Urban Workers Research Articles

A Machine Learning Web App to Predict Diabetic Blood Glucose Based on a Basic Noninvasive Health Checkup, Sociodemographic Characteristics, and Dietary Information: Case Study.

Over the past few decades, diabetes has become a serious public health concern worldwide, particularly in Bangladesh. The advancement of artificial intelligence can be reaped in the prediction of blood glucose levels for better health management. However, the practical validity of machine learning (ML) techniques for predicting health parameters using data from low- and middle-income countries, such as Bangladesh, is very low. Specifically, Bangladesh lacks research using ML techniques to predict blood glucose levels based on basic noninvasive clinical measurements and dietary and sociodemographic information. To formulate strategies for public health planning and the control of diabetes, this study aimed to develop a personalized ML model that predicts the blood glucose level of urban corporate workers in Bangladesh. Based on the basic noninvasive health checkup test results, dietary information, and sociodemographic characteristics of 271 employees of the Bangladeshi Grameen Bank complex, 5 well-known ML models, namely, linear regression, boosted decision tree regression, neural network, decision forest regression, and Bayesian linear regression, were used to predict blood glucose levels. Continuous blood glucose data were used in this study to train the model, which then used the trained data to predict new blood glucose values. Boosted decision tree regression demonstrated the greatest predictive performance of all evaluated models (root mean squared error=2.30). This means that, on average, our model's predicted blood glucose level deviated from the actual blood glucose level by around 2.30 mg/dL. The mean blood glucose value of the population studied was 128.02 mg/dL (SD 56.92), indicating a borderline result for the majority of the samples (normal value: 140 mg/dL). This suggests that the individuals should be monitoring their blood glucose levels regularly. This ML-enabled web application for blood glucose prediction helps individuals to self-monitor their health condition. The application was developed with communities in remote areas of low- and middle-income countries, such as Bangladesh, in mind. These areas typically lack health facilities and have an insufficient number of qualified doctors and nurses. The web-based application is a simple, practical, and effective solution that can be adopted by the community. Use of the web application can save money on medical expenses, time, and health management expenses. The created system also aids in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly in ensuring that everyone in the community enjoys good health and well-being and lowering total morbidity and mortality.

Youth educational mobility and the rural family in China

Urban-rural economic opportunity gaps drive rural youth to seek economic stability by migrating away from home and family. The links between educational attainment and economic outcomes for rural youth are well studied in China and elsewhere, but the implications of educational mobility for rural family relationships remain less understood. Extending tenets of second demographic transition theory, we posit that education sets the stage for “individualization:” geographic mobility for urban work distant from rural family networks. Educational mobility may thus set conditions for upending traditional family co-residence patterns, direct-support relationships, and family-gender attitudes. In this paper, we consider first whether educational advancement is associated with urban economic mobility for rural youth in young adulthood, and then ask whether education is linked to disruption of rural family relations. Specifically, using the case of children growing up in rural northwest China, we estimate relationships between secondary and tertiary educational attainment and (1) economic stability, (2) intergenerational geographic separation and material exchange, and (3) traditional family and gender role attitudes, after adjusting for potential confounders. Results show that for both men and women, education is associated with greater economic stability in young adulthood, across several measures, and with an erosion of adherence to traditional family and gender attitudes. Moreover, for men, education correlates to less family proximity and more material exchange.

A Survey on Factors Affecting Knowledge and Satisfaction with Care Among Persons with Diabetes Mellitus in an Urban Health Centre and its Outreach Clinics in South India.

To determine the level of knowledge and factors affecting knowledge and satisfaction with diabetes care among persons with diabetes at urban health centre (UHC) and community health worker (CHW)-led outreach clinics (ORC) in South India. A cross-sectional study was carried out using a structured questionnaire. One hundred patients at the UHC and 200 patients at the ORC were included. Patients with DM of more than eight years, with co-morbidities and maintained on insulin had good knowledge at the UHC. At the ORC, participants who received education beyond the primary level and belonging to non - Hindu religion had higher knowledge. Patients at the ORC experienced better satisfaction in terms of waiting time for appointments, consultation, registration system and counselling. At the UHC, those who received primary education or those with lower educational attainment had better satisfaction. Overall, knowledge (p = 0.03) and satisfaction (p = 0.00001) of diabetes care was better at the ORC than at the UHC. Our study found better knowledge and satisfaction with diabetes care at the ORC than at the UHC. Whether or not the difference can be attributed to CHW-based clinics in the community needs to be further elucidated.

