US-based Organization Research Articles

Bangladesh – India Border Conflict: Challenges and Opportunities

Geographically adjacent and friendly nations in South Asia are Bangladesh and India. The boundary's approximate 5138 km total length is made up of a 4427 km land border and a 711 km water border. India and Bangladesh have a 4,096-kilometer border. While India has five border provinces, Bangladesh has 32 border districts. Bangladesh and India both have bilateral problems that date back to their inception. Since the early 1990s, the two countries' economic ties have been expanding quickly. Due to border killing by the Indian Border Security Force, human trafficking, and other concerns between these two nations, the border issue has taken center stage. (BSF). The boundary between Bangladesh and India, according to the US-based news organization "Global Post," is the worst border line in the world. They are acting erratically near the boundary, killing, kidnapping Bangladeshis, violating human rights, and committing push-in offenses, among other things. The primary sources used in this study are scholarly books, scholarly journals, research papers, and other tertiary sources that are pertinent to the topic. Although the research is qualitative, a quantitative approach is also taken. This essay looks at the current problems surrounding border killing along the land border between India and Bangladesh, finding its causes and contributing factors as well as its detrimental effects on bilateral relations. The paper also includes a number of suggestions for preventing the issue of border killings along the land border between India and Bangladesh.

Editor's Introduction

The ongoing tragedy of Russia's war on Ukraine, already well into its second year, has sparked a fundamental reassessment in the field of Slavic Studies and calls for its decolonization. Long dominated by studies of Russia, the various disciplinary fields within Slavic Studies have engaged in numerous discussions and debates over the past year about how to decenter Slavic Studies, how to balance scholarship about the region, and how to recognize voices from the region that have been marginalized, ignored, and diminished. To this end, the Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies at the University of Pittsburg, in partnership with the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard University and with the support of a long list of co-sponsors, organized a six-part virtual speakers series in Spring 2023 that brought together a diverse collection of professionals to discuss the need for and practical means to address the “outsized role Russia has played and continues to play in the field and what could and should be done about it.”1 H-Russia, an H-Net online community, established a blog series on “Decolonizing Russian Studies” that has stimulated interesting conversations among scholars toward decentering Slavic Studies from multiple directions.2 The journal Russian History issued a call for contributions to address such problems in the study of Russian history, and the journal Kritika, in collaboration with the Harriman Institute of Columbia University, is planning a conference and special journal issue on “Eurasia Decentered” for 2024. Moreover, the major US-based professional organization for Slavic Studies, the Association for Slavic, Eurasian, and East European Studies (ASEEES), has selected “Decolonization” as its 2023 conference theme, asking its members to engage in the “reassessment and transformation of Russo-centric relationships of power and hierarchy both in the region and in how we study it.”3 Such interest among scholars to begin to reimagine scholarship about the region reflects the profound impact that Russia's war on Ukraine has had, even far from the front lines.

Towards a theoretical understanding BIM Success in an owner organization: Diffusion of Innovations Theory vs. Actor-Network Theory

Research on BIM adoption has been linked to different theories of innovation underpinned by diverging assumptions. Diffusion of Innovations theory (DIT), for example, assumes the innovation adoption process is linear, while Actor-Network Theory (ANT) assumes innovation is dynamic and non-linear. However, limited work has been done to compare the often hidden assumptions of different innovation theories, and to explore how well they suit the BIM process. This study has two objectives: (1) to conduct a comparative analysis of the contrasting conceptual foundations of DIT and ANT and (2) to build and test two early-stage analytical toolkits using the conceptual apparatus of each theory, allowing users to examine the experiences of adopter organisations using two lenses. The toolkits this study offers were developed by moving iteratively between key theoretical concepts and qualitative interview data from a single US-based owner organisation, a case study of an early adopter of BIM. The study has two contributions. The first, a theoretical finding, is that DIT is better suited for analysing innovations that are material, stabilised and thus “closed” in early stages, while ANT is better suited for innovations that are dynamic and iteratively (re)created. The second is a set of preliminary insights for practice.

