scholarly journals Transport and Mobility Needs for an Ageing Society from a Policy Perspective: Review and Implications

Author(s):  
Dong Lin ◽  
Jianqiang Cui

The world population is ageing, and many countries in the world are confronted by significant challenges in adapting their health and social systems to meet the requirements of this demographic change. It is well-accepted that mobility is often closely linked to a person’s independence, wellbeing and quality of life. Interest has increased across the world with regard to how the mobility needs of an ageing society can be addressed, since an ageing population is confronting nations across the globe and poses long-term challenges on a nation’s many aspects, including transport. Questions of how future policies can better respond to the mobility needs of an ageing population and how these policies can be delivered have emerged as major concerns for transport planners, operators and decision-makers. This review explores the way in which implemented policies have addressed the mobility needs of an ageing society, focusing on the provision of accessible, safe and affordable transport. More specifically, the paper reviews legislative and institutional approaches of addressing the mobility needs of an ageing population. The paper discusses the outcomes of these approaches and the remaining challenges in this policy area that relate to elderly people’s mobility and provides future research directions. Based on the discussion, clear conclusions about the effectiveness of particular policies are difficult to make. Alternative approaches (e.g., technological innovations) need to be considered in addressing older people’s mobility needs.

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mariabeatrice Bertolani ◽  
Eleonora Rodighiero ◽  
Maria Beatrice De Felici del Giudice ◽  
Torello Lotti ◽  
Claudio Feliciani ◽  
...  

Vitiligo is an acquired pigmentary disorder afflicting 0.5-2% of the world population for both sexes and all races with a capricious and unpredictable course. It has a complex etiology and varies in its manifestation, progression and response to treatment. Even if the precise aetiology and pathobiology of the disease are complex and still debated, recent evidence supports that vitiligo is a T CD8+ cell-mediated autoimmune disease triggered by oxidative stress. To date no clinical, biological and histological criteria allow us to establish the prognosis with certainty. The choice of the best therapy for adult and childhood vitiligo is based on various factors, such as the patient’s age, psychological condition and expectations, distribution and extension of skin lesions, type of vitiligo (stable or not) and availability and cost of therapeutic options. Since vitiligo has a deep psychological impact on patients and their quality of life, treating the disease is very important. As dermatologists, we have important goals in the treatment of vitiligo patients: stabilization of the disease progression, repigmentation of the lesions and especially the persistence of the aforementioned repigmentation. Although several medical and surgical therapeutic options have been proposed, no definite cure has yet been developed and the long-term persistence of repigmentation is unpredictable. We review the different therapeutic options with particular attention on the recurrence rate.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 5452-5458
Author(s):  
M. Alkahtani ◽  
M. H. Abidi ◽  
A. Ahmad ◽  
S. Darmoul ◽  
S. Samman ◽  
...  

Interruptions are unexpected breaks that introduce new tasks on top of ongoing activities. In work environments, interruptions occur when operators and decision-makers have to deal simultaneously with several stimuli and information sources and have to make decisions so as to maintain the flow of activities at a satisfactory level of performance or quality of service. The causes and effects of interruptions and their subsequent management strategies in workplace environments have been researched in the past, however, only a few review articles are available to report on current advances in this area, to analyze contributions, and to highlight open research directions. This paper offers an up-to-date review and a framework for interruptions and interruption management strategies. The current approaches to identify, report, and manage interruptions in a variety of workplace environments are reviewed and a description of environmental characteristics that favor the occurrence of interruptions and influence interruption management in workplace environments is provided. Various approaches to classify and model the different types of interruptions and their cause-consequence relationships are discussed and the strategies to manage interruptions and approaches to measure human performance when dealing with interruptions are analyzed. Based on these insights, several guidelines to manage interruptions in workplace environments are provided, and future research directions are highlighted.


