National Funding Research Articles

MORAL AND ETHICAL COMPONENT OF SCIENCE IN TIMES OF WAR

MORAL AND ETHICAL COMPONENT OF SCIENCE IN TIMES OF WAR

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT IN SCHOOL EDUCATION

This study investigates that civic participation has positive influence on success of students and helps to get best results for students, parents and educators. It brings change in learning behavior, ethnicity and societal actions. These requirements have embraced the perception of parent and civic participation in different way including some part of school governance. The reason of this study was to describe the function and influence of community on educational betterment programs and give a clear picture about the role of parents and other community members. Community participation in education is related to the overall culture of the school. Parents play their supportive role in educational activities that helps to improve the learning skills of students. Recommendations for further research in community-school relationships, training and parent teacher association, preparation for teachers, and the provision of more national and local funds to maintain educational improvement efforts are discussed.

This needs to be a journey that we’re actually on together’—the introduction of integrated care systems for children and young people in England: a qualitative study of the views of local system stakeholders during winter 2021/22

BackgroundIntegrated care has become a central feature of health system reform worldwide. In England, Integrated Care Systems (ICS) are intended to improve integration across public health, the National Health Service (NHS), education and social care. By April 2021, England had been divided into 42 geographical areas, each tasked with developing local ICS provision. However, it was not clear how ICSs would address the specific needs of children and young people (CYP). This study elicited the views of senior professional stakeholders in the first year of the ICS national roll out, to learn how integrated care for CYP was being implemented within the ICSs and future plans for service provision.MethodsA qualitative analysis of in-depth interviews with stakeholders, including healthcare professionals, NHS managers and local authority leaders (n = 25) selected from a diverse sample of ICSs (n = 7) across England, conducted during winter 2021/22. Reflexive thematic analysis involving a collaborative coding approach was used to analyse interview transcripts.ResultsFour themes were identified, indicating challenges and opportunities for ICSs in relation to the health of CYP: 1) Best start in life (a more holistic approach to health afforded by integrated care); 2) Local and national contexts (tensions between local and national settings and priorities); 3) Funding and planning (instituting innovative, long-term plans using limited existing CYP funding streams); 4) Organisational complexities (integrating the work of diverse organisations).ConclusionsThe views of stakeholders, provided at the beginning of the journey towards developing local ICS CYP provision, revealed a common aspiration to change focus from provision of acute, largely adult-orientated services towards one with a broader, population health remit, including prevention and early intervention. This would be delivered by integration of a range of local services, including health, education, housing and social care, to set CYP on a life-long path towards improved health and wellbeing. Yet there was an awareness that change would take place over time within existing national policy and funding frameworks, and would require overcoming organisational barriers through further developing local collaborations and partnerships. As ICSs mature, the experiences of stakeholders should continue to be canvassed to identify practical lessons for successful CYP integrated care.

Revitalizing Rural Tourism: A Croatian Case Study in Sustainable Practices

Dubrovnik-Neretva County, renowned for the City of Dubrovnik, grapples with tourism challenges affecting its UNESCO-listed Old City. This study advocates for promoting less-explored inland areas to ease the strain on the heritage site and alleviate coastal tourist pressure. By diversifying tourism and supporting sustainable rural development, the region can spur economic growth, foster local businesses, and improve infrastructure through EU and national funding. The research explores financial investments in less-developed areas, emphasizing sustainable tourism practices for socio-economic and environmental benefits. The analysis highlights the project’s positive impact on sustainable tourism development inland, preserving natural heritage, and fostering economic benefits for local communities. According to the cost–benefit analysis, the proposed idea outperforms all alternatives with new attractions and enhanced infrastructure, contributing to overall municipal growth. External funding is crucial for viability, with a negative net income until 2040, offset by municipal support. Economic indicators justify social and economic benefits, emphasizing project resilience. The active tourism centre project, emphasizing eco-friendly outdoor activities, highlights the role of cost–benefit analysis in rural tourism infrastructure investment, recommending external funding for success.

