Search Results (744)

Life expectancy (LE) varies widely across Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) countries, reflecting differences in economic, social, environmental, and health-system conditions. This review aimed to synthesize quantitative evidence on determinants of LE at birth in OIC member countries. The study was conducted in accordance with the PRISMA guidelines, and a systematic search of electronic databases was performed up to September 2025. After screening 5312 records and assessing full texts, studies were appraised using the Joanna Briggs Institute checklists, with an inclusion threshold of ≥80%. A total of 54 studies, mainly ecological, time-series, and panel analyses using national-level data, were included. Higher gross domestic product per capita, education, employment, and health expenditure were consistently associated with longer LE. In contrast, poverty, income inequality, air pollution, and carbon dioxide emissions were associated with shorter LE. Clear differences were observed across World Bank income groups, with LE being lowest in low-income OIC countries and highest in high-income Gulf Cooperation Council states, where gains were driven more by health-system resources than by income growth. Improving LE in OIC countries requires integrated economic, social, environmental, and health-system policies. Full article

Background/Objectives: Urology residency training widely varies across countries, and evidence comparing residents’ experiences at an international level is limited. This study reports the results of an international survey of urology residents from different countries worldwide, aiming to characterize training environments, educational exposure, and trainee expectations across diverse healthcare systems. Methods: A 39-item online survey was administered to urology residents during the Société Internationale d’Urologie (SIU) Regional Meeting (Florence, November 2024), assessing demographics, training exposure, educational resources, workload, satisfaction, and career perspectives. The results were compared between trainees at different postgraduate years (PGYs) to explore associations for key outcomes. Results: Overall, 208 urology residents from 21 countries completed the survey. Most residents were actively involved in research (76.4%), although confidence in independent scientific production was moderate (significantly lower among junior trainees). Surgical exposure increased with PGY, with good experience in endoscopy but limited hands-on exposure and expected autonomy in laparoscopic, robotic, and major open surgery. Despite high overall satisfaction with urology, residents described heavy workloads, inconsistent access to structured teaching and international fellowships, and a long-term shift in career expectations toward private practice. Conclusions: Urology residents worldwide report high engagement in research, strong satisfaction with their specialty choice, and interest in international mobility. Nonetheless, persistent disparities in surgical exposure, research confidence, workload, and gender representation highlight the need for competency-based curricula, structured mentorship, and improved training organization to promote equitable and high-quality urology education globally. Full article

Learning Analytics (LA) can support student success through dashboards and early-support interventions, but adoption depends on students’ willingness to allow educational data use under privacy and data-protection requirements. This study examines predictors of students’ willingness to allow educational data use for LA in higher education, focusing on perceived benefits, perceived risks, control and transparency expectations, and institutional trust. A cross-sectional survey was administered to engineering students (N = 109); after an instructed-response attention check, N = 102 valid responses were retained. Composite Likert constructs (BENEFIT, RISK, CONTROL, TRANSPARENCY, TRUST) and two willingness outcomes were analyzed: academic-support LA (WILL_ACAD) and broader aggregated institutional reporting under safeguards (WILL_BROAD). Willingness was high in both scenarios, and the paired difference did not reach statistical significance. Regression models showed that institutional trust was the strongest predictor of willingness across both use cases; perceived benefits additionally predicted willingness for academic-support LA, while perceived risk was a positive predictor in the broader-use model. Descriptive results indicated that students prioritize human review before any action affecting a student and strong security measures as key safeguards. These provide initial evidence to inform privacy-aware learning analytics governance in similar technical-university contexts; broader generalization across higher education requires replication across disciplines and institutions. Full article

