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Beyond the Meat Paradox: Psychological Factors Underpinning Animal Product Consumption and Abstention Among Different Dietary Groups
Get PDFThe social psychological and moral factors underpinning meat consumption have been documented extensively. However, few studies have investigated how these factors are associated with the consumption of other animal products such as fish, dairy, and egg products. This is important in order to identify psychological barriers that prevent people shifting towards more plant-based diets, which benefit animal welfare, the environment, and global health. The general objective of this thesis was to examine psychological factors that underpin animal product consumption by comparing participants from a range of dietary groups namely omnivores, pescatarians, flexitarians, vegetarians, and vegans. The results show that dietary groups differ in their perceptions and beliefs about animals, their moral emotions, their justifying beliefs and cognitive-related dissonance strategies associated with animal product consumption, and their dietary motivations. The groups that consume specific animal products (e.g., pescatarians who consume fish) versus the groups who do not consume them (e.g., vegetarians and vegans who do not consume fish) experienced moral emotions (e.g., fish-related disgust) differently, showed higher levels of justifying beliefs and cognitive dissonance strategies related to these products (e.g., denying mental capacities of fish) and showed differences in their moral thinking about animals. The findings suggest that fish, dairy, and egg consumers deal with animal product consumption in a similar way to how meat eaters deal with meat consumption. These findings highlight the importance of moving research beyond just meat consumption. Changing attitudes towards animals and countering people’s justifying beliefs and dissonance strategies appear to be critical in such efforts
Identifying and Prioritizing Major Barriers of Renewable Energy Development, Enabling Key Approaches to Accelerate the Deployment of Renewable Energy, and Adopting Mitigation Measures of Key Risks Affecting Renewable Energy Investments
Get PDFThe world's lowest rate of power access is found in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Just 23 SSA countries had an electrical availability rate higher than 50% as of 2022. Only 10 of the 49 SSA countries have given more than 50% of their rural household access
to electricity, even though 54.1% of SSA population still lives in rural areas. SSA countries believe that the only viable way to bridge this gap is through the use of renewable energy, or RE. However, SSA faces several main challenges and barriers to RE development, which this research thesis has first identified and addressed. Five major crucial enablers were identified by the study as potentially beneficial cascade effects to resolve these barriers and facilitate the transition of RE in SSA nations.
Regarding the availability of electricity, each SSA country continues to experience different challenges. The Republic of Djibouti was selected as the focal point of our research since it embodies the energy crisis that the SSA is currently experiencing.
Although Djibouti has access to a range of renewable energy sources, including geothermal, wind, and solar energy, it is still facing challenges in effectively harnessing these resources. A Multi-Tiered Framework has been developed by this research to
assist Djibouti in making the transition to RE. Policymakers will be able to adopt a road map based on the results of this research, which will also help to create an atmosphere that will encourage future stakeholders and private investors to invest more in RE projects in SSA
Digital information in maritime supply chains with blockchain and cloud platforms: Supply chain capabilities, barriers, and research opportunities
Get PDFYesDigital transformation plays a key role in improving information sharing and information processing in supply chains. Specifically, maritime supply chains require numerous data and document exchanges and can significantly benefit from digital information sharing (DIS). This notable potential has attracted attention and has resulted in a growing number of studies on blockchain platforms, cloud-based platforms, and other digital technology platforms. However, DIS adoption and execution is a complex process as it depends on various success factors and barriers and affects numerous capabilities and performance outcomes. Moreover, various information systems and management theories can be utilised to underpin these relationships. Our study aims to conduct a systematic literature review that uncovers dynamic capabilities, barriers, enablers and outcomes of DIS with blockchain and cloud-based platforms, illustrates the relationship between them, and discloses methods and theories applied in supply chains. We discuss different use cases of blockchain and cloud-based platforms for DIS in various business functions in supply chains. Particularly, we reveal six DIS-powered capabilities, five performance outcomes improved by the DIS, eight main barriers, and nine enablers of DIS implementation. The lack of theoretical underpinning and causal empirical studies is identified as an important gap in the literature. This study also presents precise future research directions that can help address these gaps
Motherhood and Psychological Distress after Childbirth: A Thematic-Dialogical Analysis of Pakistani-Muslim Women’s Experiences
Get PDFBackground: Psychological distress after childbirth is high amongst Pakistani-Muslim women. In the UK, this is distress is often labelled as a mental health condition, an illness known as postnatal depression. According to Western psychiatry the experience of postnatal depression is universal for all women, regardless of ethnicity, culture, and socio-economic status. However, these factors are important and do shape women’s lived experiences, understanding of conditions and help-seeking behaviours. Without understanding these factors, vulnerable women run the risk of not receiving the most appropriate support. How Pakistani-Muslim women experience motherhood and psychological distress after childbirth is under-researched.