Volunteer Tourism or Global Justice? An Autoethnography Examining My Roles as a Leader and Teacher

ABSTRACT Volunteer tourism has grown immensely in the last decade, and many participants are white students from predominantly Western universities. This autoethnography examines the cognitive dissonance I felt working as a leader within a US-based non-profit organization operating in Cape Town, South Africa. I systematically explore how my Latine and US cultures exacerbated the conflict between my understanding of cultural humility and fear of perpetuating paternalism. By triangulating qualitative and quantitative data from written personal memos, interviews, and survey responses (n = 108), I identify sources of my dissonance and strategies for achieving consonance by adopting a transformational leadership style. This study highlights the importance of cultural humility within volunteer tourism organizations by employing transformational leadership to encourage self-reflection among its permanent staff and temporary volunteers. The work stands to provide a reflexive guide for leaders of volunteer tourism and outlines how to develop strong relationships between volunteers, staff, and community members.

Proceedings of the 2021 GRAPPA-Collaborative Research Network (CRN) Meeting.

At the 2021 Group for Research and Assessment of Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis (GRAPPA)-Collaborative Research Network (CRN) annual meeting, the GRAPPA-CRN group presented a number of project updates, including a pilot investigator-initiated study to evaluate liquid and tissue biomarkers associated with axial involvement in psoriatic arthritis (PsA). The GRAPPA-CRN session updated progress made with 3 parallel international research initiatives based on 3 previously defined unmet needs in PsA. The Health Initiatives in Psoriasis and PsOriatic arthritis ConsoRTium European States (HIPPOCRATES) is a European research consortium formed to address unmet clinical needs in PsA. The Preventing Arthritis in a multicenter Psoriasis At-Risk Population (PAMPA) is a US-based organization that has defined consensus terminology for preclinical phases of PsA and is interested in the transition process from psoriasis to PsA. An overview of the Accelerating Medicines Partnership Autoimmune and Immune-Mediated Diseases (AMP AIM) program 2.0, a consortium including GRAPPA-CRN members that addressed these 3 unmet needs in PsA, was also presented.

Low-cost interventions to reduce emissions and fuel consumption in open wood fires in rural communities: Evidence from field surveys

We evaluate the impact of a grass-roots campaign promoting adoption of simple modifications to cooking fires in rural communities in Western Kenya. The modifications consist of adding rock-beds to open fires or simple woodstoves, increasing airflow, improving combustion efficiency, and decreasing the distance between the fire and cooking pot, which improves heat transfer. The campaign was sponsored by Sun24, a US-based non-profit organization. They trained women leaders active in a local Anglican diocese consisting of 9200 families. The women returned to their communities and held their own trainings at local parishes. We randomly sampled 1362 households from those communities to understand the impact of the campaign. 67% of surveyed families were aware of rockbeds: 51% had attended trainings themselves and 16% heard about rockbeds from relatives or neighbors. 85% of the families that had heard about rockbeds installed them at home and continued to use them for many months after first hearing about them. Nearly all users express a high degree of satisfaction with rockbeds and 67% of trained respondents report cooking two or more meals daily on with rockbeds. We examined variation in weekly and daily frequency of use and find larger households are twice as likely to use rockbeds daily and to cook all their meals with rockbeds than smaller households (p < 0.01). Respondents that were trained by Sun24 or women leaders were nearly three times as likely to use rockbeds daily than respondents who heard about rockbeds by word-of-mouth (p < 0.01). Among households reporting daily use, better educated respondents were nearly twice as likely to use rockbeds for all meals. However, respondents who owned charcoal or LPG stoves were 30% and 60% less likely to use rockbeds for all their meals than other respondents (p < 0.05, p < 0.01). Using a regional estimate of “non-renewable biomass” of 36%, we estimate annual emission reductions of roughly 480 kg of CO2-equivalent for each adopter. Sun24 invested roughly USD 700 in training women leaders and facilitating rockbed adoption in thousands of rural households. Previous research found that median fuelwood savings of nearly 30% when families modified open fire stoves with rockbeds. Applying this average to all adopting families results in annual wood savings of 390 kg per family or 2900 tons per year across the diocese. Using a regional estimate of “non-renewable biomass” and assuming rockbed use persists for 5 years, total emission reductions would be 11.8 tCO2e at a mitigation cost of just USD 0.06 per ton CO2e making rockbeds a cost-effective mitigation strategy.

