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Leading Organisational Sustainability: The Impact of CEO Optimism on Organisational Decarbonisation
No full textThis study investigates the relationship between CEO optimism and firm-level decarbonisation performance using a longitudinal dataset of 1,600 publicly listed U.S. firms from 2010 to 2020. Drawing on Upper Echelons Theory (UET) and behavioural strategy, we examine how executive disposition shapes environmental outcomes across three key indicators: absolute greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, emissions intensity, and emissions disaggregated by scope (Scopes 1, 2, and 3). CEO optimism is operationalised through stock option-based measures of forward-looking executive behaviour. Our empirical analysis, employing fixed effects and instrumental variable estimations, reveals that optimistic CEOs are significantly associated with lower absolute emissions and improved emissions efficiency. The effect is most substantial for Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions, areas under direct managerial control, while Scope 3 reductions exhibit weaker associations, indicating the limits of individual leadership traits in addressing complex, value chain-wide challenges. We argue that CEO optimism functions as a behavioural enabler of decarbonisation, facilitating long-term strategic investment and adaptive risk-taking. However, optimism also carries potential drawbacks, including miscalibrated ambition and overextension. The findings contribute to emerging scholarship on executive cognition and corporate climate action, offering theoretical and practical insights into how psychological traits influence organisational sustainability trajectories
Comparing Gender Differences in Willingness to Accept Same and Other-Sex Dyadic and Multi-Person Sexual Offers: An Examination of the Backlash Effect
No full textProponents of Sexual Script Theory (Simon & Gagnon, 1984) posit that men and women differ in their sexual behaviors/motivations, often due to culturally ingrained expectations. When these expectations are violated, individuals may face stigma, particularly in nontraditional contexts like mixed-sex threesomes (MSTs). This study examined gender differences in heterosexual adults’ anticipated stigma and willingness to accept various sexual offers, including dyadic and MST offers involving same- and other-sex partners, through the lens of the backlash effect (i.e., the anticipation of stigma for participating in sexual behaviors that contradict societal expectations). A total of 540 heterosexual U.S. adults read vignettes depicting hypothetical sexual invitations and completed measures assessing anticipated stigma and willingness to engage. Results revealed that men anticipated less stigma and were more willing to accept sexual offers than women. Participants also anticipated less stigma and reported greater willingness to accept other-sex dyadic offers as compared to same-sex or MST offers. However, men reported the highest anticipated stigma and lowest willingness for same-sex dyadic offers, suggesting a novel backlash effect against men engaging in gender non-conforming behaviors. These findings offer support for the persistence of the sexual double standard and provide evidence for gendered backlash effects, including those impacting heterosexual men
Benchmarking domain-specific pretrained language models to identify the best model for methodological rigor in clinical studies
No full textObjective
Encoder-only transformer-based language models have shown promise in automating critical appraisal of clinical literature. However, a comprehensive evaluation of the models for classifying the methodological rigor of randomized controlled trials is necessary to identify the more robust ones. This study benchmarks several state-of-the-art transformer-based language models using a diverse set of performance metrics.
Methods
Seven transformer-based language models were fine-tuned on the title and abstract of 42,575 articles from 2003 to 2023 in McMaster University’s Premium LiteratUre Service database under different configurations. The studies reported in the articles addressed questions related to treatment, prevention, or quality improvement for which randomized controlled trials are the gold standard with defined criteria for rigorous methods. Models were evaluated on the validation set using 12 schemes and metrics, including optimization for cross-entropy loss, Brier score, AUROC, average precision, sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy, among others. Threshold tuning was performed to optimize threshold-dependent metrics. Models that achieved the best performance in one or more schemes on the validation set were further tested in hold-out and external datasets.
Results
A total of 210 models were fine-tuned. Six models achieved top performance in one or more evaluation schemes. Three BioLinkBERT models outperformed others on 8 of the 12 schemes. BioBERT, BiomedBERT, and SciBERT were best on 1, 1 and 2 schemes, respectively. While model performance remained robust on the hold-out test set, it declined in external datasets. Class weight adjustments improved performance in most instances.
