Archival Analysis Research Articles

Balancing emotional scales: Empathy and dehumanization in legal contexts.

Does emotional information have a place in court, or does it bias legal decisions? We address this longstanding question using real-world national sentencing patterns and laboratory-based mock jury decisions. Archival analysis of 918,152 observations reveals that the introduction of Victim Impact Statements, in which victims express the effect of crimes on their lives, did not change sentencing outcomes for violent crimes (Study 1). We hypothesized this may occur if observers empathize with victims over defendants by default. In two experimental studies (including a preregistered replication; data collected 2018 and 2019), exposure to the facts of a crime produced empathy for victims but dehumanization of defendants, a pattern not altered by Victim Impact Statements. Upon exposure to both the defendant's perspective and the victim's perspective, people express empathy for the victim and defendant, humanize defendants, and support more lenient sentencing. Internal meta-analyses of Study 2 and 3 found that the pooled effect of the defendant's perspective was much stronger than that of the victim, despite a content analysis demonstrating no significant difference in the emotionality or tone of the two statements. Taken together, the large and real-world sample of Study 1, combined with the experimental manipulation of Studies 2 and 3, suggests that "empathic defaults" are part of legal decision making and that introducing-rather than ignoring-multiple perspectives may balance the emotional scales. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

Cross-border co-creation of conservation perspectives for the archaeological sites Domus de Janas, Sardinia–Italy

PurposeThis article explores how co-design/co-creation among students and academics from different countries, as well as stakeholders, could contribute to providing archaeological conservation solutions for Sardinian pre-Nuragic sites called Domus de Janas. The sites are represented by rock-cut hypogeum tombs that constitute a unique heritage, but still not well preserved, interpreted and protected. Thus, the study presents the process and outcomes of co-creation work between UK (University of Portsmouth) and Italian (University of Cagliari) students and academics with the Villaperuccio and Pimentel councils and the site managers of Montessu, S’Acqua Salida and Corongiu, respectively.Design/methodology/approachThe study introduces a co-creation workshop that aimed to develop archaeological conservation perspectives for the sites and focused on three themes: (1) accessibility, (2) material and structural conservation, and (3) interpretations, protection and musealisation. The workshop applied archival analysis methods to establish the values of the sites, as well as empirical architectural analysis to contextualise the established values within the contemporary physical context, and to identify the main issues that challenge these heritage assets. Focus groups with stakeholders followed by co-creation/co-design workshops were conducted to synthesise conservation strategies and concepts for the two selected sites.FindingsFour interdisciplinary conceptual conservation proposals and restoration strategies were produced, driven by theoretical and practical understanding of the sites’ key cultural significance and values as well as conservation theories. The co-creation process and outputs are critically analysed to appraise their contribution to the sites’ significance, conservation and protection. Also, the study investigates the contribution of the co-creation activities to the participants’ interdisciplinary understanding of heritage conservation in the context of archaeology through exchanging knowledge and skills across borders. It was established that decay is an opportunity to promote the sites authenticity, while the landscape is a powerful context to be used as part of the revitalisation and musealisation strategies for a better visitor experience.Originality/valueThis study contributes original insights to the discourse of archaeological conservation and how architecture and design could be utilised as powerful tools to revitalise hidden values and narrative through co-creative processes. It highlights the original contribution of the young generation (students from multicultural backgrounds) to heritage conservation and revitalisation discourses by synthesising original proposals based on their collective values. This emphasises the need for wider inclusion and participation in conservation practices through the use of new engaging methods and tools.

