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New directions in the study of populism in international relations
Get PDFIn recent years there has been a growing interest in the international dimensions of populism, by now a major political presence around the world. This interest however has been confined largely to the state level, especially the influence of populism over foreign policy. In this Forum we argue that it is important for analysis to move beyond the state level and view populism as a phenomenon of international relations rather than simply an element of foreign policy. The Forum discusses implications of the rise of populism for IR theory, the importance of international systemic change for the emergence of populism in national arenas, and the ways that regime type, state structure and institutions, ideational content and the political strategies of populists condition the impact of populism on world politics. In this way, the Forum identifies specific directions for the study of populism in international relations that scholars can follow in the future
A temperature-dependent virus-binding assay reveals the presence of neutralising antibodies in human cytomegalovirus gB vaccine recipients’ sera
Get PDFHuman cytomegalovirus (HCMV) remains an important cause of mortality in immune compromised transplant patients and following congenital infection. Such is the burden an effective vaccine strategy is considered highest priority. The most successful vaccines to date have focused on generating immune responses against glycoprotein B (gB) – a protein essential for HCMV fusion and entry. We have previously reported that an important component of the humoral immune response elicited by gB/MF59 vaccination of patients awaiting transplant is the induction of non-neutralising antibodies that target cell associated virus which is concomitant with little evidence of concomitant classical neutralizing antibodies. Here we report that a modified neutralization assay which promotes prolonged binding of HCMV to the cell surface reveals the presence of neutralizing antibodies in sera taken from gB vaccinated patients which cannot be detected using standard assays. We go on to show that this is not a general feature of gB neutralizing antibodies suggesting specific antibody responses induced by vaccination could be important. Although we can find no evidence that these neutralizing antibody responses are a correlate of protection in vivo in transplant recipients their identification demonstrate the utility of the approach in identifying these responses. We hypothesise that further characterization has the potential to aid the identification of functions within gB important during the entry process and could potentially improve future vaccine strategies directed against gB if they prove to be effective against HCMV at higher concentrations
Handbook of research on implications of sustainable development in higher education
No full textResearch in the field of education for sustainable development (ESD) is of growing concern to meet the needs of the diverse student populations in various higher education institutions. People around the world recognize that current economic development trends are not sustainable and that public awareness, education, and training are key to moving society toward sustainability. Although ESD continues to grow both in content and pedagogy and its visibility and respect have grown in parallel, education officials, policymakers, educators, curriculum developers, and others are called upon to rethink education in order to contribute to the achievement of the goals of sustainable development in higher education.
The Handbook of Research on Implications of Sustainable Development in Higher Education provides insight regarding the implications of ESD for teaching, learning, and assessment in higher education and demonstrates the value of adopting an ESD lens by broadening and strengthening the evidence base of the impact that this can make for students, educators, and society as a whole. Covering key topics such as assessment, globalization, and inclusion, this reference work is ideal for university leaders, administrators, policymakers, researchers, scholars, practitioners, academicians, instructors, and students.
Coverage:
The many academic areas covered in this publication include, but are not limited to:
Assessment
Community Development
Curriculum
Equity
Global Citizenship Education
Globalization
Higher Education
Inclusion
Social Justice
Special Education
Sustainable Development
Teachin
Dynamics of user-generated content and service failure recovery: evidence from millennials
Get PDFPurpose:
There is considerable interest in the value of user-generated content (UGC) and its antecedents. Despite its growing importance, existing studies have largely ignored the effects of UGC on customers’ responses to recovery efforts in the fashion industry. The aim of this paper is to examine the extent to which UGC influences customers’ responses to providers’ service failure and recovery efforts, particularly how millennials’ interactions impact recovery efforts.
Design/methodology/approach:
The study uses a phenomenological hermeneutics and adopts theoretical sampling to collect empirical data from three European countries (France, Italy and the UK). We interviewed 60 millennials who had online service failure experiences in online fashion. It has designed this methodological framework to illustrate the close relationships between subject and object as well as identify that data analysis and collection are undertaken in relation to consistent iterative interpretations in an evolving process of study. Drawing on multi-theoretical lenses, utilising actor–network and social influence theories, this study advances understanding through the development of a new conceptual model relating to individual characteristics.
