scholarly journals Evaluation of Official Healthcare Informatics Applications in Saudi Arabia and their Role in Addressing COVID-19 Pandemic

2021 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 255-263
Author(s):  
Nouf Alassaf ◽  
Sulaiman Bah ◽  
Fatima Almulhim ◽  
Norah AlDossary ◽  
Munirah Alqahtani

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to examine official healthcare informatics applications in Saudi Arabia in the context of their role in addressing the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.Methods: This is a case study of official healthcare informatics programs and applications (apps) developed in Saudi Arabia before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The qualitative content analysis (QCA) method was used. Data collection consisted of two components: a desktop review of documents and actual testing of the programs. According to the QCA method, we developed a matrix for abstracting information on different apps and programs in order to categorize the data. The compilation of information and discussion were based on information summarized in the matrix.Results: Six apps in total were developed before the COVID-19 pandemic. With the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, three of the apps, SEHA, Mawid, and Sehaty were modified to address different aspects of the pandemic. Both SEHA and Mawid included information about COVID-19 awareness. During the COVID-19 pandemic, three official apps were developed: Tawakkalna, Tetamman, and Tabaud. The Tawakkalna app is mandatory for all citizens and residents to activate when visiting stores and institutions. It has a wide range of COVID-19 and other health-related functions. The Tetamman app provides COVID-19 test results and allows one to check his or her daily symptoms. It also has an educational content library and provides alerts. The Tabaud app notifies individuals if they have been exposed to COVID-19. The features, advantages, and disadvantages of all of the apps were examined.Conclusions: Overall, there were more strengths than shortcomings in the role played by healthcare informatics in the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic in Saudi Arabia.

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 162-177
Author(s):  
Zakir Hussain Radfar ◽  
Dadang Sudana ◽  
Wawan Gunawan

The murder of Jamal Khashoggi in the consulate of Saudi Arabia in Turkey is still controversial. The judgment relies on valid and reliable evidence. This study is vital due to investigating a murder case based on pragmatic meanings as language evidence broadcasted in media. This research employs Grice’s conversational implicature to investigate the murder of Jamal Khashoggi by analyzing the exposed recorded tapes of Jamal Khashoggi and the accused inside the consulate, the utterances of Khadija Changiz, the fiancée of Jamal Khashoggi, and Adel al Jubeir’s statements, the foreign minister of Saudi Arabia as a representative of the Saudi Arabian. The design of this research is a case study, and content analysis is used to analyze the data based on Mayring’s (2000) qualitative content analysis. Based on the findings of the study, the recorded tapes of Jamal Khashoggi and the accused are outlined as ambiguous language. Saudi Arabia denied the murder by saving face, misleading the hearer, and skipping the questions, but later on, affirmed the murder and promised to bring justice. Hence, the results of this study will affect the verdict on the judicial decree, and the accusations will be prosecuted, and justice will be served to Jamal Khashoggi.


Author(s):  
Hope Hutchins

In the context of increasing familiarity with mainstream superhero comics and their characters, a wide range of readers are being exposed to the values regarding gender and social control being communicated in this genre. Therefore, it is important to assess whether social control is signified differently for males and females in superhero comics. This presentation will begin with a discussion of why it is important to study comics and graphic novels. I will then outline the concept of social control and criminological theories centered on this idea before demonstrating why superheroes may be understood as agents of social control. This will bring me to a discussion of preliminary findings of a qualitative content analysis of issues of Batman, Captain America, Wonder Woman, Ms Marvel, Justice League of America, and New Avengers comics released from May to October 2007. In examining the leadership positions, the formal and informal methods employed, those over whom social control is exercised, and relative success of each superhero in these issues, I am seeking to assess whether social control is portrayed as being exercised by male and female superheroes in different ways and to identify how this happens. The results of this content analysis will be compared with previous studies of women police officers to assess whether representations of female agents of social control in superhero comics are consistent with the experiences of real‐life criminal justice practitioners. Finally, the reasons for and implications of the nature of such media constructions will be briefly explored to encourage other students to study comics and graphic novels.


