Public Activities Research Articles

Transit Safety of Women in Rural-Urban Contexts

Sexual harassment and other forms of transit crime are everyday occurrences for women and girls around the world. The absence of safety hampers the ability of numerous women to engage freely in school, employment, and public activities without being alert. This research explores women’s safety experiences, particularly focusing on young women in diverse rural and urban environments. We utilized chi-square analysis and regression models to analyze data obtained from a survey distributed to railway passengers in 2022 across neighboring municipalities in southern central Sweden. Findings show that being young makes women more likely to be victimized. Although rural women feel safer than their urban counterparts, they are more often willing to take precautionary measures before taking a trip (e.g., more often traveling with someone in the evening or avoiding certain stations). These findings call for gender-age-sensitive mobility policies, taking into account the intersectionality of transit safety, and reflecting women’s and girls’ safety needs in particular rural contexts.

Child Health and Mortality Prevention Surveillance (CHAMPS): Manhiça site description, Mozambique

The Manhiça Health Research Centre (Manhiça HDSS) was established in 1996 in Manhiça, a rural district at Maputo Province in the southern part of Mozambique with approximately 49,000 inhabited households, a total population of 209.000 individuals, and an annual estimated birth cohort of about 5000 babies. Since 2016, Manhiça HDSS is implementing the Child Health and Mortality Prevention Surveillance (CHAMPS) program aiming to investigate causes of death (CoD) in stillbirths and children under the age of 5 years using an innovative post-mortem technique known as Minimally Invasive Tissue sampling (MITS), comprehensive pathogen screening using molecular methods, clinical record abstraction and verbal autopsy. Both in-hospital and community pediatric deaths are investigated using MITS. For this, community-wide socio-demographic approaches (notification of community deaths by key informants, formative research involving several segments of the community, availability of free phone lines for notification of medical emergencies and deaths, etc.) are conducted alongside to foster community awareness, involvement and adherence as well as to compute mortality estimates and collect relevant information of health and mortality determinants. The main objective of this paper is to describe the Manhiça Health and Demographic Surveillance System (HDSS) site and the CHAMPS research environment in place including the local capacities among its reference hospital, laboratories, data center and other relevant areas involved in this ambitious surveillance and research project, whose ultimate aim is to improve child survival through public health actions derived from credible estimates and understanding of the major causes of childhood mortality in Mozambique.

Tools of public administration activity in the field of personal data circulation

Tools of public administration activity in the field of personal data circulation

Bus travel feature inference with small samples based on multi-clustering topic model over Internet of Things

With the widespread application of Internet of Things (IoT) technology, there has been a shift from a broad-brush to a more refined approach in traffic optimization. An increasing amount of IoT data is being utilized in trajectory mining and inference, offering more precise characteristic information for optimizing public transportation. Services that optimize public transit based on inferred travel characteristics can enhance the appeal of public transport, increase its likelihood as a travel choice, alleviate traffic congestion, and reduce carbon emissions. However, the inherent complexities of disorganized and unstructured public transportation data pose significant challenges to extracting travel features. This study explores the enhancement of bus travel by integrating advanced technologies like positioning systems, IoT, and AI to infer features in public transportation data. It introduces the MK-LDA (MeanShift Kmeans Latent Dirichlet Allocation), a novel thematic modeling technique for deducing characteristics of public transit travel using limited travel trajectory data. The model employs a segmented inference methodology, initially leveraging the Mean-shift clustering algorithm to create POI seeds, followed by the P-K-means algorithm for discerning patterns in user travel behavior and extracting travel modalities. Additionally, a P-LDA (POI-Latent Dirichlet Allocation) inference algorithm is proposed to examine the interplay between travel characteristics and behaviors, specifically targeting attributes significantly correlated with public transit usage, including age, occupation, gender, activity levels, cost, safety, and personality traits. Empirical validation highlights the efficacy of this thematic modeling-based inference technique in identifying and predicting travel characteristics and patterns, boasting enhanced interpretability and outperforming conventional benchmarks.

От чего зависят удовлетворенность аспирантурой и намерения ее завершения у современных аспирантов?

