Urology Residency Training During the Pandemic: A Review of the Current Literature

Background Since COVID–19 was declared a pandemic on March 11, 2020, health care systems worldwide have been under significant strain. Although urology is not on the frontline of care for patients with COVID-19, every practicing urologist has been affected by the global outbreak. The objective of this review is to evaluate the impact of COVID–19 pandemic on urology residency training programs. Methods We reviewed the current evidence on urology residency training during the COVID-19 pandemic. Relevant databases (MEDLINE, Scopus, Cochrane Library) were searched for articles published to June 2021 that included residents’ or directors’ opinions on their residency training programs during the COVID-19 crisis. Results The literature search identified 72 articles. Fifteen studies including more than 2500 residents were eligible for inclusion in the analysis. During the pandemic, learning activities carried out by urology residents have been extensively affected. Worldwide, operation volume has decreased, especially for procedures in which residents were directly involved. Similarly, there has been a decline in most academic activities, and many studies have reported the negative impact on residents’ mental well-being and lifestyle. On the other hand, the lockdown provided an opportunity to review the current training system and to increase the implementation of tools such as telemedicine and smart-learning surgical skill training programs. Conclusion The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in significant changes in urology residency programs worldwide, which have had a negative impact on surgical training and academic activities. Residents’ well-being and mental health have also been put at risk. However, this unprecedented situation has also generated new online learning modalities and technological innovations in the field of training in urology.

Fractal dimension analogous scale-invariant derivative of Hirsch’s index

We propose a scale-invariant derivative of the h-index as “h-dimension”, which is analogous to the fractal dimension of the h-index for institutional performance analysis. The design of h-dimension comes from the self-similar characteristics of the citation structure. We applied this h-dimension to data of 134 Japanese national universities and research institutes, and found well-performing medium-sized research institutes, where we identified multiple organizations related to natural disasters. This result is reasonable considering that Japan is frequently hit by earthquakes, typhoons, volcanoes and other natural disasters. However, these characteristic institutes are screened by larger universities if we depend on the existing h-index. The scale-invariant property of the proposed method helps to understand the nature of academic activities, which must promote fair and objective evaluation of research activities to maximize intellectual, and eventually economic opportunity.

How Do Institutional Conflicts of Interest Between Pharmaceutical Companies and the Healthcare Sector Become Corrupt? A Case Study of Scholarship Donations Between Department of Clinical Anesthesiology, Mie University, and Ono Pharmaceutical in Japan

Institutional conflicts of interest (ICOIs) with pharmaceutical companies can bias internal operation of healthcare organizations. Naturally, a scholarship donation—which is a donation scheme unique to Japan, provided to healthcare organizations and their subunits to encourage educational and academic activities related to the development of new drugs—fall into the ICOI category. While anecdotal evidence exists that scholarship donations have been used as bribes by pharmaceutical companies, there has been little case study research that would illuminate the workings of this “gray area” mechanism. From this perspective, we offer an in-depth analysis of a recent scandal involving the Department of Clinical Anesthesiology, Mie University and Ono Pharmaceutical, where a scholarship donation was used by a pharmaceutical company to increase the prescription of one of its key drugs at a hospital department. Available evidence also suggests that a professor based within the department originally requested a scholarship donation from the company, which became an initial trigger of the scandal. We argue that by scrutinizing scholarship donations we can gain insight into problems specific to ICOIs between the pharmaceutical companies and the healthcare sector in Japan. In addition, scholarship donations can be understood as a form of “gifts” which have been found to underpin certain forms of pharmaceutical companies' promotional activities in Japan but also in other countries. We conclude by highlighting potential institutional remedies, which may alleviate ICOIs and corrupt behavior affecting the healthcare sector.

Academic Governance Arrangements

Governing the quality of academic activities at the institution level is a challenging task. Literature shows that the model of academic governance considers quality but still lacks proper standardization of academic functions and risk minimization in higher institutes. In the current chapter, the authors present a conceptual framework of academic governance, different arrangements settings, and exploring nexus of governance in education sector: how it operates to support the quality of academic activities. Using literature content and qualitative analysis, firstly the chapter explores a few factors of academic governance such as expectations of regulators, standards, and quality, and secondly, it presents influences due to pandemic on academic governance. At the last, this chapter draws inferences to act as a starting point for the study on academic governance, refers knowledge, infuses more research practices, and answers a few questions that might surface from the implementation of academic governance in assuring quality.

Implications of Gamification and Virtual Reality in Higher Education

Gamification and virtual reality are becoming more common in higher education, leading to more research toward this topic and its applications. Following this new trend, this chapter identifies and proposes practical applications and future directions for gamification and virtual reality in higher education environments. Authors contribute with precise inputs how to create student engagement and motivation towards learning and academic activities. Future research avenues in these domains are given. Authors draw conclusions about future changes in the educational experiences through gamification and virtual reality.