2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 502-522 ◽  
Author(s):  
Noa Lavie

‘Reality’ television is a global and highly popular television phenomenon. Despite its public and academic critique as cultural ‘trash’, the genre enjoys great economic legitimacy. In recent years, other ‘trashy’ television genres, such as soap operas, have gained aesthetic-artistic legitimacy alongside their economic legitimacy. Taking a Bourdieusian approach and using the discourse about Israeli ‘reality’ shows as a case study, this article addresses the question of whether a similar process is evident in television critics’ attitudes towards reality television. Using quantitative and qualitative content analysis of reviews of ‘reality’ shows between 2003 and 2014, the article shows that the main question debated in such reviews is the genre’s morality rather than its aesthetic value: for Israeli critics, it is the moral attributes of these shows, not their aesthetic or artistic worth, which determine their ‘quality’.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Iris Marigold Operario

<p>Research Problem: This exploratory study looks into what is written in blogs regarding angry library patrons. It aims to provide insight on angry library patrons by identifying the themes/issues in the blog posts, the reasons for anger of the library patrons, and to describe the characteristics of the blog post authors. Methodology: A qualitative content analysis was used to analyse the blog posts. The blog search engine Google Blogs was used to search for the relevant blog posts. A sample of 92 individual and organisational blog posts were read and analysed. Results: Three main themes emerged in the analysis of the blog posts: 1) the causes of anger which can either be library-related or due to other patrons; 2) how anger was displayed; and 3) the sentiments of the library staff members towards angry patrons. The blog authors mostly come from North America and have a library background. Implications: Analysing these blog posts provides further insight into angry library patrons which might not otherwise be found in existing anger studies in a library setting and problem library patron research. Uncovering what is said in the blogosphere about angry library patrons will give a picture of a wide range of anger issues which may be relevant for library staff members as they try to better understand angry library patrons. While this study was not able to retrieve as much blog posts from an angry library patron’s perspective as originally planned, a study noting the key difference of opinions between angry library patrons and library staff members could be investigated in the future</p>


Author(s):  
Krishna Chytanya Chinnam ◽  
Arnaldo Casalotti ◽  
Giulia Lanzara

Abstract In this paper the dynamic response of an electrospun nanocomposite piezoelectric microfiber is investigated. The microfiber is formed by magnetic nanoparticles dispersed in Polyvinylidene (PVDF) matrix. Focus is given on the influence of an AC electric field on the dynamic response of the microfiber. In particular, the resonance frequency of the fiber was assessed under an increasing AC electric field at a wide range of frequencies. The electromechanical test results show that the resonance frequency of the fiber is influenced by the applied voltage and, for this case study, it decreases with increasing voltage. The results reported in this paper suggest that, once the mechanism behind such response is fully understood, composite piezoelectric microfibers can be used to fine-tune the resonance frequency of hosting devices.


2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle F. Gaffey ◽  
Anushka Ataullahjan ◽  
Jai K. Das ◽  
Shafiq Mirzazada ◽  
Moctar Tounkara ◽  
...  

Abstract Background The BRANCH Consortium recently conducted 10 mixed-methods case studies to investigate the provision of health and nutrition interventions for women and children in conflict-affected countries, aiming to better understand the dominant influences on humanitarian health actors’ programmatic decision-making and how such actors surmount intervention delivery barriers. In this paper, the research challenges encountered and the mitigating strategies employed by the case study investigators in four of the BRANCH case study contexts are discussed: Somalia, Mali, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Discussion Many of the encountered research challenges were anticipated, with investigators adopting mitigation strategies in advance or early on, but others were unexpected, with implications for how studies were ultimately conducted and how well the original study aims were met. Insecurity was a fundamental challenge in all study contexts, with restricted geographical access and concerns for personal safety affecting sampling and data collection plans, and requiring reliance on digital communications, remote study management, and off-site team meetings wherever possible. The need to navigate complex local sociopolitical contexts required maximum reliance on local partners’ knowledge, expertise and networks, and this was facilitated by early engagement with a wide range of local study stakeholders. Severe lack of reliable quantitative data on intervention coverage affected the extent to which information from different sources could be triangulated or integrated to inform an understanding of the influences on humanitarian actors’ decision-making. Conclusion Strong local partners are essential to the success of any project, contributing not only technical and methodological capacity but also the insight needed to truly understand and interpret local dynamics for the wider study team and to navigate those dynamics to ensure study rigour and relevance. Maintaining realistic expectations of data that are typically available in conflict settings is also essential, while pushing for more resources and further methodological innovation to improve data collection in such settings. Finally, successful health research in the complex, dynamic and unpredictable contexts of conflict settings requires flexibility and adaptability of researchers, as well as sponsors and donors.


