Sustained Focus Research Articles

Whose Knowledge Counts? The Struggle to Revitalise Indigenous Knowledges in Guatemala

This paper investigates the role of indigenous knowledge in relation to ideas of sustainability focusing on Guatemala. Previous research on environmental engagement and public understanding of science demonstrates the importance of including different perspectives, including traditional forms of knowledges such as for example indigenous knowledges. Environmental governance and management are areas in which indigenous peoples strive towards an acceptance of indigenous knowledge to be placed next to Western scientific knowledge. The struggle concerns the management and control of indigenous territories, but it also concerns the dismantling of a hierarchical understanding of knowledge, which lessens indigenous knowledge about ecosystems and about how to create a good life. Through the revitalization of indigenous knowledge and traditional practices, indigenous communities develop ideas and establishments to find paths towards socioecological balance. This paper studies indigenous groups’ understandings of indigenous knowledge, their struggle to revitalise knowledge and their efforts for it to become validated. It uses decolonial theory in its analysis and raises questions of power structures and hierarchies within academia.

Systematic Review of Flood and Drought Literature Based on Science Mapping and Content Analysis

The severity and frequency of flood and drought events have increased in recent decades. These climate change-induced and anthropogenic stressors on water resources represent the leading water-related hazards to communities. Further, the increasing exposure of the population and infrastructure to such events has heightened the risks. Assessing the impact scope of these events in different subfields towards comprehensively evaluating the risks requires an unbiased systematic approach. This paper combines content analysis and science mapping to investigate the existing multidisciplinary body of knowledge on analyzing flood and drought together. Searching the literature using selected search terms yielded a sample of 119 publications. Initially, various contents, such as the authors’ keywords, applied methods and indices, and study scale, were extracted from these articles. These contents were then incorporated into the science mapping technique to form communicative networks. Analyzing these publications revealed 13 major research themes, with a sustained focus on hydrological issues. However, a more diverse range of themes was recently revealed, including economy, sociology, insurance, and policymaking. Producing such computational and visual networks explained informative insights that can help further develop both existing and new frameworks to support the management, design and policymaking sectors in responding to both flood and drought events.

The Corporate Duty to Contribute to Sustainable Development from the Perspective of Investment Arbitration

International investment law is a law field known for granting a wide array of legal rotection to private companies. Traditionally, the latter have had very few obligations vis-à-vis their host States. The abundant case law, which originates from arbitral tribunals, have thus mostly focused on construing and developing the legal standards and principles of investment protection. Such cases arose in a specific arbitral configuration inherent to international investment law whereby the claimant is normally the investor and the defendant is its host State. This trend is however changing concomitantly with the very landscape of international investment law which has freshly started to include standards of corporate social responsibility and investors’ duties within its ambit, namely in investment protection agreements. Some of these duties, which have been upheld by arbitral tribunals, relate to sustainable development and focus, for instance, on environmental and human rights protection or on preventing corruption (mal)practices. Set against this background, this article will discuss whether there is, in international law, a corporate duty to contribute to sustainable development. It will argue that the duty exists even though its legal regime is still under technical construction and is flawed in some of its aspects. Alternatively, the article uncommonly presents investment arbitration as a venue to enforce sustainable development corporate duties.

