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The Influence of Digitalization on Machine Manufacturers' Supply Chain to Mitigate Pandemic Challenges
Get PDFThe COVID-19 pandemic had put pressures on manufacturers within the disposable glove industry in Malaysia, leading to order backlogs and uncertainty in supply lead times due to limited supply chain visibility. Machine manufacturers supporting the glove industry, heavily reliant on offshore partners for materials and components, are especially affected. Given the global shortages of PPE products, including gloves, this research aims to explore how digitalization can mitigate supply chain risks for these machine manufacturers. It seeks to identify how digitalization can improve supply chain performance during and after the pandemic in the disposable glove industry in Malaysia, providing valuable insights into digitalization as a risk mitigation strategy and its impact on the supply chain with specific examples from glove manufacturing
The HIV Empowering Adults’ Decisions to Share:UK/Uganda (HEADS-UP) Study—A Randomised Feasibility Trial of an HIV Disclosure Intervention for Young Adults with Perinatally Acquired HIV
Get PDFSustainable aquatic resource management and inland fisheries in tropical Asia:Interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches
Get PDFThe intensive utilization of tropical inland water bodies for multiple and sometimes competing activities underlines the necessity for their integrated and holistic co-management. This paper presents our synthesis on lake and reservoir fisheries in South and Southeast Asia as social–ecological systems, based on a synopsis of our research findings from a previous EU- funded research programme in Sri Lanka, Thailand and the Philippines (FISHSTRAT project). The paper attempts to merge our results with recent developments in research, policy and practice. We explore the effects of the main external and internal control mechanisms of the trophic state and pinpoint to the high production potential of traditionally unexploited small indigenous fish species. The limitations of conventional centralized management systems highlight the importance of introducing transdisciplinary approaches which integrate limnology, fish ecology and fisheries with the interests of other resource using stakeholders and decision makers in order to develop locally appropriate co-management strategies for sustainable aquatic resource use
Organizational Engagement With Poverty:A Review and Reorientation
No full textRecognizing the potential contributions businesses can make to address the grand challenge of global poverty, management scholars have increasingly turned research attention to poverty. We conducted an integrative review of poverty studies in the organizational literature spanning from 1985 to 2022. Based on the review, we clarify poverty as a significant lack of market-oriented resources, opportunities, and capabilities. Further, we develop a framework that captures the ways in which organizational practices offer the poor, or deprive them of, resources, opportunities, and capabilities, and thereby contribute to poverty alleviation or aggravation respectively. Moreover, our framework identifies the necessary support conditions for an organization to effectively combat poverty. We conclude by proposing a research agenda aimed at advancing management scholarship on poverty
Does This Look Infected? Hidden Host Plant Infection by the Pathogen Botrytis cinerea Alters Interactions between Plants, Aphids and Their Natural Enemies in the Field
Get PDFFew studies have considered whether hidden (asymptomatic) plant pathogen infection alters ecological interactions at the higher trophic levels, even though such infection still affects plant physiology. We explored this question in two field experiments, where two varieties of lettuce (Little Gem, Tom Thumb) infected with Botrytis cinerea were either (1) naturally colonised by aphids or (2) placed in the field with an established aphid colony. We then recorded plant traits and the numbers and species of aphids, their predators, parasitoids and hyperparasitoids. Infection significantly affected plant quality. In the first experiment, symptomatically infected plants had the fewest aphids and natural enemies of aphids. The diversity and abundance of aphids did not differ between asymptomatically infected and uninfected Little Gem plants, but infection affected the aphid assemblage for Tom Thumb plants. Aphids on asymptomatically infected plants were less attractive to predators and parasitoids than those on uninfected plants, while hyperparasitoids were not affected. In the second experiment, when we excluded natural enemies, aphid numbers were lower on asymptomatically and symptomatically infected plants, but when aphid natural enemies were present, this difference was removed, most likely because aphids on uninfected plants attracted more insect natural enemies. This suggests that hidden pathogen infection may have important consequences for multitrophic interactions
