12508 research outputs found
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An exploratory study on virtual reality and in-person effects on loneliness
Get PDFYesMost studies investigated the effectiveness of virtual reality (VR) for healthcare and educational purposes, but little is known about the effectiveness of VR in social interaction. Our aim was to examine whether VR would be similar to in?person interaction in reducing loneliness. A total of 73 participants took part in this study. They were randomly assigned to an in?person or VR condition and interacted for 15 minutes about a tourist landmark. Participants completed a set of questions that measured belonging�acceptance and exclusion�positive and negative affect, wellbeing, trust and mood before and after the interaction. Results showed that in both conditions, loneliness was significantly lower, with higher wellbeing, higher positive and lower negative affect, feeling happier and having more fun post?task. Trust was higher in the VR condition post?task but not for in?person. Our regression analyses showed that having higher wellbeing was a significant predictor of reduced loneliness for the in?person condition, and that being older and having higher belonging�acceptance were significant predictors of feeling lonelier for the VR condition. In sum, our results demonstrated some success in reducing loneliness in VR but may not be sufficient to develop lasting friendship
Exploring the Potential of Green Tea Catechins in Treatment of Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension.
Get PDFFamilial cases of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) are often caused by germline mutations, the most common being a loss of characteristic mutation in the BMPR2 gene, a member of the TGFβ Superfamily. In this study, it was hypothesised that these green tea catechin compounds might inhibit TGFβ signalling while promoting BMP signalling. This study demonstrates that these green tea catechin compounds inhibit TGFβR-II and TGFβ1-induced SMAD-dependent by reducing reporter activity, reduce the phosphorylation of SMAD3 proteins, and decrease the expression of pai-1 transcript. These green tea catechin compounds also decreased the BMP4-induced phosphorylation of p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase proteins and promoted BMP4-induced SMAD-dependent by increasing the phosphorylation of BMP4-induced SMAD1/5 protein expressions. Also, these catechin compounds increased id1 target gene expression in the presence and absence of BMP type-II-receptors. The data of this study demonstrated that catechin compounds might exert an inhibitory effect on TGFβ signalling and promote BMP signalling. Finally, in this research, elevated expression of CALM1, DYRK2, and MPP1 genes have been observed in the nucleus as revealed by their induction of pai-1 and id1-specific target gene expression, also modulating the regulation of specific ligand-induced phosphorylation of SMAD3 and SMAD1/5 proteins respectively. Therefore, CALM1, DYRK2, and MPP1 may have a nuclear function in modulating TGFβ and BMP signalling pathways respectively. These results obtained from this research have experimental and clinical potentials for identifying a novel treatment for PAH
Strategic Intent and Creative Outcomes
Get PDFThe aim of this thesis is to examine the impact of strategic intents on a firm’s creative outcomes. Strategic intents are understood as overarching ambitions in a firm that directs creativity and innovation. The resultant creation is largely assumed to be positive.
However recent studies point out that some firms use innovations to achieve significant pay offs by creating harms for society as a whole. This research conducted an mixed sequential research to study the correlation between strategic intents and creative outcomes.
A randomised control trial (RCT) involving 32 strategic decision makers from four established businesses was conducted through a negotiation simulation. This was followed by a Delphi study with an expert panel comprising of senior leaders in business, academia, and government. The subsequent analysis confirmed that the strategic intent of (a) competitive advantage has a neutral effect on creative outcomes, (b) rent maximisation leads to negative creative outcomes, and (c) problem discovery leads to positive creations.
The novelty of this thesis is the use of experimental and Delphi research that validated the occurrence of negative creativity within strategic management, as well as established the element of problem discovery as a strategic intent to maximise creative output. Furthermore the thesis proposed a dynamic definition of creativity.
