Speech-to-text model for keyword spotting applications in the Papiamento language within a healthcare environment

This study presents the development of a speech-to-text(STT) keyword spotting (KWS) system for the Papiamento language designed to be used in healthcare settings in Aruba. Although widely spoken across the former Leeward Netherlands Antilles, Papiamento remains absent from most mainstream voice recognition technologies, such as Google Assistant, Siri, and Alexa. This gap reflects a broader issue in AI technologies where low-resource languages, such as Papiamento, face barriers to digital inclusion due to limited data availability, lack of localization tools, and minimal investment in tailored solutions. This research adopts a machine learning-based approach inspired by the Speech Commands dataset developed by Warden, 2018. Collaborating with medical professionals from the Instituto Medico San Nicolas Hospital (ImSan) provided essential Papiamento healthcare keywords that were eventually recorded by local participants using a custom-built web-based recording tool, resulting in a dataset containing 16800 samples. Then, a convolutional neural network (CNN) was trained to classify these keywords accurately and was later converted to a TensorFlow Lite (TFLite) model for deployment on a Raspberry Pi smart speaker prototype. This implementation applies core software engineering practices, stakeholder interviews for requirements elicitation, iterative refinement of system goals, and use-case modeling based on real-world Aruban healthcare scenarios, to ensure both technical robustness and practical relevance. This study also contributes to technology and engineering by demonstrating a deployable, edge-optimized speech system for Papiamento. It offers a blueprint for similar efforts in other underrepresented communities. The results of this study indicate that the model achieved an accuracy of 96.7%, suggesting that it is feasible to implement Papiamento-compatible STT systems in real-world healthcare settings. However, this study also acknowledges limitations, such as data set size, pronunciation variability, and audio quality issues that need to be addressed in future studies. Although this topic is still in development, this research lays the foundation for AI-driven language inclusivity. It provides a promising starting point for future studies to expand STT support for underrepresented languages

Navigating Identity and Nation-building in the Dutch Caribbean in the Wake of Hurricanes

Migration, nation-building, belongingness, and identity are common research themes in the Dutch Caribbean. Studies in these areas generally focus on identity and belongingness for the Islanders who move to the metropole or on immigration to the periphery and the related socio-economic dynamics. In the case of identity themes, these studies often focus on the recurring debate between who is “yiu di tera” (a child of the soil/native) and who is not. That which is seldom considered is the intraregional migration from Dutch Leeward Islanders to Aruba or Curacao and possible identity formation issues. This study, which is part of a broader research on nation-building called Navigating Identities, will focus on the influence of the governance structure and constitutional arrangement of the Dutch Caribbean on national identity formation dynamics and nation-building. It grapples with questions on how the Dutch English-speaking intra-regional migrants self-identify and what are the characteristics of identity formation playing field due to the governance structures, a colonial history, and nation-building processes based on the one-nation notion. Acknowledging that climate change has an impact on cultural heritage, discourses of citizens and politicians centering the message of one-ness with “our people” after hurricanes Luis (1995), Irma, and Maria (2017) are analyzed. This discursive oneness and reimagination of borders illustrate the potential to unveil the fluidity of the islanders' identity, even while insularism is often highlighted as an omnipresent source of dysfunctionality between the islands and an impediment to structural administrative collaboration

Inaugural Speech Sue-Ann Lee– Installation of the Rector of the University of Aruba September 12, 2025

Inaugural Speech Sue-Ann Lee– Installation of the Rector of the University of Aruba on September 12, 202

Institute of Island Studies International

https://www.saltwire.com/prince-edward-island/upei-institute-island-studies-celebrates-40-years https://web.archive.org/web/20250904192820/https://www.saltwire.com/prince-edward-island/upei-institute-island-studies-celebrates-40-year

Using Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process to Rank Policy Aspirations for Child Protection in Aruba: A Capability Approach

Child abuse has been a growing concern in Aruba since the death of two brothers because of maltreatment in 2017. This chapter presents the findings of the Child Safety Code ‘Codigo di Proteccion’ Policy Evaluation Survey. The sample consisted of 98 professionals from the health, justice, education, and psychosocial services sectors. A human development capabilities-based analysis was conducted using the Fuzzy Synthetic Evaluation approach to rank policy aspirations based on perceptions of the professionals. The Capability Approach (CA) was applied with a focus on Nussbaum’s 10 central capabilities. The results reveal that professionals perceive children to least enjoy the capabilities of ‘Bodily integrity and safety’ and ‘Control over their environment’. The capabilities somewhat enjoyed were ‘Bodily health’ and ‘Other species’. The ranking of the indicators associated with these four capabilities presents a profile of the policy aspirational themes needed to guarantee children's right to a life worthy of human dignity and flourishing. The CA fills a theory gap in childhood studies and provides a normative and evaluative framework for policy decision-making, given the multiple dimensions of human development. Recommendations are made to replicate this research amongst (i) the general population, (ii) children, and (iii) families and service users within the four sectors. The purpose is to compare findings towards designing a population-informed capabilities-based child protection policy agenda for Aruba