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The purpose of this paper is to describe how an older people’s mental health service involves service users in research and service improvement projects, the value of this work and the ways in which barriers to user-led research have been approached and handled.

The authors conducted a reflective review of their experiences of running “ResearchNet”, a group aimed at putting service users’ perspectives at the heart of service improvement projects, which benefits from and develops its members’ related skills. The authors explore overcoming barriers to service user involvement in research.

This paper identified the following key elements that enabled ResearchNet to overcome barriers which might be found in service user–led research: recruitment processes; identifying research projects; building confidence, sustaining motivation and overcoming setbacks; developing service user’s research skills; keeping multiple views in mind; involving people with dementia; being responsive to group members’ needs; and keeping the group safe.

Oxleas National Health Service is currently looking at integrating with the quality improvement team to provide further structure and training to group members.

This paper explores an under-represented area of research – service user inclusion in older adult mental health research and service improvement. It provides much needed clinical implications for clinicians seeking to increase clients’ involvement in research and service development projects.

The article aims at exploring the challenges and possibilities of cooperation of higher education in a Latin American social, political and cultural context that faces historical difficulties of integration, as well as the potential contribution of academic cooperation for global citizenship.

The paper presents a general overview of networks and international centers of academic cooperation of higher education in Latin America. The analysis comprises objectives, countries, stakeholders, activities, projects and scope. The study is based on literature on internationalization, regional integration and the development of higher education, as well as on empirical gathered with networks/centers and key actors in the field. This study was carried out as a mixed qualitative method design. Firstly, a systematic review of a literature corpus of studies produced by Latin-American scholars was performed. Semi-structured interviews were then carried out with a group of scholars who are members of networks.

The findings include a review of the role of higher education in a politically fragmented reality, a panorama of major networks and international centers of academic cooperation with emphasis on internationalization of higher education, as well as their connections. The are highlighted examples of successful initiatives of cooperation and, based on interviews, there is presented a preliminary view on cooperation and trust building from professionals in higher education in Latin America.

In the last decades, with the growing interest and need for internationalizing higher education, many universities have organized or joined networks and international centers. The article will contribute for mutual knowledge of these spaces, their shortcomings and potentials, thus creating conditions for dialogue among them, as well as with universities in other continents.

The immersion of global higher education in a competitive, economy-oriented paradigm calls for perspectives on internationalisation that are explicitly aimed at shaping cooperative, sustainable and alternative/decolonial futures. The authors of this chapter recognise the relevance of research perspectives that – epistemologically aligned with critical internationalisation studies – emphasise the dilemmas and contradictions of internationalisation of higher education (IHE). In this chapter, the authors therefore present reflections that confront the hegemonic discourse that portrays the phenomenon of IHE as an unconditional good. The authors dialogue with the idea of promoting a perspective of IHE from and for the Global South – that is, one that instead of suppressing, recognises the epistemic plurality of the world. To do so, the authors assume that any critical efforts to address internationalisation in the context of the Global South can be enriched when explicitly situated within colonial history. The authors argue that looking towards the future of IHE requires a look towards its past. Specifically, the authors bring together four interrelated lines of argument: (i) recognising the university as a historical producer and reproducer of colonial hierarchies; (ii) conceiving the Global South as a field of epistemic challenges; (iii) having a non-myopic view of South–South cooperation; and (iv) spreading the epistemological horizon of internationalisation. Such reflections might contribute to envisioning new horizons for IHE in the Global South and its relation with those who have been relegated to a status of invisibility.

In the digital age, the development of students’ career intentions requires serious concentration since these are associated with the students’ future employment and, ultimately, their survival. This study attempted to demonstrate in Pakistan’s Higher Educational Institutes (HEIs) the role of soft skills towards the students' career development (CD) and their future career intentions (CI).

In this study, the researchers used a quantitative approach and a questionnaire to collect the data from the surveyed participants. Finally, the researchers based this study’s findings on 392 useable samples.

By employing the structural equation model (SEM), this study’s findings show that soft skills, such as Creative Self-Efficacy (CSE), Problem-Solving Confidence (PSC) and Teamwork (TW) have a positive and significant effect on CD and CI. However, while Critical thinking and Creativity (CRC) has a positive and significant effect on CD, it has no effect on CI. In addition, this study’s findings confirm, also, that CD has a positive and significant effect on CI.

