A Review of Zoom interactive performance, 'Helping Hands': process, distress, success and who was helped.

Intervention for Russell Anderson’s work-in-progress Interactive Zoom theatre performance conducted on 6th August 2021 at 1:00 pm (U.K time), for a PhD thesis at Oxford Brooke's University was called 'Helping Hands'. Exploration and involvement of socio-digital options in Zoom theatre performativity, invokes questioning the adaptive process, distress and success as well as whom are we helping by being involved? Are we helping the company hosting the Zoom application, digital-theatre experimenters, the characters in the play, real people with similar socio-political problems as depicted in the play, ourselves or Russell Anderson? My personal experience and observations, beginning from receiving the digital mail invitation and background information of the performance, until the discussion about the work, in the end will be narrated with critical observations on each character's role and background, audio-visual spectrum, additional software and applications used, spect-actorship and employment of the break-out room feature of the Zoom application. The referenced theatre genres and probable methodologies employed in structuring the performance will be discussed by referring to Sir Andersons personal notes on the matter. The emotions and doubts, particularly that of whom I was helping, during the performance will be addressed in terms of the nature of the interactive, hyperdrama’s structure and the overall effect that it influenced. Its outcome will be critically compared with observations made by other scholarly reviewers on other Zoom adaptive performances, namely, Karen by The Transit Ensemble, Newspaper Theatre workshop by Seattle Rep, The Belle’s Stratagem by Red Bull Theatre, Time Machine by Creation Theatre and A Midsummer Night’s Dream by CtrlAlt_Repeat, while addressing Interaction, communication, mediatization and liveness in digital theatre.

The World turned Upside Down? Cities, Festivalization and Uncertainty

The rapid proliferation of festivals experienced by cities round the world over the last four decades was brought to a sudden halt in early 2020 by the coronavirus pandemic. Planned gatherings ranging from local arts festivals to global megaevents were summarily abandoned, postponed, or converted to digital alternatives. This paper opens with a contextual introduction. The ensuing section considers the reasons for the seemingly unfe ered proliferation and festivalization that had occurred pre-Covid-19, but indicates that problems had already arisen over appropriation of public space, overtourism and security before the current crisis. The next part surveys the pandemic's impact on the urban festival sector to date. With reference to the megaevents planned for 2020 and a series of case studies of arts festivals, it notes responses ranging from whole or partial cancellations to implementation of wholly digital options. The conclusion argues that the continuing importance of physical congregation in designated places must be recognized, contending that this is enhanced rather than challenged by the rise of digital alternatives.

IT ambidexterity driven patient agility and hospital patient service performance: a variance approach

Hospitals are currently exploring digital options to transform their clinical procedures and their overall engagement with patients. This paper investigates how hospital departments can leverage the ability of firms to simultaneously explore new IT resources and practices (IT exploration) as well as exploit their current IT resources and practices (IT exploitation), i.e., IT ambidexterity, to adequately sense and respond to patients' needs and demands, i.e., patient agility. This study embraces the dynamic capability view and develops a research model, and tests it accordingly using cross-sectional data from 90 clinical hospital departments from the Netherlands through an online survey. The model's hypothesized relationships are tested using Partial Least Squares (PLS) structural equation modeling (SEM). The outcomes demonstrate the significance of IT ambidexterity in developing patient agility, positively influencing patient service performance. The study outcomes support the theorized model can the outcomes shed light on how to transform clinical practice and drive patient agility.

The Digitalization of Local Owner-Operated Retail Outlets: How Environmental and Organizational Factors Drive the Use of Digital Tools and Applications

The digitalization of the retail industry is a disruptive innovation process which endangers the very existence of Local Owner Operated Retail Outlets (LOOROs). Despite the manifold digital options to regain competitive power, LOOROs struggle in their digital transformation and persist often in their traditional business behaviour. As their customers get more and more used to buying via digital channels, they more and more expect the provision of digital services. This paper and the presented survey among 223 LOORO owners from 26 cities in Germany aim to understand why the LOOROs are so hesitant. Our findings show high insecurity among LOOROs about what to do and where to begin the digitalization route. The owners of LOOROs are often decoupled from their near and far business environment. This leads to a wrong self-assessment and implies the risk that the services provided do neither match the competitive environment nor customer expectations.

