Employer perceptions of skills gaps in retail:issues and implications for UK retailers

Purpose – This paper seeks to identify the skills gaps associated with retail employees in SME and multiple retail companies, and to investigate the potential training and business implications that arise from these skills gaps, from the point of view of retail employers. Design/methodology/approach – Research was conducted within one geographical region and across five counties within the UK. Telephone and face-to-face interviews and focus group workshops were conducted, resulting in responses from 52 retailers. Findings – The key issues and areas of concern to emerge were: the industry image and impact on recruitment and retention; employee and management skills gaps; and barriers to training. Research limitations/implications – The findings highlight the need for UK retail industry to raise the image of the sector, to identify the skills sets for specific roles, and to clarify the retail qualifications and training required delivering these. Originality/value – Succeeds in identifying the skills gaps associated with retail employees in SME and multiple retail companies and in investigating the potential training and business implications arising from these skills gaps

Topological Superconductivity in a Phase-Controlled Josephson Junction

Topological superconductors can support localized Majorana states at their boundaries. These quasi-particle excitations have non-Abelian statistics that can be used to encode and manipulate quantum information in a topologically protected manner. While signatures of Majorana bound states have been observed in one-dimensional systems, there is an ongoing effort to find alternative platforms that do not require fine-tuning of parameters and can be easily scalable to large numbers of states. Here we present a novel experimental approach towards a two-dimensional architecture. Using a Josephson junction made of HgTe quantum well coupled to thin-film aluminum, we are able to tune between a trivial and a topological superconducting state by controlling the phase difference $\phi$ across the junction and applying an in-plane magnetic field. We determine the topological state of the induced superconductor by measuring the tunneling conductance at the edge of the junction. At low magnetic fields, we observe a minimum in the tunneling spectra near zero bias, consistent with a trivial superconductor. However, as the magnetic field increases, the tunneling conductance develops a zero-bias peak which persists over a range of $\phi$ that expands systematically with increasing magnetic fields. Our observations are consistent with theoretical predictions for this system and with full quantum mechanical numerical simulations performed on model systems with similar dimensions and parameters. Our work establishes this system as a promising platform for realizing topological superconductivity and for creating and manipulating Majorana modes and will therefore open new avenues for probing topological superconducting phases in two-dimensional systems.Comment: Supplementary contains resized figures. Original files are available upon reques

Britain’s highest bog: can we unlock its secrets?

The Glenfeshie Mòine Mhór (Great Moss) is Britain’s highest bog, the largest bog in the Cairngorm Mountains (Scotland) and a water source area for the River Spey. The area was managed primarily for sport hunting for about two centuries, but deer numbers have been heavily reduced in the last decade to allow regeneration of natural woodland and the return to more natural condition of all ecosystems including peatland. However, it may not be realistic to expect spontaneous improvement in peatland condition and ecosystem services provision in the harsh environment of the Mòine Mhór, which retains snow cover for more than half the year and differs floristically from lower-altitude bogs. To understand whether and where management intervention may be required, we need first to understand how the system works at scales ranging from microform to macrotope, and from sub-catchment to whole-system level. Multi-disciplinary condition and process studies (involving various collaborators) are in progress, with a current emphasis on streamflow generation and fluvial carbon loads. This presentation develops two sub-themes. First, ground survey and GIS analysis are used to address the questions: what are the special features of this bog; what is the nature and extent of degradation; and what are the implications for water delivered to the outflow streams? Secondly, a striking feature is the bare peat patches which were favourite resting places for deer on warm, dry summer days. The occurrence of seasonally extreme surface conditions seems a likely factor in preventing their recolonisation by bog plants now. Information about these conditions that cannot readily be accessed through direct observation, originating from temperature sensors and delivered at 60-minute intervals via a low power internet link, is explored in this context. Finally, we discuss aspects of the suitability of our investigation methods for remote and intermittently accessible field sites such as the Mòine Mhór

2021 State of Open at the University of Colorado Boulder: Special Report on Open Access Article Processing Charges Based on Data from 2020

