Hospitals and General Practitioner (GP) surgeries within National Health Services (NHS), collect patient information on a routine basis to create personal health records such as family medical history, chronic diseases, medications and dosing. The collected information could be used to build and model various machine learning algorithms, to simplify the task of those working within the NHS. However, such Electronic Health Records are not made publicly available due to privacy concerns. In our paper, we propose a privacy-preserving Generative Adversarial Network (pGAN), which can generate synthetic data of high quality, while preserving the privacy and statistical properties of the source data. pGAN is evaluated on two distinct datasets, one posing as a Classification task, and the other as a Regression task. Privacy score of generated data is calculated using the Nearest Neighbour Adversarial Accuracy. Cosine similarity scores of synthetic data from our proposed model indicate that the data generated is similar in nature, but not identical. Additionally, our proposed model was able to preserve privacy while maintaining high utility. Machine learning models trained on both synthetic data and original data have achieved accuracies of 74.3% and 74.5% respectively on the classification dataset; while they have attained an R2-Score of 0.84 and 0.85 on synthetic and original data of the regression task respectively. Our results, therefore, indicate that synthetic data from the proposed model could replace the use of original data for machine learning while preserving privacy.

Integrating social and sensor networks can transform big data, if treated as a knowledge commons, into a higher form of collective awareness that can motivate users to self-organize and create innovative solutions to various socioeconomic problems. The Web extra at http://youtu.be/xSoAvMNZSL8 is a video in which author Jeremy Pitt expands on his article "Transforming Big Data into Collective Awareness" and discusses how integrating social and sensor networks can transform big data, if it's treated as a knowledge commons, into a higher form of collective awareness that can motivate users to self-organize and create innovative solutions to various socioeconomic problems.

Given that SmartGrids focus on the demand-side and are predicated on consumer participation, we propose an innovative user-infrastructure interface for SmartGrids, in which information visualisation for comparative feedback and new affordances for the Smart Meter are integrated within a virtual environment for a Serious Game. Moreover, in the context of a micro-Grid, we seek to encapsulate aspects of self-organisation and support the principles of enduring institutions through the same interface. We give an example to explain how some of the activities (rooms in the virtual environment) can be structured within the context of an electronic institution. In this way, we aim to use the Smart Meter to promote `assistive awareness', not just for consumer participation, but also for other aspects of user engagement with critical infrastructure, for example as a citizen, as a stakeholder, and as a practitioner.

This study explores the integration of immersive technologies, specifically virtual reality (VR), to enhance tourist experiences in the rapidly expanding religious tourism sector. Despite VR’s potential, limited research has examined its impact on religious tourism. This study addresses this gap by investigating the role of emotional attachment in influencing VR presence during pre‐, on‐site, and postexperiences of VR‐mediated religious tourism. A quantitative survey was conducted with 201 respondents who participated in VR religious tourism activities. The empirical analysis, conducted using SPSS and AMOS structural equation modeling (SEM), assessed how VR‐mediated religious tourism impacts VR presence and tourist attitudes before actual visits. The findings enhance the understanding of VR’s role in shaping Islamic religious tourists’ attitudes and behaviors, revealing the positive influence of VR across different stages of the visit. The study also highlights the significant role of emotional attachment in enhancing previsit intentions, demonstrating its impact on visit intention and emotional connection. This research underscores VR’s potential to improve value creation, influence attitude changes, and enhance user experiences in religious tourism. By extending the existing literature, this study offers new insights into how VR can be effectively utilized to boost tourist engagement and satisfaction in the religious tourism sector.

Down's syndrome (also known as trisomy 21) is a genetic disorder caused by the presence of a third copy of chromosome 21 in a baby's cell. With education and proper care the quality of life of these people can be improved, and with the right support people with Down's syndrome can have an active role in the community. In this paper we examine how a virtual reality serious game, the EnCity game, could engage and encourage young people with Down's syndrome to have a more active involvement in the community. Players should complete mini games related to everyday tasks (e.g. preparing a meal, shopping in the supermarket, paying a bill, buying a ticket to visit a museum or gallery), and through these mini-games players will gain the appropriate training and encouragement for leading their lives without requiring help from their families or social services.