Conclusion
BioLinkBERT generally outperformed the other models. Using comprehensive evaluation metrics and threshold tuning optimizes model selection for real-world applications. Future work should assess generalizability to other datasets, explore alternate imbalance strategies, and examine training on full-text articles
Deep Reinforcement Learning with Local Interpretability for Transparent Microgrid Resilience Energy Management
No full textRenewable energy integration into microgrids has become a key approach to addressing global energy issues such as climate change and resource scarcity. However, the variability of renewable sources and the rising occurrence of High Impact Low Probability (HILP) events require innovative strategies for reliable and resilient energy management. This study intro- duces a practical approach to managing microgrid resilience through Explainable Deep Reinforcement Learning (XDRL). It combines the Proximal Policy Optimization (PPO) algorithm for decision-making with the Local Interpretable Model-agnostic Explanations (LIME) method to improve the transparency of the actor network’s decisions. A case study in Ongole, India, examines a microgrid with wind, solar, and battery components to validate the proposed approach. The microgrid is simulated under extreme weather conditions during the Layla cyclone. LIME is used to analyse scenarios, showing the impact of key factors such as renewable generation, state of charge, and load prioritization on decision-making. The results demonstrate a Resilience Index (RI) of 0.9736 and an estimated battery lifespan of 15.11 years. LIME analysis reveals the rationale behind the agent’s actions in idle, charging, and discharging modes, with renewable generation identified as the most influential feature. This study shows the effectiveness of integrating advanced DRL algorithms with interpretable AI techniques to achieve reliable and transparent energy management in microgrids
Development of a Framework for the Implementation of Digital Twin for Building Maintenance Management
No full textBuilding maintenance (BM) is becoming increasingly challenging due to the overbearing complexity of maintenance-related issues, which result in continuous downtime of buildings and assets. The reoccurrence of issues such as design and construction flaws, the use of substandard materials, occupant misuse, and poor management practices have prompted BM organisations to explore proactive management strategies. Technologies such as Computerised Maintenance Management Systems, Building Information Modelling, and Computer-Aided Facility Management have been employed to address conventional error-prone manual procedures. However, these technologies have limitations, especially regarding real-time data updates, which are crucial for BM. Real-time data ensures the adequate availability of comprehensive information on buildings and assets. Digital Twin (DT), a recent technology, offers real-time data status and predictive capabilities through scenario analysis, thereby enhancing strategic planning and improving decision-making for BM management. However, implementing DT in BM organisations, both in developing and developed countries, presents challenges due to the non-availability of established literature. Therefore, this study explores how DT can be implemented at the organisational level for BM management, with a focus on Nigeria as a developing country, to provide contextual insights.
A sequential mixed research method was employed to collect primary data through closed-end questionnaires with BM experts in Nigeria, followed by semi-structured interviews with BM experts in Nigeria and DT experts from developed countries. A purposive sampling technique was employed to recruit participants for both research methods. Sixty-one expert BM professionals were approached for the preliminary quantitative survey, and questionnaires were distributed to them. A snowball sampling technique was subsequently employed to aid in recruiting eleven DT experts and nine BM professionals for the study interviews.
Findings revealed that maintenance-related issues in Nigeria stem from organisational dynamics, technical complexities, and user-related challenges. While Nigerian BM organisations are transitioning towards proactive strategies, substantial potential remains untapped in predictive strategies that can be achieved through DT. DT can assist BM organisations with activities such as building operations, user comfort, decision-making, operating costs, and fault prediction through various analyses, including performance, diagnostic, prognostic, and optimisation. Although these findings evidently reveal DT’s capabilities for BM management, gaps exist between its technical and organisational implementation in literature, posing challenges.
To bridge this gap, the study employed the People, Process, and Technology (PPT) framework as a research lens to identify organisational requirements for DT implementation. These requirements include building owners/clients, maintenance teams, building professionals, and technical staff for the people dimension; workflow and data management for the process dimension; and organisational digitisation for the technology dimension. To connect these dimensions, the Generic Design and Construction Process Protocol was incorporated, which consequently shaped the study’s developed framework.
The developed framework illustrates the interconnection among these dimensions in implementing DT for BM management. An expert focus group evaluated the framework, emphasising its usefulness and applicability for DT implementation in BM organisations. The study concluded that BM organisations should place a greater emphasis on the people and process dimensions, as the technology dimension is effective only when the other two dimensions are adequately structured, thus enabling seamless DT implementation. The research contributed both theoretically and practically, conceptualising DT for maintenance activities and providing a framework for a systematic practical DT implementation for BM organisations
Examination of the factors that impact the decision-making of community governors in an inner-city junior school in England.