Problems of financing small businesses in Ukraine

Introduction. The development of small entrepreneurship is a very important factor for the entire economy of the country, therefore the state plays an important role in stimulating its development. State support for small businesses involves the provision of various subsidies, loans, the creation of national funds, the provision of tax discounts and benefits, the use of foreign aid, and support for the development of the insurance market. In the conditions of the financial and economic crisis, and later in the conditions of the war in Ukraine, the business environment significantly deteriorated, and the development of small businesses slowed down. The purpose of the paper is to study the problems of financing small business entities in Ukraine and develop separate recommendations for their solution. Results. As a result of the conducted research, the role and peculiarities of functioning of small business in Ukraine were analyzed. The share of small business entities among active business entities in Ukraine in the period 2017-2021 was determined. It has been studied that the main number of small business entities in types of economic activity is occupied by wholesale and retail trade. A comparative analysis of indicators of small business development was carried out, namely a parallel between the number of small enterprises and FOP per 10,000 population. The dynamics of the indicators of the liability structure of small business entities in the period 2017-2021 were analyzed, with the help of which the relative indicators of the financial stability of small businesses were calculated. Conclusion. As a conclusion, the criteria that suspend the development of small business in modern conditions are determined.

Interdependencies between international innovation partnerships: the case of Central and Eastern Europe

PurposeCompetitively multipolar international system demands bilateral and multilateral partnerships. Joint innovation signals close partnerships. Regional proximity of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) to the European Union (EU) defines its research and development objectives. These objectives are additionally subjected to the USA’s geopolitical strategy in this geographical area. Hence, CEE’s limited resources require limited resources make international innovation cooperation. This paper aims to analyse whether and how CEE countries make international innovation cooperation decisions.Design/methodology/approachThis paper used Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) database of total patent applications filed to the patent cooperation treaty (PCT) with co-applicants from abroad, where co-patents with at least one foreign inventor present a measure of international innovation partnership. A vector autoregression analysis and impulse response function were used to analyse international innovation partnership choices of eight CEE OECD countries for the period 1990–2018.FindingsInnovation with the EU is of collaborative nature, commonly displaying complementary properties with the rest of the examined innovation partners, while co-patenting with the Russia and China act as substitutes or complements. Co-patenting with Russia is the most versatile, displaying both properties of collaboration and competition. Some countries exhibit complementarity in co-patenting activities with multiple partners. The significance levels of these relationships vary, indicating varying degrees of impact. Overall, these findings highlight the complex dynamics of co-patenting activities and the influence of different partners on countries’ collaborative innovation strategies.Research limitations/implicationsIn addition to significant relationships, insignificant relationships as well as those that could bring about greater synergy are flagged in the paper. Those relationships portray possible direction into which national funds could be channelled to incite cooperation between different sectors and countries, especially as innovation partnerships are not always successful and require a long time period to materialise.Originality/valueBy examining bilateral innovation partnerships, this study provides an insight into the strategic political and economic spheres of influence in the CEE region.

Surpoids et obésité de l’adulte : 14 messages clés pour améliorer les pratiques: Overweight and obesity in adults: 14 key messages to improve practices

This guide describes the care, support and overall follow-up of adults with overweight or obesity. It reasserts the importance of early identification, coupled with a lifestyle assessment. It details the role of professionals (health, social and medico-social field, adapted physical activity, occupational health) and looks at the situations in which the person’s primary care physician may consult them.This work was conducted jointly with the French national health insurance fund, in the context of the healthcare system transformation strategy, to meet the objectives of the “Ma santé 2022” [“My Health 2022”] program. It was produced with the assistance of a multidisciplinary working group and patient association representatives drawing on an analysis on the international literature.To help professionals assimilate this work, the HAS proposes a summary of the critical points in the care pathway, 14 key messages to improve practices, 8 toolkit guides reiterating the role of each professional and the arrangements for sharing information with the primary care physician.© 2023 Société francophone nutrition clinique et métabolisme (SFNCM).Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Management of the Pension Fund in Korea: Sharpe Ratio as a Measurement

