Search

Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly embedded into service firms' operations. However, production systems and operations management scholars have not yet examined if AI-empowered service operations are positively judged by service customers. To bridge this gap, this study draws on the three-factor theory of customer satisfaction applied to online review data, to capture the effect of AI-empowered service operations on overall customer satisfaction, operationalised by means of online review ratings. Based on text analytics techniques applied to a sample of more than 50,000 TripAdvisor ORs covering 35 international hotels in Asia and America, we develop a penalty–reward contrast analysis. The findings reveal that the effects of customer interaction with mechanical AI on customer satisfaction with service operations are asymmetric: positive customer interaction with mechanical AI positively and significantly influences overall customer satisfaction with AI-empowered service operations, whereas negative customer interaction with mechanical AI does not significantly alter customer satisfaction. Taken together, these findings suggest that mechanical AI constitutes a key element of resilient AI-empowered service operations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thompson's article in Marketing Theory on Belk's canonical Extended Self provides an analysis of the institutional legacy of key milestones in the development of cultural consumer research. This commentary critically reflects on the implication of Thompson's arguments regarding ontological bridge building to consider some of the factors and choices that constrain intellectual trajectories in the field to ask what future directions and bridge building potentials exist for consumer researchers investigating consumer culture today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America (1835, 1840) strongly influenced Western understandings of democracy. The dissemination and reception of Tocqueville's ideas had been studied in various countries, but not in Britain. While some scholars did notice the British influence on Tocqueville, few have asked the reverse question: how did he shape the British political lexicon, especially when it came to the issue of 'democracy'? Drawing on conceptual history and reception studies, this article examines the British uses and interpretations of Democracy in America in periodical reviews and parliamentary debates, with a few incursions into newspapers and monographs, from 1835 to 1885. I underline the dual nature of the British response to Tocqueville's work. Whereas in France and the USA, Tocqueville was identified as a liberal and read as such, in the British Isles, both conservatives and progressives tried to claim him as one of their own. The former argued that his book demonstrated the dangers of 'democracy', while for the latter it analysed both the challenges and benefits of the democratic age. Through this study of this double claiming of Tocqueville, I illustrate larger trends in the uses of 'democracy' and plea for an historical and reflexive understanding of current debates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we take a look at the influence of 20th-century provenance of caste as a category of academic importance meriting a debate in American sociology and beyond. Two actors participated in the animating discourse of caste and race in the annals of American sociology. Oliver Cromwell Cox took a class position to define caste, unmaking the hierarchies set in social structures. Instead, he advocated for a racialized system to understand the post-slavery capitalist America. Gerald Berreman represented a different camp that found social hierarchies to be co-determinant of relations and division arranged into a caste society. The debate over caste, nevertheless, admitted to the plausibility of castes contrasted with India's caste system. However, caste categorization was found to be an appropriate application to the conditions of social inequalities. Gunnar Myrdal and other scholars of repute contributed to the debate. What remained limited in their theoretical contributions to the discussion was an inadequate focus on the lived reality and politics of the caste formulations in the postcolonial, socialist mode of production. A serious examination of untouchability, sub-castes and sub-sub-castes that regulate the kernel of the caste system as well as the racialized castes in India were not studied or referenced in detail. This article adds to that void a theoretical understanding of the discussion on caste, race and colour in sociological and anthropological disciplines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The essays in this special issue engage with the multiple enduring and contemporary violences that Indigenous communities – and in particular Indigenous women – experience within and across states in North and Central America. The special issue incorporates a hemispheric and transborder focus, situating accounts of violence, dispossession, and migration experienced by Indigenous communities in Guatemala and Mexico, next to, or side-by-side with accounts of multiple violence that Native communities face in the US. Indigenous peoples and cultures in the Americas have collectively endured some of the most violent and lethal acts of colonization, elimination, and erasure in the world, and the essays here directly address shared aspects of this historic and ongoing legacy. Summarizing the major themes addressed in articles in this special issue, this Introduction reflects on the content with special attention in the ways in which settler colonialism, and a focus on gender in relation to settler colonialism (Simpson 2014; Speed 2019; Theidon 2022) forces neo-Marxian Latin American studies perspectives such as coloniality to reevaluate foundational assumptions including historical periodizations and theoretical positionalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three indices estimated from measurements of the humerus and ulna were used to suggest possible ecological habits of eight extinct giant sloths from the Late Pleistocene of the Brazilian Intertropical Region. To make these inferences, data from extant primates and xenarthras representing suspensory, climbing and digging forms were compared. The results indicate niche differentiation existed between these species; Ahytherium aureum, Australonyx aquae and Nothrotherium maquinense could have been climbers, Catonyx cuvieri, Ocnotherium giganteum and Glossotherium phoenesis were diggers, while Valgipes bucklandi and Eremotherium laurillardi were strictly terrestrial in their habits. These results suggest a general pattern in which members of the Megalonychidae and Nothotheriidae were mainly climbers, whereas mylodontines were mainly diggers, and scelidotheres were strictly terrestrial along with members of the giant Megatheriidae. