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1 – 10 of 14
Article
Publication date: 18 May 2010

Miquel Codina Vila, Andrés Pérez Gálvez and Javier Clavero Campos

The purpose of this paper is to compile and explain the mobile services developed by the Rector Gabriel Ferraté Library (BRGF) of the Technical University of Catalonia (UPC), in…

1303

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to compile and explain the mobile services developed by the Rector Gabriel Ferraté Library (BRGF) of the Technical University of Catalonia (UPC), in Barcelona, Spain. From a larger amount of technological features that distinguish the BRGF, only those with a main mobile component are grouped here.

Design/methodology/approach

A case study perspective is used to give a detailed picture of the mobile services and features offered by the library in both the university and the Spanish technological contexts. The paper aims to show the effectiveness and potential to deliver library services through the preferred tools of a new generation of students.

Findings

Offering mobile services has amplified the use of the library in different ways and has improved the image of the library as a technological reference for users and librarians. From a general point of view, being ahead of the game has been revealed to be an appropriate strategy for the library when implementing new technological services.

Originality/value

The paper will be useful for libraries searching new and innovative technological channels to communicate and deliver their services. So far, there have been very few papers about mobile services in European libraries and very few Spanish libraries with a significant number of these services for their users.

Details

Reference Services Review, vol. 38 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0090-7324

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 11 October 2021

Manuel Tironi, Katherine Campos-Knothe, Valentina Acuña, Enzo Isola, Cristóbal Bonelli, Marcelo Gonzalez Galvez, Sarah Kelly, Leila Juzam, Francisco Molina, Andrés Pereira Covarrubias, Ricardo Rivas, Beltrán Undurraga and Sofía Valdivieso

Based on the research, the authors identify how four key concepts in disaster studies—agency, local scale, memory and vulnerability—are interrupted, and how these interruptions…

Abstract

Purpose

Based on the research, the authors identify how four key concepts in disaster studies—agency, local scale, memory and vulnerability—are interrupted, and how these interruptions offer new perspectives for doing disaster research from and for the South.

Design/methodology/approach

Meta-analysis of case studies and revision of past and current collaborations of authors with communities across Chile.

Findings

The findings suggest that agency, local scale, memory and vulnerability, as fundamental concepts for disaster risk reduction (DRR) theory and practice, need to allow for ambivalences, ironies, granularization and further materializations. The authors identify these characteristics as the conditions that emerge when doing disaster research from within the disaster itself, perhaps the critical condition of what is usually known as the South.

Originality/value

The authors contribute to a reflexive assessment of fundamental concepts for critical disaster studies. The authors offer research-based and empirically rich redefinitions of these concepts. The authors also offer a novel understanding of the political and epistemological conditions of the “South” as both a geography and a project.

Details

Disaster Prevention and Management: An International Journal, vol. 31 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0965-3562

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 29 December 2022

Ali Al-kassab-Córdova, Claudia Silva-Perez, Andres Quevedo-Ramirez, Marco Gonzalo Mendoza Lugo, Jonathan Azcarruz-Asencios, Giancarlo Castañeda-Montenegro, Sergio Bravo-Cucci and Jorge L. Maguina

Depression has become a major health concern, particularly in developing countries. This disorder is highly prevalent among certain vulnerable populations, such as prisoners. In…

Abstract

Purpose

Depression has become a major health concern, particularly in developing countries. This disorder is highly prevalent among certain vulnerable populations, such as prisoners. In Peru, prisons are overcrowded, and the health of prisoners is neglected. Thus, this study aims to estimate the prevalence of depression diagnosed during incarceration in male inmates from all Peruvian prisons and assess its associated factors.

Design/methodology/approach

A cross-sectional study was conducted based on the secondary data analysis of the National Census of Prison Population 2016 in Peru. This study included records of prisoners who reported whether they were diagnosed with depression by a health-care professional after admission into the prisons. Descriptive, bivariate and multivariable analyses were performed.

Findings

Of the 63,312 prisoners included in this study, 1,007 reported an in-prison diagnosis of depression by a health-care professional, which represents a prevalence of 1.59%. Substance use disorder (adjusted prevalence ratio [aPR] 3.10; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.91–5.03), hypertension (aPR 7.20; 95% CI: 6.28–8.24) and previous discrimination (aPR 1.97; 95% CI: 1.62–2.40) were strongly associated with depression, even when adjusting for multiple confounders. Other directly associated variables were, for example, violence during childhood, infrequent visits in prison and diabetes.

Originality/value

The right of prisoners to adequate health care is being neglected in Peru. Mental health is a cornerstone of health quality. Acknowledging which factors are associated with depression in prison is important to implement strategies to improve the mental health of prisoners.

