paper aims to explore the concept of generalized exponentially (s,m)-convex functions, and to determine some properties of these functions. In addition, we look at some interactions between generalized exponentially (s,m)-convex functions and local fractional integrals. The properties of the generalized new special cases of (s,m)-convex functions, s-convex functions, and also generalized m-convex functions are impressive. We derive some inequalities of Hadamard’s type for generalized exponentially (s,m)-convex functions, and give applications in probability density functions and generalized special methods to attest to the applicability and efficiency of the method under consideration.

Distributed extremum‐seeking based resource allocation algorithm with input dead‐zone

SummaryThis paper studies distributed resource allocation problem for agents with input dead‐zone, which is not considered in the existing work. At first, the primal problem is transformed to an auxiliary problem by using the exact penalty method to deal with local inequality constraints. It is assumed that the explicit expressions of cost functions and local inequality constraints are unknown to agents but the values of the cost and constraint functions can be obtained. Under such a setup, the extremum seeking control is used to estimate the gradient information. Thus, to obtain the optimal allocation, a novel distributed algorithm is designed by the virtue of the extremum seeking control and a dynamic compensating mechanism which is used to handle the effects of the input dead‐zone. Due to a two time‐scale structure of the designed distributed algorithm, the semi‐globally practically asymptotical convergence of all agents' decisions to the optimal allocation is obtained by the singular perturbation technique. Finally, numerical examples of economic dispatch in smart grids are given to verify the effectiveness of our proposed method.

Sharp systolic inequalities for rotationally symmetric 2-orbifolds

We show that suitably defined systolic ratios are globally bounded from above on the space of rotationally symmetric spindle orbifolds and that the upper bound is attained precisely at so-called Besse metrics, i.e. Riemannian orbifold metrics all of whose geodesics are closed. The first type of systolic ratios that we consider are defined in terms of closed geodesics that lift to contractible loops on certain covers of the unit sphere bundle. The second type of systolic ratios are defined in terms of the kth shortest closed geodesic, where the number k depends on the underlying orbifold. Our results generalize a corresponding result of Abbondandolo, Bramham, Hryniewicz and Salomão for spheres of revolution, even in the manifold case. Moreover, they complement recent results by Abbondandolo, Mazzucchelli and the first named author on local systolic inequalities for Besse Reeb flows on closed 3-manifolds.

Local Inequities in the Relative Production of and Exposure to Vehicular Air Pollution in Los Angeles

Local Inequities in the Relative Production of and Exposure to Vehicular Air Pollution in Los Angeles

