Direcionamento de Modelos de Negócio para a Sustentabilidade no Turismo de Natureza do Ártico

Source at https://rac.anpad.org.br/index.php/rac/issue/archive. Context: research into sustainability as a highly debated concept has become widespread and given rise to a diverse and interesting arena in the management literature in which the relevance of business models is extensively acknowledged. Objective: by integrating sustainability into the business model concept, this study attempts to determine how business models are driven toward sustainability. Methods: a qualitative multiplecase approach is applied to scrutinize five small/micro companies offering nature-based activities in Arctic Norway. Results: four internal and six external drivers are found crucial to incorporating sustainability in business models. Conclusion: the findings contribute to the field of sustainable business models by deepening the understanding of how specific internal and external drivers operate across different business models. Moreover, business models are driven toward sustainability differently, depending on the extent to which sustainability is embedded into them

Changing Business models for Sustainability: Role of drivers and dynamic capabilities in Arctic nature tourism

This thesis investigates nature tourism companies, which strive to incorporate sustainability into their business models and change them to be more resilient. For this purpose, it adopts a dynamic perspective on business models by which companies address corporate sustainability which is understood here as a balance among environmental, social, and economic pillars as well as a sustainable competitive advantage. Past studies overlooked the significance of a systematic analysis of drivers and enablers of change as a way to explain how business models are stimulated and changed. Thus, this thesis aims to answer this overall research question: What are the key drivers and dynamic capabilities underlying business model change for sustainability, and how do they give rise to business model changes for sustainability? Four sub-research questions are formulated across three studies: one systematic literature review and two empirical qualitative studies. Article 1 was inspired by the existing literature regarding a prominent knowledge gap in terms of the theorization of business models in tourism research compared to management research. This study resides in a systematic literature review of nature tourism literature about the conceptualization and operationalization of business models with respect to sustainability and innovation. Article 2 follows a qualitative multiple-case study design to comparatively examine five nature tourism companies to explore how their business models are driven to incorporate sustainability aspects. This study differentiates these business models in terms of sustainability integration and underlying drivers to shed light on crucial driving factors in terms of how they can drive various business models to embed sustainability. Article 3 relies on a longitudinal qualitative design to study how nature tourism companies handled the COVID-19 crisis and enhanced their resilience by changing their business models through building dynamic capabilities. To address the temporal aspects of dynamic capabilities and business model changes, two rounds of interviews were held with seven tourism entrepreneurs. This article regards the crisis as a driver underlying the building of dynamic capabilities that set the stage for business model changes. Given the conceptual contribution of individual articles, article 1 stresses that business models are relevant tools to set off the desired changes and innovations and contributes to sustainable business model research by offering insight into how past nature tourism studies applied the concept of business model with respect to sustainability and innovation. By identifying knowledge gaps in the literature on the nature tourism business models, this study yields two empirical qualitative articles, articles 2 and 3. Article 2 contributes to sustainable business model literature by refining and extending past typologies of drivers for sustainability embeddedness by clarifying how drivers perform empirically across different business models, particularly in nature tourism. Compared to article 2, article 3 seeks to probe more closely into firms via their respective dynamic capabilities and underlying practices, which enable business model changes to be either radical (innovations) or incremental (adjustments). While article 2 considers sustainability in terms of social and environmental aspects in addition to the economic aspect, article 3 conceptualizes sustainability in light of resilience. Article 3 proposes a taxonomy of dynamic capability-based practices and contributes to the dynamic capabilities and business model innovation literature in times of crisis. Above all, this thesis contributes to filling the noteworthy knowledge gap in terms of the lack of a systematic and thorough explanation of the relevant key drivers and dynamic capabilities to illustrate business model changes for sustainability. Notably, it makes novel theoretical contributions to the research stream of business model innovations for sustainability. Relatedly, this research clarifies how critical driving factors and dynamic capability-based practices stimulate and facilitate business model changes. This is done in this thesis by differentiating drivers and dynamic capabilities, but at the same time seeing them as closely linked. Hence, by applying a dynamic perspective on business models, the overall findings demonstrate how business models are driven, enabled, and changed to embed sustainability and enhance resilience. This thesis argues that business model design is a continuous task and not a one-time practice. Moreover, the overall results of this thesis provide useful insights into business models in nature tourism in two different situations: a competitive environment before the crisis and a turbulent environment during the crisis. More importantly, as the findings of articles 2 and 3 suggest, the focus of change might vary to ensure a proper balance among economic, social, and environmental aspects. This thesis concludes with some research limitations, suggestions for future studies and implications for practice