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We make two interventions in two evolving scholarly literatures. First, we show how fractal metaphors escape a recurring dichotomy in Christian pedagogical scholarship, the either/or of alienation from one's object of study versus union with it in "an act of love." Second, we try to replace recent interdisciplinary work's emphasis on "complexity" with "irreducibility." Fractals allow us to define these concepts and develop alternative "ways of knowing" with greater rigor. Both interventions bear directly on Christian formation, and so we derive five ways the Christian classroom can combat spiritual alienation and instead cultivate the "fractal imagination" of our students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The world of Christian theology mourns the passing of Jürgen Moltmann (1926–2024), one of the most prominent Protestant theologians of the twentieth century. Moltmann's death invites a first, albeit only cursory, review of his impact in the US. Since his first stay at Duke University in 1967–1968, he spent much time here, whether on lecture tours, conferences, or for visiting appointments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whereas "orientalism" describes how the West sees the East, "occidentalism" describes how the East sees the West. This paper presents two examples of occidentalism from Vietnam in the 1920s: a pamphlet that praises American civilization through a comparison of Europe and America, and an essay that praises American heroism through the story of George Washington. Far from venerating the "West" at the expense of their own "Eastern" values, I show how the authors construct essentialist claims about America through a native lens—a lens that praises both Eastern Confucian values and Western "liberal" values—for strategic, anticolonial purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The genus Urotrygon comprises small‐ to medium‐sized endemic round rays on the American continent and has undergone several synonymization processes. Here, we used an integrative taxonomic approach, including meristic, morphometric, and mtDNA analyses, to resolve the particularly intricate relationship among Urotrygon munda Gill, 1863, Urotrygon chilensis (Günther, 1872), and Urotrygon asterias (Jordan & Gilbert, 1883). The latter species is currently a synonym of U. munda but is also considered the U. chilensis "northern morphotype." These taxonomic entities have historically been confounded, mainly due to their phenotypical resemblance along their geographic distribution in the eastern Pacific. We assessed 78 specimens (43 "northern" and 30 "southern morphotypes" of U. chilensis, as well as 5 U. munda) using 19 external variables for taxonomic and morphometric analysis. Distinct meristic patterns, including pectoral and pelvic ceratotrichia, vertebrae number, and thorn distribution along the dorsal midline, were observed in the series‐type specimens of the three taxonomic entities. Our multivariate morphometric analyses consistently differentiated the three groups as distinct taxonomic entities, with an overall classification accuracy of 66.7%. The meristic results also provided reliable information distinguishing the three entities. Based on the nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH2) and cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) genes, our phylogenetic analysis were consistent with the morphometric and meristic data, supporting these three entities as distinct species having their own evolutionary lineages. Our comprehensive approach confidently demonstrated that the northern U. chilensis morphotype matched and corresponded to the description of the Starry round ray, U. asterias, confirming its taxonomic resurrection as a valid species distinct from U. chilensis and U. munda. The geographic distribution of U. asterias spans from the tropical west coast of Mexico (including the Gulf of California) to Costa Rica, revealing that microevolutionary processes have well‐defined population clades within this range. Furthermore, U. chilensis is unequivocally established as the sole Urotrygon species occurring south of the Guayaquil marine ecoregion. In addition, the public COI and NADH2 sequences available for Urotrygon hosted in the ad hoc online databases were found to be misidentified, emphasizing the need for rigorous taxonomic scrutiny in this group. Finally, our research underscores the significance of an integrative approach that combines morphometric, meristic, and molecular techniques with historical data to disentangle the complexities of closely related taxa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In his Death and Disaster series, Andy Warhol's Byzantine Catholic upbringing and beliefs take shape in his portraits of celebrities and unnamed disaster victims alike. While previous scholarship on the series describes Warhol's representation of death as consumerist, callous, and contributing to spectacle culture driven by mass media, my work instead focuses on Warhol's adoption and transformation of the Byzantine iconic tradition. In choosing to appropriate tabloid images of otherwise anonymous fatalities in the Disaster series, Warhol dignifies disaster victims as the secular martyrs of