The Governance of Pandemics in Primary Health Care: The Governance Strategies Adopted by Health Facility Governing Committees in Times of COVID Pandemic in Tanzania

The governance of COVID 19 in Lower and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs) is very critical for curbing its effects. However, it is unknown what governance strategies are adopted by Health Facility Governing Committees (HFGCs) s as a response to the pandemic. We employed an exploratory qualitative design to study the governance strategies adopted by HFGCs during the COVID19. Since COVID 19 is new, an inductive approach was used as it involves analyzing collected data with little or no predetermined theory for the study. A purposive sampling technique was employed in which multistage clustered sampling was used to select regions, councils, health facilities and respondents. In-depth interviews with HFGCs chairpersons and Focus Group Discussions with members of HFGCs were used to collect data. The data were analyzed based on the themes which emerged during data collection. We found five governance strategies that were found to be commonly adopted by many HFGCs which are financial allocation, re-planing, mobilization of resources, community sensitization and mobilization of stakeholders. however, these governance structures were not all adopted by all HFGCs. The HFGCs slowly adopted governance strategies in the times of COVID 19 pandemics because were unprepared. Despite being empowered by the Direct Health Facility Financing, still, the newest of the COVID 19 has been a challenge to many HFGCs. This calls for urgent capacity building for governance institutions on how to deal will pandemics in primary health facilities.

Sustainable Tourism

This work intends to verify if there is academic research that proposes innovative strategies for sustainable tourism. It analyses 70 valid documents including theses, dissertations, scientific papers, and reports. Main objectives to explore are which themes stand out most; the difference between academic production in Portugal and Brazil; and how the topics of sustainability, environment, governance, planning, and regulation relate to tourism. A software for qualitative analysis is used to enrich the discussion around sustainable tourism discerning preferential governance strategies. Few works use sustainability indexes, and, if used, most of them are descriptive. For real sustainable tourism, its governance has to be based on appropriate indicators. Measures can empower destinations, providing the information needed to decide accurate and creatively. A challenge for the Portuguese academy on tourism and hospitality is to have an ongoing role in implementing key indicators and in their validation and monitoring.

Is Co-Management Still Feasible to Advance the Sustainability of Small-Scale African Inland Fisheries? Assessing Stakeholders’ Perspectives in Zambia

Co-management has been promoted as an alternative approach to the governance of small-scale inland fisheries resources and has been implemented in many African countries. It has, however, not proven to be a simple solution to improve their governance; hence, most African inland fisheries are still experiencing unsustainable overexploitation of their resources. As such, there is a need for reassessing the application of governance strategies for co-management that should strive to strengthen the participation of stakeholders, primarily the local fishers, as they are fundamental in the governance of fisheries resources. Therefore, this study set out to explore the prospects of a co-management governance approach at a Lake Itezhi-Tezhi small-scale fishery in Zambia. Focus group discussions with fishers and semi-structured interviews with other stakeholders were used to collect data. This study revealed that the stakeholders perceive co-management as a feasible approach to governance of the Lake Itezhi-Tezhi fishery. However, the feasibility of the co-management arrangement would be dependent mostly on the stakeholders’ ability to address most of the ‘key conditions’ criteria highlighted in the study. This study also identified the need to establish a fisheries policy to provide guidelines for the co-management, coming with decentralisation of power and authority to the local fishers.

Assessing Spatial Heterogeneity of Factor Interactions on PM2.5 Concentrations in Chinese Cities

The identification of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) concentrations and its driving factors are crucial for air pollution prevention and control. The factors that influence PM2.5 in different regions exhibit significant spatial heterogeneity. Current research has quantified the spatial heterogeneity of single factors but fails to discuss the interactions between factors. In this study, we first divided the study area into subregions based on the spatial heterogeneity of factors in a multi-scale geographically weighted regression model. We then investigated the interactions between different factors in the subregions using the geographical detector model. The results indicate that there was significant spatial heterogeneity in the interactions between the driving factors of PM2.5. The interactions between natural factors have significant uncertainty, as do those between the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and socioeconomic factors. The interactions between socioeconomic factors in the subregions were consistent with those in the whole region. Our findings are expected to deepen the understanding of the mechanisms at play among the aforementioned drivers and aid policymakers in adopting unique governance strategies across different regions.

Red Flags, Sob Stories & Scams: The contested meaning of governance on carework labor platforms

Labor platform scams are an opportunity to integrate scholarship about governance across social media and labor platforms. Labor platforms have borrowed governance mechanisms from social media to cultivate trust among users and remove problematic content. However, while these platforms may share governance strategies, labor platforms mediate employment relationships between workers and clients with different amounts of power. Based on a multi-stakeholder ethnography of carework labor platforms, online careworker forums, and interviews, this study describes scams on carework labor platforms. Labor platforms narrate workers into the role of technology consumers, constricting their own obligations to workers. Workers’ explanations of scams vary, with some contesting and others aligning with platform narratives. Some workers seek support in online forums, which remediate the harm of scams for some, but also enroll workers in unpaid labor. These scams challenge the assumption of antagonism between the interests of workers and platform companies and highlights the consumerization of work.

