62880 research outputs found
Sort by
Measuring institutions’ country brand authenticity in transnational higher education
Get PDFWhen higher education students choose to enrol at a transnational education (TNE) or country-branded institution, they may want, and probably expect, an authentic ‘foreign’ educational experience. Most of the existing authenticity frameworks are not concerned with the contributory factors, and they are generic rather than industry or sector-specific. Hence, the aim of this research is to develop a measurement scale for country brand authenticity, specifically for use in transnational higher education settings. Researchers can use the scale to further explore antecedents and consequences of country brand authenticity. Also, a measurement scale for country brand authenticity enables institutions to map their existing performance against the key indicators, set clear targets and assess improvements in authenticity performance. The research built upon a conceptual framework adopted from the literature, and involved four phases of primary data collection: one with senior management expert informants and three with undergraduate students studying at American, British and Canadian affiliated universities in Bangladesh and the United Arab Emirates. The data for the research were collected using a deductive qualitative written questionnaire, one focus group, and two online quantitative survey questionnaires. The research results in a robust 29-item measurement scale for country brand authenticity in TNE
High polyunsaturated fatty acid intake attenuates the genetic risk of higher waist circumference in a Sri Lankan adult population
Get PDFBackground: Metabolic diseases, like type 2 diabetes mellitus and obesity, show a growing public health concern in Sri Lanka. Genetic predisposition and diet contribute to metabolic disease risk, but there are limited investigations into the impact of gene–diet interactions on metabolic disease risk in the Sri Lankan population. In this study, we examined whether a metabolic genetic risk score (GRS), constructed from 10 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), interacts with dietary factors to influence metabolic health indicators in Sri Lankan adults. Methods: This cross-sectional study included 105 generally healthy adults aged 25–50 years from the GOOD (Genetics of Obesity and Diabetes) study. Anthropometric, biochemical, and dietary data using food frequency questionnaires were collected using validated methods. Genotyping was performed using the KASP® assay. The unweighted GRS was calculated by summing risk alleles across 10 SNPs in the TCF7L2, CAPN10, FTO KCNJ11, and MC4R genes. Gene–diet interaction analysis was conducted using regression models adjusted for confounders. Results: A statistically significant interaction was identified between the 10-SNP metabolic GRS and polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) intake on waist circumference (P(interaction) = 0.00009). Participants with a high GRS (≥6 risk alleles) and higher PUFA intake (≥3.1 g/day) exhibited significantly lower waist circumference (p = 0.047). Conclusions: This study provides novel insights to understand gene–diet interactions affecting metabolic traits in Sri Lankans. The findings suggest that higher PUFA intake may mitigate genetic susceptibility to central obesity, highlighting the importance of personalized dietary recommendations for metabolic disease prevention. Further studies in larger cohorts are warranted to confirm this finding
A comparative study of TEEP and IELTS for transnational education (TNE) students and their relationship to subject study
No full textThis paper reports on a comparative study of two English language tests in a transnational education (TNE) context: TEEP (Test of English for Educational Purposes) developed at the University of Reading (U.K.) and IELTS (International English Language Testing System). Our study adopted a longitudinal mixed-methods design. Students’ TEEP and IELTS results were collected, and then two phases of focus groups with students were conducted to explore their perceptions of test-taking and academic study.
Quantitative data were subject to statistical analysis and qualitative data to thematic analysis. Quantitative results showed that the students performed significantly better on Speaking and Writing in TEEP while they performed significantly better overall and on Listening and Reading in IELTS. Factor Analysis suggested both TEEP and IELTS tapped into one single underlying construct which we termed English-language proficiency. Qualitative results from focus groups illuminated the quantitative findings and the perceived relevance in their subject study
Challenging gender norms? Feminism, women’s roles, and the British press in the long 1970s
No full textThis thesis explores the intricate and often contradictory role of the British national
press in shaping and reflecting the evolution of gender norms in the long 1970s. Contrary to
the narrative that the Women’s Liberation Movement was the primary catalyst for challenging
traditional female roles, this research argues that the contestation of post-war gender norms
began earlier within the national press. By the mid-1960s, journalists and editors were already
engaging with the concept of the ‘modern’ woman, depicting her as an autonomous individual
with aspirations beyond her domestic role.
The thesis highlights the uncertainties and varied portrayals of the ‘modern woman’ in
the national press. Newspapers began to acknowledge women’s professional and personal
ambitions, often framing these within narratives of self-fulfilment and economic contribution.
