Number Of Seats Research Articles

Factors Affecting Propensity to Lift-Share for Children’s Activities

Research Problem: Families with children travel by car more frequently than any other household type and hence significantly contribute to transport externalities. Lift-sharing is a potential time-effective and convenient means of mitigating these effects. Whilst some research has been conducted on lift-sharing for the school run, there is little research beyond this context, particularly around lift-sharing for children’s activities (e.g., sport). Study Aim: Consequently, the aim of this study was to assess the current prevalence of lift-sharing (for children’s activities and other types of trips) in families with young children, the factors influencing its uptake, the experiences and attitudes of regular lift-sharers, and whether previous literature findings on reciprocity applied in this context to gain a deeper understanding of how and why families participate in activity lift-sharing. Research Design: A mixed-methods approach was applied, comprising (1) a travel survey of 474 families to establish socio-demographic and activity factors that influence lift-share prevalence for activity trips; and (2) 15 semi-structured interviews with parents to further explore how and why families participate in activity lift-sharing. Results: Factors influencing lift-sharing decisions for activity travel were number of cars owned, number of seats in the car, settlement type, income, time of day and location of the activity, number of children attending, parking availability, whether the activity is a sporting activity or not, and number of close friends of the child at the same activity. Salient motivating factors triggering lift-sharing included intentions to reduce chauffeuring and parents wanting their children to socialise. Trust was an initial imperative component of lift-share formation, and attitudes towards reciprocity supported previous literature findings relating to the variability of acceptable reciprocation and the role of fairness.

Battle for the Bay Revisited: The 2021 South African Local Elections in the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality

The 2021 local election in the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality (NMBM) saw a change in the fortunes of the two leading political parties, the African National Congress (ANC) and the Democratic Alliance (DA), in the context of a low-turnout election. The DA lost its advantage from the 2016 election and fell back into a tie with the ANC in the number of councillor seats. The equal position of the two leading parties led to an outsized role for smaller parties, including a minor party, the Northern Alliance, currently holding the mayor’s office in an ANC-led coalition. The authors use the lens of Gavin Davis’s theory on race-based campaigning to analyse the election results and the “violent democracy” framework of Von Holdt to analyse the political situation in the townships, where violence coexists with relatively high levels of political pluralism and participation. Also analysed is the challenge of coalition governments at the local level, and suggestions for electoral reform are offered.

The electoral system and political parties in the municipal council elections of St. Petersburg

ABSTRACT This paper deals with an important and insufficiently studied problem relating to the ways in which Russia’s authorities use electoral process rules in order to enhance their political advantage at the local level. The well-established Duvergerian framework of electoral system analysis applies to a new context: municipal elections in Putin-era St. Petersburg. One of the effects of the “block vote” electoral system, which is currently the most common method used in the St. Petersburg municipal elections, is the sweep effect, wherein a party with a weak majority of support nevertheless is able to win a large number of seats. From the data on election results in St. Petersburg it can be interpreted that the electoral system used gave a significant bonus to the leading party. It is noteworthy that the leading position in some cases was occupied by the opposition parties, which used the bonus provided by the electoral system.

The ‘odd–even effect’: The link between the number of parties and district magnitude

AbstractIn electoral systems with districts that vary in magnitude, the number of seats to be filled in each district will be even or odd. We argue that such a variation has crucial political consequences, called the ‘odd–even effect’. In low‐magnitude districts, elections are more competitive when the district magnitude is odd than even; the incentives for coordination are thus stronger in the former scenario than in the latter. Employing quasi‐experimental data from 780 districts in Spain's lower house elections, we show that the number of parties is smaller in low‐magnitude districts with an odd number of seats than in low‐magnitude districts with an even number of seats. The elite‐ and voter‐level mechanisms driving the odd–even effect are examined using data on mobilisation efforts and wasted votes at the district level.