Findings:
Utilising actor–network theory and social influence theory, this study developed a conceptual model of four customer groups’ responses to service failure based on the severity of service failure and the level of customers’ online response following service failure.
Originality/value:
We suggest some pragmatic implications of our conceptual model and explain how awareness of different customer groups can lead to effective decision making for marketers. This study provides a set of practical insights that brand managers can employ to recover service failures
Breast cancer detection based on simplified deep learning technique with histopathological image using BreaKHis database
Get PDFPresented here are the results of an investigation conducted to determine the effectiveness of deep learning (DL)-based systems utilizing the power of transfer learning for detecting breast cancer in histopathological images. It is shown that DL models that are not specifically developed for breast cancer detection can be trained using transfer learning to effectively detect breast cancer in histopathological images. The outcome of the analysis enables the selection of the best DL architecture for detecting cancer with high accuracy. This should facilitate pathologists to achieve early diagnoses of breast cancer and administer appropriate treatment to the patient. The experimental work here used the BreaKHis database consisting of 7909 histopathological pictures from 82 clinical breast cancer patients. The strategy presented for DL training uses various image processing techniques for extracting various feature patterns. This is followed by applying transfer learning techniques in the deep convolutional networks like ResNet, ResNeXt, SENet, Dual Path Net, DenseNet, NASNet, and Wide ResNet. Comparison with recent literature shows that ResNext-50, ResNext-101, DPN131, DenseNet-169 and NASNet-A provide an accuracy of 99.8%, 99.5%, 99.675%, 99.725%, and 99.4%, respectively, and outperform previous studies
Adverse pregnancy outcomes in sickle cell trait: a prospective cohort study evaluating clinical and haematological parameters in postpartum mothers and newborns
Get PDFBackground:
Sickle cell trait (SCT) is a congenital condition caused by the inheritance of a single allele of the abnormal haemoglobin beta gene, HbS. Carriers of SCT are generally asymptomatic, and they do not manifest the clinical and haematological abnormalities of sickle cell anaemia (SCA). However, there is evidence that they display some symptoms in stressful situations. Pregnancy is a stressful physiological event, and it is not clear if SCT adversely affects pregnancy outcomes, particularly in those from developing countries where people regularly suffer from nutritional insufficiency.
Objective:
This study aims to investigate pregnancy outcomes in Sudanese women with SCT.
Subjects and methods:
Pregnant women with (HbAS, n=34) and without (HbAA, n=60) SCT were recruited during their first trimester at El Obeid Hospital, Kordofan, Western Sudan. Following appropriate ethical approval and informed consent from the participants, detailed anthropometric, clinical, haematological, obstetric, and birth outcome data were registered. In addition, blood samples were collected at enrolment and at delivery.
Results:
At enrolment in the first trimester, the SCT group did not manifest SCA symptoms, and there was no difference in the haematological parameters between the SCT and control groups. However, at delivery, the women with SCT, compared with the control group, had lower levels of hemoglobin (Hb, p=0.000), packed cell volume (PCV, p=0.000), mean corpuscular haemoglobin (MCH, p=0.002) and neutrophil counts (p=0.045) and higher mean corpuscular volume (MCV, p=0.000) and platelet counts (p=0.000). Similarly, at delivery, the babies of SCT women had lower birth weight (p=0.000), lower Hb (p=0.045), PCV (p=0.000), MCH (p=0.000), and higher neutrophil (p=0.004) and platelet counts (p=0.000) than the babies of the healthy control group. Additionally, there were more miscarriages, stillbirths, and admissions to the Special Care Baby Unit (SCBU) in the SCT group.
