21st Century Research Articles

Living in a Post-material World? Assessing the Impact of Economic and non-Economic Shifts on the Success of the German Greens

ABSTRACT How does the state of the German economy influence the performance of the German Green Party? Investigating the strong correlation between Germany’s economic standing and the German Greens’ electoral results over the past two decades, this article tests the post-material contention that throughout the 21st Century, confidence in the economy has enabled citizens to more fully consider socio-cultural issues, including those key to the Greens’ political appeal, translating to stronger Green Party performance. Data from Politbarometer support this argument, showing that concern for key socio-cultural issues mediates and helps explain the relationship between satisfaction with the national economy and Green electoral performance over time. However, this trend does not hold when considering personal economic satisfaction, suggesting there are further considerations which impact how economic development influences the Greens’ performance.

Reader Response: The Brain Health Imperative in the 21st Century—A Call to Action: The AAN Brain Health Platform and Position Statement

Reader Response: The Brain Health Imperative in the 21st Century—A Call to Action: The AAN Brain Health Platform and Position Statement

Author Response: The Brain Health Imperative in the 21st Century—A Call to Action: The AAN Brain Health Platform and Position Statement

Author Response: The Brain Health Imperative in the 21st Century—A Call to Action: The AAN Brain Health Platform and Position Statement

Editors' Note: The Brain Health Imperative in the 21st Century—A Call to Action: The AAN Brain Health Platform and Position Statement

Editors' Note: The Brain Health Imperative in the 21st Century—A Call to Action: The AAN Brain Health Platform and Position Statement

Study on Lean Six Sigma methodology from the Indian context: an investigation of literature

Purpose India liberalized its economy in 1991, which resulted in intense global competition, quality-conscious and demanding customers. Additionally, significant technological advancements lead to enhancements in products and processes. These forced Indian organizations to adopt innovative business strategies in the past 30 years. Meanwhile, the Lean Six Sigma methodology has significantly grown with vast applicability during the past 30 years. Thus, the purpose of this study is to develop the learning on Lean Six Sigma methodology in the Indian context through investigation of literature. Design/methodology/approach A three-stage systematic literature review approach was adopted to investigate the literature during the present study. In total, 187 articles published in 62 journals/conference proceedings from 2005 to 2022 (18 years) were shortlisted. The first part of the article summarizes the significant milestones towards the quality journey in the Indian context, along with the evolution of the Lean Six Sigma methodology. The second part examines the shortlisted papers on Lean Six Sigma frameworks, their applicability in industrial sectors, performance metrics, outcomes realized, publication trends, authorship patterns and leading researchers from the Indian perspective. Findings Lean Six Sigma has emerged as a highly acclaimed and structured business improvement strategy worldwide. The Indian economy has seen remarkable growth in the past decade and is one of the fastest-growing economies in the 21st century. Lean Six Sigma implementation in India has significantly increased from 2014 onward. The study revealed that researchers have proposed several different frameworks for Lean Six Sigma implementation, the majority of which are conceptual. Furthermore, the balanced applicability of Lean Six Sigma in manufacturing and service sectors was observed with the highest implementation in the health-care sector. Additionally, the widely adopted tools, techniques along with performance metrics exploring case studies were reported along with a summary of eminent and leading researchers in the Indian context. Research limitations/implications This study is confined to reviewed papers as per the research criteria with a significant focus on the Indian context and might have missed some papers due to the adopted papers selection strategy. Originality/value The present study is one of the initial attempts to investigate the literature published on Lean Six Sigma in the Indian context, including perspective on the Indian quality movement. Therefore, the present study will provide an understanding of Lean Six Sigma methodology in the Indian context to graduating students in engineering and management and entry-level executives. The analysis and findings on Lean Six Sigma frameworks, research approach, publications details, etc., will be helpful to potential research scholars and academia. Additionally, analysis of case studies on Lean Six Sigma implementation by Indian industries will assist the managers and professionals in decision making.

Can Cardiovascular Risk Assessment Be Improved in the 21st Century?

Can Cardiovascular Risk Assessment Be Improved in the 21st Century?

