Suchergebnisse

Telemedicine is an innovative approach that helps alleviate the health disparity in developing countries and improve health service accessibility, affordability, and quality. Few studies have focused on the social and organizational issues involved in telemedicine, despite in-depth studies of and significant improvements in these technologies. This paper used evolutionary game theory to analyze behavioral strategies and their dynamic evolution in the implementation and operation of telemedicine. Further, numerical simulation was carried out to develop management strategies for promoting telemedicine as a new way of delivering health services. The results showed that: (1) When the benefits are greater than the costs, the higher medical institutions (HMIs), primary medical institutions (PMIs), and patients positively promote telemedicine with benign interactions; (2) when the costs are greater than the benefits, the stability strategy of HMIs, PMIs, and patients is, respectively, 'no efforts', 'no efforts', and 'non-acceptance'; and (3) promotion of telemedicine is influenced by the initial probability of the 'HMI efforts', 'PMI efforts', and 'patients' acceptance' strategy chosen by the three stakeholders, telemedicine costs, and the reimbursement ratio of such costs. Based on theoretical analysis, in order to verify the theoretical model, this paper introduces the case study of a telemedicine system integrated with health resources at provincial, municipal, county, and township level in Guizhou. The findings of the case study were consistent with the theoretical analysis. Therefore, the central Chinese government and local governments should pay attention to the running cost of MIs and provide financial support when the costs are greater than the benefits. At the same time, the government should raise awareness of telemedicine and increase participation by all three stakeholders. Lastly, in order to promote telemedicine effectively, it is recommended that telemedicine services are incorporated within the scope of medical insurance and the optimal reimbursement ratio is used.

The spatial theory of the functionality of representative democracy (Down, 1957) is one of the most known positive theories in political sciences; however, its correspondence with reality in certain issues is questioned. This project explores three different explanations for this phenomenon: 1) the theory is partially based on unrealistic assumptions, 2) the methods supporting the theory are based on unrealistic assumptions, & 3) certain observations leading to the idea of non-correspondence with reality are based on a simplified view of the theory. A common denominator for the explanations is that they question established assumptions of determinism, & will hopefully contribute to a deeper development of the theory, its methods, & how can it predict reality. References. Adapted from the source document.

In Politis and Romano (1993), different block resampling estimators of variance of general linear statistics, e.g. a sample mean, were proposed under the assumption of stationarity. In the present paper such estimators of variance of sample means, computed from nonstationary spatially indexed data {Xi : i E A}, where A is a finite subset of the integer lattice Z2, are studied. Consistency of estimators of variance will be shown for the following kind of data: Observations taken from different lattice points are allowed to come from different distributions, and the dependence structure is allowed to differ over the lattice. We assume that all observed values are from distributions with the same expected value, or with expected values that decompose additively into directional components. Furthermore, it will be assumed that observations separated by a certain distance are independent.

The first decade of the 21st century has brought with it two important breakthroughs in the study of comparative politics. The first one concerns the availability of data. Nowadays, access to a wide range of information sources for a large number of countries in the world can be gained without too much effort. The second one concerns the methodological achievements made in recent years. Today, sophisticated multi-level analyses can be conducted fairly easily. Among qualitatively oriented researchers, Charles Ragin has made a significant contribution by introducing the fs/QCA-technique into the field of political science. However, the growing amount of data & the new methods not only open up new possibilities for the researcher. The present article explicitly deals with the problems related to the use of multi-level analyses & fs/QCA in comparative political research. In addition, attention is drawn to the drawbacks of using survey data from heterogeneous settings. Adapted from the source document.

This article presents a way of dealing scientifically with the problem of comparison among dynamically evolving units of analysis in social science, namely by using methods from theoretical, computational & mathematical biology & phylogeny (evolutionary tree) analysis. First, the standard political science & static method of comparative analysis is criticized. Second, some important aspects of the dynamic comparison are presented from its multidisciplinary & historic context, commenting on the compatibility with evolutionary institutional as well as universal Darwinian theoretical perspectives. Third, dynamic comparison is approached using first techniques from standard social science statistical software (SPSS) & then from molecular genetics (MEGA, Molecular Evolutionary Analysis). Examples of evolutionary tree analyses of the European nations are presented & discussed. Similarities & dissimilarities between social science & biological applications of the dynamic comparison techniques are discussed, emphasizing the importance of openness to new techniques & application of panel data for elaboration of new methods of dynamic comparative analyses in social sciences. 2 Tables, 9 Figures, 68 References. Adapted from the source document.