Conclusions:
The study revealed that SCT is associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes, including maternal and neonatal anaemia, low birth weight, and increased risk of stillbirth, miscarriage, and admission to SCBU. Therefore, pregnant women with SCT should be given appropriate pre-conceptual advice and multidisciplinary antenatal and postnatal care
Mixed-Deciduous Beam (Wood Awards 2023)
Get PDFBy utilising multiple species of hardwood in a single building product, the Mixed-Deciduous Beam is designed to maximise potential of the UK’s varied hardwood resource, promote regenerative forestry practices and ensure long-term carbon storage by diverting these valuable woods away from firewood or biomass.
Thw Wood Awards 2023 catalogue is featuring shortlisted projects showcasing wood's beauty and versatility in design and construction. The Wood Awards is the UK’s premier competition for excellence in architecture and product design in wood. Established in 1971, the awards recognise, encourage and promote outstanding wood design, craftsmanship and installation
A Bollywood State of Mind: a journey into the world’s biggest cinema
No full textA Bollywood State of Mind is a personal, intellectual and emotional journey which crosses five continents and 50 years of modern Indian history and cinema and explores why Bollywood means so much to so many across the globe. Sunny describes how this exceptional cinema retains its hold on the national imagination, how Bollywood has enhanced India’s global standing in the 21st century, and how its characteristics endure despite the social and political changes.
Ranging over history, aesthetic theory and politics, A Bollywood State of Mind explores encounters with Bollywood in the market places of Dakar and Marrakesh, in the nightclubs of New York, Barcelona and Mexico City, and in the ruins of Egypt’s Valley of the Kings, Petra and beyond. It shows how the pioneers and heroes of Bollywood cut across national, linguistic and cultural lines not only in India but in far reaches of Somalia, Peru, Malaysia and Russia
Analysing the challenges to sustainable food grain storage management: a path to food security in emerging nations
Get PDFFood security is a critical concern for emerging nations, where agriculture is a vital source of livelihood for a significant proportion of the population. However, ineffective food grain storage management (FGSM) poses a substantial threat to food security, resulting in significant post-harvest loss (PHL). This research aims to identify and analyse the challenges of sustainable FGSM in emerging nations, with a specific focus on India using Total Interpretive Structural Modelling (TISM) and Matrice d’Impacts Croisés Multiplication Appliquée á un Classement (MICMAC) analysis. The study identifies 15 critical challenges after doing a thorough literature review, consulting with industry experts, and a dedicated questionnaire survey. The study finds that inadequate government policies and a lack of commitment from the top management are the major challenges to sustainable FGSM. The combination of the qualitative and quantitative model provides a comprehensive understanding of the identified factors and their interrelationships, offering a logical framework to support decision-making and encourage sustainability. This paper contributes to the broader debate on sustainable food production and consumption by highlighting the importance of sustainable FGSM in emerging nations
Interrelationships between lean HRM practices and their impacts on firm performance: comparing Jordanian and German models
Get PDFPurpose – Lean management is a contemporary management system that firms adopt to boost their performance. Lean management can be integrated with human resources management to develop the new concept of lean human resources management (LHRM). This entails the implementation of several practices. However, the LHRM-performance paradigm remains under-explored in the literature. Hence, this study aims to examine the interrelationships between LHRM practices and the impacts of those practices on firm performance (FP).
Design/methodology/approach – Using two equal-sized samples (n = 250 each) of manufacturing firms in Jordan and Germany, the current study proposes two structural equation models (i.e., a Jordanian and a German model) depicting the interrelationships between LHRM practices and the impacts of those practices on FP. After testing these models, a comparison between them is conducted, producing findings with theoretical and practical implications.
Findings – The main findings indicate that the average implementation of LHRM practices among German manufacturing firms is at a higher level than the average implementation among Jordanian firms. The findings also support the proposed interrelationships between LHRM practices and the impact of those practices on FP for both the Jordanian and German models.
Originality/value – This study is among the first to highlight the proposed relationships, both in general and in the context of comparing developed and developing countries. Its findings have important implications that can enable manufacturing managers to benefit from the implementation of LHRM practices to enhance firm performance in different contexts. These findings provide valuable insights for human resource managers and decision makers and open several avenues for future research