The role of digital literacy, epistemological belief and reading motivation and engagement in teaching 21st century skills

PurposeThe aim of this study was to shed some light on the extent to which digital literacy, epistemological belief and reading motivation and engagement predict pre-service teachers’ capabilities in teaching 21st century skills.Design/methodology/approach21st Century Skills Teaching Scale, Internet based Epistemological Beliefs Scale, Internet based Reading Motivation and Engagement Scale as well as Digital Literacy Scale were used to collect the data. A total of 512 pre-service teachers from four universities in Türkiye participated in the study. Descriptive statistics, correlation and structural equation model fitness tests were performed by using SPSS 24.0 and AMOS 22.0.FindingsFirst, the results of the correlations analysis indicated that there were statistically significant positive correlations among measured variables. Second, the results of the path and SEM model fit tests demonstrated that all the model fit indices of X2/df, TLI, CFI, RMSEA met the acceptable criteria and were shown to be an adequate model structure. Finally, the results demonstrated strong evidence for predicting effects of digital literacy, epistemological belief as well as reading motivation and engagement on teaching 21st century skills.Research limitations/implicationsThis study is limited by the fact that the evidence relies solely on pre-service teachers' self-reporting. Secondly, although the hypothesised model explained 45.2% variance of pre-service teachers’ competence in the 21st century skills, 54.8% of it remains unexplained.Originality/valueThe results of this study suggest important implications for teaching programs as they underscore the importance of digital literacy on epistemological beliefs, reading motivation and competence in teaching 21st century skills.

Strategic technological processes in hospitals: Conflicts and personal experiences of healthcare teams.

Global health systems operate amid dynamic factors, including demographic shifts, economic variations, political changes, technological progress, and societal trends that lead to VUCA reality (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity). To address these challenges, healthcare organizations are increasingly turning to Strategic Technological Processes and digital transformation. Against this background, the current study examined the personal experiences, conflicts, difficulties, and moral dilemmas attendant upon accommodating this digital transformation of healthcare professionals. The study involved 27 healthcare professionals working in Israeli hospitals, whose experiences and perspectives were central to understanding the impact of digital transformation in healthcare settings. The study methodology rested on in-depth interviews, which were analyzed through the prism of the Listening Guide analytical technique. The research obtained pre-approval from the Ethics Committee at the researcher's institution. The study revealed that the healthcare professionals are indeed facing ethical conflicts and personal challenges related to digitalization (such as providing the best quality of care, being the best caregiver, and acting for the betterment of the hospital). It also identified dilemmas resulting from conflicts between the needs and demands of the health system and the healthcare professionals' values and resources. The study findings highlight the impact of ethical and moral challenges accompanying strategic organizational and digital transformation changes implemented by healthcare organizations worldwide. These challenges arise as healthcare institutions adapt to the demands of the 21st century, potentially leading to burnout and moral distress among healthcare professionals, further exacerbating the already stressful reality they face. In conclusion, the study emphasizes the critical necessity for comprehensive support strategies to alleviate stress and burnout among healthcare professionals. As healthcare organizations and personnel navigate significant organizational changes to address contemporary challenges, prioritizing the well-being of healthcare workers through effective support mechanisms becomes imperative.

Medicine in the 21st Century: How Not to Lose the Art of Healing?

In our time of advanced technologies, the Internet, and the enormous acceleration of all areas of humanitarian activity, medical scientists make outstanding discoveries and innovations that revolutionize diagnostic approaches and treatment options, improve patient care, and enrich the way to a healthier world. Is there still a place for the art of medicine in the era of innovations and artificial intelligence? Although modern technology in the field of medicine with computerization of every aspect (including electronic medical records, laboratory data entry, images, patients' monitoring systems, etc.), young physicians, while embracing that innovation, should be trained in the development of clinical thinking and the establishment of personalized connections to the patients. Young physicians should be taught to adopt the ability to see, hear, and feel a patient's problems, formulate optimal management, and be empathetic to the patient's emotions and suffering. Communication skills are a key to successful medical practice and a part of "the Introduction to Clinic" course in almost all medical schools, but a substantial lack of time in clinical settings creates new challenges for communication between medical students, clinical teachers, and patients in medical schools. In many areas around the world, including Ukraine, this problem has been aggravated by wars, epidemics, pandemics, and natural disasters. At the same time, developing clinical observational skills remains an integral part of medical education and the basis of medical art. The art of a careful physical exam should not be lost behind a computer screen. Dnipro State Medical University has traditions of integrating centuries-old world historical experiences of teaching the art of healing into the philosophical concept of forming the critical clinical thinking of medical students. Our medical school has incorporated "diagnosing the canvas" into its curriculum. A thematic gallery of diagnostic symptoms and signs from great artists of all times and peoples has been created, expanding the young physicians' educational horizons in clinical thinking, empathy, and mercy.

