Universal Service Research Articles

The nexus between allied policies of GST and FDI with dependent telecom policies of licensing and universal service in India

The nexus between allied policies of GST and FDI with dependent telecom policies of licensing and universal service in India

Students’ Intention to Learn and Academic Performance in the Blended Learning Environment: The Role of Artificial Intelligence Chatbots

In the era of universal digitalization, new technologies and services are being created, among which we can highlight the development of chatbot technologies that can be effectively used in the educational process and that will be of interest to representatives of the younger generations. The current study aims to reveal the influence of artificial intelligence chatbot integration on students’ intention to learn and their academic performance in the blended learning environment. The research framework includes 7 key indicators: Satisfaction (SAT), Perceived Usefulness (PU), Attitude (ATD), Subjective Norms (SN), and Perceived Behavioral Control (PBC), Continuance Intention to Learn (CIL) and academic performance (AP), which are evaluated in traditional blended learning setting (N=104) and blended learning based on artificial intelligence chatbot (N=107). For comparison we used the average scores, standard deviations (σ) of students on 23 items and student’s t-test for independent samples. We also calculated Pearson correlation coefficient for all analyzed. The results of the current study confirmed the positive influence of artificial intelligence usage during the blended learning as it increases students’ attitude, satisfaction and perceived usefulness which directly and highly affects the intention to continue learning and academic performance.

Telemedicine in Peru: origin, implementation, pandemic escalation, and prospects in the new normal

Abstract For many countries telemedicine was speedily adopted as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, though for some countries telemedicine may have been implemented in a context of limited regulations or few plans or strategies to scale quickly. This article recounts how telemedicine was developed in Peru as a measure to support the country's Universal Health Coverage and service access to rural and locations with low workforce numbers and its deployment. From a range of data, we find that Peru's development of telehealth began before the pandemic, which by 2020 was sufficient to be able to foster a rapid and wider deployment and while the telemedicine service volumes quickly grew from the pandemic onset, these numbers then begin to reduce suggesting that telemedicine was considered more as a pandemic emergency measure rather than a change to the mix of health provision. From these data we offer two lessons, (i) that Peru's preparedness in terms of telemedicine policy and regulation were helpful to rapidly expand telemedicine at a time of necessity and (ii) that due to this investment and with a better understanding, Peru now has a short-run window of opportunity for the Peruvian Government to continue its regulatory development and investment to further deploy telemedicine services as a UHC improvement measure and to better align the health system to the country’s health needs.

The comparative analysis of health care systems

Within the framework of the national development goal of the Russian Federation "preservation of population, health and well-being of people" the target indicator "the increase of life expectancy up to 78 years" is to be achieved by 2030. The achievement of this value is also directly affected by functioning of of health care system. In 2015, the United Nations, within the framework of the Sustainable Development Goals for the period up to 2030, formulated the task that implies ensuring of universal health services coverage "including financial risk security, access to qualitative essential medical and sanitary services and access to safe, effective, qualitative and inexpensive essential medications and vaccines for all". In the course of the study, methodology was developed that permitted to calculate values of performance indicators of main health care systems (financial support and infrastructure development) and to conduct comprehensive comparative analysis with values of particular public health indicators. The study results confirmed possibility of such comparisons. The stable direct relationship between such indicators as "current health expenditure (CHE) per capita", "current health expenditure (CHE) as percentage of gross domestic product (GDP)", "UHC Service Coverage Index", "life expectancy" was revealed. The inverse dependency between such indicators as "out-of-pocket expenditure as percentage of current health expenditure (CHE)" and "UHC Service Coverage Index" as well as between "UHC Service Coverage Index" and "total NCD mortality rate" and "probability of premature dying from non-infectious diseases" was determined.

Research on the high-quality development of universal childcare services under the background of aging and declining birthrate

Research on the high-quality development of universal childcare services under the background of aging and declining birthrate

Legal and managerial aspects of ukraine’s state regulatory policy on universal postal services in the context of european integration

Legal and managerial aspects of ukraine’s state regulatory policy on universal postal services in the context of european integration

