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A major challenge in teaching medicine in a rural setting is that long geographical distances separate students, instructors, and educational resources. Clinical schools within the University of Sydney Medical Program are geographically dispersed and face similar challenges. As a result, a virtual ophthalmology clinic (VOC) was developed (Succar et al., 2013) and it is being delivered online to enable equitable access and consistency in the foundations of ophthalmology education for rural-based students. The program allows students to sharpen their clinical reasoning skills by formulating a diagnosis and treatment plan on virtual patients with simulated conditions. To evaluate the educational effectiveness of VOC, a randomized controlled trial was conducted with the University of Sydney medical students (n = 188). The pre- and post-test and student satisfaction questionnaire were administered. Twelve months later, a follow-up test was conducted to determine the long-term retention rate of graduates. On the basis of a statistically significant improvement in academic performance and highly positive student feedback, it became clear that the online delivery of VOC can serve as a model for higher education institutions creating an all-inclusive learning environment experienced by rural students and staff regardless of location and distance, while making a positive impact on learning.

The paper introduced the use of a hybrid system of neural networks support vector machines (NNSVMs) consisting of artificial neural networks (ANNs) and support vector machines (SVMs) to price single-family properties.

The mechanism of the hybrid system is such that its output is given by the SVMs which utilise the results of the ANNs as their input. The results are compared to other property pricing modelling techniques including the standalone ANNs, SVMs, geographically weighted regression (GWR), spatial error model (SEM), spatial lag model (SLM) and the ordinary least squares (OLS). The techniques were applied to a dataset of 3,225 properties sold during the period, January 2012 to May 2014 in Cape Town, South Africa.

The results demonstrate that the hybrid system performed better than ANNs, SVMs and the OLS. However, in comparison to the spatial models (GWR, SEM and SLM) the hybrid system performed abysmally under with SEM favoured as the best pricing technique.

The findings extend the debate in the body of knowledge that the results of the OLS can significantly be improved through the use of spatial models that correct bias estimates and vary prices across the different property locations. Additionally, utilising the result of the hybrid system is thus affected by the black-box nature of the ANNs and SVMs limiting its use to purposes of checks on estimates predicted by the regression-based models.

We are all a part of the structures and struggles of a wider society, the impact of which is also felt at the classroom level which creates its own society. Classrooms are guided by the invaluable contribution of teachers who play a key role in imbibing inclusivity, compassion, and social justice in the classroom atmosphere. The teachers ensure that the classrooms are spaces in which every learner feels wanted and included. An inclusive classroom has huge positive impact on learner where every child, regardless of their background, benefits from the learning process. Inclusiveness is far from being mere rhetoric and achieving an equitable opportunity for all is a challenge. Tools, frameworks, and standardized procedures have been formulated with an effort to minimize learning barriers and create a genuine inclusive environment. Sustainable Development Goal 4 on education advocates inclusive and equitable quality education and lifelong learning opportunities for all in every part of the world by 2030. It emphasizes inclusion and equity as the foundations for quality education and learning. This chapter explores the meaning of inclusiveness and multiculturalism in a classroom context and further explores strategies that have been adopted toward formulating an all-inclusive classroom. In this volume, authors have written about inclusion and equity in and through education systems and programs. Through case studies and narratives, they have described steps undertaken in different parts of the world to prevent and address all forms of exclusion and marginalization, disparity, and inequality in educational access. The chapters will serve as a resource for educationists and practitioners and contribute toward inclusive education.

Drawing on Bert Klandermans (2004) hypothesis that instrumentality, identity, and ideology are interacting motivations, which increase the likelihood of participation in social movements, this article examines why individuals joined the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Movement (CRM) during the 1960s. Analyzing data gathered from semi-structured interviews, newspapers, autobiographies, secondary sources, government and movement organizations documents, the empirical analysis indicates that the individuals’ motivations in the process of involvement in social movement activities differ over time. The accounts of former participants generally suggest that instrumentality provided a stronger initial motivation during the very early stage of the CRM. With the development of the movement and changes of the political context, the choice to participate rested – for the mass of individuals who decided to mobilize later in consequence of a “transformative event” – more on identity and ideology. The research underscores the importance of the “timing” of involvement in order to better grasp the causal justification of movement participation over time. Focusing on a deeply divided society, such as Northern Ireland, this research also broadens the comparative range of case studies in the field of collective action and enhances our understanding of how repressive measures by the establishment in relation to contentious politics in deeply divided societies mobilizes further the individual in social movement activities.

The long-term financial stability of hospital systems represents a “grand challenge” in health care. New ownership forms, such as private equity (PE), promise to achieve better financial performance than nonprofit or for-profit systems. In this study, we compare two systems with many similarities, but radically different ownership structures, missions, governance, and merger and acquisition (M&A) strategies. Both were nonprofit, religious systems serving low-income communities – Montefiore Health System and Caritas Christi Health Care.

Montefiore's M&A strategy was to invest in local hospitals and create an integrated regional system, increasing revenues by adding primary doctors and community hospitals as feeders into the system and achieving efficiencies through effective resource allocation across specialized units. Slow and steady timing of acquisitions allowed for organizational learning and balancing of debt and equity. By 2019, it owned 11 hospitals with 40,000 employees and had strong positive financials and low reliance on debt.

By contrast, in 2010, PE firm Cerberus Capital bought out Caritas (renamed Steward Health Care System) and took control of the Board of Directors, who set the system's strategic direction. Cerberus used Steward as a platform for a massive debt-driven acquisition strategy. In 2016, it sold off most of its hospitals’ property for $1.25 billion, leaving hospitals saddled with long-term inflated leases; paid itself almost $500 million in dividends; and used the rest for leveraged buyouts of 27 hospitals in 9 states in 3 years. The rapid, scattershot M&A strategy was designed to create a large corporation that could be sold off in five years for financial gain – not for health care integration. Its debt load exploded, and by 2019, its financials were deeply in the red. Its Massachusetts hospitals were the worst financial performers of any system in the state. Cerberus exited Steward in 2020 in a deal that left its physicians, the new owners, holding the debt.