Social media environments and meme-based communication are increasingly incorporated into nursing education, yet it remains unclear whether students respond uniformly to digitally embedded instructional strategies. This study examined whether alignment between meme-based instruction and perceived social media learning utility differentiates motivation, perceived academic impact, and demand for educator presence among undergraduate nursing students. A cross-sectional study was conducted with 458 nursing students from Spanish universities who completed a structured questionnaire assessing perceptions of meme-based instruction, social media learning utility, motivation, perceived academic impact, and expectations of educator presence. Hierarchical regression models examined interaction effects, quadrant comparisons were analysed using Kruskal–Wallis tests, and a sequential mediation model evaluated indirect pathways. Students reported high endorsement of meme-based instruction (M = 4.44, SD = 0.80) and social media learning utility (M = 4.15, SD = 0.80). However, substantial divergence emerged across alignment profiles. Students showing high alignment between meme endorsement and perceived social media utility tended to report higher motivation and different expectations of educator presence, whereas perceived academic impact was primarily explained by additive effects. These findings suggest that digital instructional innovations may not generate entirely homogeneous responses across students and that alignment between instructional format and perceived learning utility is associated with differences in motivational activation and instructional expectations in undergraduate nursing education. Full article

Urban green spaces are increasingly recognized as key elements of sustainable urban development; however, their economic implications, particularly for labor productivity, remain underexplored in developing countries. This study examines the impact of urban green spaces on labor productivity across 92 Indonesian cities over the period 2014–2024, while accounting for spatial dependence and dynamic effects. Urban green space is measured using the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), and labor productivity is defined as the ratio of regional economic output to employment. The analysis incorporates control variables including life expectancy, environmental quality (AOD), average years of schooling, and GDP per capita. To address spatial and temporal dynamics, this study employs a Spatial Dynamic Panel Data (SDPD) framework. The results show that urban green spaces have a positive and significant effect on labor productivity. In addition, spatial spillover effects are evident, indicating that productivity in one city is influenced by conditions in neighboring areas. Socio-economic factors, particularly health, education, and economic development, also play a significant role. These findings highlight the economic relevance of urban green infrastructure and underscore the importance of integrating environmental considerations into urban policy to enhance productivity in developing country contexts. Full article

Universities are increasingly expected to bridge the gap between higher education, skills development, and graduate employability, yet evidence-based approaches to curriculum–labour market alignment remain limited in Communication Studies. This study examines which ESCO-mapped occupational profiles and transversal competencies are represented in official curricula of leading Spanish Communication programmes (RQ1), how demand for communication-related occupations evolved in Spain over 2018–2023 (RQ2), and where the most salient alignment gaps emerge to inform curriculum redesign (RQ3). We used an explanatory sequential mixed-methods design combining documentary analysis of programme verification reports and national disciplinary documentation, an ESCO-based mapping of curricular profiles, and labour-market intelligence from 2,701,503 job postings (2018–2023) mapped to ESCO to analyse demand dynamics, volatility, and skill patterns. Results show strong curricular convergence around a shared core of ESCO profiles (71.8% of identified codes shared across institutions) alongside institution-specific specialisations (28.2%). Labour demand fluctuated markedly across the period and exhibited heterogeneous volatility by occupation, and transversal competency patterns differed significantly across professional groupings, supporting segment-specific interpretations of alignment and mismatch. Overall, ESCO combined with job-posting analytics provides a replicable framework for continuous curriculum calibration and employability-oriented programme redesign, particularly for hybrid profiles that integrate technical, analytical, relational, and ethically grounded capabilities. Full article

Distance learners in higher education are often assumed to face limited peer interaction, potentially weakening their sense of belonging. This study examines peer relationships and belonging among students in distance and blended university programs, with attention to the role of virtual reality (VR) within digitally mediated learning environments. Immersive VR teaching is included in the curriculum for distance learning students in the studied programs. Using a mixed-methods design, survey data and open-ended responses were collected from 17 students in Information Studies and Information Service Design. An adapted Classroom Community Scale was supplemented with items addressing the perceived contribution of different communication technologies. Contrary to expectations, fully distance learners did not report weaker agreement with statements reflecting belonging than blended students; on several items, they expressed stronger agreement, particularly regarding perceived peer support and learning opportunities. Results indicate that conventional 2D communication tools, particularly chats and video calls, are central to sustaining peer relationships. VR was not perceived as essential but described by some students as an added value supporting shared experience and group cohesion. Overall, belonging emerges as a socio-technical achievement shaped by communication practices rather than physical proximity. Full article