This thesis has contributed to the extant literature on creativity, strategic problem formulations, strategic intent, and strategic decision making, by specifically expanding the literature to include negative creativity and provided opportunities for researchers in strategic management to build upon the theories. Furthermore, the thesis has proposed a behavioural framework for strategic-creative connections that practitioners can use to take better strategic decisions
Online product decision support using sentiment analysis and fuzzy cloud-based multi-criteria model through multiple e-commerce platforms
Get PDFYesThe competitive landscape of multiple e-commerce platforms and the vast amount of product reviews associated with these platforms have supported both consumers’ online shopping decision making and also served as a reference for product attribute performance improvement. This paper proposes a sentiment-driven fuzzy cloud multi-criteria model for online product ranking and performance to provide purchase recommendations. In this novel model, Bi-directional Long Short-Term Memory Network-Conditional Random Fields (BiLSTM-CRF), sentiment analysis, and K-means clustering are first integrated to mine product attributes and compute sentiment values based on reviews from various platforms. Next, considering the confidence of the sentiment value, the cloud model is combined with q-rung orthopair fuzzy sets to define the new concept of the q-rung orthopair fuzzy cloud (q-ROFC) and the interaction operational laws between q-ROFCs are given. The sentiment values of each product attribute from different platforms are cross-combined and transformed into a type of q- ROFC, while multiple interactive information matrices are established. To investigate the correlation among homogeneous attributes, the q-ROFC interaction weighted partitioned Maclaurin Symmetric mean operator is proposed. Finally, we provide real-world examples of online mobile phone ranking and attribute performance evaluation. The results show that our proposed method offers significant advantages in dealing with customer purchase decisions for online products and problems with performance direction identification. Managerial implications are discussed
Retrospective study of more than 5 million emergency admissions to hospitals in England: Epidemiology and outcomes for people with dementia
Get PDFYesPeople living with dementia (PwD) admitted in emergency to an acute hospital may be at higher risk of inappropriate care and poorer outcomes including longer hospitalisations and higher risk of emergency re-admission or death. Since 2009 numerous national and local initiatives in England have sought to improve hospital care for PwD. We compared outcomes of emergency admissions for cohorts of patients aged 65+ with and without dementia at three points in time.
Methods: We analysed emergency admissions (EAs) from the Hospital Episodes Statistics datasets for England 2010/11, 2012/13 and 2016/17. Dementia upon admission was based on a diagnosis in the patient’s hospital records within the last five years. Outcomes were length of hospital stays (LoS), long stays (> = 15 days), emergency re-admissions (ERAs) and death in hospital or within 30 days post-discharge. A wide range of covariates were taken into account, including patient demographics, pre-existing health and reasons for admission. Hierarchical multivariable regression analysis, applied separately for males and females, estimated group differences adjusted for covariates.
Results: We included 178 acute hospitals and 5,580,106 EAs, of which 356,992 (13.9%) were male PwD and 561,349 (18.6%) female PwD. Uncontrolled differences in outcomes between the patient groups were substantial but were considerably reduced after control for covariates. Covariate-adjusted differences in LoS were similar at all time-points and in 2016/17 were 17% (95%CI 15%-18%) and 12% (10%-14%) longer for male and female PwD respectively compared to patients without dementia. Adjusted excess risk of an ERA for PwD reduced over time to 17% (15%-18%) for males and 17% (16%-19%) for females, but principally due to increased ERA rates amongst patients without dementia. Adjusted overall mortality was 30% to 40% higher for PwD of both sexes throughout the time-period; however, adjusted in-hospital rates of mortality differed only slightly between the patient groups, whereas PwD had around double the risk of dying within 30 days of being discharged.
Conclusion: Over the six-year period, covariate-adjusted hospital LoS, ERA rates and in-hospital mortality rates for PwD were only slightly elevated compared to similar patients without dementia and remaining differences potentially reflect uncontrolled confounding. PwD however, were around twice as likely to die shortly after discharge, the reasons for which require further investigation. Despite being widely used for service evaluation, LoS, ERA and mortality may lack sensitivity to changes in hospital care and support to PwD.This study was funded jointly by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). ESRC Grant reference: ES/L001772/1
Comparative analysis of granule properties in continuous granulators
Get PDFYesSeveral contributions in answering granulation challenges including the use of computer simulation and well thought out experimental analyses are being researched. Using a twin screw granulator (TSG) by design of experiments (DoE), comparisons on 1) equipment similarities i.e., continuous and 2) shear forces, are made to previous literature on continuous equipment and a Cyclomix. This study proposes that equipment specific DoE, better explains the contribution of parameters than investigating an identified parameter from the experimental findings from a specific equipment. Granule strength and structure are presented together with the contribution of process parameters, speed, temperature, and binder content. Seeded structures are present in all but the Extrudomix. Longer residence times within the Cyclomix facilitates seeded structures. Granule crushing strengths are higher in TSG than all other continuous equipment. Optimum condition for the formation of stronger granules with least variation is around 65.4 °C.CCIP grant (Collaboration, Capacity and IP Development) fund from the University of Bradfor