Putting proportionate universalism into practice: challenges and tools

Proportionate universalism is a well-know strategy in the effort of reducing social health inequalities. It refers to the resourcing and delivering of universal services and interventions at a scale and intensity proportionate to the degree of the need of the target group. However, putting the principle of proportionate universalism into practice, is highly challenging. Applying proportionate universalism demands for a systematic thinking exercise about similarities, unique characteristics and differences of and between different subgroups, especially those most at risk, that are part of the broader target group (e.g. inhabitants of Flanders).
 Developing a well thought out strategy of proportionate universalism requires an answer to the following questions:
 -What are the high-risk subgroups that require special attention? 
 -Can the needs, interests, concerns, barriers, … of the high-risk groups be integrated in a universal approach that serves the entire target group?
 -What ‘proportionalities’ need to be added to the universal approach so that high-risk groups are definitely served?
 -Are there particular needs, barriers, concerns, … of high-risk groups that are very specific and different from those of other subgroups, which requires the development of a ‘categorical’ service, intervention,… targeting one specific subgroup?
 We developed a user guideline, ‘Determining your proportionate universalism strategy’, which supports professionals in the field of prevention and health promotion to reflect upon these questions and formulate answers to them.
 In addition to this guideline, we developed an inspirational guide including 10 methods that help professionals putting proportionate universalism into practice: ‘Health promotion for and with socially vulnerable populations: 10 methods for an inclusive approach’. These methods are well known for their potential in health promotion for and with underserved and socially vulnerable groups. The methods are visually presented and clustered in a ‘cake’ and divided into four categories: 1/ ‘getting to know’, 2/ reach, 3/work together and 4/empower and advocate. Each method is furnished with good practices from the field. During the months to come, focus will go to the implementation of both tools (the user guideline and the inspiration guide) in the sector of prevention and health promotion in Flanders.
 
 In this presentation, we will present both tools and focus on how they can be used to support the development and implementation of inclusive health promoting interventions that follow the principle of proportionate universalism. We will refer to multiple good practices to illustrate the tool’s added value for professionals and policy makers.

Aesthetics and Participation in Accessible Art Experiences

The action research project titled A Touch of Museum to Scale aims to improve the accessibility of the Museum to Scale art collection at the University of Antwerp. This project collaborates with various stakeholders to prototype tactile objects and an inclusive art guide for five artworks. It seeks to engage users of diverse abilities, investigate universal access services, and promote the integration of accessibility and artistic creation. The audio guide integrates visual descriptions and information for people with and without a visual impairment and integrates the artistic contributions of artists with and without disabilities. Artists also create tactile objects, which are an artistic and tactile translation of original artwork and a piece of art in their own right. The authors discuss project activities, such as personal observations, interviews, questionnaires, brainstorming sessions, and theoretical considerations based on literature and experience. The research is exploratory and invites both researchers and practitioners to reflect on participation and the aesthetics of access. Lay summary A Touch of Museum to Scale is a practice-based project that aims to improve the accessibility of the Museum to Scale art collection at the University of Antwerp. By working with various stakeholders, the team developed a prototype of tactile objects and an inclusive art guide for five artworks. This project is an experiment, in which we address several pertinent questions: how to create an audio guide that engages diverse abilities? How to make a guide that can be used by all? How to bring accessibility and artistic creation closer together? The result is an audio guide that combines visual descriptions and information for people with and without a visual impairment. It also includes the artistic contributions of artists with and without disabilities. In addition to the audio guide, artists have created tactile artworks to complement the original collection. In this text, the authors discuss the project activities and link them to insights from scientific literature. The authors hope to inspire a deeper reflection about accessibility and aesthetics in accessible art.

Quantum-Secured Space-Air-Ground Integrated Networks: Concept, Framework, and Case Study

In the upcoming 6G era, existing ground networks have evolved toward space-air-ground integrated networks (SAGIN), providing ultra-high data rates, seamless network coverage, and ubiquitous intelligence for communications of applications and services. However, conventional communications in SAGIN still face data confidentiality issues. Fortunately, the concept of Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) over SAGIN is able to provide information-theoretic security for secure communications in SAGIN with quantum cryptography. Therefore, in this paper, we propose quantum-secured SAGIN (Q-SAGIN) which are feasible to achieve proven secure communications using quantum mechanics to protect data channels between space, aerial, and ground nodes. Moreover, we propose a universal QKD service provisioning framework to minimize the cost of QKD services under the uncertainty and dynamics of communications in Q-SAGIN. In this framework, fiber-based QKD services are deployed in passive optical networks with the advantages of low loss and high stability. Moreover, the widely covered and flexible satellite- and UAV-based QKD services are provisioned as a supplement during the real-time data transmission phase. Finally, to examine the effectiveness of the proposed concept and framework, a case study of Q-SAGIN in the Metaverse is conducted where uncertain and dynamic factors of the secure communications in Metaverse applications are effectively resolved in the proposed framework.