Jain Veganism: Ancient Wisdom, New Opportunities

This article seeks to elevate contemporary Jain voices calling for the adoption of a vegan lifestyle as a sign of solidarity with the transnational vegan movement and its animal rights, environmental protection, and health aspirations. Just as important, however, this article also seeks to present some of the unique features of contemporary Jain veganism, including, most specifically, Jain veganism as an ascetic practice aimed at the embodiment of non-violence (ahiṃsā), the eradication (nirjarā) of karma, and the liberation (mokṣa) of the Self (jīva). These are distinctive features of Jain veganism often overlooked and yet worthy of our attention. We begin the article with a brief discussion of transnational veganism and Jain veganism’s place within this global movement. This is followed by an overview of Jain karma theory as it appears in the Tattvārtha Sūtra, an authoritative diasporic Jain text. Next, we present two case studies of contemporary Jain expressions of veganism: (1) The UK-based organization known as “Jain Vegans” and (2) The US-based organization known as “Vegan Jains”. Both organizations have found new opportunities in transnational veganism to practice and embody the virtue of ahiṃsā as well as Jain karma theory. As we will show, though both organizations share the animal, human, and environmental protection aspirations found in transnational veganism, Jain Vegans and Vegan Jains simultaneously promote ahiṃsā to varying degrees in service of the Jain path to liberation. We conclude the article with a brief reconsideration of Marcus Banks’s diasporic “three tendencies” model to demonstrate how contemporary manifestations of Jain veganism compel us to revisit our understanding of diasporic expressions of Jain religious belief and praxis.

I Hear You: Constructing Common Knowledge Practices in the Context of Organizational Meetings

The purpose of this study is to provide a granular description of how organizational members construct common knowledge practices in the context of organizational meetings.,A longitudinal interpretative case study methodology was used to collect data from a US-based organization involved in an information system implementation project.,Findings revealed that during meetings common knowledge was constructed through four practices of discernment, compliance, reconstruction and expedition. Findings also revealed that these four practices were influenced by intervening conditions such as calibration challenges and scenario-sharing tools.,The findings of this study have research implications related to common knowledge construction and co-participation practices in the context of organizational meetings. This study has limitations related to statistical generalizability that have been mitigated through a holistic approach to case study methodology that favors analytical generalizability of research findings.,This study provides managers with recommendations that suggest a more strategic use of meetings as useful organizational contexts that may help construct common knowledge practices and shared understanding.,This study contributes to current theorizations of common knowledge by providing an in-depth understanding of the construction of common knowledge practices in organizations. This study also sheds some light on the strategic role of organizational meetings to manage knowledge in project-based organizational contexts.

Challenges for Joint Commission International accreditation: performance of orthopedic surgeons based on International Patient Safety Goals.

ABSTRACTThe Joint Commission International (JCI) is a US-based organization that accredits and certifies hospitals worldwide. Among the requirements for accreditation, the JCI emphasizes continuous quality improvement (CQI) with regard to international patient safety goals (IPSGs). Our university hospital treats about 26,000 hospitalized patients and 600,000 outpatients annually, and our goal is patient safety in compliance with IPSGs. The purpose of this study is to examine the activities of orthopedic surgeons in preparation for JCI accreditation, including clear identification of patients, preoperative timeout and marking to ensure correct surgery, timely approval of CT/MRI reports, care with pain management, prevention of infection, setting of quality indicators and daily monitoring, and teamwork. Examiners from the JCI visited our hospital to review medical records and documents, and to interview patients, nurses and doctors. There were 1270 evaluation items covering 16 fields, including reviews of IPSGs, patient evaluation and care, infection prevention and control, and governance and leadership. Most importantly, the efforts of all the medical staff in our hospital in obtaining the first JCI accreditation among national university hospitals in Japan have promoted the safety and quality of medical care from the perspective of the patient.

