bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Enhancing Curricula About Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice in Undergraduate Medical Education
Authors: Smith Tyler K. , Hudson Zuri
Published: July 2023

Curricula in medical education continue to evolve as societal demographics shift and medical innovation transforms the practice of medicine. The next generation of physicians must be well trained, prepared, and adept to provide health care to diverse patient populations. The last few years have witnessed increased awareness about racial and social injustice, with medical institutions acting swiftly to create and implement or enhance curricula about diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice (DEIJ) including topics such as antiracism, bias, cultural humility and sensitivity, and health care disparities and inequities. In this review article, we highlight the incorporation of DEIJ into undergraduate medical education with a focus on the standards provided by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education. We draw on examples of enacted and revised DEIJ curricula in medical education including student activism, clinical electives at pediatric residency programs targeting historically underrepresented in medicine (UIM) students, and community building for UIM students through participation in professional affinity organizations. The article also addresses current state legislation that could affect medical student learning about DEIJ and patient care.

[
Pediatr Ann
. 2023;52(7):e249–e255.]
Study on binary and ternary systems with cement, hydrated lime and fly ash: thermogravimetric analysis, mechanical analysis and durability behaviour
Authors: Lorca P. , Soriano L. , Borrachero M.V. , Monzó J. , Tashima M.M. , Payá J.
Published: July 2023

The use of high percentages of substitution of Portland cement by pozzolans can provoke the total consumption of portlandite. The present research proposes the study of ternary systems of Portland cement (PC), fly ash (FA), and hydrated lime (CH). After 180 days of curing, the mortar with 50% substitution of PC by FA obtained 65.9 MPa versus the mortars with an addition of 20% of CH and control mortar (100 PC) that obtained 69.9 MPa and 76.7 MPa respectively: this behavior is very positive value considering that tested FA containing mortars had a 50% of Portland cement. Regarding the effect of the amount of extra hydrated lime on durability issues, the evolution against carbonation of PC-FA and PC-CH-FA mortars was studied: the reduction of carbonation velocity was around a 37% for the mortar with CH respect the PC-FA mortar.
The Debris Within: Negotiations of the Past within Colonial Mansions of Ceylon
Authors: Tennakoon Pamudu
Published: July 2023

Over the last two decades, there has been a visible increase in the rehabilitation of colonial-era structures in the city of Colombo, Sri Lanka. After Sri Lanka’s civil war ended in 2009, many privately-owned residential dwellings were repurposed as businesses. One such prevalent business is the boutique hotel. This article examines the Maniumpathy Boutique Hotel and the Tintagel Colombo, two colonial mansions cum boutique hotels, to explore the careful curation of domestic spaces that has arisen as a result of this change in use. The author draws on the notion of persistence and colonial debris by looking closely at the state of what remains at both Maniumpathy and Tintagel. The article first situates colonial dwellings historically in Colombo and then constructs the specific histories and contemporary conditions of Maniumpathy and Tintagel. Throughout, the article elucidates how the revival processes of these dwellings negotiate their colonial pasts and the configurations these pasts take when boutique hotels are curated to mask and reveal their histories. Analysis of these two boutique hotels reveals how the spatial practices of elite colonial dwellings transcend the colonial-independence divide.
Interactions between Turkish Building Professionals and French Advisors in the Reconstruction of Historical Cities in Western Anatolia
Authors: Bolca Pelin
Published: July 2023

The year 1923 was a turning point for Turkey. The collapse of the Ottoman Empire after a long war brought in Republican ideology centered on economic self-sufficiency and modern, secular values. With the proclamation of the Republic, the reconstruction of war-torn historical cities became a priority, to spread the new ideology and meet the country’s industrial needs. The new authorities encouraged municipalities to consult with Western European architects, many of whom were invited in the first years of the Republic. Their knowledge of the latest technologies and modern urban planning principles in Europe were to be applied to reconstruct Anatolian towns and villages according to the modern ideology. To facilitate this cooperation, the Society of Studies for the Reconstruction of İzmir was established in Paris in 1922. It brought together French experts and Turkish authorities during the planning process of Western Anatolian cities. The most prominent French consultants were Paris-based Henri Prost and Rene Danger, working together in France after having gained long-term experience in French colonies. This paper, firstly, highlights the mobility of these French professionals in Western Anatolia by tracing the history of their planning studies. Secondly, framing the political tension between the two countries, it aims to investigate whether the perspectives of the Turkish authorities associated the guest French architects and planners with colonial France. Lastly, it focuses on the post-war reconstruction process of historical cities in Western Anatolia, discussing the results of the interaction of the decision-makers and focusing on İzmir, Manisa, and Uşak.
Políticas linguísticas e educacionais e(m) formação docente: uma discussão sobre as colonialidades do ser, do saber e do poder
Authors: Dos Reis Ribeiro Gilmara
Published: July 2023