Enrolling the child in private early childhood education and care in the context of universal service provision

ABSTRACT Finland has traditionally had a universal early childhood education and care (ECEC) system like the other Nordic countries, but in the last 15 years this system has undergone considerable marketisation and privatisation suggested to enable parental choice of ECEC. Much of the existing research on parental ECEC decisions has been conducted in contexts where ECEC systems differ considerably from the welfare and educational regimes of the Nordic countries. Moreover, parents’ views of private ECEC have scarcely been studied in the context of universal service provision. This study examined the frames the parents of a four-year-old child use to justify the selection of a private ECEC centre for their child. The data comprised qualitative interviews with eight Finnish parents. By applying discourse analytic tools, four frames were differentiated: accessibility, pedagogy, ECEC facilities and security. The findings demonstrated that while the accessibility of the services in terms of location and opening hours was the basis on which “choice” of ECEC was possible, the parents acted as active agents in the ECEC markets looking for services that would correspond to their values and perceptions of good childhood. The study raises the question of how well public policies and services can meet parents’ expectations and adjust to increasingly prevalent ideals of individualisation in society.

Universal and Specific Services for University Students with Specific Learning Disabilities: The Relation to Study Approach, Academic Achievement, and Satisfaction

In recent years, an increasing number of students with specific learning disabilities (SLDs) have enrolled in universities. The present exploratory study examined the frequency of use and appreciation of universal (open to every student) and specific services (offered to students with SLDs) and their relation to age, academic achievement, satisfaction, self–efficacy, and use of self–regulated learning (SRL) strategies. Participants were 147 Italian university students with SLD diagnoses (42 males; mean age: 22.49, SD = 3.29). Results showed that, overall, the frequency of use and appreciation of specific services were positively related to academic satisfaction, self–efficacy, and SRL strategies. Furthermore, frequency of use of compensatory tools and dispensatory measures was positively associated with academic achievement. These findings suggest that universities play an important role in supporting students with SLDs during their academic years by providing them with useful services and accommodations.

Stressful Living Conditions in Nuclear, Single Parent and Stepfamilies and Use of Prevention Services. Findings of Two Representative German Studies

Comparison of (stressful) living conditions and use of universal, selective and indicated prevention services in nuclear, single parent and stepfamilies with young children. Using two representative German surveys of mothers with children aged 0-3 years (KiD 0-3 2015, n=6,671, and AID:A 2019, n=1,501), mothers' reported burden and the use of various prevention services in different family types were examined descriptively and with Chi²-tests. Overall, single parent families and, to some extent, stepfamilies showed increased socioeconomic stress compared to nuclear families (e. g., young motherhood, higher poverty risk). In particular, universal prevention services (e. g., prenatal classes, parent-child courses) were used less frequently by single parent families, while selective and indicated services such as family or child guidance counselling services and offers of youth welfare agencies were used more frequently. Increased socioeconomic stress suggests a higher need for support among single parents compared to nuclear families. Universal group offers are possibly not sufficient to meet these needs, whereas selective individual counselling offers such as pregnancy and child guidance counseling are used more frequently by single parent families and stepfamilies compared to nuclear families. There seems to be a lack of (group) offers tailored to single parent families - particularly in the first developmental phase of a child's life.

Three Policy Alternatives for Advancing Active Citizenship: Universal Basic Income, Universal Basic Services, and Social Economy

ABSTRACT This article discusses three policy ideas that address the limitations of the traditional welfare state: universal basic income (UBI), universal basic services (UBS), and the social economy. As a lens from which to evaluate these policy alternatives, we develop a concept of active citizenship as an interactive and recursive process between people’s equal political influence and the institutional conditions in which they are placed. While the social policy discourse on active citizenship has centred on the debate between increasing individual responsibilities or enhancing people’s capabilities, our conception recentres the political dimension of active citizenship as people’s capacity, not only to exercise individual self-determination, but also collective self-determination over shared conditions. We conclude that, in addition to the conditions for security and autonomy, opportunities for organised social cooperation are necessary to achieve a virtuous cycle between people’s political influence and the institutions that support it.

Public Mixed Funding for Residential Aged Care Facilities Residents' Needs in the Asia-Pacific Region: A Scoping Review.

