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Forecasting sustainable fashion futures: Backcasting and scenario planning strategies
Get PDFIn recent decades, emerging fashion business models and technologies have unlocked quick and effective ways to respond to consumer trends. Fashion businesses can produce fashion products at an increasingly rapid rate, in large volumes, using an optimised production system. Despite this, fashion businesses and forecasters often struggle to define long-term strategic directions that would competently address environmental and social issues in the industry and meet sustainable development goals (SDGs). Scenario building and backcasting have emerged as viable alternative forecasting methods for envisioning desired outcomes and defining procedures to achieve those outcomes. However, there is limited research on how fashion forecasters can effectively use these methods to develop long-term business strategies. This chapter offers recommendations for devising consumer lifestyle scenarios and guidance for developing retail strategies that address both global challenges and consumer needs. It includes case studies of scenario-building and backcasting methods used by industry practitioners to address SDGs. The chapter also explores the near future of the consumer retail experience with five plausible retailing scenarios for 2040
Collaborative fashion forecasting: Integrating demand and supply-chain forecasting into the fashion industry
No full textThe fashion industry is known for its complex supply-chain systems involving multiple actors and producing trend-sensitive items that are often seasonal or have short product life cycles. Incorrect forecasting can have a direct influence not only on financial losses due to overstocking or understocking but also on the increasing environmental impact of unsold stock, consumer returns and dead stock. It is imperative that forecasters effectively capture consumer demand and expectations to facilitate effective inventory and waste management as well as circular fashion practices. This chapter aims to examine how different actors in the fashion supply chain are involved in the complex fashion system and how this system works in relation to the fashion forecasting timeline. The chapter discusses the challenges of the current supply and demand forecasting process, the role of forecasters in guiding a business's strategic direction and the importance of understanding consumer segmentation for fashion trend forecasting. Finally, the chapter reviews how forecasters support multiple stakeholders in the fashion system, including design, production, buying, merchandising, marketing and sales teams
Exploring stakeholder perspectives on the barriers and facilitators of implementing digital technologies for heart disease diagnosis: qualitative study
Get PDFBackground:
Digital technologies are increasingly being implemented in health care to improve the quality and efficiency of care for patients. However, the rapid adoption of health technologies over the last 5 years has failed to adequately consider patient and clinician needs, which results in ineffective implementation. There is also a lack of consideration for the differences between patient and clinician needs, resulting in overgeneralized approaches to the implementation and use of digital health technologies.
Objective:
This study aimed to explore barriers and facilitators of the implementation of digital technologies in the diagnosis of heart disease for both patients and clinicians, and to provide recommendations to increase the acceptability of novel health technologies.
Methods:
We recruited 32 participants from across the United Kingdom, including 23 (72%) individuals with lived experience of heart disease and 9 (28%) clinicians involved in diagnosing heart disease. Participants with experience of living with heart disease took part in semistructured focused groups, while clinicians contributed to one-to-one semistructured interviews. Inductive thematic analysis using a phenomenological approach was conducted to analyze the resulting qualitative data and to identify themes. Results were discussed with a cardiovascular patient advisory group to enhance the rigor of our interpretation of the data.
Results:
Emerging themes were separated into facilitators and barriers and categorized into resource-, technology-, and user-related themes. Resource-related barriers and facilitators related to concerns around increased clinician workload, the high cost of digital technologies, and systemic limitations within health care systems such as outdated equipment and limited support. Technology-related barriers and facilitators included themes related to reliability, accuracy, safety parameters, data security, ease of use, and personalization, all of which can impact engagement and trust with digital technologies. Finally, the most prominent themes were the user-related barriers and facilitators, which encompassed user attitudes, individual-level variation in preferences and capabilities, and impact on quality of health care experiences. This theme captured a wide variety of perspectives among the sample and revealed how patient and clinician attitudes and personal experiences substantially impact engagement with digital health technologies across the cardiovascular care pathway.
Conclusions:
Our findings highlight the importance of considering both patient and clinician needs and preferences when investigating the barriers and facilitators to effective implementation of digital health technologies. Facilitators to technology adoption include the need for cost-effective, accurate, reliable, and easy-to-use systems as well as adequate setup support and personalization to meet individual needs. Positive user attitudes, perceived improvement in care quality, and increased involvement in the care process also enhance engagement. While both clinicians and patients acknowledge the potential benefits of digital technologies, effective implementation hinges on addressing these barriers and leveraging facilitators to ensure that the technologies are perceived as useful, safe, and supportive of health care outcomes.