This duality in representation – juxtaposing traditional domestic roles with emerging
individualistic identities – exemplifies the contradictory nature of these portrayals.
Conservative newspapers supported feminist ideas aligned with family values and social
stability, making feminist concepts more palatable to a broader audience while simultaneously
diluting more radical elements of the feminist agenda. The study thereby introduces the notion
of ‘modern conservative individualism’, illustrating how feminist ideas were adapted within
conservative frameworks to promote incremental social change without threatening core
societal values.
By examining the broader historical framework, the thesis contextualises the press’s
engagement with feminist ideologies, revealing a complex interplay between promoting
change and preserving stability. The portrayal of the ‘modern’ woman, encompassing both
conservative and progressive elements, underscores the press’s role in navigating societal shifts
and the ongoing dialectic between tradition and modernity. Overall, this thesis provides a
nuanced understanding of how the British national press influenced and was influenced by the
evolving discourse on gender norms, highlighting its significant yet complex role in the broader
narrative of women’s liberation in post-war Britain
Is there a legal obligation under international law to register death, including during extraordinary circumstances?
Get PDFDeath registration is essential to the protection of individual and collective life. Though birth
registration is codified under international law, universal, comprehensive, and compulsory death
registration is not an explicit obligation. The official recording of births, deaths and other vital events
through civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS) systems is widely recognized as an essential
government function and CRVS systems exist in every country in the world, to varying degrees.
However, the lack of an explicit international obligation is an obstacle to universal death registration,
allowing states to exclude groups of people, intentionally or unintentionally. As such, some persons
remain invisible in life as in death, which has deep implications for the rule of law and the
development and implementation of law-making and public policy. In extraordinary and crises
situations, gaps in death registration can result in impunity for gross violations of human rights,
among other things. This thesis seeks to answer the following question: Is death registration an
emerging or existing norm under international law? By so doing, it seeks to advance progress in
establishing universal, compulsory, comprehensive death registration around the world, to address
impunity, advance equality and support socio-economic development, against the backdrop of climate
change. My research concludes that there is both an international customary obligation to register the
dead, as well as an implicit obligation under international human rights law, particularly to the right to
life and the right to effective remedy, applicable to all persons, in all circumstances
The role of sustainable social media marketing activities in raising bottom-of-the-pyramid customers' engagement, satisfaction, and subjective well-being
No full textThough prior studies have explored the effects of firms' social media marketing activities on customer engagement, the dynamics characterizing this association in bottom-of-the-pyramid(BoP) markets remain tenuous, exposing a critical gap. Addressing this gap, we develop and test a model assessing (a) the effects of firms' sustainable social media marketing activities (SSMMAs) on BoP customers' engagement, satisfaction, and subjective well-being, and (b) the moderating role of environmental consciousness and customer empowerment. A self-administered survey with 414 BoP customers was conducted, with the data being analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). The results reveal that SSMMAs drive BoP customers' engagement and satisfaction, impacting their subjective well-being. The findings also confirm the mediating role of customer satisfaction and engagement in the association of SSMMAs and subjective well-being. Finally, the results indicate that while
perceived environmental consciousness moderates the association of SSMMAs and BoP customer satisfaction, empowerment moderates the relationship between satisfaction and subjective well-being. By exploring the effects of firm-based SSMMAs on customers' engagement, satisfaction, and well-being,
this research adds to the literature on social media marketing activities by focusing on sustainable social media communications at the BoP, raising pertinent implications
LLM-based cost-aware task scheduling for cloud computing systems
Get PDFCloud task scheduling faces significant challenges due to resource heterogeneity, conflicting optimization objectives, and dynamic workload fluctuations. Traditional heuristic algorithms often necessitate comprehensive knowledge of environmental parameters, significantly constraining their efficacy in dynamic cloud computing environments. While Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) methods have shown promise in intelligent scheduling via continuous environment interaction, they suffer from limited generalization to diverse cloud scenarios and lack decision interpretability. To address these shortcomings, this paper proposes LarS, a scheduling framework that employs Large Language Models (LLMs) as high-level decision agents for cloud task scheduling. In LarS, DRL agents trained in carefully chosen representative cloud environments generate a high-quality dataset of scheduling decisions, which is used to fine-tune an LLM. By jointly optimizing average response time, task success rate, and average rental cost, LarS achieves strong generalization across heterogeneous cloud deployments. Experimental results demonstrate that LarS surpasses current approaches in average response time, success rate, and average cost, and maintains strong generalization performance under varied experimental settings