The status of different dimensions of responsive and justice-oriented education in the area of health and providing solutions to improve the quality of health services

Background: Responsive teaching values students' cultural references in all aspects of learning. This study aimed to investigate the status of different dimensions of responsive and justice-oriented education in the area of health from the perspective of experts at Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences and to provide solutions to improve the quality of health services. Methods: This is an applied, descriptive survey with a mixed approach to develop educational programs. Using stratified random sampling 335 faculty members of the Educational and Medical Center of Payambar-e Azam were selected. A literature review and survey of experts for Qualitative data review were done. A researcher-made questionnaire consisting of 5 main dimensions and 170 items was prepared. For Qualitative data review, the data obtained from semi-structured interviews with experts. The content validity of the questionnaire was confirmed and Cronbach's alpha of the questionnaire was greater than 0.70, indicating the confirmation of reliability. Results: The status of responsive and justice-oriented education in the area of medical science education is desirable in most components, but the components of educational equipment and financial resources, acceptance of new ideas, sense of responsibility in the educator, selection of capable people to provide education, planning educational programs, and the ability of education officials to make decisions in difficult times were not in desirable status. Conclusion: It is necessary to develop educational programs so that students can acquire the necessary knowledge and skills for their future profession and the ways to be paved for their mastery and clinical skills

Effect of Moderate Treadmill Exercise on hip Osteoarthritis in Male and Female Wistar Rats

Background: Osteoarthritis (OA) is a slowly progressive degenerative disease characterized by gradual loss of articular cartilage. The influence of excessive running load on the development of knee OA was investigated in male Wistar rats. This study was done to test the sex-related difference in the risk of OA of the hip joint after moderate running exercise.Materials and Methods: Forty male and female Wistar rats were randomly assigned to four equal groups (2 male and 2 female groups) in a same condition. Ten of each sex were selected as control groups and kept separately while running exercises were performed in remained 20 male and female rats using a motor treadmill to motivate rats to run daily distances of 1 km at 5 days/week within six weeks. The treadmill incline was zero. On day 43, all control and training animals were killed and the hip articular cartilage and its synovial layer were evaluated microscopically.Results: The appearance of hip articular cartilage was normal and similar in all male, female and also male running groups while female running group showed some changes. Obtained results showed a mild OA only in the female running group. There wasn’t seen synovitis in both male and female running groups in comparison with control groups (P>0.05).Conclusion: This study showed that the development of hip OA may be related to the sex differences as seen in the knee OA previously

Health-promoting behaviors and related factors among high school teachers in the city of Rasht, Iran

Background: Health Promoting Behaviors (HPB) are of great importance because of their potential benefits to prevent the progression of chronic diseases, reduce disease burden, improve quality of life, and reduce healthcare costs. The present study aimed to determine and compare HPB and related factors among high school teachers.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 257 high school teachers (138 women and 119 men) having at least associate degree in Rasht city, Iran during 2015. Data collection tool was a researcher-made questionnaire including the personal, familial, and social factors and Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile (HPLPII) standard questionnaire. Data were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 24.0. running descriptive and inferential statistics, including independent sample t-test, analysis of variance. P values less than 0.05 were considered as statistically significant. Results: Among the participants 138 (53.7%) were female. The overall mean (SD) score of HPB among participants was 129.6 (22.64) and was undesirable. This score was significantly better among the women 130.6 (24.61) compared with men 128.5 (20.54) (P=0.01). The highest mean score of HPB was related to nutrition 26.8 (5.01), followed, respectively, by spiritual growth 22.6 (4.25) and interpersonal relations 21.7 (4.82). Physical activity with the mean (SD) score of 18.09 (4.14) had the lowest overall mean score of HPB. Female teachers had a significantly higher scores than men in all aspects (P<0.05), except for physical activity and stress management.Conclusion: The overall mean score of HPB among participants was undesirable. Total HPB in female teachers were better than that in the male teachers. Female teachers had a better status than men in all aspects except for physical activity and stress management

The relationship between air pollution exposure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in Ahvaz, Iran

