Cultural Benefits Research Articles

The KLC Cultures' Synergy Power, Trust, and Tacit Knowledge for Organizational Intelligence

This paper examines the impact of knowledge, learning, and collaboration cultures synergy (the KLC approach) on organizational adaptability. The SEM analysis method was applied to verify the critical assumption of this paper that the KLC approach supports knowledge-sharing processes (tacit and explicit) and that both matter for organizational intelligence activation. The empirical evidence, based on a 640-case sample composed of Polish knowledge workers, exposed that knowledge sharing, organizational intelligence, and innovativeness are vital benefits of the KLC cultures’ synergy and showed that trust among workmates is critical to sustaining tacit knowledge sharing in an organization. Tacit knowledge is clearly exposed as an essential ingredient of change adaptability, which is seen as a proxy for organizational intelligence. Moreover, the mistakes acceptance component of learning culture supporting trial-error-learnings is noted as tremendous for knowledge-sharing processes, organizational intelligence (change adaptability), and innovativeness. This study proved that knowledge sharing, organizational intelligence, and innovativeness are vital benefits of the synergy that offers the KLC cultures. Trust strengthens this effect. So, to gain these benefits, knowledge-driven organizations should employ trusted managers who trust others and, in addition to their professional credentials, exhibit strong habits of respecting knowledge, learning, and collaboration.

The Relationship between Organizational Culture and Product Innovation with Employee Productivity and Financial Performance of Fintech Companies in Indonesia

This study looks into the connections between employee productivity, organizational culture, financial performance, and product innovation in Indonesian fintech companies. A quantitative study was carried out with the data that was gathered from 180 individuals. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, model fit evaluation, measurement model assessment, structural model estimation, and mediation analysis. The findings show that financial performance, staff productivity, product innovation, and organizational culture are all positively correlated. Product innovation is strongly influenced by organizational culture, and this has a favorable effect on worker productivity and financial performance. Furthermore, through both staff productivity and product innovation, mediation research demonstrates strong indirect benefits of organizational culture on financial performance. It was discovered that there is no substantial correlation between organizational culture and financial performance. The aforementioned results underscore the need of cultivating an accommodating organizational culture that stimulates creativity and efficiency in order to attain exceptional financial outcomes within the Fintech sector.

Bataviaasch Genootschap Van Wetenschappen and the Institutionalization of Science in the Dutch East Indies 1778-1942

The background of this research is that Science in Indonesia develops through institutions, not ideas, people, or instruments. This research aims to describe the institutionalization of scientific institutions in the Dutch East Indies. The historical method analyzes various resources to aid the reconstruction of the Dutch East Indies’s science institutionalization process. This research uses archives from ANRI (National Archives of the Republic of Indonesia) regarding Bataviaasch Genootschap van Wetenschappen (The Batavia Society of Arts and Science). Archives from other scientific institutions, such as Bogor and Cibodas Botanical Gardens, are also used to illustrate the institutionalization process. The findings of this research include studies on the process and the necessity to pay attention to elements such as rules, norms, cultural benefits, roles, and material resources. Institutionalizing science and technology in the Dutch East Indies underwent at least three stages: the emergence of amateur scientists from Europe, the efforts to build scientific groups, and the establishment of science institutions. This research concludes that the first two stages were outside the bureaucratic channels of the colonial government. However, in the third stage, scientists needed help to escape the role of the colonial bureaucracy in developing these scientific institutions. Bataviaasch Genootschap van Wetenschappen, founded in 1778, was a private organization studying commerce, agriculture, and humanities. It played a significant role in encouraging various other research institutions

Economic and Cultural Partnership Opportunities between Kupang and Chiba Cities through Sister City Cooperation

The Kupang city government has officially proposed a sister city partnership with Chiba, Japan, through representatives of the Japanese government in Bali. This proposal, currently in the initial stages, aims to explore the potential economic and cultural benefits of such a collaboration. This cooperation involves the governments of Kupang City and Chiba City in enhancing economic and cultural cooperation between the two, with the aim of increasing cooperation in trade, investment, and culture, as well as increasing cooperation in education, technology, and infrastructure. This research identifies Chiba as an ideal partner for Kupang, given their various economic and cultural similarities and complementary potentials. By employing qualitative research methods, this study comprehensively examined the prospective advantages of the sister-city relationship. The findings revealed significant opportunities for both cities, including the establishment of an international trade route between Kupang and Chiba and the creation of a central institution dedicated to the research and preservation of their cultures. Based on these insights, the study recommends that the city governments of Kupang and Chiba initiate negotiations and formalize their sister city cooperation, as the anticipated benefits would substantially enhance the development and prosperity of both cities.

