Month: June 2024

The implementation of the digital diplomacy of the United States, the UK, and China in Kenya

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Abstract

This paper examines the digital diplomacy used by the United States (US), the United Kingdom (UK), and China as great power rivals in Africa, focusing on Kenya. Digital diplomacy has arisen as an essential topic in communication studies, especially in international relations, political communication, and place branding. As a result, even though little is known about the current approach, challenges, and strategies of these significant actors, it has attracted scholarly interest in recent years. Due to social media's prevalence, diplomacy now requires transparency, public involvement, openness, and real-time communication. Through interviews with diplomats, the study compares the implementation of digital diplomacy employed by the three diplomatic players. While each of these diplomatic players may exhibit distinct digital profiles, the study reveals a fascinating interplay of complementarity among them, especially when confronted with shared global challenges such as climate change. Anonymity and managing interactions emerge as key concerns, with diplomats navigating the potential distortion of their messages and contending with anonymous negativity. Moreover, the study acknowledges the cross-cultural dynamics of digital diplomacy, necessitating adaptive strategies to bridge divides and resonate with diverse audiences. The implication of this study on practice points toward regular developing and updating the capacity of diplomats to identify the challenges created by new technologies such as artificial intelligence and human learning machines.

Community perspectives on COVID-19 outbreak and public health: Inuit positive protective pathways and lessons for Indigenous public health theory

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Abstract

Objectives

Indigenous public health theory and the voices of Canadian Indigenous communities remain under-represented in the literature despite the Canadian Truth and Reconciliation Calls to Action, and the perspectives of Inuit are further under-represented in this literature. The goal of this paper is to explore the perspectives of Iqalungmiut (people of Iqaluit), frontline staff, and decision-makers on the management of the COVID-19 outbreak in Iqaluit in April to June 2021 and to identify lessons learned and contributions to public health policy and practice specific to Inuit populations in Canada.

Methods

This study used the Piliriqatigiinniq Community Health Research Model which was developed by Nunavummiut to guide community-based health and well-being research. Interviews were conducted with 44 individuals: 22 community members and shelter users; 17 frontline workers; and 5 decision-makers representing municipal and territorial government. Participants were asked about their experiences during the outbreak, sources of information, and strengths and challenges during outbreak management.

Results

Challenges included overcrowding, physical disconnection from family members, and mental health and trauma. Community-identified strengths included strong interagency cooperation, food hamper and COVID-19 care kit deliveries, and travel restrictions. Several Inuit positive health-protective pathways were identified including Ilaginniq; Silativut; Inuuqatigiittiarniq; Piliriqatigiinniq; Ikajurniq; and Pijitsirniq.

Conclusion

Outbreaks of infectious illness are not new to Nunavut communities and Inuit protective pathways have and continue to be critical avenues to adapt to and mitigate such challenges. This exploratory study provides clear direction for Inuit public health policy and practice in Canada, while contributing to the body of literature on Indigenous public health theory.

Methodologies to reveal young Australian Indigenous students’ mathematical proficiency

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Abstract

A 7-month mathematics proficiency program was conducted in a primary Australian Indigenous community school. This paper focuses on outlining the specific methodologies employed to explore how students’ mathematical proficiency changed throughout the implementation of the program in Years 2 to 4 (~ 7 to 9 years old). A mixed methods research design was utilised, and findings will be presented to evidence how the combination of standardised tests, diagnostic tests, and Newman interviews were useful in capturing and making visible young Indigenous student’s mathematical proficiency. Whilst standardised tests provided a useful and comparable measure of student achievement, diagnostic tests and Newman interviews gave space for Indigenous student voice and demonstrated their strengths and areas for improvement in relation to their conceptual understanding, procedural fluency, and strategic competence. From these findings, recommendations concerning the adjustment of data collection procedures for young students in this setting are presented. The findings question the accuracy of standardised tests in revealing young students’ proficiency, and this has implications for the extent to which standardised tests are relied upon to inform educational reform particularly for Indigenous students. Striving for equitable educational outcomes is an important endeavour in Australia, and such undertakings must be driven by meaningful and accurate evidence of students’ proficiency in mathematics.

Ethics and Banking: Do Banks Divest Their Kind?

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Abstract

A growing group of institutional investors use divestment strategically to deter misconducts that are harmful for the climate and society. Based on Kantian ethics, we propose that divestment represents investors’ universal and absolute moral commitment to socially responsible investing (SRI). Following categorical and hypothetical imperatives and reciprocity as a norm, we hypothesize how institutional investors’ commit to SRI through a divestment strategy against ethically reprehensible behaviour of banks, especially when these investors represent banks themselves. Using a hand-collected database of the revelation dates of enforcement actions on banks, we find evidence that banks are less likely to divest equity holding on banks with misconduct (fined banks) than their non-bank institutional investors peers. Banks that commit to invest responsibly by signing for the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) are not significantly more likely to divest on fined banks stocks than non-signatory banks. Moreover, divestment of fined banks whose own legitimacy to operate is in question is not significantly different from non-fined banks divestment. We find that European banks are more inclined to sell their holdings permanently on fined banks than their United States peers. Therefore, bank’s moral commitment to SRI via divestments is influenced more by cultural and reciprocity norms than their moral commitment to participate in the PRI.