Needs of Individuals Living With Hepatitis Delta Virus and Their Caregivers, 2016-2019.

IntroductionHepatitis delta virus (HDV) is a serious coinfection of the hepatitis B virus (HBV) that is estimated to affect between 48 to 72 million people worldwide. Data are limited on the informational needs of people living with HDV. The Hepatitis B Foundation, a US-based nonprofit organization that provides support to people living with HBV and HDV, receives emails (queries) as part of a helpline, a service to provide information, resources, and support to people affected by HBV and HDV.MethodsQuery content was analyzed to assess the impact of HDV at the individual level. A total of 65 HDV-related queries from 17 countries were received from October 2016 to January 2019, and all were analyzed for this study.ResultsThematic analysis of queries indicated 4 dominant themes. Three were related to a need for information about 1) the disease and prevention of it, 2) disease symptoms and outcomes, and 3) treatment options. The fourth theme was related to barriers and quality of life. Individuals requested information on treatment options, medication access, diagnostic test interpretation, and clinical trials.ConclusionOur study highlights the needs and lived experience of patients with HDV and summarizes critical information gaps. Findings can inform health care providers, public health professionals, and the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries about the informational needs and lived experiences of individuals living with HDV and help create future HDV-related educational resources, care, and clinical trials.

The Trans Educators Network: a reflection on community organizing and knowledge production

ABSTRACT This article describes the founding and first three years of a US-based organization for trans, non-binary, and gender non-conforming educators working in PK-12 educational settings. The article begins with a brief exploration of prior organizing work and the political context that combined to set the stage for the group’s formation. The article documents the growth and development of the organization over its first three years, and concludes by looking ahead to its future.

A Historical Note On The Assignment Of Pesticide Common Names

Thousands of pesticides, herbicides, and related chemical products are used today to control disease-bearing insect populations and enable large-scale agricultural production that feeds much of the world. This short note traces the history of one small but important aspect of this industry—the assignment of common names to pesticides and related products. The little-known history of pesticide common names is illustrative of a few important points. First, it demonstrates the trend exhibited in many fields for the development of standards to migrate from a governmental agency to a US-based standards organization to an international standards organization. Second, it evidences the concern that many in the standards world have had over the potential capture of common names by private firms through trademark law. The anti-trademark protections built into ANSI’s Standard K62.1-1956 sought to ensure that common names for pesticides and related chemical products would remain available for all manufacturers to use. With the demise of ANSI Committee K-62, direct US participation in the development of pesticide common names has gone by the wayside. Nevertheless, it appears that industry norms, as well as unofficial oversight by WSSA and other scientific bodies, have, thus far, deterred the capture of pesticide common names through trademark law. Even so, it is worth asking whether it is in the best interests of the US industry to cede this important function entirely to international oversight, and whether increased US participation in ISO may be warranted both in this area and others.

Rolling drops: Nilkamal Wello Water Wheel

Learning outcomes The case will enable students to understand and ponder on how an organization goes about identifying and launching social impact products, how social impact products should be promoted, what the opportunities and challenges in executing a social impact strategy of developing a new product line by a leading industry player are, what is the type of social investment that will generate both social and financial returns and how a sustainable social impact strategy should be aligned with the corporate strategy of the firm. Case overview/synopsis Listed in 1991 on the National Stock Exchange in India, Nilkamal Limited is the largest manufacturer of moulded plastic furniture in the world. In line with their tradition, Nilkamal has now introduced a new range of products, under “social impact products” category, to cater to some of the pressing needs of the society. For this purpose, they have entered into an agreement with a US-based organization, Wello, to manufacture and market their iconic product, the Water Wheel. The euphoria surrounding the new social impact product, Water Wheel, has been immense but its commercial viability is yet to materialize. The case provokes the students to analyse the decision of venturing into social impact products and the challenges associated with it. The case grapples with the issues faced by a business firm that looks to incorporate social impact products as part of regular commercial operations. The key question to be addressed is “How far can social impact products be a good strategy to bring corporate sustainability and what should be the approach in this case?” Complexity academic level Study level: MBA students’ applicability: corporate responsibility and corporate sustainability, social impact strategy Supplementary materials Teaching notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes. Subject code CSS 11: Strategy