Sustainable Tourism Model in Pagilaran Tea Plantation Agrotourism, in Indonesia

Sustainable development is a global agenda with issues of economic growth, environment, and welfare. The instrument for realizing sustainable development is through sustainable tourism. Agrotourism as an effort to apply the principles of sustainable tourism focusing on environmental, social, and economic dimensions. This study aims to find a sustainable tourism model in Pagilaran Tea Plantation‎ Agrotourism. This study uses a qualitative method with a case study concept. The data collection techniques used in the study were observation, in-depth interviews, literature study, and documentation. The data were analyzed by source triangulation and the data were analyzed with the help of Atlas.ti.8 software. The result of this study was the model of sustainable tourism in Pagilaran Tea Plantation Agrotourism that involves social, economic, ecological, cultural, and educational dimensions. The novelty of this study is that the Sustainable Tourism model in Pagilaran Tea Plantation Agrotourism involves the University element and is committed to upholding the principles of Tri Dharma of Higher Education, namely Education, Research, and Community Service. Pagilaran Tea Plantation Agrotourism implements Pentahelix collaboration in realizing sustainable tourism by involving academics, companies, communities, government, and media. Pagilaran Tea Plantation Agrotourism is committed to being a vehicle for family tourism, the official tourism, and study tour by prioritizing edutourism and providing ecological insight. The tourism potentials such as Tea walking, Tea Factory, and tea picking dance become the uniqueness and attraction of Pagilaran Tea Plantation Agrotourism. The novelty result of this study is that the Educational dimension is an element that can strengthen the realization of Sustainable Tourism.

Food education – let’s go back to the future

Food education – let’s go back to the future

Sustainability-focused innovation in the business-to-business context: Antecedents and managerial implications

Although researchers and managers have examined various business outcomes of sustainability, the literature offers little insight into how firms could cultivate a higher level of sustainability focus in their NPD endeavors. Drawing upon the literature on sustainability and new product innovation and using a competency-based and dynamic capabilities perspective as the theoretical lens, this study develops a model of key antecedents to sustainability-focused innovation. Data from a survey of managers in 228 business-to-business firms suggest that 1) a higher level of global focus is associated with greater sustainability-focused innovation, 2) open innovation exhibits a curvilinear (inverted U-shaped) relationship with sustainability-focused innovation such that the influence of open innovation is positive at a moderate level but diminishes when open innovation becomes excessive, 3) the relationship between open innovation and sustainability-focused innovation is contingent on a firm’s innovation strategy, and 4) sustainability-focused innovation is positively related to a firm’s NPD performance.

Combatting the imbalance of sex ratio at birth: medium-term impact of India's National Programme of Beti Bachao Beti Padhao in the Haryana State of India.

The Government of India initiated the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (B3P) programme in 2015 as a flagship initiative to reduce gender imbalance in sex ratio at birth (SRB) and to ensure social protection of girls. The present study was conducted to evaluate the medium-term impact of B3P implementation in Haryana state, from 2015 to 2019, on SRB. Monthly data on SRB were collected for the entire state of Haryana through a civil registration system. Segmented time series regression analysis was used to estimate the variations in SRB after the B3P programme with the help of Winter's additive interrupted time series model. The SRB in Haryana increased from 876 girls per 1000 boys in 2015 to 923 in 2019. The results of the model demonstrated that before the inception of intervention (pre-slope), there was a significant monthly change in SRB of 0.217 (95% confidence interval: 0.144-0.290). Following the B3P programme, SRB was found to increase by 0.835 per month, which implied that an increase of 0.618 (confidence interval: 0.338, 0.898) every month in SRB can be attributed to the B3P programme. This indicated that SRB for the state of Haryana increased at the rate of 7.42 units per year as a result of the B3P programme. B3P has led to a significant improvement in SRB in Haryana state. The continuity of efforts in the same direction with a sustained focus on behaviour change will further help achieve the goal of gender parity in births and child survival.

Interpolating Gazans' Non-Violence: Responsibilities in the Academy and the Media

Since the creation of Israel in 1948 its strategies of suppressing Palestinian resistance reveal a conscious scheme of slow elimination of the natives. What concerns us in this article is that, in light of all Israel's intentional violence, episodes of Palestinian non-violence do not capture and sustain the world's attention in the way that violent acts do. In order to fill this gap, and conceptually, we draw upon the rich works of Puar and de Sousa Santos, as well as others, to show how Gazans' heterogeneous ontologies and experiences with Israel's settler colonialism have, over the years, shaped a multiplicity of strategies for resistance. Empirically, we draw upon ethnographic observations and interviews conducted with Gazan Great March of Return (GRM) protesters to analyze their strategies of non-violence. We conclude that, in spite of the lack of sustained focus by academics and the media (in general) on the embedded resilience of Palestinians to Israel's settler colonial regime, and in spite of Israel's targeting of resistance itself, Palestinians' resolve remains as alive as ever in pursuit of their right to have rights. Our analysis in turn has implications for how the media and the academy interpolate and write about non-violence.