Spiritual care competence (SCC) is increasingly recognized as relevant in mental health, yet no validated tool exists in Slovenia. This study aimed to translate and validate the Spiritual Care Competence Questionnaire (SCCQ) in a Slovene sample of mental-health professionals. Guided by this aim, our research question was the following: to what extent does the SCCQ demonstrate a replicable seven-factor structure, acceptable reliability, construct validity, and coherent group differences in a Slovene sample of mental-health professionals? In a cross-sectional survey (n = 291) across outpatient, inpatient, private, and other settings, we administered the SCCQ together with measures of spiritual sensitivity (SSS), spiritual transcendence (STS), and the BFI-S. Following forward–backward translation and expert review, we conducted item analysis, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, and assessed reliability and construct validity. After removing seven psychometrically weak items, a 35-item, seven-factor structure—perception of spiritual needs, team spirit, documentation/tools, spiritual self-awareness, knowledge of other religions, conversation, and empowerment/proactive opening—showed borderline to acceptable fit (TLI = 0.917, CFI = 0.892, RMSEA = 0.068, SRMR = 0.073) and internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.67–0.87). Convergent validity was supported by positive associations with SSS/STS, while expected correlations with Big Five traits were small but significant (negative for Emotional Instability). Older age and psychotherapist profession predicted higher SCC. The Slovene SCCQ is a confession-neutral, psychometrically adequate instrument for assessing SCC in mental-health services. Findings highlight curricular needs—especially documentation/tools and team-based engagement—and enable research, education, and quality improvement aligned with international SCCQ validations. Full article

Generative AI chatbots are becoming routine study companions in STEM, which raises a pedagogical question: what do students expect human lecturers to do differently when AI support is ubiquitous? This study examines STEM undergraduates’ expectations for a transformation of the lecturer role and their social ambivalence toward AI chatbots in Sino-foreign transnational education (TNE) programmes in China. We administered an online survey to 467 consenting undergraduates across four partnership institutions (three with sufficient subgroup sizes for institutional comparison). The survey instrument captured adoption readiness, perceived AI-enabled learning enhancement, expected changes to the lecturer role (multi-select), perceived social enhancement and social reduction mechanisms, and perceived support needs; it also asked an open-ended question, collecting 454 usable comments. We report descriptive statistics, χ² tests, Spearman correlations, and exploratory content analysis results. Students expected lecturers to shift from content delivery to facilitation: 52.7% anticipated that chatbots would handle routine questions, enabling more discussion and practical activities, and 49.7% expected greater emphasis on guiding deep thinking and problem solving. Perceived social impacts were strongly ambivalent: 92.2% endorsed at least one social enhancement and at least one social reduction mechanism, and enhancement and reduction indices were positively associated (ρ = 0.547, p < 0.001), a pattern that remained stable under alternative scoring and response-style trimming (ρ range = 0.526–0.590). Importantly, higher social ambivalence was linked to stronger expectations of lecturer governance and orchestration, including the curation of chatbot resources (42.5% vs. 9.7% in high vs. low ambivalence; χ²(1) = 44.12, p < 0.001) and accuracy checking (27.6% vs. 13.4%; χ²(1) = 8.82, p = 0.003). We therefore propose ambivalence literacy as a conceptual framework for responsible AI integration: a teachable capability to recognise and navigate simultaneous social benefits and risks of AI use, and to translate that recognition into concrete expectations for lecturer governance, orchestration, and facilitative teaching design in AI-integrated transnational STEM programmes. Full article