The Impact of School Social Bonds

Students' experiences in the school environment are not limited to purely academic activities, responsibilities, and relationships. Their complete educational experience encompasses social ties, commitment centered on stakes in conformity, beliefs about rules and regulations, and involvement in pursuits that are indirectly tied to their scholastic performance. Using CNMI Youth Survey data, this chapter explores these social bonds in the school setting and examines their impact on indigenous and indigenous high school students in the Northern Mariana Islands. The relative importance of these social bonds is compared to the influence of social bonds outside the school environment. The findings highlight the importance of teacher attachment and the belief in the validity and fairness of school rules on the risk-behavior for both indigenous and non-indigenous youth, with non-indigenous youths experiencing teacher attachment as a relatively stronger protective factor.

Pengukuran Kepuasan Pengguna Website Politeknik ATI Padang Berdasarkan Persepsi Pengguna Internal

Website is an important part of any organization namely in the government, business, health and education sectors. In the world of higher education, website can be used to disseminate information related to campus life as well as a medium for promoting the existence of the campus to the outside world. As a higher education institution, Polytechnic ATI Padang own a website which is used to display various information about campus academic activities. In its management, the level of user satisfaction of the website of Polytechnic ATI Padang has never been measured. The Webqual 4.0 method used in this study aims to measure the satisfaction of internal website users by looking at the dimensions of Usability, Information Quality, Interaction Quality and Customer Satisfaction. Measurements performed by using a questionnaire instrument with Likert scale then calculated with the help of SPSS software. The results obtained that the independent variables, namely Usability, Information Quality, Interaction Quality have an influence on the dependent variable Customer Satisfaction of 70.1% and there are still 29.9% of other independent variables that can affect the dependent variable Customer Satisfaction. Furthermore, based on the results of the calculation of the satisfaction level with Likert scale, it was found that the variables of Usability, Information Quality, Interaction Quality and Customer Satisfaction received a satisfied interpretation, so it can be concluded that the Polytechnic ATI Padang website provides good service to its users.

Implementasi Elearning Efront Mendukung Sistem Perkuliahan Online Berbasis Web di Kampus STMIK Jakarta STI&K

STMIK Jakarta STI&K is a computer campus in Indonesia. This campus has not optimally used online learning media. Electronic lecture is an online lecture medium, which allows students and lecturers to carry out lecture activities without having to meet physically. The current pandemic period requires academic activities to be carried out online. This electronic lecture media is widely available to be adopted to build an online lecture system in an institution. E-Learning Efront is an example of a system that can be used. Research on the inline lecture system can produce a system tailored to the needs applied at the STMIK Jakarta STI&K campus. The electronic lecture system using eFront can be changed according to user needs. To get good results from system development requires a good development stage according to the existing method. Development starts from planning until a good system implementation. One of the steps that can be done is to hold training and trials to measure the ability and understanding of system users. The evaluation stage is carried out by measuring and analyzing users interacting with the system. The e-learning implementation plan begins with the first preparation, then the resources are ready and the services and system infrastructure are available. Based on the results of the evaluation, decisions can be made regarding the application of e-learning at the STMIK Jakarta STI&K campus. The results of the implementation that have been carried out, it is found that the online lecture system is needed as an alternative in the use of information technology in the process of academic activities.

Towards Automatic Motivator Selection for Autism Behavior Intervention Therapy

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) usually show little interest in academic activities and may display disruptive behavior when presented with assignments. Research indicates that incorporating motivational variables during interventions results in improvements in behavior and academic performance. However, the impact of such motivational variables varies between children. In this paper, we aim to solve the problem of selecting the right motivator for children with ASD using Reinforcement Learning by adapting to the most influential factors impacting the effectiveness of the contingent motivator used. We model the task of selecting a motivator as a Markov Decision Process problem. The states, actions and rewards design consider the factors that impact the effectiveness of a motivator based on Applied Behavior Analysis as well as learners’ individual preferences. We use a Q-Learning algorithm to solve the modelled problem. Our proposed solution is then implemented as a mobile application developed for special education plans coordination. To evaluate the motivator selection feature, we conduct a study involving a group of teachers and therapists and assess how the added feature aids the participants in their decision-making process of selecting a motivator. Preliminary results indicated that the motivator selection feature improved the usability of the mobile app. Analysis of the algorithm performance showed promising results and indicated improvement of the recommendations over time.

COVID-19 and Rapid Course Adaptations in Saudi Arabia: An Experiential Learning and Recommendations for Online Education

The COVID-19 Pandemic has severely impacted educational systems around the globe, necessitating rapid modifications to the educational milieu while safeguarding human health and wellbeing. Following the closure of universities in Saudi Arabia, the instructors of all theory courses were mandated to switch from face-to-face course delivery to remote teaching and learning. This research examines the challenges and impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the mode of teaching and learning and the numerous adaptations in the pedagogical framework of the Landscape Architecture program at Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Saudi Arabia. It also explores the opportunities the transition to online education presents to faculty and students moving forward. The data were collected using an online questionnaire survey and focus group discussions. Data analyses consisted of descriptive statistics and thematic content analysis. The research finds that the sudden transition to online teaching and learning disrupted academic activities and had negatively affected the existing teaching and learning framework. Therefore, the research recommends an adaptable and dynamic teaching framework agile enough to cope with sudden disruptions. It concludes with lessons for future teaching and learning frameworks and amendments for upcoming sessions to deal with similar situations.