Grundmandat, Bewertung des Gleichheitsgebots, Verzerrung – Fallstricke bei der Einsetzung von Untersuchungsausschüssen in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern

The 8th state parliament of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania has 79 members in six parlia- mentary party groups, which are represented with the following numbers of seats: SPD 34, AfD 14, CDU 12, Left Party 9, Greens and FDP with 5 each . A dispute arose over the appointment of two committees of inquiry . A majority of the state parliament approved two committees with nine members – four SPD MPs and one from each of the five other parliamentary party groups – at the suggestion of the governing coalition of the SPD and the Left Party . The proposal of the CDU, Greens and FDP to set up the committees with 13 members and a 6:2:2:1:1:1 distribution of seats was rejected . The disputes brought before the State Constitutional Court by the CDU as the applicant (LVerfG 3/22 and 4/22), were unsuccessful in the ruling of February 23, 2023 . The problem areas that arose can be outlined as follows: basic mandate, assessment of the principle of equality, and dis- tortion . This is shown in the article in the form of comments on the ruling of the State Constitutional Court . At the same time, solutions for avoiding such disputes and also for their adequate assessment are presented . First and foremost, there is a quality measure for the fulfillment of the mirror image principle, which provides a quality number for every conceivable distribution of seats, regardless of the chosen allocation procedure . This allows both the fulfillment of the principle of equality to be assessed and questions of distortion of a distribution to be quantified and thus objectively considered .

Relationships between two linearizations of the box-ball system: Kerov–Kirillov–Reschetikhin bijection and slot configuration

Abstract The box-ball system (BBS), which was introduced by Takahashi and Satsuma in 1990, is a soliton cellular automaton. Its dynamics can be linearized by a few methods, among which the best known is the Kerov–Kirillov–Reschetikhin (KKR) bijection using rigged partitions. Recently, a new linearization method in terms of ‘slot configurations’ was introduced by Ferrari–Nguyen–Rolla–Wang, but its relations to existing ones have not been clarified. In this paper, we investigate this issue and clarify the relation between the two linearizations. For this, we introduce a novel way of describing the BBS dynamics using a carrier with seat numbers. We show that the seat number configuration also linearizes the BBS and reveals explicit relations between the KKR bijection and the slot configuration. In addition, by using these explicit relations, we also show that even in case of finite carrier capacity the BBS can be linearized via the slot configuration.

Balancing the Scales: Elevating the Standard of Medical Education in India

I recently came across the editorial titled "So Many Docs, What's the Prescription?" published in your esteemed journal. (1) I read the editorial with great interest and concern and appreciate your insightful analysis of the challenges facing India's medical education system. The editorial has aptly raised concerns about the rapid increase in the number of medical institutions and available MBBS seats in India. It eloquently captures the dual-sided impact of this growth, noting commendable progress towards the doctor-population ratio target while shedding light on the alarming compromise in the quality of medical education and, subsequently, the competence of our doctors.

한국 녹색당의 성장 조건에 관한 연구

The purpose of this study is to examine the emergence and development of green parties around the world to identify general conditions for their growth and to see if the findings can be applied to the Korean Green Party. In doing so, it explores the requirements of a political party based on the experience of the Korean Green Party.
 The empirical analysis shows that in terms of political opportunity structure, green parties around the world grow into parties that influence the political system when elections are highly proportional and the proportional representation rate is above 40%. However, in the case of the Korean Green Party, the limitations of the quasi-connected proportional representation system with a ‘cap’ clause and the emergence of satellite parties in the 2020 general election resulted in lower electoral proportionality than before, and the proportional representation rate was only 15.67%, which did not have favorable conditions for growth.
 Next, in terms of party leadership, global green parties have observed that green parties grow when they maintain intra-party unity and pursue coalition politics in elections. However, the Korean Green Party failed to create a growth engine during the 2020 general election, as it failed to maintain intra-party unity and pursue coalition politics.
 Based on this analysis, in order for the Korean Green Party to grow in the future, the party leadership should focus its efforts on introducing a more proportional electoral system and expanding the number of seats for proportional representation, while maintaining intra-party unity and pursuing coalition politics.

Publication requirement for faculty promotion in medical institutions in India: 'Mind the gap'.