Purpose: This study criticizes the existing benchmarks of the national equity fund specified by the National Pension Service and proposes alternative benchmarks.
 Design/methodology/approach: First, this study investigates whether the existing benchmarks returns are affected by the value and momentum factors. Second, we examine the effects of different factors on the benchmark returns of internal and outsourcing investments. Third, we propose three benchmarks by including the value factor and/or momentum factor. Finally, the Sharpe ratios of return-to-risk are used to measure these proposed benchmarks compared to the existing benchmarks.
 Findings: First, the existing benchmarks of internal and outsourcing investments are associated with value and momentum factors, which have been observed in many other countries. Second, the Sharpe ratios of the three proposed benchmarks - value oriented, momentum oriented, and value & momentum oriented - are always better than the existing benchmarks. Third, the Sharpe ratio of the value oriented benchmark is better than that of the momentum oriented and value & momentum oriented benchmarks. Finally, the Sharpe ratios are better with increased investment weights of value and/or momentum.
 Research limitations/implications: This study uses the Sharpe ratio to measure the return-to-risk relationship. There could be other measures to capture the relationship.
 Originality/value: This is the first research to analyze the national pension equity fund with proposed benchmarks in the Korean market.

Conservation of Biodiversity and Nature — a New Priority for Green Agenda

The article reviews the drivers and main goals of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), adopted by 196 countries during COP-15 in December 2022. The overarching aim of the GBF is to halt and reverse nature loss by 2030, in particular restore 30 % of critical biodiversity areas. The targets should be translated into national-level policy concerning governments, global and national environment funds as well as private sector actors, including financial institutions. The GBF isanalyzed in close connection with Paris agreement on climate change 2015 and Sustainable Development Goals. It is shown that a lot of GBF’s actions follow the example of those declared in the Paris agreement. The research is focused on the evaluation of the opportunities and challenges for the realization of GBF. The largest part of its stakeholders considers biodiversity as a unifying concept, that can help reduce the current political polarization that exist in relation to decarbonization in particular and to ESG principals as a whole. But difficulties and barriers also exist. One of them is the complicity of biodiversity impact, because it is not quite clear what to measure and how to measure. Probably the largest problem here is a lack of financial resources allocated to protection of ecological systems, especially in developing countries. So, the author comes to conclusion that despite approval of the aims of the GBF, practical actions taken by governments and business are scarce, and the conservation of biodiversity is seen as priority only in public discussions.

Analysis of the Effects of State Aid on the Development of Algerian Dairy Farms: The Case of National Unemployment Fund (CNAC)

This study is aimed at demonstrating the importance of public investment in developing the dairy sector through support schemes such as the CNAC (national unemployment fund). Fifty-five dairy farms benefiting from CNAC funding were surveyed. The results show that 63% of the beneficiaries have difficulties with the submission and processing of their administrative files. The lack of technical control by the CNAC services was reported by the vast majority of beneficiary farmers (83%). There has been an increase in the number of wage labourers from nine to 20% of the total farm labour force. There has been an increase in the number of farms with a small forage area (0-5 ha). Bovine livestock increased by 12%, the most important breed being the Montbeliarde. More than half of the farmers have increased the amount of concentrates distributed, from an average of 7 to 10 kg per animal per day. Green fodder is also appearing in the form of wrapped silage distributed throughout the year. Milk production increased by 7.3%, from 17.7 litres per cow per day to 19.1 litres per cow per day. Natural breeding is still practised by 42% of farmers, despite the prevalence of artificial insemination. Finally, 54 % of the farmers benefiting from the programme say that dairy production has become unprofitable because of higher production costs. It would be preferable for this mechanism to improve and simplify the administrative procedure and ensure effective follow-up of beneficiary farmers in order to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of CNAC funding.

European food safety research: An explorative study with funding experts’ consultation

The European research area exhibits considerable opacity and fragmentation in food safety research funding and organizational structures, impeding the exploitation of existing research potential across European countries. Given that food safety is inherently linked to the societal challenges of our time, identifying and removing existing barriers to research funding in this area is crucial. Towards investigating this matter, interviews were conducted with funding bodies from six European countries to assess key issues related to research funding in general and food safety in particular. Funding experts were then invited to a workshop to jointly discuss the challenges identified and explore strategies to address them. Evaluation of the food safety research funding situation in selected European countries revealed both convergences and significant differences among national funding bodies. Engaging with funding experts provided invaluable insights into the issues encountered with research funding, such as inadequate call management staff or insufficient research funds, culminating in a set of recommendations for action to remedy the situation.