Integrating popular culture tourism in local communities: a scoping review and ways forward

ABSTRACT There is nowadays a growing scholarship examining the intersection of popular culture and tourism. Most of this literature reveals that much of this work is grounded in an optimistic predisposition about the positive effects that tourism induced by popular culture has for locales. This is mainly featured in the dominant management discourse that feeds an overly positive tone about the benefits of popular culture for tourism development. However, there is a less loud line of scholarship originated in critical social studies that views regional popular culture tourism contexts in a more nuanced way bearing dubious outcomes. To address these shortcomings, the purpose of this scoping review is to demarcate and establish the strategic role of popular culture in regional tourism development. We put forward that a holistic approach entails the comprehensive treatment and multi-level embeddedness of popular culture tourism into regional contexts, epitomised by their territorial capital. On this basis, we present the predominant themes shaping the discourse in the field of popular culture tourism by discerning its two primary disciplinary streams, namely management and critical studies. Next, implications are drawn for the sustainable territorial touristification of places by leveraging comprehensively the development of popular culture tourism in local communities.

H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b avian influenza viruses replicate in differentiated bovine airway epithelial cells cultured at air-liquid interface.

Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 viruses are responsible for disease outbreaks in wild birds and poultry, resulting in devastating losses to the poultry sector. Since 2020, an increasing number of outbreaks of HPAI H5N1 was seen in wild birds. Infections in mammals have become more common, in most cases in carnivores after direct contact with infected birds. Although ruminants were previously not considered a host species for HPAI viruses, in March 2024 multiple outbreaks of HPAI H5N1 were detected in goats and cattle in the United States. Here, we have used primary bronchus-derived well-differentiated bovine airway epithelial cells (WD-AECs) cultured at air-liquid interface to assess the susceptibility and permissiveness of bovine epithelial cells to infection with European H5N1 virus isolates. We inoculated bovine WD-AECs with three low-passage HPAI clade 2.3.4.4b H5N1 virus isolates and detected rapid increases in viral genome loads and infectious virus during the first 24 h post-inoculation, without substantial cytopathogenic effects. Three days post-inoculation infected cells were still detectable by immunofluorescent staining. These data indicate that multiple lineages of HPAI H5N1 may have the propensity to infect the respiratory tract of cattle and support extension of avian influenza surveillance efforts to ruminants. Furthermore, this study underscores the benefit of WD-AEC cultures for pandemic preparedness by providing a rapid and animal-free assessment of the host range of an emerging pathogen.

The Diversity of Science Behind U.S. Seafood

Since 2014, people have been eating more and more seafood like fish, shrimp, and plant-based seafood like seaweed. In the United States, seafood even features in some popular television shows such as Wicked Tuna and Deadliest Catch. But did you know that before you sit down to enjoy a seafood dinner, many types of scientists have been working together to answer questions like: “How many fish can we catch without taking too many?” and “How will catching one species affect other species in the ecosystem?”. Scientists even study questions like: “How does catching fish and other types of seafood affect a community?”. In this article, we will explore how fish, shrimp, clams, and other seafood resources are managed in the U.S., and why many different types of scientists are needed to make sure that these resources can sustainably provide food, jobs, recreation, and cultural benefits to people who use them.

