Recovery and resilience plan (RRP) approved by the European Commission fosters the development of lifelong learning programs to upgrade employees’ skills and knowledge for digital and green transitions. Within higher education, the field of information and communication technology (ICT) is also a priority area, so we compared the demographic variables of students enrolled in formal first-cycle higher education programs in ICT with those enrolled in lifelong ICT programs within the framework of the Advanced Computer Skills project funded by the RRP in Slovenia. The results show that formal first-cycle higher education in the field of ICT remains strongly male-dominated, whereas, among participants in lifelong learning, the percentage of females stands out. Bachelor programs in ICT are primarily enrolled by young people aged up to 24 years, while shorter university-based lifelong learning programs attract mostly older participants with higher completed formal education and from a broader range of prior educational backgrounds. Finally, when all three variables (gender, age and level of prior formal education) are considered, participants in lifelong learning are much more similar to part-time students than full-time bachelor ICT students, although the percentage of men in formal education is still predominant even in part-time studies. The research findings highlight the need for further efforts to offer lifelong learning in ICT to enable individuals to improve their employment prospects, progress in the workplace or even change their field of work.

This study examines how Artificial Intelligence (AI) enhances Sharia compliance within Islamic Financial Institutions (IFIs) by improving operational efficiency, ensuring transparency, and addressing ethical and technical challenges. A quantitative survey across five Saudi regions resulted in 450 validated responses, analyzed using descriptive statistics, ANOVA, and regression models. The findings reveal that while AI significantly enhances transparency and compliance processes, its impact on operational efficiency is limited. Key barriers include high implementation costs, insufficient structured Sharia datasets, and integration complexities. Regional and professional differences further underscore the need for tailored adoption strategies. It introduces a novel framework integrating ethical governance, Sharia compliance, and operational scalability, addressing critical gaps in the literature. It offers actionable recommendations for AI adoption in Islamic finance and contributes to the global discourse on ethical AI practices. However, the Saudi-specific focus highlights regional dynamics that may limit broader applicability. Future research could extend these findings through cross-regional comparisons to validate and refine the proposed framework. By fostering transparency and ethical governance, AI integration aligns Islamic finance with socio-economic goals, enhancing stakeholder trust and financial inclusivity. The study emphasizes the need for targeted AI training, the development of structured Sharia datasets, and scalable solutions to overcome adoption challenges.

Management and efficiency have a fundamental impact on the performance of public hospitals, as well as on their philanthropic mission. Various studies have shown that the financial weaknesses of these entities affect the planning, setting of goals and objectives, monitoring, evaluation and feedback necessary to improve health systems and guarantee accessibility as an inalienable right. This study aims to analyze the management and efficiency of third-level and/or high-complexity hospitals in Colombia, through a statistical model that uses financial analysis and key performance indicators (KPIs) such as ROA, ROE and EBITDA. A non-experimental cross-sectional design is used, with an analytical-synthetic, documentary, exploratory and descriptive approach. The results show financial deficiencies in the hospitals evaluated; hence it is recommended to make adjustments in the operating cycle to increase efficiency rates. In addition, the use of the KPIs ROA and ROE under adjusted models is suggested for a more precise analysis of the financial ratios, since these adequately explain the variability of each indicator and are appropriate to evaluate hospital management and efficiency, but not in EBITDA ratio, hence the latter is not recommended to evaluate hospital efficiency reliably. This study provides relevant information for public health policy makers, hospital managers and researchers, in order to promote the efficiency and improvement of health services.

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the prevalence of online education in primary education has exhibited an upward trajectory. Relative to traditional learning environments, online instruction has evolved into a pivotal pedagogical modality for contemporary students. Thus, to comprehensively comprehend the repercussions of environmental changes on students’ psychological well-being in the backdrop of prolonged online education, this study employs an innovative methodology. Founded upon three elemental feature sequences—images, acoustics, and text extracted from online learning data—the model ingeniously amalgamates these facets. The fusion methodology aims to synergistically harness information from diverse perceptual channels to capture the students’ psychological states more comprehensively and accurately. To discern emotional features, the model leverages support vector machines (SVM), exhibiting commendable proficiency in handling emotional information. Moreover, to enhance the efficacy of psychological well-being prediction, this study incorporates an attention mechanism into the traditional Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) architecture. By innovatively introducing this attention mechanism in CNN, the study observes a significant improvement in accuracy in identifying six psychological features, demonstrating the effectiveness of attention mechanisms in deep learning models. Finally, beyond model performance validation, this study delves into a profound analysis of the impact of environmental changes on students’ psychological well-being. This analysis furnishes valuable insights for formulating pertinent instructional strategies in the protracted context of online education, aiding educational institutions in better addressing the challenges posed to students’ psychological well-being in novel learning environments.

In the 21st century, brand communication has been significantly transformed through the interaction of users and artificial intelligence (AI), who co-create and recreate texts in digital environments. This evolution challenges traditional disciplines and roles, opening new perspectives for textual production on multiple platforms. The study examines the current state and application of the textual component in brand communication, exploring its disciplinary foundations, rhetorical traces, and research methodologies. To this end, a content analysis of 97 relevant publications from 2000 to 2024 was conducted, selected for their impact on the field of brand communication and following the guidelines established in the PRISMA statement. The results identified three sources of textual creation: Organization, users and algorithms. In addition, persuasion and sentiment take precedence at the rhetorical level, while data mining stands out in message analysis. In conclusion, the advertising text, which previously prevailed in brand communication with corporate authorship, formal prefiguration and a closed entity, now expands in a media and networked context. This text originates from a multiplicity of human and automated sources, overlapping rhetorical phases and fluid textualities. The shift implies a transition from unidirectional communication, characterized by repeated impacts, to multidirectional communication with spiraling trajectories and iterative adjustments. This challenges the boundaries of genres and formats, merging the persuasiveness of rhetoric and the imagination of storytelling. This situation demands commercial policies that integrate new professionals and roles, in partnership with the educational sector, and that address copyright with AI and users.