Este trabalho objetiva apresentar uma discussão acerca de políticas linguísticas e educacionais voltadas a pessoas surdas, refletindo sobre como as concepções de língua/linguagem, surdez, pessoa surda, inclusão e educação bilíngue, emergentes em documentos legais que contemplam tais políticas (Amapá, 2015; Brasil, 2002, 2005, 2009, 2014, 2015, 2020, 2021), contribuem com a promoção das colonialidades do ser, do saber e do poder. Sob o horizonte da decolonialidade, a investigação, de natureza exploratória, contemplando estudo bibliográfico e documental (Gil, 2008), e de caráter interpretativista (Moita Lopes, 1994), orienta-se, principalmente, pela seguinte pergunta norteadora: Considerando os conceitos inclusão, surdez, pessoa surda, língua/linguagem e educação bilíngue, de que forma os documentos legais que contemplam políticas linguísticas para a pessoa surda promovem o apagamento desta, a partir das colonialidades do poder e do saber? O estudo está ancorado no argumento de que é necessário e importante sentipensarmos a formação docente de professores de Português, de modo a não reproduzir tais colonialidades, na implementação de políticas educacionais, para o que se faz necessário refletir criticamente sobre as políticas linguísticas explícitas nesse contexto, em favor de uma formação docente decolonial e transformativa.
Palavras-chave: Políticas linguísticas e educacionais; formação docente; decolonialidade.
Concepções de saúde de usuários, familiares e profissionais de um serviço de saúde mental: uma análise sobre a perspectiva do campo saúde
Authors: Irigonhé Ramos Camila , Mandagará de Oliveira Michele , Prado Kantorski Luciane , De Oliveira Couto Maria Laura , Irigonhé Ramos Bruna , Gallegos Sosa Katerin Milena
Published: July 2023

O estudo objetivou compreender a influência do campo saúde e de seus subcampos na concepção de saúde de usuários/as, familiares e profissionais da saúde de um Centro de Atenção Psicossocial II. Utilizou-se o trabalho de Pierre Bourdieu como referencial teórico e metodológico. A seleção dos participantes (oito) ocorreu por meio da técnica de bola de neve. A coleta de dados ocorreu entre 2018 e 2019 por meio de entrevista semiestruturada. A análise se deu com base nos conceitos: campo, habitus e capital. Verificou-se que, mesmo ocupando posições distintas no campo, os diferentes agentes possuem a mesma concepção de saúde, a qual se centra na ausência de doença e nas responsabilidades e ações individuais, não estabelecendo relações com fatores sociais e coletivos. Isso ocorre, em parte, pela construção do habitus e capitais do campo saúde.
An Exciting Assessment Towards an Exciting Education
Authors: Cruz Purificación , Rodríguez Javier , López Lorena
Published: July 2023

These days, many authors ask whether having a high level of intellectual knowledge is a guarantee of success at university. The answer is no, at least not only with rational intelligence. Emotional intelligence is needed to cope with life. This emotional intelligence can be learned as another competence, and it will also allow us to acquire the rest of the competences required for personal and professional development. Therefore, the results in the assessments to which university students are “subjected” are closely linked to the emotional development of the individual.
Analysis of Competences Development in Online and Face-to-Face Teaching Modalities Through a Formative Assessment Experience
Authors: de Diego Félix Enrique Lobo , Cañadas Laura
Published: July 2023

The purpose of this study is to analyse how the modality used (online vs. face-to-face) for the teaching and learning process influences the acquisition of professional competences in a formative assessment experience. An action-research study was implemented during two academic years in the 2019/2020 and 2020/2021. One teacher and sixty teacher education students of the third course of the Faculty of Education of Segovia (University of Valladolid, Spain) participated in this study. A questionnaire and two teaching staff reports were used to collect the information. Results show agreement of the utility of the formative assessment experience implemented to the development of teaching competences both in online and in face-to-face mode. As conclusion the authors highlight the need for rethinking the way formative assessment is delivered at Higher Education so that theory and practice are connected and contribute to develop professional competences.
Tutoring as a Tool for Academic Performance Improvement During the Covid-19 Pandemic
Authors: Espinoza Juan José Rocha , Soria-Miranda Nadia L.
Published: July 2023

The Covid-19 crisis not only had a global impact on the sanitary services, but also had economic and social repercussions, especially at the educational system; this last apex is to be dealt with in relation to the Ecuadorian higher education level reality. As it is so, this chapter's aim is to collect the tutoring experience as part of the shared and formative evaluation (F&SA) during the pandemic. For this process the phenomenological methodology of research was used, managing to consolidate teachers and university students focus groups, who made a contribution with derivate features from the university educational reality, coming to consider tutoring as a necessary tool to strengthen those weaknesses given during synchronous connections. In this way, it provides an evaluation that promotes participative training process, where favorable learning environments are generated.
Advancing Meaningful Inclusion in the Workplace
Authors: Payne Ryan , Keeffe Michelle
Published: July 2023