Role of International Organisation in Shaping the global governance

International organizations play a pivotal role in shaping global governance by fostering cooperation, facilitating diplomacy, and addressing transnational challenges. As influential actors, these organizations, such as the United Nations, World Bank, and International Monetary Fund, serve as platforms for dialogue, negotiation, and policy coordination among nations. They contribute to the development of norms, regulations, and standards, promoting stability and sustainable development on a global scale. Through collaborative efforts, international organizations help address complex issues like climate change, economic inequality, and health crises, thereby influencing the trajectory of global governance and fostering a more interconnected and cooperative world.

Formation of a unified regulatory space of the agricultural sector of Ukraine with the EU internal market: processes and problems

The article is devoted to summarizing achievements and miscalculations in terms of the formation of a unified regulatory space of the domestic agricultural sector and the European internal market since the second half of the 2010s, as well as assessing the possibilities of achieving their full equivalence. It was established that the unified regulatory space is formed by the following components: technical regulation, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, safety of food products and animal feed. The contribution of the components of technical regulation to the formation of a domestic regulatory system equivalent to the basic European system of technical regulation is assessed. It is argued that during the research period, the national fund of standards expanded significantly (more than 25,000 standards), and almost ¾ of them are harmonized with European and world standards. It is noted that the Program of the Development of the Reference Base has not been fully implemented as a result of Russian aggression, and the certification of safety and quality systems, products, processes and services and personnel is carried out only by accredited conformity assessment bodies (CABs). It has been found that the accreditation of domestic CABs is carried out by the National Accreditation Agency of Ukraine, which in terms of accreditation interacts only with the signatories of international agreements on accreditation (EA MLA, ILAC MRA, IAF MLA). Since April 2016, state market surveillance has been carried out by the State Service of Food Safety and Consumer Protection. Special control regimes for manufactured products are based on the active implementation of certified safety and quality systems by producers of organic products and agricultural raw materials for the production of children's, dietary and special food products, as well as advanced management systems for the export of agricultural products to foreign markets. It has been established that Ukraine has ensured compliance with the European requirements of its own sanitary and phytosanitary measures (SPM) in the field of agriculture and measures regarding the safety of food products and animal feed. This is evidenced by the following indicators: a total of 380 enterprises export agricultural products, of which 162 enterprises export food products. The fulfillment of the obligations stipulated by the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU has been systematized, which includes fulfilled obligations and intermediate results and totals 55 %. At the same time, the intermediate statuses of «Early» execution and «Advanced» execution are taken into account with weighting factors of 0.3 and 0.7, respectively. This assessment includes the following components: «perfect» performance is 30,4 %; «advanced» - 26.2 %; «early» stage – 21 %; fulfillment of obligations has not started – 20,8 %; the fulfillment of 1,6 % of the obligations has a critical inconsistency with the relevant norms of EU law. It was concluded that the activities related to the harmonization of domestic legal regulation of ensuring the quality and safety of products in agrofood chains to the practice of the European Union need to be intensified in order to complete it, as it will have a positive effect on the successful postwar recovery of the agricultural sector and the country as a whole. Key words: agricultural sector of Ukraine, EU internal market, unified regulatory space, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, food safety

Performance evaluation of dance programmes subsidized by China national arts fund (2014– 2019)

ABSTRACT State funding in support of art development is a crucial area of research in arts management. After the 1980s, China began to reform its cultural system. Drawing on the historical experience of Western countries in subsidizing art, the Chinese government made constant adjustments to its system. In 2013, the China National Arts Fund (CNAF) was established, indicating the Chinese government’s efforts to enhance the modernization level of arts management and explore funding methods with Chinese characteristics. Based on quantitative data and case studies and through the analysis of the quantity, types, institutional ownership, and regional trends of dance programmes funded by CNAF (2014–2019), this paper concludes that the current funding trend is presented with three characteristics: differentiation classification, imbalance, localization of content and theme. The study found that CNAF is facing three challenges and dilemmas: (1) the effectiveness and diversity of its guiding function; (2) the level of its fine-grained and flat management; (3) the performance evaluation mechanism of funded programmes. Based on the findings and discussion of the research, this paper proposes policy suggestions and future research directions.

