Policy Demands Research Articles

Multicriteria-decision support for master plan scheduling: urban regeneration of an industrial area in Northern Italy

Urban regeneration programs involve a series of intricate activities that utilize human, material, and financial resources, executed at varying times and in diverse manners. Within this complex scenario, a major challenge lies in effectively managing concurrent developments across multiple buildings and infrastructure projects, while also harmonizing the interests of all parties engaged in urban regeneration initiatives. This paper introduces a multi-step strategy designed to enhance and streamline urban management amid the multifaceted decision-making processes characteristic of urban regeneration efforts. Specifically, the multi-criteria decision-making model ELECTRE TRI-B is employed to sort the array of basic tasks within a complex transformation endeavor into priority groups based on various evaluative criteria. To ascertain the significance of these criteria and rank each task according to the interests of the stakeholders likely to be impacted, a panel of specialists, including construction experts, economists, and environmental assessors, is convened. Following this, project actions are organized in a Gantt chart reflecting the construction priority determined by the evaluation model. This approach facilitated the temporal organization of master plan activities, incorporating insights from a broad spectrum of experts including municipal technical staff, professionals, and the community at large. The findings indicate that this comprehensive and interactive approach to performance measurement enabled the handling of extensive datasets and the refinement of financial, economic, environmental, and social resources, all while adhering to logical constraints and urban policy demands.

Macroeconomic policy regimes and demand and growth regimes in emerging market economies: the case of Argentina

Demand and growth regimes (DGR) and macroeconomic policy regimes (MPR) frameworks have assumed prominence within the post-Keynesian literature. However, most studies based on these conceptual frameworks have focused on developed economies. The main contribution of this paper is to provide a post-Keynesian analysis of the DGR and MPR of an emerging capitalist economy, Argentina, in the period between 2002 and 2019. By providing a novel periodization of the Argentine macroeconomic development, the results show a more precise characterization of the latter, thus allowing a better understanding of economic policy and its results in terms of aggregate demand and growth. In particular, it is possible to observe the MPR and DGR transition between 2002 and 2015, as well as an abrupt change after 2016.

Introducing Generative Artificial Intelligence Into the MSW Curriculum: A Proposal for the 2029 Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards

ABSTRACT The most recent Council on Social Work Education’s Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards (EPAS) demands that social workers develop competence in the ethical and professional deployment of technology. Arguably, artificial intelligence has become a critical element in the technological landscape, most recently with the advent of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI). Beginning in late 2022, there has been an explosion of interest in GenAI, along with a massive and ongoing rollout of GenAI tools for personal and professional use, such as ChatGPT. While GenAI will undoubtedly affect social work practice, scholars and ethicists have raised crucial concerns about GenAI, its potential abuses, and misuses, making it critical that social workers are trained in the proper usage of these technologies. Accordingly, we call here for a 10th competency to be added to the 2029 EPAS: Competency Ten: Social Workers demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and understanding to responsibly and effectively use Generative Artificial Intelligence tools. The current article discusses the recent developments in GenAI and offers social work educators guidance for including GenAI content in social work curricula to meet this proposed standard.

Between choices and decisions. Genetics in homoparental families through surrogacy in Argentina.

Comprehensive access to medically assisted reproduction procedures and techniques in Argentina has been assured by National Law No. 26,862 since 2013. This Law does not include surrogacy procedures, and the lack of specific regulation shifts practices to a paralegal setting. In this context, planned parenthood by male couples through surrogacy is performed through actions that convey demands for access rights and active State policies. For these couples, the argument is that surrogacy is the only option to have a child with a genetic bond with at least one of the two parents and recognize both filiatory bonds. This work results from field work in progress with parents from the Province of Buenos Aires running this practice in Argentina. Based on in-depth interviews, we attempted to rebuild personal experiences and analyze the meanings that the narratives construct regarding their parenting, the biological connections in establishing or defining family relationships, and the importance of genetics in constructing and maintaining affiliations.