Enhancing Cultural Heritage Archive Analysis via Automated Entity Extraction and Graph-Based Representation Learning

Recent efforts to digitize textual, visual, and physical forms of cultural heritage require advanced tools for preservation and analysis. The availability of extensive online data creates a need for intelligent systems to help users and archivists understand latent relationships in these collections. A major challenge in cultural heritage studies is the labor-intensive process of analyzing these materials. Inconsistent linguistic terms and ambiguous concepts in digital documents make it difficult to uncover relationships without expert supervision. Moreover, while advanced models based on large-scale pretraining demonstrate strong performance in extracting semantic relationships, they depend on extensive pretraining on large external datasets, limiting their applicability for smaller or specialized collections. We propose a system that combines natural language processing for entity extraction with graph representation learning to model relationships among documents, categories, and n-grams, resulting in a fully-connected network representation. Unlike methods requiring large-scale pretraining, our approach operates effectively using only the information available in the dataset itself, making it particularly suited for smaller cultural heritage document collections. The system extracts significant terms from document metadata, produces embeddings for each document, and uses these embeddings to build a recommendation system for entity discovery. We tested the system on a collection of early 20th-century documents from Crete, evaluating its performance against alternative methods in collaboration with experts from the archival research organization SALT. This approach not only facilitates deeper insights into smaller, specialized collections but also reduces dependency on vast external training resources, enhancing its practical utility in cultural heritage studies.

Cultural heritage branding in a deglobalized world: global brand resonance through local cultural events

PurposeThis study aims to examine how cultural heritage brands navigate deglobalization pressures through a novel hybrid framework that integrates physical and digital dimensions.Design/methodology/approachThe research employs a qualitative case study methodology, applying life cycle theory and grounded theory analysis to examine temple fair’s brand evolution from 2011 to 2024. Data collection included participatory observation, in-depth interviews and archival analysis of festival documentation.FindingsThe analysis reveals four distinct stages in cultural heritage brand development: cultural foundation (2011–2013), digital transformation (2014–2016), global recognition (2017–2019) and strategic adaptation (2020–2024). Digital innovation and strategic adaptation emerge as critical mechanisms for balancing cultural heritage preservation with global audience engagement.Practical implicationsThe findings provide actionable insights for cultural heritage brand managers seeking to develop resilient, adaptive and globally resonant brand strategies while preserving authentic cultural elements.Originality/valueThe study introduces the concept of cultural brand resilience and develops a novel framework demonstrating how localized authenticity and digital outreach enable heritage brands to thrive amid deglobalization. This bridges a gap in understanding how cultural heritage brands maintain relevance in shifting global dynamics.

Consumers' Meaning-Making of the Starbucks Boycott Campaign in the Context of the Israel-Palestine Conflict

The escalating Israel-Palestine conflict has triggered a wave of global consumer activism, one of which is a boycott campaign targeting multinational brands such as Starbucks. This phenomenon highlights the strong connection between political identity, moral expression, and consumer behavior. This study aims to explore how individuals receive, interpret, and respond to boycott messages against Starbucks within the context of the conflict. Employing a qualitative descriptive phenomenological approach, data were collected through in-depth interviews and digital archive analysis. Informants were purposively selected based on shared characteristics and the intensity of their engagement with the issue. The findings reveal diverse decoding positions, dominant, negotiated, and oppositional, shaped by cultural background, political orientation, personal experience, and brand loyalty. Social media shapes emotional narratives, reinforces symbolic resistance, and shifts perception and consumption behavior. These findings underscore the complexity of political consumerism and demonstrate the active role of consumers in redefining brand image amid socio-political crises. This study offers theoretical and practical contributions to understanding meaning-making dynamics in digital communication and emphasizes the urgency of audience-based approaches in brand communication strategies

Teaching Graphic Communication and Techniques to senior phase Technology learners: A guide for teachers

This study examined the teaching of Graphic Communication and Techniques to senior phase Technology learners. A quantitative research approach was adopted, and a case study design was employed. To a population of 7 teachers and 156 learners in Capricorn District, Limpopo in South Africa, a convenient sample of 13 teachers and 149 learners were used. This study collected data through questionnaires, observations and archive analysis. This study revealed that 76.92% of sampled teachers taught learners different structures using freehand technique and single point perspective, but this had a negative impact on leaners ability to use drawing tools as no teacher attempted to use and encourage learners to draw using adequate set squares. It was interesting to see that only 38.46% of teachers emphasised the need to use different colours in drawings to improve learners spatial and cognitive skills. Some of the leaners activities showed that different colours were used even though the drawings were not correct and appealing. Only 69.23% of teachers taught learners the use of correct line types, sadly learners were not receptive of this emphasis as most of them had drawings which were drawn in bold lines and not neat. In light of the emergent findings, this study recommended that teachers should engage in lesson study approaches with other colleagues teaching Technology in order to strengthen their grasp of learner-centred approaches that are appropriate for teaching graphic communication and techniques.