International Law and Sustainable Development: Grounds for Cancellation of Africa Debts
Get PDFYesAs of April 2020, the IMF categorised seven African countries as being in debt distress, whilst identifying twelve more that were at high risk of becoming distress. It is no longer a secret that considered immutable and eternally binding, debt by the global south (i.e., poor developing African countries) has become a tool for imperial powers in the post-colonial world to enforce and perpetuate their dominance over the global south. This is despite serious global crises that emerge from, and/or were caused by the rich countries of the global north; specifically, the negative effects of the global financial crisis of 2008, devastating impact of Covid-19 pandemic, and impact of Russia-Ukraine war on the African economies and contribution to these debt vulnerabilities. Yet, the rich countries of the global north have insisted on these poor countries to continue financing their debts. The paper considers how African countries could legally cancel the repayment of the debts by relying on the principles of international law (such as pacta sunt servanda, limit to legal obligation to pay, force majeure, State of Necessity or rebus sic stantibus) and States’ declarations to commitment to sustainable development agenda (such as the European Union’s response to the adoption of the 2030 Agenda featured in its Commission’s 2016 Communication) could be used as justifying grounds for cancellation of Africa debts. The paper draws on international law and development in the light of dependency and postcolonial theories and employs the human rights-based approach, interdisciplinary and critical-analytical perspective and using qualitative empirical evidence from rich countries and institutions of the global north and poor developing countries of the global south for analysis
Navigating COVID-19: Unraveling Supply Chain Disruptions through Best-Worst Method and Fuzzy TOPSIS
No full textYesPurpose - The COVID-19 pandemic has caused significant disruptions to global supply chains (SCs), affecting the production, distribution, and transportation of goods and ser- vices. To mitigate these disruptions, it is essential to identify the barriers that have im- peded the seamless operation of SCs. This study identifies these barriers and assesses their impact on supply chain network (SCN).
Design/methodology/approach - To determine the relative importance of different bar- riers and rank the affected industries, a hybrid approach was employed, combining the best-worst method (BWM) and the technique for order preference by similarity to an ideal solution (TOPSIS). To accommodate the inherent uncertainties associated with the pan- demic, a triangular fuzzy TOPSIS was used to represent the linguistic variable ratings provided by decision-makers.
Findings - The study found that the airlines and hospitality industry was the most affected by the barriers, accounting for 46% of the total, followed by the healthcare industry (23%), the manufacturing industry (19%), and finally the consumer and retail industry (17%). Research limitation/implications - This study is limited to the four critical industries and nine identified barriers. Other industries and barriers may have different weights and rankings. Nevertheless, the findings offer valuable insights for decision-makers in SC management, aiding them in mitigating the impact of COVID-19 on their operations and enhancing their resilience against future disruptions.
Originality/value - This study enhances our understanding of COVID-19’s impact on SCN and provides a framework for assessing disruptions using multi-criteria decision-making processes. The hybrid approach of BWM and TOPSIS in a fuzzy environment is unique and offers potential applicability in various evaluation contexts
Characterisation and standardisation of different-origin end-of-life building materials toward assessment of circularity
Get PDFYesConstruction and demolition waste (CDW) management and recycling practices are crucial for transitioning to a circular economy. This study focuses on the detailed characterization of CDWs, including hollow brick (HB), red clay brick (RCB), roof tile (RT), concrete (C), and glass (G), collected from seven different sites. The CDWs were characterized based on particle size distribution, chemical composition, and crystalline nature. Pozzolanic activity was evaluated through compressive strength measurements of cement mortars with 20% cement replacement by CDWs at 7, 28, and 90 days. The results showed that clayey CDWs exhibited similar physical/chemical properties and crystalline structures. Compositions of Cs varied significantly based on their original materials. CDWs satisfied the minimum strength activity index for supplementary cementitious materials, with pozzolanic activity influenced by fineness and SiO2+Al2O3 contents. The average strength activity indexes for HB, RCB, RT, C, and G were 84.5%, 86.3%, 83.4%, 80.7%, and 75.8%, respectively. Clayey CDWs contributed to mechanical strength development, while Cs' contribution was related to hydration of unreacted cementitious particles. G exhibited the weakest pozzolanic activity due to its coarser particle size. Overall, CDWs demonstrated suitable properties for use as supplementary cementitious materials in PC-based systems