The most appealing steps towards decarbonisation of SMEs in the UK

This paper aims to examine current efforts of small-and-medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in the UK towards decarbonisation using the circular economy principles. Business operations are at the heart of decarbonisation, and the reduction and removal of carbon dioxide output from operations is currently a key concern. This study subsequently analyses which energy choices and circular economy (CE) practices have been the most attractive option, along with the overall long-term sustainability of these choices. A facilitated workshop methodology was undertaken with SMEs already using CE principles to improve their sustainability credentials and lowering their carbon footprint. The results led to the identification that solar energy has been chosen as the key focus towards greener energy, with the reduction of materials used in operations as the primary CE practice. These being easier actions which do not disrupt current operations, however for longer-term sustainability stronger actions like closing material loops will be needed.</p

National trends in sleep sufficiency and sleep time among adolescents, including the late-COVID-19 pandemic, 2009-2022: a nationally representative serial study in South Korea

South Korea has garnered a reputation for its high prevalence of sleep deprivation among adolescents (Choi et al., 2022). Given the profound health implications of sleep deprivation (Li et al., 2023; Ramar et al., 2021), the significance of sufficient sleep, especially among adolescents, cannot be overstressed. Recognizing these potential health ramifications among the population, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) have produced recommendations for sleep time in adolescents; both organizations have recommended adolescents to have eight to ten hours of sleep a day (Wheaton et al., 2018). With South Korea’s pre-existing challenges regarding adolescent sleep, understanding the potential compounded effects of the pandemic is crucial; by conducting this cross sectional, comprehensive analysis, it would be possible to derive actional insights to mitigate the negative impacts and promote healthier sleep behaviors amongst South Korean adolescents.</p

The Upward Trajectory and Total Immorality of Psychopaths: Implications for Business Ethics and Society

No description supplied</p

Investigating behavioural and neural interactions between autobiographical memory and bodily self-consciousness

Autobiographical memories (AM) are memories of previous experiences of one’s self, therefore it seems likely that AM and self-representations interact in the brain. However, the interaction between AM and bodily self-consciousness (BSC; the implicit, non-conceptual and pre-reflective representation of our body) is underinvestigated. The current thesis comprises of 4 studies which investigated if there are any behavioural and neural interactions between AM and BSC. Study 1 (chapter 2) investigated whether there is an interaction between BSC and AM by reviewing previously published evidence. Studies 2 and 3 (chapters 3 and 4) investigated whether body ownership (a key component of BSC) for a child-like face or body facilitates the recollection of childhood AM. Study 4 (chapter 5) investigated whether stimulation of the left ventral premotor cortex (vPMC) impacts body ownership for a child’s body and its interaction with childhood AM.A systematic literature review was conducted for study 1. Enfacement illusion (study 2) and virtual reality based full body illusions (studies 3 and 4) were implemented to induce a sense of ownership for a child-like face or body. In study 4, the left vPMC was stimulated by anodal transcranial direct current stimulation and its impact on body ownership for a child’s body was compared with sham stimulation (no left vPMC modulation).Evidence from study 1 is suggestive of an interaction between BSC and AM. In studies 2 and 3, body ownership for a child-like face or body was associated with greater recollection of childhood episodic AM details. In study 4, body ownership scores and childhood AM scores did not differ between left vPMC stimulation group and sham stimulation group. However, following left vPMC stimulation, body ownership for a child’s body was found to be a significant predictor of childhood episodic AM recollection details.To conclude, the evidence from the studies in this thesis suggests the presence of an interaction between BSC and AM. It is argued that that bodily information and episodic information together contributes to the construction of memory traces and, in turn, AM. Furthermore, the left vPMC arguably contributes to the neural substrate for the interaction between BSC and AM.</p

At Home with the Poor: Consumer Behaviour and Material Culture in England, c. 1650-1850

This fascinating book opens the doors to the homes of the forgotten poor and traces the goods that they owned before, during and after the industrial revolution (c.1650-1850). Using a vast and diverse range of sources, it gets to the very heart of what it meant to be ‘poor’ by examining the homes of the impoverished and mapping how numerous household goods became more widespread. It is argued that poverty did not necessarily equate to owning very little and living in squalor. Rather, most had an emotional attachment to their homes and strove to improve their domestic spheres by making them more comfortable, convenient and respectable through new consumer goods. These important findings illustrate that the poor were not left behind as the middling sort and elite became obsessed with new goods and the home. In fact, demand for goods from the poor was so great that it was a driving force of the industrial revolution. For too long historians have downplayed the role of poor consumers, assuming that they had neither the desire nor the means to buy anything that was beyond necessity. In fact, with each generation, more and more people from poor labouring backgrounds owned greater numbers and varieties of possessions which their grandparents would have thought impossible or highly unlikely to own