This chapter examines how implementing preventative HR practices can promote equity and inclusion in entrepreneurial organizations as they grow. Common diversity practices, like HR policies and affirmative action initiatives, can unintentionally perpetuate discrimination when implemented poorly. To foster an inclusive environment, the authors use inclusive leadership and a framework for organizational inclusiveness to investigate how HR policies can enable diverse groups to participate fully. This approach not only allows for the full participation of diverse groups but also enables individuals to leverage their diversity for innovative solutions. Organizational leaders can create an inclusive climate by establishing a culture that supports diversity and inclusion. Achieving true equity requires redistributing resources and ensuring an inclusive culture throughout the organization, facilitated by collaboration and diverse voices in decision-making. This chapter explores challenges faced by emerging businesses and proposes suggestions for future research in diverse and equitable inclusion.
Shared Leadership, Self-Efficacy, and Team Proactive Effectiveness in a Theoretical Conceptual Framework
Authors: Jneid Chérine , El Nemar Sam
Published: July 2023

As organizations become more crisis-ridden, they are struggling with limited resources for business survival and continuity in crisis management. Lately, Covid-19 imposed social distancing which reflects on alternative ways of performing jobs through virtual teams and online jobs. Traditional leadership theories seem inadequate in these new job contexts, proactive crisis theories are still minor, and new leadership theories consistently proved the need to switch to team leadership approaches as shared leadership. The authors aim through this chapter to address the need for novel approaches to crisis management through team proactivity, self-efficacy, and shared leadership. The authors develop a conceptual theoretical framework that outlines the relationships between the concepts of team proactivity, self-efficacy, and shared leadership. This study extends the literature review through exploring team proactivity which is marginally studied in comparison to individual proactivity.
The Role of Inclusiveness in Organizational Resilience
Authors: Okun Olcay
Published: July 2023

Our world is rich in ethnicity, belief, social and economic differences, social and physical disability, and equality. Inclusion is the understanding of the ability and developmental diversity of human communities to coexist with sociocultural and racial differences as well as different socio-cultural or racial factors, and the understanding of being able to coexist with people with physical, intellectual, and developmental differences while respecting their cultural contexts. The main driving motivation of the inclusive leadership approach is the cooperation of the employees in the organization, the empowerment of the employees by constantly supporting them, the courage to change against the status quo, and the curiosity to learn about cultural diversity and differences. Inclusive culture, on the other hand, increases organizational resilience. In this section, the possible connections between inclusive leadership, organizational resiliency, inclusion, and culture will be revealed through the lens of inclusive organizational culture, interdisciplinary and intercultural.
Differences in Work Value, Communication Style, and Leadership Style Among Generational Cohorts at the Workplace
Authors: Rathi Soni , Kumar Praveen
Published: July 2023

Employees nowadays are more diverse than ever before, and that diversity is manifested in differences in generational cohorts. It has been observed that an organization is composed of distinct age groups, which represent employees of distinct generational cohorts. The key goal of this study is to render an observation and insight into differentiation and comparison in work values, communication style, and leadership style of distinct age group employees at workplace likely boomer, Gen X, Gen Y, and Gen Z. The finding of the study depicted the variations among generations (Boomer, Gen X, Gen Y, and Gen Z) as well as the variation in their styles of leadership, communication, and values of work. The current study has explored only three characteristics. In the organizations, not only is the investigation of distinct generation necessary, but the similarities among them need to be acknowledged. Another limitation is that there is a very less empirical investigation conducted on generational differences.
A Generic Big Data Analytics With Particle Swarm Optimization for Clinical Machine Learning
Authors: Subramani Radha , Chelladurai Aparna , Chelladurai Aarthi , Mohanapriya N.
Published: July 2023

In the past two decades, researchers are facing challenges in analyzing biomedical data. It is a fast growing and new promising field due to vast growing information. Data analytics and machine learning are possible on huge volume of biomedical data. The primary goal of the biomedical data analysis by using swarm intelligence will help you to provide optimized prediction or analysis to the problem or diseases. Swarm intelligence is a special kind of information exchange across different nodes in a network with methods in machine learning. All the members of the swarm have equal rights. So there is no spider controlling the data web. Particle swarm optimization is used to fix the parameters and predicts the efficient nodes to pass on. Particle swarm optimization convolution neural networks (PSOCNN) minimizes the parameter space to a single block and evaluates the candidate CNN with a small subset of training data.
Swarm Intelligence Analysis of Healthcare Prediction Techniques Based on Social Media Data
Authors: Kandasamy Manivel , Shanmugam Raju , Chhabhadiya Tanya Valji , Adesara Harshvi Kamlesh , Sunnapu Pujita
Published: July 2023

