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Customer Experience (CX) in Virtual Realms: A Theories-Contexts-Characteristics-Methodologies (TCCM) Guided Bibliometric Study
Get PDFThe study systematically reviews existing literature on customer experience (CX) in virtual realms, with a view to conceptualizing the field and identifying future research avenues. It integrates bibliometric analysis, network analyses with a theories-contexts-characteristics-methodologies (TCCM) framework to comprehensively examine the research landscape. Drawing on data from 1460 articles published in 509 journals between 2000 and 2025, the study highlights growing scholarly interest in CX with immersive environments, such as the metaverse. The results show exponential growth in this domain and in widespread international collaboration. Key contributions from this scholarship relate to, amongst other issues, emerging trends, development new frameworks, identification of challenges and opportunities, cross disciplinary insights significantly advancing effective professional practice and impactful theory development on customer experience in virtual realms. Unlike conventional bibliometric studies, this research stands out for its theoretical and methodological rigor, its focus on emerging virtual realms, and emphasis on strategic gaps and research agenda
Histopathology Image Augmentation Using Generative Adversarial Models for Breast Cancer Diagnostics
No full textThis research introduces a pioneering approach using Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) for histopathology image augmentation in breast cancer diagnostics, aimed at significantly enhancing diagnostic accuracy. Unlike conventional augmentation methods, our GAN-based approach generates synthetic histopathological images with high fidelity, closely resembling real samples to diversify the dataset for training diagnostic models. The augmented dataset, when combined with advanced machine learning techniques, demonstrates a notable 90.5% accuracy in breast cancer diagnostics, surpassing traditional methods. This innovative methodology highlights the transformative potential of GANs in medical diagnostics, offering a robust pathway to improve automated diagnostic systems and ultimately benefit patient care
Meeting of minds: imagining the future of child and youth mental health research from an early career perspective
Get PDFSummary: Child and youth mental health is an international public health and research priority. We are an interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral network of UK-based early career researchers (ECRs) with an interest in child and youth mental health research. In this paper, we reflect on ongoing challenges and areas for growth, offering recommendations for key stakeholders in our field, including researchers, institutions and funders. We present a vision from an ECR perspective of what future child and youth mental health research could look like and we explore how the research infrastructure can support ECRs and the wider research field in making this vision a reality. We focus specifically on: (a) embracing complexity; (b) centring diverse voices; and (c) facilitating sustainable research environments and funding systems. We present recommendations for all key partners to consider alongside their local contexts and communities to actively and collaboratively drive progress and transformative change
When and how does creativity influence performance? An examination of SMEs in an emerging economy
Get PDFUnderpinned by the resource-based view and social capital theories, this study examines the mediating role of innovation in the relationship between creativity and the performance of SMEs in an emerging economy. We propose additionally that the innovation created through the transformation of creative ideas influences performance within the boundary conditions of social network ties. We collected our data from two hundred and fifty (250) SMEs in Ghana using questionnaires and analyzed the data using Structural Equation Model in LISREL 8.50 and PROCESS in SPSS version 23. Our results show that there is a positive relationship between creativity and performance. The study further reveals that product innovation mediates the relationship between creativity and firm performance. Although we did not find enough evidence to support the notion that social network ties moderate the indirect effect of creativity on performance, through process innovation, the results suggest that the conditional indirect effect of creativity on performance through product innovation is positive and stronger at high levels of social network ties. The implications of these results are discussed
Interactive Effects of Perfectionism on Competitive Golf Performance: A Multi-Level Analysis
Get PDFPerfectionism is a multidimensional personality characteristic comprised of two higher-order factors termed perfectionistic strivings (PS) and perfectionistic concerns (PC). Research has typically found perfectionistic strivings to be related to better sport performance, while concerns are usually unrelated. However, many of the tests of this relationship use non-athletes, contrived tasks, and one-off performances, and have also focused on the separate, rather than interactive, effects of PS and PC. The present study was designed to address these limitations by testing the interactive effect of indicators of PS and PC in predicting performance across two rounds of competitive golf. Eighty-nine male golf athletes (Mage = 28.42 years, SD = 11.87) completed measures of perfectionism and then competed in a regional golf competition. Their cumulative score, relative to par, across two rounds determined their performance. Hierarchical linear modelling, nesting performances within individuals, holes, and rounds, showed a significant three-way interaction between self-oriented performance perfectionism (indicator of PS), socially prescribed performance perfectionism (indicator of PC), and round (b = 0.36, SE = 0.17, p = .039). At low levels of socially prescribed performance perfectionism, self-oriented performance perfectionism predicted improved performance; however, at high levels of socially prescribed performance perfectionism, self-oriented performance perfectionism predicted poorer performance. Findings highlight the importance of assessing the relationship between perfectionism and sport performance in real-world competitive contexts over time, while accounting for the interplay between indicators of PS and PC