The trouble with TESSOC: the coming crisis in British and allied military counterintelligence doctrine

ABSTRACT This article examines the evolution of UK military doctrine on counterintelligence (CI), one of the more consistently troubled aspects of military doctrine in general and intelligence doctrine in particular. We argue that current UK and NATO CI doctrine are in thrall to a deeply problematic defining concept in TESSOC (Terrorism, Espionage, Sabotage, Subversion and Organised Crime) that conflates an intractably diverse assortment of security threats under CI. Furthermore, TESSOC is the latest embodiment of a slow, century-long oscillation between two different basic concepts of CI. The first focuses purely on human threat vectors (referred to here as Human Threat CI or HTCI) while the latter entails a more comprehensive, all-source range of adversary technical and open as well as human source intelligence activities (designated Multidisciplinary CI or MDCI in US doctrine). That oscillation is driven largely by the balance between conventional and asymmetrical operations in defence priorities and recent campaign experience. TESSOC is a legacy of the recent, pre-Russo-Ukraine War emphasis on counterterrorism (CT) and counterinsurgency (COIN) operations. Consequently, UK and allied military counterintelligence doctrine are entering the second quarter of the 21st Century fundamentally ill-equipped to cope with strategic peers and their use of full-spectrum and hybrid strategies.

By design

This paper takes a design research approach to the challenge of transforming learning and teaching in higher education (HE) as it is experienced at the level of an interdisciplinary team composed of content matter experts and specialists in education. It is based on the reflections of members of the team working collaboratively to transform an undergraduate biology unit, delivered in intensive mode in parallel with a standard teaching semester to improve both student engagement and teaching staff satisfaction. The unit learning design tests 21st century active learning pedagogies in the context preparing students for their professional lives. Using semi-structured interviews and reflective inquiry the authors attempt to uncover the salient features of the process of implementing technology enhanced learning, and generate constructive design solutions. The work is situated in the scholarship of learning and teaching as it encourages "reflection-in-action" and a commitment to sharing what works in STEM teaching and learning in contemporary environments. The teaching team focus on the complex problems of preparation, attendance, and engagement in a series of intensive labs, whilst the professional staff focus on the complex problems of innovation and student engagement in higher education. A number of known and hypothetical learning design principles are integrated with the affordances of the chosen learning environment (OneNote) and used to propose plausible solutions. These solutions are used to iteratively refine the learning environment and reveal new design principles. The data shows improved staff engagement with the unit and the students through an enhanced role in the application and development of modern pedagogies. The paper emphasises the benefits of providing for and supporting the emergence of microcultures, and suggest strategies for those that wish to emulate the approach taken.

The rise of design in higher education and non-design students’ experiences of learning through design

ABSTRACT An interest in design integration across school subjects emerged in the 1990s because of pressures on teachers to develop competencies deemed valuable to students for the 21st century, such as problem-solving skills and creative thinking. The 2000s also witnessed a rise in design across higher education curricula. Like schoolteachers at the turn of the century, educators in universities started looking for ways to catch up with their institutions’ move toward marketization initiatives. This article compares the rise of design in schools with higher education. It shows that in both cases, design was adopted as a response to calls for teaching students economic-driven educational goals. The article also provides a possible explanation of why, unlike the variation in types of design taught to school students, design-based learning in higher education focuses on one type, and that is design thinking. The article then presents findings from a qualitative interview study with non-design students across programs who challenge us to consider other types of design they experience and how design learning outcomes are valuable to higher education students beyond market-centric goals.

