New Ideas Concerning Arts and Social Studies Vol. 8

Assessing Road Transport Fatalities and Safety in Cities: A Case Study of Kampala City Centre

Wanyera Francis — 2026-08-12

Public transport services are essential for people who cannot drive or do not have access to a private vehicle, including children, persons with disabilities and older adults. Transport also supports the economic and social functioning of cities. However, poor road maintenance, weak enforcement and unsafe road-user behaviour contribute to crashes, deaths, injuries, damage to goods and business losses. This study sought to ascertain trends in road-safety policies, investigate trends in crashes and deaths associated with unsafe roads in Kampala, examine perceived causes of fatalities, health problems and road crashes, and identify mitigation measures. A descriptive mixed-methods design combined desk research with a field survey using a five-point Likert scale. The target population comprised 120 Kampala City Council staff, pedestrians, motorcycle riders and vehicle drivers, from whom 92 respondents were selected through random sampling. The findings indicated that road-safety policies existed but were perceived as inadequately implemented. Respondents associated the continuing burden of crashes and fatalities with weak enforcement, poor road-user behaviour, inadequate road maintenance, congestion, corruption and mechanically unfit vehicles. Vehicle emissions, dust, particulate matter, heat and noise were also identified as transport-related health concerns. Proposed measures included stronger enforcement, road-user sensitisation, improved road construction and maintenance, appropriate signs and traffic signals, removal of mechanically unfit vehicles and mobilisation of funds for road-network expansion. The study concludes that coordinated action by government agencies, transport operators and road users is required to reduce road fatalities and protect public health.

The Role of Talent Management Practices in Strengthening Leadership Pipeline and Supporting Long-term Organizational Performance in Vietnamese FMCG Organizations

Ananta Kumar Kar — 2026-08-12

Background: Talent management has become a strategic priority for organisations seeking to develop capable employees, ensure leadership continuity, and sustain long-term performance. These concerns are particularly relevant to Vietnam’s fast-moving consumer goods sector, where intense competition and workforce volatility increase the need for integrated talent identification, development, and retention practices.

Research Objectives: This study examined the relationships among talent identification, talent development, talent retention, leadership pipeline strength, leadership continuity, and long-term organisational performance in Vietnamese fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) organisations.

Study Design: This study used an explanatory quantitative cross-sectional survey design.

Place and Duration of Study: The study was conducted in FMCG companies in Northern, Central, and Southern Vietnam from April to May 2026.

Methodology: Data were collected from 151 employees of FMCG organisations in Vietnam using a structured questionnaire based on validated instruments and a five-point Likert scale. The proposed conceptual model was analysed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) in SmartPLS, including measurement model assessment, structural model assessment, and mediation analysis.

Results: Talent Development was the strongest predictor of Leadership Pipeline Strength, with a beta coefficient of 0.520 and a P value of < .001, followed by Talent Identification (β = 0.349, P < .001); Talent Retention did not significantly predict Leadership Pipeline Strength (β = 0.048, P = .539). Leadership Pipeline Strength significantly predicted Leadership Continuity (β = 0.775, P < .001) and Long-term Organizational Performance (β = 0.756, P < .001), and significantly mediated the effects of Talent Identification and Talent Development on both outcomes. Overall, the model accounted for 67% of the variance in Leadership Pipeline Strength. Given the cross-sectional, self-reported data, these results reflect statistical associations rather than causal effects.

Conclusion: This study contributes to the talent management literature by developing and testing an integrated theoretical framework based on the Resource-Based View, Human Capital Theory, and Succession Planning Theory. The findings demonstrate the strategic importance of leadership succession strength in transforming talent management practices into sustainable organisational capabilities and provide evidence-based recommendations for HR managers and organisational leaders to prioritise talent development, strengthen talent identification systems, and integrate succession planning into long-term human resource strategies.

Gender Gaps among Master’s and Doctoral Degree Recipients at the University of Guadalajara, 2021–2025

Salvador Sandoval Bravo — 2026-08-12

Although women’s participation in higher education has increased, gender differences persist across academic levels and fields of knowledge. This study examines gender differences among master's and doctoral graduates from the University of Guadalajara during the 2021–2025 period. The findings show that, although women's participation in higher education has increased, this growth does not eliminate segmentation by field of knowledge or inequalities at the highest academic levels. The research questions guiding the study were: What is the gender distribution among postgraduate degree recipients? How does gender participation change between master's and doctoral programmes? Which fields of knowledge show a greater concentration of women or men? Are there gender differences by locality in postgraduate studies? Which postgraduate programmes show the greatest and smallest gender disparities?