Using a socially-engaged arts approach to exploring how diverse socio-cultural groups accessed, valued, engaged with and benefited from an urban treescape during the COVID-19 Pandemic

This paper presents a socially-engaged arts approach to exploring the variety and specificity of cultural benefits urban park-users associated with its treescape during the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing on the cultural ecosystem services framework, cultural benefits are understood in terms of positive impacts to ‘experiences’ (our relational interactions with the environment), ‘capabilities’ (our knowledge and abilities in relation to environmental interaction) and ‘identities’ (our perceptions of our relationship with the environment). The research captured evidence of a broad range of people’s interactions with the human and non-human world, whilst opening up an inclusive space for respondents to reflect on and share feelings about the significance of these experiences. The methods employed attracted a range of ‘quieter voices’ to participate, particularly more vulnerable park-users. They also attended to the multiple levels at which people connected with treescapes during this time, from less conscious material engagements to more emotionally and culturally driven transactions. This case study research highlights the important role of the park’s treescape in supporting people to feel better during the COVID-19 crisis and their cultural associations and ties to it. However, it also explores feelings of concern for and perceived lack of influence over this valued resource as potentially disbenefiting wellbeing. It identifies experiences of environmental anxiety, emerging from a lack of certainty over and agency within urban green spaces and treescapes and the benefits they can provide. It concludes that management of treescapes and greenspaces should be sensitive to impacts on environmental emotion.

Limitations of existing park quality instruments and suggestions for future research

Public parks are critical urban infrastructures offering health, environmental, social, and cultural benefits to people. However, the idea of park quality has lacked a clear operational definition and normative standard for measurement. We provide critical insights into existing park quality instruments and advocate for an alternative approach. First, due to the significant diversity in parks, inherent ambiguity and subjectivity in the idea of quality, and previous instruments’ inconsistent operationalizations of park quality, we recommend that future research shift its focus from creating instruments for universal application and standardized measurement to developing an inventory or list of park quality indicators that researchers and practitioners can selectively choose for their unique park contexts. Second, through our multidisciplinary examination, we identify five limitations in existing park quality instruments: (1) lack of attention to the histories of marginalized communities, (2) overemphasis on physical activities and public health, (3) lack of attention to ecological function and biodiversity, (4) lack of subjective measurements, and (5) insufficient consideration of multiple parks or a park system. Overall, a more flexible and site-specific approach to park quality measurement and the adoption of new indicators of park quality are expected to accomplish a more comprehensive and fairer assessment of park quality, contributing to park equity research and practice.

Совершенная свобода личности и неумолимость культурной истории: Абсолют в религиозной метафизике К.Н. Леонтьева

The following article considers K.N. Leont’ev’s religious and philosophical ideas concerning the historico-cultural process, its fateful direction and its eschatological end. The restriction of individual freedom in the domain of cultural history was assumed by Leont’ev due to his interpretation of faith in a personal God, the Owner of the world’s fate. A specific religious and philosophical thesis was made by Leont’ev that the cultural benefits of man are determined by his own choice between the sphere of obedience and the sphere of revolt in regards to his relation to the Absolute. In the 19th century, humanity was inspired by the spirit of egalitarianism, but while attempting to challenge the divine authority, it will sooner or later find out that it was poorly mistaken and experience the restrictions of human nature in the face of the inevitable and catastrophic end of the cosmos. While being based on the hermeneutical teachings of H.-G. Gadamer, who philosophically rehabilitated man’s historicity and his pre-conceptions of cultural temporality, the author asserts that one should pay attention to the religious and philosophical schemes of Leont’ev in the context of the Sacred Tradition of the Church, which determined his thinking. It may be possible that the application of this method will lead to a more perfect understanding of Leont’ev’s religious metaphysics.

Using Microfluidic Hepatic Spheroid Cultures to Assess Liver Toxicity of T-2 Mycotoxin.

The Fusarium fungi is found in cereals and feedstuffs and may produce mycotoxins, which are secondary metabolites, such as the T-2 toxin (T-2). In this work, we explored the hepatotoxicity of T-2 using microfluidic 3D hepatic cultures. The objectives were: (i) exploring the benefits of microfluidic 3D cultures compared to conventional 3D cultures available commercially (Aggrewell plates), (ii) establishing 3D co-cultures of hepatic cells (HepG2) and stellate cells (LX2) and assessing T-2 exposure in this model, (iii) characterizing the induction of metabolizing enzymes, and (iv) evaluating inflammatory markers upon T-2 exposure in microfluidic hepatic cultures. Our results demonstrated that, in comparison to commercial (large-volume) 3D cultures, spheroids formed faster and were more functional in microfluidic devices. The viability and hepatic function decreased with increasing T-2 concentrations in both monoculture and co-cultures. The RT-PCR analysis revealed that exposure to T-2 upregulates the expression of multiple Phase I and Phase II hepatic enzymes. In addition, several pro- and anti-inflammatory proteins were increased in co-cultures after exposure to T-2.