The healthcare industry is rapidly developing across the world. The healthcare industry generates a large volume of diverse data. It is crucial for healthcare sectors to effectively extract, collect, and exploit data. Swarm intelligence algorithms have been applied on the data in detecting cancer, heart disease, malignancies, and cardiology prognosis. Disease diagnosis and treatment have benefited from swarm intelligence techniques. In terms of techniques and outcomes, this chapter examines several uses of swarm intelligence with data prediction techniques using social media data in healthcare. The chapter will cover different areas where prediction techniques will be applied to the data collected by different social media platforms, like data mining, risk scoring of illnesses, and early recognition of patients' condition deterioration using data detection that will use algorithms based on swarm intelligence.
Internet of Things-Integrated Remote Patient Monitoring System
Authors: Boopathi Sampath
Published: July 2023

Remote monitoring technologies are required to remotely monitor patients. The internet of things allows for remote monitoring of smart devices and apps, but sensors are used to track ECG, pressure, weight, and cardiac rate. IoT infrastructure enables intelligent devices to remotely monitor health and advise on medical concerns in an emergency. Heart disease is the leading cause of mortality, and in order to enhance medical services and lower the death rate, social insurance must be made mandatory. This chapter presents a low-cost, portable remote system for patient monitoring based on the ESP32 MCU and WiFi.
Securing Healthcare Systems Integrated With IoT
Authors: Boopathi S.
Published: July 2023

This chapter provides an overview of healthcare security systems integrated with IoT, discussing fundamentals, applications, benefits, challenges, and considerations for implementation. Secure data transmission, access control, authentication mechanisms, and privacy preservation techniques are needed to ensure a secure ecosystem. The chapter discusses methods for detecting and responding to security threats, such as intrusion detection systems, security information and event management systems and user training and awareness programs. It emphasizes the importance of compliance with relevant regulations and standards to ensure legal and ethical handling of patient data. The study explores future trends and emerging technologies, such as blockchain, artificial intelligence, and 5G, and their potential impact on healthcare security. By implementing the recommendations, healthcare organizations can enhance security, safeguard patient privacy, and promote trust in the healthcare ecosystem.
Categorical Data Clustering Using Meta Heuristic Link-Based Ensemble Method
Authors: Veerappan Kousik Nalliyanna Goundar , Natarajan Yuvaraj , Raja Arshath , Perumal Jeyaprabhavathi , Kumar S Jerald Nirmal
Published: July 2023

Conventional ensemble clustering is a consensus function that fails to produce final clusters. Such poor clusters partitioning creates poor stability with reduced clustering accuracy. This motivates to improve the final clustering quality using a hybrid ensemble-based model. In this study, an optimized link-based ensemble clustering approach is proposed to refine the incomplete datasets and to refine unknown entries in categorical dataset. The proposed work uses link-based similarity measure to find the availability of unknown datasets from link network of clusters. The ensemble clustering generates a refined cluster-association matrix in the form of weighted graphs. The final cluster partitioning acquires the final clustering partitions with a refined matrix as its input that decomposes the graph into clusters. The comparison with conventional methods is made against performance metrics to evaluate the model efficacy.
The Affordances of Virtual Learning Environments in Remote Chemistry Learning
Authors: Penn Mafor , Ramnarain Umesh
Published: July 2023

Today, virtual learning environments (VLEs) are increasingly valuable for mediating teaching and learning in higher education. This chapter reports the affordances of VLEs in remote chemistry learning. The effects of VLEs versus remote lectures on students' achievement scores in chemistry content tests were compared, and the affordances of VLEs for 21st-century chemistry learning were investigated. This research aimed to investigate the impact of VLEs when learning chemistry remotely and answer some questions about their affordances in the fourth industrial revolution (4IR). Fifty pre-service science teachers (also referred to as students) from a South African university participated in the studies. A mixed methods approach with a quasi-experimental design was preferred. Pre-and post-tests were used to evaluate achievement scores for control and experimental groups, while focus group interviews were used for data gathering in reflection. Results showed a positive shift in achievement scores of the experimental group compared to the control group.
Pre-Service Teachers' Cognition of STEM via 4IR Cognitive Principles
Authors: Bayaga Anass
Published: July 2023

In the current Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), or Industry 4.0, learning—and consequentially learners' comprehension—either in a discipline-specific (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics- STEM disciplines) or general decision-making, can be marred by inappropriate use of the cognitive tenets, particularly so in the current 4IR or Industry 4.0. Accordingly, the current study is informed by this challenge and in part anchored upon theoretical disposition of 4IR or Industry 4.0 cognitive principles. The present research provides both theoretical and empirical examinations to improve mathematical discipline cognition as well as general decision making, thus aimed to enhance knowledge-building and subsequent development in discipline-specific.
Aggressive Social Media Use Detection Based on Deep Learning
Authors: S. Amutha , T. Umapriya , Dash Puspita
Published: July 2023