Background . We assessed the balance between the number of publications required by medical teachers and the publication space available in the Indian medical journals. Methods . The Medical Council of India (MCI) website, its guidelines and documents were searched and we extracted data on the number of medical colleges, undergraduate and postgraduate seats and faculty requirement. The required number of assistant professors and associate professors was calculated. The publication requirements were estimated according to MCI's February 2020 guidelines. A publication which satisfied the above guidelines for promotion was counted as 'eligible publication'. Indian medical journals indexed in any of the MCI-permitted databases were identified, and the number of eligible articles in them in 2019 was counted. Results . India has a total of 79 798 MBBS seats, 33 025 postgraduate seats and 4231 superspecialty seats in MCI-certified medical institutions and to teach them 35 285 assistant professors and 23 116 associate professors are required. Assuming that each publication could serve a maximum of 3 teachers, we will need approximately 50 696 eligible publications in the next 7 years. A search of applicable databases, identified 162 unique Indian medical journals of which 79 were indexed in PubMed/PubMed Central. Among the remaining 63 were indexed in DOAJ, 14 in EMBASE, 3 in Scopus and 3 were indexed only in WOSSCIE. These journals cumulatively published a total of 8508 eligible publications in 2019. Conclusion . The publication space in Indian medical journals is limited, thus there is a need to have a national medical repository such as MedRxiv to prevent publication in predatory journals.

CHALLENGES TO UNDERGRADUATE AND GRADUATE PROGRAMS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA

Abstract The University of South Florida has more than 50,000 students. The School of Aging Studies first offered an MA in Gerontology in 1967. We currently offer many undergraduate General Education courses, two undergraduate majors, online graduate certificate and master’s programs, and a PhD in Aging Studies. Accountability and addressing university metrics and priorities have become an increasing requirement at USF and elsewhere. We have had great success in our General Education courses, consistently reaching over 5,000 students per year and producing high Student Credit Hour (SCH) numbers, an important metric. Recently, our programs experienced challenges with increased class sizes resulting from higher demand for our general education courses. In several cases, the number of course sections offered and the number of seats in each had doubled. Meeting these demands placed a strain on faculty, instructors, and graduate student assistants. We also face challenges as our university funding formula increasingly focuses on undergraduate major enrollment, and therefore we are focusing on innovative methods to recruit more students at the undergraduate, master’s, and PhD level. In this presentation, we will describe some of the strategies that have maximized our successes, and efforts to address challenges in sustaining larger numbers of degree seeking students in our programs. We will include data on SCH, grant funding, publications, citations, and program graduates per year which help us monitor our successes and areas needing improvement.

A dynamic overflow triage model in an outpatient queuing system

Abstract Accepted by: M. Zied Babai In the medical service system, when the number of expert seats is in short supply, it is difficult to make full use of hospital resources by the traditional queuing method. Without changing the existing resources, an overflow model with triage in a Markov queuing system is established by overflowing a part of patients in the expert queue into the general queue under a certain condition to allocate reasonably the capacity of each outpatient. The numerical simulation using ProModel, a simulation software, shows that the average queue length, waiting time and other service indices are better than the traditional models.

Selection of tramcars for sustainable urban transportation by using the modified WASPAS approach based on Heronian operators

The wrong design of rail system vehicle fleets is one of the most critical problems in terms of urban transportation. Light rail system fleets in many large cities, including Istanbul, consist of various types and feature vehicles. It creates significant problems in integrating each rail system vehicle into the system. In addition, while it is necessary to keep an inventory of spare parts for each different type of vehicle, it requires different qualifications for professionals involved in processes such as maintenance and repair, leading to extra costs. In this context, the study's primary purpose is to determine the most suitable light rail vehicles for urban transportation systems and create vehicle fleets accordingly. In that regard, the study aims to provide a reliable and practical decision-making model that can be used as a roadmap for decision-makers when choosing tramcars to solve these problems. The present work proposes a hybrid procedure integrating the Best and Worst Method (BWM) and Power-Heronian Weighted Aggregated Sum Product Assessment (WASPAS'PH) approaches. The most critical implication of the work indicated that the acquisition cost per tramcar set (0.148) is still the most influential factor. The economic lifespan of tramcars (0.037), the number of seats in a vehicle set (0.041), and energy consumption (0.072) have followed the most significant criterion, respectively. Besides, it highlighted that the A14 Brand CR (0.7819) is the most appropriate option for well-structuring the urban light rail system fleet. An extensive validation test to check the suggested model's robustness confirmed the procedure's stability and consistency.