Preventing and protecting against underwater cultural heritage crime

Akin to the activity on the high seas broadly, underwater cultural heritage below the surface of the high seas is beyond the scope of policing of any one state. As such, the historical, cultural, and financial value of shipwrecks is vulnerable to crimes such as looting, trafficking, forgeries, and then illicit sales, rather than providing cultural benefit to all, as articulated in the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and the 2001 Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage. The emergent United Nations High Seas Treaty provides some hope of unclouding this complex space and providing protections for these culturally rich, priceless, and often nationally contested objects. Shipwreck ownership is contested not only on the high seas. Shipwrecks found within a state’s exclusive economic zone may be susceptible to questions of ownership, further challenging the questions of how crimes against underwater cultural heritage can be collectively prevented and protected. Drawing on a shipwreck example from Southeast Asia in which ownership was contested, the Geldermalsen, this article considers, within the framework of international law and increasingly available technology, that it may be possible to “design out” criminal vulnerabilities through a lens of situational crime prevention.

Re-visit project success: evaluation of visitor perspectives in the Sungai Melaka flood mitigation project

Purpose This interdisciplinary study re-evaluates the Sungai Melaka flood mitigation project’s impact on community success in Malaysia’s UNESCO World Heritage site, broadening the definition of success considering historical and cultural significance. This study aims to revisit success metrics, focusing on the project’s influence on people’s interactions, cultural well-being, social cohesion and heritage preservation. Design/methodology/approach This study explored visitors’ reviews of their experience visiting Sungai Melaka in several data collection stages. The first data collection involved a Web survey posted on Facebook to capture diverse perspectives of the population and grasp the core strand of knowledge to focus on the second data collection, the questionnaire. The final stage involved interviews to generate rich qualitative data. Findings The findings of this study revealed that the impact exceeded tangible outcomes, as the project impacted people’s interactions and practices. This research assesses cultural benefits, incorporating these indicators into evaluating cultural ecosystem services by capturing local visitors’ and communities’ perceptions, preferences and behaviours. The findings found that other project success attributes include identities, capabilities and experience, further defining learning, health, economics, connection to nature and symbolism. Originality/value This research explores the meaning of project success beyond the traditional metrics by capturing success from the users’ perspectives and people’s interaction and their impact on culture and well-being. The cultural ecosystem services framework used in this study is applied to explore the interactions between people and the facility and its effect on the people.

Exploring the Nexus of Organizational Culture, Digital Capabilities, and Organizational Readiness for Change in Primary School in Digital Transformation: A Quantitative Analysis

<p style="text-align:justify">In the context of Vietnam's primary schools undergoing a digital transformation, this research investigates the relationship between organizational culture (OC), digital capabilities (DC), and organizational readiness (OR) for change. This survey, which employs a quantitative methodology, includes 892 teachers and school managers from different elementary schools. Analyses were conducted using SPSS Statistics 26.0. The study shows a favorable relationship between digital skills and organizational readiness, suggesting that more digitally capable institutions are better equipped to handle change. Furthermore, a significant correlation exists between corporate culture, digital skills, and organizational readiness, indicating that schools with a creative and supportive culture are more prone to embrace digital change. These results advance knowledge of the variables affecting organizational change-readiness in Vietnam's primary school digital transformation. These results also have significant implications for educational policymakers, school administrators, and other stakeholders facilitating digital transformation in primary schools. By recognizing the benefits of digital capabilities and organizational culture for organizational change readiness, decision-makers can implement strategies to foster a supportive culture and enhance digital capabilities within educational institutions, ultimately leading to more successful and effective digital transformation initiatives.</p>

Let Them Shine: Associations of Schools’ Support for Strengths Use with Teachers’ Sense of Meaning, Engagement, and Satisfaction