시도교육청의 중장기 교원수요 추계모형 제안과 적용

Local education offices cannot set teacher supply and demand policies independently of the Ministry of Education. These offices conduct student placement based on the teacher quota set by the ministry for each local education office. They adjust the number of students per class, organize classes by grade and school, and assign teachers, taking into account facilities, teacher supply, and demand in a comprehensive way. In the medium to long term, it is also necessary to manage the size of new hires in order to maintain stable teacher retention. In this study, we have attempted to project the demand for teachers at the local education office level through 2042. We believe that the demand for teachers should be viewed from a medium- to long-term perspective, even taking into account the decline in the school-age population at the city and provincial levels. To make an accurate and reliable projection of teacher demand, we considered policy variables that affect the supply and demand of teachers, such as the number of students and the number of students per class, curriculum revision, and the introduction of the high school credit system. In addition, we proposed a method of assigning classes and staffing them by equalizing the number of students in each class. We projected the number of students per grade by school, and based on that, projected the number of classes and teachers. To do this, we developed an equation for calculating the number of teachers needed and modeled the relationship between the two variables based on the number of classes and teachers per school in 2022 from the National Education Information System. The paper concludes that the difference between the average number of students per class and the same number of students in each class is significant, and that the demand for teachers may vary significantly depending on the appropriate class size and the degree of change in educational conditions. The results also suggest that it is necessary to consider the appropriate class size and improve the method of projecting the number of students and teachers to estimate the number of teachers.

Towards mission-driven investment in new antimicrobials? What role for Chinese strategic industrial financing vehicles in responding to the challenge of antimicrobial resistance?

BackgroundAntimicrobial resistance (AMR) causes high levels of global mortality. There is a global need to develop new antimicrobials to replace those whose efficacy is being eroded, but limited incentive for companies to engage in R&D, and a limited pipeline of new drugs. There is a recognised need for policies in the form of ‘push’ and ‘pull’ incentives to support this R&D. This article discusses China, a country with a rapidly emerging pharmaceuticals and biotech (P&B) sector, and a history of using coordinated innovation and industrial policy for strategic and developmental ends. We investigate the extent to which ‘government guidance funds’ (GGFs), strategic industrial financing vehicles (a ‘push’ mechanism), support the development of antimicrobials as part of China’s ‘mission-driven’ approach to innovation and industrial policy. GGFs are potentially globally significant, having raised approximately US$ 872 billion to 2020.ResultsGGFs have a substantial role in P&B, but almost no role in developing new antimicrobials, despite this being a priority in the country’s AMR National Action Plan. There are multiple constraints on GGFs’ ability to function as part of a mission-driven approach to innovation at present, linked to their business model and the absence of standard markets for antimicrobials (or other effective ‘pull’ mechanisms), their unclear ‘social’ mandate, and limited technical capacity. However, GGFs are highly responsive to changing policy demands and can be used strategically by government in response to changing needs.ConclusionsDespite the very limited role of GGFs in developing new antimicrobials, their responsiveness to policy means they are likely to play a larger role as P&B becomes an increasingly important component of China’s innovation and industrial strategy. However, for GGFs to effectively play that role, there is a need for reforms to their governance model, an increase in technical and managerial capacity, and supporting (‘pull’) incentives, particularly for pharmaceuticals such as antimicrobials for which there is strong social need, but a limited market. Given GGFs' scale and strategic importance, they deserve further research as China’s P&B sector becomes increasingly globally important, and as the Chinese government commits to a larger role in global health.

Investigation of maternal breastfeeding guarantee policy needs and influencing factors: a cross-sectional study in China.

