The role of health system governance in strengthening the rural health insurance system in China.

BACKGROUND: Systems of governance play a key role in the operation and performance of health systems. In the past six decades, China has made great advances in strengthening its health system, most notably in establishing a health insurance system that enables residents of rural areas to achieve access to essential services. Although there have been several studies of rural health insurance schemes, these have focused on coverage and service utilization, while much less attention has been given to the role of governance in designing and implementing these schemes. METHODS: Information from publications and policy documents relevant to the development of two rural health insurance policies in China was obtained, analysed, and synthesise. 92 documents on CMS (Cooperative Medical Scheme) or NCMS (New Rural Cooperative Medical Scheme) from four databases searched were included. Data extraction and synthesis of the information were guided by a framework that drew on that developed by the WHO to describe health system governance and leadership. RESULTS: We identified a series of governance practices that were supportive of progress, including the prioritisation by the central government of health system development and certain health policies within overall national development; strong government commitment combined with a hierarchal administrative system; clear policy goals coupled with the ability for local government to adopt policy measures that take account of local conditions; and the accumulation and use of the evidence generated from local practices. However these good practices were not seen in all governance domains. For example, poor collaboration between different government departments was shown to be a considerable challenge that undermined the operation of the insurance schemes. CONCLUSIONS: China's success in achieving scale up of CMS and NCMS has attracted considerable interest in many low and middle income countries (LMICs), especially with regard to the schemes' designs, coverage, and funding mechanisms. However, this study demonstrates that health systems governance may be critical to enable the development and operation of such schemes. Given that many LMICs are expanding health financing system to cover populations in rural areas or the informal sectors, we argue that strengthening specific practices in each governance domain could inform the adaptation of these schemes to other settings

ScrumSourcing: Challenges of Collaborative Post-editing for Rugby World Cup 2019

This paper describes challenges facing the ScrumSourcing project to create a neural machine translation (NMT) service aiding interaction between Japanese- and English-speaking fans during Rugby World Cup 2019 in Japan. This is an example of «domain adaptation». The best training data for adapting NMT is large volumes of translated sentences typical of the domain. In reality, however, such parallel data for rugby does not exist. The problem is compounded by a marked asymmetry between the two languages in conventions for post-match reports; and the almost total absence of in-match commentaries in Japanese. In post-editing the NMT output to incrementally improve quality via retraining, volunteer rugby fans will play a crucial role in determining a new genre in Japanese. To avoid de-motivating the volunteers at the outset we undertake an initial adaptation of the system using terminological data. This paper describes the compilation of this data and its effects on the quality of the systems’ output.Este documento describe los retos a los que se enfrenta el proyecto ScrumSourcing para crear un servicio de traducción automática neuronal (NMT) que ayude a la interacción entre los aficionados de habla japonesa e inglesa durante la Copa Mundial de Rugby de 2019 en Japón. Este es un ejemplo de «adaptación al dominio». Los mejores datos de entrenamiento para adaptar la NMT son grandes volúmenes de oraciones traducidas típicas del dominio. Sin embargo, en la realidad no existen tales datos paralelos para el rugby. El problema se agrava por una marcada asimetría entre las dos lenguas en las convenciones para los informes posteriores al partido y la ausencia casi total de comentarios emitidos en directo durante el partido en japonés. En la post-edición de la producción de la NMT para mejorar de forma incremental la calidad a través del reentrenamiento, los voluntarios aficionados al rugby desempeñarán un papel crucial en la determinación de un nuevo género en japonés. Para evitar desmotivar a los voluntarios desde el principio, emprenderemos una adaptación inicial del sistema utilizando datos terminológicos. Este documento describe la compilación de estos datos y sus efectos en la calidad de la producción de los sistemas

Thriving in uncertainty: examining the relationship between perceived environmental uncertainty and corporate eco-innovation through the lens of dynamic capabilities