a rapidly modernizing world, where we are often mere casualties sacrificed in the name of industrial progress. Through his utilization of Byzantine visual language, Warhol's Death and Disaster works venerate victims of tragedy, moving them away from their former lives as tabloid spectacles and instead positioning them as secular icons of the twentieth century—their images memorialized as the saints and martyrs of our time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article analyzes the book "El pez de oro" by Gamaliel Churata from an ecopoetic perspective. Churata proposes an Indo-American philosophical and aesthetic reflection that responds to the influence of nature and recognizes America as a mother. Additionally, he highlights the importance of the connection with nature and the need to recover the ontological senses of Amerindian cultures. Churata considers virtuous love to be a healthy relationship with the sacred network of life and believes that coca carries fundamental knowledge of the cosmos. He also interprets the Andean matriarchal cosmogony and emphasizes that all living beings possess language, consciousness, and reason. Finally, he highlights the importance of faith and generous action in creation. [Extracted from the article]

Has Vladimir Putin always stood against NATO's eastward enlargement? Detractors claim that Moscow has invariably objected to the transatlantic organisation moving towards its borders. This article challenges the prevailing orthodoxy by demonstrating that at the turn of the century, the Russian head of state was quite comfortable with NATO 'setting up shop' in Eastern Europe. Drawing upon declassified US diplomatic cables and other historical sources, the presented material speaks to selective forgetfulness on the part of the Russian leadership. The first years of 'Putinism' were not marked by assertions that NATO's eastward expansion complicated relations with the West. On the contrary, his public remarks suggested that Russia was not opposed to this process. Simply put, Putin's own words at that time refute his present-day arguments and display of grievances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The study aims to investigate market reactions associated with the JUST 100 rankings published by JUST Capital, a non-profit organization, as well as differences in financial reporting quality and performance between selected firms and their industry peers. Design/methodology/approach: This study uses a sample of 431 firms selected as the 100 America's Most Just Companies between 2016 and 2020 by JUST Capital. This study performs both an event study to determine whether the rankings are useful to investors and cross-sectional regression analyses on the characteristics of selected firms compared to their peers. Findings: This study finds that investors react positively to selected firms around the time of the release of the JUST 100 rankings, suggesting that the rankings are decision-useful. This study also finds that selected firms exhibit higher accounting quality and financial performance than their peers. Research limitations/implications: Rankings may not be free from bias because of JUST Capital's ownership of an exchange-traded fund. Social implications: The findings validate the rankings as well as the methodology used by JUST Capital, as they show market participants value firms that engage in socially responsible actions through their commitment to positively impact five key stakeholder groups: employees, customers, communities, environment and shareholders. Originality/value: To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first study that shows the importance of the JUST 100 rankings for investment decisions. Considering the growing push for companies to disclose environmental, social and governance (ESG) activities, this study provides evidence to support ESG disclosure regulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is a comparative study between Malcolm X's speech, "The Ballot or the Bullet," and his Ford Auditorium address, which reveals a shift in rhetoric. Malcolm X's rhetoric changed from being separation-laden, calling for a black counter-cultural hegemonic orientation of black nationalism, into being more inclusive of all races and advocating for the "brotherhood of all men." This paper explores the process, the reasons and the implications of this shift in rhetoric. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study examined the reciprocal association between psychological resilience, physical activity, and self-rated health in older America adults. A 3-wave cross-lagged panel design was employed using data sampled from the Health and Retirement Study 2010, 2014, and 2018. In total, 8380 older adults, age ranged between 56 and 95 years at the baseline (mean age = 68.06, SD = 7.77), were analyzed. Using structural equation modeling, standardized path coefficients were estimated to determine the relationship between physical activity, self-rated health, and psychological resilience across 2 follow-up points. Cross-lagged analysis revealed that higher levels of physical activity at T1 and T2 were significantly associated with higher levels of self-rated health at T2 and T3, respectively. Self-rated health at T1 and T2 were significantly associated with physical activity at T2 and T3, respectively. Self-rated health and psychological resilience were positively related to one another at each time point. However, relationship between physical activity and psychological resilience was complex across time. Study findings support reciprocal prospective relationship between physical activity and self-rated health and the relationship between self-rated health and psychological resilience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Every year, an average of 3,536 people die from drowning in America. The significant factors that cause unintentional drowning are people's lack of water safety awareness and swimming proficiency. Current industry and research trends regarding swimming activity recognition and commercial motion sensors focus more