EMBRACING KHADI: URBAN INDIAN WORKING WOMEN'S AFFINITY FOR WESTERN OFFICE ATTIRE

In urban India number of women’s joining the corporate firms has grown significantly and hence the market for women’s office wear is expanding exponentially. The work wear outfit choices of these women’s matters a lot to them as it reflects their personality and somewhere their position in workplace. With changing lifestyles, women’s preference for western office wear outfits has increased. Also, on the other hand Consumer lifestyle preferences in Urban India shows some awareness and inclination towards sustainable fashion choices. This paper aims to analyse Urban Indian working women acceptance for western office wear outfits made using Khadi fabric which is one of the sustainable textile materials. This paper is an extension to a previous study on understanding consumer behaviour towards sustainable fashion and office wear outfit need and preferences of working women in India. For the research western office wear outfits styles were developed using Khadi Fabric material and were subjected to analysis on seven parameters – Fabric look and feel, Garment Quality, Garment Comfort, Garment Style and fashion, Garment Size and Fit, Garment care and maintenance and Garment Price and value. The primary data for the study has been collected from user’s study conducted over the period of three months with an average of once in a week usage of the garment The goal of primary research is to capture users authentic experiences as a potential consumer - while wearing the garment and after care. The findings suggest that the acceptance by users and potential target consumer was significantly related to the seven analysis parameters. This research recommends Sustainable Fashion brands, Women’s western office wear brands, Khadi weavers and designers to adapt and diversify Khadi in such a way which can deliver higher level of customer value and satisfaction Also the research can be useful for customers to adopt Khadi and for other stakeholders to popularize it.

The Architectural-Urbanistic Evolution of Cahul City from the 20th Century to the Beginning of the 21st Century

The 20th century meant for the city of Cahul the continuation of the urbanization process started in the 19th century. In the first two decades of that century, buildings intended for maritime transport, residential buildings, cultural institutions, edifices with an industrial profile, etc. appeared. During the interwar period, several factories and banks operated in the city, education was represented by two high schools, two gymnasiums and eight primary schools. Among the cultural institutions, there was a cinema, two dormitories of the “Prince Carol” Royal Foundation, the Cultural League, etc. Some buildings were of modernist or neoclassical inspiration, and others had qualities of constructivist architecture. After the Second World War, several architectural and urban planning works were undertaken in Cahul. In 1947, the plan sketch of the city was made (architect V. Smirnov). At the “Molghiprostroi” Institute in Chișinău, some series of urban planning documents were developed that determined the subsequent systematization of the city of Cahul. The architecture of the new buildings built during the Soviet period was tributary to socialist modernism. In 2012, the specialists of the “Urbanproiect” Institute completed the elaboration of the general urban plan of the city of Cahul (architects Iu. Povar, V. Bocacev). In recent years, interesting buildings with two or more levels have appeared in the city, both residential ones and those of public interest. Their architecture belongs to post-impressionism, minimalism, etc.

Empathic Communication and Artistic Healing Role of Local Music in Xiamen City under Major Social Events

From local to global, from individual to universal, from singularity to plurality, music not only promotes the deep integration and dissemination of urban culture, giving birth to the theoretical perspective of “music studies”, but also becomes an important symbol and weathervane of a city’s cultural trend. Whether it is a metropolis such as London, Paris or Beijing, or an art city that focuses on the city’s on-the-ground music creation or identity, music is closely connected to the urban cultural space. At the same time, music is also a “holistic effect art”, a language of cultural globalisation. This study will be based on the creation and dissemination of Xiamen’s urban music works under major social issues, taking aesthetic function and artistic healing as the entry point, combining with the case study of Xiamen’s urban in situ music works to explore the current situation of the creation and dissemination of its works, elucidating the social value and artistic healing function of the city’s songs, and rethinking and exploring the relationship between literary and artistic works and the harmonious development of the human society, and the role of the city’s brand shaping and influence on city branding. This research will mainly focus on the literature research method and case study method, using the Internet and electronic resource databases to review the literature, understand the knowledge related to music and art, clarify the development of urban local music and the current status of research, and obtain relevant research information, so as to provide ideas and references for the project research. To analyse the data of urban local music creation and dissemination with appropriate statistical and analytical methods, in order to maximise the function of the data and play a role in the data. Take urban local music as a typical case, investigate it, and give solution ideas and programmes, and look forward to the direction of creation and dissemination of contemporary literary works of urban local music under major social events.