湿地保护、生态旅游与农民增收——以云南拉市海湿地为例

PDF HTML阅读 XML下载 导出引用 引用提醒 湿地保护、生态旅游与农民增收——以云南拉市海湿地为例 DOI: 10.5846/stxb202201100080 作者: 作者单位: 作者简介: 通讯作者: 中图分类号: 基金项目: 国家社会科学基金项目（18VSJ100）；国家自然科学基金项目（41571519）；中国人民大学2020年度拔尖创新人才培育资助计划成果 Wetland conservation, ecotourism and farmers' income: A case study of Lashihai Wetland in Yunnan, China Author: Affiliation: Fund Project: 摘要 | 图/表 | 访问统计 | 参考文献 | 相似文献 | 引证文献 | 资源附件 | 文章评论 摘要:生态保护与经济发展之间的矛盾是发展中国家普遍存在的问题。近年来中国开展了大规模的生态保护行动，但对于这些行动的经济效应评估主要集中在森林和草地保护，而对湿地保护鲜少关注。选取云南一个典型的高原湿地，基于当地实施的退耕还湿政策，运用倾向得分匹配（PSM）和双重差分法（DID）检验了退耕还湿对农民收入和生态旅游的长期动态影响，并进一步讨论了政策效果的异质性以及补偿资金在湿地保护中的作用。研究发现：（1）退耕还湿具有显著的增收效应，使人均收入提高了约40%，并促进了生态旅游的发展；（2）随着时间推移，退耕还湿对农民收入和生态旅游的促进作用不断增强，在多重因素的综合影响下，农民通过生计转型实现长期增收；（3）退耕还湿存在明显的异质性影响。在不同收入群体中，低收入和高收入群体的增收效应最明显，而对生态旅游的影响则主要体现在高收入群体中；此外，距离湿地资源越近的地区，农民越倾向于通过开展生态旅游实现增收；（4）补偿资金在湿地保护中具有双重作用，不仅在保护行动前期作为安全网维持农民收入不降低，而且作为启动市场和吸引民间资本参与的种子资金，进一步支持了生态旅游的发展。研究结果能够为湿地保护与社会经济协调发展提供新的实证证据。 Abstract:The conflict between ecological conservation and economic development is a common concern for the developing countries. In recent years, the Chinese government has carried out large-scale ecological conservation initiatives, but assessments of the economic effects of these initiatives have mainly focused on forest and grassland conservation, with little attention paid to wetland conservation. This paper provides some empirical evidences to understand the economic impact of wetland conservation in a region where development has been constrained by wetland conservation. The paper selects a typical highland wetland in Yunnan Province and uses propensity score matching (PSM) and difference in difference (DID) to examine the long-term dynamic effects of wetland conservation on farmers' income and ecotourism livelihoods based on the local policy of the Farmland to Wetland Conversion Program (FWCP), and further discusses the heterogeneity of policy effects and the role of compensation funds in wetland conservation. The results show that:(1) the FWCP has a significantly positive impact on the farmers' income, increasing per capita income by about 40% and promoting the development of eco-tourism livelihoods. (2) As time goes by, the role of the FWCP in promoting farmers' income and eco-tourism has continued to increase. Under the combined effect of multiple factors, the farmers achieved long-term income growth through livelihood transformation. (3) The FWCP has obviously heterogeneous effects. Among different income groups, low-income and high-income groups have the most obvious income-increasing effect, while the impact on ecotourism by the FWCP is mainly reflected in high-income groups, so there may be a risk of exacerbating local income inequality. In addition, the closer to the wetland resources, the more farmers tend to increase their income by developing ecotourism. (4) Compensation funds have a dual role in wetland conservation. Not only does it act as a safety net to maintain farmers' incomes from decreasing in the early stages of conservation action, but it also serves as seed money to stimulate market and induce social capital participation, further supporting the development of ecotourism. The findings of this paper can provide new empirical evidence for the coordinated development of wetland conversation and socio-economics. 参考文献 相似文献 引证文献

Robust Constraint-Following Control for Uncertain Mechanical Systems With Generalized Udwadia-Kalaba Approach

In this letter, we propose a robust constraint-following control approach for uncertain mechanical systems under both equality and inequality constraints. Particularly, both the global and local inequality constraints are systematically incorporated into the Udwadia-Kalaba (U-K) equation leveraging the diffeomorphism technique, wherein a novel smooth approximation of the local inequality constraints is proposed to address the non-differentiability resulting from its spatiotemporal dependence nature. Based on this development, the generalized U-K equation is mathematically established. With this, we develop a robust constraint-following control strategy to ensure satisfying system performance in the presence of uncertainties and various constraints. Moreover, by Lyapunov minimax approach, the proposed control strategy guarantees both uniform boundedness (UB) and uniform ultimate boundedness (UUB) of the system. Finally, numerical simulations on the lateral motion control of an autonomous vehicle demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.

On nonuniqueness of Hölder continuous globally dissipative Euler flows

We show that for any $\al<\frac 17$ there exist $\al$-H\"older continuous weak solutions of the three-dimensional incompressible Euler equation, which satisfy the local energy inequality and strictly dissipate the total kinetic energy. The proof relies on the convex integration scheme and the main building blocks of the solution are various Mikado flows with disjoint supports in space and time.

Refinements of local fractional Hilbert-type inequalities

UDC 517.5 We study the re nements of several well-known local fractional Hilbert-type inequalities by interpolating the Lebesgue norms of the local fractional Laplace transforms of the functions involved in the inequalities. As an application, the main results are compared with some our results previously known from the literature.