The promotion of breastfeeding is an important strategy to prevent neonatal death and improve maternal and infant health. But Chinese efforts to improve breastfeeding practices have not been particularly effective. There is still a long way to go to achieve the national health development goals. We aimed to explore the maternal demand for breastfeeding guarantee policy in China and to determine the impact of a range of socio-demographic and neonatal-related variables on breastfeeding guarantee policy demand. The study was carried out in the Obstetrics and Gynecology hospital of Shanghai, one of China's earliest provincial and municipal maternal and child health care institutions. From June to November 2021, 1,292 women were recruited for the cross-sectional study in child health clinic. We collected relevant socio- demographic and neonatal-related data. Maternal breastfeeding needs were measured through a self-designed questionnaire on breastfeeding guarantee policy demands of mothers. The mean score of breastfeeding guarantee policy demand was 4.42 ± 0.51. There were statistically significant differences in the effects of maternal age, education level, family income per capita (Yuan), medical payment type, baby age, work status, and current feeding methods on the demand for breastfeeding guarantee policies (P < 0.05). Multiple linear regression analyses showed that higher education level (B = 4.437, P < 0.001), baby age (B = 2.150, P = 0.002), and current feeding methods (B = 2.754, P = 0.005) were significantly associated with a higher demand for a breastfeeding guarantee policy, the effect of medical payment type is the most influencing factor (B = -7.369, P < 0.001). The maternal needs for breastfeeding guarantee policy are multi-faceted and urgent. In the process of improving and implementing policies, the government and relevant departments should take into account the actual needs of women who have different education levels, baby ages, family economics, and feeding methods.

Modification, Blending, Characterization, and Investigation of Thermal Properties, pH Response of Chitosan-based Polymer Extracted from Labeo rohita Scales

Modern shrimp farming began in India during the late 1980s in response to increasing global demand for shrimp and government policies aimed at promoting seafood exports. Corporate entities provided the necessary capital to build hatcheries, farms, and processing plants. However, a survey revealed that the major waste materials generated by these shrimp processing industries in India have become a major problem. In the present work, chitin is extracted and purified from the scale of fish Labeo rohita and modified into chitosan. Chitosan and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) were blended in various ratios to prepare a composite material and films. The blended material was characterized using fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscope (SEM), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and a few other analyses to understand the polymer’s nature. The work demonstrated that fish scales can serve as a valuable raw material for chitin, chitosan and these polymer-based products. Chitosan, being easily accessible, cost-effective, and biodegradable, has wide-ranging applications in fields like clinical, biomedical, food industry, pharmaceuticals, polymer industries, etc., proper preparation of chitin, chitosan and combination with suitable compounds can lead to desired outcomes.

Strategic Development and Comprehensive Guidelines for State Policy in Kazakhstan's Religious Sphere

This research article delves into Kazakhstan's state policies in the religious realm, emphasizing the strategic objectives and primary routes that shape this sector. It explores significant trends and characteristics, framing its analysis within Kazakhstan's recent state-building efforts. The study meticulously evaluates current policy measures, legal frameworks, and operational mechanisms in the religious sphere, identifying essential areas that demand policy refinement and strategic development. The findings advocate for the creation of policies that not only protect religious freedom and enhance social cohesion but also correspond with Kazakhstan's broader goals of stability and advancement. The recommended policy approaches highlight the importance of collaborative endeavors among government entities, religious organizations, and civil society to develop policies that are fair, respect diversity, and support the peaceful coexistence of diverse religious communities. By presenting a thorough policy framework for improving state-religious relations in Kazakhstan, this article contributes significantly to the dialogue on managing state-religion dynamics, offering perspectives that may be relevant to other countries encountering similar challenges.

The Circassian question: liberalism and the pursuit of freedom in the mid-nineteenth century

For well over a hundred years, Russian expansion into the Caucasus put it face-to-face with the Circassians. This small group of Muslims successfully waged war against Russia, both militarily and diplomatically. By leveraging the demands of a liberal foreign policy currently in vogue in Britain, as well as the Ottoman Empire’s tenuous hold on power in the region, the Circassians manoeuvred their plight onto the international stage. As the liberal tide in Britain ebbed and flowed and the Crimean War erupted, Circassia’s ability to leverage the political context in which it found itself grew more tenuous. Ultimately, Russophobia and liberalism failed to secure freedom for the Circassians, who were killed or expelled from their lands in 1864. The Circassian diaspora now resides largely in Turkey, Jordan, Syria, and Russia.