Servicios deportivos para promover el turismo sostenible. Revisión de la literatura.

Sustainable tourism has get strength, becoming a topic of global interest, where the preservation of resources and healthy lifestyles play an important role to guarantee the future of generations. The purpose of the report is to present the relationship between sport and nature as a strategy to promote sustainable tourism focusing mainly on the offer of sports that can be practiced in natural environments considering the potential of the ecological resources of the department of Atlantico. Within the bibliographic review, multiple publications were evidenced that by means of a characterization, 75 articles were chosen, these being refined under some acceptance criteria, selecting 20% ​​of the total, as they were the ones with the greatest contribution to the research objective. Likewise, a scientometric analysis of the search results was carried out based on key terms such as “sustainable tourims AND sports”. The results show that in last years , the tourism sector has had its greatest growth, and that it has also favored the economy and cultural values of the regions where it is developed. Associating sports and nature is increasingly common, however, it could affect the sustainabilityof natural resources. The conclusion obtained from this information is that sports and tourism practices in nature are an investment that generates benefits such as increased employment, economic diversification, business creation, cultural development, among others; However, they can also affect the biodiversity and natural resources of the region, so it is important to take the necessary preventive measures and involve government entities, the community and tourists.

Green entrepreneurship and sustainable development: A conceptual framework

There has been an increase in demand for environmentally friendly products, consumers today are more concerned for the environment and moving towards the greener market. Entrepreneurs today are more cautious and moving towards more socially responsible citizens and have understood their role in sustainable business for a better tomorrow. The concept of green entrepreneurship is at an infant stage right now but is moving towards the maturity phase. Environmental sustainability and entrepreneurship focus on the production of green goods. There are research studies that are accessible to the public sustainable development, developing green markets, and new-age entrepreneurship work together each is linked to the other. Specifically, the green market's effect on Sustainable development and green entrepreneurship has not yet been explored in-depth. The current study aims to highlight available literature on green entrepreneurship and sustainable development to propose a conceptual model for further research.

Quality of life perspectives for different social groups in a World Centre of Tourism and Leisure

While the quality of life (QoL) concept in tourism research has gained momentum, scholarly work has focused on host QoL and tourist-host relations, rather than exploring and analysing the perception, interpretation and understanding of QoL among different social groups in a given tourist destination. Macao is a densely populated tourism destination and designated World Centre of Tourism and Leisure, where local residents and migrants work and cohabit side by side. By broadening the scope of research through in-depth interviews, our research findings highlight how different social groups in Macao experience QoL differently. While all groups perceive positive economic impacts and appreciate career opportunities from tourism development, the analysis raises questions as to the QoL of residents and migrants, and the social sustainability of Macao. The study recommends that authorities embed a social sustainability focus in deliberations, policies and investment so as to achieve its goal of World Centre of Tourism and Leisure status, not only for tourists, but also for those who live and work there.

Natural history of mental health competence from childhood to adolescence

BackgroundMental health competence (MHC) involves psychosocial capabilities such as regulating emotions, interacting well with peers and caring for others, and predicts a range of health and social outcomes. This study...

Future of food: Innovating towards sustainable healthy diets

Future of food: Innovating towards sustainable healthy diets

The Three E’s Revisited: How Do Community-Based Organizations Define Sustainable Communities and Their Role in Pursuit of?

