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Human resources (HR) management has encountered unforeseen obstacles and issues in recruiting, retaining, training and developing workforces under the “new normal” due to pandemic circumstances followed by the Russo–Ukrainian War and global economic turmoil. As the world is now well-equipped with technological advancements and internet-based connectivity, many pandemic disruptions have been avoided through rapid adaptation of technological systems. Despite the constructive outcomes of this contemporary approach to learning and development (L&D), this study explores the further depths of massive open online courses (MOOC) platform adoption in human resource development initiatives during pandemic times.

A qualitative research approach was adopted to understand the employee and HR perspective on the changes in L&D approaches in organizations. To gather the primary data, respondents were divided into two clusters; different sets of questionnaires were developed for interview sessions.

Results suggest that employee L&D was much more improvised with distance or online learning, including organizational e-learning systems and MOOC platforms. To accomplish their HR development goals, organizations went through significant transformations during the Coronavirus pandemic; organizational attempts to initiate online training and MOOC-based learning fostered positive results in employee capacity development, process improvement, employee engagement and motivation.

This research will assist organizations in developing interactive training methods as an effective replacement for traditional training. Additionally, it will assist readers, practitioners and HR specialists in understanding how MOOCs are changing the L&D ecosystem.

In 2020, the education system was preliminary halted by the COVID-19 crisis and went through radical improvisation, and online-based distance learning was the only plausible initiative to continue educational activities ensuring health guidelines properly. However, in reality, such desperate measure in case of a lower-middle-income developing nation lacking proper structural capabilities raised some issues and concerns for both pupils and mentors, and this study aims to explore the practice of online-based distance learning in private universities of Bangladesh and the challenges associated with it.

This exploratory research is qualitative in nature. A total number of 89 undergraduate level university students from different private universities were divided into two main clusters and interviewed in depth.

The findings of this paper revealed that common developing country syndromes like improper technological infrastructure development, limitation to devices or internet accessibility and financial hindrances can disrupt the harmony of the online learning experience. Also, the lack of tech literacy has created a huge tension and psychological inertia among both the teachers and the students.

The coronavirus pandemic event, with its dreadful influence, is creating immense mental pressures for students to cope well with the online learning system. Comprehending the underlying challenges affiliated with online-based distance learning and enabling faculties or respected personnel with training and development programs to handle impediments better way, this learning initiative can ensure the best outcomes.

The significance of this study lies in comprehending the feasibility of online-based education regarding lower-middle-income developing nation context and the realism of such learning process's acceptability considering its actual effectiveness.

The extreme measures that have been taken by governments across the globe to minimize the spread of COVID-19 have had significant impacts on almost all the public sectors, especially on the economy and education. This study aims to address the approaches and prospective of online-based training and e-learning for employee learning and development during this COVID-19 crisis.

With an emphasis on the qualitative approach and considering the complex COVID-19 emergency, required data were collected from in-depth interviews to interpret the experiences of the respondents.

The findings suggested that the digital learning ecosystem offered flexibility of time, place and pace, which provided essential convenience during the COVID-19 crisis. From the human resource (HR) perspective, the e-learning culture has enabled the organizations to quickly adopt the new normal, secure sustainable continuity of organizational development and ensure decent work and growth within and across organizations. The adoption of e-learning and flexible working conditions following the setback has enabled the organizations to quickly cope up with the new normal, causing a significant paradigm shift in the organizational culture and corporate sector of Bangladesh.

The study will assist the HR of any organization to contemplate e-learning systems as effective alternative training methods. Also, the study will be suggestive to traverse new dimensions and skillsets for the pedagogues.

This study offers new evidential scenarios regarding the emergence of effective e-learning initiatives and online-based learning programs for developing the workforce to be efficient and productive even in distressful and inconvenient COVID-19 situations.

Roots of global Terrorism are in ‘failed’ states carved out of multiracial empires after World Wars I and II in name of ‘national self‐determination’. Both sides in the Cold War competed to exploit the process of disintegration with armed and covert interventions. In effect, they were colluding at the expense of the ‘liberated’ peoples. The ‘Vietnam Trauma’ prevented effective action against the resulting terrorist buildup and blowback until 9/11. As those vultures come home to roost, the war broadens to en vision overdue but coercive reforms to the postwar system of nation states, first in the Middle East. Mirages of Vietnam blur the vision; can the sole Superpower finish the job before fiscal and/or imperial overstretch implode it?