Factors influencing household expenditure on school education in Karnataka

Private expenditure on school education is one of the sources of education expenditure other than state and central government spending. The 86th Constitutional Amendment Act 2002, and the Right to Education (RTE) Act, 2009 introduced a rights-based approach to free and compulsory education for all children in the age group of six to fourteen years in India. Under the Right to Education (RTE) Act, a limited number of seats are allocated for free education to economically backward sections in private and private-aided schools. Despite the free education for students in government schools and RTE admissions in private schools, parents incur considerable expenditure. With the increase in the number of private schools, there is an increasing trend in private expenditure on education in India. In this context, this paper analyses factors influencing household expenditure on school education. It is based on primary data collected at the household level in Mysuru district in both rural and urban areas through a survey. The sample consists of 192 households each from urban and rural areas selected randomly from the list available at the schools. Factors influencing the education expenditure of the households on school education were estimated through a linear regression model. Annual Household Income (AHHI), Occupational Status of Father (OSF), Location of Household (LHH), Education Level of Mother (ELM), Education Level of Father (ELF) and Type of Institution (TI) have a positive and significant relationship with total Annual Household Education Expenditure (AHHEE) of the first child in school. In the case of a second school-going child, only Annual Household Income (AHHI) and Type of Institution (TI) were found to have a significant relationship with Annual Household Education Expenditure (AHHEE).

Undergraduate Psychiatry Teaching and Learning in India: A Bumpy Ride

In India, there has been exponential growth in the number of MBBS seats and postgraduate seats over the past two decades. In the year 2021, there were 83,275 MBBS seats and 42,720 postgraduate seats in 554 medical colleges in India.1,2 As of the second week of October 2023, 706 medical colleges are collectively providing 1,08,890 MBBS seats.3 In the same period, 331 medical institutions now offer postgraduate programs in psychiatry, contributing to a total of 1,360 MD seats in psychiatry.4 The change of figures over three years gives an idea about the rapid increment in undergraduate (MBBS) and postgraduate seats in psychiatry in India.

When do elections help autocrats? The plight of Palestinians under SNTV in Jordan

Autocrats are often accused of manipulating electoral rules to favour pro-regime groups at the expense of the opposition. They select electoral systems, gerrymander districts, and engage in electoral fraud to ensure that elections do not challenge their rule. We investigate the extent to which incumbent rulers engage in such tactics by focusing on the case of Jordan. In particular we examine whether the Jordanian regime has ‘tweaked’ the single non-transferable vote system (SNTV) so that it systematically favours ethnic Jordanian tribes of nomadic descent, who form the bedrock of support for the monarchy and against ethnic Palestinian tribes, who are more supportive of opposition parties. SNTV is also notorious for causing coordination problems for parties – or tribes in this case – that offer candidates. Using data from municipal elections, we find that the regime does indeed advantage nomadic residents. Municipalities with a significant presence of these residents were assigned a greater number of council seats per unit of population and lower district magnitudes, facilitating electoral coordination. Nomadic tribes also performed better with regard to voter coordination but not in nominating the optimal number of candidates. eOur findings demonstrate that clean elections in authoritarian countries if done “right” can perpetuate and bolster regime favourites while simultaneously disenfranchising their challengers.