A sustainable community seeks to protect and enhance the environment, meet social needs, and promote economic success. On average, local governments lack meaningfully connecting their environmental and economic sustainability efforts to equity and social justice. Community-based organizations (CBOs) have emerged as local leaders with a growing capacity for pursuing community sustainability. Based on data from a national survey National Community Action Partnership member organizations, this study explores (1) how CBO leaders define sustainable communities; (2) how important each of the three pillars of sustainability are to their mission; and (3) with what organizations do CBOs collaborate in their pursuit of sustainable communities. A content analysis of responses to an open-ended query to define sustainable communities revealed a significant focus on the social equity pillar of sustainability which is closely linked to economic sustainability. Similarly, CBO leaders ranked social equity and economic sustainability as the highest priority for their core mission. Lastly, CBO leaders heavily engaged in local collaboration in their sustainable community efforts. Therefore, serious pursuit of sustainable cities and communities must shift from a go-at-it-alone, centralized government approach to more inclusive, collaborative efforts that take advantage of the economic-social equity sustainability focus of CBOs in both planning and implementation.

Research Priorities in the Secondary Prevention of Atrial Fibrillation: A National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Virtual Workshop Report.

There has been sustained focus on the secondary prevention of coronary heart disease and heart failure; yet, apart from stroke prevention, the evidence base for the secondary prevention of atrial fibrillation (AF) recurrence, AF progression, and AF‐related complications is modest. Although there are multiple observational studies, there are few large, robust, randomized trials providing definitive effective approaches for the secondary prevention of AF. Given the increasing incidence and prevalence of AF nationally and internationally, the AF field needs transformative research and a commitment to evidenced‐based secondary prevention strategies. We report on a National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute virtual workshop directed at identifying knowledge gaps and research opportunities in the secondary prevention of AF. Once AF has been detected, lifestyle changes and novel models of care delivery may contribute to the prevention of AF recurrence, AF progression, and AF‐related complications. Although benefits seen in small subgroups, cohort studies, and selected randomized trials are impressive, the widespread effectiveness of AF secondary prevention strategies remains unknown, calling for development of scalable interventions suitable for diverse populations and for identification of subpopulations who may particularly benefit from intensive management. We identified critical research questions for 6 topics relevant to the secondary prevention of AF: (1) weight loss; (2) alcohol intake, smoking cessation, and diet; (3) cardiac rehabilitation; (4) approaches to sleep disorders; (5) integrated, team‐based care; and (6) nonanticoagulant pharmacotherapy. Our goal is to stimulate innovative research that will accelerate the generation of the evidence to effectively pursue the secondary prevention of AF.

Art Museums and Exclusionary Visions of Nationhood: The Possibilities for Docent Training

ABSTRACT Art museums around the world play an integral role in the formation and preservation of collective identity and national belonging. As part of wider efforts for social change, these institutions are being challenged to decolonize and confront racism with renewed and sustained focus. As such, they are thinking more deeply about how they engage visitors with their collections. Within this context, this article considers how docents are uniquely positioned in the collective response to these calls for action. Drawing on strategies used in museum and teacher education pedagogy, it offers a renewed approach that emphasizes docent training’s capacity to create meaningful experiences that dismantle exclusionary national narratives operating within collections and exhibitions. This article responds to calls for art museums to multiply voices and become spaces for decolonization, and will resonate with other museums, galleries, and heritage institutions invested in ongoing critical learning amongst volunteer and professional educators alike.

Abduction and the Grounds of Caribbean Reasoning

This review essay engages with Aaron Kamugisha’s 2019 Beyond Coloniality: Citizenship and Freedom in the Caribbean Intellectual Tradition by focusing on its methodological commitment to seeking Caribbean answers to Caribbean political and social problems. The author argues that Kamugisha powerfully offers something other than a methodology through which the circulation of Caribbean geographies, politics, epistemologies, and its people’s lived experiences moves outward to provide analytical and conceptual service for metropolitan centers, even if for ostensibly decolonial purposes. The essay demonstrates how by turning to two of the Caribbean’s major thinkers, C. L. R. James and Sylvia Wynter, and their far-less-studied Caribbean writings, Kamugisha takes seriously the centering of Caribbean thinkers in their own histories of political becoming. The essay ends with sustained focus on Kamugisha’s elaboration of two of Wynter’s conceptualizations: indigenization as an alternative to creolization and abduction as a kind of theorizing out from Caribbean reasonings.