A Scientometric Analysis and Overview of Research on Infrastructure Externalities

There is a growing level of concern regarding infrastructure externalities globally. However, most of the previous relevant reviews were undertaken manually and few of them covered all infrastructure systems. This study conducted a scientometric analysis and overview of the research on externalities of all infrastructure systems. The analysis results of 743 articles that were rigorously selected first showed the increasing trend of research interest in infrastructure externalities. Moreover, the results demonstrated productive and influential journals, scholars, and institutions, and their collaboration networks. Furthermore, research on the spillover effects of the infrastructure on economic growth, airport-related externalities, road transport-related externalities, and externalities of ecosystem services and energy systems were identified as the four main research domains. The evolution of the research is reflected in the focus change from economic aspects to environment aspects, from government governance to assessing and pricing by the market, and from airport to other infrastructure systems. Additionally, this study identified the scientific knowledge base supporting each research domain. Finally, this study pointed out research gaps and future research directions in the aspects of knowledge base, multi-dimensional evaluation, and multiple governance strategies. The results could cultivate deeper and more carefully focused research into this field in the academic community, and assist policymakers and practitioners in research planning and funding efforts.

Governance Strategies for Mitigating Microplastic Pollution in the Marine Environment: A Review

Threats emerging from microplastic pollution in the marine environment have received much global attention. This review assessed sources, fate, and impacts of microplastics in marine ecosystems and identified gaps. Most studies document the ubiquity of microplastics and associated environmental effects. Effects include impacts to marine ecosystems, risks to biodiversity, and threats to human health. Microplastic leakage into marine ecosystems arises from plastic waste mismanagement and a lack of effective mitigative strategies. This review identified a scarcity of microplastics’ mitigation strategies from different stakeholders. Lack of community involvement in microplastic monitoring or ecosystem conservation exists due to limited existence of citizen science and stakeholder co-management initiatives. Although some management strategies exist for controlling effects of microplastics (often implemented by local and global environmental groups), a standardized management strategy to mitigate microplastics in coastal areas is urgently required. There is a need to review policy interventions aimed at plastic reduction in or near coastal ecosystems and evaluate their effectiveness. There is also a need to identify focal causes of microplastic pollution in the marine environment through further environmental research and governance approaches. These would extend to creating more effective policies as well as harmonized and extended efforts of educational campaigns and incentives for plastic waste reduction while mandating stringent penalties to help reduce microplastic leakage into the marine environment.

Varieties of Digital Authoritarianism

Digital authoritarianism threatens the privacy and rights of Internet users worldwide, yet scholarship on this topic remains limited in analytical power and case selection. In this article, we introduce a comprehensive analytical framework to the field of Internet governance and apply it first, briefly, to the well-known case of China and then, in more depth, to the still-understudied Russian case. We identify the extent and relative centralization of Internet governance as well as proactive versus reactive approaches to governance as notable differences between the cases, highlighting variation among digital authoritarians’ governance strategies. We conclude that Russia’s Internet governance model is less comprehensive and consistent than China’s, but its components may be more easily exported to other political systems. We then consider whether recent changes to Russia’s Internet governance suggest that it could converge with the Chinese model over time.

“Force Majeure”: The Transformation of Cultural Strategy as a Result of Urban Shrinkage and Economic Crisis. The Case of Riga, Latvia

Cultural strategies have been commonly used to address the consequences of urban shrinkage, particularly in a post-industrial context. Proliferated growth-oriented models, such as “creative city,” have threatened the sustainable development of shrinking cities. Alternative cultural models that prioritize social inclusion, local sensitivity, and affordability are thus urgently needed. Using Riga as a case study, this paper explores the process of transformation to an alternative cultural strategy in a post-socialist shrinking city and identifies planning and governance tools that stimulate its development. Employing qualitative interviews and document analysis, the relations between emergent and deliberate cultural strategies are investigated. The results show how the organization of the European Capital of Culture 2014 during the severe shrinkage and economic crisis led to five elements of an alternative cultural strategy: (1) a shift from investing in cultural “hardware” to “software,” (2) a locally sensitive approach, (3) cultural decentralization, (4) strengthened civic engagement, and (5) inclusiveness. These elements of an emergent strategy were recognized by local authorities and stimulated changes in the deliberate cultural strategy. This study supports the idea that urban shrinkage offers municipalities an opportunity to reimagine traditional planning practices and emphasizes the important role of civic actors’ participation in coproducing public services and governance strategies.