Bus Ticket Reservation And Seat Allocation System Using Blockchain Technology

The Bus Ticket Reservation System is an online platform that provides a user-friendly interface for booking and managing bus tickets. The system offers various features such as seat reservation, ticket booking, cancellations, and route inquiries. When all bus tickets are reserved, passengers receive a prompt to make a booking. When a admin accepts the passenger's request, the system automatically sends a notification through email and mobile number, informing the passenger that their request has been accepted. The passenger is then prompted to make the payment process to confirm the seat. Once the payment is completed, the ticket is confirmed, and the passenger is ready to embark on their journey. During boarding, passengers can choose luggage retrieval options: Ticket number input and image upload. For lost luggage, use the complaint section with a boarding day image. You can visualize historical passenger travel data using a bar chart to compare online and offline ticket bookings, while also showing the total number of passengers, total seats, and unbooked tickets.

PDIP vs Gerindra: Political Marketing Communication Through Instagram Ahead of the 2024 Election

This article reviews the role of social media Instagram in the political marketing communications of the PDI Perjuangan and Gerindra Party ahead of the 2024 Election; the election of these two parties is the subject of study because they are the political parties that won the 2019 Election with votes and won the most number of seats. Research using qualitative methods. Data were analyzed using qualitative content analysis by observing the Instagram accounts @pdiperjuangan and @gerindra. The study results show that Instagram is operated by political parties in digital marketing communications to attract public sympathy. The form of political marketing communication that is spread has a variety of themes and types of uploaded content

Do Bigger Legislatures Lead to Bigger Government? Evidence from a Brazilian Municipal Council Reform

Do bigger legislatures lead to bigger government? We exploit a Brazilian reform that allocated the number of municipal council seats based on population thresholds in a regression discontinuity design. We find that larger councils have significantly higher public expenditures on social goods and legislative costs. Increased spending is partly financed by significantly higher local tax revenues and is driven by a less salient form of tax to voters – on services – than property taxes. As a potential explanation for our findings, we show that, more council seats led to greater political diversity. JEL Classification Codes: D72, H72, R51

Diverging spatiotemporal responses to COVID-19 by airports: Evidence from China

The worldwide outbreak of COVID-19 released seismic waves on the airline industry. This paper assesses the responses to COVID-19 by different airport clusters in China during the four quarters of 2020, comparing the residual percentages between the actual (with the virus) and forecast (without the virus) number of airline seats during the period. Specifically, this study examines (1) differences in the ways in which different categories of airports responded to the pandemic, and (2) the related impacts on seats available to passengers in relation to these actions. ARIMA (Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average model) time-series models were applied to predict seasonal seats at various groups of airports in 2020 using actual seats data from 2014 to 2019. The analysis based on both airport-operations and geographic patterns shows substantial heterogeneity in airport response. As multiple waves of outbreaks persist, post-pandemic management requires learning from the experience of the initial recovery (in 2020) at airports and devising corresponding strategies for negligence. The results provide transport officials and airport managers with information to evaluate the outcomes of COVID-19 while suggesting patterns that may emerge with future disruptions.

Development and Simulation Via Flexsim for Kitting Trolley Design of Rear Car Seat Assembly Process

It was discovered that the material retrieval system used for a Sweden brand car seats assembly lines (RB40% and RM60%) in a local seat assembly company was not systematic in its arrangement of the assembly parts and only had a rack trolley that carried all the assembly parts in a poly-box. The workers had to waste time to pre kit the parts prior to assembly process thus could not meet production target. Although kitting trolleys implementation was generally known to help pre-kit earlier at logistic/warehouse department, the fabrication cost and long-term benefit would be affecting company decision to implement kitting trolley in the production line. The study aims to validate kitting trolley implementation efficiency prior to trolley actual fabrication by computer aided simulation. Project started from feasibility study of existing kitting rack trolley in market to conceptual design to detailed design and simulation analysis. Detailed design of the kitting trolley was produced and from the design, time study showed that assembly process per carseat was reduced. Flexsim kitting trolley simulation predicted that the number of car seats produced per day is higher than production quantity target (24 seats per day) for RB40% but still below production target for RB60%. Nonetheless, both showed improvement of hence improving of quantities hence increase company’s productivity and eliminate waste of time.