46622 research outputs found
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Beyond Loneliness
No full textThis Open Access book reimagines social connection beyond the crisis narrative of loneliness, presenting an innovative interdisciplinary model that bridges individual experiences with community infrastructure. Drawing on research with urban fringe residents, the authors reveal how meaningful connections form through complex interactions across physical and digital spaces, shaped by environmental contexts and personal capabilities. Beyond Loneliness offers a strengths-based framework through rich thematic analysis and six powerful, detailed personal narratives that illuminate connection journeys. It demonstrates how people actively navigate their social worlds and shows how contextual factors, including social, built, technological, and institutional, influence connection opportunities. For practitioners, policymakers, and researchers, this accessible book provides practical insights for fostering environments where diverse pathways to social connection can flourish. By moving beyond deficit-focused interventions toward comprehensive strategies that recognise social connection as a dynamic, relational process, Beyond Loneliness offers a transformative approach to building more connected, resilient communities
Climatic Subjects
No full textWho, or what, is the contemporary climatic subject? Addressing the climate crisis in thought, imagination, and in action requires a connection between scholars, artists, journalists, and activists. The contributors to this volume put such a cooperation into practice and present not only academic articles, but also interviews, short stories, poems, and political essays. Readers will encounter the ›climatic subject‹ as an entity and as a historical force. But they will also hear the ›climatic subject‹ posed as a question, a displacement of subjectivation under the condition of the climate crisis. Finally, they will find the ›climatic subject‹ as a connector for new subjectivities yet to be embodied in cultural practice
Unserious Ecocriticism
No full textClimate change, biodiversity loss, and environmental injustice are complex, messy, and gravely important issues. In addressing these concerns, traditional ecocriticism understandably has taken itself very seriously. Unserious Ecocriticism, by contrast, highlights alternative responses to the challenges of environmental collapse and catastrophe. By theorizing an unserious ecocriticism, contributors to this volume validate and empower alternatives to mainstream environmentalism, scholarship, and artmaking. The essays, artworks, and non-traditional scholarly formats of this edited collection demonstrate that the creative tools available to artists and those who study them are particularly well positioned to inventively disrupt normative modes of ecocritical presentation and environmentalist thought. Rather than approach environmental crises through tragic and dire warnings, contributors take seriously the unexpected or easily dismissed, play with format and form, embrace the bodily and abject, take pleasure in their subjects of study, have fun, and crack jokes. In Unserious Ecocriticism, humor, playfulness, parody, and irreverence become tools to challenge expectations, cope with complicated problems, and imagine new futures. Edited by Jessica Landau and Maria Lux, with a foreword by Aaron Sachs and contributions from Allie ES Wist, Deke Weaver, Kathleen McDermott, Annie Ronan, Kimiko Matsumura, Ina Linge, Paula Kupfer, Craig Carey, Anna Ialeggio, Topher Lineberry, Stentor Danielson, Patrick Gonder, Matthew Teti, Nicole Seymour, with Emily Eliza Scott, Rob Gioielli, and Jenny Price, Phaan Howng, and Jennifer Schell
Advanced Learning Analytics Methods
No full textThis is an open access book. This comprehensive and timely methodological book introduces several novel topics under the overarching sections of advanced learning analytics (LA), artificial intelligence (AI), precision education, and complex systems. These topics are presented using accessible language, beginning with introductory chapters that cover the fundamentals of each section, followed by step-by-step tutorials featuring code and datasets for various methods within each area. Although the title refers to “advanced LA,” the book is written for the broader educational research community and is of interest to quantitative researchers from diverse backgrounds. The first section focuses on Explainable AI and machine learning (ML), with an introduction to the methods, their applications, and tutorials. The second section outlines the foundational concepts of LLMs, their potential applications, and related methodologies, with a tutorial on using LLMs in various analytical tasks. The third section focuses on complex systems, which have become integral to many disciplines and have enabled breakthroughs in modeling intractable problems. Here, three chapters cover Transition Network Analysis (TNA), which fills a critical gap in modeling the temporal unfolding of learning processes over time from a complex systems perspective. The final section addresses precision education, with a particular emphasis on person-centered and person-specific (idiographic) methodologies
Healthcare in the United Arab Emirates
No full textHealthcare in the UAE: A Comprehensive Insight into a Transformative Journey This open-access first-of-its-kind book in United Arab Emirates (UAE) healthcare history was designed to become an essential resource for various stakeholders seeking an in-depth understanding of the healthcare landscape across the UAE, spanning all seven emirates and encompassing both private and public health systems. It systematically explores the evolving journey of healthcare policy, service delivery, and innovation in the UAE, celebrating key milestones and success stories while shedding light on ongoing challenges and unmet needs. Authored by a diverse group of experts from across the UAE, it draws contributions from professionals in primary care, specialist care, preventive medicine, public health policy, regulatory frameworks, reimbursement systems, clinical research, health informatics, health economics, medical education, training, and licensing. Additionally, it examines evolving interest areas in the UAE healthcare sector, such as the flourishing medical tourism industry and the growing use of precision medicine and artificial intelligence. Individual chapters not only delve into the challenges facing specific healthcare disciplines but also offer strategic insights into future directions, outlining clear roadmaps for desired changes. The book also presents a forward-looking blueprint for the growth of the healthcare sector over the next 50 years to meet national priorities of health longevity and infrastructure sustainability. This is the first comprehensive publication to provide such a broad, in-depth analysis of healthcare in the UAE. Endorsed by the prestigious Emirates Oncology Society and the Emirates Medical Association, it is a landmark contribution to understanding and advancing healthcare in the region. Whether you are a healthcare professional, policy maker, academic scholar, or investor, this book offers valuable perspectives and actionable insights into one of the world's most dynamic healthcare systems
The Inclusive Circular Economy
No full textThis open access book is a multi-disciplinary effort to address the complex socio-economic issues and the substantial environmental pressure that the expected large-scale migration will exert on cities in the near future. Emerging from a joint research project between China and the Netherlands, the authors herein put forward a vision for cities that the future demands while assessing efforts, recent and ongoing, in this direction. Building on the lessons learned from this research, it also proposes strategies and best practices for future policy aimed at the design and development of circular and inclusive cities