<p>The article focuses on the role of motivational factors in the successful completion and satisfaction with postgraduate programs. PhD students (N=155, M=26,8, SD=4,2, 63% women) participated in the study. The theoretical framework is based on self-determination theory, which provides an understanding of the sources of autonomous and controlled motivation for research activity. A battery of questionnaires was used to assess autonomous and controlled motivation for postgraduate programs (the Universal Perceived Locus of Causality scales, UPLOC, and the Doctorate-related Need Satisfaction Scale, D-N2S), publication activity, intentions to complete the postgraduate program, and satisfaction with it. The results of the study demonstrated that autonomy need satisfaction was a predictor of autonomous motivation and satisfaction with the postgraduate program, whereas competence and relatedness needs satisfaction were predictors of intentions to complete the postgraduate program. Path models also showed that autonomy need satisfaction is a predictor of low levels of controlled motivation, which in turn is a negative predictor of intentions to complete the postgraduate program and satisfaction with it. It is concluded that it is important to study and monitor motivational factors, considering their predictive power in relation to PhD students' performance. Recommendations are offered to supervisors and faculty to support PhD students' basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness to foster their voluntary engagement and success in the research process.</p>

How Many Autistic Children are there in Colombia? A Nationwide Examination of Autism Through Health System Data.

Accurate healthcare data is indispensable for monitoring the epidemiology of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and improving the quality of care for individuals on the spectrum. In Colombia, the Ministry of Health has developed the social protection information system (SISPRO) as a comprehensive registry, drawing data from the healthcare system with close to universal coverage (approximately 95%). This study utilizes data gathered by SISPRO to estimate the prevalence and specific characteristics of autistic children registered between January 2020 and December 2022. A descriptive epidemiological approach was employed, using the International Statistical Classification of Diseases as search terms for ASD within the SISPRO dataset. The study revealed a prevalence of 13.788 cases per 10,000 children in 2022 among aged 4 to 14. Regarding healthcare coverage types in 2022, the majority of autistic children served were under the contributory regime (68.28%), followed by the subsidized regime (25.36%). Geographic analysis indicated a non-uniform distribution of ASD prevalence in Colombia. The regions with the highest GDP, such as Antioquia, Atlántico, Bogotá, Cundinamarca, and Valle del Cauca, exhibited the highest prevalence (M = 17.90; SD = 14.3). In contrast, areas with the lowest GDP, including Amazonas, Guainía, Vaupés, Vichada, and Guaviare, showed the lowest prevalence among children (M = 2.6; SD = 2.5). The estimation of ASD prevalence in Colombia represents an ongoing initiative to inform public policy actions. During the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a decrease in the number of autistic children served by the healthcare sector; however, the prevalence of ASD changed to higher levels in 2022. These findings contribute to strategies aimed at improving the quality of life for autistic individuals and mitigating the economic burden on their families.

Family framing in Romania after EU accession: an analysis of silenced problems within strategic policy documents

ABSTRACT Various social science and multidisciplinary investigations have focused mainly on what the family is and how to analyse it. However, these studies have paid less attention to what is not said and what remains silenced about the family and family-related problems. Starting from the assumption that silencing is a discourse-constitutive feature, this article investigates family frames and inherent silences within Romanian public policy documents. The empirical material consists of a specific collection of sources, namely national strategies for child protection, care for older people, employment, and equal opportunities, adopted during 2007–2024, i.e. after Romania’s accession to the European Union. The article interrogates how national strategies frame family issues and what remains silenced and obscured within this relevant collection of policy documents. It identifies various ways in which policymakers draw attention to certain points of view concerning family life to the detriment of other perspectives and angles of investigation. Additionally, it uncovers the unspoken and silently accepted correlation of the family with vulnerability, poverty, and invisibility, which can contribute to explaining the domestic tendency to marginalize the family as a political topic and to elaborate inconsistent public action related to it.

Psychocognitive Determinants of Hypertension Prevention Practices among Women in Southwestern Nigeria

Hypertension is an important risk factor for the development of numerous cardiovascular diseases. The prevention of hypertension is vital in the reduction of cardiovascular disease mortality and associated morbidities. Numerous studies have focused in the prevalence of hypertension and the prevalence of risk factors for cardiovascular diseases in Nigeria. However, this study investigated the knowledge of women in hypertension, perceived severity of hypertension and barriers towards engaging in hypertension prevention practices so as to establish key areas to focus public health promotion activities. This study was a cross sectional quantitative research carried out to investigate the pyschocognitive determinants of hypertension prevention practices among women residing in Akinyele Local Government Area of Oyo state in Southwest Nigeria. A total of 370 consenting women were recruited into the study using a multi-stage sampling technique and data was collected using the aid of an interviewer-administered questionnaire. Majority of study participants (74.9%) demonstrated fair knowledge of risk factors for hypertension while many participants (65.4%) had good knowledge of prevention practices for hypertension, with an overall mean knowledge score of 12.39±2.37 on a 24-point scale. Many participants (59.2%) had positive perception of severity of hypertension with a mean perception score of 23.80±2.814 on a 27-point scale. The most reported barrier towards engaging in hypertension prevention practices among participants was financial constraint in maintaining healthy eating habits. Furthermore, there is a significant association between participants’ level of education and their knowledge of hypertension. There is also a significant association between barriers towards hypertension prevention such as lack of awareness from media sources, financial constraint and knowledge of hypertension. The knowledge of hypertension among women in Akinyele Local Government Area ........