Character: Three Inquiries in Literary StudiesCharacter as Form

Character: Three Inquiries in Literary StudiesCharacter as Form

Development and Application of Sustainable Food Competency Evaluation Tools

최근 환경, 건강, 배려의 지속가능한 식생활로 교육 패러다임 전환이 이루어지고 있는 가운데 학생 스스로 자신의 식생활역량을 진단하고 지속가능한 식생활을 실천할 수 있도록 교육할 필요가 있으나, 아직 지속가능한 식생활역량을 검사할 수 있는 진단도구는 부재한 실정이다. 이에 본 연구에서는 선행연구 분석, 전문가 자문, 예비조사를 거쳐 유아･초등학교 저학년생, 초등학교 고학년생 그리고 청소년 대상의 지속가능한 식생활역량 진단도구를 개발하였고, 현장 적용을 통해 대상별 식생활역량 실태를 파악하였다. 주요 연구 결과는 다음과 같다. 첫째, ‘지속가능한 식생활역량 진단도구’ 3종을 개발하였다. 이 진단도구는 2018년도에 개발된 ‘지속가능한 식생활교육 내용 체계’에 근거하여 환경, 건강, 배려 영역별로 진단항목을 설정하였으며, 유아･초등 저학년용 10개 문항, 초등 고학년용 15개 문항, 청소년용 20개 문항으로 구성하였다. 둘째, 개발된 진단도구의 현장 적용 결과에 따라 유형별 분류기준을 개발하였다. 영역별 점수를 기준으로, 환경, 건강, 배려의 영역별로 75% 이상 점수를 획득하였을 경우 각각 ‘환경친화형’, ‘건강한 식생활형’, ‘배려형’으로 분류하였다. 총점 기준으로는 ‘지속가능한 식생활 우수 실천형’, ‘지속가능한 식생활 실천형’, ‘식생활 개선형’의 3단계로 분류하였다. 셋째, 개발된 진단도구를 서울 지역 초, 중, 고등학생 1,255명을 대상으로 시범 적용 평가 결과, 전반적으로 청소년 집단이 초등학생 집단보다 지속가능한 식생활역량이 낮은 것으로 나타났으며, 학교급이 올라갈수록 ‘지속가능한 식생활 우수 실천형’이 줄어드는 것을 확인할 수 있었다. 본 연구에서 개발된 지속가능한 식생활역량 진단도구는 지속가능한 식생활교육 플랫폼인 ‘식생활교실’에 탑재되어 초등학생과 청소년들이 온라인상에서 스스로 지속가능한 식생활역량을 진단하고 지속가능한 식생활을 실천하는 데 유용하게 활용될 수 있을 것이다.Along with the paradigm shift toward sustainable food education focusing on environment, health and consideration, it is necessary to educate students to diagnose their food competency and practice sustainable diet. However, there are no evaluation tools developed so far. Therefore, three kinds of Sustainable Food Competency Evaluation Tool (SFCET) were developed for lower elementary students, upper elementary students as well as for adolescents in this study by the analysis of previous studies, advices from experts in food education, and preliminary test for these student groups. The main results of this study were as follows: First, three kinds of SFCET were developed based on the sustainable food education content system suggested by Kim et al.(2018). SFCETs for lower elementary students, upper elementary students and adolescents consist of 10, 15, 20 questions, respectively, including the areas of environment, health and consideration. Second, classification criteria for each group were developed according to the results of pilot application of the developed evaluation tools. The evaluation criteria by area were classified as ‘eco-friendly type’, ‘healthy diet type’ and ‘considerate type’, respectively, if the scores of 75% or more were achieved in each area of environment, health and consideration. The total score was divided into three stages: ‘excellent practice of sustainable diet type’, ‘sustainable diet practice type’ and ‘dietary improvement type’. Third, when the developed evaluation tools were applied to 1,255 elementary, middle and high school students in Seoul, the results showed that the overall adolescent group showed a lower sustainable food competency than the elementary student groups, and the higher the school level, the lower the ratio of ‘excellent practice of sustainable diet type’. The SFCETs developed in this study were uploaded on the sustainable food education platform ‘Food Classroom’ and could be utilized to help elementary school students and adolescents evaluate their own sustainable food competency and practice sustainable diets in their lives.