Evaluation of food purchasing in the Brazilian School Feeding Programme: feasibility of the requirements and recommendations.

To analyse the purchase of food for school feeding, according to the extent and purpose of industrial processing and variety, exploring the feasibility of achieving the requirements and recommendations of the Brazilian School Feeding Programme, and the variety of unprocessed or minimally processed foods according to the purchase of ultra-processed foods. Secondary data from 2016 from the Accountability Management System of the National Fund for Educational Development, concerning the food items purchased, were used to explore the feasibility of the requirements and recommendations. The foods were grouped according to the NOVA classification system. Variety was assessed by counting different types of unprocessed or minimally processed foods. Brazil. 3698 Brazilian municipalities. Energy share from unprocessed or minimally processed foods was 44·1 % while that of ultra-processed foods was 29·9 %. The average of unprocessed or minimally processed food types purchased annually was 33·8 items. Of the municipalities, 35·8 % were within the limit established for the expenditure of funds for the purchase of processed and ultra-processed foods, while 8·7 % followed the recommendation for variety. The proportion of ultra-processed foods did not influence the variety of food items purchased. The results showed the feasibility of achieving the requirements and recommendations and underscored the importance of continued efforts to promote the inclusion of unprocessed or minimally processed foods in the school feeding programme while addressing the challenges associated with expenditure limits of processed and ultra-processed foods and enhancing variety, which is strategic to promote adequate and healthy meals.

Modelling and Forecasting Claim Payments of Tanzania National Health Insurance Fund

The expenses of medical services are increasing across the globe. As a result, pressure is placed on government and insurance companies’ budgets. The amounts of money collected are not enough to cover the claim payments. Therefore, it threatens the sustainability of the health insurance companies due to the mismatch of income and expenditures. This study aimed to model and forecast claim payments for the national health insurance fund (NHIF) in Tanzania. The claim payment data for the period of 2001–2021 from NHIF were used in building the ARIMA model. It was proven that ARIMA (0, 2, 2) is the most accurate model for forecasting the claim payments from 2022 to 2031. Furthermore, numerical results show that the claim payments for NHIF will grow by 68% by 2031.

Male applicants are more likely to be awarded fellowships than female applicants: A case study of a Japanese national funding agency.

Scientific grant applications are subjected to scholarly peer review. Studies show that the success rates of grant applications are often higher for male than for female applicants, suggesting that gender bias is common in peer review. However, these findings mostly come from studies in Europe, North America and Australia. Here we report the analyses of gender-specific success rates of applications to the fellowships offered by Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS). Because we analyze the observational data (i.e., not experimental), our aim here is to describe the possible gender gaps in the success rates, rather than the examination of gender bias per se. Results show that the success rates are consistently higher for male applicants than for female applicants among five different fellowship categories. The gender gaps in the success rates varied significantly between research fields in some Fellowship categories. Furthermore, in some fellowship categories, the gender gaps were significantly associated with the representation of female applicants (both positive and negative correlations were found). Though the causes of the gender gaps are unknown, unintentional gender bias during the review process is suggested. Pre-application gender gaps may also be contributing to the gender gaps in success rates. At least some of the observed gender gaps were relatively small, which may be partly explicable by the designs of the review process. However, gender gaps or biases acting prior to the application, such as self-selection bias, may have reduced the superficial gender gaps in the success rates. Further investigations that control for the effects of covariates (e.g., scientific merits of each applicant, which were not accessible to us) and those of other funding agencies, especially of non-Western countries, are warranted.

Multilevel innovation policy mix: impact of regional, national, and European R&D grants

Abstract Research and Development (R&D) grants are one of the most commonly employed programmes by regional, national, and European governments to promote innovation at the firm level. This study contributes to the existing literature on innovation policy mix by investigating whether combinations of the three funding sources can yield positive effects on various measurements of innovation outcomes. Using a panel of 10,045 Spanish firms from 2004 to 2016 and a flexible conditional difference-in-differences approach, our findings reveal that R&D grants funded by European sources exert the most substantial positive impact on firms’ product and process innovations. Conversely, national funding demonstrates this impact on new-to-market innovations and patent applications. Notably, the positive effect on innovation outcomes is evident only when considering the combination of all three distinct funding schemes and the amalgamation of regional and national R&D grants. These results reject the possibility of substitutive effects among different funding schemes, particularly between regional and national institutions.

