Search results

The purpose of this study is to analyze the seasonal spatiotemporal climate variability in the Borena zone of Ethiopia and its effects on agriculture and livestock production. By examining these climate variables in relation to global sea surface temperatures (SST) and atmospheric pressure systems, the study seeks to understand the underlying mechanisms driving local climate variability. Furthermore, it assesses how these climate variations impact crop yields, particularly wheat and livestock production, providing valuable insights for developing effective adaptation strategies and policies to enhance food security and economic stability in the region.

The design and methodology of this study involve a multifaceted approach to analyzing seasonal spatiotemporal climate variability in the Borena zone of Ethiopia. The research uses advanced statistical techniques, including rotated empirical orthogonal function (EOF) and rotated principal component analysis (RPCA), to identify and quantify significant patterns in seasonal rainfall, temperature and drought indices over the period from 1981 to 2022. These methods are used to reveal the spatiotemporal variations and trends in climate variables. To understand the causal mechanisms behind these variations, the study correlates seasonal rainfall data with global SST and examines atmospheric pressure systems and wind vectors. In addition, the impact of climate variability on agricultural and livestock production is assessed by linking observed climate patterns with changes in crop yields, particularly wheat and livestock productivity. This comprehensive approach integrates statistical analysis with environmental and agricultural data to provide a detailed understanding of climate dynamics and their practical implications.

The findings of this study reveal significant seasonal spatiotemporal climate variability in the Borena zone of Ethiopia, characterized by notable patterns and trends in rainfall, temperature and drought indices from 1981 to 2022. The analysis identified that over 84% of the annual rainfall occurs during the March to May (MAM) and September to November (SON) seasons, with MAM contributing approximately 53% and SON over 31%, highlighting these as the primary rainfall periods. Significant spatiotemporal variations were observed, with northwestern (35.4%), southern (34.9%) and northeastern (19.3%) are dominant variability parts of the zone during MAM season, similarly southeastern (48.7%), and northcentral (37.8%) are dominant variability parts of the zone during SON season. Trends indicating that certain subregions experience more pronounced changes in climate variables in both seasons. Correlation with global SST and an examination of atmospheric pressure systems elucidated the mechanisms driving these variations, with significant correlation with the southern and central part of Indian Ocean. This study also found that fluctuations in climate variables significantly impact crop production, particularly wheat and livestock productivity in the region, underscoring the need for adaptive strategies to mitigate adverse effects on agriculture and food security.

The implications of this study highlight the need for robust adaptation strategies to mitigate the effects of climate variability. Detailed research on seasonal climate patterns and the specific behaviors of livestock and crops is essential. Gaining a thorough understanding of these dynamics is critical for developing resilient adaptation strategies tailored to the unique ecological and economic context of the Borana zone. Future research should focus on seasonal climate variations and their implications to guide sustainable development and livelihood adjustments in the region.

This study offers significant originality and value by providing a detailed analysis of seasonal spatiotemporal climate variability in the Borena zone of Ethiopia, using advanced statistical techniques such as rotated EOF and RPCA. By integrating these methods with global SST data and atmospheric pressure systems, the research delivers a nuanced understanding of how global climatic factors influence local weather patterns. The study’s novel approach not only identifies key trends and patterns in climate variables over an extensive historical period but also links these findings to practical outcomes in crop and livestock production. This connection is crucial for developing targeted adaptation strategies and policies, thereby offering actionable insights for enhancing agricultural practices and food security in the region. The originality of this work lies in its comprehensive analysis and practical relevance, making it a valuable contribution to both climate science and regional agricultural planning.

The study aims to understand the way metaverse might revolutionize the governance format – precisely the e-government concept – besides underlining the challenges leaving suggestive contours for further research in this realm.

An inductive research approach included the content analysis of relevant literature to identify patterns and generalize them into areas and approaches. Developing a conceptual framework seeks to systematically organize knowledge on metaverse government and provide an understanding of its contributions to enhancing the e-government maturity models.

The authors identified three general areas and approaches – content and data lifecycle management; platforms, tools and services; and infrastructure and computing resources – that shape how challenges of enterprise architecture layers should be resolved in a future research agenda. Integration of these government metaverse areas and approaches is linked with four enterprise architecture layers (technology, applications, data and business) that advance a new e-government meta stage of e-government maturity and the related challenges.

Hitherto, metaverse literature has hinged itself on the benefits and challenges of metaverse in the private sector. However, the exact dimensions have not been probed in the public sector and its e-government domain – the present study seeks to plug this gap.

There is an urge worldwide that school leaders’ mental health and well-being must be prioritised within the education recovery at the local, national and global policy levels. This research identified the intentional well-being practices that school leaders cultivated as they faced unprecedented challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Data was collected through one-to-one in-depth semi-structured interviews with ten senior school leaders from primary and secondary schools in England. During the pandemic, online interviews were organised using Zoom. An inductive followed by deductive approach qualitative data analysis was employed to offer insights into the multidimensional and sensitive nature of school leaders’ well-being.