The prevalence of cyber aggressive comments on social networks, particularly among adolescents, has been increasing steadily as users spend more time connecting with others, sharing information, and pursuing common interests. Recent research has explored various deep learning models for detecting cyber aggressive comments, leading to efficient identification mechanisms compared to standard methods. This chapter proposes a deep belief network model specifically designed for cyber aggressive detection in social media comments. The data pre-processing stage involves text cleaning, tokenization, stemming, lemmatization, and the removal of stop words. The cleaned textual data is then fed into a deep belief network model for prediction. The experimental results demonstrate the high accuracy achieved by the deep belief network model.
Philosophical Analysis of Verbal and Non-Verbal Communications in Yoruba Ethical Culture
Authors: Oloidi Olugbenga Ebenezer
Published: July 2023

The Yoruba people of Southern Nigeria are often believed to place much value on ethical cultural norms. It is observed that they do not depend only on the use of verbal communication in passing moral messages. As a matter of fact, it is averred that a Yoruba parent could make a child cry for doing wrong without necessarily saying a word or holding a cane. This shows the use of non-verbal communication in the passage of moral values among the Yoruba people. Detaching the culture of the communicator from the communication seems implausible. Communication, culture, and morality are tripartite that are inseparably interwoven. This explains why the individual culture influences the way one communicates, either verbally or non-verbally. The crux of this chapter is to philosophically analyze verbal and non-verbal communications as the means of passing ethical values among the Yoruba. The methodology the chapter intends to employ shall be analytical. Juxtaposition will be made in the understanding of verbal and non-verbal communications in the passage of morals among the Yoruba people.
The Rhetorical Strategies in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's “Zikora”
Authors: Sanni Oremeyi Abiola
Published: July 2023

The issue of identity alongside social integration is a matter for concern; hence, there is a need to view it through the lenses of “Zikora”. This study interrogates Adichie's ability to demonstrate how immigrants navigate their way through new environments to attain cultural stability, transcultural citizenship, and new identity in the novel “Zikora” written by Chimamadna Ngozi Adichie. The chapter as a qualitative research is descriptive and the data for the study is selected from portions of “Zikora”. The theoretical frameworks of Harris and Michalik and Michalska-Suchanek underpin the study and findings clearly emphasize that language is made to communicate the thoughts and identity of people to readers. This study concludes that the cultural complexities of new environments compel people to embrace and adapt to new culture and reality.
Celebrity Endorsement and Cultural Orientation as per the Indo-African Perspective
Authors: Kaur Jasmandeep , Bedi Kirandeep , Singh Ramanjeet
Published: July 2023

In many countries, celebrity endorsement is considered as the most premium form of advertisement where a renowned celebrity such as a popular actor/actress, singer, sports personality, etc. is made the brand ambassador. However, the consumer attitude towards celebrity endorsement is dependent on various cultural aspects. This chapter focuses on the different aspects of celebrity branding through the lenses of the culture and demography of two continents: Asia and Africa. The main focus of the chapter is on India from Asia and South Africa and Nigeria from Africa. In Asian countries like India, companies have been using famous celebrities like movie stars, singers, cricketers, etc. to endorse their brands as are much influenced by the long-term orientation. In African countries the most successful companies believe in establishing an affinity with the consumers by being “the brand of the people” and prefer local celebrities. Thus, the chapter sheds light on the role of culture on the effects of celebrity branding from Indo-African perspective.
Conflict and Communication in the Global South
Authors: Ahmed Mehmood
Published: July 2023

Mass media's content is the vital source of eventual changes in individuals' as well as community's preferences about foreign policy, public opinion, and relations among nations. Policymakers consult media content on public opinion, and the media are the people's major source of information on what policymakers are doing. The discourse in the communication scholarly society on how to influence and shape mass media content under situations of systematic violence and conflict keeps budding not just in geographical capacity, but also on the praxis and epistemological fronts. The practitioners of the paradigm of peace journalism, the theoretical base of this chapter, forward the idea of revisiting norms of conventional journalism that until now take side of violence and/or conflict and to develop new norms that favour communal harmony and address common grounds. This chapter explores the trends, influences, and interplay of conflict and communication in the Global South with a particular reference to South Asia.
Structured-Deliberative Gossip
Authors: Onobe Melchizedec J. , Okocha Desmond Onyemechi , Etukudo Donatus A.
Published: July 2023