Due to population aging and sociodemographic change, there is an increasing reliance on residential aged care facilities in the Asia-Pacific region. Most countries have adopted taxation as the primary means to levy capital for funding universal health services and means-testing of benefits may be further incorporated as a policy balance between horizontal equity and fiscal sustainability. It was hypothesized that residential care needs are evaluated by assessments relating to funding; this scoping review seeks to synthesize how such assessments relate to the care needs of residents. Searches were conducted in concordance with a priori protocol for English-language literature published since 2008 in Embase, CINAHL, PubMed, Scopus, JBI, TROVE, and four peak international organizations for studies and reports that describe the assessment of residents' needs in Asia-Pacific countries that used a mixture of taxation and means-testing to publicly fund residential aged care. One paper and 47 reports were included. Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore utilize a taxation and means-tested user charge approach to fund residential aged care needs. The common care needs assessed include health conditions, daily activities, cognition, psychiatric, and behavioral needs. While essential care needs are publicly funded, other holistic care needs, such as spirituality and autonomy-based needs, still need to be covered for meaningful occupation by the residents.

Selecting the Flexible Last-Mile Delivery Models Using Multicriteria Decision-Making

Postal service providers can reorganize the last-mile delivery process within the scope of universal service and apply some of the flexible models for the organization of the delivery process. In this paper, the question of the selection of Flexible Last-Mile Delivery Models (FLMDM) is treated using multicriteria decision-making. We have identified four different sustainable models of last-mile delivery with an emphasis on the number of delivery workers. One postal service provider from Europe was selected, where proposed FLMDM are tested. The proposed last-mile delivery models are ranked using Multiple Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) technique. In this context, MCDA techniques are used to make a comparative assessment of alternatives. This paper aims to find the optimal delivery costs in each variant of the delivery model - an optimal number of workers for the last-mile delivery. The obtained results suggest the AB delivery model as the optimal choice for the last-mile delivery. Also, results ensure the complete allocation of the required number of technological workers in the delivery (the number of delivery workers), by applying the originally proposed, flexible solution (models) for the organization of last-mile delivery.

Can We Save the Public Internet?

The goal of this short document is to explain why recent developments in the Internet's infrastructure are problematic. As context, we note that the Internet was originally designed to provide a simple universal service - global end-to-end packet delivery - on which a wide variety of end-user applications could be built. The early Internet supported this packet-delivery service via an interconnected collection of commercial Internet Service Providers (ISPs) that we will refer to collectively as the "public Internet." The Internet has fulfilled its packet-delivery mission far beyond all expectations and is now the dominant global communications infrastructure. By providing a level playing field on which new applications could be deployed, the Internet has enabled a degree of innovation that no one could have foreseen. To improve performance for some common applications, "enhancements" such as caching (as in content-delivery networks) have been gradually added to the Internet. The resulting performance improvements are so significant that such enhancements are now effectively necessary to meet current content delivery demands. Despite these tangible benefits, this document argues that the way these enhancements are currently deployed seriously undermines the sustainability of the public Internet and could lead to an Internet infrastructure that reaches fewer people and is largely concentrated among only a few large-scale providers. We wrote this document because we fear that these developments are now decidedly tipping the Internet's playing field towards those who can deploy these enhancements at massive scale, which in turn will limit the degree to which the future Internet can support unfettered innovation. This document begins by explaining our concerns but goes on to articulate how this unfortunate fate can be avoided. To provide more depth for those who seek it, we provide a separate addendum with further detail.

Reproducing differential racialisation: social triage in migrant mental health services in England

Abstract In England, coverage for treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a health condition that disproportionately affects forced migrants, is universal, in principle provided free of charge to all. Yet, multiple informal access barriers typically arise and informal systems of social triage may emerge. Using intersectional analysis, this study asks what political and moral rationalities inform social triage in the NHS. It is particularly attentive to how and why a supposedly universal service reproduces differential racialisation, in which multiple and co-existing populations are stratified and ranked as more or less belonging to a nation. Fieldwork was conducted in two waves, in 2015-2016 and in 2019-2021. It included six months of participant observation in an NGO; 21 semi-structured interviews with health professionals across 16 different NHS and NGO service providers, purposively sampled until saturation was reached; six interviews with mental health commissioners and national policymakers; and analysis of grey literature. Transcripts and fieldnotes were analysed inductively to identify themes using NvivoR1. Results were validated by interviewees. Despite being covered, undocumented migrants and asylum seekers were systematically excluded from NHS PTSD services, through social triage. People with refugee status were prioritised. Mental health care providers consciously and subconsciously reproduced differential racialisation, which generated health inequality. This was facilitated by: austerity; omitting immigration status in measurement of health inequality; securitisation of mental health services and minoritised Muslim populations; and bifurcated activism in which the forced migrant sector was disconnected from established struggles to combat racism in mental health care. Policies extending coverage to undocumented migrants and asylum seekers must be accompanied by extra monitoring, as well as financial, political and social support to service providers. Key messages • Health professionals informally, but systematically, reproduce differential racialisation in the rationing of health care through practices such as obfuscation and silencing critique. • Informal systems of social triage erode universal health coverage. This is exacerbated in contexts of austerity, where health professionals use their discretion to ration limited resources.