A scoping review of experimental manipulations examining the impact of monetary format on gambling behaviour

Gambling involves monetary bets and prizes, but the money can take a range of formats, including cash, chips, ticket-in ticket-out vouchers, and digital options including banking cards. As societies move towards cashless payment for many goods, the question arises of how emerging payment technologies might impact gambling related harms. We performed a scoping review following PRISMA guidelines to identify research testing the effects of monetary format in gambling. Our eligibility criteria focused on controlled experimental manipulations, to best establish the causal impact of monetary format. We sought to characterize different types of monetary manipulations that have been studied in a gambling context. We identified 15 eligible articles, comprising 18 individual experiments. These experiments were organized according to four distinct manipulations. The most common design (11 experiments), compared gambling under the presence or absence of money. Smaller numbers of experiments were identified manipulating monetary salience, testing Responsible Gambling tools, and testing the impact of promotional inducements. We identified no studies that compared gambling using cash against alternative payment forms. Our review highlights a paucity of research testing the possible impact of digital and cashless payment options on gambling related harms, using experimental designs that would permit causal conclusions to be drawn.

Option pricing: a yet simpler approach

We provide a lean, non-technical exposition on the pricing of path-dependent and European-style derivatives in the Cox–Ross–Rubinstein (CRR) pricing model. The main tool used in this paper for simplifying the reasoning is applying static hedging arguments. In applying the static hedging principle, we consider Arrow–Debreu securities and digital options, or backward random processes. In the last case, the CRR model is extended to an infinite state space which leads to an interesting new phenomenon not present in the classical CRR model. At the end, we discuss the paradox involving the drift parameter $$\mu $$ μ in the Black–Scholes–Merton model pricing. We provide sensitivity analysis and an approximation of the speed of convergence for the asymptotically vanishing effect of drift in prices.

Pricing Path-Independent Payoffs with Exotic Features in the Fractional Diffusion Model

We provide several practical formulas for pricing path-independent exotic instruments (log options and log contracts, digital options, gap options, power options with or without capped payoffs …) in the context of the fractional diffusion model. This model combines a tail parameter governed by the space fractional derivative, and a subordination parameter governed by the time-fractional derivative. The pricing formulas we derive take the form of quickly convergent series of powers of the moneyness and of the convexity adjustment; they are obtained thanks to a factorized formula in the Mellin space valid for arbitrary payoffs, and by means of residue theory. We also discuss other aspects of option pricing such as volatility modeling, and provide comparisons of our results with other financial models.

Remote Learning Guidance From State Education Agencies During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A First Look

We analyze the state education agency policy guidance concerning remote learning published by all 50 U.S. states by the end of March 2020. We find several areas of consensus, including cancellation of testing, recommendations to continue some form of remote learning, attention to digital and non-digital options, and a concerns for providing a fair and appropriate education for students with disabilities. The primary area of policy divergence that we found regarded the purpose of continuous learning during a pandemic: whether to pursue forward progress in standards-aligned new material or whether to pursue skills review and enrichment learning. We recommend that states continue to emphasize equity, consider the particular challenges of home-based learning, and produce concise communications for multiple target audiences.

An Investigation of Digital Thinking Skills in EFL Digital Instruction

Aim/Purpose: The purpose of the current study is to introduce a digital thinking skills (DTS) theoretical model (DTSM) that could support and enhance digital instruction best practices in schools. Methodology: We have taken a mixed-methods approach. Our respondents represent diverse cultural, linguistic, pedagogical, and social heritages. Contribution: The study provides a theoretical model developed by Eshet-Alkalai and Aviram that could impact subsequent digital teaching in schools. The highly accessible model may help teachers understand the cognitive learning outcomes that derive from frequently used digital tools. Findings: We found that teachers do not have a pedagogical concept of digital thinking skills, though many believe such skills might have a positive effect on their learners’ achievements. School culture plays a key role in effective DI delivery. Teachers want better in-service IT instruction. Recommendations for Practitioners: When distance learning has become the order of the day, we recommend practitioners connect pedagogical methodology and disciplinary content with new technology to boost learning outcomes. Recent world events have shown that in many cases practitioners have not been exposed to multiple digital options, especially those that not only present and review learning content but also boost the creation and dissemination of new knowledge. Recommendation for Researchers: We recommend researchers review different types of available resources and their effective implementation in the school curricula in order to foster creativity and more profound thinking among teachers and learners. Impact on Society: Better informed and greatly improved DI in schools is clearly crucial for twenty-first-century systems. As we go to press, in the middle of the coronavirus world-wide lockdown, these words resonate more than ever before. Our research both highlights this obvious need and provides a heuristic bridge between basic research and classrooms. Future Research: Future studies should focus on a pedagogical digital model that can enhance DI best practices in schools.