The University of Buckingham Press Journals
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A Multi-Centre Interview-Based Study to Explore Environmentally Sustainable Skin Surgery Practices in the UK
Full text linkSkin surgery is a significant contributor to carbon emissions in dermatology. In this interview-based study, we explored clinicians’ experience of environmentally sustainable skin surgery practices. Seven of 12 invited site leads in the UK took part in semi-structured 1:1 online synchronous or online asynchronous interviews. Field notes from online synchronous interviews and texts from online asynchronous interviews were analysed using descriptive thematic analysis. Three broad themes emerged from the data: (1) preparedness for environmentally sustainable skin surgery, (2) barriers and (3) facilitators to engage with environmentally sustainable skin surgery. Our study findings have provided contexts and potential explanations for our related study’s findings on why some sites lacked access to reusable skin surgery instruments and recycling bins. Developing sustainability leadership and culture will promote engagement with sustainable skin surgery practices
Has Supervision and Training in CAMHS Ireland Improved Following the Maskey Report?
Full text linkIntroduction: A look back review of South Kerry CAMHS in Ireland, known as the ‘Maskey report’ (MR) highlighted several key contributory factors including an absence of formal supervision, inadequate prescribing knowledge, and a lack of contractual requirements to engage in professional education to develop skills pertaining to child psychiatry.Aim: To investigate child and adolescent psychiatrists’ perceptions concerning supervision levels before and after the MR, their prescribing knowledge and practices, and professional education.
Methods: The study utilized a cross-sectional, mixed-methods observational approach, distributing a study-specific questionnaire electronically to 160 CAP. Demographic details and participants’ perspectives on training, supervision, and CPD activities were collected. Statistical analysis, including chi-square tests, was conducted to explore associations with thematic analysis applied to free text responses for qualitative insights.
Results: From the 160 eligible respondents, 102 child and adolescent psychiatrists participated in the study giving a response rate of 63.8%. More than a third of non-consultant hospital doctors (NCHDs) reported less than weekly supervision (n = 11, 34.4%). Fifty-two respondents (51.0%) felt that psychotropic medication training for trainees was below adequate, and this was higher in NCHDs (χ2 (2, n = 102) = 12.192, p = .002) and in those working in public settings (χ2 (2, n = 102) = 10.098, p = .006). A third of respondents reported access to CPD activity as inadequate (n = 32, 31.4%) and this was also higher in NCHDs (χ² (1, n = 102) = 7.515, p = 0.006).
Discussion: Given the suboptimal frequency of supervision, perceived inadequacy of psychotropic medication training and lack of access to CPD activities, further research to establish effective strategies for enhancing supervision and training of child and adolescent psychiatrists is warranted
Mergers and Consolidation in the U.S. Gambling and Horse Racing Industries: What It Means for Local Economic Development and Taxation
No full textEven before the COVID-19 pandemic, most sectors of the various gambling industries in the United States were showing signs of stagnation or flat growth. Over the past few years, these industries have seen mergers between horse racing tracks, between horse racing tracks and casinos to form “racinos”, and between casino companies. Some gambling facilities and racetracks have closed and have been sold to developers to be used for other purposes. An industry “shakeout” is occurring, and there appears to be a trend towards greater industry concentration as consumers could be showing less interest in gambling in general or that gambling is failing to attract new patrons as it did in past decades. This could be partially fuelled by the stagnation of disposable personal income (DPI) over the past 20 years or so. Consumer preferences and attitudes also seem to have changed regarding horse racing and gambling. Sports gambling and the expansion of online gambling do not appear to have offset negative or flat growth trends. These current conditions are somewhat a reversal of past fortunes in that in the 1980s and 1990s, the opening of a casino in a city was often considered a plus for local economic development. As more consolidation and establishment closures occur, the impact on various local communities and state governments must be examined regarding lost jobs, lost local and state tax revenues, and lost tourism. This paper is an attempt to assess these developments
Asymmetric Impact of Russia–Ukraine War on Global Stock Markets
No full textRussia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, emerged as Europe’s most significant military conflict post second world war, with global economic and geopolitical consequences. Using a broad (95-country) sample, the study examines the impact of the Russia–Ukraine war on global stock markets surrounding the war announcement. It applied the event study method and used short and long event windows to examine the war’s immediate and intermediate impacts. Global stock markets delivered negative 1.90% abnormal returns on the day of the war announcement, and Russia saw the biggest fall. However, after the initial adverse reaction, stock markets reacted asymmetrically. Stock markets of the countries in geographic proximity and high trade intensity with Russia and Ukraine, and net importers of energy and food grains negatively reacted more than the rest. The regional results show that Asia Pacific and Europe reported negative returns across event windows. In contrast, the Americas, Africa, and the Middle East did not react negatively, even in the shortest event window. Adverse war reactions moderated over time. Equity investors and portfolio managers who aim to protect their investments should buy stocks in countries that are net exporters of commodities made in war-torn countries and switch to stock markets geographically far from the war zone
Sustainability of Pharmaceutical and Cosmeceutical Products within Dermatology
Full text linkThe extent of packaging materials used in topical dermatological products and the sustainability of these are not well known. It is a known fact, however, that individual dermatology departments prescribe or recommend these dermatological products to patients. This study aims to evaluate current practice in terms of how many dermatological products distributed to patients are recyclable, by assessing whether the topical treatments available within a dermatology department display a Mobius loop or equivalent – thus indicating that a product and its packaging may be recycled. Our results show that a low proportion of the assessed items displays any indication of their recycling potential, therefore adding to unnecessary waste. Raising awareness, promoting sustainability from grassroots levels within dermatology departments and empowering patients to adopt recycling practices enable dermatology as a specialty to encourage pharmaceutical and cosmeceutical companies supplying these products to support ethical recycling values in all medical fields
Classification in Horse Race Prediction Through Principal Component Decomposition
No full textThe established view for horse race handicapping and staking strategies is to model them as a classification problem using factors describing horse, jockey, trainer, and racing history coupled with public odds, solved via a logistic regression. Logistic regression probabilities are then normalised, and bets filtered by threshold, or anomalous pricing. However, published algorithms do not show systematic profitability, nor do machine learning approaches using algorithmic betting strategies. This deficiency is due to three factors. First, wins are rare and racing data are thus imbalanced. Second, racing factors are multicollinear. Third, the number of factors needed for accurate prediction is very large. We show that alternative methods using variants from principal component analysis produces sustainable profitability regardless of staking strategy through a reduction of factors to fundamental drivers. We apply a partial least squares regression methodology to Australian thoroughbred racing. This approach is shown to outperform logistic regression and machine learning methods in classifying winners for a profitable trading strategy. This method can be applied to multiple betting domains
COVID‐19 and Hospitality and Tourism Stock Indices: Insights from European Markets
No full textThreatening tourism’s core values, COVID-19 forced a global lockdown with unprecedent economic ramifications across the industry’s sectors. By espousing an econometric methodology, this study investigates the pandemic’s impact on hospitality and tourism (H/T) stock indices trading in five European stock markets and explores the effect of both state-enforced, non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) and vaccinations. Findings suggest that a) the pandemic was the most impactful event in history to affect H/T stock indices trading in major European financial markets; b) the tourism industry reacted differently to the pandemic compared to other major economic sectors; and c) government-enforced measures directly targeting the industry’s core operations had a powerful effect on both stock returns and volatility during the first year of the pandemic, nevertheless, for returns, this effect was mitigated by the rollout of vaccinations. The study enriches our collective knowledge on the impact of COVID-19 on the economics of tourism, with emphasis on H/T stock indices