Athlete burnout and biomarkers: An exploratory, longitudinal N-of-1 Study
Get PDFBurnout is an increasingly common problem among athletes. In addition to negatively affecting mental health, burnout may also be related to changes in physiological functioning. Research outside of sport suggests that the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, immune, anabolic, and cardiovascular systems, in particular, may be affected. However, few studies have explored the relationship between burnout and biomarkers of these systems in athletes. Consequently, the aim of the present multidisciplinary study was to explore the relationship between athlete burnout and acute and chronic biomarkers using a longitudinal N-of-1 design. Following a pre-registered protocol with open data, code, and materials, in two athletes, we examined burnout and acute salivary biomarkers (cortisol, testosterone, dehydroepiandrosterone-sulphate [DHEA-S], secretory Immunoglobulin A [sIgA], and C-reactive protein) in 12 samples over six months. In another two athletes, we examined burnout and chronic biomarkers from hair and blood (hair cortisol, glycated haemoglobin [HbA1c], triglycerides, total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and DNA methylation in the BDNF, SLC6A4, and NR3C1 genes) in six samples over 12 months. Dynamic regression modelling showed that burnout symptoms predicted decreased testosterone and developed simultaneously with decreases in DHEA-S and sIgA. Visual analyses suggested that burnout symptoms also developed in conjunction with increases in HbA1c and SLC6A4 methylation and preceded increases in hair cortisol and BDNF methylation. Our findings provide a preliminary “physiological fingerprint” that could help explain athlete burnout development and consequences which can be used to guide future theory and research in this area.
Keywords: allostatic load, epigenetics, exhaustion, health, stress, wellbein
Food-level predictors of self-reported liking and hedonic overeating: Putting ultra-processed foods in context
No full textThe reward value people assign to foods is determined by their intrinsic (food-level) properties and moderated by individual factors such as traits, states and beliefs. There is a need for more systematic, structured analyses of the food-level characteristics that explain cognitions about food reward such as palatability and their risk for reward-driven overeating. This research, consisting of three studies, aimed to explore the nutritional, sensory and cognitive characteristics and attributes of foods as determinants of food reward-related outcomes. Across three sequential online study designs, 1176 men and 2188 women from the general population rated sub-samples of 436 foods which were sampled from databases and photographed to represent ready-to-eat food and beverage products in the UK. The study outcomes were self-reported food liking and hedonic overeating, while the predictors were the nutritional composition of the foods including ultra-processed food status (UPFs) and carbohydrate-to-fat ratio (CFR); and participants' self-reported beliefs about the nutritional and sensory characteristics of the foods. Correlation and stepwise regression analyses were used to model significant nutritional components followed by hierarchical regression models to examine self-reported food-level attributes, or CFR and UPFs as potential additive models. Across all studies, the nutritional characteristics of foods explained ∼20 % variance in liking and 40–60 % variance in hedonic overeating. Self-reported food-level attributes explained a further 6–33 % variance in liking and 17–38 % variance in hedonic overeating. UPFs explained 0–7 % additional variance and CFR did not add to the nutritional models. This research demonstrates how nutritional characteristics of foods contribute to self-reported liking and hedonic overeating. Considering people's beliefs about nutrient and sensory attributes can explain more than nutrients alone, and there are negligible additive contributions from CFR or UPFs on food reward
Anti-LGB Language
No full textThis chapter provides an overview and critical discussion of research on discriminatory language based on sexual orientation. It traces the historical development of research from a narrow focus on homophobic slurs to more extensive examinations of the diverse ways in which homophobia, lesbophobia, and biphobia, as forms of anti-gay, lesbian, and bisexual prejudice, are enacted through language. This includes an examination of how anti-LGB prejudice can be achieved through linguistic silence and erasure. Some current areas of research are discussed: the relationship between anti-LGB language, hate speech, and violence; anti-LGB language issues affecting the Global South; research in schools; anti-LGB language and media; global anti-gender movements and their use of anti-LGB language. Key research methods used in the study of anti-LGB language are briefly introduced and future directions for work in the field are considered