Elizabeth Madigan, PhD, RN, FAAN

Elizabeth Madigan began her nursing career with her bachelor of science in nursing (BSN) from Wright State University and has been on a journey of progressive roles, organizations, and forward-thinking endeavors since that time. She received her MS from The Ohio State University, and began her career in formal leadership positions, including a position as Director of Home Care in Columbus, Ohio, and as assistant chief nursing officer in a hospital at the age of 30.

Employee Resistance to Change: Is it the Message or the Messenger?

The case revolves around a change initiative introduced in the Indian division of a US-based organization operating in the field of building and composite glass materials. The case has been written from the perspective of Sreenath, who has recently joined as the country head, and has identified a four-point change agenda as part of his aggressive growth strategy. These changes pertain to shift in market focus, revised annual targets, reorganization of the sales and marketing vertical and revised compensation structure with increase in variable pay. However, Sreenath's communication with his team regarding the changes indicates that he is likely to face resistance during change implementation.

Heartbeat: Time to switch from aortic valve area to aortic valve index?

Many patients with severe symptomatic aortic stenosis (AS) present for medical care late in the disease course, at a time point when outcomes after surgical or transcatheter aortic valve replacement may not be optimal. The diagnosis of AS is often missed on physical examination by primary care providers.1 Even when an echocardiogram is obtained, discrepancies in measures of AS severity can lead to confusion and failure to refer patients for appropriate intervention. In an effort to use a systems-based approach to improving diagnosis of severe AS, Bradley and colleagues looked at the accuracy of echocardiographic measures of AS severity in over 77 thousand patients over a 4 year period in a single US-based healthcare organisation.2 A combined assessment, using peak velocity, mean gradient, and the dimensionless index (simpler surrogate for aortic valve area [AVA}), provided the best sensitivity (92%) and specificity (99%) for diagnosis of severe AS compared with any single measure alone. (figure 1) Figure 1 Schematic of echocardiographic measures of aortic stenosis as the measurement of left ventricular outflow tract (LVOT) diameter is squared in the …

Using The Rotary International´s Platform to Create Long-Term Skills Transfer and Vocational Training Opportunities for Cancer Care in Bangladesh

Background and context: Rotary International (RI) is an international service organization whose stated purpose is to bring together business and professional leaders to provide humanitarian services, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations, and to advance goodwill and peace around the world. The Rotary Club of Dhaka Mavericks, with the notion to work on cancer care has partnered with an US-based organization to bring cancer care specialists from the US. These 2 partners mainly work with the National Institute of Cancer Research and Hospital, the government-owned tertiary level cancer care and research institute in Bangladesh, to transfer the skills and provide vocational training to Bangladeshi oncologists, nurses and allied health professionals by oncologists, nurses and allied health professionals from the US. Aim: The overall aim of this project is to create a cadre of cancer care professionals - oncologists, nurses and allied health professionals - in Bangladesh who would have the vocational skills through on-the-job training and skills transfer session from experienced and skilled oncologists, nurses and allied health professionals from the US. Strategy/Tactics: The international platform of RI has been used to reach out to a US-based not-for-profit organization Partners for World Health. This US-based organization has sourced in cancer care professionals from the US and brought them to Bangladesh using the partnership of 1 rotary club in the US and another rotary club in Dhaka. Later on, these 2 Rotary Clubs and Partners for World Health collaborated with the National Institute of Cancer Research and Hospital, where this long-term skills transfer and vocational sessions are taking place. Program process: In this partnership, the Rotary Clubs and the US-based organization arranged all necessary funding and relevant permission and accreditation, while the National Institute of Cancer Research and Hospital patients - who were served - and oncologists, nurses and allied health professionals - who were trained. Outcomes: This partnership is currently for 5 years starting from October of 2017. The plan is to have 2-week vocational and skills transfer session every 6 months. The first session took place in October of 2017 and the second one on March of 2018. The third session will take place on October of 2018. In the October 2018 session, total 100 doctors and 35 nurses were trained on US standard cancer treatment protocols and chemotherapy administration. Number of complicated surgical techniques were also taught to the Bangladeshi surgeons by the US team. During the March session, the focus was on radiation oncology. A total of 100 radiation oncologists were trained on March of 2018.