For more than nine decades, the Jewish–Palestinian conflict has dominated all aspects of life in the Arab world. The Arabs have disregarded and neglected their political, economic, and social development since 1916 because of their obsession with defeating the Jews or driving them into the sea. When the Arab armies collectively failed to destroy the newly established Jewish state in 1948, the dynamics of the conflict changed. On the one hand, Arab rationalists such as King Abdullah ibn al-Husyan (King Abdullah-I) (d 1951) of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan (HKJ) suggested accepting the United Nations Partition Plan as proposed by the UN General Assembly on November 29, 1947. On the other hand, most Arab countries followed the lead of Egyptian President Gamal Abdul Nassir, who advocated the destruction of Israel. The latter view was also adopted by the PLO during Ahmad Shukeiri's reign (1964–1967) and later by Yasir Arafat (1969–2004) and most Palestinian armed factions.

This paper aims to critique the rationalist theoretical framework of international mediation, which ignores emotions in analyzing the decision by conflict parties to pursue a negotiated settlement or continue fighting, and to present an alternative framework that integrates emotions.

The paper draws on psychology research on emotions and conflict to develop an emotionally informed framework for analyzing conflict parties’ decision-making regarding a settlement. It demonstrates the framework’s validity and value through a case study of the 2000 Camp David mediation to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.

A rationalist approach to mediation does not have adequate explanatory and predictive power theoretically. In practice, it can reduce the prospect of success.

The paper highlights the necessity for mediation researchers to study the effects of emotion, draw on psychology studies on conflict and explore the emotional implications of different mediation strategies and tactics.

The framework highlights the challenge of designing and conducting mediation in a way that cultivates emotions favorable to a settlement and lessens emotions unfavorable to a settlement.

This is the first study, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, to critique the rationalist framework of international mediation studies and develop an alternative framework that integrates emotions.

All religious activists appear to look alike, and indeed are treated by the news media as one in the same. However, many variations exist. On one level, different activists choose different tactics. Terrorism is only the most extreme (and the rarest) form of public action. Other activists utilize media campaigns, public intimidation and democratic choice (by putting forward candidates in elections). On a more basic level, great differences exist in the desired outcome of the struggle itself and in the degree to which religion is central to the conflict.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a new and useful formulation of relevance.

This paper is formulated as a conceptual argument. It makes the case for the utility of considering relevance to be function of use in creative processes.

There are several corollaries to formulating relevance as a function of use. These include the idea that objects by themselves cannot be relevant since use assumes interaction; the affordances of objects and how they are perceived can affect what becomes relevant but are not in themselves relevant; relevance is not an essential characteristic of objects; relevance is transient; potential relevance (what might be relevant in the future) can be distinguished from what is relevant in use and from what has been relevant in the past.

The paper shows that its new formulation of relevance brings improved conceptual and terminological clarity to the discourse about relevance in information science. It demonstrates that how relevance is articulated conceptually is important as its conceptualization can affect the ways that users are able to make use of information systems and, by extension, how information systems can facilitate or disable the co-production of creative outcomes. The paper also usefully expands investigative opportunities by suggesting relevance and creativity are interrelated.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of family involvement in the educational sessions and follow-up meetings on compliance with the low-salt diet for hypertensive older adults.

Randomized controlled trial was used in this study with a total of 30 hypertensive older adults divided into two groups (n = 15). The intervention group involved one family member during the educational sessions and follow-up meetings. Conversely, no family member was involved in the control group.

The intervention group showed a significant (p < 0.05) increase in compliance level on the attitude (knowledge) and subjective norm (psychomotor and family support) subscales. The perceived obstacle subscale and the salt concentration in food and urine excretion significantly decreased both after educational sessions and follow-up meetings (p < 0.05). However, the control group did not.

A relatively small number of samples would have affected the results, but in this study, randomization was applied in sample collection.

By encouraging the involvement of family members in the educational sessions and follow-up meetings, it could enhance compliance of low-salt diet among hypertensive older adults.

The findings and outputs provide a combination of family involvement and the Geragogy learning model through educational sessions and follow-up meetings that could enhance a low-salt diet adherence among older adults with hypertension in the community.