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The purpose of this paper is to present mobile solutions that aid in accessing open educational resources (OERs) in areas that have limited bandwidth resulting in poor internet connectivity and a gap between those with ready access to the online OERs and those without such access.

A system architecture was designed to support the repository-based, mobile-friendly, and hybrid online/offline characteristics of OERs. In a hybrid online/offline setup, the learner connects to the internet to obtain OERs from the repository via a process called syncing. Afterward, he may view any OER content regardless of whether he is online or offline. Mobile solutions based on Browser-Like Android App (BLAP)/HTTrack and Worona/Corona approaches were successfully implemented and evaluated by 139 respondents using the System Usability Scale.

BLAP/HTTrack and Worona/Corona solutions were well received. These were found to be both relatively usable, acquiring above-average usability scores of 73.2374 and 71.6546, respectively.

The findings of this study aim to contribute to the literature of hybrid online/offline model that addresses low bandwidth access of OERs in developing countries, which is not historically well provided.

The mobile solutions were designed to help those learners who experience internet connectivity difficulties in accessing OERs efficiently and updating them conveniently.

Purpose: The purpose of the chapter lies in identifying the challenges that female employees in the South African hospitality industry will face in the context of the economic impact of the COVID-19 lockdown.

Design: With this aim, we developed a questionnaire that has been filled by 101 hospitality professionals in order to explore the work security and perceived opportunities of people working in hospitality in South Africa.

Findings: Our findings confirm that South African women feel more uncertainty about their occupational future and are more afraid that they will not find a job within the tourism sector, even though it is one of the sectors where female employment is higher.

Research Limitations: The study was limited by the lack of literature regarding impact on gender disparities due to lockdown and the relative short period of time during which the data were collected. We recommend that future research should measure long-term effects of COVID-19 pandemic on this issue.

Practical/Social Implications: In order to alleviate the damage done by the post-COVID-19 lockdown on the South African tourist and hospitality industries policies addressing the accessibility of female workers to the job market need to be urgently developed and implemented.

Originality: Ours is the first research ever focussing on the gender inequalities in the tourism labour market in South Africa.

The purpose of this study is to describe an educational virtual reality (VR) photo-based tour used in an online course and investigate the influence of immersive capability on the dimensions of spatial presence and their relationship with learning-related variables.

The study employs a descriptive and an experimental methodological approach. The research objectives were achieved using a two-group (n1 = 29 and n2 = 30) experiment, employing descriptive statistics, t-test and correlation analysis.

The t-test revealed that the immersive capability had a significant effect on the sense of physical space (SP) , Engagement (EN) and negative effects (NE) dimensions. Correlations between the dimensions of spatial presence were found to confirm reports from the literature. Furthermore, some of the dimensions were found to be correlated with motivational and learning variables.

The study reported the results of a one-off experiment among 59 participants. While the results were promising, a longitudinal qualitative study could confirm the results in an actual distance learning context.

The study confirmed that adding VR photo-based tours as learning activities may enhance the learning experience of distance learners.

The study shared a case of a learning activity that can be employed for flexible education. Virtual tours can support the need for context-based learning that the geographical or political constraints may limit.

While the paper confirms previous reports on the benefits of using VR photo-based tours as learning activities, this paper has empirically shown the relationship between the dimensions of spatial presence and immersive capability in this specialized context.

The concept of sustainable development (SD) is a popular response to society’s need to preserve and extend the life span of natural resources. One of the 17 goals of the SD is “education quality” (Fourth Goal of Sustainable Development [SDG-4]). Education quality is an important goal because education is a powerful force that can influence social policies and social change. The SDG-4 must be measured in different contexts, and the tools to quantify its effects require exploration. So, this study aims to propose a statistical model to measure the impact of higher education online courses on SD and a structural equation model (SEM) to find constructs or factors that help us explain a sustainability benefits rate. These proposed models integrate the three areas of sustainability: social, economic and environmental.

A beta regression model suggests features that include the academic and economic opportunities offered by the institution, the involvement in research activities and the quality of the online courses. A structural equation modelling (SEM) analysis allowed selecting the key variables and constructs that are strongly linked to the SD.

One of the key findings showed that the benefit provided by online courses in terms of SD is 62.99% higher than that of offline courses in aspects such as transportation, photocopies, printouts, books, food, clothing, enrolment fees and connectivity.

The SEM model needs large sample sizes to have consistent estimations. Thus, despite the obtained estimations in the proposed SEM model being reliable, the authors consider that a limitation of this study was the required time to collect data corresponding to the estimated sample size.