Are ICT and CO2 emissions always a win-win situation? Evidence from universal telecommunication service in China

The role of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in mitigating climate change is increasingly gaining attention, yet its environmental performance remains uncertain. This ambiguity serves as the motivation for examining how universal telecommunication service (UTS) impacts CO2 emissions. Utilizing a staggered difference-in-difference (DID) specification, our empirical investigation reveals that UTS exacerbates CO2 emissions. A series of robustness checks corroborate these findings. The study uncovers the mechanisms underlying this environmental degradation, pinpointing increased energy consumption, the promotion of secondary industries, and population migration as the key contributing factors. Importantly, the analysis reveals that the negative environmental effects are particularly pronounced in cities with low-income and relatively lower levels of market integration. However, the study finds that well-designed environmental regulations can offset the negative impact of UTS on the environment. Given the urgent need for climate action, these findings provide critical insights for policymakers to balance the societal benefits of universal connectivity with environmental sustainability.

Safeguarding livelihoods against reductions in economic output

Secular stagnation, escalating socio-ecological crises, and the urgent need to scale back resource use in affluent countries make reductions in economic output increasingly likely. In this context, the prevailing vulnerability of livelihoods to a reduction in output poses a fundamental threat, and obstructs stringent environmental policies that reduce production or consumption.This study explores what creates this vulnerability, and how it might be overcome. We introduce a novel analytic framework that describes the relationship between economic output and the adequacy of livelihoods. Using empirical data for the years around the Global Financial Crisis, we illustrate the vulnerability of livelihoods in the UK. Based on our framework, we show that the vulnerability is not inevitable but arises when livelihoods are dependent on wage labour whilst employment and adequate incomes for workers are insecure, or when adequate pensions are insecure. These conditions are pervasive in contemporary capitalist economies, primarily due to profit maximisation and neoliberal welfare and labour policy. Profit maximisation may in fact actively foster the vulnerability of livelihoods, as the vulnerability can be used as a lever for squeezing wages, and as a pretext for pursuing economic growth and blocking environmental policies.Finally, we identify a range of interventions that could overcome the vulnerability, including specific versions of universal basic services, a universal basic income, a minimum income guarantee, a job guarantee, living wages, worktime reduction, and a pension guarantee, alongside changes in capital-labour relations and a shift to not-for-profit provisioning. Such interventions could secure livelihoods in volatile or contracting economies, and make stringent environmental policies socially sustainable and more politically palatable.

Service delivery inaccessibility as a predictor of teenage pregnancy in South Africa.

With the onset of the South African democracy in 1994 it was hoped that many social inequalities would be addressed urgently. However, studies have shown that service delivery inaccessibility remains a challenge and investigating the social implications of such injustices remains important. This study determined to establish the association between service delivery inaccessibility and adolescent pregnancy in South Africa. Using data from 2019 and 2021 general household surveys, 7 737 teenage females were included. The study applied descriptive statistics, chi-squared testing as well as multilevel binary logistic regression. Random-intercept multilevel binary logistic regression revealed that the risk of adolescent pregnancy independently increased as the level of service inaccessibility increased at household level (no services: OR=1.73, 1 service: OR=1.40, 2 services: OR=1.28) and community level (medium: OR=1.22, high: OR=1.38) at a P-value of 0.05. Findings highlight the need to guarantee universal service delivery urgently not only for development, but also to prevent adolescent pregnancy. Furthermore, the findings present evidence of structural factors driving adolescent pregnancy in South Africa, which renders continued cycles of poverty, injustice and early pregnancy amongst the majority of Blacks.