The present research builds on the psychology of sustainability and sustainable development and on research demonstrating the contribution of perceived organizational support for strengths use (POSSU) to the quality of employees’ work life. Specifically, we focus on teachers, whose training and development in schools often aim to narrow competence gaps and correct deficits. We propose that focusing on the development of their strengths may more positively impact their engagement, satisfaction, and sense of meaning at work. A total of 47 school principals (30 women; Mage = 48.37, SD = 7.31) and 235 of their teachers (197 women; Mage = 40.73, SD = 7.78) reported perceptions of their schools’ organizational support for strengths use (POSSU), and of their school support for deficit correction (POSDC). In addition, teachers completed measures of their strengths use, sense of meaning at work, work engagement, and job satisfaction. Teachers’ POSSU was associated (more strongly than POSDC) with teachers’ strength use and positive work-related well-being. Teachers’ strengths use mediated the associations of POSSU with the other variables. Principals’ POSSU was not associated with teachers’ POSSU or with teachers’ strengths use, but was associated with teachers’ sense of meaning and satisfaction at work. The findings highlight the potential benefits of a strengths-supporting school culture to teachers’ work-life quality.

A GIS‐based approach to site vegetated buffer strips for erosion control within an agricultural catchment in southern England

AbstractAgricultural soil erosion is largely attributed to arable intensification and increased mechanization. Runoff from arable land and intensively managed grassland transports sediment and contaminants across the landscape and into watercourses, causing crop loss, land degradation, and water quality issues. One low‐cost and low‐maintenance nature‐based mitigation approach is the implementation of vegetated buffer strips (VBS): grassland sited along field margins to trap sediment and contaminants, reducing transportation and diffuse pollution rates. GIS modelling using remotely sensed landscape indices and land parcel data can provide an efficient means of identifying priority areas for intervention at sub‐catchment or farm system scales. We develop and test a scalable runoff risk model in the lower Rother catchment, West Sussex. The model uses the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) applied to satellite images as an erodibility proxy and identifies locations along pathways that are conceivably at greatest risk of sediment accumulation and transfer, guided by field observations. We assess current and historical field boundaries near high‐risk locations, evaluating the potential capacity of their margins to contribute to runoff risk reduction using an innovative ranking system. Recommendations are made for VBS implementation and the value of historical field boundary and margin restoration is discussed. Our method offers a rapid approach with minimal data requirements to identify high‐risk sediment runoff locations and priority sites for intervention. The tool has the potential to guide decision‐makers responsible for targeting and implementing soil erosion and runoff control measures such as VBS, while also maximizing agri‐environmental and cultural benefits.

Migration and Food Insecurity

With the rise in population, migration has become a prominent phenomenon, which is designing the global economic, political and social policies. While migration has been the sources for changes in economic and cultural benefits, the current global trends are showcasing different travesties that the population faces to a large scale and it is indicated by the lack of food security and is responsible for the conflicts. In this paper the concerns of migration induced food insecurity has been highlighted and the potential solution in terms of community efforts even though they may be temporary for the short run are being discussed.

Urogenital cultures and preterm birth in women with cervical cerclage: a single center retrospective cohort study

BackgroundThe leading hypothesis of the pathogenesis of cervical insufficiency suggests a role of cervical inflammation. Urogenital tract infections could play a causative role in this process. To test this hypothesis in women with a cervical cerclage, we aimed to retrospectively examine the relationship between gestational age (GA) at delivery and positive urogenital cultures.MethodsThis single center retrospective study reviewed the records of all women with a singleton pregnancy that underwent cervical cerclage (n = 203) between 2010 and 2020 at the University Hospital of Leuven, Belgium. Transvaginal cerclages were categorized as history indicated (TVC I, n = 94), ultrasound indicated (TVC II, n = 79) and clinically indicated (TVC III, n = 20). Additionally, ten women received transabdominal cerclage (TAC). Urogenital cultures (vaginal and urine) were taken before and after cerclage with 4-week intervals. Urogenital cultures were reported ‘positive’ if urine and/or vaginal cultures showed significant growth of a microorganism. Treatment decision depended on culture growth and clinical presentation. The primary aim was to evaluate the association between the urogenital culture results and the GA at delivery, for each of the cerclage groups. Secondarily, to investigate the effect of antibiotic treatment of positive cultures on GA at delivery.ResultsPositive pre-cerclage urogenital cultures were associated with lower GA at delivery in TVC III (positive culture 26w4d ± 40d vs. negative 29w6d ± 54d, p = 0.036). For TVC I, GA at delivery was longer when pre-cerclage urogenital cultures were positive (positive culture 38w0d ± 26d vs. negative 35w4d ± 42d, p = 0.035). Overall post-cerclage urogenital cultures status was not associated with a different GA at delivery. Treating patients with pre- or post-cerclage positive urogenital cultures did also not change GA at delivery.ConclusionPositive urogenital cultures taken before clinically indicated cerclage intervention may be associated with lower GA at delivery. However, there seems to be no benefit of antibiotic treatment or routine urogenital cultures during follow-up of asymptomatic women after cerclage placement.

