Special Theme Issue Research Articles

PSIT communication, collaboration, and inclusion: needs, challenges, and current proposals

The 21st century has involved several changes at the social, economic, educational, health, etc. levels, brought about by events of different types, such as, for example, the constant conflicts in different parts of the world (including the Afghan conflict or the war in Ukraine), natural disasters caused by climate change, or health crises such as COVID-19 (Valero-Garcés and Alcalde Peñalver, 2024). These situations have often resulted in humanitarian crises that have involved large-scale population movements (Valero-Garcés and Alcalde Peñalver, 2024). This increase in population movements has been a challenge in itself as it has led to the configuration of new multicultural societies across the globe (Valero-Garcés and Lázaro Gutiérrez, 2016). This new reality implies not only coexistence but also access to basic public rights and services for the host population who does not speak the main language as well as the fulfilment of human rights (Vitalaru, forthcoming); in these different contexts, communication is essential. The very characteristics of PSIT, with its variety of contexts and situations, imply a series of challenges for different groups (users, service providers, and translators and interpreters) related to the provision and availability of services; provision and availability depend on the field in question, the availability of professionals for all the language combinations involved, the existence of training programmes, the quality of the training available, access to such training, etc. These challenges have been identified through the practice of the profession as well as through more specific research and are all related in some way to professionalisation. This article gathers some of the needs and challenges raised in different studies focused on Spain, as well as a summary of the topics covered in the articles included in this thematic issue of the journal. The contributions in this issue attempt to offer, from different perspectives (professional practice, training, and research), results, reflections, and actions considering the variety of PSIT situations and tasks. As this is a special thematic issue, the issue includes only articles and interviews.

Towards a gerontology of everything: A more-than-human perspective

Engaging with the special issue's theme of ‘The growing older of humans, non-humans and more-than-humans’, this commentary provides an overview of how social theory has engaged with the ageing body. Beginning with discussion of initial scholarship in the sociology of the body, the commentary provides thoughts on how more-than-human theory, both ‘old’ and ‘new’ materialisms, can contribute to a deeper understanding of how human bodies age alongside nonhuman living things, situated in place and space. This approach acknowledges the distributed forces, agencies and capacities that are generated with and through the relational encounters of humans with nonhuman agents as they move through the life course. The commentary ends with some suggestions for incorporating a ‘gerontology of everything’ perspective into ageing studies as a step towards more-than-human mutual flourishing.

Introduction to the Special Topics Issue on Rural Multilingual Education

Introduction to the Special Topics Issue on Rural Multilingual Education

Introduction to the Special Theme issue “Innovative, Interactive, and Intelligent Uses of Technology in Multilingual Classrooms”

Introduction to the Special Theme issue “Innovative, Interactive, and Intelligent Uses of Technology in Multilingual Classrooms”

The Ongoing Challenge of Digital Technology Innovation

This special theme issue of NEJM Catalyst Innovations in Care Delivery, guest edited by Rasu Shrestha, MD, MBA, includes articles, case studies, and research reports on digital technology adoption, the uses of artificial intelligence, in-basket workflow, telehealth-enabled nursing, and digitally enabled care.

Feminist flashpoints and the burning question of accountability

The media coverage of the Rubiales/Hermoso non-consensual kiss reveals the ongoing difficulties of holding powerful men accountable, despite decades of feminist mobilisation around sexual violence. This essay builds on Sarah Banet-Weiser’s concept of the ‘feminist flashpoint’ as spectacular media events which can help problematise cultural understandings of ‘accountability’ beyond ‘cancel culture’ and carceral feminist politics. Analysing the Rubiales/Hermoso non-consensual kiss in relation to another feminist flashpoint, the contested interpretation of the photograph V-J Day in Times Square, initiates an epistemological shift that focuses on the spectators of the kiss instead of its protagonists. This critical shift locates a feminist practice of accountability in processes of historicization and thinks of responsibility in collective rather than invidividual terms. This piece is part of a special themed issue on the Rubiales/Hermoso non-consensual kiss.