This study proposes two novel and different ways to estimate the sustainability benefits rate focused on SDG-4, and machine learning tools are implemented to validate and gain robustness in the estimations of the beta model. Additionally, the SEM model allows us to identify new constructs associated with SDG-4.

This chapter examines the delicate balance achieved by apex courts in new democracies when dealing with impunity for rights violations during times of transitional justice. While international law has clearly rejected amnesties for past rights violations, domestic politics sometimes incorporate amnesties as part of larger peace settlements. This puts courts in the difficult situation of balancing the competing demands of law and politics. Courts have achieved equipoise in this situation by adopting substantive interpretations and procedural approaches that use international law’s rights-based language but without implementing international law’s restrictions on amnesties. In many cases, courts do this without acknowledging the necessarily pragmatic nature of their decisions. In fact, oftentimes courts find ways of avoiding having to make any substantive decision, effectively removing themselves from a dispute that could call into question their adherence to international legal norms that transcend politics. In doing so, they empower political actors to continue down the road toward negotiated peace settlements, while at the same time protecting the courts’ legitimacy as institutions uniquely situated to protect international human rights norms – including those they have effectively deemphasized in the process.

On December 14, 2010, University of Puerto Rico (UPR) student activists initiated the second wave of their strike at a disadvantage. The presence of the police force inside the campus raised the stakes for the student movement. No longer did student activists have the “legal rights” or control of the university as a physical public space to hold their assemblies and coordinate their different events. As a result, student activists had to improvise and (re)construct their spaces of resistance by using emotional narratives, organizing non-violent civil disobedience acts at public places, fomenting lobbying groups, disseminating online petitions, and developing alternative proposals to the compulsory fee. This second wave continued until March 2011, when it came to a halt after an incident that involved physical harassment to the Chancellor, Ana Guadalupe, during one of the student demonstrations. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Building on Ron Eyerman’s (2005, p. 53) analysis on “the role of emotions in social movements with the aid of performance theory,” the author center this paper on examining student activists’ tactics and strategies in the development and maintenance of their emotional narratives and internet activism. By adapting Joshua Atkinson’s (2010) concept of resistance performance, the author argues that student activists’ resistance performances assisted them in (re)framing their collective identities by (re)constructing spaces of resistance and contention while immersed in violent confrontations with the police.

Ever since the establishment of the university as an institution, student activism has played a key role in shaping the political policies and history of many countries; “today, student actions continue to have direct effects on educational institutions and on national and international politics” (Edelman, 2001, p. 3). Consequently, and especially in times of economic and political crisis, student activism has occupied and constructed spaces of resistance and contention to protest and reveal the existing repressions of neoliberal governments serving as a (re)emergence of an international social movement to guarantee the accessibility to a public higher education of excellence. Thus, it is important to remember that the 2010-2011 UPR student activism’s success should not be measured by the sum of demands granted, but rather by the sense of community achieved and the establishment of social networks that have continued to create resistance and change in the island.

As of yet there is no thorough published analysis of the 2010-2011 UPR student strike, its implications, and how the university community currently perceives it. By elaborating on the concept of resistance performance, the author’s study illustrates how both traditional and alternative media (re)presentations of student activism can develop, maintain, adjust, or change the students’ collective identity(ies). The author’s work not only makes Puerto Rico visible in the research concerning social movements, student activism, and internet activism; in addition, it provides resistance performance as a concept to describe various degrees of participation in current social movements.

This paper analyzes the effect of circular economy practices on firm performance for a circular supply chain and explores the moderating role that big-data-driven supply chain plays within these relationships.

This study uses data collected through an online survey distributed to managers of 378 Italian firms that have adopted circular economy principles. The data are processed using multiple regression analysis.

The results indicate that the three categories of circular economy practices investigated – namely circular economy supply chain management design, circular economy supply chain relationship management and circular economy HR management – play a crucial role in enhancing firm performance from a circular economy perspective. A big-data-driven supply chain acts as a moderator of the relationship between circular economy HR management and firm performance for a circular economy supply chain.

This study makes a number of original contributions to research on circular economy practices in a big-data-driven supply chain and provides useful insights for practitioners. First, it answers the call to capture digital transformation trends and to extend research on sustainability in supply chain management. Second, it enhances the literature by investigating the relationships between three different kinds of circular economy supply chain practices and firm performance. Finally, it clarifies the moderating role of big data in making decisions and implementing circular supply chain solutions to achieve better environmental, social and economic benefits.

Rich Internet Application (RIA) technologies offer designers the opportunity to experiment with novel interaction grammars, whose implications for conceptual modeling still need to be fully understood. An open problem is the ability to characterize the fluid, smooth and organic nature of the user interaction and navigation in ways that allow web engineers to share through a common vocabulary, as well as sketch, explore and specify design decisions in the light of usability requirements and stakeholder's goals. The purpose of this paper is to address this problem.