As a complementary effort to the annual &ldquo;2021 State of Open at the University of Colorado Boulder&rdquo; report,&nbsp;this special report provides a deeper look at article processing charges (APCs) for open access (OA) articles published by authors at the University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder). This analysis is not intended to be updated regularly, which is why it is being presented separately from the larger report. This special report utilizes Dimensions&nbsp;as a data source for OA articles published by CU Boulder authors in 2020. When cross-referenced with journal-level APC data from the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ),&nbsp;the Dimensions data can be used to estimate total costs of APCs for applicable CU Boulder articles from 2020 as well as the estimated percentage of APCs covered by the CU Boulder Libraries OA Fund. </div

Examining the potential public health benefit of offering STI testing to men in amateur football clubs: evidence from cross-sectional surveys

Background: In Britain, young people continue to bear the burden of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) so efforts are required, especially among men, to encourage STI testing. The SPORTSMART study trialled an intervention that sought to achieve this by offering chlamydia and gonorrhoea test-kits to men attending amateur football clubs between October and December 2012. With football the highest participation team sport among men in England, this paper examines the potential public health benefit of offering STI testing to men in this setting by assessing their sociodemographic characteristics, sexual behaviours, and healthcare behaviour and comparing them to men in the general population. Methods: Data were collected from 192 (male) members of 6 football clubs in London, United Kingdom, aged 18–44 years via a 20-item pen-and-paper self-completion questionnaire administered 2 weeks after the intervention. These were compared to data collected from 409 men of a similar age who were resident in London when interviewed during 2010–2012 for the third National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (Natsal-3), a national probability survey that used computer-assisted-personal-interviewing with computer-assisted-self-interview. Age standardisation and multivariable regression were used to account for sociodemographic differences between the surveys. Results: Relative to men in the general population, SPORTSMART men were younger (32.8 % vs. 21.7 % aged under 25 y), and more likely to report (all past year) at least 2 sexual partners (adjusted odds ratio, AOR: 3.25, 95 % CI: 2.15–4.92), concurrent partners (AOR: 2.05, 95 % CI: 1.39–3.02), and non-use of condoms (AOR: 2.17, 95 % CI: 1.39–3.41). No difference was observed in STI/HIV risk perception (AOR for reporting “not at all at risk” of STIs: 1.25, 95 % CI: 0.76–2.04; of HIV: AOR: 1.54, 95 % CI: 0.93–2.55), nor in reporting STI testing in the past year (AOR: 0.83, 95 % CI: 0.44–1.54), which was reported by only one in six men. Conclusions: Relative to young men in the general population, football club members who completed the SPORTSMART survey reported greater sexual risk behaviour but similar STI/HIV risk perception and STI testing history. Offering STI testing in amateur football clubs may therefore widen access to STI testing and health promotion messages for men at higher STI risk, which, given the minority currently testing and the popularity of football in England, should yield both individual and public health benefit

Lesula: A New Species of Cercopithecus Monkey Endemic to the Democratic Republic of Congo and Implications for Conservation of Congo’s Central Basin

In June 2007, a previously undescribed monkey known locally as “lesula” was found in the forests of the middle Lomami Basin in central Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). We describe this new species as Cercopithecus lomamiensis sp. nov., and provide data on its distribution, morphology, genetics, ecology and behavior. C. lomamiensis is restricted to the lowland rain forests of central DRC between the middle Lomami and the upper Tshuapa Rivers. Morphological and molecular data confirm that C. lomamiensis is distinct from its nearest congener, C. hamlyni, from which it is separated geographically by both the Congo (Lualaba) and the Lomami Rivers. C. lomamiensis, like C. hamlyni, is semi-terrestrial with a diet containing terrestrial herbaceous vegetation. The discovery of C. lomamiensis highlights the biogeographic significance and importance for conservation of central Congo’s interfluvial TL2 region, defined from the upper Tshuapa River through the Lomami Basin to the Congo (Lualaba) River. The TL2 region has been found to contain a high diversity of anthropoid primates including three forms, in addition to C. lomamiensis, that are endemic to the area. We recommend the common name, lesula, for this new species, as it is the vernacular name used over most of its known range