‘With you, sister @JenniHermoso’: Productive rage in the viralization of #SeAcabó

The hashtag #SeAcabó [It’s over], which was originally published on X by Spanish football player Alexia Putellas in support of her teammate Jenni Hermoso following a nonconsensual kiss by the then president of Spanish football, Luis Rubiales, managed to channel the transformative collective rage toward sexual violence in Spain. Following the World Cup final, while mainstream media, especially sports media, either ignored the act, gave Rubiales a voice, or even defended him, indignation at an act seen as sexual violence went viral on the networks. #SeAcabó spurred the expression of rage in a digital environment conditioned by the previous La Manada ( The Wolf Pack) gang rape case in 2016 that gave rise to the hashtag #YoSiTeCreo [I do believe you] in support of the accuser. While Rubiales has maintained that the kiss was consensual and has accused ‘false feminism’ of conspiring against him, Hermoso has become a legitimate spokesperson for those who fight against the affective injustice suffered by victims of sexual violence, who even go so far as to deny their condition, for fear of not being believed. In this short piece, we draw on Lorde and Cherry’s concept of productive rage to argue that Spanish feminism fostered, through the #SeAcabó movement, collective resistance to sexual violence, managing to put consent at the center of the debate in the public sphere. This piece is a part of a special themed issue on the Rubiales / Hermoso non-consensual kiss.

How to Bridge Public Health and Care Delivery

This special theme issue of NEJM Catalyst Innovations in Care Delivery, guest edited by Nicholas Stine, MD, includes articles, case studies, and research reports on coordination across public health and care delivery, Covid-19 response, tuberculosis screening, the 2022 mpox outbreak, pediatric asthma intervention, abortion and reproductive health care, and public health data.

Introduction to Special Theme Issue.

Introduction to Special Theme Issue.

Innovation in Pursuit of Patient-Centered Care

This special theme issue of NEJM Catalyst Innovations in Care Delivery, guest edited by James Merlino, MD, FACS, includes articles, case studies, and research reports on patient-centered care, PROMs and PREMs, at-home acute care, and payment for patient safety.

Introduction to the Special Thematic Issue "Virtual Reality and Eye Tracking".

Technological advancements have made it possible to integrate eye tracking in virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR). Many new VR/AR headsets already include eye tracking as a standard feature. While its application previously has been mostly limited to research, we now see installations of eye tracking into consumer level VR products in entertainment, training, and therapy. The combination of eye tracking and VR creates new opportunities for end users, creators, and researchers alike: The high level of immersion – while shielded from visual distractions of the physical environment – leads to natural behavior inside the virtual environment. This enables researchers to study how humans perceive and interact with three-dimensional environments in experimentally controlled, ecologically valid settings. Simultaneously, eye tracking in VR poses new challenges to gaze analyses and requires the establishment of new tools and best practices in gaze interaction and psychological research from controlling influence factors, such as simulator sickness, to adaptations of algorithms in various situations. This thematic special issue introduces and discusses novel applications, challenges and possibilities of eye tracking and gaze interaction in VR from an interdisciplinary perspective, including contributions from the fields of psychology, human-computer interaction, human factors, engineering, neuroscience, and education. It addresses a variety of issues and topics, such as practical guidelines for VR-based eye tracking technologies, exploring new research avenues, evaluation of gaze-based assessments, and training interventions.

New Theoretical and Practical Horizons in Data‐driven Learning: Introduction to the Special Issue

AbstractThis paper introduces readers to the TESOL Quarterly special topic issue: Assessing the effectiveness of corpus‐based approaches to English language teaching. The authors open by briefly defining and outlining data‐driven learning (DDL) research on second language (English) teaching. This is followed by an extended discussion of four themes, which pertain to recent developments and future directions in DDL. These themes include: (1) selecting corpora for corpus‐based language teaching; (2) pushing the boundaries of DDL; (3) preparing language educators for corpus‐based language teaching; and (4) reflecting on theory and methods. Throughout the piece, readers are also introduced to those contributions within the special issue, which include a diverse range of pieces that focus on aspects of theory, research, and pedagogy.

Thinking like a feminist and reading with love

In this paper, we expand the Foucauldian question of what is thinking doing? We approach the question in the context of reading as an entirely ontological enterprise. Aligned with the special issue theme of reading as a “long preparation,” and prompted by Deleuze’s discussion of “reading with love,” we link the two to present how reading with love has been enacted in our work, both collective and individual, as transformative and intensive. The feminist philosopher Elizabeth Grosz, and her own readings of Deleuze and Foucault, prompts us to envisage what it is to think like a feminist and read with love after the ontological turn. As ontological, reading is neither consumption nor the acquisition of knowledge but an act of creation, an act of freedom, an act of love.