This work addresses critical challenges to academic integrity, including plagiarism, fabrication, and verification of authorship of educational content, by proposing a Natural Language Processing (NLP)-based framework for authenticating students’ content through author attribution and style change detection. Despite some initial efforts, several aspects of the topic are yet to be explored. In contrast to existing solutions, the paper provides a comprehensive analyzis of the topic by targeting four relevant tasks, including (i) classification of human and machine text, (ii) differentiating in single and multi-authored documents, (iii) author change detection within multi-authored documents, and (iv) author recognition in collaboratively produced documents. The solutions proposed for the tasks are evaluated on two datasets generated with Gemini using two different prompts, including a normal and a strict set of instructions. During experiments, some performance reduction is observed for the proposed solutions on the dataset generated by the strict prompt, demonstrating the complexities involved in detecting machine-generated text with cleverly crafted prompts. The generated datasets, code, and other relevant materials are made publicly available on GitHub, which are expected to provide a baseline for future research in the domain. Full article

Radon (²²²Rn₈₆), the second leading cause of lung cancer, is common in indoor air. However, radon testing is generally low throughout the US. In this study, we utilized 134,496 short-term indoor air radon test results from Georgia, USA. We investigated the association of the radon testing rate with a total of 104 different independent variables belonging to seven categories: (1) Demographic and Neighborhood Characteristics; (2) Housing Characteristics; (3) Literacy and Numeracy; (4) Employment and Economy; (5) Selected Social Factors; (6) Access to Computer/Internet; and (7) Status of Healthcare, Health, Well-being, and Lifestyle. We used Bivariate Correlation, Multivariate Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) Regression, and Factor Analysis, followed by factor score-based OLS regression. Significant negative associations of the testing rates were observed with population diversity, residential segregation, urban population density, younger population, housing age, household size, low literacy, unemployment, childcare cost burden, poverty, obesity, and the frequency of mentally and physically unhealthy days. In contrast, testing rates were positively associated with older population, home value, owner-occupied homes, higher literacy, higher institutional education, income, prevalence of social association, and life expectancy. The findings provide valuable insights for identifying the communities where socio-culturally relevant outreach activities would increase testing rates and minimize the public health consequences of environmental radon. Full article

Background: The purpose of this article is to identify the expectations of Generation Z representatives regarding organizational changes and directions of innovation supporting sustainable development of enterprises, considering social and environmental aspects of working conditions. Methods: The study was conducted in the form of an online survey from 2024–2025. The research sample included 310 people selected using a purposive sampling method, with inclusion criteria covering membership of Generation Z (people born after 1995). In the research questionnaire, “organizational innovations” were operationalized through flexible work arrangements, process digitalization, new models of team collaboration, the development of digital competencies, and solutions supporting work–life balance. “Sustainable development” was conceptualized across three dimensions: social (well-being, inclusivity, CSR), organizational (development opportunities, employment stability), and environmental (ecological responsibility). The Mann–Whitney U test and the Kruskal–Wallis test were used to analyze intergroup differences. Results: Descriptive results (mean scores) indicate that respondents rated flexible work arrangements, opportunities for professional development, and effective team collaboration as the most crucial factors supporting sustainable organizational development. The Mann–Whitney U test showed that women rated the importance of well-being (p = 0.003), work–life balance (p = 0.001), diversity and inclusivity (p = 0.012), and corporate social responsibility (p = 0.008) significantly higher than men. Educational and professional status differentiated the assessment of employment stability (Kruskal–Wallis test, p = 0.021). Although social and environmental aspects are recognized, for the younger generation, the most crucial factors remain direct working conditions and development opportunities that foster innovation. Conclusions: The results of the study may be useful for employers (entrepreneurs and HR managers) in shaping modern HR strategies. This applies to the design of attractive working conditions in the realities of the digital economy. The research fills a gap in understanding the values that young people appreciate in terms of ensuring high-quality working conditions. Full article

