ABSTRACT
Before the COVID‐19 pandemic, the world struggled to address growing educational inequalities and fulfil the commitment to Sustainable Development Goal 4, which seeks to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all. The pandemic has exacerbated these inequalities and changed how education functions, moving to online and hybrid methods. The challenges in global education highlighted and worsened by the pandemic make it necessary to re‐evaluate education systems and the policies in place to support access, quality and equal opportunity. This article focuses on analysing education policies at a national level. It tests a pilot policy analysis tool, the International Education Index (IEI), developed as a starting point to begin this reconsideration and create an accessible and comprehensive way to evaluate national education systems to inform decision‐making and policies in the new context. This research uses Ireland and Northern Ireland to test the IEI pilot tool. The IEI consists of 54 questions across nine indicators, including institutional frameworks, education strategies, digital skills and infrastructure, twenty‐first century skills, access to basic social services, adherence to international standards, legal frameworks, data gathering and availability and international partnerships. Countries can score 108 points to be categorised as having developed, emerging or nascent national education systems. Ireland scored 94 and Northern Ireland 81, indicating that they have developed national education systems.
ABSTRACT
COVID-19 pandemic has paused many ongoing research projects and unified researchers' attention to focus on COVID-19 related issues. Our project traces 712,294 scientists' publications related to COVID-19 for two years, from January 2020 to December 2021, in order to detect the dynamic evolution patterns of COVID-19 collaboration network over time. By studying the collaboration network of COVID-19 scientists, we observe how a new scientific community has been built in preparation for a sudden shock. The number of newcomers grows incrementally, and the connectivity of the collaboration network shifts from loose to tight promptly. Even though every scientist has an equal opportunity to start a study, collaboration disparity still exists. Following the scale-free distribution, only a few top authors are highly connected with other authors. These top authors are more likely to attract newcomers and work with each other. As the collaboration network evolves, the increase rate in the probability of attracting newcomers for authors with higher degree increases, whereas the increase rates in the probability of forming new links among authors with higher degree decreases. This highlights the interesting trend that COVID pandemic alters the research collaboration trends that star scientists are starting to collaborate more with newcomers, but less with existing collaborators, which, in certain way, reduces the collaboration disparity. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
ABSTRACT
The opportunity to live and take part in community life is a basic human right, and persons with disabilities (PwD) often need additional care and support to achieve this. This becomes a real challenge in a developing society. The goal of this research is to create a vision for the empowerment of people with disabilities and to pave the way for their independent living in a developing society. The study used a mixed design method. Analyzing data from various government reports resulted in a status analysis of disability in the state of Kerala, India. The study found that the gaps identified in the disability sector in Kerala were primarily in the areas of the availability of sustainable model programs, innovations, research, education, skill development, and employment coupled with an inadequate ecosystem for the implementation of projects and schemes. A qualitative study design was adopted. The participants were selected using the expert analysis technique of purposeful sampling and data was collected using an interview guide. The interview transcripts were analyzed using thematic analysis and are presented in a descriptive format. Despite the fact that the data in several government agencies are incomplete, it was encouraging to learn that several schemes to assist people with disabilities are being implemented. Local governments were responsive to disability even during disasters such as floods and the COVID-19 pandemic, but more planned approaches should be spearheaded. The vision for the future is targeted at achieving, among other goals, independent living for PwD. © 2023 SAGE Publications.
ABSTRACT
Rawls, a leading thinker of our time, attempted to develop an understanding of justice that reconciles liberty and equality in his work A Theory of Justice (1971). Rawls constantly revised his theory of justice and took it to an international level with The Law of Peoples. A Theory of Justice was met with great interest, but it was also heavily criticized. The aim of this paper is first to review Rawls' A Theory of Justice in broad terms and then to present the objections raised. Ultimately, the goal is to present my objections based on the impossibility of the Rawlsian theory of justice with some examples. Specifically, examples of the widening gap between the poor and the rich under Covid-19 conditions and the enormous increase in the incomes of the rich are addressed. © 2022 Istanbul University Press. All Rights Reserved.
ABSTRACT
COVID-19 pandemic has paused many ongoing research projects and unified researchers' attention to focus on COVID-19 related issues. Our project traces 712,294 scientists' publications related to COVID-19 for two years, from January 2020 to December 2021, in order to detect the dynamic evolution patterns of COVID-19 collaboration network over time. By studying the collaboration network of COVID-19 scientists, we observe how a new scientific community has been built in preparation for a sudden shock. The number of newcomers grows incrementally, and the connectivity of the collaboration network shifts from loose to tight promptly. Even though every scientist has an equal opportunity to start a study, collaboration disparity still exists. Following the scale-free distribution, only a few top authors are highly connected with other authors. These top authors are more likely to attract newcomers and work with each other. As the collaboration network evolves, the increase rate in the probability of attracting newcomers for authors with higher degree increases, whereas the increase rates in the probability of forming new links among authors with higher degree decreases. This highlights the interesting trend that COVID pandemic alters the research collaboration trends that star scientists are starting to collaborate more with newcomers, but less with existing collaborators, which, in certain way, reduces the collaboration disparity. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
ABSTRACT
Digital health has become an increasingly essential component of a high-performing health system. Changes to health care delivery during COVID-19 highlighted the need to enable digital health and modernize health information systems. Canada needs a national approach to digital health to enable our health care system to operate effectively in the 21stcentury. The current siloed approach limits the ability of patients to benefit from digital health and of health institutions to integrate digital tools. A unified approach to digital health will enable Canada to offer a health care system commensurate with the expectations of all Canadians. This paper details five policy positions to promote this unified, digital health infrastructure in Canada. 1. Patient Data Access is Essential: Patients should own their own data. They must be given access to their data upon request in a computable format, without charge or delay. 2. Data Movement and Data Sharing is Imperative: Digital data sharing is both a key component of digital health and a crucial enabler of digital health, but it is currently poorly supported. Canada must develop a uniform data interoperability strategy aligned with international standards. 3. Digital Health is Care: The provision of digital health is now embedded in our health care delivery. Canada must formalize the inclusion of digital health as an essential element of our public health system. 4. Digital Health must be Inclusive: All Canadians are entitled to an equal opportunity to participate in digital health. 5. A Federal Approach is Critical: We need a national, collaborative approach to solve the innovation drag caused by our approaches to evaluation, procurement, and privacy/security. Our current siloed approach disadvantages the Canadian health care system, the Canadian population, and Canadian industry. We suggest tangible next steps that leverage data to improve care, promote digital health care for those who need it most, and help Canada become a world leader in digital health innovation that directly benefits Canadian residents and grows our digital health industry.