192815 research outputs found
Sort by
Conceptualizing and measuring customer luxury experience in hotels
Get PDFDespite the growing significance of customer luxury experience in tourism and hospitality, research on defining and measuring it remains scarce. Existing studies fail to distinguish luxury from ordinary experiences or rely on unidimensional approaches that overlook the complexity of customer luxury experiences. To address this gap, this study develops a multidimensional six-factor, 20-item customer luxury experience scale specific to luxury hospitality. Drawing on luxury and customer experience literature, three studies are conducted to develop and validate this scale. Study 1 collected and examined a large dataset of customer reviews from the Tripadvisor website to inform the domain specification and item generation process. Study 2 involved both academic and industry experts to validate the dimensions, as well as to review, refine, and suggest new items. Study 3 was a large-scale survey to calibrate and validate the scale. Findings suggest that luxury customer experience should be based on six dimensions: service quality, authenticity, escapism, exclusivity, status, and aesthetic refinement to elevate the overall perception of luxury experience. Tourism and hospitality managers can use this scale to assess and enhance customer luxury experience. This contribution enriches luxury tourism and hospitality, offering insights into how consumers perceive and experience luxury in hotels
Engaging with underserved communities in the curriculum: empowering the future of medical education and healthcare systems
No full textThis chapter delves into the critical importance of engaging with underserved communities in healthcare professional education. It explores the definitions of disadvantage, marginalization, and social accountability and provides a structured guide for integrating these concepts into healthcare curricula. The chapter highlights strategies to foster student understanding of social and structural determinants of health, using community engagement as a core educational tool. Real-world examples, case studies, and initiatives illustrate how educational institutions can address the health needs of underserved populations while cultivating socially accountable healthcare professionals
Guanine derivatives as promising candidates for the development of purine-based antimalarial drugs
No full textIntroduction:
The increasing resistance of Plasmodium falciparum to existing antimalarial drugs drives the urgent need for novel therapeutic strategies. The purine salvage pathway in P. falciparum is essential for the parasite’s survival due to its complete reliance on host-derived purines for nucleic acid synthesis and other essential processes. Although the purine salvage system has been intensively researched, no purine-based antimalarial drugs have been taken into preclinical development. The current study evaluated the chemotherapeutic potential of some purine nucleobase analogues against P. falciparum .
Methods:
In vitro sensitivity assays were conducted using the 72-hour SYBR Green drug assay on laboratory-adapted P. falciparum strains 3D7 and Dd2. The most potent nucleobase analogues were docked into PfENT1 using the PyRx software suite.
Results:
The analogues 8-azaguanine, 7-deazaguanine, and 6-thioguanine exhibited average EC 50 values of 1.71 µM, 14.9 µM and 15.7 µM, respectively, for 3D7 and 5.2 µM, 16.3 µM and 18.6 µM, respectively, for the Dd2 strain, and subsequently tested against field isolates of P. falciparum . These ex vivo tests showed EC 50 values ranging from 0.5 - 4.5 µM for 8-azaguanine, 3.8 - 12.3 µM for 7-deazaguanine, and 4.1 - 15.0 µM for 6-thioguanine. To understand their cellular targeting, molecular docking of the same analogues was performed using the structure of P. falciparum Equilibrative Nucleoside Transporter 1 ( Pf ENT1). This demonstrated that guanine, 8-azaguanine and 7-deazaguanine formed five hydrogen bonds each with the same amino acid residues of Pf ENT1, whereas 6-thioguanine’s orientation allowed only two hydrogen bonds with Pf ENT1. The binding pose of inosine was different from these nucleobases.
Discussion:
These findings highlight the potential of guanine-based scaffolds, particularly 8-azaguanine and 7-deazaguanine, as promising leads for purine-based antimalarial drug development and the versatility of the Pf ENT1 transporter in the uptake of purine antimetabolites
Empowering Communities through Human Rights-Based Public Legal Education: A Collaboration Between the University of Glasgow and The Marie Trust
No full textThis podcast episode brings together various voices involved in the Glasgow Open Justice Public Legal Education project. Including Adam McIlwaine, Education Manager at the Marie Trust, who highlighted the charity's holistic approach to addressing the impacts of homelessness, including support through intervention and outreach work, counselling, and access to education through the charity's Education Programme. Reflecting on the collaboration in the context of Scotland's human rights agenda, Adam emphasised the importance of public legal education in supporting both service users and the Trust's staff to develop sustainable legal knowledge.
At the heart of the podcast is a wide-ranging conversation between workshop participants Neil, Lynn, and Eleanor, and law students Niamh Dennis and Jorgi Kelly. Participants reflected on the transformative impact of the project, sharing personal insights into how participating in the Education Programme and the law workshops, improved their confidence, well-being, and their capacity to advocate for their rights and the rights of others.
Cameron Wong-McDermott and Nicole Marshall from GO Justice discuss looking ahead at their partnerships and developing the project. GO Justice and the Marie Trust plan to work in partnership to develop new workshops, and we are particularly interested in exploring creative methods such as legislative theatre, photography, and creative writing as engaging ways to promote rights awareness and understanding of the law. This summer, GO Justice will also be working with the British Red Cross' Voices Ambassadors, people with lived experience of the asylum process, to design and facilitate workshops on housing rights.