The findings indicated that despite a reported decline in well-being, the participants intentionally engaged in well-being cultivation practices which were both relational: developing multi-faceted support networks, and individual: developing self-care and self-regulation skills. These practices provided different psychological and practical needs necessary for maintaining their well-being and work functioning facing the pandemic.

This study affirms school leaders’ well-being cultivation is an intentional and effortful process involving relational and individual practices to support their multidimensional well-being during extreme challenges. These practices can be mindfully and strategically cultivated. This study enhances the theoretical understanding of school leader well-being and offers timely insights into well-being initiatives in leadership development programmes for educational leaders and policymakers amid global challenges.

Research indicates a significant risk of economic crime associated with post-disaster funding. The purpose of this paper is to assess the characteristics of post-disaster funding that make it susceptible to the risk of economic crime and to analyse how the statutory and regulatory disaster risk management instruments of South Africa aim to manage post-disaster events.

This paper uses secondary sources such as, but not limited to, legislation, institutional reports, textbooks and peer-reviewed academic journal articles.

Post-disaster funding is inherently susceptible to economic crime due to characteristics identified such as time pressure; substantial inflow of money, goods and services; inadequate needs assessment, large-scale reconstruction and the involvement of contractors or suppliers; power imbalance; and the responsibility of governments. The Disaster Management Act and National Disaster Management Framework provide an extensive regulatory framework for mitigating post-disaster funding risks by attempting to find a balance between quick aid distribution and financial controls. This paper finds that even though South Africa is known to have some of the best disaster risk management laws, the pervasive nature of the characteristics could still render post-disaster funding structures susceptible to the risk of economic crime.

There is limited scientific research on this topic. The expected prevalence of future disasters requires the regulatory and legislative disaster risk management instruments to evolve concomitantly. Research on this topic must continue to ensure that risks associated with post-disaster funding and its susceptibility to economic crime can be mitigated as far as possible.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between digital transformation and sustainable development within the context of higher education institutions.

This paper uses a systematic review methodology to analyze the intersection of digital transformation and sustainability in higher education institutions, drawing on academic sources and institutional reports.

Universities face a dual challenge of advancing digital transformation while integrating and enhancing sustainable development, necessitating a balance between inclusivity and innovation to meet the evolving demands of a digital-centric world and global sustainability goals. Digital transformation of higher education institutions is not only influenced by socioeconomic changes and market demands but also offers practical pathways to enhance sustainability efforts across campus operations and curriculum delivery.

This paper provides an overview of the concepts of digital transformation and sustainable development in the higher education environment.

This paper aims to explore the accelerations and constraints libraries, archives, museums and heritage organisations (“collections-holding organisations”) face in their role as collection data providers for digital infrastructures. To date, digital infrastructures operate within the cultural heritage domain typically as data aggregation platforms, such as Europeana or Art UK.

Semi-structured interviews with 18 individuals in 8 UK collections-holding organisations and 2 international aggregators.

Discussions about digital infrastructure development often lay great emphasis on questions and problems that are technical and legal in nature. As important as technical and legal matters are, more latent, yet potent challenges exist too. Though less discussed in the literature, collections-holding organisations' capacity to participate in digital infrastructures is dependent on a complex interplay of funding allocation across the sector, divergent traditions of collection description and disciplinaries’ idiosyncrasies. Accordingly, we call for better social-cultural and trans-sectoral (collections-holding organisations, universities and technological providers) understandings of collection data infrastructure development.

The authors recommend developing more understanding of the social-cultural aspects (e.g. disciplinary conventions) and their impact on collection data dissemination. More studies on the impact and opportunities of unified collections for different audiences and collections-holding organisations themselves are required too.

Sustainable financial investment across the heritage sector is required to address the discrepancies between different organisation types in their capacity to deliver collection data. Smaller organisations play a vital role in diversifying the (digital) historical canon, but they often struggle to digitise collections and bring catalogues online in the first place. In addition, investment in existing infrastructures for collection data dissemination and unification is necessary, instead of creating new platforms, with various levels of uptake and longevity. Ongoing investments in collections curation and high-quality cataloguing are prerequisites for a sustainable heritage sector and collection data infrastructures. Investments in the sustainability of infrastructures are not a replacement for research and vice versa.

The authors recommend establishing networks where collections-holding organisations, technology providers and users can communicate their experiences and needs in an ongoing way and influence policy.

To date, the research focus on developing collection data infrastructures has tended to be on the drive to adopt specific technological solutions and copyright licensing practices. This paper offers a critical and holistic analysis of the dispersed experience of collections-holding organisations in their role as data providers for digital infrastructures. The paper contributes to the emerging understanding of the latent factors that make infrastructural endeavours in the heritage sector complex undertakings.

This paper examines the efforts of National Health Service (England) (NHSE) to respond to employee-based racial inequalities via its Workforce Race Equality Standard (WRES). The WRES constitutes a hybridised accountability initiative with characteristics of the moral and imposed regimes of accountability.

