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Mapping the barriers to socio-economic freedom in internationalisation of women-owned SMEs: evidence from a developing country
Get PDFInternationalisation of women-owned firms is considered a new strategy for unlocking the full economic potential of a country. However, there has been a desultory work on gender and trade, particularly the epistemological and methodological approaches to explore this phenomenon, which has received inadequate attention. Drawing on the institution-based- theory and incorporating the feminist perspective, this study identifies barriers to socio-economic freedom as a multidimensional concept that influences the internationalisation of women entrepreneurship. Using mixed methods and based on findings from focus group discussion (study-1), in-depth interviews (study-2) and a survey (study-3) of SME women entrepreneurs, the study develops and validates a gender-specific model of barriers to socio-economic freedom that women entrepreneurs face in the internationalisation of their firms. The findings confirm that the additional barriers that women entrepreneurs face emerge from three dimensions (i.e. socio-interactional patterns, socio-psychological attachment and socio-cultural embeddedness) that influence the internationalisation of women-owned SMEs through the lack of foreign market knowledge and information and lack of international business experience. This study extends internationalisation and women entrepreneurship research by identifying novel dimensions of the barriers to socioeconomic freedom landscape. Implications of our findings for theory, methods and practice with limitations and future research directions are discussed critically
An investigation of crowdsourcing methods in enhancing the machine learning approach for detecting online recruitment fraud
Get PDFMisinformation on the web has become a problem of significant impact in an information-driven society. Persistent and large volumes of fake content are being injected, and hence the content (news, articles, jobs, facts) available online is often questionable. This research reviews a range of machine learning algorithms to tackle a specific case of online recruitment fraud (ORF). A model with content features of job posting is tested with five supervised machine learning (ML) algorithms. It then investigates various crowdsourcing techniques that could enhance prediction accuracy and add human insights to machine learning automation. Each crowdsourcing method (explored as human signals online) was tested across the same ML algorithms to test its effectiveness in predicting fake job postings. The testing was conducted by comparing the hybrid models of machine learning and crowdsourced inputs. This study revealed that the best ML algorithm was different in the automated model compared to the hybrid model. Results also indicated that the net promoter type crowdsourced question resulted in the best accuracy in classifying fraudulent and legitimate jobs. The decision tree and generalized linear model demonstrated the highest accuracy among all the tested models
Spanish adaptation and validation of the Cultural Competence Assessment Tool (CCATool) for undergraduate nursing students
No full textAim
To analyse and validate a contextually adapted version of the Papadopoulos’ Cultural Competence Assessment Tool (CCATool) for Spanish undergraduate nursing students.
Background
Globalization has driven and intensified international migration. Thus, nurses must treat patients of many different cultural origins. Accordingly, both cultural competence and an appropriate tool with which to evaluate it are required.
Methods
The CCATool questionnaire was adapted for use in a Spanish context and was evaluated through a questionnaire completed by 262 undergraduate nursing students. Seven days later, the same students completed the questionnaire, without any intervention, and a subgroup of 144 students completed the questionnaire for a third time after taking a course in Transcultural Care. The reliability, sensitivity and stability of the questionnaire were assessed.
Results
The reliability of the questionnaire obtained an adequate Cronbach's alpha of 0.81. Stability was assessed at seven days, using the intraclass correlation coefficient, which showed good/excellent results. Moreover, the questionnaire was able to detect the changes related to the nursing educative programme, thus highlighting a good sensitivity of the tool.
Conclusion
Cultural competence is an essential element of nurses’ education, and instruction in this area should begin as soon as possible. In addition, an appropriate evaluation system is required. For this purpose, the present study describes and analyses a valid, reliable tool for use with undergraduate nursing students in Spain.