on lap swimming utilized by expert swimmers and do not account for freeform activities. Enhancing swimming education through wearable technology can aid people in learning efficient and effective swimming techniques and water safety. We developed a novel wearable system capable of storing and processing sensor data to categorize competitive and survival swimming activities on a mobile device in real-time. This paper discusses the sensor placement, the hardware and app design, and the research process utilized to achieve activity recognition. For our studies, the data we have gathered comes from various swimming skill levels, from beginner to elite swimmers. Our wearable system uses angle-based novel features as inputs into optimal machine learning algorithms to classify flip turns, traditional competitive strokes, and survival swimming strokes. The machinelearning algorithm was able to classify all activities at .935 of an F-measure. Finally, we examined deep learning and created a CNN model to classify competitive and survival swimming strokes at 95% accuracy in real-time on a mobile device. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To examine the current pedagogical practices among physical educators with different dispositions toward the change process and belonging to different demographic categories. We hypothesized that change-disposed, nonchange-disposed, and neutral change disposition teachers, along with teachers of different gender identities and student grade level(s), implement "best practices" with differing frequencies. Methods: Eight hundred thirty U.S. physical educators completed the Teacher Change Questionnaire-Physical Education and a 15-item adaption of Society of Health and Physical Educators America's 20 Indicators of Effective Physical Education Instruction. Results: Nonchange-disposed teachers more frequently provided objective-related feedback, provided assessment for differentiation and summative evaluation, ensured 50% student moderate to vigorous physical activity during physical education classes, and set student learning goals than change-disposed or neutral change disposition teachers. Female and elementary teachers reported more frequent use of written curriculum and assigned grades based on student knowledge/skill assessment than male and secondary counterparts. Discussion: Continuing professional development initiatives should be designed with consideration given to change disposition, gender identity, and grade level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We used the quantile vector autoregressive (QVAR) dynamic connectedness framework to examine whether leading stock markets in America and Europe would have any impact on major stock markets in Asia.1 More precisely, we analyzed systematically the stock market connectedness in 15 countries, namely Germany, the UK, the USA, and 12 Asian countries, which include five major ASEAN countries, namely Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand from 1996 to 2023. The findings indicated that Hong Kong and Singaporean stocks were major transmitters of financial shocks at the extreme low price market condition, while Germany and UK were minor transmitters. By contrast, the USA could be considered the major transmitter of financial shock during the extreme high market price returns condition. In the normal market condition, these three countries in Europe and America are important transmitters of financial shock. More interestingly, the empirical findings indicated the centrality of Singapore in the stock market connectedness in Asia. 1 The authors are grateful to Professor David Gabauer who makes available the R codes for all calculations in this paper.

Today’s dynamic and changing business environment raises numerous challenges for any business organization, irrespective of its size and industry. The Fourth Industrial Revolution has brought numerous advancements in the information and communications technologies which require continuous innovation. This is why corporations, especially multinational and transnational, have heavily invested in research and development activities in order to increase their efficiency. The rapid spread of digital technologies has determined corporate management to re-evaluate its approach towards innovation and, therefore, corporations began to establish innovation ecosystems. The goal of the paper is to illustrate and analyse the hierarchy of America’s most innovative corporations in the period 2022-2023. The author applied a qualitative research method in order to achieve the aim of the paper. The paper demonstrates that innovation, in general, and corporate innovation, in particular, represent key factors in ensuring business success. The hierarchy of the first ten American most innovative corporations in the period 2022- 2023 was clearly dominated by the corporations from the IT&C sector.

Honduras is a country with a high rate of social inequality and Social Security does not reach all residents, being limited to formal workers. Through search of articles, systematic reviews and internet documents in Spanish, using platform and search engines (Scielo, Google Academic, Virtual Health Library of Honduras) period 2015-2023, using the terms access, Mesoamerica, social security; Access to social security is compared in Mesoamerica and Colombia to identify differences and improvements to be made. In Honduras, for now there are no funds to expand coverage, due to the state’s internal debt with Social Security. Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama and Colombia have better access. Differentiating itself by maternal support services, universality, investment in social projects and greater coverage. Honduras can improve through commitments from the State and the private sector to honor its million-dollar debt, stop corruption and diversion of funds, avoiding sacrificing the user.

Reseña del libro: Barrientos Márquez, María del Mar y Lozano Salado, Lola (eds.). Revolución y Diplomacia: el Trienio Liberal y América. Santiago de Chile, Ariadna, 2023, 166 pp. ISBN: 978-95-66095-92-7.