Attitudes toward automation and the demand for policies addressing job loss: the effects of information about trade-offs

Abstract Does providing information about the costs and benefits of automation affect the perceived fairness of a firm's decision to automate or support for government policies addressing automation's labor market consequences? To answer these questions, we use data from vignette and conjoint experiments across four advanced economies (Australia, Canada, the UK, and the US). Our results show that despite people's relatively fixed policy preferences, their evaluation of the fairness of automation—and therefore potentially the issue's political salience—is sensitive to information about its trade-offs, especially information about price changes attributable to automated labor. This suggests that the political impact of automation may depend on how it is framed by the media and political actors.

Ethical Challenges in Mariculture: Adopting a Feminist Blue Humanities Approach

As mariculture—the cultivation of aquatic organisms in marine environment—intensifies to meet the demands of sustainable blue growth and national policies, novel ethical challenges will arise. In the context of ethics, primary concerns over aquaculture and mariculture tend to stay within differing value-based perspectives focused on benefits to human and non-human subjects, specifically animal welfare and animal rights. Nonetheless, the burgeoning field of feminist blue humanities provides ethical considerations that extend beyond animal subjects (including humans), often because of its concerns with new materialist, posthumanist, and other relations-based theories. This article examines feminist blue humanities and the contributions it may bring to understanding contemporary and future ethical challenges posed by mariculture and its intensification, especially the cultivation of low-trophic organisms. By offering an overview of feminist blue humanities, this article explores some of its particularities by drawing out three major ethical concerns facing contemporary mariculture, specifically material reconfigurations, radical alteration of the lives of low-trophic species through industrialization and increases in maricultural waste products.

Policy opinions regarding the teaching of Critical Race Theory in schools

Critical Race Theory (CRT) has recently been positioned as a serious problem requiring urgent policy response among partisan media outlets. Making a case for pressing policy demands, several policy makers have proposed federal, state, and local level legislation and other measures to restrict how race, racism, or American history in general can be taught in K-12 schools, higher education institutions, and state agencies. Anti-CRT rhetoric in media and policy proposals have also propagated the notion of CRT as being divisive as well as ubiquitous in public education. Given this, it is critical to examine whether policy opinions regarding reactionary legislation is based on a real understanding of CRT. We conduct a conceptual and theoretical inquiry into anti-CRT rhetoric relying on the sociological concepts of moral panics and folk devils. Then, we examine familiarity, knowledge, ideology, policy beliefs, and policy opinions regarding CRT in education using nationally representative survey data. The analysis showed that most parents are not familiar with CRT, and the average parent neither opposes nor supports teaching of CRT. The opposition to teaching of CRT is largely driven by political affiliation and related ideological beliefs and positions.

Challenges in creating humane and equitable policing: A focus on the Global South

AbstractResearch SummaryPolice brutality is a widespread phenomenon around the world. Particularly gruesome human rights abuses in the course of policing take place in Latin America, the world's most violent region outside war zones. Democratic institutions such as competitive elections, checks and balances, and judicial independence are insufficient to prevent police from abusing their power. What factors explain that police engage in abusive behaviors, including illegal arrest, the fabrication of evidence, the use of torture to extract confessions, and the excessive use of force causing injury or death? How can societies restrain these abusive behaviors and subject police to the rule of law? Police behavior is shaped by a combination of institutional, societal, political, organizational, and individual factors. Inquisitorial criminal justice institutions, inherited from the colonial past, have persisted in Latin America until very recently. This meant that democracies in the region were born with weak due process protections that have enabled state authorities and police to abuse their coercive powers as they investigate and prosecute crimes. Police brutality is further the product of security policies. High crime rates and the presence of highly organized criminal groups have pushed many Latin American governments to adopt militarized security interventions ‐including deploying the armed forces to control crime and militarizing police forces. Populist demands for harsh policies, moreover, generate incentives for politicians to adopt security strategies that violate human rights and which, in the long run, increase violence in society. The most affected groups are the poor, people of color, and those living in impoverished minoritized communities.Policy ImplicationsIt is essential to strengthen due process protections and judicial oversight over police to reduce torture and other forms of police brutality. Police demilitarization and, under some conditions, community‐oriented policing approaches can sharply reduce the use of excessive force causing injury or death. Body‐worn cameras (BWC), moreover, can effectively be used to reduce police abusive behavior —and violence against police officers — even in high violence situations and where toxic police‐community relations prevail. One limitation of this technology is that it gives too much leeway to frontline officers to turn their cameras on. Poor supervision can further undermine police compliance with camera protocols. These problems can be overcome by assigning cameras to supervisors and using more advanced technologies that allow turning cameras on from the main station. Monetary incentives that reward police officers “to kill less” is another effective policy intervention to reduce police violence causing injury or death.

