Search results

This study aims to promote the preservation of endangered traditional knowledge and practices in the Andes of Peru by documenting, publishing and disseminating them.

Based on a literature review of coca and coca divination, the author will describe these types of divination practices. Subsequently, the author will address the context and characteristics of a coca reading conducted in October 2022. Afterwards, the threats and prejudices faced by this type of indigenous knowledge and practice are discussed.

Coca divination in the Andean region of Ancash differs from the most common form of divination with coca leaves performed in northern Argentina, Bolivia, northern Chile, Colombia and southern Peru. The results of the coca reading conducted in October 2022 align with Andean worldviews. These practices and the associated episteme face various threats from academic, social and political actors and their discourses.

Scientific and academic researchers should be aware that their work can foster and maintain epistemic colonialism in Latin American territories. Archaeological excavations and interpretations should respect ancestral and traditional worldviews and practices.

This study advances the understanding of coca divination in the Andes of Ancash, Peru, by providing nuanced insights into this cultural practice in relation to a landslide event that occurred near a 3,000-year-old temple. The implications extend beyond academic discourse, offering valuable perspectives for conducting archaeological excavation activities that respect ancestral and traditional local beliefs. Future research should build on these findings to deepen comprehension of threats to traditional beliefs and practices.

This paper proposes a framework for director evaluation in the context of Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs), taking into account the influences of traditional and modern Chinese ideologies.

Following the Delphi method, a series of semi-structured interviews were conducted with Chinese SOE directors.

The framework used has been validated by examining seven dimensions of virtue and four dimensions of competence functions in Chinese SOEs. Effective and representative characteristics of each dimension are identified through interviews.

First, through this research, indicators of virtue have been materialized and those of competence have been specified in a broader range. Second, this research provides advice for training of candidate directors whose experience were in private firms before they step in as SOE directors.

This study aims to propose the use of time series autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) models to predict gas path performance in aero engines. The gas path is a critical component of an aero engine and its performance is essential for safe and efficient operation of the engine.

The study analyzes a data set of gas path performance parameters obtained from a fleet of aero engines. The data is preprocessed and then fitted to ARIMA models to predict the future values of the gas path performance parameters. The performance of the ARIMA models is evaluated using various statistical metrics such as mean absolute error, mean squared error and root mean squared error. The results show that the ARIMA models can accurately predict the gas path performance parameters in aero engines.

The proposed methodology can be used for real-time monitoring and controlling the gas path performance parameters in aero engines, which can improve the safety and efficiency of the engines. Both the Box-Ljung test and the residual analysis were used to demonstrate that the models for both time series were adequate.

To determine whether or not the two series were stationary, the Augmented Dickey–Fuller unit root test was used in this study. The first-order ARIMA models were selected based on the observed autocorrelation function and partial autocorrelation function.

Further, the authors find that the trend of predicted values and original values are similar and the error between them is small.

Applying the broaden-and-build theory, this paper aims to examine the effect of entrepreneurial wellbeing (EWB) on the opportunity recognition (OpR) ability and how it changes over entrepreneurial stages.

This study was based on the survey data of 307 entrepreneurs in Vietnam, which is an emerging market with full support for entrepreneurship by the government.

The results indicated that EWB has a salient effect on the OpR ability of entrepreneurs. Besides, in the later stages of the entrepreneurial process, EWB increases in its importance toward the ability to recognize potential business opportunities.

This study contributes to EWB and entrepreneurship research by providing theoretical and empirical evidence of wellbeing as a crucial psychological resource in entrepreneurship. Besides, this study uncovers the dynamic nature of entrepreneurship by analyzing when EWB can produce higher levels of entrepreneurs’ OpR along entrepreneurial stages.

In the Global South where humanitarian responses to disasters are often hampered by systemic gaps, community-based humanitarian actors play a crucial but underexplored role in mediating aid to vulnerable populations. This study explores the everydayness of humanitarian action through the lived experiences of urban community leaders during the COVID-19 Pandemic in the Philippines. Specifically, it sheds light on their engagement with national-level responders, the typologies of humanitarian activities they undertook and the contextual factors influencing their decision-making.

Using a qualitative approach, this study presents interviews with 35 community-based humanitarian leaders in urban poor areas of Metro Manila, Philippines. Analytical themes were developed inductively from the transcripts.

Due to mobility restrictions from quarantine protocols, the typologies of humanitarian action shifted to accommodate arising challenges from pandemic management. Engagement with formal humanitarian actors were premised on pre-existing relationships. The study further reveals that, despite lacking formal training, community leaders utilized preexisting networks of care while subscribing to Filipino communal values of bayanihan (working together), malasakit (care) and pagkakaisa (unity). The findings underscore the need for discourse on the realities faced by community leaders and highlight the importance of holistic and gendered capacity building for effective disaster response in vulnerable communities.

This study contributes to understanding the intricate dynamics of humanitarian coordination, particularly in areas where community leaders act as critical intermediaries between their constituents and external support providers and concludes with critical take on localization as a form of community resilience to disaster events.

The aim of this scoping review was to identify key characteristics related to strategies and approaches for delivering sustainable training and professional development (PD) of graduate teaching assistants (GTAs), teaching assistants (TAs), and tutors. While the continuous, coherent and responsive programmes for such training and PD may address needs that are congruent with the needs of other sessional teachers, the literature has not focussed on GTA training and PD that support the longer-term retention of GTAs as sessional teachers.

In this scoping review, we devised a search strategy to identify literature relating to the key characteristics of strategies and approaches for delivering sustainable GTA training and professional development in higher education settings. We were guided by the frameworks for such reviews developed by Arksey and O’Malley (2005), Levac et al. (2010) and Westphaln et al. (2021). We used PRISMA guidelines to guide our reporting processes, and used thematic analysis practice (Braun and Clarke, 2022) as our analytical approach in order to identify and discuss the key themes.

We identified that strategies and approaches for delivering sustainable GTA training and PD frame GTAs as future academics and leaders in teaching; provide institutional support and investment in teaching; deliver departmental training; facilitate peer support; provide pedagogical training; implement training strategies; and support the teacher identity of GTAs.

These findings add to the body of research that explores how strategies and approaches for delivering sustainable GTA training and PD address and meet the needs common to all sessional teachers constrained by the precarity of the part-time faculty/academia. While our findings indicate such training and PD enhance the quality of teaching available to university students, this effect is dependent on institutional support and facilitation of peer and faculty networks.

This study aims to identify the key factors that influence household pro-environmental behaviors (HPEBs) and explore the differences caused by the same influencing factors between household waste management behavior (HWM) and household energy-saving behavior (HES).

A meta-analysis was conducted on 90 articles about HPEBs published between 2009 and 2023 to find the key factors. HPEBs were further categorized into HWM and HES to investigate the difference influenced by the above factors on two behaviors. The correlation coefficient was used as the unified effect size, and the random-effect model was adopted to conduct both main effect and moderating effect tests.

The results showed that attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control all positively influenced intention and HPEBs, but their effects were stronger on intention than on HPEBs. Intention was found to be the strongest predictor of HPEBs. Subjective norms were found to have a more positive effect on HES compared to HWM, while habits had a more positive effect on HWM. Furthermore, household size was negatively correlated with HWM but positively correlated with HES.

The same variables have different influences on HWM and HES. These results can help develop targeted incentives to increase the adoption of HPEBs, ultimately reducing household energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions and contributing to the mitigation of global warming.