Bibliometric analysis of research on spinal cord and sacral neuromodulation in spinal cord injury.

Qualitative studies. Spinal cord injury (SCI) is one of the most devastating injuries to the central nervous system that places a major burden on society. Neuromodulation technology involving spinal cord stimulation (SCS) and sacral nerve modulation (SNM) is a promising technique for patients with SCI. However, there has been no bibliometric analysis of research in this field to date. Not applicable. Systematic analyses of countries, institutions, authors, journals, co-cited documents, keywords, genes and diseases were performed. Related gene and disease data from the citexs platform were also reviewed. A total of 7437 articles on SCS and SNM in SCI were retrieved from the Web of Science database. The search time was limited to 1985-01-01 to 2022-12-31. We identified a significant increase in research output on SCS and SNM in SCI in recent years, with a concentrated period of high publication activity. Multiple publications were identified on neuropathic pain, electronic stimulation, TNF, BDNF and STAT3 gene expression, indicating that complications and potential therapeutic strategies for SCI are a key focus in the field. Our study provides insights that may help to advance scientific research and potentially improve outcomes in patients with SCI.

The Role of Artificial Intelligence in Criminal Justice - Reality and Perspective

Artificial intelligence has recently become one of the hot topics in scientific and professional circles of various fields. Current technological processes in the world have significantly increased the use of digital technologies in practically all fields. Over the past century, several researchers and mathematicians have been developing the idea that computing machines can not only perform typical technical tasks but also learn to think and perform individual tasks accordingly, like humans. This idea has developed over time, and nowadays, the main topic among scientists, researchers, and practitioners worldwide is artificial intelligence and the tasks it can perform. Artificial intelligence is already actively used in various fields of public activity and many professions, and there is still talk that many professions can be replaced by artificial intelligence in the future. In this regard, using artificial intelligence in jurisprudence is particularly important and controversial. Based on the relevance of the mentioned issue, this article is dedicated to the use of artificial intelligence in the field of criminal proceedings and investigations. The article discusses the origin and development of artificial intelligence and its primary role in criminal proceedings and investigations. In the work, special attention is paid to the experience of different countries. The paper also analyzes court decisions of precedent importance in this regard. The paper also contains the main challenges of using artificial intelligence in criminal justice and investigation.

ECONOMIC TRANSFORMATION OF PRINCELY TRAVANCORE UNDER C.P. RAMASWAMI AIYAR (1935-1945)

Travancore, a princely state, occupied the south-west portion of the Indian peninsula. By the second half of the 20th century, Travancore served as a model for other princely states with the level of economic progress it achieved. In 1936 C.P.Ramaswami Aiyar was appointed as the Dewan of Travancore. Before assuming charge as Dewan, he acted as the legal and constitutional adviser in the state. After appointment as Dewan, C.P. introduced reforms in field of hydro-electric projects, industries, agriculture and other economic sectors. This schemes helped in the industrialisation of the state. The state achieved considerable economic progress as a result of these schemes. C.P. faced many obstacles in introducing various schemes in the state. But the Ruler of Travancore was far-sighted and he supported C.P., in introducing reforms. This research article discusses the schemes introduced by C.P in Travancore and the opposition he faced in the state. Many of his schemes succeeded in the state, and as a result the state was able to achieve great economic stability in the years followed. He had played an important role in many public activities. KEYWORDS: Industrialisation :policies: agriculture: development: Economy.

Public Administration and Administrative and Public Activities in the Russian Federation

Public Administration and Administrative and Public Activities in the Russian Federation

Transmission dynamics of ESBL/AmpC and carbapenemase-producing Enterobacterales between companion animals and humans.

