Evaluating the Quality of Serious Games as Modern E-Learning Environments

This chapter focuses on aspects of the integration of serious games in the field of education by examining the quality of serious games intended to be integrated into education. This review process must take into account the coherence between all the aspects constituting the serious games as they are characterized by their diversity in terms of content and quality. By conducting a comparative study based on the various studies of evaluation and classification of serious games already carried out, the authors have focused their research effort in this chapter on the design of a tool for the evaluation of serious games quality intended to be used in the field of education. A tool that determines if the learning methods related to games are correlated with pedagogical aspects and contributes to the knowledge of serious games and promote their use in the educational sphere. The study offers two levels of evaluation, global and specific; the overall level allows a global judgment unlike the specific evaluation that ensures that there is always a balance between different aspects of serious games.

Agri-Environmental Indicators: a Systemic Review to Assess New EU Green Deal Policies

Every intervention of planning, implementation, and monitoring of agricultural and agri-environmental policies requires assessment tools that should have the characteristics of relevance, completeness, interpretability, data quality, efficiency, and overlapping. Despite the extensive selection of bibliographies and numerous projects designed to develop agri-environmental indicators necessary for assessing the sustainability of new policies, it is difficult to have an integrated and updated set of indicators available, which can be an effective and practical application tool to assists policymakers, researchers, and actors in policy design, monitoring and impact assessment. Particularly, such need is pressing to face the new environmental challenges imposed by the upcoming European Union Green Deal on the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) post 2023. This study, therefore, aims to fill this gap by proposing a selection methodology and different pools of agri-environmental indicators differentiated based on a scale approach (crop-farm-district-region). Furthermore, we have attempted to validate our approach by quantifying selected indicators for a specific evaluation necessity, represented in this case by an assessment of environmental impact of land use change induced by CAP greening requirements in the Northern Italy context. Results of this validation show original crops’ impacts comparison, but also highlight great knowledge gaps in the available literature.

Measuring raw-material criticality of product systems through an economic product importance indicator: a case study of battery-electric vehicles

Purpose The concept of criticality concerns the probability and the possible impacts of shortages in raw-material supply and is usually applied to regional economies or specific industries. With more and more products being highly dependent on potentially critical raw materials, efforts are being made to also incorporate criticality into the framework of life cycle sustainability assessment (LCSA). However, there is still some need for methodological development of indicators to measure raw-material criticality in LCSA. Methods We therefore introduce ‘economic product importance’ (EPI) as a novel parameter for the product-specific evaluation of the relevance and significance of a certain raw material for a particular product system. We thereby consider both the actual raw-material flows (life cycle inventories) and the life cycle cost. The EPI thus represents a measure for the material-specific product-system vulnerability (another component being the substitutability). Combining the product-system vulnerability of a specific product system towards a certain raw material with the supply disruption probability of that same raw material then yields the product-system specific overall criticality with regard to that raw material. In order to demonstrate our novel approach, we apply it to a case study on a battery-electric vehicle. Results Since our approach accounts for the actual amounts of raw materials used in a product and relates their total share of costs to the overall costs of the product, no under- or over-estimation of the mere presence of the raw materials with respect to their relevance for the product system occurs. Consequently, raw materials, e.g. rare earth elements, which are regularly rated highly critical, do not necessarily reach higher criticality ranks within our approach, if they are either needed in very small amounts only or if their share in total costs of the respective product system is very low. Accordingly, in our case study on a battery-electric vehicle product system, most rare earth elements are ranked less critical than bulk materials such as copper or aluminium. Conclusion Our EPI approach constitutes a step forward towards a methodology for the raw-material criticality assessment within the LCSA framework, mainly because it allows a product-specific evaluation of product-system vulnerability. Furthermore, it is compatible with common methods for the supply disruption probability calculation — such as GeoPolRisk, ESP or ESSENZ — as well as with available substitutability evaluations. The practicability and usefulness of our approach has been shown by applying it to a battery-electric vehicle.

relevance of historical studies and achievements of archipelago civilization progress: a study of sociological perspectives of Indonesian

This historical study aims to see how history is relevant to the achievements of the progress of the civilization of the archipelago through the study of sociological science. For this reason, we have searched literature from several well-known journals. Next, we analyzed the literature to find data that could answer the questions of this study as much as possible. The data study starts with a coding system study and a specific evaluation to answer study questions with high validity elements. The journals we have visited include Google Books, Elsevier, Academic docs, and other publishers published ten years ago. Based on the discussion data, we can conclude that there is a very close relevance between the history of the Indonesian nation and the progress of civilization in the archipelago, which is now dominated by the influence of Islamic civilization and westernization. We hope this finding is helpful for future studies of Indonesian historical literature and civilization.