Evaluating narrative visualization: a survey of practitioners

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Abstract

Narrative visualization is characterized by the integration of data visualization and storytelling techniques. These characteristics provide challenges in its evaluation. Little is known about how these evaluation challenges are addressed by narrative visualization practitioners. We surveyed experienced narrative visualization practitioners to investigate their methods of evaluation. To gain deeper insight we conducted a series of semi-structured interviews with practitioners. We found that there is usually an informal approach to narrative visualization evaluation, where practitioners rely on prior experience and their peers for evaluation. Our study also revealed novel approaches to evaluation. We introduce a practice-led heuristic framework to aid practitioners to evaluate narrative visualization systematically. Our practice-led heuristic framework couples first-hand practitioner experience with recent research literature. This work sheds light on how to address narrative visualization evaluation to better inform both academic research and practice.

Evaluating narrative visualization: a survey of practitioners

Latest Results

Abstract

Narrative visualization is characterized by the integration of data visualization and storytelling techniques. These characteristics provide challenges in its evaluation. Little is known about how these evaluation challenges are addressed by narrative visualization practitioners. We surveyed experienced narrative visualization practitioners to investigate their methods of evaluation. To gain deeper insight we conducted a series of semi-structured interviews with practitioners. We found that there is usually an informal approach to narrative visualization evaluation, where practitioners rely on prior experience and their peers for evaluation. Our study also revealed novel approaches to evaluation. We introduce a practice-led heuristic framework to aid practitioners to evaluate narrative visualization systematically. Our practice-led heuristic framework couples first-hand practitioner experience with recent research literature. This work sheds light on how to address narrative visualization evaluation to better inform both academic research and practice.

Global value chains participation and environmental degradation in SAARC economies

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Abstract

The rapid rise in the globalization of production processes, knowledge spillovers, grave environmental concerns, and sustainable development goals have attracted researchers and policymakers to explore the causes and consequences of these transformations. The developing countries such as The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries are considered highly vulnerable to climatic changes. The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of global value chains participation both at the aggregated and disaggregated level on CO2 emissions in selected SAARC countries. The relationship among the modeled variables is estimated through the random-effects and fixed-effects models by using the robust standard errors as proposed by Driscoll and Kraay (1998). The findings indicate that the global value chains participation is pollution-intensive. Moreover, it is found that the global financial crisis of 2008 led to a decline in CO2 emissions. However, the emergence of World Trade Organization (WTO) particularly after the Doha agreement of 2001 has a significant positive impact on CO2 emissions in these countries. Based upon the empirical findings, some policy suggestions are also provided.

Impact of change in land use/land cover and climate variables on groundwater recharge in a tropical river basin

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Abstract

Groundwater plays an important part in protecting the ecological values of the earth's systems. Assessment of groundwater (GW) recharge due to change in land use/land cover (LULC) and climate variables is essential for integrated water management and adaptation. This study is an attempt to check the combined influence of change in LULC and climate variables on GW recharge in Kallada river basin, Kerala, India. The LULC map is predicted for the year 2030 based on LULC maps during the years 1985, 1995, 2005 and 2015 using Markov chain and multilayer perceptron model. The major LULC category in the study area is plantation with an area of 797.8 km2 (49.6% in 2015) and dense forest with an area of 366.5 km2 (22.8% in 2015). Considering the period 1985–2005, a decrease of 7.43% dense forest and an increase of 2.55% built area were observed. The predicted LULC shows that there is a reduction in plantation (3.77%) and dense forest (1.28%) and increase in built-up land (4.12%) by 2030 as compared to the year 2015. The CMIP5 General Circulation Model is used for future projections of climate variables, namely daily precipitation, maximum temperature and minimum temperature under RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5 scenarios. Multilayer perceptron neural network model was used for statistical downscaling of GCM projections. The SWAT model was used to estimate the groundwater recharge for the year 2030 using the predicted LULC map and hydro-meteorological variables. The results illustrate a significant drop in GW recharge in Kallada river basin by the year 2030. Average GW recharge in the Vettikavala and kottarakkara, which is in the western region of the basin, is reduced to 4.6% and 9.3% under RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5 scenarios, compared to the average GW recharge in 2005, which was 24.8% of rainfall. The decline in the groundwater recharge in the western regions may be due the increase in built-up area and decrease in plantation. The proposed model results provide a reliable insight for water resources planners in conducting future research on groundwater resources.

PMIM: generating high-resolution air pollution data via masked image modeling

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Abstract

Air pollution data provides important information on air quality, which can be used to assess the impact of atmospheric pollution on human health, the environment, and the economy, as well as to develop corresponding policies and measures to reduce pollutant emissions and improve air quality. In this paper, we propose a novel approach to improve the resolution of meteorological data via masked image modeling (PMIM) to generate high-resolution air pollution data. In order to apply the image masking modeling to process air pollution data, we convert the data format and use radial basis function visualization to generate smooth distribution maps of air pollution data. To generate high-resolution air pollution data, we design several different masking strategies and use the masked image modeling to simulate the reconstruction process from low-resolution grid data to high-resolution grid data, obtaining the reconstructed high-resolution grid images. Finally, we use the mapping relationship between the pixel colors of the reconstructed images and the air pollution data to generate high-resolution air pollution concentration data. In order to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method, we conduct comparative experiments using different masking strategies and test air pollution data of different resolutions. The results show that our method has good applicability and effectiveness in different situations.

Graphical abstract