Antimicrobial resistance mediated by extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL)- and plasmid-mediated cephalosporinase (AmpC)-producing Enterobacterales, as well as carbapenemase-producing Enterobacterales have globally increased among companion animals, posing a potential health risk to humans in contact with them. This prospective longitudinal study investigates the transfer of ESBL/AmpC- and carbapenemase-producing Enterobacterales between companion animals and their cohabitant humans in Portugal (PT) and the United Kingdom (UK) during animal infection. Fecal samples and nasal swabs collected from dogs and cats with urinary tract infection (UTI) or skin and soft tissue infection (SSTI), and their cohabitant humans were screened for resistant strains. Relatedness between animal and human strains was established by whole-genome sequencing (WGS). ESBL/AmpC-producing Enterobacterales were detected in companion animals (PT = 55.8%; UK = 36.4%) and humans (PT = 35.9%; UK = 12.5%). Carbapenemase-producing Enterobacterales carriage was observed in one dog from Portugal (2.6%) and another dog from the UK (4.5%). Transmission of index clinical ESBL-producing Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae strains to cohabitant humans was observed in three Portuguese households (6.9%, n = 43), with repeated isolation of the index strains on fecal samples from the animals and their cohabiting humans. In addition, longitudinal sharing of E. coli strains carried by companion animals and their owners was observed in other two Portuguese households and two households from the UK. Furthermore, a multidrug-resistant ACT-24-producing Enterobacter hormaechei subsp. hoffmannii strains were also shared within another Portuguese household. These results highlight the importance of the household as an epidemiological unit in the efforts to mitigate the spread of antimicrobial resistance, further emphasizing the need for antimicrobial surveillance in this context, capable of producing data that can inform and evaluate public health actions.

Gamification of Public Policies: Case Studies in Health, Environment and Security

Objectives: Gamification in public policy is a recent development in academic literature. Research in this area has demonstrated an exciting way of building greater effectiveness in applying specific public policies. However, a broader look at the different public policies and how gamification can contribute has been little explored. Theoretical Reference: The studies identified are restricted to different areas of public policy but without a correlation between the other possibilities for building public value in the various areas. Based on this gap, we propose in our study to discuss different approaches and fields of public policy in applying game elements as a strategy to increase the generation of public value and citizen engagement. Methodology: The method used is a multiple case study. Data collection was secondary, starting from single case studies and carrying out the findings in a comparison process. Results and Discussion: We identified that the analysis and proper understanding of these cases reinforces the relevance of gamification as an innovative and effective strategy in promoting positive public policy actions, thus boosting public service improvement and citizens' active participation. Implications: The main implication of the results for practice is the presentation and discussion of different cases and ways of using gamification to leverage the effects and effectiveness of public policies, showing managers the potential gains of this practice. Originality: The article presents a multiple case study, in which the authors make a discussion not presented in the individual cases, showing the different possibilities of gamification for public policies.

Underlying Polysubstance Classes and Associated Sociodemographic Characteristics and Health Histories among People who Died from Substance-Related Acute Toxicity in Canada: A Latent Class Analysis

AbstractThe aim of this study was to examine underlying patterns of substances detected among accidental acute toxicity deaths in Canada and their associations with sociodemographic characteristics, location, and substance use and health history. Data abstracted from coroner and medical examiner files for all accidental acute toxicity deaths across Canada (2016 to 2017) were analyzed. Six classes emerged from a latent class analysis conducted to characterize detected substance classes: (1) cocaine and alcohol, (2) benzodiazepines and other pharmaceutical substances, (3) pharmaceutical opioids, (4) multiple pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical substances, (5) methamphetamine and fentanyl or analogues, and (6) fentanyl or analogues. Differences were identified between latent classes by sex, age, marital status, location of death, place of residence, and substance use and health history. Patterns of detected substances among deaths characterized in this study emphasize the complex nature of substance-related acute toxicity deaths across Canada and can inform future research and public health action.

Problems of international politics: impact of globalization on politics

The concept of globalization is associated with the process of expanding crossborder transactions and interactions in the political, socio-cultural, and economic spheres. It describes the phenomenon of denationalization, which tends to be perceived as a political project. Globalization in the international political system is considered centralized due to its impact on external relations and its close connection with political structures and mechanisms. The creation of the necessary international rules and institutions is characterized by the fact that the concept of global governance is a political response to the processes of economic and social globalization. The influence of the era of globalization on the development of international politics and economic structures has turned out to be deep and complex, being the background for the creation of new political forms and stages of its development. The modern process of globalization is focused on international transformations in the field of politics and economics. It is important to emphasize the fact that the concept of globalization is a broad issue that is an integral part of every field of public activity. It can be described as an acceleration of global economic and political interconnections; the analysis of this phenomenon made it possible to assess the problems caused by its development. This article shows the importance of the globalized world for the life of individual states and international cooperation. The large-scale changes caused by globalization have proved its significant role for cultural, social, economic, and political formation at the international level. The research was based on the theory of globalization, the concept of sustainable development, and the theory of competition. Conclusions. The impact of globalization is felt most strongly when it comes to identity, whether it is an individual or a community. Although globalization can have positive effects, this phenomenon needs to be critically assessed in order to ensure that its negative consequences are understood, studied, and effectively addressed.