Background: Peripheral nerve stimulation (PNS) is increasingly used in selected patients with neuropathic pain, and many individuals seek supplemental online information to clarify procedural expectations and postoperative care. Large language models such as ChatGPT may provide scalable patient education; however, their performance for PNS-related questions has not been evaluated. This study assessed the reliability, accuracy, and comprehensibility of ChatGPT-5.0 responses to common PNS patient questions. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional evaluation of ChatGPT-5.0 responses to 21 standardized questions derived through expert consensus, spanning pre-implantation, implantation, and post-implantation domains. Sixteen board-certified interventional pain specialists and a nurse educator independently rated each response using validated scales for reliability (1–6), accuracy (1–3), and comprehensibility (1–3). Descriptive statistics were calculated, and domain-level patterns were examined. Results: Clinician ratings demonstrated generally strong performance across all domains. Mean reliability was 4.7 ± 1.4, mean accuracy 2.6 ± 0.6, and mean comprehensibility 2.8 ± 0.5. Foundational questions addressing mechanisms, expectations, and postoperative care received the highest ratings. Lower ratings were observed for implantation-focused items requiring procedural nuance. No response fell below predefined acceptability thresholds, and sensitivity analyses confirmed that including one partial evaluator did not alter the observed trends. Conclusions: ChatGPT-5.0 generated responses to PNS-related patient questions that clinicians rated as generally reliable, accurate, and understandable, particularly for foundational and postoperative topics. Performance was more variable for procedural questions, underscoring the need for clinician oversight and verification. These findings provide a benchmark of current LLM capabilities and highlight the importance of ongoing evaluation as models evolve and as patients access versions with differing functionalities. Full article

The use of animals in biomedical research and university teaching remains socially sensitive, shaped by ethical concerns, regulations, and public expectations. While animal models are still essential for basic and translational research, society increasingly demands transparency, strong welfare protections, and the development of alternative methods. This study investigated Spanish university students’ attitudes toward the use of animals in basic research, translational research, and educational settings, and examined their acceptance of different species for addressing human health problems. It also assessed how sociodemographic variables, personality traits, empathy, and anthropomorphism relate to these views. The sample included 653 students, predominantly women, heterosexual, and urban residents. Most participants supported the use of animals in research, whereas opinions regarding teaching uses were more divided. Attitudes toward the use of laboratory animals consistently differed by gender and field of study, with men and students in science-related disciplines showing higher acceptance. Of the psychological variables assessed, only anthropomorphism showed moderate negative correlations with support for the use of laboratory animals across all contexts. Species strongly influenced attitudes: companion animals generated the most opposition, primates and livestock elicited mixed responses, and rodents, invertebrates, and aquatic species received the highest support. Overall, students generally accept animal use but vary substantially by species, gender, and academic background. Full article

In developing countries, sustainable development strategies are increasingly shifting toward a green economy that integrates economic, social, and environmental dimensions. Despite the growing importance of green economic growth, comparative empirical studies examining its determinants in Turkey and Romania remain limited. This study investigates the dynamic relationships between environmentally sustainable growth, carbon emissions, life expectancy, renewable energy consumption, education, and technological innovation in Turkey and Romania over the period 1980–2023. Using annual time series data, the analysis applies the Augmented Dickey–Fuller and Zivot–Andrews unit root tests to examine stationarity and potential structural breaks. The empirical framework is based on the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) bounds testing approach, which allows the estimation of both long-run equilibrium relationships and short-run dynamics. The results provide partial evidence of long-run relationships among the variables. Although the ARDL bounds test results fall within the inconclusive region, the negative and statistically significant error correction terms indicate that deviations from long-run equilibrium are corrected over time. The findings also reveal heterogeneous short-run causal interactions across the two countries, suggesting that the drivers of environmentally sustainable growth differ between Turkey and Romania. Overall, the results highlight the importance of country-specific policy frameworks, institutional structures, and energy transition pathways in promoting green economic growth. Full article