Peer-reviewed Papers Research Articles

A Systematic Literature Review of Research on Social Procurement in the Construction and Infrastructure Sector: Barriers, Enablers, and Strategies

In Australia, a new feature of public policy is the requirement by governments that large-scale infrastructure projects integrate social procurement practices that alter the traditional focus on balancing price and quality. Social procurement has been gradually developing in practice, but the academic literature has not kept pace. Although past research has identified some of the barriers affecting social procurement implementation in the construction industry, the nature of the barriers impeding its proliferation has not to date been systematically reviewed. This paper undertakes a review of the social procurement literature published from January 2012 to 30 June 2022, with 49 papers chosen under selective criteria. This critical review employs the “Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses” (PRISMA) technique to retrieve secondary data on social procurement from available peer-reviewed academic papers through three databases (Scopus, EBSCOhost, Web of Science). The literature analysis focuses on three themes: (1) barriers; (2) enablers; and (3) strategies to overcome the barriers. The paper finds that social procurement as a field of practice is evolving and expanding, but its role in contributing to social value creation remains an under-theorised concept. Recommendations for practice and future research are identified, including the need to measure the real-world impacts of policy.

Uncertainties affecting the offsite construction supply chain resilience: a systematic literature review

Purpose This paper aims to synthesise the latest literature on supply chain operations of offsite manufacturing in the construction industry to identify and evaluate the uncertainties at each stage of the offsite construction supply chain (OSC-SC) to compile contributions to knowledge and thereby determine the future research directions to improve supply chain resilience (SCR). Design/methodology/approach The study was conducted as a systematic literature review. In total, 99 peer-reviewed journal papers published between 2015 and mid-2022 were shortlisted and analysed through the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. Findings The bibliometric analysis revealed that the research focusing on supply chain issues and developing best practices in offsite construction adopt case study approaches to investigate the research problems comprehensively. The content analysis revealed the lack of up-to-date knowledge in the construction workforce regarding OSC; low preparedness for the changes brought by the SC uncertainties; the lack of a proper procurement model for OSC; lack of end-to-end visibility of the supply chain to identify uncertainties and lack of national or government standards on OSC-SC, as some of the key problems instigating the identified the uncertainties. Originality/value This study clarifies the current knowledge by systematically presenting uncertainties at each stage of the OSC-SC. Moreover, it provides a framework and proposes that future research should focus specifically on individual/team, organisational, supply chain/network and sector/national/supranational levels to improve SCR.

Hospice and Palliative Care during Disasters: A Systematic Review.

Providing and maintaining hospice and palliative care during disasters poses significant challenges. To understand the impact of disasters on the provision of hospice and palliative care and the disaster preparedness initiatives in the field, a systematic review was undertaken. Eligibility criteria for the selection of studies were: peer-reviewed original research papers addressing HPC during disasters published between January 2001 and February 2023 in English. The databases CINAHL, MEDLINE, APA PsycInfo, APA PsycArticles, and SocINDEX were searched with textword and MeSh-terms between October 2022 and February 2023. The Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool (MMAT) was used to assess the quality of the studies. Content analysis was performed. The results are presented in the form of a narrative synthesis. Of 2581 studies identified, 57 met the inclusion criteria. Most studies were published recently on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Four main themes were identified in the literature: disruption of the system, setting-specific differences, emotional challenges, and system adaptation. Overall, strategies to tackle hospice and palliative care needs have been poorly integrated in disaster preparedness planning. Our findings highlight the need to strengthen the resilience of hospice and palliative care providers to all types of disasters to maintain care standards.