Details

International Journal of Prisoner Health, vol. 19 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1744-9200

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 11 September 2019

Antonio Jesús Sánchez-Oliver, Pablo Gálvez-Ruiz, Moisés Grimaldi-Puyana, Jesús Fernández-Gavira and Jerónimo García-Fernández

The purpose of this paper is to present a project called EmprendeSport, whose aim is to increase knowledge in entrepreneurship and sports in students, professors and professionals…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to present a project called EmprendeSport, whose aim is to increase knowledge in entrepreneurship and sports in students, professors and professionals through seminars carried out from 2015 to 2018. This study summarises the experience and data extracted throughout these seminars with the purpose of helping to design policies that stimulate business activity of the universities that seek to promote entrepreneurial spirit within a higher educational context.

Design/methodology/approach

This is a descriptive paper of the experiences of the seminars done during four years, with a regularly assistance of 200 people. The profile of the assistants was, mainly males, studying a degree on sports or entrepreneurship and working.

Findings

There is a lack of knowledge and interest in entrepreneurship. The realisation of the seminar resulted to be a useful incentive for the public to develop new ideas to innovate in their daily lives, some of them also, because of the seminar through of creating their own business. From the organisation perspective, in order to increase the entrepreneurial culture between the females.

Originality/value

The main contribution of this document could be to help design policies that stimulate business activities of universities and, therefore, stimulate their contribution to the development of the modern knowledge economy.

Details

Journal of Entrepreneurship and Public Policy, vol. 8 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2045-2101

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 7 October 2019

Mario Ordaz, Mario Andrés Salgado-Gálvez, Benjamín Huerta, Juan Carlos Rodríguez and Carlos Avelar

The development of multi-hazard risk assessment frameworks has gained momentum in the recent past. Nevertheless, the common practice with openly available risk data sets, such as…

Abstract

Purpose

The development of multi-hazard risk assessment frameworks has gained momentum in the recent past. Nevertheless, the common practice with openly available risk data sets, such as the ones derived from the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction Global Risk Model, has been to assess risk individually for each peril and afterwards aggregate, when possible, the results. Although this approach is sufficient for perils that do not have any interaction between them, for the cases where such interaction exists, and losses can be assumed to occur simultaneously, there may be underestimation of losses. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper summarizes a methodology to integrate simultaneous losses caused by earthquakes and tsunamis, with a peril-agnostic approach that can be expanded to other hazards. The methodology is applied in two relevant locations in Latin America, Acapulco (Mexico) and Callao (Peru), considering in each case building by building exposure databases with portfolios of different characteristics, where the results obtained with the proposed approach are compared against those obtained after the direct aggregation of individual losses.

Findings

The fully probabilistic risk assessment framework used herein is the same of the global risk model but applied at a much higher resolution level of the hazard and exposure data sets, showing its scalability characteristics and the opportunities to refine certain inputs to move forward into decision-making activities related to disaster risk management and reduction.

Originality/value

This paper applies for the first time the proposed methodology in a high-resolution multi-hazard risk assessment for earthquake and tsunami in two major coastal cities in Latin America.

Details

Disaster Prevention and Management: An International Journal, vol. 28 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0965-3562

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 9 August 2023

Jorge de Andres-Sanchez, Angel Belzunegui-Eraso and Amaya Erro-Garcés

This paper aims to shed light on the perception of the consequences of implementing home teleworking (TW) for employers and employees amid the pandemic. By doing so, the research…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to shed light on the perception of the consequences of implementing home teleworking (TW) for employers and employees amid the pandemic. By doing so, the research analyzes the factors that explain employers' and employees' perceptions of home TW and the symmetry of their impact on its acceptance and rejection.

Design/methodology/approach

The analysis is done over the survey “Trends in the digital society during SARS-COV-2 crisis in Spain” by the Spanish “Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas.” The explanatory variables were selected and classified using the well-known taxonomy of Baruch and Nicholson (i.e. individual factors, family/home, organizational and job-related).

Findings

The global judgment of HTW is positive, but factors such as gender, age, children in care or being an employer nuance that perception. While some factors, such as the attitude of employees toward information communication technologies (ICTs), perceived productivity or the distance from home to work, have a significant link with both positive and negative perceptions of HTW, other factors can only explain either positive or negative perceptions. Likewise, the authors observed that being female and having children on care had a detrimental influence on opinions about HTW.

Practical implications

A clearer regulation of TW is needed to prevent imbalances in rights and obligations between companies and employees. The authors also highlight the potentially favorable effects of telecommuting on mitigating depopulation in rural areas.

Originality/value

The authors have also measured not only the significance of assessed factors on the overall judgment of HTW for firms and workers but also whether these factors impact acceptance and resistance attitudes toward TW symmetrically.