Romanticization or Reality: It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover Through Corpus Stylistics Perspective

Corpus stylistics, which involves the analysis of electronic archives of written material, facilitates the understanding of connections between words. This research aims to provide linguistic evidence regarding the genre of Colleen Hoover's popular fiction, It Ends with Us, specifically, to ascertain whether it is a pure romance novel or incorporates aspects of literary realism. A descriptive qualitative approach, grounded in Mahlberg's (2013) corpus stylistics theory, is employed. The primary data for analysis are the four most frequently occurring verbs identified using AntConc. The collocations associated with each verb are subsequently categorized into "attempts to romanticize" or "narrations of reality" to determine the prevailing stylistic strategy. The research demonstrates that the novel utilizes a greater proportion of "realistic" words compared to "romantic" words, thereby indicating its alignment with literary realism. The narrative modifications are intended to heighten the story's engagement, rather than to romanticize domestic abuse or toxic relationships.

The epidemiology of encapsulating peritoneal sclerosis in an era of biocompatible neutral peritoneal dialysis solution in Japan.

Encapsulating peritoneal sclerosis (EPS) is one of the most serious complications of peritoneal dialysis (PD). Although the incidence and severity of EPS are said to have decreased with the widespread adoption of biocompatible neutral PD solutions, the overall prevalence in Japan remains unclear. We extracted patients with EPS from 2012 to 2022 using the Web-based Analysis of Dialysis Data Archives (WADDA) system of the Japanese Society for Dialysis Therapy. EPS was defined as present in patients with a history of PD treatment presenting with symptoms of ileus due to intestinal adhesion. Patients with only ascites, calcification of the intestine or bloody PD effluent were not defined as having EPS. We collected data from patients with EPS including sex, age, dialysis modality, dialysis duration, cause of end-stage kidney disease and cause of death among deceased patients. Approximately 700 patients with EPS were identified (60-65% males; mean age, 61-66years), accounting for 5% of the sum of PD patients and patients on other dialysis modalities with experience of PD. The majority received hemodialysis or hemodiafiltration, with a mean dialysis duration of 12-14years. The crude death rate was approximately 5% and death from ileus was more frequent than in the total cohort of dialysis patients. The present study using a nationwide database of Japanese dialysis patients revealed a large number of patients with EPS. We plan to conduct a longitudinal study to clarify outcomes for patients with EPS.

Malaria Epidemics and Community Resilience in Setit Humera, Northwestern Ethiopian Borderland, 1950s–1974

Drawing on critical analysis of provincial archives and contemporary periodical sources, this paper examines malaria epidemics in Ethiopia's northwestern borderland region of Setit Humera, its broader socio-economic impacts on agricultural development, and community resilience, 1950s–1974. When the government launched private-owned mechanized agriculture in the late 1950s, Setit Humera became a granary of commercial agriculture, attracting significant labor migrants from the highland districts of Begemidir, Simien, Eritrea, and Tigray. Settlement and labor migration were driven by crop failures and locust invasions in the highland districts. However, Setit Humera has been plagued by recurring malaria outbreaks and migrant laborers unfamiliar with the tropical climate of the Setit Humera border region became vulnerable to malaria. The rapid escalation of malaria led to a significant rise in mortality and morbidity incidences, causing extreme distress among the rural households in Setit Humera. The malaria epidemics caused not only mortality and morbidity but also impacted agricultural development as the outbreaks coincided with cultivation seasons. The government took insignificant actions to address malaria-induced factors, including improving access to healthcare. The high volume of patients, seasonal migration of laborers, access road problems, lack of medical inputs, and recurrent epidemic outbreaks made the intervention insufficient to address health demands.

Investigation of the effect of digitalisation process of patient files archive on cost and work motivation of employees.

