The concept “smart city” nowadays designates a plethora of things. The multiple meanings associated with the smart city, and its imperfect synonym the “robotic city”, continue to provide a topic of debate. In this paper we aim to present an epistemologically grounded review of articles focused on the concept of “smart city” and its correlatives. The goal of this article is to ascertain whether the scientific character of the theories employed in such articles is discussed and/or ascertained. For this purpose, we used Popper’s method of falsification: a theory’s scientific character is determined by its falsifiability and eventual falsification. Papers from the literature were extracted using the PRISMA method, and 15 studies were assessed as eligible for analysis. Most conclusions and results expounded in the articles reviewed that claim to be scientific are arguably based on the unsound logic of verification and confirmation rather than falsification. This has the detrimental effect of reducing to the category of logically false universal instantiations the majority of conclusions about (a) smart city services and infrastructures, (b) intelligent transportation systems and (c) blockchain/Internet of Things.

Gamification is becoming more relevant, especially after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and quarantine. The purpose of our paper is to analyse the changes which occurred in the effects of gamification on e-learning as a result of the COVID-19 quarantine emergence in the spring of 2020. This paper describes the scientific contributions about the game elements most frequently implemented and their effects on those that use e-learning platforms, as well as the factors that contribute to the development of effective gamification in e-learning before and during the pandemic. Drawing upon the PRISMA framework, a number of 103 articles were identified in two databases: the Web of Science and Scopus. This paper discusses the previous works associated with the corpus of knowledge built around gamification in the past decade. This research shows that before the COVID-19 pandemic, even though many papers were written on gamification in education prior to 2019, there is a trend regarding the multiple mentions of using storylines, challenges, or badges in order to create and maintain competition among users, which in turn may influence and increase the level of social interactions and the coalescence of communities.

Mind wandering (MW) is an internally generated form of distraction that may affect driver attention, yet its subjective experience and self-regulation during everyday driving remain poorly understood. This exploratory survey, on 154 licensed drivers, examined the prevalence of MW while driving, its perceived effects, levels of concern, and self-reported mitigation strategies. MW was reported more frequently in driving contexts as in general context, particularly during highway driving and emotionally demanding or multitasking situations. MW showed moderate associations with perceived effects and concern, but no significant association with mitigation strategy use. These findings indicate a gap between awareness of MW and the adoption of self-regulation strategies. Although based on self-reported data, the study provides insight into drivers’ subjective experiences of internal distraction and highlights the need for future research using objective and longitudinal approaches.

Our study aimed to examine how care centers for older persons acted and adapted during the COVID-19 pandemic period by considering the opinions of the beneficiaries, employees, and managers of such centers. The research was conducted between February and June 2022, and we used a mixed-methods approach. For the quantitative research, we applied a questionnaire to 430 institutionalized older persons from Timis County, Romania. For the qualitative analysis, we conducted interviews with 31 institutionalized older persons, 7 employees, and 4 managers. Most institutionalized older persons were mainly satisfied with their lives in the care centers. The main difficulties they faced were the impossibility of being close to loved ones and the difficulty of adapting to the living conditions within the center. Additionally, the older persons were satisfied with their interactions with the staff of the care centers. The conducted research provides a view of the lifestyle of older persons in care centers during the pandemic. It highlights their struggles and can be used as a reference point for further improvement of the lifestyle of older persons within care centers.

“Hamster Kombat” is one of the last evolutions in a long line of token-based projects that promised one of the most attractive airdrops in the history of blockchain cryptocurrency. In this article I expound an anthropological excursus about it. I intend to emphasize new perspectives into the ways in which digital activities and artefacts are imagined and represented on this blockchain game. Drawing upon publications from the past two decades, I use Hamster Kombat as an example to draw attention to the relevance of blockchain games for digital anthropologists.

(1) Background: Our paper aimed to examine the ways in which the care centers for the elderly acted and adapted during the pandemic period, by taking into account the opinions of the beneficiaries, of the employees and of the managers of those centers. (2) Methods: in order to conduct the research we used a mixed-method approach. Considering the quantitative research, we applied a questionnaire to 430 institutionalized elderly from Timis county, Romania. Considering the qualitative analysis, we conducted interviews with 31 institutionalized elderly, with 7 employees and 4 managers. (3) Results: most institutionalized elderly were mainly satisfied with their life in the care centers, the main difficulties they had were: the impossibility of being close to loved ones, and the difficulty of adapting to the living conditions within the center, and the elderly were satisfied with the interactions they had with the staff of the care centers. (4) Conclusions: the research conducted provides a view on the lifestyle of the elderly from care centers during the pandemic, it highlights the struggles of the elderly and it can be used as a point of reference for the further improvement of the lifestyle of the elderly within the care centers.