The study conceptualises the notion of responsive race accountability with recourse to Favotto et al.’s (2022) moral accountability model and critical race theory (CRT), and through it, examines the enactment of WRES at 40 NHSE trusts using qualitative content analysis.

Despite the progressive nature of the WRES that seeks to nurture corrective actions, results suggest that trusts tend to adopt an instrumental approach to the exercise. Whilst there is some evidence of good practice, the instrumental approach prevails across both the metric reporting that trusts engage in to guide their actions, and the planned actions for progress. These planned actions not only often fail to coalesce with the trust-specific data but also include generic NHSE or equality, diversity and inclusion initiatives and mimetic adoptions of best practice guidance that only superficially address racial concerns.

Whilst the WRES is a laudable voluntary achievement, its moral imperative does not appear to have translated into a moral accountability within individual trusts.

Responding to calls for more research at the accounting-race nexus, this study uniquely draws on CRT to conceptualise and examine race accountability.

This study aims to examine the intricate relationship between Chile’s coastal communities and the increasing effects of climate change, with a focus on Caleta Lenga as a case study. Chile’s extensive coastline is closely linked to the country’s economic well-being and the livelihoods of millions of people. The mounting threats posed by climate change require immediate action. To strengthen resilience and reduce risk, adaptive measures are imperative. However, effective adaptation is hindered by numerous barriers, including adaptive capacity and governance challenges.

This study uses a case study approach, which centres on Caleta Lenga’s unique socio-environmental and demographic context. This study used semi-structured interviews and historical reconstruction to reveal a socio-economic and environmental narrative that was influenced by significant events and transitions.

The residents’ perception of climate change impacts was viewed through the lens of industrial activities and changing weather patterns. This study emphasizes the community’s resilience in the face of changing socio-environmental dynamics. It highlights the importance of informed decision-making, community cooperation and the preservation of ancestral knowledge in promoting adaptive strategies based on community solidarity and collective decision-making. The findings underscore the need for effective adaptation measures that address both adaptive capacity and governance challenges to bolster climate resilience in vulnerable coastal communities.

The findings underscore the need for effective adaptation measures that address both adaptive capacity and governance challenges to bolster climate resilience in vulnerable coastal communities.

Environmental emissions are increasing in the urban areas. Much of the emissions arise from public procurement activities given that public sector firms are major customers to many supplying firms. Given the tremendous contribution, this study aims to examine the adoption of environmentally friendly urban freight logistics practices among public sector firms through assessing the impact of urban environmental governance, government environmental communication and organizational environmental governance.

Data for the study were collected in a single time period from central procuring and disposing entities (public sector firms) in the urban areas. A sample of 105 public sector firms in were used. One procurement officer and one member of the contracts committee were the key informants in the study. AMOS SPSS version 26 was used to obtain the results for the structural model and measurement model, respectively.

The findings indicate that the adoption of environmentally friendly urban freight logistics practices among public sector firms is significantly influenced by government environmental communication, organizational environmental governance and urban environmental governance. Urban environmental governance significantly influences organizational environmental governance. Urban environmental governance fully mediates the relationship between government environmental communication and public sector firms’ adoption of environmentally friendly urban freight logistics practices. Also, urban environmental governance and organizational environmental governance mediate the relationship between government environmental communication and adoption of environmentally friendly urban freight logistics practices.

This study examined the adoption of environmentally friendly urban freight logistics practices among public sector firms. However, the study was conducted in a public procurement setting rather than a private sector procurement setting. Also, the study examined the impact of government environmental communication on public sector firms’ adoption of environmentally friendly urban freight logistics practices ignoring the impact of internal communications made within the public sector firms on environmental issues.

This study examined the adoption of environmentally friendly urban freight logistics practices among public sector firms. Freight logistics in public sector procurement has not been given significant attention in earlier research. Emphasis is placed on sustainable public sector procurement ignoring other aspects that would help curb environmental emissions that may arise during and after the delivery of public procurement requirements.

The corporate social responsibility (CSR) premise is complicated for an MNE subsidiary operating across a geographically dispersed heterogeneous environment and conceptual literature on MNE subsidiaries’ CSR, a function that makes-or-break legitimacy in the home and host environment, is at best scattered. This paper aims to bridge that gap by reviewing the literature on three levels and plotting all those idiosyncratic counter-institutional forces into a single framework.

After reviewing the literature on MNE subsidiaries’ CSR through institutional lens, this paper conceived a three-dimensional matrix of institutional force fields and mapped the quadrants with meta-level strategies that subsidiaries can assume. This paper further conceptualizes a linear flow model of subsidiary CSR.

An MNE subsidiary’s CSR premise could be plotted into a matrix structure of institutional force fields, with subsidiaries assuming strategies to balance these forces. This paper postulate that institutional complexities influence the CSR strategy of a subsidiary, subjected to firm-specific logic. This paper propose that for an MNC subsidiaries CSR, there is a systematic deviation path from Carroll’s hierarchical pyramid model to a need-based pyramidal model.

The three-dimensional force field matrix model with respective strategies that subsidiary could assume is proposed for the first time. The linear flow model of a subsidiary CSR is also new to literature.