Natural language processing (NLP), which is known as an emerging technology creating considerable value in multiple areas, has recently shown its great potential in government operations and public administration applications. However, while the number of publications on NLP is increasing steadily, there is no comprehensive review for a holistic understanding of how NLP is being adopted by governments. In this regard, we present a systematic literature review on NLP applications in governments by following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) protocol. The review shows that the current literature comprises three levels of contribution: automation, extension, and transformation. The most-used NLP techniques reported in government-related research are sentiment analysis, machine learning, deep learning, classification, data extraction, data mining, topic modelling, opinion mining, chatbots, and question answering. Data classification, management, and decision-making are the most frequently reported reasons for using NLP. The salient research topics being discussed in the literature can be grouped into four categories: (1) governance and policy, (2) citizens and public opinion, (3) medical and healthcare, and (4) economy and environment. Future research directions should focus on (1) the potential of chatbots, (2) NLP applications in the post-pandemic era, and (3) empirical research for government work.

We present a simple framework for constructing k-ary de Bruijn sequences, and more generally, universal cycles, via successor rules. The framework is based on the often used method of joining disjoint cycles. It generalizes several previously known de Bruijn sequence constructions based on the pure cycling register and is applied to derive a new construction that is perhaps the simplest of all successors. Furthermore, it generalizes an algorithm to construct binary de Bruijn sequences based on any arbitrary nonsingular feedback function. The framework is applied to derive and prove the correctness of successors to efficiently construct (i) universal cycles for k-ary strings of length n whose weight is bounded by some w and (ii) universal cycles for permutations. It has also been subsequently been applied to find the first universal cycle constructions for weak orders.

Doctor–patient relationships (DPRs) in China have been straining. With the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, the relationships and interactions between patients and doctors are changing. This study investigated how patients’ attitudes toward physicians changed during the pandemic and what factors were associated with these changes, leading to insights for improving management in the healthcare sector. This paper collected 58,600 comments regarding Chinese doctors from three regions from the online health platform Good Doctors Online (haodf.com, accessed on 13 October 2022). These comments were analyzed using text mining techniques, such as sentiment and word frequency analyses. The results showed improvements in DPRs after the pandemic, and the degree of improvement was related to the extent to which a location was affected. The findings also suggest that administrative services in the healthcare sector need further improvement. Based on these results, we summarize relevant recommendations at the end of this paper.