Ideas and government policies, whatever they are, are ventilated on step-motherly ration and fanned as ‘gossip', sometimes, to test their popularity or otherwise before they are implemented. Employing deduction from observation, and using longitudinal approach and literature, findings of this investigation reveal that governments in the Global South adopt this communication strategy as an inverted feedback mechanism for policies they are not certain will enjoy public acceptability. The exploratory study stretches the parameters of the usage of the tactics by interrogating earlier theories like grapevine, propaganda. The study lays a foundation of the operational principles and applicability of a new political communication theory, structured-deliberative gossip theory (or grapevine info-filter theory), especially on matters of plebiscites in the Global South.
Improving the Transition of Bioscience Students Through Teaching of Discipline Writing Practices
Authors: Veuger Stephany Jane
Published: July 2023

There is a need for examples and tools to support bioscience students in the development of their scientific writing that recognise that there is no ‘one size fits all approach'. ‘Writing to learn' as a way to integrate writing with the subject can enable students to improve their outcomes and attainment, a clear benefit to the students and university as a whole. This approach and the strategies described in this chapter seek to support readers in supporting bioscience student writing development through innovations and activities that increase attainment for all and not just those referred for remedial provision.
Democracy and Socioeconomic Performance in Africa
Authors: Oke Margaret Adebimpe
Published: July 2023

Despite the wide acceptance of democracy as best form of government, coups d'etat seem to have become a never-ending phenomenon in many African countries. The relationship between democracy and socioeconomic performance is examined in this chapter. This study employs exploratory and descriptive techniques in achieving this objective. Socioeconomic performance is measured with indicators such as GDP, life expectancy, literacy rate, unemployment rate, and inflation rate. Selected countries are Sudan, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Seychelles, Botswana, South Africa, and Rwanda. The study didn't find a clear-cut relationship between democracy and socioeconomic performance in the countries under study and so concludes that leadership might be a more important variable to consider.
Growing Democratic Governance Through Democratic Spaces in the South Africa Local Government
Authors: Tshishonga Ndwakhulu Stephen
Published: July 2023

Democratic local governance is fundamental towards enhancing political accountability and developmental transformation. The created formal mechanisms to promote public participation, local government are obliged to complement representative government by developing a culture of municipal governance. This chapter therefore, interrogates both invited and popular spaces in their quest to promote democratic governance and political accountability at South Africa local government. The chapter argues that the promotion of democratic governance via democratic mechanisms is limiting due to local state incapable to engage societal stakeholders through popular spaces. Thus, straightjacketing participation through invited spaces did not only fail to consolidate democratic and participatory governance, but rather engender democratic deficit, participation fatigue and mistrust. The chapter used a desktop literature review in the form of books, book chapters, accredited journals and government policy documentations.
Political Violence and Internal Party Democracy in Kwara State
Authors: Ojogbede Olamide Temitayo
Published: July 2023

Political parties are among the critical institutions crucial to achieving a democratic process in any society. It is because they provide a significant platform for leadership recruitment in a democracy. This function is best performed when intraparty politics and processes are essentially tranquil and popularity-based. However, internal party democracy could be constrained by violent conflicts among party members, particularly during the process of selecting candidates to represent political parties in elections. It is, therefore, imperative to note that intraparty violence, if not properly managed, may degenerate into a full-blown election/political violence before, during, and after general elections. While many scholarly investigations have harped on the effect of political violence on electoral politics and democracy, particularly in Nigeria, little has been done to examine its implications for internal party democracy. This study, therefore, explores the impact of intraparty violence on the internal democracy of political parties in Kwara State, Nigeria.
Election Campaigns and the Politics of Urban Space in Ibadan, Nigeria Since 2011
Authors: Bello Temitope Yetunde
Published: July 2023

Rapid urbanization in Africa and Nigeria has changed the urban scene such that constant struggles for space influence policy decisions and political activities. Urban space has become more contentious among the socio-economic city classes to the point where examining it from social and political perspectives and incorporating it into the current urban politics discourse is expedient. It is necessary to interrogate how usage of space forms a major component of party politics and election campaigns in Ibadan. This study is qualitative, descriptive case study research. Data are gathered from In-depth interviews, newspapers and the internet on election campaigns of the People's Democratic Party, All Progressive Congress, and Accord Party and are content-analysed. Marxist urbanism theory is used to explain urban space usage for capital accumulation and legitimisation of urban space usage. The chapter concludes by reestablishing the essence of wealth creation, industrialization and people-centred infrastructural development in the usage of urban spaces.
Voter Apathy in Elections in Nigeria's Democracy, 1999-2019
Authors: Andza Philipson Terna , Abdul Hamza
Published: July 2023