BackgroundOne of the most important topics in the process of digital transformation in healthcare services are 'electronic patient records' and 'digital archive' applications.ObjectivesThe study was to create the infrastructure of the digitalisation process of the patient files archive, to compare cost benefit analysis and time study of paper-based archive and digital archive systems, to analyse the change in work motivation of archive employees with the transition process to digital archive.MethodsThe study carried out in 3 stages. At scanning of patient files stage, hospital archive employees started to scan the files. The 2nd stage of the study was cost calculation and time study. The third stage of the study was evaluation of work motivation of employees. The effect of paper-based archive and digital archive on work motivation was evaluated with a qualitative study.ResultsAs of the study closing date, 222,461 patient files were digitalised. As a result of the cost-benefit analysis, the benefit of the fixtures we bought for the archive was 2.37 times more in the calculation of creating a new additional archive instead. It has been determined that at the end of the digitalisation process, the motivation of patient file archive employees increased, work-related anxiety and their physical problems such as hand hurt decreased, and they felt valued.ConclusionIn this study, it has been proven that digital archives provide advantages in terms of financial benefit, time study and employee motivation.

Education, women, and societal dynamics in modern Kashmir

ABSTRACT Education in Jammu and Kashmir during the post-1947 period has served as a contested tool of both empowerment and control, which is shaped by the interplay of gender, nationalism, and conflict. The existing scholarship emphasises the role of education in advancing the agency of women, and this study examines its dual role in Kashmir, where State policies frequently co-opt educational reforms to consolidate political legitimacy. This endeavour argues that State-led education initiatives of the government in Jammu and Kashmir, though framed as progressive, entrenched socioeconomic inequalities along class, caste, and rural-urban lines while tying women's progress to Indian nationalist agendas. This paper uses a mixed-methods approach, including archival analysis of policy documents, oral histories, college magazines, and ethnographic fieldwork. This research analyses reveals how education facilitated limited socioeconomic mobility for urban elite women yet reinforced patriarchal norms and excluded marginalised communities. Several findings have been highlighted for understanding the paradoxes, like some symbolic shifts, such as the adoption of saris (over the Kashmiri pheran) and the rise of nuclear families, signalled modernity but also reflected assimilationist State pressures. Additionally, State curricula prioritised political conformity. This study demonstrates how emancipatory possibilities remain constrained by political coercion and intersectional marginalisation and highlights the necessity of decoupling educational agendas from nationalist projects to foster genuine empowerment.

AI-driven SAP S4/HANA, advancing firm operational efficiency, decision-making and resource optimization

This study examines how AI integration into SAP S/4HANA enhances information system effectiveness in meeting firm needs, including operational efficiency, decision-making, and resource optimization. It aims to provide valuable insights for businesses leveraging AI-powered ERP capabilities in modern business environments. This study employs archival analysis using a qualitative multiple case study approach, triangulating insights from three sources for depth and rigor: a literature review for theoretical grounding, SAP’s official proposals, and case studies from several firms. Selection criteria include relevance, credibility, and comprehensiveness. This comparative study evaluates AI’s impact on efficiency, decision-making, and resource optimization. Thematic analysis identifies key patterns, challenges, and business outcomes. The findings confirm that AI integration into ERP systems enhances operational efficiency, decision-making, and resource optimization. Archival analysis demonstrates tangible benefits, including reduced downtime, improved supply chain management, automated financial operations, and enhanced predictive analytics. This research bridges theory and practice by connecting academic concepts with real-world AI-driven ERP integration and the implications of AI in SAP S/4HANA, offering a comprehensive perspective. It provides valuable insights for both academics and practitioners. These strengths highlight the study’s relevance, originality, and potential impact in the evolving field of AI-integrated enterprise systems.