No full textThe value ascribed to the voice, capital, and agency of community governors (CGs) engaged in decision-making has critical implications for inner-city schools ‘stuck’ in Ofsted-imposed special measures (SM) (Spielman, 2019). This doctoral research study aimed to collaborate with CGs to develop a consciousness of school governance habitus through life histories, creating a praxis for empowerment in decision-making (Bourdieu, 1977). The contribution to knowledge in this enquiry was in response to a deficit in literature findings of current CG’s positioning, leading to a reimagining through a lens of sharing life histories. In terms of governance practice, a conceptualisation of transformed CG contributions was achieved through an empowered governor voice operating within an inclusive framework. The timeline and catalyst for the thesis focus were attributed to the White Paper 'The Importance of Teaching’ (2010) and its implications for CG positioning. The applications of Habitus (Bourdieu, 1984) and Communities of Practice (COP) (Lave & Wenger, 1991) enabled this enquiry to identify social and cultural factors impacting CGs’ decision-making as these factors intersected with English education governance policy. The methodological design captured the CGs’ voices by sharing stories and focusing on life histories. I achieved this by working with four CGs, conducting an identity box exercise (Gauntlett, 2007), and conducting walking interviews (Evans & Jones, 2011b). The findings illuminated critical thinking about decision-making and insights into factors that impacted their practice. In addressing the research questions, a key finding was the invisibility of cultural capital and agency undervalued by the school’s governance context and exacerbated by ad hoc induction and training. CGs’ reflections revealed that democracy and social justice appeared lost in translation in the current governance mechanism, creating feelings of marginalisation and isolation. There was evidence that COP was integral to governance learning in the community and could be further developed to empower the CGs’ voice. Further research opportunities may include additional attention to capital and agency brought consciously into the habitus of governance, offering a transformative praxis in effective decision-making in raising school improvement as measured by Ofsted
Jack of many Faces: A Step Towards Facial Expression and Physiological State Analysis with a Single Network
No full textFacial feature analysis, particularly dynamic facial expression recognition, is essential in computer vision for understanding human emotions, behaviors, and physiological states. However, existing approaches often exhibit limited performance, stemming from inadequate modelling of facial dynamics, noise sensitivity, ambiguous expression semantics, and are generally specific to single-task scenarios. To address these issues, we propose a compact 3D spatio-temporal network capable of handling both expression recognition and physiological state analysis. Our network includes two custom modules: (1) Contrastive Adversarial Efficient Local Channel Attention (ConAdv-ELCA), which extracts and disentangles fine-grained local facial features, and (2) Efficient Global Channel Attention (EGCA), to capture local-global interactions. Unlike prior work, which predominantly evaluates models on similar datasets within single-task domains, our work has demonstrated the ability to generalize across different tasks that are based on facial analysis. Experimental results demonstrate that our model consistently achieves state-ofthe-art or near-state-of-the-art performance on blood alcohol concentration estimation, dynamic facial expression recognition, and driver fatigue detection
Diagnosing and Managing Patients with Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction: A Consensus Survey
No full textAim: As heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) prevalence increases it remains frequently under-diagnosed and poorly managed. Recent positive pharmacological trials have increased interest in HFpEF but challenges of diagnosis and management remain. The survey aim was to examine consensus between primary and secondary care providers regarding HFpEF diagnosis and management. Methods: As part of a larger programme of work, survey questions were developed in an online format and piloted with healthcare providers (HCPs). The survey link was distributed via professional networks and social media. Analysis included frequencies of responses, comparison by main professional groups, and thematic analysis free-text responses. A virtual workshop of HCPs was conducted to discuss and refine survey findings. Results: HCPs (n = 66) across the UK participated: 19 GPs, 20 HF specialist nurses (HFSN), 17 cardiologists and 10 others. Consensus was high (92%) that diagnosing the type of HF was very important and most favoured inclusion of HFpEF in Quality Outcome Framework indicators. No clear consensus was reached that ongoing management should be in primary care (47.5% of GPs, 35% of HFSN and 31.3% of cardiologists ‘somewhat agreed’). Opinions differed between GPs (52.3)% and specialists (HFSN 80% and cardiologists 81.3%) for practice nurses to be upskilled and assume HFpEF management. No HCPs reported any level of disagreement for HFSN management of HFpEF. Free text comments highlighted resource barriers to HFpEF diagnosis and management and confirmed the need to develop better HFpEF services. Conclusions: Consensus was reached regarding importance of diagnosing HFpEF, but agreement on methods and responsibilities for diagnosis and management varied. Free-text comments identified HCPs concerns related to overwhelmed primary and secondary care services and lack of sufficient resources to meet existing patient demands. Creation of collaborative care pathways is needed to support the increasing number of older patients with HFpEF
Approved Educational Institutions' Role in Supporting Pre-registration Students in the Practice Learning Environment
No full textChanges to pre-registration nurse education occurred in 2018 when the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) published the results of consultation efforts, with their subsequent results shaping the ‘Future Nurse’. By extension, changes to the professional image and expectations of nurses stand to affect the content of preregistration nurse education. As key stakeholders, a key question raised in view of these changes includes how Approved Educational Institutions (AEIs) actively look to work with Practice Learning Partners (PLPs) as they prepare pre-registration nurses for registration.