Towards climate change resilience and informal workers’ health in Zimbabwe: an action-research case study

ABSTRACT Despite rising concern for climate change in cities, urban informal workers are rarely considered in climate and health interventions. Globally, about two billion people work in the ‘informal economy,’ which encompasses all livelihoods lacking legal recognition or social protections. To encourage more holistic studies of workers’ health in urban areas, we discuss recent action-research in Zimbabwe’s cities of Harare (population 2.4m) and Masvingo (urban population 207,000). Using surveys (N=418) and focus group discussions (N=207) with informal urban agriculture workers and plastic waste-pickers, we analysed their climate-related, occupational, and environmental health risks. Approximately 55% of waste-pickers and urban agriculture workers reported that heat extremes already shortened their working times and lowered incomes. We highlight the close links between living and working conditions; discuss gendered differences in risks; and examine how heatwaves, water scarcity, and floods are affecting informal workers. In Masvingo, local authorities have begun collaborating with informal workers to tackle these risks. We recommend multi-sectoral, co-produced strategies that can simultaneously promote health and resilient livelihoods. Although climate change could further entrench urban inequalities, there may also be unusual opportunities to spark action on climate change by using a health lens to improve livelihoods and foster more inclusive, resilient urbanisation pathways.

Developing the Urban Fire Safety Co-Management System in China Based on Public Participation

The new situations, problems, and challenges facing urban fire safety work are gradually increasing in China, so innovating urban fire safety governance modes is an urgent task. In the fire management practice of the Chinese government, the establishment of an urban fire safety co-management system is an important measure for aggregating fire safety management resources and improving the level of urban fire safety prevention, as well as control. In order to reveal and clarify the interacting relationships and influencing mechanisms among multiple subjects in an urban fire safety co-management system, we constructed an urban fire safety co-management game model comprising fire supervision departments, production management units, and the public based on evolutionary game theory. The stability of the urban fire safety co-management game system is explored from the perspective of game subjects. The influencing factors of strategy selection between game subjects in the game system were investigated using numerical simulation analysis. The research results show that elevating the informatization level of co-management, the risk perception level of the public, and the disclosure level of fire safety information are conducive to stimulating the public’s positivity to participate in co-management. Strengthening the accountability of the superior government is conducive to ensuring the supervision level of fire supervision departments. The above measures have positive value for optimizing China’s urban fire safety co-management systems, establishing urban fire safety management synergy, and ensuring the stability of social fire safety situations.

A study of the thermal comfort in urban mountain parks and its physical influencing factors

Urban thermal comforts are increasingly holding people's attention due to global warming and urban heat islands. Urban parks can absorb sunlight radiation, which reduces air temperature, improving urban microclimates. Various factors in the park are confirmed to be effective in heat mitigation. However, there are few studies on thermal comfort in urban mountain parks, and mountain areas might cause peculiar climatic conditions owing to their particular landforms. To fill this gap in the research, this study explored thermal comfort in mountain parks and the environmental factors that would affect thermal comfort. A field measurement in the summertime (July & August) of 2018, it was found that trees, the river, and the area of parks could adjust the thermal comforts of mountain parks. Their effects varied throughout the day, and the impacts of trees were most pronounced at noon and late afternoon, while the influence of rivers and park areas was most pronounced at noon. Increasing the leaf area index by 1 point could result in decreases in physiological equivalent temperature, land surface temperature, and solar radiation level by 3.90 °C, 2.69 °C, and 270.10 W/m2, respectively. The findings have practical implications for future urban mountain park design works.

The impact of government environmental attention on firms’ ESG performance: Evidence from China

Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) have been globally recognized as a pivotal driving force for achieving sustainable development goals. Extant studies have mainly focused on exploring its economic consequences, while evidence on how the public sector, especially local government, affects enterprises’ ESG performance is scarce. By manually extracting environment-related textual information from 2011 to 2020 urban government work reports, we quantify government environmental attention (GEA) and explore its impact on firms’ ESG performance. The result indicates that an increase in GEA enhances firms’ ESG performance. We confirm this finding using a range of robustness checks. Our mechanism analysis shows that GEA facilitates firms’ ESG performance by altering three environmental-related firm behaviors: green investment, environmental governance information disclosure, and green technology innovation. Heterogeneity analysis demonstrates that this positive effect differs in firm ownership, CEO experience, and factor intensity. Our findings provide insight for policymakers to propel firms to undertake more social responsibility.

Hidden Income and the Perceived Returns to Migration

In many developing economies, urban workers earn substantially more than rural workers with the same level of education. Why don't more rural workers migrate to cities? I use two field experiments in Kenya to show that low migration is partly due to underestimation of urban incomes, which is sustained by income hiding by migrants. Parents at the origin underestimate their migrant children's incomes by nearly half, and underestimation is greater when a migrant's remittance obligations are high. Providing information about urban earnings increases migration to the capital city by about 40 percent over two years. (JEL C93, J31, J61, J82, O15, O18, R23)

Characterizing Non-governmental Organizations And Local Government Collaborations In Urban Forest Management Across Canada.