Does the treatment of minority doctors by the UK regulator demonstrate Institutional Racism?

In June 2021, an Employment Tribunal accepted the claim from the complainant that the UK regulator, the General Medical Council may have discriminated against a doctor based on his race, ethnicity or religion in their processes and outcomes. [1] This is perhaps the first time that such a claim of discrimination based on race, ethnicity or religion has been passed in the UK, hence this is hailed as a ‘landmark judgement’. It is not the first time that doctors have claimed that GMC and its processes demonstrate institutional racism. [2] The Kline report described the existence of ‘In groups and out groups’ determined by qualifications (including by country and within the UK by medical school) and ethnicity (including within BME populations). They found that members of ingroups can receive favourable treatment and those in out-groups are at risk of bias and stereotyping.[3] Amitabha Banerjee, wrote in the BMJ, that overt and covert racism within the medical profession is rarely talked about but existed then, and still, unfortunately, exists now, albeit to a lesser extent, to this day.[4] The case of Hadiza Bawa-Garba, a Paediatric trainee who was struck off the register by the GMC on negligence and then subsequently restored demonstrated discrimination in the processes, as the duty White consultant did not face any disciplinary process. Complaints are more likely to be against BAME doctors, and when they proceed to the regulator or the law courts, they are more likely to lead to more serious punitive measures and guilty verdicts. [5–7]
 The debate on whether GMC’s processes were unfair, discriminatory and racist started in 1996.[8] However, even in 2003, the GMC council has debated the issues of institutional racism and expressed its commitment to fairness [9] but little progress has been made even 2 decades later. In its submission to William’s review in 2018, BAPIO had recommended that the review must advise the GMC and the NHS to acknowledge the existence and impact of racial discrimination and make concerted efforts to improve this image nationally and abroad. [10] About the differential outcomes for doctors from minority ethnic backgrounds in examinations, assessments, and recruitment, the GMC is committed to ensuring that medical education and training pathways are valid, fair and justified. [11]
 
 The world including the NHS is changing. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has issued an open statement, together with the NHS Race and Health Observatory, Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) and the GMC, calling on healthcare leaders to ensure that health and care staff across the country are protected from racism or any other form of discrimination. The statement demonstrates a collective commitment to work together to tackle racism, bias and inequalities within the healthcare system, calling on healthcare leaders to ensure that policies and processes are fair, inclusive and in line with the Equality Act 2010.
 The GMC sets “ambitious” targets to address specific areas within medical the profession to address entrenched bias and racial discrimination, which it believes requires “sustained focus and for healthcare regulators to be aligned on this commitment”. Dame Clare Marx, the chairperson of the GMC UK, reiterated her commitment to creating robust processes which were fair, transparent and just in dealing with all doctors, offer speedy resolutions/ outcomes of cases, offer sensitivity and support to doctors under investigation. She committed the GMC to facilitate change across the system. [12] The NHS has been working to close this gap by adopting national targets in formal disciplinary investigations between White and BAME staff.[13] There is more visibility of the work of overseas doctors and issues of racism are being more openly debated. There has been progress, but if we want to attract the best doctors in the world to the NHS, we have to create an environment where those doctors will be treated fairly and without discrimination. In his Blog following a recent meeting with the GMC in Scotland on equality, diversity and inclusion, Professor Zamvar explores the feedback he has received from his colleagues and issues a wake-up call to the profession.