International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID):
RR2-10.1136/bmjopen-2023-07295
XENONnT analysis: signal reconstruction, calibration, and event selection
Get PDFThe XENONnT experiment, located at the INFN Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, Italy, features a 5.9 tonne liquid xenon time projection chamber surrounded by an instrumented neutron veto, all of which is housed within a muon veto water tank. Because of extensive shielding and advanced purification to mitigate natural radioactivity, an exceptionally low background level of (15.8±1.3) events/(tonne·year·keV) in the (1,30) keV region is reached in the inner part of the time projection chamber. XENONnT is, thus, sensitive to a wide range of rare phenomena related to dark matter and neutrino interactions, both within and beyond the Standard Model of particle physics, with a focus on the direct detection of dark matter in the form of weakly interacting massive particles. From May 2021 to December 2021, XENONnT accumulated data in rare-event search mode with a total exposure of one tonne·year. This paper provides a detailed description of the signal reconstruction methods, event selection procedure, and detector response calibration, as well as an overview of the detector performance in this time frame. This work establishes the foundational framework for the “blind analysis” methodology we are using when reporting XENONnT physics results
Patterns of Internet Use in People Diagnosed With Severe Mental Illness:Qualitative Interview Study
Get PDFThe behaviour of nematic liquid crystals in chemically patterned millimetre-sized rectangular surfaces
Get PDFWe describe a method to produce nematic liquid crystal ‘semi-droplets’ with potential use in sensing by chemically patterning rectangles on solid surfaces, surrounded by a hydrophobic monolayer to confine the liquid crystal. The substrate has directional planar anchoring, while the top surface is a liquid crystal/air interface. The effects of varying the semi-droplet of E7 height between ~20 and 420 μm; aspect ratios between 0.5 and 1; widths between 6 and 13 mm and lengths between 6 and 20 mm were investigated, significantly extending the range of semi-droplets considered in the literature; their increased size is expected to be useful in real-life devices. A geometric model for the semi-droplet was derived and compared with an existing theoretical model, offering a simple method to predict the semi-droplet interface angle, which can subsequently be used to predict the maximum height and height variation along the semi-droplet. Polarised light imaging was used to deduce the semi-droplet height profile using the liquid crystal’s birefringent properties, with excellent agreement with the model for heights ≲ 50 μm, even when the semi-droplet width was larger than E7’s capillary length. It is suggested that the confinement surface is reusable by washing with the relatively cheap and safe solvent isopropanol
Ex vivo modelling reveals low levels of CKS1 inhibition boost haematopoiesis via AKT/Foxo1 signalling
Get PDFHematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) are rare cells residing at the top of the haematopoietic hierarchy capable of reconstituting all blood cell populations through their ability of self-renewal and differentiation. Their ability to maintain haematopoiesis can be majorly depleted by chemotherapeutic agents, leading to a long-term bone marrow injury. However, pre-clinical studies have focused on the acute effects of chemotherapy, leaving the lasting impact on healthy cells poorly understood. To study this, we combined rapid ex vivo models to study the long-term/late-stage effects of a cyclin-dependent kinase subunit 1 (CKS1) inhibitor. Inhibition of CKS1 has been shown to protect healthy HSCs from chemotherapy during acute myeloid leukaemia, and here we show a dose-dependent role of CKS1 inhibition on haematopoiesis, either boosting B lymphopoiesis or ablating HSC proliferation capacity, dependent on the context. Mechanistically, low doses of the CKS1 inhibitor (CKS1i) activates Foxo1 signalling potentiating B-cell differentiation, but impairing HSC proliferation. These results reveal a novel role for the SCF-CKS1 complex in boosting haematopoiesis and propose the use of rapid ex vivo models to investigate the long-term effects of chemotherapeutic treatments targeting HSCs with the potential of reducing late adverse effects
Factors affecting the retention of healthcare assistants in English mental health services: a qualitative interview study
Get PDFBackground
In the UK, healthcare assistants (HCAs) work alongside registered nurses and other clinicians to provide frontline clinical care. HCAs provide a considerable amount of essential direct patient care which, dependent on the setting, can include monitoring of temperature, pulse, respirations and ECGs, support with daily activities, emotional support and facilitating communication with other health professionals. In 2019, the leaver rate of HCAs and support workers in the UK was 13.4%. In many Trusts this was higher than the leaving rate for nurses. The aim of this study was to explore HCAs’ experiences and their perceptions of the reasons for poor retention rates.
Methods
We recruited HCAs from three English mental health Trusts. Recruitment information was circulated using a variety of approaches. 31 participants took part in semi-structured interviews. We explored the factors they considered to affect HCAs’ decision to leave their role, and any differences they perceived with registered staff. Interviews were coded and analysed using the framework generated in a previous phase of the study which focused on retention of registered mental health professionals.
Findings
Three key factors impacted HCAs job satisfaction, wellbeing, and motivation to remain in post: (1) high workloads and unclear role boundaries creating stress and concerns for patient care; (2) good relationships with line managers and colleagues providing essential support to cope with both work and personal challenges; (3) feeling undervalued by the wider organisation, with a lack of investment including pay, facilities, and opportunities for development. These factors combined to create a situation of high stress and low job satisfaction, with many HCAs expressing an intention or desire to leave, particularly when the pay is similar to much less demanding jobs in other sectors.
Conclusions
HCAs are a diverse group but many reported job dissatisfaction and feeling undervalued by the organisations they work for, with some struggling to cope with the cost-of-living crisis. Improved role boundaries, career pathways, and appreciation of the role such as reward and recognition schemes, could help retain this key staff group who provide a large proportion of essential patient care
Introduction: Public Communication in Freefall
No full textThis editorial introduction examines whether public communication is in freefall. It argues that the main five functions of the media, as identified by Jay Blumler and Stephen Coleman (2015), are not being carried out satisfactorily. A number of structural and cultural changes to the political communication system combine to weaken its capacity to sustain a normatively healthy democratic relationship between citizens and representative governments. The authors outline six features of the contemporary media that characterize this weakened relationship, and argue that while the basic principles of political communication remain relevant, the methods and channels through which these principles are enacted must evolve. We would wish to see an agenda for change addressing the form, scale and values of the political public sphere. The introductory chapter also sets out the structure and chapter themes for the volume
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