Search results

Heritage is widely regarded as an integral constituent of modern tourism and, accordingly, many destinations aspire to gain United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) World Heritage (WH) status. However, uncontrolled influxes of tourists, ongoing management challenges, competing interests amongst stakeholders and decision-makers, as well as the politicisation of regulatory processes, all threaten to undermine the implied protection of WH inscription. Adopting a ‘wicked problems’ lens effectively elucidates the complex, diverse, and interconnected nature of the WH Convention’s governance structure and how this impact and influences the management of WH Sites.

Resilience of long-lived family businesses has been widely acknowledged but the mechanisms enabling longevity need to be further investigated. This can be done by examining how narratives about crisis situations are processed in family firms.

Based on narrative interviews, this qualitative study examines how crisis situations have been dealt with and narrated by long-lived German family firms.

Narratives of survival can have a strengthening effect so they become also narratives for survival. The analysis reveals how the constructive management of crises contributes to emotional attachment, identification and commitment and also strengthens resilience and longevity.

The study contributes to narrative identity theory by answering calls for narrative analysis and capturing the influence of narratives on family firms and business families. The discussion of the findings leads to the narrative processing model showing how past crises are processes to gain identity and resilience in the future and how the business family can influence this process.

Interior workspace environments use exclusively artificial light, resulting in a loss of biological connection and natural light quality, as well as greater energy consumption. The purpose of the study is to identify a suitable system that can provide natural light to such interior spaces throughout the day while supplementing it with artificial light when necessary. The fundamental aim is to provide insights into the most effective solutions for energy-efficient lighting design in the UAE's environment, with the potential to lower energy consumption related to interior lighting.

The study adopted an empirical approach to gather and analyze primary data based on field measurements to understand and assess existing lighting conditions, as well as DIALux lighting simulation software to test the efficacy of the proposed HLS in terms of natural light delivery, illumination quality and energy consumption. A branch of a local bank in the United Arab Emirates, situated inside one of the shopping malls where there is no natural light penetration, has been chosen as a case study.

The findings of comparing the base case to four probable scenarios that used HLS revealed that the third scenario, which uses 100% pure sunshine and 35% artificial LED light during daylight operations and 100% LED light during night duty, is considered to be optimal in terms of illumination quality and energy efficiency.

The study demonstrated the potential of innovative lighting to improve the visual working environment in interior spaces with limited access to direct natural lighting, especially in arid regions, where sunlight is plentiful throughout the year. The study contributes new insights into the establishment of lighting-related recommendations and standards for the UAE context. This may include advice for sustainable construction practices, lighting guidelines or incentives to encourage the use of hybrid lighting technology in commercial and institutional buildings.

Social media provides a platform for people to connect, communicate and share their opinions, and has become a powerful gizmo for freedom of expression as well as freedom of speech. The present study intends to examine the role of social media in instigating hateful thoughts, actions among youth and eventually leading them towards hate speech.

Mixed methods were adopted to achieve the objectives, where survey (quantitative) and focus group discussions (qualitative) were carried out. The students who participated were from different universities, campuses and faith-based schools in Indonesia. They were recruited through online and offline sources where they showed their interest in participating in this study. Participants were 19–30 years old. Data was analysed by deploying the narrations, thematic (based on themes), and univariate analysis.

In the present research, three attributes of hate speech were investigated, such as form of expression, discrimination and identity factors. The findings of the study show that the prevalence of hate speech among youth in Indonesia is associated with their belongingness to political ideology, identity, nationality and ethnicity.

The objective is to examine the prevalence and nature of hate speech among youth in Indonesia, identify the factors and reasons for engaging in hate speech and assess the potential impacts of hate speech.

This research attempts to analyse the role of social media in shaping the mindset of the youth towards hate speech, which ultimately leads to delinquency.

Ensuring high water quality is crucial for safeguarding public health, as contaminated water can pose significant risks to consumers’ well-being. This study aims to evaluate the microbiological and chemical quality of bottled water brands commonly consumed in Dodoma, Tanzania.

A total of 36 samples from 12 brands were collected between January and March 2023 and analyzed for microbiological and general water quality parameters.

Microbial analysis found that 42% of brands tested positive for coliform bacteria, while opportunistic pathogens Aeromonas hydrophila and Pseudomonas aeruginosa were detected in 25% and 17% of samples, respectively. For chemical composition, 42% of brands exceeded the World Health Organization guideline value of 1.5 mg/L for fluoride. However, no other parameters exceeded national drinking water standards. Statistical analysis revealed significantly higher measured fluoride levels compared to values declared on product labels (paired t-test, p = 0.003). A moderate positive correlation between fluoride and conductivity (r = 0.52, p = 0.045) indicated possible geological influences on water chemistry.

To enhance the study’s comprehensiveness, exploring temporal and spatial variations among water brands, including samples from typically clean environments such as supermarkets, could have been beneficial in identifying underlying factors. Additionally, investigating the entire manufacturing process, from production to end-user, could have provided insights into unforeseen deviations in quality. Furthermore, the use of pour plating techniques at 37°C for microbial analysis, while suitable for resource-limited settings, may not have fully captured coliform diversity compared to membrane filtration and differential temperature incubation as per standard methods. This could partly explain the detection of heterotrophs without higher coliform counts in some samples.

This study provides baseline data on the bacteriological and inorganic chemical quality of bottled water in Dodoma. Detectable microbial contaminants and significant exceedances of fluoride guidelines in some products raise public health concerns.

While existing studies focus on bottled water quality at production facilities, this research highlights the overlooked risks at retail points, where consumers are directly affected.

In recent years, gambling among university students has received significant focus as it may be viewed as an attractive and exciting form of income whilst studying. Given this, stakeholders in protection from gambling-related harm need to better understand student gambling behaviours. This understanding should include students on sports-based programmes given their closer connection to sporting events, and a heightened sense of competition among such often gendered cohorts. This study aims to provide greater insights into gambling behaviours among these cohorts.

The present pilot study comprised 210 university students on sports-based and non-sport-based programmes. Participants self-reported frequencies of gambling activity and expenditure via an online survey.

Results showed a significantly greater frequency of female student non-gamblers on non-sports-based degree programmes and a high frequency of male student gamblers on sports-based degree programmes (p = 0.02). Sports-based students also reported significantly higher scores on the Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI) than non-sports students (p < 0.01). Finally, gambling expenditure (p < 0.01) and regularity (p < 0.01) were significantly lower among students studying non-sports degree programmes.

The findings of the present study provide evidence to warrant further investigation into gambling perceptions and behaviours among students on sports-based programmes, with a view to assessing the potential need for targeted awareness, tailored support and how both can most effectively be provided.