Aim: To explore experiences of motherhood and psychological distress after childbirth, in Pakistani-Muslim women.
Method: A qualitative study was conducted. Face-to-face, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 17 Pakistani-Muslim women. Data was analysed via thematic-dialogical analysis.
Findings: The findings of this study are broken down into three empirical chapters, to address the research questions. This includes 1. Experiences of motherhood during the postnatal period (social support, cultural postnatal practices, transition to motherhood); 2. Dramatization vs Authenticity of psychological distress (women’s understanding of their distress and family reactions); 3. Experience of psychological distress after childbirth.
Conclusion: A greater understanding of how Pakistani-Muslim women experience motherhood and psychological distress after childbirth has been developed. Factors have been identified which may increase the risk of psychological distress and factors which may act as barriers to help-seeking. Experiences have shown to be layered and nuanced, with various influential factors beyond culture and ethnicity being identified (generational differences, rural identity).Faculty of Social Sciences scholarshi
Clinical investigation of flat pack toric contact lenses and wearer attitudes to environmental impact
Get PDFYesObjectives:
To investigate the performance of a novel flat pack toric daily disposable contact lens compared with traditionally packaged toric lenses in a randomized, crossover study. Environmental attitudes to contact lens wear were also explored.
Methods:
Habitual contact lens wearers were recruited to wear a hioxifilcon A (Miru 1 day Flat Pack Toric, Menicon, Nagoya, Japan) test lens and a control lens: either nelfilcon A (Dailies AquaComfort Plus, Alcon, Geneva, Switzerland) or etafilcon A (1-Day Acuvue Moist, Johnson & Johnson, New Brunswick, NJ). Objective lens performance was assessed at fitting, and participants wore lenses in a randomized order for three consecutive days. Subjective measures of lens performance (comfort, vision, and handling) were then assessed by a questionnaire, with further questions on overall lens preference and environmental perceptions.
Results:
Objective measures of lens fit were similar for the test and control lenses, except for distance VA which was better with the control lenses (P<0.05; difference of two logMAR letters). End of day comfort was greater with the test lens, but this did not reach significance. Both lenses demonstrated similar scores for overall satisfaction. 87.5% of participants indicated the environmental impact of contact lenses to be important/extremely important to them, with 100% of participants identifying the flat pack packaging as having a smaller environmental impact.
Conclusion:
Overall, the lenses used in the study performed to similar levels. Environmental credentials are important to contact lens wearers, which may contribute to overall lens preference
COVID-19 crisis and the efficiency of Indian banks: Have they weathered the storm?
Get PDFYesThe purpose of this study is to determine whether Indian banks were able to weather the COVID-19 storm. We estimate banks’ deposits-generating and operating efficiencies using a two-stage directional distance function-based network data envelopment analysis (DDF- NDEA) approach and seek to capture the immediate impact of COVID-19 on these efficiency measures by comparing their magnitudes in the pre-pandemic (2014/15-2019/20), just 1-year prior to the pandemic (2019/20), and during the pandemic year (2020/21) periods. The study looks at whether the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic was uniform across ownership types and size classes. The empirical findings suggest that the Indian banking system was resilient and withstood the immediate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. During the study period, however, the large and medium-sized banks experienced some effi ciency losses. By and large, regardless of bank group, banks have shown resilience to the shock of the global health
pandemic and improvements in efficiency.The full-text of this article will be released for public view at the end of the publisher embargo on 28 Dec 2024
Effect of COVID-19 on dental service delivery in Fiji: Perspective of Dental Officers (Dos) and Dental Managers (DMs)
Get PDFYesCorona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) was declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) has had significant impact on dentistry in Fiji. Due to lack of previous study, this study aims to explore the perspective of Dental Officers (DOs) and Dental Managers (DMs) on the effects of COVID-19 on dental service delivery in Fiji Islands.
This qualitative study was conducted amongst 30 DOs and 17 DMs between 9th August to 12th September, 2021. It was conducted in the government dental clinics, private dental clinics and the School of Dentistry and Oral Health clinic (SDOH), in the Central Division, Fiji. The study settings were randomly selected. Purposive sampling method was used for the selection of participants who met the study criteria. Semi-structure open ended questionnaires were used for data collection through in-depth interviews via zoom. Manual thematic analysis of the data was conducted to derive themes and codes.
The participants interviewed for the study included more female DOs (66.7%) and male DMs (58.8%). Seven themes emerged from data analysis: range of services delivered, appointment versus walk-in patients for aerosol generating procedures (AGPs), impact of pandemic on clinic opening hours, impact of COVID-19 on patient numbers, quality of services delivered, resources and infrastructure, perceptions about the burden of disease.