A two-warehouse inventory model with credit policy and inflation effect

This study investigates a non-instantaneous deteriorating two-warehouse inventory problem with allowable delay payments under inflation. The objective is to maximize the total profit per unit of time by determining the optimal order quantity, the product’s selling price, and the business cycle length. We developed a mathematical model to address this inventory optimization problem. Built on top of the available literature, we comprehensively considered credit policy, inflation, price- and time-dependent demand, and partial backlogged shortage in this study. By changing some parameters, we demonstrated that our model is a generalized version of several specific inventory models presented in the literature. We performed numerical examples to validate our model. Additionally, we carried out a sensitivity analysis to examine the impact of several parameters on the optimal solutions. The results highlight that if the fixed part of the demand decreases, the product’s selling price and the total profit decrease. In addition, if the setup cost decreases, the total profit increases, and vice versa. The results also demonstrate that the unit purchase cost and inflation significantly affect the average profit. To conclude, our study can potentially help firms (i) reduce the total inventory system’s setup cost, (ii) optimize unit purchase cost, and (ii) understand the influence of inflation.

Speak Catalan to Me, I’m a Catalan Muslim Woman: Producing Proposals for Religious and Education Policy through Participatory Research from a Gender Perspective

Specific groups of Catalan citizens, in spite of them being socially and professionally integrated, suffer the risk of exclusion or segregation on grounds of identity, one example being those who identify with Islam. This study arises from a prospective research project centred on a case study with the Catalan Muslim Women’s Association. The main objective was to formulate public policy proposals on education, religion, and gender to be included in the Citizenship and Immigration Plan, through a process based on the women’s participation and testimony. The study was divided into two phases: the participatory research followed by evaluation of the applicability of the resulting proposals. It was conducted through semi-structured interviews (n = 37), a discussion group (n = 21), and a round table (n = 31). Oral and textual qualitative data were gathered and analysed using the Ivàlua logical framework. Results for education policy urge the creation of a new professional specialist mediating between all actors. Those for religion call for public spaces for religious practice. In relation to gender, participants continued to demand policies that do not discriminate against Muslim women. In summary, religion is a resource that supports identities, beliefs, and practices, with both empowering and disempowering effects.

Pathways to sustainable transitions in a complex agricultural system: a case study of swine waste management in North Carolina

North Carolina has a high density of swine farms with nearly half of the commercial operations located in two eastern counties. Lagoon and sprayfield (LS) is the dominant method of swine manure management despite pressure to transition to environmentally superior technologies. LS is an efficient and cost-effective method of waste management but has negatively impacted the environment and local communities from both discreet events (breeches, flooding) and ongoing issues (odor, disease vectors). The Multilevel Perspective Theory (MLP) is a frame for understanding the relationships between a sociotechnical regime, its surrounding landscape, and emerging niches for sustainable technology development to help align these different levels of perspective and support transitioning toward more sustainable practices. Here, a farm level is added to represent the user perspective of regime technology in complex agriculture systems (MLP + F). We demonstrate how change may influence the North Carolina swine waste management (NC SWM) system through alternative scenarios applied to a conceptual model developed with the MLP + F frame in a methodology for analyzing complex agricultural systems with input from a diverse panel of experts. This case study demonstrates how the methodology can be applied through two NC SWM model scenarios analyzed with fuzzy cognitive mapping techniques. The first scenario explores whether panel recommended changes generate a shift toward sustainable manure management. Inference results suggest that experts have a broad understanding of how these goals may be achieved, but strategies are needed to enhance the specificity of proposed changes. Testing scenarios with more targeted interventions within specific subsystems could provide greater guidance with regard to policy, economic factors, farm practices, or societal demands. The second scenario considers the systemic effect of introducing a manure dewatering process on swine operations, with and without landscape support. Results from this scenario indicate that the more landscape support is engaged, the greater the impact on desirable outcomes. However, contradictions emerged between different versions of this scenario such as increased negative public perceptions despite positive community outcomes. This may require further investigation to tease out potential misalignment between perceptions of a complex system and actual system behaviors.