Introduction: Objective environmental uncertainty has important impacts on entrepreneurial decision-making, but entrepreneurs’ perception of uncertainty may be a more crucial factor. This is because objective environmental uncertainty may need to be filtered through entrepreneurs’ perceptions to influence their decision-making. Therefore, exploring how entrepreneurs’ perceived environmental uncertainty (PEU) affects their corporate eco-innovation behavior has significant theoretical and practical implications.Methods: Drawing on the dynamic capability view, we utilize data from the 2016 China Private Enterprise Survey (CPES) on 2,733 small and medium-sized enterprises (SEMs) to highlight the impact of entrepreneurs’ PEU on corporate eco-innovation. We also examine the moderating effect of government intervention (government subsidies and government official visiting) on this relationship.Results: Our study reveals a positive impact of entrepreneurs’ PEU on corporate eco-innovation, confirming the critical role of dynamic capability in corporate strategic adjustment under uncertain conditions. Additionally, we find that government intervention (government subsidies and official visits) has a positive moderating effect on this relationship, with entrepreneurs’ PEU and eco-innovation being mediated by corporate dynamic capability.Discussion: The study contributes to the literature on environmental uncertainty, dynamic capabilities, and eco-innovation, and provides practical implications for SMEs in developing countries. The findings highlight the importance of subjective perceptions of environmental uncertainty over objective uncertainty. The study also demonstrates that environmental uncertainty is not inherently negative, but can be managed strategically with dynamic adjustment and government support

Sr\u3csub\u3e2\u3c/sub\u3eFe\u3csub\u3e1.5\u3c/sub\u3eMo\u3csub\u3e0.5\u3c/sub\u3eO\u3csub\u3e6-δ\u3c/sub\u3e – Sm\u3csub\u3e0.2\u3c/sub\u3eCe\u3csub\u3e0.8\u3c/sub\u3eO\u3csub\u3e1.9\u3c/sub\u3e Composite Anodes for Intermediate-Temperature Solid Oxide Fuel Cells

Sr2Fe1.5Mo0.5O6−δ (SFM) perovskite is carefully investigated as an anode material for solid oxide fuel cells with LaGaO3-based electrolytes. Its electronic conductivity under anodic atmosphere is measured with four-probe method while its ionic conductivity is determined with oxygen permeation measurement. Samaria doped ceria (SDC) is incorporated into SFM electrode to improve the anodic performance. A strong relation is observed between SDC addition and polarization losses, suggesting that the internal SFM-SDC contacts are active for H2 oxidation. The best electrode performance is achieved for the composite with 30 wt% SDC addition, resulting in an interfacial polarization resistance of 0.258 Ω cm2 at 700◦C for La0.8Sr0.2Ga0.8Mg0.2O3−δ supported single cells. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy analysis indicates that the high performance of SFM-SDC composite anodes is likely due to the high ionic conductivity and electro-catalytic activity of SDC by promoting the ionic exchange processes. Redox cycle treatment shows that SDC addition can even improve the redox tolerance of SFM anodes

SHIP COLLISION RISK ASSESSMENT MODEL FOR QINZHOU PORT BASED ON EVENT SEQUENCE DIAGRAM

Qinzhou Port is one of the most important ports in the “Beibu Gulf” of China. It is also the main hub port of the "21st century maritime silk road" strategy. Based on a basic collision risk assessment approach, an Event Sequence Diagram (ESD) model that explains the four-stage collision avoidance decision-making procedure is proposed from the perspectives of perception, cognition, decision, and execution. Using the historical data derived from collision accident reports from the Qinzhou Port waters from 2013 to 2017, as well as the data elicited from expert knowledge, a quantitative evaluation of probability distributions of different collision failure modes is performed. The results are also compared with relevant results from other types of navigation waters to analyse collision risk level of Qinzhou waters. At the same time, the main failures paths of collision avoidance decision making are identified. The proposed model can provide with an overall collision risk picture from a macro perspective

Escaping from pollution: the effect of air quality on inter-city population mobility in China

China faces severe air pollution issues due to the rapid growth of the economy, causing concerns for human physical and mental health as well as behavioral changes. Such adverse impacts can be mediated by individual avoidance behaviors such as traveling from polluted cities to cleaner ones. This study utilizes smartphone-based location data and instrumental variable regression to try and find out how air quality affects population mobility. Our results confirm that air quality does affect the population outflows of cities. An increase of 100 points in the air quality index will cause a 49.60% increase in population outflow, and a rise of 1 μg m−3 in PM2.5 may cause a 0.47% rise in population outflow. Air pollution incidents can drive people to leave their cities 3 days or a week later by railway or road. The effect is heterogeneous among workdays, weekends and holidays. Our results imply that air quality management can be critical for urban tourism and environmental competitiveness