Women's access needs in maternity care in rural Tasmania,Australia: A mixed methods study

ObjectivesThis study investigates (i) maternity care access issues in rural Tasmania, (ii) rural women's challenges in accessing maternity services and (iii) rural women's access needs in maternity services.MethodsA mixed-method approach using a survey and semi-structured interviews was conducted. The survey explored women's views of rural maternity services from antenatal to postnatal care, while interviews reinforced the survey results and provided insights into the access issues and needs of women in maternity care.FindingsThe survey was completed by n = 210 women, with a response rate of 35%, with n = 22 follow-up interviews being conducted. The survey indicated the majority of rural women believed antenatal education and check-ups and postnatal check-ups should be provided locally. The majority of women surveyed also believed in the importance of having a maternity unit in the local hospital, which was further iterated and clarified within the interviews. Three main themes emerged from the interview data, namely (i) lack of access to maternity services, (ii) difficulties in accessing maternity services, and (iii) rural women's access needs.ConclusionThe study suggested that women's access needs are not fully met in some rural areas of Tasmania. Rural women face many challenges when accessing maternity services, including financial burden and risk of labouring en route. The study supports the claim that the closure of rural maternity units shifts cost and risk from the health care system to rural women and their families.     

Investment in residential property: taxonomy of home improvers in Central Hanoi

The advent of “Doi Moi” (renovation) in Vietnam has brought in a hitherto implicit residential property market. The dynamics of residential markets in Central Hanoi is a result of actions by groups trying to improve their properties following different investment strategies. A taxonomy of home improvers reveals three main types: the improver-consumerists, the improver-turned-dealers and the aspiring improvers. Their actions within the changing institutional framework is conceptualised in a dynamic model that could be a convenient tool for analysis of the residential property market.     

Access to social protection among people with disabilities: Evidence from Viet Nam

Although people with disabilities are frequently targeted as key beneficiaries of social protection, little is known on their access to existing programmes. This study uses mixed methods to explore participation in disability‐targeted and non‐targeted social protection programmes in Viet Nam, particularly in the district of Cam Le. In this district, social assistance and health insurance coverage among people with disabilities was 53 per cent and 96 per cent respectively. However, few accessed employment‐linked social insurance and other disability‐targeted benefits (e.g. vocational training, transportation discounts). Factors affecting access included the accessibility of the application process, disability assessment procedures, awareness and the perceived utility of programmes, and attitudes on disability and social protection.     

Maximizing misinformation restriction within time and budget constraints

Online social networks have become popular media worldwide. However, they also allow rapid dissemination of misinformation causing negative impacts to users. With a source of misinformation, the longer the misinformation spreads, the greater the number of affected users will be. Therefore, it is necessary to prevent the spread of misinformation in a specific time period. In this paper, we propose maximizing misinformation restriction (\(\mathsf {MMR}\)) problem with the purpose of finding a set of nodes whose removal from a social network maximizes the influence reduction from the source of misinformation within time and budget constraints. We demonstrate that the \(\mathsf {MMR}\) problem is NP-hard even in the case where the network is a rooted tree at a single misinformation node and show that the calculating objective function is #P-hard. We also prove that objective function is monotone and submodular. Based on that, we propose an \(1{-}1/\sqrt{e}\)-approximation algorithm. We further design efficient heuristic algorithms, named \(\mathsf {PR}\)-\(\mathsf {DAG}\) to show \(\mathsf {MMR}\) in very large-scale networks.     

Small sample properties of isotonic estimators — bias and mean squared error of linear combinations under normality

Bias and mean squared error for linear combinations of the isotonic regression estimators are computed. The case of sampling three distinct populations and the case of sampling seven or fewer populations having common mean are studied in detail. Numerical results are given, and comparisons between isotonic and unbiased estimation procedures are made.     

A System of Sustainability Indicators for the Province of Thai Binh,Vietnam

Sustainable Development is a broad and universal concept. Indicators are a basis to measure sustainability and to direct policies that aim to achieve a better quality of life. Thai Binh, a coastal province in North Vietnam is strongly concerned about strategic sustainability development. To select a system of sustainability indicators, the Delphi method was applied in 2012. A two-round questionnaire was organized to use with 32 experts, who acted as participants. 69 indicators were selected from 98 listed indicators: 15 related to economic development, 5 to the sea and coastal zone, 1 to the global economic partnership, 4 to consumption and production patterns, 7 to poverty, 3 to governance, 9 to health, 4 to education, 3 to demographics, 2 to natural hazards, 5 to atmosphere, 7 to land, and 3 to freshwater. Conversely, 29 other indicators were rejected. The Delphi method allows indicator selection for identification of the process of sustainability. The system of indicators, as the first important step of the sustainable development process, provides useful information for decision makers and planners as well sustainability strategy. It is planned that the indicators selected should be applied in the province.     

Impact of internal migration on the economic well-being of local workers and school dropouts among children in Vietnam

This study examines the impact of migration on local workers and high school dropouts of local students. A conventional approach without addressing the endogeneity issue may lead to biased results. Our endogeneity-corrected estimates show a positive impact of migration on the monthly wages of local workers. A higher share of migrants increases the probability of local workers with employment contracts, social insurance, and holiday pay. Heterogeneity analysis shows that local workers, no matter their educational level, work experience, or occupation sectors, benefit from the inflow of migrants. Finally, migration inflow lowers the probability of high school dropouts among local students. Our findings resulting from rigorous statistical approaches suggest that internal migration produces positive impacts on the economic well-being of local residents, refuting the argument about the adverse effects associated with internal migration.