Implications for nursing and health policy
Health and education policies must be sensitive to the ethnic and cultural differences of the patients who are cared for, and address the situations that cause difficulties in care. Hospitals and health centres must offer good care to patients from diverse cultures, so one of the necessary situations is the training and evaluation of the cultural competence of health professionals
CSR-related consumer scepticism: a review of the literature and future research directions
Get PDFConsumer scepticism has attracted increasing scholarly attention in recent years. However, the scientific understanding of the development and consequences of consumer scepticism towards corporate social responsibility (CSR) and related programmes remains fragmented. In response, this paper reviews, synthesises and assesses the CSR-related scepticism literature from more than two decades (1998–2021) within the antecedents–consequences framework. In this paper, 89 studies in the existing literature are synthesised and critically evaluated, and the problems and gaps in the literature are highlighted. This paper also presents an attempt to develop an integrative framework to provide a comprehensive understanding of the antecedents and consequences of CSR-related scepticism. Finally, it offers future research directions based on the current knowledge and gaps in the extant literature
The role of the courts in conflict resolution in UK flood risk management
Get PDFConflicting interests in flood risk management (FRM) frequently arise, resulting in disputes which are often resolved through mutual agreement. Nevertheless, a small number of cases require legal intervention when negotiation or mediation fails. This can publicly reveal the conflict often hidden in these mutual agreements. The two areas that intersect to create this conflict are spatial planning and flood risk reduction strategies that may impact property rights. This research explores the nature of such conflict in FRM and its possible resolution. Through an analysis of 25 all-UK legal Court transcripts, we investigate the underlying flood-related disputation, dispute types, and how they were resolved. Our findings reveal that certain disputes remain unresolved prior to Court proceedings due to misunderstandings about spatial planning in at-risk areas. In addition, the depiction and the accuracy of flood risk assessments can be a contentious issue. Some FRM disputes remain irresolvable due to the differences in collective and individual aspirations about the use of land by various interests: developers, local authorities, residents, landowners, and farmers. Understanding these FRM disputes and their judicial resolution is valuable in unambiguously revealing who are the ultimate ‘winners’ and ‘losers’ in these fiercely contested struggles
Reclaimed saline‐alkali paddy field may be a hotspot of methane and ammonia emissions
No full textSalinization and alkalization are global environmental issues, and a growing area of saline-alkali land has been developed as paddy fields. However, the information on the characteristics and driving mechanisms of greenhouse gas (i.e., methane (CH4), carbon dioxide (CO2) and nitrous oxide (N2O)) and ammonia (NH3) emissions from paddy fields with different saline-alkali levels is limited. We conducted a 137-day mesocosm experiment to investigate these issues using light (L), moderate (M), and heavy (H) saline-alkali soils with a history of reclamation of 20, 4 and 2 years, respectively. The results demonstrated that both the cumulative CH4 and NH3 fluxes in H treatment were significantly (p < 0.05) higher than L. While, the increasing saline-alkali levels reduced the cumulative CO2 and N2O fluxes, respectively. With the increasing saline-alkali levels, the species richness and diversity of microbial communities decreased. High saline-alkali level inhibited the growth of ammonia-oxidizing archaea, resulting in less N2O produced by nitrification, thus reducing N2O emission. Cumulative CH4 flux and the mcrA gene copy numbers showed a significant (p < 0.05) negative correlation. The gene copy number in H treatment was lower than M and L, respectively. The highest global warming potential and greenhouse gas intensity were observed in H treatment. Overall, recently reclaimed saline-alkali paddy field with an initial heavy saline-alkali level may be a hotspot of farmland CH4 and NH3 emissions, highlighting the necessity of optimizing water and fertilizer management for controlling these gas emissions at the initial stage of developing saline-alkali lands into paddy fields
Voice: economic empowerment of low-income Egyptian women
Get PDFThis research sets out to examine the enablers and constraints of Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE) programmes in Egypt. The purpose of the research is to explore and identify the factors that hinder women in the Middle East and Africa region (MENA) from participating in Women’s Economic Empowerment programmes to inform future planning for such programmes. The research is particularly interested in contributing to the United Nations Global Sustainable Development Goals (UNGSDG) by setting a case to work towards achieving at least 7 of the 17 Goals set by the UN. These will be further clarified on the following page. By looking into the enablers and constraints of WEE programs in Egypt, this research will establish a base to step up towards contributing and promoting those important goals.