Taxonomic Data Quality Control for CoL-China

Taxonomic Data Quality Control for CoL-China

Digital Start-Up Ecosystems: A Systematic Literature Review and Model Development for South Africa

Digital start-ups play a crucial role in boosting the economies of many countries through technological innovations. Several studies have been conducted assessing digital start-ups or digital entrepreneurship, mainly from the perspective of the Global North. However, gaps exist in the literature regarding digital ecosystems, especially in the context of developing countries (the Global South), such as South Africa. This study fills this gap by exploring the structure as well as highlighting the hindering factors of the start-up ecosystem in South Africa. In addition, the study explores the influential factors of the digital start-up ecosystem and models that can be used to assess upscaling for the growth of new digital start-up ventures. The study conducted a systematic literature review using the PRISMA framework. The Scopus-indexed database was used to source published peer-reviewed papers on digital ecosystems between 2017 and 2023. Key findings of the study pertaining to South Africa’s start-up ecosystem revealed that the country is producing thriving digital start-ups. The current study also identified several challenges that affect the development of digital start-ups in South Africa. Some of the challenges include regulatory barriers, skills shortages, a lack of funding, and a digital infrastructure gap, among others. Furthermore, work is being conducted by ecosystem stakeholders to address these challenges, with a greater collective and cohesive effort needed to effectively address the hindering factors. The study advocates for intervention as well as policy and practitioner implications that could be utilised by ecosystem stakeholders, particularly entrepreneurs in the digital market. The research findings pertain to the South African start-up ecosystem but have greater appeal and relevancy for many developing start-up ecosystems globally, especially in the Global South.

Preface: 4th International Conference on Education, Sport and Psychological Studies (ESPS 2023)

This proceeding includes original and peer-reviewed research papers from the 4th International Conference on Education, Sport and Psychological Studies (ESPS 2023) held on May 30-31, 2023 in Hong Kong, China.
 The aim of the conference is to provide an interactive platform for the academicians, R & D organizations, industries, innovators, entrepreneurs, government agencies and policy-makers etc., from both China and abroad to exchange ideas on recent researches and advances in the domain of Education, Sport and Psychological Studies with its prospective application in the various interdisciplinary domains of engineering. This two-day conference is being organized online in technical association with Research Center of Engineering and Science and will include invited keynote talks and oral paper presentations from both academia and industry to ignite our young minds, to initiate them in the field of meaningful research and thereby enrich their existing knowledge.
 ESPS 2023 received 87 manuscripts. By submitting a paper to ESPS 2023, the authors agreed to the review process and understood that papers undergo a peer-review process. Manuscripts were reviewed by appropriately qualified experts in the field selected by the Conference Committee, who gave detailed comments and-if the submission was accepted the authors would submit a revised version that considered this feedback. All papers were reviewed using a double-blind review process: authors declared their names and affiliations in the manuscript for the reviewers to see, but reviewers did not know each other’s identities, nor did the authors receive information about who had reviewed their manuscript. The Committees of ESPS 2022 invested great efforts in reviewing the papers submitted to the conference and organizing the sessions to enable the participants to gain maximum benefit.
 Shan Chen, Xi Wu
 Conference Committees

Anti-Inflammatory and Anti-Arthritic Activity of some Indigenous plants: A Review

Inflammatory and arthritic conditions are among those which are treated using traditional remedies, with considerable success. The aim of the present review is to collect all the current reliable data on experiments reporting the anti-inflammatory and anti-arthritic effects of medicinal plants and natural products. Investigation was carried out by analyzing recognized books and peer-reviewed papers. This article mainly focused on experimental research conducted on medicinal plants, particularly with anti-inflammatory and anti-arthritic activity with their bioactive compounds. A total of 10 plant species have been identified as active or promising sources of phytochemicals with anti-inflammatory and anti-arthritic properties.

Designing new types of problems using peer-reviewed papers

In the 21st century teachers, including university teachers, have to help students develop higher-level thinking skills, conceptual understanding, and problem-solving strategies similar to those used by experts. Previous research shows that solving traditional physics problems, which usually have one right answer and provide all the given and relevant assumptions, do not help students develop those skills. Thus, new types of problems have to be designed. We show two examples of how new types of problems can be designed using peer-reviewed research papers as the basis and share the experience with the evolution of those problems. In addition, we show that the students included in the research appreciate the structure and the context of the problems and that the faculty colleagues who are using traditional teaching approach identify several skills and competencies which these problems develop, and which cannot be developed by solving traditional problems.

