2,738 research outputs found

    Effects of municipal smoke-free ordinances on secondhand smoke exposure in the Republic of Korea

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    ObjectiveTo reduce premature deaths due to secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure among non-smokers, the Republic of Korea (ROK) adopted changes to the National Health Promotion Act, which allowed local governments to enact municipal ordinances to strengthen their authority to designate smoke-free areas and levy penalty fines. In this study, we examined national trends in SHS exposure after the introduction of these municipal ordinances at the city level in 2010.MethodsWe used interrupted time series analysis to assess whether the trends of SHS exposure in the workplace and at home, and the primary cigarette smoking rate changed following the policy adjustment in the national legislation in ROK. Population-standardized data for selected variables were retrieved from a nationally representative survey dataset and used to study the policy action’s effectiveness.ResultsFollowing the change in the legislation, SHS exposure in the workplace reversed course from an increasing (18% per year) trend prior to the introduction of these smoke-free ordinances to a decreasing (−10% per year) trend after adoption and enforcement of these laws (β2 = 0.18, p-value = 0.07; β3 = −0.10, p-value = 0.02). SHS exposure at home (β2 = 0.10, p-value = 0.09; β3 = −0.03, p-value = 0.14) and the primary cigarette smoking rate (β2 = 0.03, p-value = 0.10; β3 = 0.008, p-value = 0.15) showed no significant changes in the sampled period. Although analyses stratified by sex showed that the allowance of municipal ordinances resulted in reduced SHS exposure in the workplace for both males and females, they did not affect the primary cigarette smoking rate as much, especially among females.ConclusionStrengthening the role of local governments by giving them the authority to enact and enforce penalties on SHS exposure violation helped ROK to reduce SHS exposure in the workplace. However, smoking behaviors and related activities seemed to shift to less restrictive areas such as on the streets and in apartment hallways, negating some of the effects due to these ordinances. Future studies should investigate how smoke-free policies beyond public places can further reduce the SHS exposure in ROK

    Business Functions Capabilities and Small and Medium Enterprises’ Internationalization

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    Ineffective global expansion can adversely affect small and medium enterprises (SMEs) business outcomes. Business leaders are concerned with developing effective global expansion strategies to penetrate potential international markets, thus enhancing sustainability. Grounded in the business management systems theory, the purpose of this qualitative multi-case study was to explore strategies that leaders of Sub-Saharan Africa manufacturing SMEs use for global expansion. The participants were five manufacturing value-adding SME leaders participating in export markets. Using Yin’s five steps data analysis process, six themes emerged: (a) enterprise characterization, (b) understanding the enterprise’s product, (c) intra-enterprise factor-based strategies for export participation, (d) the enterprise’s external factor-based strategies for successful export venture, (e) global expansion strategies, and (f) serendipitous findings. A key recommendation for SME leaders is to analyze the critical components of their products and prepare to adjust them to the demand dimensions of the target market. The implications for positive social change include the potential to increase the enterprise’s wealth, increase employment, reduce poverty for all value chain participants, and growth in gross domestic product

    The double side of flow in regret and product returns: maximizers versus satisficers

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    While the positive aspects of the flow state have been widely researched, the effects of being aware of this state and the negative consequences still need to be explored. The loss of awareness that flow state may bring can lead to the purchase of products that consumers afterward regret and want to return them. This research aims to understand flow consciousness's effect on consumer post-purchase regret from a dual perspective (process and outcome regret). The relevance of these relationships is also examined by analyzing the differences between 2 groups: maximizers and satisficers consumers. Through a structural equation model based on covariances tested with EQS 6.4, the results show that flow consciousness generates process regret but not outcome regret. However, the differences found between the two groups are worth noting. The research sheds light on the effect of flow consciousness on regret and provides insight into the mechanism of product return through post-purchase regret. The theoretical and managerial implications for e-commerce retailers are discussed

    Understanding Patient Learning in a Stroke Rehabilitation Setting: An Ethnographic Exploration

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    Background and purpose: Learning is fundamental to recovery following stroke but little is known about how stroke survivors learn in the rehabilitation setting, how learning contexts are communicated and what impact they have on engagement with rehabilitation. This research used ethnographic methods to explore learning and being a learner in rehabilitation. / Methods: Study 1: A meta-ethnography to synthesise research on patients’ perceptions of education and teaching on engagement with, and adherence to, independent therapy-based practice. Study 2: An ethnography with observation and shared conversations to explore learning within a neurorehabilitation setting in the early to late subacute stages post stroke. / Findings: Study 1: Synthesis from 18 papers resulted in three interrelated themes focussing on the person as learner, the therapist as teacher, and the guidance received. Teaching and learning in the prescription of independent therapy-based exercises were found to be interdependent. Practice that considers one without the other may have a negative impact on outcomes. Study 2: Observation over 53 days and serial conversations with 14 stroke survivors showed that recovery involved a complex process of new learning. Stroke survivors looked for alignment between the teaching they received and what they expected and wanted to learn. Coherence between teaching and learning positively impacted rehabilitation engagement and emotional well-being. / Conclusion: This study has improved understanding of learning from the perspective of stroke survivors and advanced the theory of learning in neurorehabilitation. Findings suggest that engagement with learning activities such as rehabilitation-based practice may be compromised when there is a mismatch between patients’ learning expectations and clinicians’ planned content. An openly inviting, visible and unifying rehabilitation curriculum that aligns expectations and delivery may enhance engagement. The concept of a rehabilitation curriculum is new and requires further exploration and development to determine its value within practice