Is it the same to invest in health care or social care? A health production function study

Abstract Background This study aims to explore the relationship between health expenditure and social expenditure in their role in affecting health outcomes, such as death rates and disability-adjusted life years. Both types of spending may behave as complementary or supplementary goods, besides, they may interact with each other over time. Methods We used a translog production function using both health and social expenditures as inputs, for a panel of 27 years and EU countries, in order to estimate their respective output elasticities and the elasticity of substitution between them. Instrumental variables and ridge regressions were used to estimate unbiased elasticities. Results Our results point out that the elasticity of substitution between social and health expenditures is positive and less than one, which means that these spending variables may be classified as weak substitutes. Still, the substitutability pattern is heterogeneous according to each country, year and health outcome, being most sensitive to mortality rates in comparison with disability-adjusted life years. Conclusions Our Results support the hypothesis of a weak substitution relation between health and social expenditure. This implies that investments in the health sector should not be independent of social sector investments. Thus, policymakers need to consider the joint effect of these two spending categories when considering investment decisions aiming at achieving specific health gains. This presentation was supported by National Funds through FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia,I.P., within CINTESIS, R&D Unit (reference UIDB/4255/2020) Key messages • As health and social expenditures behave as weak substitutes, they have a complex relationship that depends on time, technology and the type of health benefit. • Both types of spending may affect health outcomes, still, their effect is heterogenous and may be cummulative with time.

4.G. Round table: Environmental stressors on health economics and policies – challenges and pitfalls

Abstract Health impact assessments (HIA) provide decision-makers with sound information about the health implications of policies or programmes and projects. Using an economic lens to perform HIA and to study policies to be implemented, can be a daunting task as there are many challenges can hamper its performance. Data scarcity and difficult access to it, is frequently a challenge when analysing health policies, emphasizing the importance of methods for collecting primary data. Additionally, something even rarer is to have data stratified by socioeconomic variables. This is of particular importance as it is the way of evaluating the impact of policies on equity of the health systems. Information on both the costs and outcomes of the interventions are essential. However, the transferability of this information for other contexts or countries can be hampered by many specificities in the different sides of the equations, such as the heterogeneity of unit prices in different countries. Often relying on cost-benefit analysis, HIA exercise encompass with the two processes in terms of costing, i.e. assessing the input costs of a policy and monetizing the health outcomes or losses on outcomes. Effectiveness of a policy mainly concerns with long term impacts of health, but economic evaluation might fail to monetise the exact effects with pros and cons. In fact, with the enormous options on mathematical modeling providing a clear picture of the impact of health policies, might diverge the researchers or decision makers for a clear and straight pathway towards nvironmental and health governance. Specifically, to the environmental risk factors to health, these also lead to an extra layer or step as a linkage between exposure to the risk factor and the subsequent impact on health might be faced later. Interministerial work is thus essential in order to overcome specific problems on access and data quality. In this round table, different perspectives will be given on the challenges of performing an environmental HIA, with some practical examples. From data to knowledge translation, we will focus on specific use cases to describe mental health systems. This roundtable was supported by EUPHA Public Health Economics, EUPHA Health Impact Assessment and EUPHA Environment and Health sections, as well as supported by National Funds through FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia,I.P., within CINTESIS, R&D Unit (reference UIDP/4255/2020). Key messages • Data availability and access are still among the main challenges to overcome when performing a health impact assessment. • A Health in All Policies approach, the best option for evaluating environmental policies, highlight the importance of interministerial work. Speakers/Panelists Marco Martuzzi Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy Brecht Devleesschauwer Sciensano, Brussels, Belgium Marija Jevtic University of Novi Sad, Faculty of Medicine, Novi Sad, Serbia Vlatka Matkovic Health & Environment Alliance, Brussels, Belgium