Care Delivery Innovation in Action

This special theme issue of NEJM Catalyst Innovations in Care Delivery, guest edited by Amy Compton-Phillips, MD, displays the breadth of care innovations at health care organizations — and a need for much more.

Intensive Comprehensive Aphasia Programs (ICAPs): Launching the next decade of research and clinical implementation

ABSTRACT Background The Intensive Comprehensive Aphasia Program (ICAP) is a rehabilitation service delivery model initially articulated in a seminal article featured in the 2013 Special Issue of Topics in Stroke Rehabilitation. Over the past decade, the ICAP model has experienced a notable surge in prominence, leading to a burgeoning research base and worldwide implementation in clinical practice. Aim This special issue serves as a comprehensive exploration of how the theoretical underpinnings of the ICAP components manifest in contemporary practice by presenting recent outcomes from active clinical ICAPs. The primary objective of this introduction is to establish a contextual framework for the articles comprising this special issue. Main Contribution The introduction delineates the fundamental components of the ICAP model, offering succinct summaries of the relevant literature that catalyzed the conceptualization of these components by Rose and colleagues. Conclusions This introduction along with the collective works within this issue, positions the ICAP model within the broader aphasia rehabilitation continuum of care. Furthermore, it serves as a pivotal starting point for shaping the ICAP research agenda for the next decade. Specific expansions to the evidence are imperative, including single-site and multi-site randomized controlled trials featuring consistent outcome measures that include discourse measures and follow-up data points, investigations into cost-effectiveness and sustainability, and systematic examinations of the active ingredients of therapeutic elements within the model.

Editorial to the special topical issue “Electrochemistry in Emerging Human Health”

Editorial to the special topical issue “Electrochemistry in Emerging Human Health”

Call for Submissions: ‘Preventive Medicine: Research & Reviews’ Special Theme Issue on 50 Years of Expanded Programme on Immunisation

Call for Submissions: ‘Preventive Medicine: Research & Reviews’ Special Theme Issue on 50 Years of Expanded Programme on Immunisation

Call for Submissions: Special Theme Issue on Preparing Health Systems for Improved Newborn and Child Survival

Call for Submissions: Special Theme Issue on Preparing Health Systems for Improved Newborn and Child Survival

Call for Submissions for Special Issue Focused on School Community Health and Wellness

The Canadian Journal of Action Research (CJAR) and the Canadian Association of Action Research in Education (CAARE) invite manuscripts for a special themed issue that will focus upon school community health and wellness, and/or its related disciplines such as— but not limited to—physical education, health education, physical activity, sport, recreation, play, outdoor learning, social determinants of health, mental health literacy, and comprehensive school health/health promoting schools. Authors are encouraged to submit manuscripts that focus upon the application of action research related to any of these topic areas. Full final manuscripts are due by December 15, 2023. Authors should indicate in their accompanying letter to the editor that they wish for their manuscript to be considered for publication in the School Community Health and Wellness Special Issue. The anticipated publication date is spring/summer 2024. Please download the PDF for more information.

Therapeutic targets of fibrosis: Translational advances and current challenges.

In a physiological context, the extracellular matrix (ECM) provides an important scaffold for organs. Dysregulation of ECM in disease conditions, characterised by excess deposition of connective tissue and extracellular matrix in response to a pathological insult, is a key driver of disease progression in multiple organs. The resultant fibrosis is predominantly an irreversible process and directly contributes to, and exacerbates, dysfunction of an affected organ. This is particularly paramount in the kidney, liver, heart and lung. A hybrid Joint Meeting of NC-IUPHAR and British Pharmacological Society was held in Paris and via a webinar in November 2020, when two successive sessions were devoted to translational advances in fibrosis as a therapeutic target. On the upsurge of response to these sessions, the concept of a special themed issue on this topic emerged, and is entitled Translational Advances in Fibrosis as a Therapeutic Target. In this special issue, we seek to provide an up-to-date account of the diverse molecular mechanisms and causal role that fibrosis plays in disease progression (contributing to, and exacerbating, dysfunction of affected organs). Recent developments in the understanding of molecular targets involved in fibrosis, and how their actions can be manipulated therapeutically, are included.