The Evolution of Customised Employment and the Influence of the NDIS on Customised Employment Practice in Australia

Abstract Introduction: The New Directions Report (1985) established open employment for persons with a disability as a goal of disability service systems in Australia. Customised Employment is an emerging employment strategy that supports people with complex disabilities to find and obtain employment, while supporting Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Article 27 principles. Aims: This paper examined the origins and evidence for Customised Employment since the passing of the National Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013 and the impact of the NDIS on open employment practice underpinned by Customised Employment. Method: A literature search of peer-reviewed papers was undertaken using the EBSCO database. This was followed by a review of journals that focused on disability employment. A search of grey literature limited to studies and reports of Australian-based employment was conducted to ensure that all available data was captured. Sixty-seven peer-reviewed papers met the criteria, while only six papers met the criteria within the grey literature search. Results: The literature supporting Customised Employment and Discovery highlights the work of academics and practitioners in developing the evidence base for practice. While the descriptive studies highlighted the effectiveness of Customised Employment, they failed to meet the threshold for empirical evidence, highlighting the need for a random control trial or correlation studies. Conclusion: Customised employment is an emerging employment model with promising results that have yet to meet the threshold for evidence-based practice. While the NDIS supports Customised Employment through capacity building and school leaver transition funds, research funding is needed to ensure that it is applied with fidelity to the existing and emerging evidence

Understanding and preventing the advertisement and sale of illicit drugs to young people through social media: A multidisciplinary scoping review.

The sale of illicit drugs online has expanded to mainstream social media apps. These platforms provide access to a wide audience, especially children and adolescents. Research is in its infancy and scattered due to the multidisciplinary aspects of the phenomena. We present a multidisciplinary systematic scoping review on the advertisement and sale of illicit drugs to young people. Peer-reviewed studies written in English, Spanish and French were searched for the period 2015 to 2022. We extracted data on users, drugs studied, rate of posts, terminology used and study methodology. A total of 56 peer-reviewed papers were included. The analysis of these highlights the variety of drugs advertised and platforms used to do so. Various methodological designs were considered. Approaches to detecting illicit content were the focus of many studies as algorithms move from detecting drug-related keywords to drug selling behaviour. We found that on average, for the studies reviewed, 13 in 100 social media posts advertise illicit drugs. However, popular platforms used by adolescents are rarely studied. Promotional content is increasing in sophistication to appeal to young people, shifting towards healthy, glamourous and seemingly legal depictions of drugs. Greater inter-disciplinary collaboration between computational and qualitative approaches are needed to comprehensively study the sale and advertisement of illegal drugs on social media across different platforms. This requires coordinated action from researchers, policy makers and service providers.

The Effects of Video Lecture Design on Learners in Online Learning: A Systematic Review

Video lectures are indispensable components of current online learning platforms. They play critical roles in shaping learners’ responses and learning performance. This research intends to synthesize the findings relevant to the effects of video lecture design on learners in online learning. It identified the key elements of video lecture design and revealed their impacts on learners’ responses and learning performance by conducting a systematic review. Based on 73 peer-reviewed journal papers extracted and selected from the Web of Science (WOS) core collections database, this research illustrated the landscape of the literature by publication year, journal source, citations, and keyword co-occurrence. It also identified three themes in the literature, such as instructor presence, instructor characteristics, and content presentation, and summarized the key findings for each theme. This research contributes to the online learning literature by revealing the current status of scholarly works relevant to video lecture design and proposes an agenda for future research in this emerging field. Meanwhile, it offers practitioners the synthesized findings in the academic investigations on video lecture design in online learning.

A review of FDA approved drugs and their formulations for the treatment of breast cancer.