Experience in Professional Resilience for Nurses Caring for Patients with COVID-19: A Qualitative Descriptive Study

During the COVID-19 pandemic, nurses have faced many professional and ethical dilemmas and challenges along with bearing physical, mental, and emotional stress resulting from worrying about themselves or their family being infected and stigmatized. This stress can potentially lead to burnout and resignation. Professional resilience is crucial for nurses to cope with these adverse situations. This study aimed to investigate the process by which nurses adapt, change, and overcome challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic and ultimately demonstrate professional resilience. Descriptive phenomenology was applied. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 11 nurses working in COVID-19 wards and intensive care units to collect data. Giorgi's phenomenological analysis method was employed. Based on the interview responses, four major themes were identified: 1) balancing patient care, self-protection, and passing on experience; 2) providing timely pandemic team resources and social support; 3) nurses' perseverance amid social discourse and constrained lives; and 4) selfless dedication shaping nursing's pinnacle experiences. In the face of a sudden pandemic, frontline nurses play a critical role in maintaining medical capacity. Consequently, they must balance their families, lives, and work while adapting to the impact of the pandemic and changing practices and procedures based on the development of the pandemic and policy demands. The study findings provide insights into the challenges and emotional experiences encountered by nurses during a sudden pandemic outbreak and can serve as a reference for developing strategies to help nurses overcome these challenges and enhance their professional resilience.

Investigating unemployment hysteresis in South Africa

AbstractThis paper investigates hysteresis in South Africa's unemployment. First, we test the presence of hysteresis in unemployment using traditional stationarity tests and non‐linear transformation methods to identify two further characteristics of hysteresis, namely, remanence and selective memory. In the second part of the paper, we estimate a simple insider–outsider model using a Bayesian vector autoregression methodology to identify the shocks driving unemployment dynamics. The main finding is that mark‐up shocks and negative productivity shocks are the main drivers of unemployment, with demand shocks playing a secondary role. Nominal wages are not responsive to real shocks and are an important component of inflation. These results point to the difficulty of absorbing the current level of unemployment without a significant increase in the flexibility of goods and labour markets. At the same time, the evidence suggests that, if reforms are being implemented, demand policies can play a significant role in improving employment and growth, reversing the structural unemployment evident in the data.

Demand‐led industrialisation policy in a dual‐sector small open economy

AbstractThis article models the process of structural transformation and catching‐up in a demand‐led Southern economy constrained by its balance of payments. Starting from the Sraffian Supermultiplier Model, we model a dual‐sector small open economy with a traditional and a modern sector that interacts with a technologically advanced Northern economy. We propose two (alternative) autonomous elements that define the growth rate of this demand‐led economy: government spending and exports. Drawing from the Structuralist literature, productivity in the technologically laggard Southern economy grows by absorbing technology from the Northern economy, by both embodied and disembodied spillovers, and potentially closing the technology gap. The gap affects the income elasticity of exports, bringing a supply‐side mediation to the growth rates in line with the Balance of Payments Constrained Model. We observe that a demand‐led government policy plays a central role in structural change, pushing the modern sector to a larger share of employment than what results under export‐led growth. Such a demand policy is the only way in which partial catching up (in productivity and GDP per capita) can result, and this is facilitated by a global market place in which the balance of payments constraint is relatively soft.