This study’s findings assist policymakers and university administrators to understand the importance of soft skills in creating CD and CI. These promote the development of employability skills and fulfill its part in preparing graduates for the unpredictable job market. This study’s findings help, also, to develop logical reasoning in making decisions and in dealing with complex organizational issues.

In a practical way, in Pakistan, this study’s findings confirm the role of soft skills towards students' CD and CI.

This paper aims to determine and evaluate the calibration curve for low-cost electronic sensors in soils from a reclaimed and degraded area in the Brazilian semiarid region.

The probes were made, programmed and inserted in soil previously conditioned in polyethylene cylinders. The sets “cylinder + probe + soil” were subjected to saturation for a period of 24 h and, subsequently, gravitational drainage at room temperature and daily weighings were performed. When the set reached constant weight, the samples were taken to dry in an oven at 105°C to determine the dry mass and later, determine the gravimetric moisture and convert it into volumetric. The volumetric moistures obtained were related to measured frequency variations and the adjustments were analyzed by regression, which was subjected to analysis of variance (p = 0.05), and related by a third-degree polynomial equation whose quality of the fit was verified with coefficient of determination (R²).

The obtained moistures were related to the estimated moistures and evaluated by the root-mean-square error and straight 1:1. The results demonstrate that the sensors are not accurate for moistures in saturation, but representative and statistically acceptable results for moistures up to field capacity.

This paper has not been published before in its current, or similar form.

This paper is an attempt to present legal issues of Islamic corporate governance (ICG) in the presence of global financial crises. It presents ICG model and discusses its viability in today’s corporate structure. The model is based on institution of Hisbah which demands book keeping, disclosure, transparency based on Shariah principles of Islamic Finance Ethics.

This study explores the impact of metaverse knowledge on freelancer engagement and performance within the gig economy, drawing upon the theoretical framework of social cognitive theory. The authors investigate the mediating role of freelancer engagement in the relationship between metaverse knowledge and performance, further examining the moderating influence of freelancer experience on these relationships.

Using a convenient sampling technique, data was collected through questionnaire from 301 freelancers working on various virtual platforms in Pakistan using a five-point Likert scale. Smart PLS 4.0 was used to analyze the data.

The findings reveal positive direct effect of metaverse knowledge on both freelancer engagement and performance. In addition, freelancer engagement significantly mediates the relationship between metaverse knowledge and performance. Furthermore, the findings affirm that the freelancers experience serves as a moderating factor in the relationship between metaverse knowledge, engagement and performance by indicating positive impact.

This study contributes a novel perspective to the gig economy literature by elucidating the underlying mechanisms through which metaverse knowledge drives freelancer performance via engagement. By examining the unique role of the metaverse in the gig context, the study offers valuable theoretical and practical implications for both scholars and practitioners seeking to understand and enhance freelancer engagement and performance in this evolving digital landscape.

This study aims to examine the impact of COVID-19-related job insecurity on two types of employees’ behaviors: family undermining and withdrawal. This study also proposes emotional exhaustion as a mediator and symmetrical internal communication as a moderator in the relationship between COVID-19-related job insecurity and employees’ behaviors.

Using a time-lagged design, data were gathered from 193 employees working in Pakistan’s hospitality sector. Structural equation modeling in AMOS and PROCESS Macro were used to test the hypotheses.

The results show that COVID-19-related job insecurity is positively related to family undermining and withdrawal behaviors, and these associations are mediated by emotional exhaustion. Furthermore, symmetrical internal communication weakens the positive influence of COVID-19-related job insecurity on emotional exhaustion. Additionally, the indirect impact of COVID-19-related job insecurity on employees’ behavioral outcomes via emotional exhaustion is stronger for employees with low symmetrical internal communication than for those with high levels of symmetrical internal communication.

Hospitality management needs to focus on transparent and horizontal communication patterns to reduce the ensuing negative behaviors from COVID-19-related job insecurity.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to examine the impact of COVID-19-related job insecurity on two types of employees’ behaviors: family undermining and withdrawal. This study also offers new insights via mediating mechanisms and moderators associated with the relationship between COVID-19-related job insecurity and employees’ behavioral reactions.