<b>Deliverable 3.1 </b>"Modelling EU27 Member State’s carbon emissions compensation strategy to accomplish 2°C long term mitigation goal"

The purpose of deliverable 3.1 is to provide an open access article that illustrates a almost complete version of the PLEDGES model and some simulated scenarios about the compensation strategy based on national carbon budget offsetting across the 27 Members States.</p

National long-term trends in health-related quality of life using EQ-5D-3L in South Korea, 2008-2021, including the COVID-19 pandemic: a representative serial study of 2.8 million people

OBJECTIVE: There is a scarcity of literature investigating the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on long-term trends in health-related quality of life (HrQoL) using large-scale and representative data. Thus, we aimed to investigate the nationwide and long-term trends in quality of life (QoL) using the European Quality of Life5 dimensions, 3-level version (EQ-5D-3L) from a Korean representative serial study of 2.8 million people, 2008-2021. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: This Korean study used data on adults between 2008 and 2021 who participated in the Community Health Survey. Timeframes were categorized as COVID-19 mid-pandemic (2021) and pre-pandemic (2008-2019). The mean EQ-5D-3L index for the whole population and subgroups stratified by demographic characters was evaluated for each timeframe, and differences between before and during the COVID-19 pandemic were also analyzed.  RESULTS: 2,827,240 adults who responded to the survey, 2008-2021, were eligible for this study. Overall EQ-5D index persistently decreased from 2008-2016, then minimally decreased during the pandemic, still being much higher than forecasted before the COVID-19 pandemic. The reduction in the rate of decline in QoL after the COVID-19 outbreak was especially marked in white-collared, young adults, people with ‘good’ or ‘very good’ subjective health, and college-educated or above group. On the other hand, the previously increasing trend of QoL in the elderly group has decelerated during the pandemic, and QoL of the ‘very bad’ subjective health group recorded the lowest among the whole study period. CONCLUSIONS: The present study investigated the long-term trend of QoL in Korean adults using serial data over the past 14 years, with a special emphasis on comparing the preand mid-COVID-19 pandemic periods. </p

To what extent does a focus on accountability promote regulatory compliance in the UK financial services sector?

Excessive risk-taking and poor corporate culture led to a number of high-profile financial scandals for which the regulators found it difficult to hold any individual responsible. In response to this, an accountability regime referred to as the Senior Managers and Certification Regime (SMCR) was introduced in the UK as a governance measure. This investigation is embarked upon because the impact of accountability mechanisms on regulatory compliance in general and in the financial sector in particular is only partially understood in the way it drives behaviour, risk-taking, and decision-making. This research explores whether the implementation of SMCR is having any impact on the conduct and management practices of senior executives, either in the way they govern or in their support for developing an effective culture of compliance.This primarily explorative study is based on in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 20 compliance practitioners covering banking, insurance, and investment. The study found that compliance directors still, to some extent, felt underappreciated and lacking in support. Nonetheless, the SMCR does place a greater burden on senior executives to take responsibility for behaviour and conduct, which does give compliance directors more status and prominence and facilitates wider participation in compliance activities within financial services companies. Additionally, despite competing accountability pressures between commercial and regulatory considerations, compliance directors are more confident about emphasising to their boards that more focus on regulatory compliance is in the long-term best interest of their organisation.This study recommends that regulators disaggregate the values inherent in SMCR and carry out thematic reviews and so more certainly incentivize good compliance behaviours and disincentivize bad ones. It also re-contextualizes accountability theories in a regulator-regulated relationship and contributes to the debate on how, in the context of financial services, to improve compliance culture and reduce the occurrence of financial scandals.</p

Virtual influencer presentation strategy coding & analysis

Coded dataset and analysis for research into representative virtual influencer self-presentation strategies on social media. </p

<b>Deliverable 2.1</b>"Evaluating Carbon Budget quotas for EU27 countries as a combination of inertia, equity and economic capability of mitigation"

The purpose of deliverable 2.1 is to provide an open-access article that illustrates a mathematical model to assess the EU27 Member State’s potential Carbon Budgets for each of the EU27 countries based on an Effort Sharing approach.</p