Breast cancer is one of the most diagnosed solid cancers globally. Extensive research has been going on for decades to meet the challenges of treating solid tumors with selective compounds. This article aims to summarize the therapeutic agents which are either being used or are currently under approval for use in the treatment or mitigation of breast cancer by the US FDA, to date. A structured search of bibliographic databases for previously published peer-reviewed research papers on registered molecules was explored and data was sorted in terms of various categories of drugs used in first line/adjuvant therapy for different stages of breast cancer. We included more than 300 peer-reviewed papers, including both research and reviews articles, in order to provide readers an useful comprehensive information. A list of 39 drugs are discussed along with their current status, dose protocols, mechanism of action, pharmacokinetics, possible side effects, and marketed formulations. Another interesting aspect of the article included focusing on novel formulations of these drugs which are currently in clinical trials or in the process of approval. This exhaustive review thus shall be a one-stop solution for researchers who are working in the areas of formulation development for these drugs.

Meaning of wellness in caring science based on Rodgers's evolutionary concept analysis.

Wellness is a holistic, multidimensional, and process-oriented property on a continuum. It has been used interchangeably with and is undifferentiated from concepts such as health and well-being without an in-depth clarification of its theoretical foundations and a reflection on its meaning. The concept of wellness is frequently used, but its definition remains unclear. To conceptually and theoretically explore the concept of wellness to contribute to a deeper understanding in caring science. Rodgers' evolutionary concept analysis was applied to the theoretical investigation of data from publications of international origins. The focus was on antecedents, attributes, consequences, surrogate and related terms, and contextual references. A literature search was performed through a manual review of reference lists and an online search in CINAHL and PubMed via EBSCO, and in ProQuest. Abstracts were examined to identify relevant studies for further review. The inclusion criteria were peer-reviewed papers in English; papers published in scientific journals using the surrogate terms 'wellness', 'health', 'health care', and 'health care and wellness'; and papers discussing and/or defining the concept of wellness. Twenty-six studies met the inclusion criteria. Based on the findings from this concept analysis, a definition of wellness was developed: 'a holistic and multidimensional concept represented on a continuum of being well that goes beyond health'. Implications for nursing practice were correspondingly presented. Wellness is defined as a holistic and comprehensive multidimensional concept represented on a continuum of being well, that goes beyond health. It calls attention by applying the salutogenic perspective to health promotion in caring science. It is strongly related to individual lifestyle and health behaviour and is frequently used interchangeably with health and well-being without an in-depth clarification of its theoretical foundation.

Review of Unimedicine as a Complete System of Alternative Medicine for Physical and Mental Health

This research paper is a compilation of eight different double-blind peer-reviewed original research papers by the author which were published in a reputed journal in past, and this paper integrates all of them into the single unified framework of “Unimedicine”, forming a complete system of alternative medicine for physical and mental health. This paper contains the original text corpus of all those published research papers in a synergistic form without changing the content or meaning, forming the integrated corpus of Unimedicine. This paper is categorized into 4 sections, each section containing two of those eight papers, with duly mentioned reference to each paper. All of those eight research papers which constitute this paper are original intellectual creations of the Author.

Occurrence of Human Viruses on Fomites in the Environment: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

Documenting the occurrence of viruses on fomites is crucial in determining the significance of fomite-mediated transmission and the potential use of fomites for environmental disease surveillance. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to compile information on the occurrence of human viruses on fomites in the environment; we identified 134 peer-reviewed papers. We compiled sampling and measurement methods, results, quality control information, and whether virus data were compared with community health data from the papers. We conducted univariate and multivariate analyses to investigate if presence of virus on fomites was associated with virus type (enveloped, nonenveloped), sampling location (healthcare setting, nonhealthcare temporary setting, nonhealthcare nontemporary setting), and area of fomite swabbed (<50, 50-100, >100 cm2). Across 275 data sets from the 134 papers, there was the most data available for Coronaviridae and from fomites at hospitals. Positivity rates, defined as the percent positive fomite samples, were low (median = 6%). Data were available on viruses from 16 different viral families, but data on viruses from 9 families had few (n < 5) data sets. Many human virus families were not identified in this review (11 families). Less than 15% of the data sets reported virus concentrations in externally valid units (viruses per area of surface), and 16% provided a quantitative comparison between virus and health data. Virus type and area swabbed were significant predictors of virus presence on fomites, and the positivity rate of data sets collected from healthcare settings and nonhealthcare nontemporary settings (e.g., individual housing) were significantly higher than those collected in nonhealthcare temporary settings (e.g., restaurants). Data from this review indicates that viruses may be present on fomites, that fomite-mediated virus transmission may occur, and that fomites may provide information on circulation of infectious diseases in the community. However, more quantitative data on diverse viruses are needed, and method reporting needs significant improvements.