Using an adapted, constructivist grounded theory approach, eleven individual, semi-structured interviews were conducted with participants from seven different Participant Information Centres (PICs) across the West Midlands. This led to the formation of four distinct participant groups: Registered Nurses who work directly with pre-registration student nurses in the practice learning environment, Practice Placement Managers or Clinical Educators, a Head Nurse, and Representatives of the NMC. The subsequent analysis of these interviews led to the construction of two analytical categories which were:
1. Training, awareness and understanding of the Future Nurse standards (NMC,2018; NMC,2018a; NMC,2018c; NMC,2018d).
2. Looking back to pay it forward.
Amongst others, the most significant findings of this study include:
• A recognition of limited research in the public domain, which discusses the Future Nurse standards (NMC,2018; NMC,2018a; NMC,2018c; NMC,2018d),
• A lack of awareness and incomplete implementation of the Future Nurse standards (NMC,2018; NMC,2018a; NMC,2018c; NMC,2018d),
• Little justification for the breath of change and the sustainability of this working model exists in light of the ‘NHS staffing crisis’ and the “toxic” learning culture acknowledged by the NMC.
From these main findings, some of the key recommendations from the study focus on increasing awareness and understanding of the Future Nurse standards (NMC,2018; NMC,2018a; NMC,2018c; NMC,2018d) to improve the learning culture. However, there is a recognised need for further research to explore the lived experience of newly qualified nurses who were the first to be trained using the Future Nurse standards (NMC,2018; NMC,2018a; NMC,2018c; NMC,2018d). This is needed so that previous successes can be continued or replicated, but also so that the needs of pre-registration nursing students can be better met by using the current educational standards.
As these standards are in their relative infancy, and to compare and contrast the preceding and current ways of educating and preparing student nurses, it has been necessary for the thesis to consider older references and actively use them within discussions or to highlight differing schools of thought in the literature. From a nursing literature perspective, this is particularly relevant to the aspects of the thesis which form the background literature of the study, as well as pre-existing models of pre-registration supervision and assessment. In several parts, this includes seminal texts or references to the Supporting Learning and Assessment in Practice (SLAiP) standards (NMC,2008; RCN,2015) and literature which relates to the use of a ‘mentor’ and sign-off mentor’ which features in the 2010 educational standards (NMC,2010).
To situate this within this study further, as established within the abstract, the Future Nurse standards (NMC,2018; NMC,2018a; NMC,2018c NMC,2018d) replaced the 2010 and their supporting roles of ‘mentor’ and ‘sign-off mentor’ and appropriated terminology and roles which include that of a Practice Supervisor and Practice Assessor. A conscious choice has, therefore, been made to keep older literature and not support them with a more contemporary source. The rationale behind this is to be able to clearly distinguish between time frames that align with the preceding or current models of pre-registration supervision and/or assessment. It is also argued that not updating older literature with current sources more clearly reflects the research/opinions/insights and interpretations that were ‘true’ of the time that they were written about or in.
In alternative instances, older literature was also drawn upon because the references reflect seminal perspectives or lenses present at the time or because specific ideas/philosophies have not changed and are still relative to more contemporary applications. This will be particularly relevant in Chapter 3, which considers research methodology and applied research methods.
With this in mind, to ensure the research aim and objectives are considered in light of the changes and more contemporary expectations of pre-registration nurse education, as set by the regulator (NMC), an initial examination of the degree of change instigated by the Future Nurse standards ( NMC,2018; NMC,2018a; NMC,2018c; NMc,2018d) implementation will now be presented by introducing the Future Nurse standards (NMC,2018; NMC,2018a; NMC,2018c; NMC,2018d) and comparing them to the previous standards of pre-registration nurse education
Disparities in self-reported health measures amongst sexual minority compared to sexual majority university students
No full textUniversity students often experience significant changes to their environment and lifestyles which can present unique risk factors for health and wellbeing. This may particularly be the case for sexual minority students, given they are a group that suffer health disparities within the general population. Therefore, we sought to compare sexual minority university students self-reported health and health-related behaviours against sexual majorities within one university in the United Kingdom. Findings come from 566 students, of which 84% identified as sexual majorities and 16% as sexual minorities, that completed a cross-sectional online survey covering a range of health and wellbeing related questions. Analysis showed that sexual minority students had lower self-rated physical and mental health, greater nicotine intake, were more likely to report barriers to physical activity and healthy eating, were less confident in meeting physical activity guidelines, were more likely to report difficulty in motivation to eat healthily, and reported lower levels in feelings of belonging and social connection compared to sexual majority students. Based on these findings, it is suggested that sexual minority university students experience health disparities within higher education and that this warrants attention from relevant stakeholders concerned with health promotion and student welfare