While often used in human rights discourse, it is difficult to define what is meant by the term 'empowerment', or even what it means to be 'empowered'. This discussion, we hope, illustrates how collaborative learning environments in community settings can help build an understanding of the law, and ultimately, confidence in one's ability to advocate for those rights. Community spaces, such as the Marie Trust, play a key, but often less visible role, in contributing to positive outcomes such as an enhanced sense of citizenship and social inclusion. These outcomes are difficult to quantify, creating challenges when measuring impact for funding applications
Primary hyperparathyroidism and psychiatry: manifestations, causes and management
Get PDFPrimary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT) is the presence of hypercalcaemia with an elevated or inappropriately normal parathyroid hormone level. In clinical psychiatry this is often detected on routine blood investigations. This article aims to help mental health professionals understand the relevance of PHPT to psychiatry and offers some guidance about further management of patients presenting with this endocrine abnormality in mental health settings. PHPT can be associated with both mental and physical health problems in some individuals, making it a crucial diagnosis that should not be overlooked
The artificial intelligence cooperative: READ-COOP, Transkribus, and the benefits of shared community infrastructure for automated text recognition
Get PDFBackground:
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) technologies are integral to developing sophisticated digital infrastructures. Ownership and stakeholder input are critical for creating AI systems that are both innovative and accountable. This paper examines READ-COOP (https://readcoop.eu), the first platform cooperative to develop and host its own AI and ML tools (https://transkribus.org). This case study demonstrates an alternative cooperative governance model for responsible AI infrastructure.
Methods:
We employ Research In Action and qualitative questionnaires to analyse the development of READ-COOP, following its transition from funded European Commission (EC) project to cooperative business. We assess the cooperative’s structure, management, and community engagement from 2019 to 2024. Data was collected on membership dynamics, use of Transkribus, and feedback on the cooperative’s governance and operational efficacy.
Results:
As of October 2024, READ-COOP has 227 members from 30 countries, fostering a strong user base of over 235,000 registered individuals. Transkribus has transcribed approximately 90 million digital images of historical texts, demonstrating effective AI utilization in the cultural heritage sector, winning the European Union’s Horizon Impact Award 2020. The cooperative approach facilitates democratic decision-making, leading to sustainable growth, and significant stakeholder involvement. Qualitative feedback indicates high levels of satisfaction with the cooperative’s governance and the perceived integrity and utility of the AI infrastructure.
Conclusions:
READ-COOP exemplifies that a cooperative business model can effectively sustain AI and ML infrastructures while promoting democratic participation and equitable ownership. This offers a viable blueprint for other sectors seeking to develop responsible and trustworthy AI solutions. We suggest that cooperative frameworks are particularly suitable for AI infrastructures initially funded through public grants, providing a sustainable transition from public development to long-term, sustainable community-ownership. We recommend wider application and exploration of cooperative models for hosting and developing AI and ML technologies to ensure their responsible creation, governance, and use
Developing a prototype home-based toothbrushing support tool for families in Scotland: a mixed-methods study with modified Delphi survey and semi-structured interviews
Get PDFBackground:
Scotland's National Oral Health Programme for Children, Childsmile, provides targeted home toothbrushing support for families of young children (0–3 years) in the home setting. The study describes the adaptation of an existing dental practice-based intervention from the Netherlands using pictorial cards (Uitblinkers) for use in the programme. The aims were to modify Uitblinkers for the setting and context in Scotland by: (1) identifying the barriers that parents/carers in need of extra support face in implementing supervised toothbrushing; (2) explore consensus about behaviour change techniques that are appropriate and valid to address these; and (3) making recommendations for the design of a co-produced home-support tool and identifying facilitators for implementation in practice.
Methods:
A modified Delphi study was carried out consisting of two survey rounds with a purposively recruited expert panel (n = 21) to develop consensus on home toothbrushing barriers (aim 1), behaviour change techniques (aim 2) and considerations for implementation (aim 3). Proposition statements for the Delphi were derived from literature, discussions with project advisors and from Uitblinkers, an existing behaviour change intervention for parents developed by the Academic Centre for Dentistry Amsterdam (ACTA) and delivered in dental practice. Then 12 in-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with Dental Health Support Workers in Scotland (delivering the home support toothbrushing intervention) to gather the views on the proposed toothbrushing barriers, behaviour change techniques and considerations for implementation (aim 1 to 3). Delphi results are presented descriptively in terms of percentage agreement and priority ratings. Interview transcripts were analysed using Template Analysis.
Results:
From the Delphi study, a final set of 11 overlapping child, parent and environmental/social toothbrushing barriers was agreed upon (aim 1), to be addressed through a tool based on applied Motivational Interviewing, and a combination of Operant Conditioning, Stimulus Control and Goal-Setting techniques (aim 2). Experts supported the tool as realistic for delivery in the home setting, provided staff were trained. A physical ‘paper’ tool was preferred to a proposed electronic version (aim 3). Themes from interviews were: (1) the barriers present an exhaustive set and are valid from staff experience with families; (2) Motivational interviewing is appropriate and fits with usual practice; (3) the included behaviour change techniques are workable; (4) the tool is generally feasible within the operation of Childsmile home visits; (5) the tool is not less applicable for children with additional support needs.
Conclusions:
A card-based conversational intervention to provide targeted home toothbrushing support for families of young children (0–3 years) in the home setting in Scotland, drawing from a template from the Netherlands, has been deemed worthy of further testing based on expert consensus and staff views on barriers faced, appropriate behaviour change techniques to address these and the design of a physical tool
Data sources:
Access Repository Dashboard
Do you manage Open Research Online? Become a CORE Member to access insider analytics, issue reports and manage access to outputs from your repository in the CORE Repository Dashboard! 👇