With continued pressure on biodiversity and ever-growing conflicts with human development, qualified systems for scenario modelling, impact assessment and decision support are urgently needed. Such systems must be able to integrate complex models and information from many sources and do so in a flexible and transparent way. To that end, as well as for other complicated and data-intensive biodiversity research purposes, the concept of LifeWatch has emerged. The idea of LifeWatch is to construct e-infrastructure and virtual laboratories by integrating large data sources, computational capacities, and tools for analysis and modelling in an open, serviceoriented architecture. To be efficient and accurate, a continuous inflow of large quantities of data is essential. However, even with new techniques, government-funded monitoring data and research data will not feed the system with up-to-date species information of sufficient scale and resolution. To fill this void, skilled amateur observers (citizen scientists) can contribute to a very valuable extent. After a preparatory phase, a Swedish LifeWatch (SLW) consortium was initiated in 2011. Swedish LifeWatch developed an infrastructure where all components are accessible through open web services. At the SLW Analysis portal, different formats of species and environmental data can be accessed instantly, and integrated, analysed, visualized and downloaded at selected temporal, spatial or taxonomic scales. Swedish LifeWatch currently provides 46 million species observations from eight different databases, all harmonized according to standardized formats and the Dyntaxa taxonomic backbone database. Almost 40 million of these observations were provided by citizens through the online reporting system named the Species Observation System (SOS) or Artportalen. This paper describes this system, as well as the incentives that make it so successful. The citizen science data in the SOS are accessible, together with data from research and monitoring, in the SLW infrastructure, making the latter a powerful instrument for large-scale data extraction, visualization and analysis.

Due to the impact of the internet and technology on the millennials generation, the teaching and learning process must be integrated by both trends, as they can increase university students' motivation as well as their levels of class participation. This integration can be achieved through potential and authentic pedagogical strategies: warm-up activities using smartphones and a technological tool called Quizizz. The objectives of this study were: 1) to identify if students increased their class participation after using quizzes and smartphones as a warm-up strategy, and 2) to explore the perceptions of the students about their level of class participation. Data were collected with the application of three instruments (the teacher's diary, a classroom map, a students' perception scale) and also a combination of a qualitative and a quantitative data analysis. The results of this study pointed out that all of the 47 participants improved their willingness to participate in class. However, their own perceptions about participation did not show any particular change. In other words, the students´ willingness to participate in class positively changed, but their own perceptions about participation remained the same before and after the application of these strategies.

The size of a country's police force is of great public and political concern. In the 2006 national election campaign the opposition coalition promised that if they would be elected the number of police officers in Sweden would increase from about 17 500 to 20 000 by the year 2010. The coalition was elected and the political goal was achieved. The main question in this report is: What impact will such an increase of the number of police officers have on the crime rate? In this report previous research, mainly from the United States, is reviewed and thoroughly analyses of the relationship between police strength and domestic burglary, robbery, homicide and car related offences in Sweden are made. The data consists of a random sample of 145 municipalities studied between the years 2001 and 2008. A complementary data set consists of all 21 police forces in Sweden between 1995 and 2009. Through panel data analysis it is concluded that an increase of the local police by 10 percent would possibly reduce domestic burglary by 3 to 4 percent. No impact is found on robbery, car theft or homicide, however. More police officers also means that more drug offences are being registered and more crimes in general being cleared-up. The allocation of police officers is also briefly investigated in this study. About 30 percent of all police officers in Sweden are allocated to Stockholm County. This proportion has been fairly stable over the last 15 years. However, the population in this metropolitan area has increase by 20 percent since 1995, compared to about 3 percent in the rest of the country. One consequence is that the surplus of police officers per capita in Stockholm in relation to the number of officers per capita in the rest of the country has decreased substantially.

Since the 1990s, the Swedish school system has become increasingly more diversified. Decentralization, the introduction of private schools, the challenge of globalization & increased ethnic diversity among pupils have contributed to an increasing heterogeneity. This project analyses the prospects for civic education in different institutional settings & contexts, in both public & private schools. Using unique survey data 1999 & 2009 we ask which effects different institutional settings have on "citizen competences," i.e., civic engagement, political efficacy, knowledge about democracy & political issues, & democratic values & tolerance. The project breaks down into three distinct but interrelated parts. The first deals with changes over time in young Swedes' civic competences. The second subproject focuses on the way & consequences when controversial issues are taught in different schools & institutional settings. The third sub-project adds a comparative perspective by analyzing similarities & differences among young people & schools in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland & England. Adapted from the source document.

This paper analyses how the public policies of potable water distribution have influenced the perceptions people in Villa Chaquimayu, a marginalized neighbourhood of Cochabamba (Bolivia), have about the State. This analysis is based on the theoretical distinction between 'State-system' and 'State-idea' proposed by Abrams (1988). Following Abrams, this paper examines both the practices the Bolivian State has implemented to deliver potable water to Villa Chaquimayu (State-system), and the notions people in this neighbourhood have about the State (State-idea). By using ethnographic data, this investigation shows that a deficient public management of potable water distribution has negatively influenced people's ideas and perceptions about what is the State.