COVID-19 has significantly affected dental service delivery. Mostly emergency dental services were delivered. AGPs were delivered on appointment basis. Most participants stated the quality of services had improved. Participants stated that they were not given adequate resources and the infrastructure was not up to standard to provide dental services during the pandemic. The dental disease burden had increased during the pandemic as per the participants. Future research can be conducted amongst other dental professionals in other divisions of the country
Simulation and optimisation of a medium scale reverse osmosis brackish water desalination system under variable feed quality: Energy saving and maintenance opportunity
Get PDFYesIn this work, we considered model-based simulation and optimisation of a medium scale brackish water desalination process. The mathematical model is validated using actual multistage RO plant data of Al- Hashemite University (Jordan). Using the validated model, the sensitivity of different operating parameters such as pump pressure, brackish water flow rate and seasonal water temperature (covering the whole year) on the performance indicators such as productivity, product salinity and specific energy consumption of the process is conducted. For a given feed flow rate and pump pressure, winter season produces less freshwater that in summer in line with the assumption that winter water demand is less than that in summer.
With the soaring energy prices globally, any opportunity for the reduction of energy is not only desirable from the economic point of view but is an absolute necessity to meet the net zero carbon emission pledge by many nations, as globally most desalination plants use fossil fuel as the main source of energy. Therefore, the second part of this paper attempts to minimise the specific energy consumption of the RO system using model-based optimisation technique. The study resulted not only 19 % reduction in specific energy but also 4.46 % increase in productivity in a particular season of the year. For fixed product demand, this opens the opportunity for scheduling cleaning and maintenance of the RO process without having to consider full system shutdown.In this work, we considered model-based simulation and optimisation of a medium scale brackish water desalination process. The mathematical model is validated using actual multistage RO plant data of Al- Hashemite University (Jordan). Using the validated model, the sensitivity of different operating parameters such as pump pressure, brackish water flow rate and seasonal water temperature (covering the whole year) on the performance indicators such as productivity, product salinity and specific energy consumption of the process is conducted. For a given feed flow rate and pump pressure, winter season produces less freshwater that in summer in line with the assumption that winter water demand is less than that in summer.
With the soaring energy prices globally, any opportunity for the reduction of energy is not only desirable from the economic point of view but is an absolute necessity to meet the net zero carbon emission pledge by many nations, as globally most desalination plants use fossil fuel as the main source of energy. Therefore, the second part of this paper attempts to minimise the specific energy consumption of the RO system using model-based optimisation technique. The study resulted not only 19 % reduction in specific energy but also 4.46 % increase in productivity in a particular season of the year. For fixed product demand, this opens the opportunity for scheduling cleaning and maintenance of the RO process without having to consider full system shutdown
Owner-managers failure experience and business model innovations in B2B firms: The roles of coopetition, managerial persistence, and financial resource slack
Get PDFYesThis study proposes and tests a model of how and when previous failure experience can impact on subsequent business model innovation of business-to-business (B2B) SMEs. Analysis of survey data from a sample of 182 B2B SMEs in Ghana indicates that failure experience is positively related to business model innovation – and that coopetition capability mediates this failure experience. Further analysis of boundary condition effects reveals that high levels of financial resource slack strengthen the positive relationship between coopetition and business model innovation, while the level of managerial persistence has no effect on failure experience and coopetition relationship. We discuss the theoretical and managerial implications of these findings
Courts’ Attitude Towards Annulment of New York Convention Arbitral Awards: An Evaluation of English and Nigerian Courts’ Approach
Get PDFYesA party to arbitration has the right to challenge an award if the party so chooses. A challenge may seek to vacate (annul or set aside), suspend, or remit the award to the arbitrator due to an error on the face of the award or due to an injustice in its rendering. The scheme for challenging an award is a vital aspect of the arbitration process and serves as a safeguard against corruption, arbitrariness, and bias, while also providing a mechanism for balancing the arbitral process. What is more critical in the annulment scheme, however, is the courts’ attitude toward a challenge to an award.This article discussesthe policy issuesthat English
courts weigh when considering whether to annul an award. Additionally, it examines the question of annulment of awards on legal grounds, using English
case law to indicate the approach Nigerian courts may take when asked to annul an award on the basis that the arbitrator’s ruling on a legal point is clearly erroneous. It contends and concludes that Nigerian courts’ pragmatic attitude to annulment claims based on arbitrator’s misconduct and/or improper ordering of arbitral procedures or awards will increase the efficacy of international arbitration in Nigeria, just as it does in England