A database was created using publicly available information on degrees awarded by the institution during the study period, and data for 6,969 graduates were analysed using descriptive statistics. The results show an overall distribution of 50.9% women and 49.1% men. Women represented 51.7% of master's graduates, whereas men represented 52.7% of doctoral graduates. In exact sciences and engineering, men predominated, accounting for 67.8% of master's graduates and 70.5% of doctoral graduates. In contrast, women predominated in health sciences, representing 59.6% of master's graduates and 58.3% of doctoral graduates. Most graduates completed their studies in the Guadalajara Metropolitan Area. Additional findings show that the number of doctoral graduates increased from 180 in 2021 to 380 in 2025, although men remained the majority at this level. The greatest disparities appeared in engineering, computing, physics, public health, psychology, nutrition, behavioural science, and human genetics. However, several programmes, including behavioural science, chemistry, business finance, social sciences, local development, biotechnology, and pharmacology, reached near or complete gender parity. Thus, the gender gap in postgraduate education is not uniform; it depends on degree level, field of knowledge, locality, and the specific postgraduate programme.

Play-Based Learning in Early Childhood Education in Saudi Arabia: A Critical Review of Evidence, Cultural Translation and Research Priorities

Manal Obed Aullah Alharbi — 2026-08-12

Play-based learning is widely promoted in early childhood education, yet its conceptual breadth and uneven evidence base complicate implementation. These difficulties are particularly consequential in Saudi Arabia, where rapid expansion of early childhood provision, national learning standards, digital transformation, and human-capability goals are reshaping kindergarten practice. This critical narrative review examines what can reasonably be concluded about play-based learning, how international evidence should be interpreted in the Saudi context, and which research concerns require priority. Literature published between 2000 and 4 June 2026 was identified through accessible education, psychology, biomedical, open-index, DOI-registry, and institutional sources, with seminal earlier studies retained where conceptually necessary. Evidence was appraised for construct clarity, design quality, measurement validity, implementation fidelity, cultural and linguistic relevance, and correspondence between claims and outcomes. The synthesis indicates that play is not a single intervention. Child-led free play, guided play, games, playful direct instruction, outdoor play, and digital play differ in agency, adult involvement, learning goals, and plausible mechanisms. The strongest comparative evidence favours guided, goal-aligned play for selected early mathematical, spatial, and executive-function outcomes, while broad claims that play is uniformly superior across developmental domains remain insufficiently supported. Effective enactment depends on teachers’ diagnostic judgement, confidence, time, materials, assessment literacy, and capacity to scaffold without displacing child agency. Saudi studies show favourable beliefs towards developmentally appropriate, active, and playful approaches, but the evidence is dominated by teacher self-report, small qualitative samples, and geographically bounded studies. Direct observation, validated Arabic measures, implementation research, child-level outcomes, longitudinal designs, and experimental or strong quasi-experimental comparisons are scarce. A culturally responsive Saudi agenda should therefore preserve meaningful choice, exploration, social interaction, Arabic language development, family engagement, and Islamic ethical values while resisting both uncritical policy borrowing and a return to academically compressed didacticism. The immediate need is not advocacy for more play in the abstract, but precise definitions, feasible models, and rigorous evidence about which forms of play work, for whom, under what conditions, and at what cost.

Enhancing Livelihoods through Sustainable Food Security Strategies

Chipo Zinyemba — 2026-08-12

Climate change has increasingly undermined agricultural productivity and rural livelihoods, particularly in communities that depend on rain-fed subsistence farming. As climate change has shifted seasonal patterns, small-scale farmers have had to move away from traditional farming methods and adopt approaches that optimise crop yields, increase productivity during shorter growing seasons and use relatively limited resources efficiently. This review explores sustainable food-security strategies that can enhance resilience and improve livelihoods in climate-change-affected rural settings, with particular reference to experiences from Zimbabwe and other sub-Saharan African contexts. A review of literature published since 2011 was conducted using reputable databases and search engines, including Google Scholar, Scopus, Web of Science, PubMed and Semantic Scholar. The review synthesised evidence on practical, low-cost and climate-resilient livelihood interventions suitable for small-scale farmers. The findings indicate that poultry production, mushroom cultivation, beekeeping, horticulture and greenhouse agriculture represent viable strategies for strengthening household food security while generating supplementary income. These interventions require relatively modest resource investments, can be implemented on limited land and provide nutritional benefits through improved access to protein-rich and micronutrient-dense foods. Moreover, they promote livelihood diversification, reduce vulnerability to climate-related shocks and create entrepreneurial opportunities for women and youth. Greenhouse technologies and improved horticultural practices further enhance year-round production and resource-use efficiency under increasingly unpredictable climatic conditions. The review concludes that integrating diversified and adaptive agricultural practices within the framework of the Food and Agriculture Organization's twin-track approach can improve resilience, dietary diversity and economic stability among vulnerable rural populations. Strengthening access to training, extension services, financial support and market linkages is essential to maximise the effectiveness and sustainability of these interventions. Policymakers should prioritise context-specific capacity-building initiatives to facilitate wider adoption of climate-smart food-security strategies.