Social network ties and organizational citizenship behavior: evidence of a curvilinear relationship

ABSTRACTWe examine the relationships between employee friendship and advice network centrality and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). Using social exchange theory as a basis, we argue that centrality within the workplace friendship network will be positively and linearly related to employee OCB. Further, we draw on conservation of resources theory and role theory to predict a curvilinear (inverse U) relationship between employees’ advice network centrality and OCB such that employees will engage in higher levels of OCB at moderate levels of advice centrality than at low and high levels. We test the theoretical model in an academic setting (using other reports of network ties and employee ratings of OCB) and a US-based organization (using other reports of network ties and supervisor ratings of OCB). The results support the idea of a curvilinear relationship between advice network centrality and OCB in both studies and a linear relationship between friendship centrality and OCB in Study 2. Practical implications and directions for future research are addressed.

What Motivates Private Foreign Aid? Evidence from Internet-Based Microlending

Although private foreign aid has expanded dramatically in recent years, we still lack detailed information on the allocation of those private aid flows. We use a novel approach to examine the funding decisions of individuals with respect to international development assistance. We analyze the speed at which requests from microentrepreneurs in developing countries are fulfilled through a US-based Internet organization that bundles individual contributions and transfers them as interest-free loans to developing countries. Survival analysis finds little evidence for the expectation that private donors behave as rational aid givers, nor do we see private funders mimicking the behaviors of official aid agencies. Rather, private microloans seem principally influenced by humanitarian crises, along with the presence of migrant and diaspora networks from recipient countries. We conclude that international private aid is shaped by social linkages between individual donors and recipients. It can therefore fund areas neglected by traditional foreign aid. As a result, private foreign aid serves, in at least some cases, as a complement to official development assistance.

Tweets for tots: using Twitter to promote a charity and its supporters

PurposeTwitter provides an ideal channel for a non-profit organisation (NPO) to add value to its corporate partners by providing the ability to send tweets to its own network of followers. This research aims to examine the extent to which one NPO used Twitter for this purpose and discuss the implications.Design/methodology/approachThe research examined tweets sent by a large US-based charitable organisation, Toys for Tots (T4T), across two Christmas periods. All tweets that mentioned or retweeted T4T’s corporate partners were analysed.FindingsThe findings show surprisingly limited mentions of partners by T4T, with many never mentioned, and markedly fewer mentions of partners in the second period. Separate analysis of partner tweets retweeted by T4T revealed that none was modified to add value for T4T and/or for the partner, and many were unrelated to T4T, raising a risk of alienating T4T’s followers.Research limitations/implicationsOnly one NPO was examined, and the study focused on Twitter, with limited analysis of T4T’s Facebook posts. However, the relatively low, decreasing and largely indirect promotion of partners in T4T’s tweets suggests a lack of strategic use of Twitter by T4T.Practical implicationsCoupled with other research, the results show the need for this and other NPOs to more effectively use Twitter to reinforce partnerships with corporate partners.Originality/valueThe results demonstrate the failure of a major US charity to use Twitter to add value for its corporate partners. Even in the unlikely event that this NPO is an isolated case, the results show the need for NPOs and their corporate partners to work together to provide reciprocal benefits.