Urban forests are being threatened by rapid urbanization, biodiversity crises, and climate variability. In response, governments are increasingly collaborating with the public for solutions to these mounting challenges. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are dominant players in these collaborations because of their ability to supplement governments' expertize and resources and bring social and ecological issues to the forefront of civic agendas. Despite their growing visibility in urban forest management, there is a lack of attention directed to the forms and range of NGO relationships. This study focuses on addressing this gap and examining collaborations between local governments and NGOs in urban forest programming by characterizing their components including mandates, relationship ties, accountability, resource exchange, and power dynamics. We collected data using semi-structured interviews with three groups: leaders of NGOs, municipal government officials in an urban forest or public works departments, and urban-forest experts who have observed their interactions. The participants represent 32 individuals in nine Canadian cities. Our results indicate that NGO-government collaborations have relational ties and accountability processes that are both formal and informal in nature. Formality in collaborations is often associated with the amount of funding, proximity to government, or size of the NGO. In addition, our findings suggest that NGOs present an opportunity for local governments to supplement their resources and capacity. While the strength and formality of collaborations may be a product of NGO size and budgets, public servants should not hesitate to engage smaller, grassroots NGOs to realize their public service mandates. Characterizing the components of these governance processes provides a benchmark for practitioners participating in similar public-civic interactions and arms them with the knowledge to navigate collaborative decision-making.

Aligning policies, maintaining power: State‐society conflicts and state responses to food crises in Indonesia and Nigeria

AbstractDespite the importance of food for both economic and political reasons, why do governments respond differently to food crises? To answer this question, this article assesses the politics of state responses to food crises in Indonesia and Nigeria in the 1960s and 1970s. Using the state‐in‐society approach to politics, this research finds that variation in state–society conflicts explains the differences in Indonesia's and Nigeria's responses to the food crises. Conflicts between the state and urban workers led Nigeria to align its food policies with the need to contain urban workers' grievances, while in Indonesia conflicts between peasants and the state led the government to align its food policies with rural development to raise food production and eliminate the source of rural threats. State responses to food crises are therefore context‐dependent policies, deeply influenced by the salient form of state–society conflicts.Related ArticlesAsare‐Nuamah, Peter, Anthony Amoah, and Simplice A. Asongu. 2023. “Achieving Food Security in Ghana: Does Governance Matter?” Politics & Policy, Early View. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12540.Ayanoore, Ishmael, and Sam Hickey. 2022. “Reframing the Politics of Natural Resource Governance in Africa: Insights from the Local Content Legislation Process in Ghana.” Politics & Policy 50(1): 119–36. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12449.Oehmke, James F., Sera L. Young, Godfrey Bahiigwa, Boaz Blackie Keizire, and Lori Ann Post. 2018. “The Behavioral‐Economics Basis of Mutual Accountability to Achieve Food Security.” Politics & Policy 46(1): 32–57. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12244.

Peasant traders, migrant workers and “supermarkets”: Low‐cost provisions and the reproduction of migrant labor in China

AbstractThis article analyzes the social and spatial dynamics of the mobile trade in low‐cost goods by rural people from a mountainous region of China's Zhejiang province and how these interact with the mobility and social reproductive patterns of the rural–urban migrant workers they cater to. Also formally categorized as peasants, the traders not only supply the goods necessary for the maintenance of the workers but also of their spatially divided household, thus contributing to the reproduction of migrant labor power more generally. In doing so, they assume mobility trajectories that align with those of factory production and experience familial trade‐offs commonly experienced by migrant workers. Meanwhile, the provision of low‐cost goods to migrant workers has enabled a thriving economy employing peasant families for whom agricultural livelihoods slowly disappear. These dynamics indicate the mutual connection between waged and self‐employed labor that works in the interest of capital accumulation at the same time with the differentiation of migrant labor. As in other comparable Asian contexts, their connection lies at the heart of the state‐sponsored production regime premised on the low‐cost reproduction of flexible migrant labor.

Decolonization Effects in Contemporary Australian Cities: A Case Study of Ultimo Power Station, Sydney

As a colonial country, the advent of colonialism brought about rapid urbanization and industrialization in Australia. However, it also brings negative impacts. Decolonization is becoming a concern of the people. The research aims to delve into the topic of decolonization efforts in contemporary Australian cities in depth and redefine decolonization from a new perspective. Taking the Ultimo Power Station as an example, this report would draw upon various forms of evidence, such as maps, photographs, interviews, and collages, to analyze the colonial problems, as well as depict and design a vision of the future of decolonization and multiculturalism of Australian urban development. This report analysis the case of Ultimo Power Station in Sydney, providing a lens through which to explore these processes incorporating indigenous design principles and practices into urban and architectural planning and work towards a more equitable paradigm for all groups of peoples, especially the indigenous communities in Australia.