To meet this challenge, the authors extend IDM (Interactive Dialogue Model), a dialogue‐based approach focusing on the conceptual dialogue flow with the user, codifying a set of key modeling constructs in order to describe the new dialogue features of RIAs.

The approach, called Rich‐IDM demonstrated some relevant features: expressiveness to capture interactive features at a high level of abstraction, semi‐formality to facilitate the establishment of a common ground between designers and web engineers, and traceability of the design to important usability requirements.

The paper proposes a simple way to fill the gap between hypermedia design and user experience design for RIAs, which is an open issue, both from the web engineering point of view and the human‐computer interaction point of view.

The authors have described how Rich‐IDM can help designers to capture and cope with some RIA interface flaws. In this case, the benefits of the approach are directly related to the semantics of its primitives.

The authors' proposal is the first, consolidated step of a promising research avenue.

This study aims to investigate the perceptions of service providers in the travel and hospitality industry toward the adoption of blockchain technology (BCT), focusing on its impact on consumer experiences and expectations, especially in terms of trustworthiness and the management of privacy and security concerns.

The research used a quantitative methodology, collecting data from 135 industry practitioners across five tourism sectors (lodging, connected industries, entertainment, FandB, transportation) in Europe. This approach aimed to understand the diverse perspectives on the benefits and challenges of implementing BCT in their opera

The results indicate mixed perceptions regarding blockchain adoption. While there are positive views on BCT’s potential to enhance customer experience and service quality, there are significant concerns about its impact on trust and security. A consensus exists between customer and provider perspectives on BCT’s trustworthiness, but significant differences were observed in views on privacy and security enhancement.

This research contributes to the existing literature by providing insights into the service providers’ and customers’ perspectives on BCT within the travel and hospitality industry. It underscores the complexities of adopting new technologies and calls for more in-depth studies to address the identified concerns, thereby offering a novel viewpoint on the adoption of distributed ledger technologies in enhancing customer experience and service delivery.

本研究调查了旅游与酒店行业服务提供商对区块链技术（BCT）应用的看法, 重点关注其对消费者体验和期望的影响, 尤其是在可信度以及隐私和安全管理方面的影响。

本研究采用定量方法, 收集了来自欧洲五个旅游行业（住宿、相关产业、娱乐、餐饮、交通）的135位行业从业者的数据, 旨在了解他们对区块链技术在业务运营中的实施所带来的好处和挑战的不同看法。

结果表明, 关于区块链技术应用的看法存在分歧。虽然对BCT提升客户体验和服务质量的潜力持有正面看法, 但对其在信任和安全方面的影响仍存在重大担忧。客户和服务提供商在BCT的可信度方面达成了一致意见, 但在隐私和安全增强的看法上存在显著差异。

本研究为现有文献提供了关于旅游和酒店行业服务提供商与客户对区块链技术看法的见解, 强调了采用新技术的复杂性, 并呼吁进行更深入的研究以解决所发现的问题, 从而为分布式账本技术在提升客户体验和服务交付中的应用提供了新的视角。

To examine the interplay between sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) and circular economy, this research conceptualises and empirically tests an integrative framework of environmental information exchange with suppliers (ES), environmental product design (EPD) and cost performance (CP) with the contingency effect of digital orientation (DO). The associations proposed in the integrative framework provide a configuration of SSCM practices that support circular economy's restorative processes in the digital age.

The resource orchestration theory and contingency theory are used to investigate the mediation and moderating effects, which were tested by a moderated mediation analysis of survey data of 100 firms in Australia.

The results show that EPD fully mediates the relationship between ES and CP. Further, DO was found to moderate the relationship between EPD and CP, but not the relationship between ES and EPD.

The empirical findings of this study offer an effective SSCM practice configuration for firms seeking to target advanced circular business models and economic benefits. Managers should be aware that ES may not be enough to improve CP; EPD is a required mechanism to translate the ES benefits into cost superiority. Managers should also stimulate a DO culture to develop effective EPD capabilities, which leads to improved CP and a foundation for companies seeking to target circularity.

This study advances prior theoretical and practical knowledge. The authors propose and empirically test an integrated SSCM and circular economy model that incorporates mediation and moderation effects to clarify inconsistent findings in prior work, which provides a more holistic and practical understanding of SSCM practices in the digital context. Furthermore, the SSCM literature recommends the adoption of circular economy principles. The integrated model in this study provides a bridge between SSCM and circular economy.