BACKGROUND: Air pollutants can have harmful effects on human health. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is represented by a spectrum of obstructive airway diseases. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between air pollution exposure and COPD in Ahvaz, Iran. METHODS: The present epidemiological study was performed in Ahvaz city. Data were obtained from the Ahvaz Department of Environment (ADoE). Sampling was performed for 24 hours in 4 stations. Raw data processing was performed using Microsoft Excel software, and after the impact of meteorological parameters, data were converted as input file into the model. Data analysis was performed using SPSS for Windows. RESULTS: The results of this study showed that the annual average PM10 concentration during 2012 was 727 μg/m3. According to the research findings, the two stations of Bureau of Meteorology and the city center had the highest and the lowest PM10 concentrations during 2012, respectively. The results showed a strong correlation between visits to a hospital due to COPD and PM10 emission in Ahvaz city. Approximately, 6.2% of hospital admissions for COPD occurred when the PM10 concentration was higher than 30 μg/m3. CONCLUSION: The findings of the present study showed that the total mean of particle matter was higher than the standard concentration. The higher percentage of hospital admission could be the result of the dust storm, higher average PM10, and sustained high concentration days in Ahva

Aqua­bis[N′-(2-hydroxy­benzyl­idene)isonicotinohydrazide-κN]silver(I) nitrate

In the title compound, [Ag(C13H11N3O2)2(H2O)]NO3, two N atoms from two pyridine rings of two N′-(2-hydroxy­benzyl­idene)isonicotinohydrazide ligands coordinate to the AgI atom, forming a nearly linear geometry with an N—Ag—N angle of 171.63 (6)°; a water O atom is located at the apical site, completing the T-shaped coordination. The crystal structure is stabilized by extensive O—H⋯O, O—H⋯N and N—H⋯O hydrogen bonding

The Relationship between Organizational Citizenship Behavior and Professional Behavior Mediated by Nurses' Physical Health

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Organizational citizenship behavior is a performance beyond job duties that can lead to professional behavior and improve the performance of the organization and the quality of services. Considering that the physical health of nurses is one of the requirements for the quality of their performance, this study was conducted to investigate the relationship between organizational citizenship behavior and professional behavior mediated by nurses' physical health. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was performed in 2019 among 350 nurses working in Amirkola Children's Hospital, and Yahyanejad, Shahid Beheshti and Ayatollah Rouhani Hospitals affiliated to Babol University of Medical Sciences. Using a four-section questionnaire, including Demographic Characteristics Questionnaire, Podsakoff Organizational Citizenship Behavior Scale (24 items with a score range of 24-120), Goz Nursing Professional Behavior Scale (27 items with a score range of 27-135) and Physical Health Questionnaire (14 items with a score range of 14-98), the required data were collected and evaluated. FINDINGS: There were 245 female nurses (70%) and 105 male nurses (30%). The age of 59.4% of subjects was in the rage of 30-39 years. The mean value of organizational citizenship behavior was 75.77±17.93 and the mean value of professional behavior was 102.30±18.27. The relationship between organizational citizenship behavior and professional behavior was direct and significant (path coefficient=0.481, p<0.001). The mean value of physical health was 47.17±10.80 and physical health played a mediating role in the relationship between organizational citizenship behavior and professional behavior (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: The results of the study showed that there was a direct relationship between organizational citizenship behavior and professional behavior and the mediating role of nurses' physical health in this regard was confirmed

N,N′-Bis(1,3-thia­zol-2-yl)methyl­ene­diamine

In the title compound, C7H8N4S2, the dihedral angle between the thia­zoline rings is 71.25 (13)°. In the crystal, inter­molecular N—H⋯N hydrogen bonds connect the mol­ecules into zigzag chains parallel to the ab plane

Responsive and Justice-Centered Education Model in Medical Sciences Education

Introduction: Considering the significant role of higher education, particularly medical sciences education, in the health and development of society, the educational system should be planned in a way that maximally caters to the community's needs. The goal of this article is to present a responsive and justice-centered education model in medical sciences education.Methods: In the quantitative phase, data from 335 faculty members of Payambar-e Azam Hospital in Hormozgan were collected using stratified random sampling and a questionnaire that identified components within a Likert scale. The content validity and structural validity of the questionnaire were confirmed through confirmatory factor analysis. The Cronbach's alpha coefficient exceeded 0.70, indicating reliability. The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling with SmartPLS-3 software.Results: Equity-centered, universality, needs assessment, content, and principled are characteristics of equity-based education. According to the T-value modeling results, the factor loads of all model variables were above 0.96 and, at a 95% confidence level, were statistically significant. The highest factor load was related to enabling and inhibitory factors, with a factor load of 0.54 and variance of 0.23. In contrast, the lowest factor load was related to the dimensions of responsiveness and equity-based education with a factor load of 0.12 and a variance of 0.02.Conclusion: Universality, needs assessment, and content should be considered in equity-based and principled education in the planning of educational programs at medical universities