Conceived in Sin

This article explores the causes of the rise in extra-marital fertility in the Antwerp district between 1820 and 1920. The Antwerp COR*-database is used to compare the reproductive life courses and characteristics of unmarried mothers, women who experienced bridal pregnancies, as well as women who conceived exclusively within marriage. The authors conclude that illegitimacy was mainly a phenomenon among young urban working class women, and that it was predominantly a consequence of vulnerability. The rise of illegitimacy should be viewed against Antwerp’s transition from a regional textile centre into a major port city, which increased migration and negatively influenced women’s employment opportunities. The effects of illegitimacy were not as disastrous as the literature suggests, however, given the fact that a high percentage of the affected women eventually married.

A sustainable neighbourhood for the future

In the global context, cities are becoming more and more necessary to adapt to crisis changes and local development, and people's attention to the creation of high-quality environment is gradually increasing. Considering that the construction of the block scale is more flexible, diverse and practical than the overall construction of the city, so this paper analyses the design and practice of multiple future neighbourhood in China and France, summarizes strategies and experiences in important aspects such as infrastructure, mobility, architectural style and form, provides diversified references for urban workers, and puts forward a future-oriented sustainable neighbourhood vision.

The Politics of Time: The Political Origins of Working-Time Regulation

AbstractTowards the end of the nineteenth century, leisure was reserved for the few. By the end of the twentieth century, however, most workers had a regulated normal working time of 40 or fewer hours per week, annual paid leave, and overtime compensation. In this paper, I investigate which political parties brought forth these changes – which party constellations supported or opposed working-time reforms and argue that sector and class differences drive party preferences. Lower-class and urban middle-class workers demanded regulation as demand for leisure increased with income. In contrast, employers and farmers opposed such reforms. Accordingly, the study argues that socialist and social-liberal parties were inclined to support leisure-securing working-time reforms, whereas conservative and farmer parties opposed them. Due to their linkages with workers and farmers, liberal parties may be divided into a rural constituency that tends to oppose working-time reforms and an urban constituency that supports them. I test these expectations using parliamentary data: 65 roll-call votes from Norway between 1880 and 1940, combined with analysis of major reforms and legislative appeals. Finally, I undertake a generalization test using country-level reform data from 33 democracies between 1880 and 2010. Results generally fall in line with expectations, and the pattern is stable over time.

Managing urban conflict in Africa: Insights from social work

The paper examined urban social conflict in Africa from the perspective of the utility of social work in mitigating such conflict. It depended on the desk review of extant literature for its information and was anchored on a structural or macro-environmental explanation of the drivers of urban social conflict. The paper is also premised on the fact that while African cities have enjoyed an ever-increasing urbanization, such urbanization has come with several social pathologies including different forms of social conflict. Such conflict is especially prevalent in inner-city areas or urban slums where squalid physical environment and socio-economic deprivation conduce to social conflict among residents. The inescapable reality is that social conflict is largely a social phenomenon generated by the sociability or otherwise of living and thus social work as a discipline and practice anchored on enabling citizens achieve optimal social functioning can be useful in the mitigation of social conflict. It concluded that given that conflict is a social phenomenon, social work given its nature can build a reliable niche in urban conflict management. It thus calls attention to not only improving urban social work practice but equally engendering a practice that tackles the peculiar nature of urban social conflict in Africa.

Analysis of Nursing Needs of the Elderly with Disability and Dementia in Rural Areas of Anqing City under the Theory of Social Support

After the new century, the aging of the population, the aging of the population and the longevity of multiple health states are accelerating, and the long-term care of the elderly with disability and dementia is becoming increasingly prominent. China began the pilot of long-term care insurance in 2016, covering about 169 million people by the end of 2022, and home care is the first choice for most elderly families with disabilities and dementia. As the only pilot city in the province, Anqing currently guarantees the moderate and severe disability groups of urban workers, and does not cover other urban and rural disabled and semi-disabled residents, nor does it include the elderly with dementia, it is necessary to analyze the long-term care needs of these families. This paper uses comparative analysis to compare and analyze the implementation mode of long-term care insurance in Shanghai, Qingdao and Nantong, and finds the problems in the pilot process through comparative analysis, in order to provide reference for the improvement of long-term care insurance system in Anqing.