Exploring the Relationship Between Trust in Government and the Provision of Social Services in Countries of the Global South: The Case of Palestine

ABSTRACT

Using a data set combining two surveys that were conducted by Birzeit University in Palestine, the study investigates the role that trust in government plays in the provision of social services in Palestine (N= 1,314). The relationship between trust in government and selected sociodemographic characteristics is also explored. Results from the bivariate and regression analyses performed reveal that perceived trust in government is significantly related to government performance and a respondent's gender, income, education, and political affiliation. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.     

当前全球学理论研究的特点

全球学是当前国内外学术领域关注的一个热点。当前对全球学理论研究表现出片面性、矛盾性、滞后性和缺乏协调性等特点,这些特点限制了对全球学研究的开放性、纵深性和＂全球化＂。     

卡尔维诺对空间知识型态的反思——解读《看不见的城市》中两种城市观

不同的空间观引导了人们认知世界的方式,但若固守某种固定的空间观,则会限制人的思维和对空间的想象。卡尔维诺在《看不见的城市》中通过两种城市观的对弈使读者反思空间知识权力,从而解放束缚,达到对空间的自由想象。     

From ‘global city’ to ‘city of crisis': Jakarta metropolitan region under economic turmoil

By mid-1990s the development of Jakarta Metropolitan Region (JMR) appeared to be heading towards global city status. However, the current economic crisis has largely squeezed the JMR economy which in turn rapidly increased unemployment and poverty incidence in the region. Meanwhile, the capacity of local government to provide urban public service and infrastructure largely declined as the city revenues decreased substantially. The near future of JMR will depend on how soon the economic crisis ends and whether political situation can stabilize, but for now urban poverty becomes the most pronounced issue in JMR development and planning.     

Public diplomacy to promote Global Public Goods (GPG): Conceptual expansion, ethical grounds, and rhetoric

Traditional conceptualizations of public diplomacy stress three dimensions, namely image cultivation, advocacy of national interests, and promotion of mutual understanding. This research expands the scope of public diplomacy by adding an additional dimension, namely promotion of Global Public Goods (GPG). The research argues that creating and preserving GPG should be one of the functions of public diplomacy in an era when global warming and globalization of health become realities that dictate the entire humankind to meet the challenge in collective action. The research also explored the ethical grounds and rhetoric of the new dimension of public diplomacy.     

Potential impact of COVID-19 on ongoing clinical trials: a simulation study with the neurological Yale Global Tic Severity Scale based on the CANNA-TICS study

The COVID-19 pandemic has manifold impacts on clinical trials. In response, drug regulatory agencies and public health bodies have issued guidance on how to assess potential impacts on ongoing clinical trials and stress the importance of a risk-assessment as a pre-requisite for modifications to the clinical trial conduct. This article presents a simulation study to assess the impact on the power of an ongoing clinical trial without the need to unblind trial data and compromise trial integrity. In the context of the CANNA-TICS trial, investigating the effect of nabiximols on reducing the total tic score of the Yale Global Tic Severity Scale (YGTSS-TTS) in patients with chronic tic disorders and Tourette syndrome, the impact of the two COVID-19 related intercurrent events handled by a treatment policy strategy is investigated using a multiplicative and additive data generating model. The empirical power is examined for the analysis of the YGTSS-TTS as a continuous and dichotomized endpoint using analysis techniques adjusted and unadjusted for the occurrence of the intercurrent event. In the investigated scenarios, the simulation studies showed that substantial power losses are possible, potentially making sample size increases necessary to retain sufficient power. However, we were also able to identify scenarios with only limited loss of power. By adjusting for the occurrence of the intercurrent event, the power loss could be diminished to different degrees in most scenarios. In summary, the presented risk assessment approach may support decisions on trial modifications like sample size increases, while maintaining trial integrity.     

Commodities and monetary policy: Implications for inflation and price level targeting

We examine the relative ability of inflation targeting and price level targeting monetary policy rules to minimize inflation variability and business cycle fluctuations in a commodity-exporting country for supply and demand shocks to global commodity markets. The macroeconomic consequences of oil and non-oil primary commodities differ and affect the relative merits of the alternative monetary policy frameworks. Particularly, the consumption of refined oil products and demand-driven commodity price movements induce highly persistent inflation pressures resulting in a significant deterioration of the inflation-output gap trade-off available to central banks. When such terms-of-trade shocks are prevalent, price level targeting is inferior to inflation targeting.     

Sensitivity analysis of reliability functions of the exponential power series lifetime distribution

ABSTRACT

Hazard rate functions are often used in modeling of lifetime data. The Exponential Power Series (EPS) family has a monotone hazard rate function. In this article, the influence of input factors such as time and parameters on the variability of hazard rate function is assessed by local and global sensitivity analysis. Two different indices based on local and global sensitivity indices are presented. The simulation results for two datasets show that the hazard rate functions of the EPS family are sensitive to input parameters. The results also show that the hazard rate function of the EPS family is more sensitive to the exponential distribution than power series distributions.