Macroseismic risk classification of historical constructions: the LEXSIS approach

The present paper deals with the elaboration of a methodology to assess the macro-seismic risk of monumental historical buildings, representing a fundamental part of the European cultural assets. Monumental buildings typically arise from a very complex constructive and morphological evolution process characterised by modifications occurred over the centuries. Therefore, they are usually heterogeneous buildings similar to 'structural aggregates' rather than single constructions and characterised by a structural behaviour depending on the mutual interaction of different structural units. An accurate knowledge process can allow the determination of structural units within the complex: such units can be therefore analysed using a specific evaluation form conceived to provide a 'risk ranking' of the different portions constituting the aggregate and accounting for vulnerability, exposure and seismic hazard parameters. The proposed methodology exploits what is already used to quickly determine structural features and eventual damages in the post-earthquake phase for ordinary buildings, introducing specific aspects typical of historical-cultural heritage requiring attention. According to the results achieved, retrofit interventions or deepen investigations can be planned for units provided by a higher position in the risk scale, optimising and rationally planning the use of available economic and time resources. In the present work, the proposed methodology is applied to the monumental complex of the Certosa di Calci, Pisa (Italy).

A Systematic Review on Sex- and Gender-Sensitive Research in Public Mental Health During the First Wave of the COVID-19 Crisis

Background: Sex and gender are important modifiers of mental health and behavior in normal times and during crises. We investigated whether they were addressed by empirical, international research that explored the mental health and health behavior ramifications after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.Methods: We systematically searched the databases PsyArXiv, PubMed, PsycInfo, Psyndex, PubPsych, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science for studies assessing mental health outcomes (main outcomes) as well as potential risk and protective health behavior (additional outcomes) up to July 2, 2020.Findings: Most of the 80 publications fulfilling the selection criteria reflected the static difference perspective treating sex and gender as dichotomous variables. The focus was on internalizing disorders (especially anxiety and depression) burdening women in particular, while externalizing disorders were neglected. Sex- and gender-specific evaluation of mental healthcare use has also been lacking. With respect to unfavorable health behavior in terms of adherence to prescribed protective measures, men constitute a risk group.Interpretations: Women remain a vulnerable group burdened by multiple stresses and mental health symptoms. The neglect of sex- and gender-specific evaluation of aggression-related disorders, substance addiction, and mental healthcare use in the early stage represents a potentially dangerous oversight.Systematic Review Registration:https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?ID=CRD42020192026, PROSPERO 2020 CRD42020192026.

Optimization of psoriasis assessment system based on patch images

Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory skin disease that occurs in various forms throughout the body and is associated with certain conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, and depression. The psoriasis area severity index (PASI) score, a tool used to evaluate the severity of psoriasis, is currently used in clinical trials and clinical research. The determination of severity is based on the subjective judgment of the clinician. Thus, the disease evaluation deviations are induced. Therefore, we propose optimal algorithms that can effectively segment the lesion area and classify the severity. In addition, a new dataset on psoriasis was built, including patch images of erythema and scaling. We performed psoriasis lesion segmentation and classified the disease severity. In addition, we evaluated the best-performing segmentation method and classifier and analyzed features that are highly related to the severity of psoriasis. In conclusion, we presented the optimal techniques for evaluating the severity of psoriasis. Our newly constructed dataset improved the generalization performance of psoriasis diagnosis and evaluation. It proposed an optimal system for specific evaluation indicators of the disease and a quantitative PASI scoring method. The proposed system can help to evaluate the severity of localized psoriasis more accurately.

Rubric for the evaluation of competencies in traumatology in the Degree of Physiotherapy: Delphi approach

Background In health professions, the curriculum that must be met in order to obtain the academic certificate is based on the development of the so-called competencies. The broad content of the Practicum of the Degree of Physiotherapy has led to the creation of multiple types of evaluation, which makes it difficult for faculty members to reach a consensus on competencies. The aim of this study was to develop and validate content of a rubric for the evaluation of acquired competencies related to physiotherapeutic performance and intervention in traumatology within the Practicum of the Degree of Physiotherapy. Methods Following the Delphi methodology, a group of experts from all over the Spanish territory participated in the study. Through on-line questionnaires, several sequential rounds were established, alternated by controlled feedback until obtaining a consensus in the opinion of the experts, which allowed elaborating the final rubric. Results Initially, 16 experts were contacted, of whom 10 worked and completed the final content of the rubric. For the 3 rounds that were conducted, the initial 142 interventions of the initial proposition, which correspond to specific competencies, were reduced to the final 29 items that compose the specific evaluation rubric presented in this study. Conclusions This rubric is an evaluation instrument with valid content for the assessment of specific competencies of Traumatology in the Practicum of the Degree of Physiotherapy.

CRITERIA FOR ASSESSING STUDENTS' PROFESSIONAL COMPETENCES IN THE "HUMAN PHYSIOLOGY AND MOTOR ACTIVITY" MODULE

The knowledge of the physiological processes and the mechanisms of vital activity of the organisms gives the possibility to the future specialist in the field of physical education and sports to understand the causes of the appearance of the complicated functional states of the organism characteristic for the muscular activity. This will allow them to rationally distribute physical effort and rest in both physical education and training classes, to forecast short- and longterm sports results. The results of the theoretical-praxiological analysis of the instructive-educational process within the disciplines provided by the curriculum of the faculties of physical education and sports show that in this field: - a specific evaluation system does not work, therefore it is not known what level of professional competencies and what didactic competencies the student actually has; - the desire of students to train and use their professional skills in quality sports is more declared, it is not supported by appropriate actions [6, 15, 16]. The theoretical study of the problem of training-development of professional skills identified different approaches to its classification and typology: some real results-oriented, and others with confusing orientation in this regard, neither of the two types of approaches, at least in the field of physical education, not being sufficiently argued from a systemic point of view