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The purpose of this paper is to present evidence about cultural differences between Mexico and China, and analyze their significance when implementing an innovative financial model. Specifically, the authors analyzed the case of the Yunus model (or Grameen model), originally developed in Bangladesh and further implemented in China and Mexico.

This paper uses a comparative quantity study to test the cultural difference which affects the innovative financial model implementation. A materialism and credit overuse value scale (Ponchio and Aranha, 2008; Richins, 2011; Roberts and Jones, 2001) is applied to analyze cultural differences with a sample of 250 people in each country.

The results show that the survey responses are statistically significantly different in these two countries. The Mexican sample shows a greater affinity with luxury and bragging. The Chinese sample shows more responsibility toward credit. Recommendations for the implementation of the innovative financial model considering cultural differences are suggested.

Based on the survey results, gender equality, greater caution with young borrowers, financial education programs, and strict liability agreements to ensure credit repayment, especially for Mexico, are suggested, with the aim of enabling microfinance institutions to increase the successful implementation of the Yunus model in China and Mexico.

There are few existing cultural comparisons between China and Mexico. Therefore, one of the relevant contributions of this work is to shed light on the cultural differences of these two important emerging economies for future research. Additionally, the authors applied a materialism and credit overuse value scale developed to assess consumer behavior as a proxy for culture. The results are relevant for further usage of this scale as a tool to help adapt innovative financial models for application in other cultures.

The purpose of this study is to assess the level of adjustment of the activities of health tourism and hospitality enterprises to the sustainable development criteria developed by the global sustainable tourism council.

The main research method used in this study was a diagnostic survey – an in-depth interview. This research was conducted among managers of 18 of the largest enterprises that conduct tourism and wellness activities in Polish health resorts.

The analysis of the research results indicated that only every other surveyed health resort entity implemented a sustainable development system or program. Most health resort entities undertook initiatives to support the local community in the field of education, health, sanitary safety and mitigating the negative effects of climate change. The respondents also unequivocally stated that they used good practices in promoting cultural heritage among health resort guests. Almost all of the analyzed enterprises applied solutions aimed at saving natural resources, i.e. reducing unnecessary purchases and saving electricity and water. Participation in programs to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and means of transport usage was very rarely declared.

It is recommended to include environmental issues in the business models of health tourism entities, e.g. by including them in the strategy, including mission, communicating pro-environmental goals and actions to stakeholders, and applying environmental management systems and concepts.

The research problem is a strong point of the work, as the issue of sustainable development of tourist organizations has rarely been discussed so far. Health resorts were also not considered the subject of research in this area. In this research, the authors assessed the degree of compliance of health tourism enterprises with the requirements of sustainable development, which is a contribution to the science system.

The study aims to analyze the effect of the previous preparation and the work carried out in the field during a study trip on the development of competencies in agribusiness students.

The destination was the pineapple area of the Papaloapan Lower Basin in Mexico, and 42 students from 6 different semester levels participated. The students answered a test prior to the trip, received an evaluation for their activities in the field and prepared reports and posters as products of the experience. The relationship between the scores obtained was examined through a comparative analysis.

The findings are framed in the cyclical model of experiential learning with four stages (feeling, watching, thinking and doing) by Kolb (1984). It is found that the acquisition of specific knowledge about what the experience will entail leads to better preparation, motivation and confidence to live the experience (potentiation of feeling and watching). In turn, specific knowledge and better use of experience promote the development of problem solving, interpersonal and communication skills (potentiation of thinking and doing).

Statistical representativeness is not a quality of the study since it is based on a comparative analysis.

The study analyzes an educational component of great value in the business area, about which little is known in the agribusiness subarea.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a system that will ease and improve communication and exchange of data and information between partnerships.

The architecture of web‐based products management system is discussed, which is followed by a discussion on products information standardization and the technologies for the communication and exchange of products information. A framework for the development of web‐based communication systems is proposed, which will support the manufacturing firm for information management.

The information format and the architecture of web‐based is recognized.

Accessibility and availability of communication data are the main limitations which communication system will be used.

An effective method to improve coordination distribution, storage and access of project information and data of the production process.

The approach of communication would increase the efficiency of sharing the products information among the participants.

This paper aims first to describe the most prevalent teachers’ and students’ behaviors in synchronous online classes in emergency remote teaching; second, to discern behavior profiles and third, to investigate what features explain the observed behaviors.

An adapted COPUS observation protocol was employed to observe 292 online classes from 146 higher education teachers.

The most prevalent behaviors were: Presenting for teachers and Receiving for students, followed by Teachers Guiding and Students Talking to Class. Furthermore, cluster analysis showed two groups: Traditional and Interactive. The variables that better explained belonging to the Interactive lecture group were disciplinary area – social sciences and humanities –and teaching in technical institutions.

In a context where higher education institutions intend to project the lessons learned into post-pandemic learning experiences, this study provides observational evidence to realize the full potential expected from online and blended teaching and learning.

Despite the prevalence of synchronous online lectures during COVID-19, there is a paucity of observational studies on the actual behaviors that occurred in this context. Most research has been based on surveys and interviews. This study addresses this gap.

The RZ5 mg alloy is used in automotive and aerospace applications including helicopter gearboxes and aircraft components. These components are prone to the wear as per the demands. The present work is the study of the significance of hard particle/ceramic, i.e. titanium carbide (TiC) in RZ5 mg alloy to protect the machine components from wear.

The abrasive wear analysis of in-situ RZ5-TiC magnesium matrix composite is considered for the study. The primary focus of the present work is to analyze the effects of varying control parameters, i.e. Wt.% of TiC, sliding distance and applied load on the responses, i.e. weight loss and coefficient of friction. Full factorial design of the experiment based on statistical analysis is used.

It is observed that the individually Wt.% of TiC and sliding distance show the comparatively significant effect on both responses. Similarly, the interaction between sliding distance and Wt.% of TiC indicated the considerable impact on weight loss. The regression equations are developed and validated for estimating responses. It is observed that the percentage errors are not appearing more than 10 per cent of responses. Therefore, the close agreement between measured and predicted values shows the adequacy of the model. The control factor is optimized using multi-response optimization. The variations of the order of 2.47 and 2.35 per cent in target value of the coefficient of friction and weight loss are achieved.

The current manuscript provides a detailed abrasive wear statistical analysis of RZ5-TiC composite. The influence of control parameters on the responses using the full factorial design, the main effect plots and interaction effects are presented.

The purpose of this paper is to provide to scientific researchers and academic students some subsidies related to information reliability that may be used during information search and retrieval for academic research based on the author’s experience as a university librarian and interdisciplinary researcher.

The paper is composed of a brief conceptualization of the term information reliability, followed by a practical guide containing three processes for obtaining reliable information: knowledge of bibliometric indicators, evaluation of sources of information and analysis of the content of recovered publications.

Currently, there are few publications about information reliability that target the practical and effective learning of academic researchers and students, based on the experience of librarians who work directly with bibliographic search and training based on scientific literature.

The great demand of questions submitted by academic users on how to obtain reliable information shows the need for a paper like this to clarify them.

This paper shares best practices for search and discovery of information reliability, which are based on experiences that are not commonly addressed in the literature, and presents processes covering the bibliometric indicators, information sources and publication contents.