Enhancement of Health Services: Advanced Security Mechanism for Telemedicine in Public Health Practice

The sudden advancement of telemedicine in the healthcare industry presents potential hazards such as cyber-attacks and network susceptibilities, in addition to difficulties in patient privacy, data protection, and public health monitoring. To avoid illegal access, digital watermarking and precise medical image transfer are essential. Thus, for telemedicine in public health action, we introduce a unique security mechanism termed wavelet crypto fast decomposition with penguin optimization (WCFD-PO). Rivest-Shamir-Adelman (RSA), wavelet transforms (WT), and fast random singular value decomposition (FRSVD) encryption algorithms make up the suggested security methodology. By using the methods WT and FRSVD, one can decrease computing complexity and increase robustness. The PO approach offers a better-optimized scale factor in the fewest groups and repetitions as compared to the RSA approach, which is used for encrypting the watermarked image. The proposed mechanism is implemented by employing a Python application. Comprehensive testing indicates that our novel approach functions better than the current techniques, demonstrating the technique's higher efficiency. With the assistance of secure telemedicine solutions, this investigation offers physicians and tech programmers insightful information that will boost public health management.

Novel AI-driven Malaria Prediction for Optimizing Public Health Management

Malaria is an unmoving real common well-being apprehension in Asian nations like the Republic of India, where the state characterizes approximately 55% of the session events cutting-edge the infirmaries. They are usually distinguished by the absence of appropriate therapeutic care provision and the often late and error-prone diagnosis of the condition. In particular, commonly used devices such as the Rapid Diagnosis Test (RDT) are not completely dependable. They are primarily notable for their failure to provide adequate medical treatment and their tendency to diagnose the disease late and incorrectly. For example, widely used devices like the RDT are not consistent. To improve public health management actions, this work offers a unique augmented tree with penguin search optimization (AT+PSO) methodology for malaria forecasting. The suggested method combines the PSO algorithm with the augmented tree model, also known as random forest (RF). In the preprocessing stage, raw data samples are subjected to data normalization. Then, we applied the PSO to improve the characteristics of the RF model after successfully predicting malaria with the RF. The Python program is used to implement the suggested technique and analyze performance using a range of measures, including accuracy (0.988), sensitivity (0.987), specificity (0.991), F1-score (0.988), and MCC (0.975). In summary, our suggested approach produced the best results in terms of accuracy as opposed to other current strategies for predicting malaria to improve governance of public health.

The Director and the Revolution: V. E. Meyerhold's Public Activity at the Mariinsky Theatre at the turn of 1917 and 1918

The Director and the Revolution: V. E. Meyerhold's Public Activity at the Mariinsky Theatre at the turn of 1917 and 1918

Public health contributions of entomological surveillance of West Nile virus (WNV) and other mosquito-borne arboviruses in a context of climate change.

Climate change is likely to increase the risk of human transmission of arboviruses endemic to Canada, including West Nile virus (WNV), Eastern equine encephalitis virus (EEEV) and California serogroup virus (CSV), calling for enhanced surveillance, including entomological surveillance targeting mosquito vectors. A scoping review was carried out to document the public health contributions of entomological surveillance of arboviruses of importance in Canada. The Ovid® and EBSCO platforms and the grey literature were searched to identify documents published between 2009 and 2023, in English or French, dealing with entomological surveillance of arboviruses of interest, conducted annually for human health purposes under the aegis of a government authority, with specified public health objectives and actions. The 42 selected publications mainly reported two public health objectives of adult mosquito surveillance: early warning of viral circulation and assessment of the level of risk of human transmission. Recommended actions included clinical preparedness, risk communication, promotion of personal protection measures and vector control. The main objectives of immature mosquito surveillance were to identify sites with high larval densities, in order to reduce/eliminate them and target the application of larvicides. In a context of climate change favouring the spread of arboviruses, this study highlights the potential public health contributions of regular entomological surveillance of endemic arboviruses of importance in Canada. It helps support concrete actions to protect the health of the population from the risks of arboviral transmission.