Author(s):  
Kai Hong Phua ◽  
Lee Gan Goh ◽  
Dina Sharipova

The Astana Declaration on primary healthcare in 2018 was the attempt to revive the ideals of the World Health Organization (WHO) Alma-Ata Declaration 40 years later, together with a call for the political will to provide adequate financing at acceptable quality of care. This approach is taken to achieve the past ideals of Health for All, given the new challenges of universal health coverage. The economic case for primary healthcare is justified against the growing demand due in part to the growing costs of chronic conditions and the rise of ageing population, other than the supply-side factors of the healthcare industry. Past healthcare systems have evolved greater roles of the state versus the market, but few have involved the Third Sector or civil society in more integrated ways to provide and finance long-term care (LTC) with population ageing. From the extremes of the communist state to capitalist free markets, an optimal public-private system has to reach a balance in access, cost and quality for health and LTC. Recent studies of health and LTC have distilled newer developments in public-private mixes of provision, financing and regulation, in response to the needs of fast-ageing Asian societies. While Japan was the oldest country in the world, other countries in Asia have caught up and are now acknowledged where innovative models of integrated eldercare under economic limits, hold great promise of their transferability to the rest of ageing societies. Besides other forms of integrated LTC delivery with traditional systems, newer forms of financing like savings funds and superannuation have been developed, with participation from government, industry and civil society. There is much to learn from the new Asian models of financing, using appropriate technology and social innovations, and integrating health and social systems for LTC.


2013 ◽  
Vol 756-759 ◽  
pp. 1244-1248 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhi Ren ◽  
Shuang Peng ◽  
Hong Jiang Lei ◽  
Ji Bi Li

In wireless multi-hop networks, the quality of service provided by the system heavily depends on the cooperation between nodes. However, nodes are reluctant to cooperate with each other to save their limited resources. This tendency will put a limit on the application of the current wireless multi-hop networks. Therefore, game theory, which can analyze the strategic interactions among autonomous decision makers, becomes an ideal candidate to solve the above problem. In this paper, we first introduce the basic concept of game theory. Then, the game-theory-based routing algorithms for wireless multi-hop networks are investigated in detail and their characteristics are compared. Finally, we give the future research directions and concluding remarks.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yi-chang Chen ◽  
Keh-chung Lin ◽  
Chen-Jung Chen ◽  
Shu-Hui Yeh ◽  
Ay-Woan Pan ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Joint contractures, which affect activity, participation, and quality of life, are common complications of neurological conditions among elderly residents in long-term care facilities. This study examined the reliability and validity of the Chinese version of the PaArticular Scales in a population with joint contractures. Methods A cross-sectional study design was used. The sample included elderly residents older than 64 years with joint contractures in an important joint who had lived at one of 12 long-term care facilities in Taiwan for more than 6 months (N = 243). The Chinese version of the PaArticular Scales for joint contractures was generated from the English version through five stages: translation, review, back-translation, review by a panel of specialists, and a pretest. Test-retest reliability, internal consistency reliability, construct validity, and criterion validity were evaluated, and the results were compared with those for the World Health Organization Quality of Life scale and the World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule. Results The Chinese version of the PaArticular Scales had excellent reliability, with a Cronbach α coefficient of 0.975 (mean score, 28.98; standard deviation, 17.34). An exploratory factor analysis showed three factors and one factor with an eigenvalue > 1 that explained 75.176 and 62.83 % of the total variance in the Activity subscale and Participation subscale, respectively. The subscale-to-total scale correlation analysis showed Pearson correlation coefficients of 0.881 for the Activity subscale and 0.843 for the Participation subscale. Pearson’s product-moment correlation revealed that the correlation coefficient (r) between the Chinese version of the PaArticular Scales and the World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule was 0.770, whereas that for the World Health Organization Quality of Life scale was − 0.553; these values were interpreted as large coefficients. Conclusions The underlying theoretical model of the Chinese version of the PaArticular Scales functions well in Taiwan and has acceptable levels of reliability and validity. However, the Chinese version must be further tested for applicability and generalizability in future studies, preferably with a larger sample and in different clinical domains.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica Beltrán ◽  
Mireya S. García-Vázquez ◽  
Jenny Benois-Pineau ◽  
Luis Miguel Gutierrez-Robledo ◽  
Jean-François Dartigues