This article analyses how the Swedish sports movement's democratic processes – and democratic fostering mission – has been described in policies from the late 19th century until the beginning of the 21st century. The strong and long-standing rhetoric of the sports movement as a 'school in democracy' is the background for this analysis. I particularly draw attention to the club level of the sports movement and how democracy has been discussed in that context. The analysis draws on previous research and analyses, including data such as government reports, sport manifest declarations and magazines. Theoretically, I utilise Ahrne and Papakosta's resource mobilization theory, as applied to non-profit membership organizations. One of the article's main findings is that 'democracy' and 'popular movement' were concepts that the leading representatives of the sports movement failed to use in the late-1800s and up until the 1920s. This was related to the fact that many leaders in the Swedish sports movement were of a bourgeois background and were strongly skeptical about parliamentary democracy (including general and equal voting rights, which were implemented in Sweden in 1921). Later on, since the 1970s, there has been an emphasising of the importance of the democratic decision-making processes within the sports movement and its democratic fostering dimensions. In accordance with Ahrne's and Papakosta's resource mobilization theory, my analysis shows that by the early 21st century the sports movement's democratic institutions and processes had become a symbolic asset, and an effective tool in the struggle for Swedish democracy.

This thesis investigates the deliberative potential in two communicative initiatives resulting from the 2001 government policy in Swedish nature conservation, A coherent nature conservation policy. The two initiatives, which constitute the empirical material in the thesis are, (1) a national competence development programme that the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency ran 2008-2011, Dialogue for nature conservation, and (2) the nature interpretation at naturum, visitor centres at national parks and nature reserves. Data was generated through qualitative interviews with nature conservation administrators at county administrative boards; participant observation at dialogue courses and workshops with researchers and nature interpreters; video analysis of recorded nature interpretation sessions at naturums; documentation from naturum exhibitions; and document and literature studies. The thesis draws from critical theory and clarifies rationales behind communicative practices in nature conservation. The analysis shows that the communicative initiatives are dominated by the instrumental state rationality, circumscribing space for communicative rationality. The 2001 nature conservation policy emphasised communication, but the communicative initiatives did not sufficiently integrate democratic aspects. By identifying the role of meaning-making as a central phenomenon in a communicative process, the thesis indicates how to include democratic dimensions in communicative work. The theoretical contribution of the thesis draws from an analysis of modernity, nature alienation and reconciliation. In the thesis, naturum is identified as a communicative forum with an underdeveloped potential for reconciliatory activities, more precisely deliberations on nature in nature. The thesis contributes to the field of environmental communication through highlighting how communicative practices of nature conservation depend on both communication and materiality.

Human-elephant conflicts (HEC) in Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) range countries have been increasing during the past half-century and are a major conservation issue for governments. Research suggests studying the spatio-temporal behavioural patterns of E. maximus could indicate behavioural preferences and help mitigate such conflicts. These behavioural preferences could be influenced by factors such as seasonal and lunar cycles, and habitat type. This study aims to determine at what degree these influencing factors are driving E. maximus behaviour and HEC. Considering previous studies on seasonal and lunar cycles and habitat utilisation affecting E. maximus' behaviour and HEC it asks; How do these factors influence E. maximus behaviour and HEC events? Considering these factors, are there any correlations between HEC events and behaviour observed within an adjacent protected forest complex? HEC event data was obtained from the Wang Mee district; a community adjacent to a protected area, the Dong Phayayen – Khao Yai – forest complex in Thailand. This community has undergone increasing HEC in recent years. The data was analysed to identify the effects of the aforementioned factors on HEC frequency. Furthermore, camera trap data within the forest complex are also utilised to analyse the effects of these factors on behaviour, such as changes in the observations of E. maximus' mean distance to forest borders and habitat utilisation measured with relative abundance index (RAI). Analysis of data indicates a significant correlation between lunar and seasonal cycles and HEC events. HEC events were greater during hot and monsoon compared with the cold season. The RAI of E. maximus observations at forest borders were also significantly higher during hot season when compared to RAI at greater distances. First and last quarter moon phases indicated a significant increase in HEC in general. Seasonal and lunar cycles also determined the selection of mixed deciduous forest habitats, indicating a general increase in utilisation during the cold season. Utilisation during the cold season also varied greatly depending on the lunar cycle – increasing during the first quarter and lowest during full moon phases, indicating high variability. The results indicate that studying habitat selection preferences and seasonal and lunar cycles are important factors for park and HEC managers when mitigating conflicts. By understanding E. maximus' behaviour and habitat needs managers can better plan for effective management and HEC mitigation.

This study is a partial advance of ongoing research whose main objective is the creation, contribution, and analysis of cultural indicators in the Ecuadorian university context. This work focuses specifically on providing a series of indicators on the equipment, use, and consumption of the TIC of students of the National University of Education of Ecuador (UNAE). The methodology used is the quantitative of descriptive-analytical order, based on the data collected in a survey applied on a population sample, made up of 438 students of the total universe between the different careers and cycles offered by the UNAE. The sample has a margin of 95% reliability and an error of 5%. The obtained results showed a high level of equipment, use, and consumption of the different technological devices. Also, this university population spends daily hours in academic and free time activities in cellphones, television, videos, and internet.