Analysing Critical Thinking Competencies of Rajiv Gandhi University Students in Arunachal Pradesh: An Empirical Survey

Critical thinking skills falls under the 4Cs of 21st century skills. Critical thinking involves approaching problems by analysing the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of an issue. This cognitive ability enables one to compare evidence, assess assertions, to come to sound conclusions. The purpose of the study was to investigate university students’ critical thinking competencies. In this study, descriptive survey method is used. Critical Thinking Scale by Sharma and Priyamvada (2022) was used to collect data. The study revealed no significant difference in the students critical thinking abilities between male and female, rural and urban, or from nuclear or mixed families.

Downscaling Future Precipitation over Mi Oya River Basin using Artificial Neural Networks

Studying future precipitation behaviour in river basins is essential for proper water resources and land-use planning within them, as this will help to reduce the risk and mitigate disasters that can occur in the future. General Circulation Models (GCMs) are used to study future precipitation fluctuations, which simulate large-scale climate variations under the effect of greenhouse gas changes. The GCM runs at a coarse spatial resolution which cannot be directly used for climate impact studies. Therefore, downscaling is required to extract the sub-grid and local scale information. This study examines the use of the Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) neural network for climate downscaling to the Mi-Oya river basin in Sri Lanka using CNRM-CM5 and HadCM3 GCMs and observed annual data for 35 years. The precipitation data were extracted to cover Sri Lanka. Current downscaling models mostly use Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) to downscale GCMs. Out of 42 GCMs, two appropriate GCMs were chosen using the data analysis tool Data Integration and Analysis System (DIAS). The best predictor variables were chosen using the LASSO regression method. In this research, Machine Learning models were implemented using the Google TensorFlow platform. The Nash–Sutcliffe coefficient, Pearson correlation coefficient, and root-mean-square error performance indices were used to evaluate the performances of different downscaling models. Statistical downscaling was performed on the data at RCP 2.6, 4.5, and 8.5 using a LSTM. Subsequently, the changes that would take place by the year 2100 were analysed. The results show that precipitation will be reduced in the 2nd and 3rd decades of the 21st century, and precipitation will increase toward the 22nd century.

Digital Experiments with Landed Property: Robots, Race, and Rent

AbstractA wide range of digital innovations has changed property relations globally over the past fifteen years. What are we to make of these digital experiments with landed property? I argue we should not mistake their technological novelty for a break with the geographic and historical specificities of property relations. The yoking of property to modernity and civilization makes technological progress a fundamental part of how relationships to land are constituted and reconstituted, and in whose interests, throughout global capitalism. In this article, I situate 21st century housing market technologies within sedimented relations of landed property in the United States, showing the history of property innovation in the United States is also one of racialized wealth accumulation and dispossession. I interpret current anxieties about ‘robot landlords’ as anxieties about how the shifting landscape of property ownership appears to threaten the economic benefits associated with racial dominance.

Climate Change and Socio-Economic Impacts: Determinants of Vulnerability for Developing Countries

Climate change is the connected system of solar cycle that creates fluctuations weather arrays across tropics to polls. Anticipated climate changes for the 21st century have been encountered complex challenges for humanity that significantly influence over diverse components such as environmental, ecological, socio-political and socio-economic systems among others. This study incorporates a desk literature review and at the first step researchers shortlisted the keywords regarding climate change, socioeconomic impacts and determinants of vulnerability. Mixed method approach applied for this desk review. Numerous online search engines such as Google, Google Scholar, Scopus, Web of Science and Springer were selected to review the published research studies. The collected data comprises on various forms such as book chapters, books, research articles, reports, working papers, organizational evaluation studies and conferences papers. After strict inclusion and exclusion criteria researchers gathered to 89 studies from 31 publications outlets, which were interrelated to different search engine and covering climate change impacts on developing countries. The findings endorsed the climate change socio-economic impacts are more sever particularly in developing countries of south Asia like Pakistan. The astonishing and spatial heterogeneities are the clear indications for comprehensive integrated interventions, policies and procedure to eliminate or reduce socio-economic climate change impacts of developing countries. Keywords: Climate change, Socio-economic impacts, Determinants of vulnerability, Environmental degradation, climate change and developing countries

Patriarchal pacts in the neo-archaic manosphere: warband brotherhoods as fascist masculinity