Nature in urban green spaces: Main attractor or nice background? Drivers and dynamics of cultural ecosystem services provision

Urban parks and forests are important providers of cultural ecosystem services (CES) for the majority of the global population. Data from diverse sources are needed to reflect both ecological and social aspects of CES delivery in these areas. Understanding and disentangling this complex relationship is crucial to managing urban green spaces (UGS) in a way that maximizes users’ cultural benefits, and does not threaten the ecosystem and its functions. This paper provides a multidimensional analysis of CES delivery in parks and forests located along the urban–peri-urban axis in Warsaw, Poland. We analyzed the content of photographs posted on Instagram to identify which UGS elements attract the attention of users. We also examined whether the pattern of CES delivery was a function of the naturalness and location of the park or forest, and analyzed the factors that influence weekly and seasonal patterns of CES delivery. Although our study focused on areas where natural elements dominate, only around a quarter of photographs featured plants, water, or wild animals. Nature typically appeared as the background, while the foreground was occupied by people and their activities. Consequently, recreational services dominated over aesthetic experience; at the same time, it proved to be very difficult to identify educational services from our dataset. Air temperature, and the color of vegetation resulting from phenological changes were the most important drivers of CES delivery. We found that both the dynamics and character of CES delivery varied depending on the character of the area, and its location. Finally, delivery patterns were similar in semi-wild urban parks and outer city forests.

Ocean economic and cultural benefit perceptions as stakeholders' constraints for supporting conservation policies: A multi-national investigation

Given the vastness and interconnectedness of the ocean, marine conservation requires international treaties, especially after the High Seas Treaty was signed. However, most international marine conservation treaties do not have enforcement mechanisms and leave the fulfillment of obligations to the States’ responsibility. As States’ monitoring, managing, and enforcing capacity is limited, including stakeholders in policy-making and -implementing processes is crucial. Although some multi-national studies have been conducted to examine predictors of stakeholders’ support for conservation management and valuations of ecosystem services, few have focused on how their perceived most crucial economic and cultural benefits of their countries’ oceans are associated with their support level for policies focused on ocean preservation. Thus, the current study aims to fill this gap by employing the Bayesian Mindsponge Framework (BMF) analytics on a dataset of 709 stakeholders from 42 countries, a part of the MaCoBioS project funded by the European Commission H2020. We found that stakeholders’ considerations of the ocean’s provisioning (or economic) and cultural ecosystem services as their countries’ most vital benefits are generally negatively associated with the policy support level. Regarding economic aspects, stakeholders considering transportation and shipping, renewable energy generation, and oil and gas provision as the most crucial benefits their countries’ oceans provide tend to give less support for policies focusing on ocean preservation. For cultural aspects, perceiving recreation and tourism, aesthetic pleasure, mental health and well-being support, and sense of identity provision as the most important benefits provided by the country’s ocean are negatively associated with the policy support level. These findings provide preliminary evidence on the stakeholders’ psychological constraints to support marine conservation-focused policies, which can be insights that might explain why international treaties about environmental and maritime issues mostly failed to produce their intended effects and warn of the risks and challenges to enacting marine protection policies in the high seas effectively. Recommendations for improving the effective management of multi-use marine space and building the eco-surplus among stakeholders are also provided to reduce the perceived competing interests among stakeholders.