Using an auto-ethnographic lens, through group gatherings with women from three different regions in Egypt, narrative contributions were collected and analysed to extract data and draw results. These group gatherings were conducted in sessions, where each group consisted of around five women. Due to the COVID-19 situation, the sessions were conducted remotely via zoom. A local facilitator physically was present with each group. Thematic analysis was conducted to find out the enablers and the constraints.
The main findings illustrated that women were bound to household activities as their core responsibility, female decision making is highly impacted by husbands, and factors enabling them to work are education, family situation, infrastructure, and financial needs.
There are shifting contextual factors, such as engagement with employers, that the WEE programs need to address. This would involve employees’ rights legislation, such as birth-related leave and availability of funded or subsidised nurseries, as well as training.
To bring about effective change for women beyond a first steppingstone requires the involvement of local, regional, and global actors if WEE programmes are to have an impact on the health and well-being of communities and countries facing what could be catastrophic futures due to global factors
Learn the Charleston
No full textThis short interactive film is situated within the interwar exhibition at RAF Hendon. The film provides instruction on dancing some of the key steps from the Charleston as well as a little historical context
Gamification for a healthier lifestyle – user adherence
No full textNumerous applications have been developed using gamification- in the field of health and well-being to help modify lifestyle factors associated with various diseases such as cancer, diabetes and many more. To improve well-being, an individual needs motivation, and this motivation is one of the key driving factors responsible for user engagement. This research aims to investigate strategies to encourage people to adopt a healthy lifestyle using gamification and identify the key factors responsible for retaining users. The study was not limited to certain activities such as the gym or sports but also motivated people to engage in small activities, for example, doing household work, walking and many others. Some physical activity gamification applications focus on elements such as rewards, leaderboards and competition, while very few investigate various motivational elements using motivational techniques. The application was developed using Unity and C# supported by iOS, Harmony OS and Android. The main aspect of the research focused on motivational techniques such as Behavior Change Techniques (BCTs) and Self-Determination Theory (SDT) to tackle the issue of behavior change and user adherence. BCTs are techniques to help individuals change their behavior to adapt to a healthy lifestyle, and SDT is a theory in which individuals motivate themselves. The pilots were conducted to measure the impact of BCTs and SDTs with organizations such as Middlesex University, Unitas and Hendon School. The participants were of different age groups. The strategy used is to gather feedback using questionnaires and collect data used in Performance Functions to measure the effectiveness of BCTs and SDT. Using Performance Functions, we measured each component of SDT and BCT, which is one of the contributions of this research. The ‘Purpose’ component of SDT motivates participants of all age groups to be physically active compared to other SDT components. The results show that certain age group participants like certain features; for instance, the Daily Streak was popular among adults, while Active Travel was mostly used by teenagers and children in the Habit Formation category of BCT, which helped them to stay engaged for longer
Performance and cryptographic evaluation of security protocols in distributed networks using applied pi calculus and Markov Chain
Get PDFThe development of cryptographic protocols goes through two stages, namely, security verification and performance analysis. The verification of the protocol’s security properties could be analytically achieved using threat modelling, or formally using formal methods and model checkers. The performance analysis could be mathematical or simulation-based. However, mathematical modelling is complicated and does not reflect the actual deployment environment of the protocol in the current state of the art. Simulation software provides scalability and can simulate complicated scenarios, however, there are times when it is not possible to use simulations due to a lack of support for new technologies or simulation scenarios. Therefore, this paper proposes a formal method and analytical model for evaluating the performance of security protocols using applied pi-calculus and Markov Chain processes. It interprets algebraic processes and associates cryptographic operatives with quantitative measures to estimate and evaluate cryptographic costs. With this approach, the protocols are presented as processes using applied pi-calculus, and their security properties are an approximate abstraction of protocol equivalence based on the verification from ProVerif and evaluated using analytical and simulation models for quantitative measures. The interpretation of the quantities is associated with process transitions, rates, and measures as a cost of using cryptographic primitives. This method supports users’ input in analysing the protocol’s activities and performance. As a proof of concept, we deploy this approach to assess the performance of security protocols designed to protect large-scale, 5G-based Device-to-Device communications. We also conducted a performance evaluation of the protocols based on analytical and network simulator results to compare the effectiveness of the proposed approach