An opportune early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) would help to overcome symptoms and improve the quality of life for AD patients. Research studies have identified early manifestations of AD that occur years before the diagnosis. For instance, eye movements of people with AD in different tasks differ from eye movements of control subjects. In this review, we present a summary and evolution of research approaches that use eye tracking technology and computational analysis to measure and compare eye movements under different tasks and experiments. Furthermore, this review is targeted to the feasibility of pioneer work on developing computational tools and techniques to analyze eye movements under naturalistic scenarios. We describe the progress in technology that can enhance the analysis of eye movements everywhere while subjects perform their daily activities and give future research directions to develop tools to support early AD diagnosis through analysis of eye movements.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Shahela Saif ◽  
Samabia Tehseen

Deep learning has been used in computer vision to accomplish many tasks that were previously considered too complex or resource-intensive to be feasible. One remarkable application is the creation of deepfakes. Deepfake images change or manipulate a person’s face to give a different expression or identity by using generative models. Deepfakes applied to videos can change the facial expressions in a manner to associate a different speech with a person than the one originally given. Deepfake videos pose a serious threat to legal, political, and social systems as they can destroy the integrity of a person. Research solutions are being designed for the detection of such deepfake content to preserve privacy and combat fake news. This study details the existing deepfake video creation techniques and provides an overview of the deepfake datasets that are publicly available. More importantly, we provide an overview of the deepfake detection methods, along with a discussion on the issues, challenges, and future research directions. The study aims to present an all-inclusive overview of deepfakes by providing insights into the deepfake creation techniques and the latest detection methods, facilitating the development of a robust and effective deepfake detection solution.


2017 ◽  
Vol 26 (5) ◽  
pp. 416-422 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy Petrinec

Background Family members of critically ill patients experience indications of post–intensive care syndrome, including anxiety, depression, and posttraumatic stress disorder. Despite increased use of long-term acute care hospitals for critically ill patients, little is known about the impact of long-term hospitalization on patients’ family members. Objectives To examine indications of post–intensive care syndrome, coping strategies, and health-related quality of life among family decision makers during and after patients’ long-term hospitalization. Methods A single-center, prospective, longitudinal descriptive study was undertaken of family decision makers of adult patients admitted to long-term acute care hospitals. Indications of post–intensive care syndrome and coping strategies were measured on the day of hospital admission and 30 and 60 days later. Health-related quality of life was measured by using the Short Form-36, version 2, at admission and 60 days later. Results The sample consisted of 30 family decision makers. On admission, 27% reported moderate to severe anxiety, and 20% reported moderate to severe depression. Among the decision makers, 10% met criteria for a provisional diagnosis of posttraumatic stress disorder. At admission, the mean physical summary score for quality of life was 47.8 (SD, 9.91) and the mean mental summary score was 48.00 (SD, 10.28). No significant changes occurred during the study period. Problem-focused coping was the most frequently used coping strategy at all time points. Conclusion Family decision makers of patients in long-term acute care hospitals have a significant prevalence of indications of post–intensive care syndrome.


2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 136
Author(s):  
Mussie T. Tessema ◽  
Kubilay Gok ◽  
Alex Ngoma ◽  
Mengsteab Tesfayohannes ◽  
Gerry V. Fernando

This paper uses Singapore as a case study to illustrate how staffing policies and practices affect the quality of the workforce which ultimately influence performance at employee and organization level. It reveals that Singapore public service has been able to put in place most of the ‘critical factors’ for an effective staffing system management. The presence of those critical factors have played an important role in making Singapore to be one of the most effective public services in the world. Finally, it forwards theoretical and practical implications of the study and future research direction.


2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 70-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marwan El Ghoch ◽  
Simona Calugi ◽  
Riccardo Dalle Grave

Over the last decade, a new condition, which occurs in the presence of both sarcopenia and obesity, has been termed “sarcopenic obesity”. The term describes the coexistence of obesity, defined as the increase in body fat mass deposition, and sarcopenia, defined as the reduction in lean mass and muscle strength. However, many uncertainties still surround the condition of sarcopenic obesity in terms of its definition, the adverse short- and long-term health effects (i.e., medical disease, psychosocial functioning, quality of life and mortality) and its clinical management. The aim of this short communication is to emphasize some crucial aspects that future research should take into account in order to avoid bias and misinterpretations and to underline that the study of sarcopenic obesity should be considered a scientific and clinical priority, as reported by the European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism (ESPEN) and the European Association for the Study of Obesity (EASO).


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