Examining the Mental Health Care Needs and Outcomes of Young People Transitioning from Out-of-Home Care (OOHC) in Australia

Young people transitioning from out-of-home care (OOHC), often called care leavers, are known to experience mental health challenges. This article presents a scoping review of research studies completed on the mental health care needs and outcomes of care leavers in Australia from 2015 to 2021. Incorporating 17 studies consisting of six peer-reviewed papers and 11 grey literature reports, the review identified several common concerns pertaining to high levels of poor mental health and psychosocial complexity. These concerns were attributed to a number of factors including placement instability, inadequate access to specialist mental health support services, and limited workforce skills and training. Some sub-groups of care leavers such as young parents, those leaving residential care, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander care leavers, and an older cohort who had experience of institutional OOHC in earlier decades, were noted to be at particular risk. Nevertheless, some strategies for improving policy and practice were highlighted including more concrete transition planning that established links with support services prior to leaving care, an extension of OOHC till at least 21 years of age, provision of further supports such as trauma-informed approaches targeted towards the specific needs of this vulnerable population and culturally responsive programs for Indigenous youth. A limitation of the review was that most studies included were completed before the introduction of extended OOHC in all Australian jurisdictions, and hence do not reflect the positive influence of extended care on transition pathways including mental health. Future research should specifically examine the impact of extended care models on mental health care needs and outcomes.

An Evaluation of Kenya’s Climate Change Policy Challenges for the Building Industry Toward the Realization of Netzero Emissions

Purpose: Climate change (CC) caused by global warming has become a significant problem today. Although Kenya has established several regulations and policies to deal with the impact of climate change and reduce its nationally determined contribution to near zero as committed in the Paris Agreement, there has been an increase in Co2 emissions, especially from the building industry. Therefore, this research aims to evaluate Kenya’s CC legal and regulatory framework, investigate challenges in Kenya’s CC regulatory policies, and propose practical strategies for the climate changepolicy challenges for Kenya’s building industry to reduce GHG emissions.&#x0D; Methodology: The researcher conducted thorough literature reviews. Secondary qualitative data was collected from government policy documents in various ministries, peer-reviewed papers, international treaties, and working papers from International Non-Governmental Organizations and extensively analyzed using a mixed data analysis strategy.&#x0D; Findings: Results from the analysis revealed that Kenya’s CC regulatory framework for the building industry is inadequate, not overarching, and has limited effects on practices and processes in the building industry, thus, the continued increase of GHG emissions. There are no specific industry policies to target their processes and practices, poor implementation and enforcement reduce the effectiveness of the policies, and inadequate funds lead to inept policies and inadequate skills.&#x0D; Unique contribution to theory, practice, and policy: The paper not only contributes Literary Knowledge to the subject area of climate change but also offers policy instruments that can be used as part of NCCAP to assist in CC policy formulation for the building industry.