The chapter is on voter apathy in election in Nigeria's democracy, 1999-2019. The focal problem of the chapter is voter apathy in elections which threatens democracy. Primary and secondary sources are used. The findings are apathy in election, violence; insincerity of the INEC; illiteracy and ignorance, etc. caused voters apathy. Voter apathy implicates on democracy as there is negation of the tenet of democracy which states that majority rule instead of minority rule; dilution of the legitimacy of the elected; diminishes the social contract of democracy between the elected and the governed, etc. Voter's interest can be rekindled like making INEC to be transparent, removal of clauses which compromised its independence in the constitution, etc. Since elections are technical means of ensuring popular participation, there is every need to eliminate voter's apathy in election to guarantee mass participation to operate true democratic ideals. Neglecting this will keep us off track of the meaning of democracy.
Serious Games Reloaded
Authors: Barbas Helena
Published: July 2023

Game design is not emotion engineering. The French structuralism's methodology, story-oriented, allows the creation of a minimal structure, fractal, to be developed as IF or a game. Here, in detail, is the making-of two serious game projects. In “Instory,” the narrative is created bottom-up, ruled by the space, an epitome for other cultural heritage works; “PlatoMundi” was prepared top-down, departing from the “Myth of Er,” taking the users through a virtual quest for Justice. At the centre of this structure lies the bifurcation – a place able to support choice or decision proposals. 2D evolves into 3D space-time worlds, and new geographies already invading games. Immersion is fuelled by gadgets and AI to trick the 5 senses. New brain maps alter the relationships between body and mind, and haptic props mismatch AR, MR, and VR places and shapes. DGBL merges with CBTS, useful, but still unreliable. Games cataloguing become sophisticated taxonomies, still without gold standards to tell a good game, or a good story, from a bad one.
Instructor-Related Factors Affecting Game Utilization in Software Engineering Education
Authors: Albayrak Özlem , Albayrak Duygu
Published: July 2023

Software engineering education is challenging. To cope with various challenges of software engineering education, instructors at universities utilize different ways. One of these ways is to use games in education. In this study, a replication of a previous survey was conducted to check factors that impact on intructors' decision-making on selection of games in undergraduate software engineering education. Out of 287 invitations, a total of 42 valid responses were obtained. Based on the results, the authors observed that “the number of hours per week the instructor plays games,” “the instructor's experience in using games for educational purposes in general,” and “the instructor's experience in designing games for educational purposes” have significant impact on the instructor's decision-making on using games in software engineering education. The authors present the results and limitations of the study as well as plans for future research.
User Experience and Learning Evaluation in Virtual Training of Critical Activities
Authors: de Geus Klaus , Scheer Sergio , de Faria Alexandre Pereira , dos Santos Ricardo César Ribeiro
Published: July 2023

This chapter addresses methods and techniques explored in the development of a virtual environment solution for the training of electricians in critical activities, focusing on research topics, such as user experience and learning evaluation. The main concept of the virtual environment is the mapping between virtual reality technology and gamification methods with learning theories. User experience (UX) is used to assess how the system is perceived by the user. Non-player characters are modelled to assist the trainee in the learning process, focusing on decision making in adverse conditions. An automatic feedback system based on the visualization of error patterns highlights both the mistakes made in the virtual experience and the strategy for solving the proposed problem. A trainee classification process is proposed based on the analysis of human error patterns during the execution of a task. Clustering techniques applied to error patterns allow for the identification of prototypes of performance classes and their visualization in the form of distinct groups.
Improving Decision Support Systems and Disruptive Technology Adoption With Analytical Serious Games
Authors: de Rosa Francesca , Strode Christopher M.
Published: July 2023

Serious Games (SGs) are emerging as a means to support technology development. They can be powerful approaches when clear technology uptake pathways are not yet defined. This might be exacerbated when the technology itself and the capabilities that allow their use (e.g., planning systems or monitoring and surveillance systems) are still under development or in early stages of adoption. In this chapter the authors discuss how SGs can be used as a technique to support technology development and adoption. Specifically, the use case of the Maritime Unmanned Systems Trust (MUST) Game is presented. This game aims at increasing the understanding of the context of use of emerging and disruptive technologies (i.e., automation and autonomy) in future maritime operational environments and at steering future scientific developments (i.e., the design of advanced decision support systems to optimize their use).
Reinventing Progressive Learning and Teaching Processes Through Gamification
Authors: Ramic-Brkic Belma , Balik Alican
Published: July 2023

Progressive education aims to provide students (with or without disabilities) with an active and engaging learning experience that fosters critical thinking, creativity, and problem-solving skills. Serious games, designed to educate and inform, have gained popularity in recent years as a way to make learning more interactive and fun. However, while there is scientific support for gamification in education, it is important to carefully consider this approach's potential drawbacks and limitations. For this reason, here the authors present a novel application software whose basic concept is to help professionals create relevant educational content and motivate students by presenting teaching materials and tasks in a modern, relevant, and motivating way. The evaluation of the web tool was done on usability and usefulness. The study results indicate a predominantly favorable perception among participants towards the utilization of the web-based tool in educational settings, with particular regard to its efficacy in designing instructional materials.
The Role of Serious Games in Shaping Pro-Environmental Behaviours
Authors: Degirmenci Kenan
Published: July 2023