ABSTRACT This paper situates contemporary manospheric culture within archaic forms of masculine identity formation foundational to patriarchal political orders and fascism. What happens when 21st century emergent masculinity is also what Deleuze and Guattari call a neo-archaism? Drawing from Celia Amoros’ understanding of patriarchy as being primarily composed of masculine pacts and packs, I analyse the manosphere as an neo-archaic space for the formation of brotherhoods. Moreover, these fratriarchal groupings are warbands, reviving the Männerbund as fascist patriarchal pact. An analysis that takes seriously the neo-archaic elements of the manosphere sees the archaic not as past imaginary but a revived force that erupts in the present. We can see the manosphere less as one part of the internet than a transnationally spreading zone that expands this archaic war. Finally, the paper argues that the conjuncture is riven by the revival of a patriarchal power that is primordial, defined as a first order in which gender is foundational to its mythical establishment.

Location and Intensity Changes of the North Equatorial Countercurrent Tied to ITCZ Under Global Warming

AbstractPrevious studies have suggested that global ocean circulation would be significantly changed under global warming, while the change of North Equatorial Countercurrent (NECC) and its mechanisms are still unclear. Here, we investigate the location and intensity changes of NECC under global warming based on CESM1 high‐resolution long‐term simulations from the perspective of the Inter‐Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), considering the close connection between NECC and ITCZ and well‐established changes of ITCZ. It is found that the annual‐mean NECC shifts equatorward of 0.39° and weakens by 21.71% in the RCP8.5 scenario at the end of 21st century. The NECC change is seasonally dependent, with maximum shift and weakening during spring, consistent with the changes of ITCZ. Both the location and intensity changes of ITCZ are important in the NECC changes, especially for spring. The weakening and equatorward shift of ITCZ contributes almost equally to the strongest decrease of spring NECC (47.63%).

Non-functional demand model vs functional demand model: prospects for competitiveness in a transforming world

The purpose of the article is to analyse the problem of changing the relationship between non-functional and functional demand. The main task of the presented research is to define the most competitive model (based on functional or non-functional demand) of consumer behaviour in the conditions of the economy of the 20s of the XXI century. To solve this problem, we studied the structure of consumer demand: functional and non-functional ones. We identified the features of non-functional demand, and considered the reasons for its expansion in modern society. Moreover, paper highlights fixing changes in consumer orientations, which resulted in the search for satisfaction not only of material needs, but also aesthetic, emotional, and social ones. It allowed us to formulate a conclusion on the existence of objective reasons for the spread of non-functional demand. Within the framework of non-functional demand, we perform an analysis of origin and expansion of the downshifting phenomenon through the transformation of the basis of functional demand. The authors believe that qualitative changes in global socio-economic development have revolutionized the theoretical concepts of rationality, which are the basis of the functional demand model. Nevertheless, authors criticise the interpretation of downshifting as a model of irrational consumer behaviour, and put forward a hypothesis on the legitimacy of this new phenomenon to be analysed within the framework of functional demand. The authors consider the assumption of the possibility of changing the objectives of society to be a condition for the realization of this hypothesis. it can cause the transformation of «efficiency» concept over the past 300 years. Paper forecasts increasing of non-economic goals rationality, cooperation, mutual benefits, and the coupling of knowledge and technology to moral, cultural, and ethical principles and norms. As a result, in the contrary to the widespread assessment of downshifting as a deviant form of consumer behavior, there was put forward hypothesis considering downshifting as a part of classical consumer choice matrix, taking into account the transformation of this matrix itself.

Web-Based Education Personnel Management: An Innovation in the Development of Education Management in the 21st Century

In the 21st century, technology-based institutions require clear parameters for evaluating employee performance. Manual performance assessment processes necessitate the development of a technology-driven information system to streamline leadership's evaluation of employees. This study is dedicated to analyzing the prerequisites for designing an information technology-based performance monitoring system tailored for educational staffs, organized into four stages: defining, designing, developing, and disseminating. By involving 71 educational staffs, this study resulted in the creation of the SI-IKAH (Sistem Input Kinerja Harian Tenaga Kependidikan) or the Daily Performance Input System for Education Personnel, specifically designed for the Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia Sumedang Campus. The system comprises modules for collecting personal information, work unit details, types of tasks, work hours, work outcomes, and generating reports for educational staff. This study concludes that the implementation of this system has the potential to boost employees performance motivation, ensure the currency of institutional data, and enhance the efficiency of employee work assessments.