THE EVOLUTION OF INDIA’S STARTUP ECOSYSTEM: HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES ON POLICY, INNOVATION AND ENTREPRENEURIAL GROWTH

The paper traces the evolution of the Indian startup ecosystem via three major approaches: Historical context, major government initiatives and policies, and the positioning of innovation in entrepreneurship growth. Based on archival analysis, secondary data review and case studies, I examine entrepreneurship from the pre-colonial era through the post-liberalization period. Five major phases of development are identified based on different struggles and opportunities for startups. Maintaining this macro perspective, the paper recommends working out more specific dynamics of sectoral innovation and evaluating relevant policies. Policy entrepreneurs and investors alike will find such insight valuable as this is a bridge between traditional entrepreneurship and new technology-based enterprises.

The Evolution of English in Benin’s Military and Police Training: A Historical and Pedagogical Perspective

This study examines English training’s evolution in Benin’s security forces, addressing how limited proficiency hampers operational success in multilingual missions. It assesses task-based language teaching (TBLT) effectiveness and proposes enhancements, driven by Benin’s growing regional and international roles. A mixed-methods design collected data from 2020–2023 via archival analysis (1960–2020), interviews with 25 military and police personnel, evaluations of 250 trainees (2018–2022) from Porto-Novo and Cotonou, and operational reports (2013–2022), analyzed using NVivo and SPSS 26 (Richards & Rodgers, 2014; Zhang, 2023) [16, 21]. Findings show pre-2020 proficiency at 40% (army) and 15% (police), rising to 70% and 55% by 2022 with TBLT, yielding 20-25% army and 15% police operational gains, despite incomplete pre-1990 records (Fishman & García, 2010) [8]. Though a U.S.-equipped naval lab exists, the Republican Police lacks a dedicated facility. The study recommends establishing a curriculum mandate for all security forces and a police language lab by 2025, training 50 instructors by 2026, and introducing bilingual logbooks at key border posts.

Echoes of the Posthuman in the Historical Development of Tibetan Folk Songs in Diqing, Yunnan Province

This study investigates the historical development of Tibetan folk songs in Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province, through the lens of posthumanist theory. Set against the backdrop of cultural shifts from socialist institutionalization to digital globalization, the research explores how these folk songs have transformed in form, function, and meaning across three distinct periods: 1949–1979, 1979–2001, and 2001–2024. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Shangri-La County and surrounding villages between 2022 and 2024, the study incorporates interviews with five key cultural practitioners, archival analysis, and musicological transcription of 25 representative songs. Data were thematically coded and analyzed using narrative, stylistic, and technological frameworks. The results reveal that Tibetan folk songs have shifted from embodied, community-based practices to mediated cultural expressions shaped by state ideology, commercial tourism, and algorithmic curation. In the posthuman era, these songs are no longer solely authored by human agents; they participate in complex networks involving digital platforms, AI tools, and global audiences. The study contributes to contemporary posthumanist debates by rethinking cultural heritage as dynamic, relational, and multispecies. It suggests further research on how emerging technologies influence youth engagement with traditional music and calls for strategies that balance cultural preservation with creative innovation.

Exploring the Rise of Eco/Green Psychology Concepts in Understanding Sustainable Action

Psychology is a core discipline in understanding why and how individuals choose to engage in sustainable action. This paper uses social representations theory to explore the rising use of eco/green prefixes for psychology concepts through a critical analysis of the concept of eco/green fatigue. It argues that this term, which originated in the world of popular online news media, has typically been treated in academic psychology discussions using existing psychology concepts in the same way as eco-anxiety and eco-grief, which hides important features of the phenomenon that need to be better understood. The paper presents an analysis of eco-fatigue based on a critical review of the existing psychology literature, qualitative online archival analyses, and an exploratory quantitative survey study. The survey study was conducted with a sample of 182 students and non-students and analysed using principal components and cluster analysis. The paper provides evidence that simply adding an eco/green prefix to an existing psychology concept without a systematic empirical investigation into the phenomenon can result in overly simplistic conceptual frameworks that do not lead to sound practical conclusions. A preliminary empirical examination of the social representation of eco-fatigue in the public arena suggested that inappropriate sustainability messaging and bad business behaviour may be more of a barrier to sustainability action than the beliefs or attitudes held by individuals.