    Integrating materials supply in strategic mine planning of underground coal mines

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    In July 2005 the Australian Coal Industry’s Research Program (ACARP) commissioned Gary Gibson to identify constraints that would prevent development production rates from achieving full capacity. A “TOP 5” constraint was “The logistics of supply transport distribution and handling of roof support consumables is an issue at older extensive mines immediately while the achievement of higher development rates will compound this issue at most mines.” Then in 2020, Walker, Harvey, Baafi, Kiridena, and Porter were commissioned by ACARP to investigate Australian best practice and progress made since Gibson’s 2005 report. This report was titled: - “Benchmarking study in underground coal mining logistics.” It found that even though logistics continue to be recognised as a critical constraint across many operations particularly at a tactical / day to day level, no strategic thought had been given to logistics in underground coal mines, rather it was always assumed that logistics could keep up with any future planned design and productivity. This subsequently meant that without estimating the impact of any logistical constraint in a life of mine plan, the risk of overvaluing a mining operation is high. This thesis attempts to rectify this shortfall and has developed a system to strategically identify logistics bottlenecks and the impacts that mine planning parameters might have on these at any point in time throughout a life of mine plan. By identifying any logistics constraints as early as possible, the best opportunity to rectify the problem at the least expense is realised. At the very worst if a logistics constraint was unsolvable then it could be understood, planned for, and reflected in the mine’s ongoing financial valuations. The system developed in this thesis, using a suite of unique algorithms, is designed to “bolt onto” existing mine plans in the XPAC mine scheduling software package, and identify at a strategic level the number of material delivery loads required to maintain planned productivity for a mining operation. Once an event was identified the system then drills down using FlexSim discrete event simulation to a tactical level to confirm the predicted impact and understand if a solution can be transferred back as a long-term solution. Most importantly the system developed in this thesis was designed to communicate to multiple non-technical stakeholders through simple graphical outputs if there is a risk to planned production levels due to a logistics constraint

    The Investigation of Singlet Fission from the Perspective of Hierarchy of Pure States (HOPS)

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    This thesis provides a preliminary investigation of singlet fission from the perspective of Hierarchy of pure states (HOPS), which provides a numerical exact solution for the investigation of a series of open quantum systems. Since the inception of the concept of singlet fission about half a century ago, this photo-physical process has attracted the attention of a multitude of researchers and has been extensively studied theoretically and experimentally. However, these previous methods for the investigation of singlet fission focus more or less on tackling the underlying mechanisms of singlet fission from the perspective of perturbation. So far, the HOPS method has been the first trial for the investigation of this photo-physical process. This thesis is organized as follows. The Chapter 1 will introduce the basics of singlet fission and the brief history of the investigation of this phenomenon over the last half century. Chapter 2 will focus on the introduction of the method of HOPS and its applications to various open quantum systems. The investigation of singlet fission from the perspective of HOPS will be introduced in Chapter 3. The focus of Chapter 4 will be on the discussion of the current research. Chapter 5 will conclude the thesis and present some outlooks on the future research

    How did Britain come to this? A century of systemic failures of governance

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    If every system is perfectly designed to get the results it gets, what is wrong with the design of the systems that govern Britain? And how have they resulted in failures in housing, privatisation, outsourcing, education and healthcare? In How Did Britain Come to This? Gwyn Bevan examines a century of varieties of systemic failures in the British state. The book begins and ends by showing how systems of governance explain scandals in NHS hospitals, and the failures and successes of the UK and Germany in responding to Covid-19 before and after vaccines became available. The book compares geographical fault lines and inequalities in Britain with those that have developed in other European countries and argues that the causes of Britain’s entrenched inequalities are consequences of shifts in systems of governance over the past century. Clement Attlee’s postwar government aimed to remedy the failings of the prewar minimal state, while Margaret Thatcher’s governments in the 1980s in turn sought to remedy the failings of Attlee’s planned state by developing the marketised state, which morphed into the financialised state we see today. This analysis highlights the urgent need for a new political settlement of an enabling state that tackles current systemic weaknesses from market failures and over-centralisation. This book offers an accessible, analytic account of government failures of the past century, and is essential reading for anyone who wants to make an informed contribution to what an innovative, capable state might look like in a post-pandemic world
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