2021 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diogo Lopes de Oliveira ◽  
Erick Moreno ◽  
Bruce V. Lewenstein

Our case study situates science communication within the interaction of the COVID-19 disease, scientific research about the disease, public statements by relevant officials, media messages, political actions, and public opinion. By studying these interactions in the Brazilian context, we add to the understanding of science communication complexity by studying a context less easily available to the English-speaking research community. Methodologically, we identified key moments in Brazil during the pandemic using tools such as Google Trends, and content analysis of influencers' Twitter and Instagram accounts and digital newspapers. These episodes are then explored as case studies, using both quantitative and qualitative content analysis of messages to identify message emphasis frames and political agendas. The results introduce issues rarely explored in previous science communication research, especially ones associated with nationalism and political populism and national inequalities of privilege, income, and trust.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 540-572
Author(s):  
Nadine Keller ◽  
Tina Askanius

An increasingly organized culture of hate is flourishing in today’s online spaces, posing a serious challenge for democratic societies. Our study seeks to unravel the workings of online hate on popular social media and assess the practices, potentialities, and limitations of organized counterspeech to stymie the spread of hate online. This article is based on a case study of an organized “troll army” of online hate speech in Germany, Reconquista Germanica, and the counterspeech initiative Reconquista Internet. Conducting a qualitative content analysis, we first unpack the strategies and stated intentions behind organized hate speech and counterspeech groups as articulated in their internal strategic documents. We then explore how and to what extent such strategies take shape in online media practices, focusing on the interplay between users spreading hate and users counterspeaking in the comment sections of German news articles on Facebook. The analysis draws on a multi-dimensional framework for studying social media engagement (Uldam & Kaun, 2019) with a focus on practices and discourses and turns to Mouffe’s (2005) concepts of political antagonism and agonism to operationalize and deepen the discursive dimension. The study shows that the interactions between the two opposing camps are highly moralized, reflecting a post-political antagonistic battle between “good” and “evil” and showing limited signs of the potentials of counterspeech to foster productive agonism. The empirical data indicates that despite the promising intentions of rule-guided counterspeech, the counter efforts identified and scrutinized in this study predominantly fail to adhere to civic and moral standards and thus only spur on the destructive dynamics of digital hate culture.


2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (22) ◽  
pp. 202
Author(s):  
Vidmantas Tutlys ◽  
Genute Gedviliene ◽  
Skaiste Vaiciukyniene

The European Commission’s Europe 2020 strategy calls for the enhancement the attractiveness of vocational education and training. This article aims to disclose and critically discuss the requirements defined in legislation of Lithuania for advertising VET services with reference to the context of the improvement of the VET image in society. It seeks to determine the requirements stipulated in legislation of Lithuania for advertising VET services and to evaluate the information on admissions to institutions of vocational education and training on their web pages according to the criterion of truthfulness of advertising. The article may be useful for professionals who work or will work with marketing communication in the future. It can be used as a manual of how to inform customers about VET services properly. The methods applied in this research are content analysis of scientific literature and legal documents, linguistic, comparative, systematic and logical interpretation methods of law, and a qualitative content analysis used for the case study. The content of the training service and not the subjective image is the actual marketing object, because the content provides an advantage that ensures good market positions in increasingly competitive market of VET provision. The image of initial vocational education is determined not so much by the actions of society, but by the vocational training systems themselves, or more specifically by the targeted efforts of its participants to improve the quality of initial vocational education, responding to the public challenges and communicating this message to the interested audiences in the communication process.


Humaniora ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 71
Author(s):  
Azis Azis ◽  
Juanda Juanda

The present research aimed to analyze adverbial anaphora resistance in students’ descriptive texts at the Department of Indonesian Language Education and Literature, Faculty of Languages and Literature, Universitas Negeri Makassar. The problem “How is adverbial anaphora (resistance) was presented in the descriptive texts written by the students? A descriptive qualitative content analysis was employed in this research. Data collection was performed through documentation of the five-semester students’ descriptive texts. The results show that adverbial anaphora resistance in the students’ descriptive texts consists of: (1) anaphora within adverbs of place ( ini “this” and di sana “there” that occupy a different position); (2) anaphora within adverbs of time (tahun “year”, pagi hari “in the morning”, and malam hari “at night”); (2) anaphora within adverbs of purpose (bagi “for” and untuk “to”); (4) anaphora within adverbs of comparison (seperti “like”); (5) anaphora within adverbs of cause (sebab “cause” and karena “because”). Adverbial anaphora is highly associated with the placement of words, the relationship between words and phrases, or interrelationship among sentences. The limited number of adverbial anaphora produced by the students originates from the students’ lack of competence in writing a text.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document