For Church or People: The History of Land Dispute in Sikka Regency, East Nusa Tenggara Province from the Perspective of Tana' Ai Community

This study employs a political ecology approach to analyze the dynamics of land ownership in Indonesia, focusing on the Tana' Ai community in Sikka Regency, East Nusa Tenggara province. We argue that agrarian change is driven by external actors, including private companies that religious institutions and government agencies own. The latter often impose their will on indigenous populations, which can result in land conflicts, marginalization, and uneven capital accumulation. In particular, the church's status as a land use permit holder from the colonial era complicates the Tana' Ai ethnic community's ability to assert its ancestral land rights. To understand this further, this study examines the interactions between the church, local communities, and the state in land management and their impact on the dynamics of power and resistance of ethnic Tana' Ai communities to social and policy change. We ask, is land managed by the community or the church? The research contributes to the growing body of literature. It fills a significant gap on land disputes in Indonesia, which also appear to be conducted by religious institutions, and the long-term impacts of such conflicts on indigenous societies. We used qualitative methods, including interviews, participant observation, and archival analysis, across 3 villages in Sikka Regency. This understanding is crucial for addressing the socio-political and cultural challenges the Tana' Ai community faces in reclaiming their land rights and ensuring their sustainable livelihoods.

Subjects of Difference: Māori Petitions and the Late-Nineteenth Century Colonial State

ABSTRACT For nearly two hundred years since the annexation of New Zealand to the British empire, Māori have written thousands of petitions criticising the colonial and later national government. There has been surprisingly little analysis of this extensive archive of Indigenous petitioning in New Zealand. A close examination of petitions changes how historians understand relations between power and resistance in the colonial state and wider empire. This article focuses on one set of petitions written by prominent individuals and land-holding groups in the 1860s and 1870s. I argue that these examples of petitioning show how effectively and strategically Māori countered the narratives and assumptions of the colonial state in regard to central matters of concern to their communities: recent violent conflict and the confiscation and sale of land. In so doing, Māori petitioners laid the groundwork for later activism and their petitions have been revisited in more recent decades when the nation-state has sought to reckon with the colonial past. Rather than being assimilated into the late nineteenth-century colonial state, petitions demonstrate that Māori understood that they were different from settlers. Petitions show that Māori difference was shaped not only by how the state treated Indigenous subjects but also by how Indigenous peoples remembered what had happened differently.

Cultural Heritage's Role in Shaping National Identity in Post-Colonial Societies

The research examines the role cultural heritage played in building national identity in the post-colonial societies. The research uses India and South Africa as comparative case studies. The study utilizes the interpretivist philosophy in its approach and employs qualitative approach in the collection of data that reveals how societies utilized cultural heritage to shape post-colonial national identity. The qualitative approaches to data collection include interviews, archival analysis, and document review. The findings of the study show that cultural heritage plays a fundamental role of unifying people in the post-colonial societies. However, the study also finds that cultural heritage can have a divisive force in post-colonial societies. Despite the cultural heritage propagating a sense of shared history and belonging, the study found that there are narratives that marginalize certain groups in the case studies. Therefore, the study recommends the need to apply a bottom-up heritage initiatives to ensure proper representation. The study makes a significant contribution to the heritage studies by showing the significance of cultural heritage in unifying communities in the post-colonial era. Additionally, the study emphasizes the need to address historical inequalities through proper representation and exclusion of biased historical narratives.

Living in the Mycelial World: A global cross-cultural ethnomycological review.

This manuscript documents a systematic ethnomycological analysis of ethnographic archives. Focusing on texts describing human-fungi interactions, I conduct a global, cross-cultural review of mushroom use, covering 193 societies worldwide. The study reveals diverse mushroom-related cultural practices, emphasizing the significance of fungi beyond culinary value to include domains such as rituals, medicine, folklore, and fire-making. Special attention is given to exploring how mushrooms and their foraging involve human cognition. The findings also expose a lack of detail in descriptions of human-mushroom relations. Ethnomycology continues to receive limited attention, largely due to Western mycophobic biases. This highlights the need for expanded ethnomycological research to enrich our understanding of past and present human encounters with the fungal kingdom.