In December 2022, North America experienced an unprecedented extreme cold event. However, the underlying physical mechanisms of this cold wave, and the extent to which it is driven by internal variability or external forcing, are not fully understood. Using ERA5 reanalysis data and the HadGEM3‐A‐N216 attribution simulations, we identified internal variability as the main cause, contributing −5.14 K to surface air temperature (SAT) anomalies in North America. External forcing slightly mitigated the cold by 0.42 K. An internally generated wave train from the North Pacific, influenced in combination by Pacific‐North American (PNA) and North Pacific Oscillation (NPO) teleconnection patterns, initiated this intense cyclonic event, contributing −2.18 K and −2.12 K to SAT anomalies, respectively. La Niña‐like sea surface temperature anomalies amplified this wave train and resultant cold wave. Additionally, excessive snow cover in the previous November also intensified the December cold anomalies by enhancing surface albedo and reducing solar radiation. Plain Language Summary: In December 2022, North America was hit by an exceptionally severe cold event. Scientists have been trying to understand the reasons behind this cold wave. Using detailed weather data and climate models, researchers found that natural climate variability played a major role, causing temperatures to drop by about 5.14 degrees Celsius. On the other hand, external factors like human‐induced climate change had a minor effect, slightly reducing the severity of the cold by 0.42 degrees Celsius. The study identified an atmospheric wave train pattern, originating from the North Pacific and moving toward North America, which played a crucial role in triggering this extreme weather. Further investigations showed that this wave train was influenced by specific large‐scale weather patterns in the Pacific region, namely the Pacific‐North American (PNA) and North Pacific Oscillation (NPO) patterns, which contributed to the cold temperatures by approximately 2.18 and 2.12 degrees Celsius, respectively. Additionally, colder‐than‐normal sea surface temperatures in the tropical central Pacific, associated with La Niña, strengthened the wave train. Internal thermodynamical processes, such as increased snow cover, also slightly intensified the cold wave by reflecting more sunlight and reducing the amount of solar energy reaching the surface. Key Points: Internal variability triggers 2022 December extreme cold wave in North AmericaPNA and NPO are two key teleconnections responsible for this extreme cold waveSnow cover‐SAT feedback intensifies this extreme cold wave [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The prevalence of type 2 diabetes (T2D) in the French overseas department of French Guiana, South America, nearly doubles that in its European counterpart, Metropolitan France. This region is demographically diverse and includes several populations of Indigenous Peoples. Although such populations are at particular risk of developing T2D across the Americas, very little is known about their health status in French Guiana, and accurate numbers of diabetic patients do not exist. Methods: In light of a potential public health crisis, an ethnomedicinal study of diabetes experienced by Indigenous Parikweneh was conducted to provide better insight into the knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) related to this quickly emerging disease in French Guiana. Altogether, 75 interviews were conducted with community members and Elders, as well as healthcare professionals and administrators providing services to the Parikweneh population of Macouria and Saint-Georges de l'Oyapock. Results: Interviews suggest a high incidence of T2D in this population, with cases that have risen quickly since the mid-twentieth century. Parikweneh participants linked the development of the illness to dietary changes, notably through the introduction of new and sweet foods. Recognizing the complexity of diabetes and its symptoms, diabetic patients highlighted the importance of biomedical treatments and follow-ups, though they frequently alternated or used them concomitantly with Parikweneh medicines. With the help of biomedical tools (i.e. glucometer), local medicinal practices mirrored biomedical approaches through dietary adaptation and the use of medicinal animals and plants for glycaemic control and the treatment of complications from the disease. Conclusion: Parikweneh are appropriating T2D into their knowledge system and adapting their health system in response to this relatively new health concern. A greater understanding of local practices and perceptions relating to T2D among medical staff may therefore be beneficial for meeting patients' needs, providing greater autonomy in their health path, and improving treatment outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Is there a Chinese School of International Relations (IR) Theory? My answer to this question is ambivalent. Although a Chinese school of IR theory does not exist in the singular, it does exist in the plural. If "birds of a feather flock together," then the difference in approaches taken by Chinese scholars is as relevant as is the fact that the scholars are all Chinese. The Tsinghua School and moral realism share much with classical realism. Cultural relationalism also offers a distinctive Chinese approach as do Gongsheng /symbiotic and tianxia approaches. That said, Chinese IR scholarship shares with IR scholarship in America, Europe, and the rest of the world its firm anchor in the Newtonian mechanical worldview of the late 19th century. Natural sciences, such as quantum mechanics and scientific cosmology, meanwhile concluded long ago that Newtonianism offers an often practicable yet constricted view of the world. In contrast, the humanities operate with a worldview fully consonant with 20th century physics. It is the social sciences and the analysis of IR which continues to adhere to the mechanical worldview common in the late 19th century—in China and the rest of the world. In both "China" and "the West" IR, scholars are tapping their canes against the pavement, seeking to fathom what will happen next. If historians and semantic modelers are right, like the future, the past is never distant. Always open to reinterpretation, it is like the future—unpredictable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]