Integration of Technology in Education and its Impact on Learning and Teaching

This study seeks to understand the effects of technology on education: teaching and learning. All the data used in this study comes from secondary sources. Information was gathered from several sources, including peer-reviewed journal papers, published and unpublished dissertations, online and print textbooks, and encyclopaedias. Findings: Evidence on the effects of technology is contradictory, according to a review of the relevant literature. Thanks to information technology developments, classroom collaboration between teachers and students is more efficient than ever. It broadens their academic and intellectual horizons, making students more versatile in the classroom. Due to the internet's accessibility, remote learning may now be supported by technological means. Students can use search engines to conduct research. Hardware failures, software incompatibilities between home and school, or non-existent internet connections, and outdated program versions are just some of the dependability problems that students and teachers face in the classroom. Because of developments in technology like graphical calculators, high-tech gadgets, and small cameras, dishonest students may now easily gain an edge over their classmates. Distractions in modern life may be traced back in large part to technological advancements. Students' health might be negatively impacted by excessive technology usage.

Assortative mating in Gastropoda: A meta-analysis

The term ‘assortative mating’ denotes situations when the choice of a mating partner is nonrandom and the phenotypes across mate pairs are correlated, either positively or negatively. Assortative mating has been registered as a particular type of behaviour in many taxa of animals, including various vertebrate and invertebrate species. The aim of this study is to conduct a meta-analysis of published data concerning assortative mating in various taxa of Gastropoda. In total, we found 36 published peer-reviewed papers that consider the size-assortative mating in Gastropoda. 32 species belonging to different taxonomic groups of this class were studied, which provided 58 cases for further analysis. The range of estimates of the strength of assortment between individuals for species included into our meta-analysis (46 cases) is very wide: from –0.155 (Brephulopsis cylindrica) to +0.966 (Veronicella sloanii). Integrally, for the studied species of Gastropoda, the average weighted estimate of the strength of assortment between the sizes of copulating individuals was 0.381 ± 0.014. It revealed that virtually all the points representing individual studies form a funnel-shaped dispersion on a scatterplot that lies along the line representing the estimate of the generalized mean rgen = 0.343 and uniformly fill the funnel-shaped space between the lines of 95% confidence interval of the correlation coefficient for a given sample size adjusted for the overall mean. The distribution of the estimates of the correlation coefficient between copulating individuals among the various gastropod species has a shape close to the normal distribution (Kolmogorov-Smirnov's d = 0.061; P &gt; 0.20). Moreover, most estimates are concentrated within a range from 0.2 to 0.6. We found that the probability of obtaining reliable estimates of the correlation coefficient between the sizes of copulating individuals is dependent upon the number of pairs used in the analysis (binary logistic regression: χ2 = 8.92; df = 1; P = 0.0028). It can be argued that the existence of the negative size-assortative mating in Gastropoda has not yet been proved. On the other hand, if only statistically significant cases of size-assortative mating are considered (37 cases out of 58, or 63.7%), the average weighted estimate of the strength of assortment between sizes of copulating mollusks is 0.439 ± 0.015 (95% confidence interval: 0.409–0.468). If we consider the mating system and the environment simultaneously, the positive size-assortativity is most pronounced among the gonochoristic snails living in the aquatic environment (0.448 ± 0.021) while among the aquatic hermaphroditic species it is the weakest (0.315 ± 0.028). Terrestrial hermaphrodites (land snails and slugs) take the middle position. The numerous examples of the assortative mating with respect to different morphological traits, either quantitative or qualitative, have been described in various species of aquatic and land snails.

Open-Source Machine Learning in Computational Chemistry.

The field of computational chemistry has seen a significant increase in the integration of machine learning concepts and algorithms. In this Perspective, we surveyed 179 open-source software projects, with corresponding peer-reviewed papers published within the last 5 years, to better understand the topics within the field being investigated by machine learning approaches. For each project, we provide a short description, the link to the code, the accompanying license type, and whether the training data and resulting models are made publicly available. Based on those deposited in GitHub repositories, the most popular employed Python libraries are identified. We hope that this survey will serve as a resource to learn about machine learning or specific architectures thereof by identifying accessible codes with accompanying papers on a topic basis. To this end, we also include computational chemistry open-source software for generating training data and fundamental Python libraries for machine learning. Based on our observations and considering the three pillars of collaborative machine learning work, open data, open source (code), and open models, we provide some suggestions to the community.