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Timing Corporate Social Responsibility Investments : A Dynamic Investment Model and Empirical Evidence
No full textWe study the optimal timing of corporate social responsibility (CSR) investments, providing model-theoretical rationale as well as empirical evidence. Using a dynamic investment model under costly external financing, we can relate a production economic perspective to CSR investments. The approach allows us to investigate energy efficiency of production and, hence, the corresponding CSR measures. Our model suggests that external financing costs can delay investment, increasing production but reducing its energy efficiency for a given level of productivity increase. Using a unique dataset of CSR reporting supplemented by corporate governance and financial data, we calculate the maximum likelihood estimates of the hazard of investing in CSR projects. Empirical findings suggest that factors such as productivity, geographical diversification, market risks, investment and financing costs, ownership concentration, and technological risks significantly influence investment timing
Careers Support for Life: Recognising the Civic Impact of University Careers Services
No full textRachel Beauchamp, Faculty Employability Coach at Lancaster University, reflects on the importance of ‘careers support for life’ and the civic impact of lifelong careers support. Drawing on experience of supporting alumni at different stages of their working lives, she argues that lifelong careers support represents one of the most powerful civic contributions universities can make
Illness trajectories and experiences of receiving immunotherapy for people with advanced cancer : A longitudinal mixed-method study
No full textEarly prediction of battery life using an interpretable health indicator with evolutionary computing
No full textAccurate prediction of battery lifespan is crucial for optimizing energy management, enhancing safety, and ensuring system reliability, particularly when only early-stage battery data is available. Health indicators (HIs) play a pivotal role in monitoring battery degradation by providing a link between the current state and the battery's end of life (EOL). However, existing methods for HI extraction often depend on extensive expert knowledge, large volumes of lifecycle data, and complex models to map HIs to battery lifespan. This study introduces an intelligent and interpretable methodology for generating HIs using improved genetic programming (GP) to enable rapid and precise battery lifespan prediction based solely on data from two early discharge cycles. Four HI candidates are derived from statistical features of the differences between discharge voltage curves. Unlike conventional methods that employ root mean square error (RMSE) as a fitness function, we introduce a novel correlation-based fitness function using cosine similarity within GP. This approach generates a transparent composite mathematical formula for extracting interpretable HIs. It automatically filters irrelevant HI candidates and combines relevant ones through specific mathematical operations. The resulting composite mathematical expression, universally applicable for constructing interpretable HIs across various cycle selections, enables rapid and early battery lifespan prediction through regression models. Validation on 124 battery cells shows that the proposed composite HI, expressed as an explicit mathematical function, achieves a mean absolute percentage error of approximately 15 % when predicting battery lifespan using data from just two cycles within the first 20 cycles across diverse operating conditions. Moreover, the proposed approach surpasses benchmark HIs in both prediction accuracy and stability across different regression models
Assisted dying in England and Wales : Arranging provision and at what cost?
No full textWith lawful assisted dying (AD) on the horizon in England and Wales with the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, and elsewhere in and around the UK (Isle of Man, Jersey, Scotland), important questions about how best to establish a service to provide safe access to AD must be addressed. Assuming the English Bill becomes law, deciding how to create a service enabling AD will be one of the most complex and ethically fraught challenges ever given to a Health Minister, especially one (Wes Streeting) who is opposed to AD
Building an integrated support system for young people’s sexual health and wellbeing : Strengths, challenges and future directions for the non-government sector
No full textThis report outlines the role of non-government organisations in supporting young people’s sexual health and wellbeing in Australia. We conducted a desktop review of 61 organisations delivering 501 distinct programs, services or resources related to young people’s sexual health, alongside in-depth interviews with 41 individuals working across the field. Our findings show that non-government organisations play a central role in supporting young people’s sexual health and wellbeing. They deliver a wide range of programs and services, from school-based, parent and community education to clinical care, health promotion, advocacy, capacity building and resource development. However, this work takes place in a challenging landscape. Responsibility for young people’s sexual health is dispersed across multiple sectors and government departments, with no national strategy or framework to set direction, define objectives or establish accountability. This potentially results in gaps in services and programs or missed opportunities for greater efficiency. In addition, funding for sexual health programs is often short term and project based. This limits capacity for long-term planning, workforce development and relationship building, all of which are vital for effective service and program delivery. Non-government organisations bring essential expertise, relationships and skills to the field of sexual health, yet without coordinated strategy, long-term investment and recognition of their role, their capacity to deliver sustained impact is constrained. Addressing these issues will require stronger governance, clearer accountability and a long-term vision that recognises young people’s sexual health as integral to overall health and wellbeing
Akademik yayınlarda atıf yapmanın rolü ve kaynakça yönetim yazılımları
No full textScientific publications, as one of the cornerstones of academic research, play a crucial role in the advancement of knowledge and the facilitation of interdisciplinary interaction. However, the value of a scientific study is determined not only by its original findings but also by the relationship of these findings to the existing body of literature and the accuracy of citations to relevant sources. In scholarly publications, citation practices extend beyond merely acknowledging sources; they also serve to demonstrate respect for prior research, prevent plagiarism, track the evolution of ideas, and guide other researchers in their studies. With the increasing accessibility of information, the volume of scientific publications has expanded rapidly in recent years. This surge underscores the growing necessity for researchers to identify relevant sources accurately and to cite them correctly. However, the exponential rise in the number of publications has also confronted researchers with an overwhelming amount of information. As a result, conventional methods of citation and reference management have become increasingly time-consuming and prone to errors. In this context, modern reference management software offers significant advantages to researchers. These tools facilitate the automatic formatting of references in accordance with various citation styles, streamline bibliography organisation, and integrate seamlessly with plagiarism detection systems. This review study aims to underscore the importance of accurate citation in academic writing, compare different citation styles and contemporary reference management software, and highlight the benefits these tools provide throughout the research process. Furthermore, by incorporating recent studies from the literature, this work seeks to present the latest developments in the field and provide practical examples of their application
Young people’s engagement in online research : challenges and lessons from conducting focus groups with young people online
Get PDFOnline qualitative focus groups are a method which has been increasingly used, especially since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, including in research with young people. Studies have reflected upon the challenges of conducting online qualitative research with young people, often drawing on experiences from the pandemic’s earlier stages [e.g. Smithson et al. 2021; Woodrow et al. 2021]. This article reflects upon the challenges faced, and choices made, when conducting online focus groups with 80 young people aged 14–18 to study their democratic engagement during the later 2021 wave of the pandemic. It highlights specific issues around the method’s effectiveness in engaging young people who face different kinds of marginalisation from democratic processes. While online modes of delivery were positive for engaging some, including groups of geographically dispersed young people, they exacerbated existing inequalities for others: young people from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds, from remote or rural areas and those with certain disabilities. Such inequalities in research participation can lead to variation in data quality, and therefore in the types of knowledge produced. Using these insights we outline a range of methodological and research design considerations for researchers when choosing whether to conduct online focus group research with young people