The relationship between low prolactin and type 2 diabetes
Get PDFProlactin (PRL) is secreted throughout life in men and women. At elevated levels, its physiological role in pregnancy and lactation, and pathological effects, are well known. However clinical implications of low circulating PRL are not well established. We conducted a meta-analysis to examine the relationship between low PRL levels and type 2 diabetes. Five papers included cross-sectional studies comprising 8,720 men (mean age range 51.4–60 years) and 3,429 women (49.5–61.6 years), and four papers included cohort studies comprising 2,948 men (52.1–60.0 years) and 3,203 women (49.2–60.1 years). Individuals with pregnancy, lactation and hyperprolactinemia, drugs known to alter circulating PRL levels, or pituitary diseases had been excluded. Although most studies used quartiles to categorize PRL groups for analysis, PRL cut-off values (all measured by chemiluminescence immunoassay) were variably defined between studies: the lowest PRL quartiles ranged from 3.6 ng/ml to 7.2 ng/ml in men and between 4.5 ng/ml to 8 ng/ml in women; and the highest PRL quartiles ranged from 6.9 ng/ml to 13 ng/ml in men and 9.6 ng/ml to 15.8 ng/ml in women. Type 2 diabetes was defined variably using self-reported physician’s diagnosis, fasting blood glucose, oral glucose tolerance test or glycated hemoglobin (HbA1C). In cross-sectional studies, compared to individuals in the highest PRL groups (reference), those in the lowest PRL groups had greater risk of type 2 diabetes both in men: odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval = 1.86 (1.56–2.22) and in women: OR = 2.15 (1.63–2.85). In cohort studies, women showed a significant association between low PRL and type 2 diabetes: OR = 1.52 (1.02–2.28) but not men: OR = 1.44 (0.46–4.57). Relatively low heterogeneity was observed (I2 = 25–38.4%) for cross-sectional studies, but higher for cohort studies (I2 = 52.8–79.7%). In conclusion, low PRL is associated with type 2 diabetes, but discrepancy between men and women in the relationship within cohort studies requires further research
Teaching the principles of artificial intelligence to Generation Z:The SMaILE-App mobile game application
Get PDFArtificial Intelligence (AI) has increasingly become a significant component of our daily routines. Therefore, it is crucial for society to familiarise young people with AI early on in their lives. We present our educational experience with the SMaILE (Simple Methods for Artificial Intelligence Learning and Education) research project. We focus on the design and development activities of SMaILE-App, a mobile game application, to teach teenagers the fundamental principles of AI. Following a constructionist pedagogical approach, SMaILE-App engages its users to learn and understand AI through suitably designed games. SMaILE-App primarily targets 12- to 18-year-old students but can also appeal to a broader audience of non-experts interested in AI technologies. Formalising the fun activities within SMaILE-App aims to facilitate a deep understanding of AI in its users. We describe SMaILE-App’s city-building game following Schell’s elemental tetrad: story, game mechanics, aesthetics, and technology.<br/
QUEST-DMC: Background Modelling and Resulting Heat Deposit for a Superfluid Helium-3 Bolometer
Get PDFWe report the results of radioactivity assays and heat leak calculations for a range of common cryogenic materials, considered for use in the QUEST-DMC superfluid 3He dark matter detector. The bolometer, instrumented with nanomechanical resonators, will be sensitive to energy deposits from dark matter interactions. Events from radioactive decays and cosmic rays constitute a significant background and must be precisely modelled, using a combination of material screening and Monte Carlo simulations. However, the results presented here are of wider interest for experiments and quantum devices sensitive to minute heat leaks and spurious events, thus we present heat leak per unit mass or surface area for every material studied. This can inform material choices for other experiments, especially if underground operation is considered – where the radiogenic backgrounds will dominate even at shallow depths
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