Games have become an integral part of our lives, which is why they are increasingly being used for other purposes than pure entertainment, such as learning, training, informing, or advertising. In information systems (IS) research, this type of game has also been discussed under the notion of serious games, which are aimed at engaging users to elicit behaviour change through motivation. In this study, the authors explore how serious games affect pro-environmental behaviours in the context of renewable energy. More specifically, the authors focus on extrinsic and intrinsic motivation, and analyse the impact of users' motivation to use serious games on their attitude toward renewable energy, which is influenced by cognitive and affective beliefs.
Integration of the Internet of Things and Cloud
Authors: Surianarayanan Chellammal , Chelliah Pethuru Raj
Published: July 2023

The integration of IoT and cloud poses increased security challenges. Implementing security mechanisms in IoT systems is challenging due to the availability of limited resources, large number of devices, heterogeneity of devices, generation of bulk data, etc. Likewise, cloud resources are also vulnerable to security issues due to virtualization, insider threats, data loss, data breaches, insecure APIs, etc. Security is of major concern with the integration of IoT and cloud. The primary objective of this review is to highlight the security issues associated with an IoT system and cloud system and with the integration of the two, as well as to highlight solutions in each case. The secondary objective is to describe popular IoT-cloud platforms and also to highlight how such platforms facilitate secure integration. Ultimately a highlight on a shared responsibility model of implementing security is emphasized as both IoT users and cloud service providers have to cooperatively share the responsibility to deploy secure cloud-based IoT applications.
Attention-Based Time Sequence and Distance Contexts Gated Recurrent Unit for Personalized POI Recommendation
Authors: Jia Yanli
Published: July 2023

Aiming at the problems resulting from the fact that the existing point of interest (POI) recommendation methods cannot effectively consider the personalized differences of users' mobile behavior in space and time, the author proposes a personalized POI recommendation method using attention-based time sequence and distance contexts gated recurrent unit (ATSD-GRU). First, the author combined the time sequence and distance context with the GRU to extract useful information from users, effectively alleviating the data sparsity. Second, inspired by the attention mechanism, the author introduced the attention model further into the neural network to capture the user's main mobile behavior intention. Finally, the author studied the ATSD-GRU and trained through Bayesian personalized sorting framework and back propagation algorithm. Experiments imply that the proposed method outperforms the comparison method in terms of the F1 index for any recommended number. When the recommendation list length is 15, the proposed algorithm exhibits an accuracy of 9.23% and a recall rate of 14.65%, both higher than the compared algorithm.
Differential Effects of Renqing and System on Employee Work Quality
Authors: Xie Bijun , Ngan Sue Lin , Li Min , Xiao Fangbin
Published: July 2023

This article investigates how Renqing and the system affect employees' work quality in Chinese culture. The leader-employee matching questionnaires were gathered using data from businesses in China's Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong, Jiangxi, and Yunnan provinces. The article then uses an empirical analytic method to analyze the data. It uses SPSS25.0 software to process data. The results indicate that the three dimensions of emotion relationship, resource relationship, and norm relationship have an equal impact on the quality of work enjoyment; the system has no substantial effect on employees' work quality, but it regulates the impact of Renqing on work quality. If a Chinese company wants employees that produce high-quality work, the article's conclusions suggest that Renqing should be considered. In the meantime, the company should increase its efforts to improve the efficiency of its system.
Cutis Verticis Gyrata in Acromegaly an infrequent finding
Authors: Palle S. , Bhandiwad C. , Paidipally S. R. , Danda V. S. R.
Published: July 2023

Cutis verticis gyrata is a rare clinical manifestation presenting with cerebral convolution like appearance of the scalp. It can be primary or secondary. We report a case of 41 year old male with acromegaly who had cutis verticis gyrata.
A clinical update on Primary Aldosteronism; Are we seeing only the tip of an iceberg?
Authors: Pathirana N. , Dissanayake P. , Jayawardana I. U. , Pathmanathan S. , Sumanatilleke M.
Published: July 2023

Primary Aldosteronism (PA) is a common form of secondary hypertension, often undiagnosed, untreated, and overlooked leading to excess cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Until recently it is being recognized as a binary disease. Recent evidence suggests PA is a disease spanning a continuum from subclinical stages to more florid disease manifesting as Conn’s syndrome. Timely diagnosis and appropriate surgical intervention can cure hypertension in PA whereas it can reduce hypertension-related target organ damage and excess mortality and morbidity associated with aldosterone excess. Unfortunately, most clinicians are still in the dark with regard to the pitfalls of diagnosing PA, thus detecting only the tip of the iceberg.