Journal of Policy and Society

Examining gender disparities in obesity clinic utilization: An analysis of sex and gender influences via the X.0 wave theory

Hamid Mattiello — 2025-02-25

Background: Obesity is a growing global health issue with significant social, psychological, and physical consequences. Despite a higher prevalence of obesity among men, women have historically been the predominant patients in obesity treatment centers. However, recent trends show an increasing male involvement in bariatric surgery. Understanding the motivations and societal influences driving these gender-based differences is critical to addressing obesity treatment disparities. Objectives: This paper investigates gender disparities in obesity clinic utilization and bariatric surgery motivations through the lens of the X.0 Wave Theory, as a comprehensive framework conceived, invented, introduced, and developed by Prof. Dr. Hamid Mattiello. The X.0 Wave Theory segments human history into transformative epochs characterized by significant advancements in knowledge, technology, and business. These epochs include the Agricultural Age (X.0 = 1.0), the X.0 Wave/Tomorrow Age (2.1 ≤ X.0 ≤ 2.2), and the current Age of Artificial Intelligence (X.0 = 4.0), with projections into the Human Age (X.0 = 5.0) and Transhuman Age (X.0 = 6.0) and beyond. Methods: We conducted a survey with 75 participants (69% women, 29% men) to investigate gender-based differences in motivations for seeking bariatric surgery. The survey captured various factors, including aesthetic concerns, health reasons, self-confidence, and quality of life, alongside the influence of societal pressures and social media. Results: The findings revealed distinct gender-based differences in motivations. Women primarily cited aesthetics, self-confidence, and social pressures, while men were more focused on health concerns and improving quality of life. The study also highlighted that women faced greater societal expectations and were more likely to engage with social media for information regarding treatment options. Discussion: The X.0 Wave Theory offers valuable insights into how emerging technological, social, and cultural waves influence decision-making in bariatric surgery. By understanding these gender disparities within the context of shifting societal norms and digital engagement, this study advocates for the development of gender-sensitive interventions in obesity management. The findings underscore the importance of addressing these differences to improve treatment approaches and outcomes. This research also offers predictions on how future technological and societal shifts may continue to shape gender disparities in healthcare decisions.

Digitalization’s role in energy demand and renewable energy integration: Evidence from BRICS + countries

Samet Gursoy — 2025-02-27

This research examines the effect of digitalization on energy consumption and the integration of renewable energy in the energy mix in BRICHS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, and Saudi Arabia) from 2015 to 2023. Panel regression models, including the fixed effects model and the random effects model, were employed to analyze within-country and between country variations. The Hausman test confirmed the appropriateness of the fixed effects model for country-specific analysis. Cointegration tests, such as the Pedroni Panel Cointegration Test and the Kao Residual Cointegration Test, were used to evaluate long-term equilibrium relationships, while Granger causality tests were conducted to identify directional relationships. Robustness checks included the Breusch-Pagan test for heteroskedasticity and the Durbin Watson test for serial correlation, ensuring the reliability of the findings. The findings reveal that digitalization contributes to intensive energy consumption, particularly in fossil fuel-rich countries like Russia and Saudi Arabia. However, countries such as Brazil and China interpret this situation differently due to their significant levels of installed renewable energy capacity, which partially offsets the impact of digitalization on energy demand. Furthermore, the increasing use of mobile data has replaced mobile broadband infrastructure in India, a rapidly digitizing economy, mitigating the energy-intensive nature of broadband systems. Thus, this study highlights the need for a balanced view of digitalization, such that technology fosters a sustainable energy transition rather than undermines it. The integration of digitalization with sustainable energy policies offers a greater chance of realizing benefits, minimizing environmental impacts, and achieving a seamless energy transition. This duality presents a significant challenge for policymakers in balancing energy transitions and underscores the need for strategies that maximize the benefits of digitalization while minimizing its adverse effects on energy consumption.

Research on the change of China’s elderly service policies—An empirical analysis based on 117 policy texts

Sujun Liu — 2025-02-27

Population aging has emerged as a significant global concern. This article analyzes 117 policy texts in China since the reform and opening-up, borrowing Rothwell and Zegveld’s classic policy instrument theory to create a two-dimensional analysis framework. The X-dimension of the framework represents the three fundamental policy tools of supply, environment, and demand, while the Y-dimension consists of internal elements such as service subjects, service targets, service content and methods, and guarantee measures. Using this framework, the elderly service policies are categorized into three stages: the budding stage, the developing stage, and the perfecting stage. The study finds that China’s elderly service policies are primarily driven by environment-type tools, with supply-type and demand-type tools serving as secondary tools. The policy system is structurally imbalanced as a result. Over the long term, the trend is towards an increasing number of issuing subjects for Chinese elderly service policies. Moreover, the number of policies jointly issued by different departments is gradually increasing, and the issuing subjects are becoming increasingly diverse. The positioning of responsibilities among government, market, society, and family has been optimized, and the role of the government is becoming more rationalized.

Current trends in the development of the Russian economy as a challenge to vocational higher education

Valeria Valeryevna Semenova — 2025-02-28

The article is an analysis of the current directions of development of the Russian economy in the context of sanctions pressure from technologically developed countries (countries of opponents). Sanctions restrictions determine many areas of the development of socio-economic processes in Russian society, acting as a kind of catalyst for the formation of technological sovereignty, rethinking their own capabilities to ensure national interests, and the formation of national mental security. The conditions in which the Russian economy has to develop represent a strategically important transition from the state of consumption of technological innovations that were proposed by the global external environment to the state of creation, production and scaling of its own technological solutions that determine the prospect of strengthening national technological and intellectual sovereignty. The innovative development of the Russian economy in the context of severe restrictions on world interaction and equal exchange of knowledge and resources requests national human capital, since it is he who is the key strategic resource that determines state competitiveness in the field of creating and developing current technological innovations that can provide and maintain the necessary pace of socio-economic development, as well as strengthen intellectual and technological sovereignty. In order for the national human capital to be able to provide the necessary level of socio-economic development in extreme conditions, high-quality vocational education is needed in the course of which highly qualified specialists of a new generation are formed with a set of knowledge, competencies, skills and personal qualities that can ensure technological sovereignty, mental security of the state and effective implementation of national interests.