Details

International Journal of Manpower, vol. 45 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0143-7720

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 13 February 2017

Francisco José López-Arceiz, Ana José Bellostas Pérezgrueso and María Pilar Rivera Torres

Social economy organizations (SEOs) are a hybrid model where relations with stakeholders are managed using transparency mechanisms. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the…

Abstract

Purpose

Social economy organizations (SEOs) are a hybrid model where relations with stakeholders are managed using transparency mechanisms. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the role that online accessibility (which is understood to be a tool to implement transparency) has in raising financial resources and to assess its impact on economic and social achievements. Moreover, the authors study the interaction between online accessibility and external verification.

Design/methodology/approach

This study analyzes the behavior of 1,400 SEOs between 2009 and 2012 using a structural equation model and the MPLUS 7.4 software, which is based on covariance analysis.

Findings

The results show that transparency, which is understood as online accessibility, assists in raising financial resources and enhances SEO economic and social achievements. The authors also note that external verifications favor the economic achievements of SEOs but do not improve their social achievements.

Research limitations/implications

This research has two limitations: this study refers only to Spanish SEOs and no consensus exists on how to measure economic and social performance. Therefore, the conclusions should be considered with caution in other regulatory and cultural fields. The main implications of this work are the criteria the authors provide to help decision makers decide on the transparency model that SEOs should develop according to their management needs.

Originality/value

This study bridges a gap in the current research by increasing understanding of the role of accessibility as being the most important tool for an organization that strives to embody transparent behavior.

Details

Online Information Review, vol. 41 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1468-4527

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 22 March 2019

Maria Cristina Davila, Brianna Ely and Ann M. Manzardo

Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is a neurostimulatory technique used to modulate orbital frontal corticostriatal (OFC) activity and clinical symptomatology for…

Abstract

Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is a neurostimulatory technique used to modulate orbital frontal corticostriatal (OFC) activity and clinical symptomatology for psychiatric disorders involving OFC dysfunction. We examined the effectiveness of rTMS in the treatment of major depressive disorder in an applied clinical setting (Awakening KC CNI) to assess efficacy and optimize rTMS parameters within clinical practice. A retrospective review of medical records was carried out on patients with major depressive disorder undergoing rTMS therapy at Awakenings KC Clinical Neuroscience Institute (CNI), a suburban tertiary psychiatric clinic. A detailed de-identified data set of clinical outcomes was compiled. Patient Health Questionnaire 9 (PHQ-9) total score, clinical remission rate and week achieved were evaluated over 6 weeks of treatment to assess clinical response referencing two different rTMS instruments (MagVenture; NeuroStar). Our survey included 247 participants from males (N=98) and females (N=149) with average baseline PHQ-9 scores of 21.7±4, classified as severe depression. Clinically rated remission rates of 72% were achieved in 3.1±1.0 weeks and associated with prior history of psychiatric hospitalization, suicide attempts and substance use disorder. Average baseline PHQ-9 scores decreased significantly over time with proportionately greater remission rates achieved for patients treated using the MagVenture over NeuroStar instrument. rTMS in applied clinical practice is efficacious over a wide range of settings and patients. Clinical response was related to severity of depression symptoms (e.g., prior hospitalization; suicide attempts) validating efficacy in critically ill groups. Clinical response may be impacted by rTMS instrument, magnetic field parameters or individual factors.

Details

Mental Illness, vol. 11 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2036-7465

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 20 January 2022

Ghadi Saad

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between suicide rates and institutional quality.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between suicide rates and institutional quality.

Design/methodology/approach

This study used autoregressive distributed lag model and error correction model to examine short-run and long-run relationships during 1996–2017 in Lebanon.

Findings

The study shows that in the long-run, suicide rates are significantly associated to the control of corruption, voice and accountability and rule of law, but not to regulatory quality, political stability and government efficiency. In the short-run, nearly all variables of institutional quality have a negative and significant relationship to suicide rates. Results are discussed in detail.

Originality/value

This research is the first to inspect the relation between the quality of institutions and suicide rates. Empirical results of this study add new evidence to the literature and provide support to policymakers.

Details

Journal of Global Responsibility, vol. 13 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2041-2568

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 29 May 2020

Karla E. Von Dentz, Bianca S. Silva, Eveline A.I.F. Queiroz, Gisele F. Bomfim, André F. Nascimento, Mário M. Sugizaki and Renata A.M. Luvizotto

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of Hibiscus sabdariffa ethanolic extract (HsE) on protein levels of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, interleukin (IL)-6…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of Hibiscus sabdariffa ethanolic extract (HsE) on protein levels of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, interleukin (IL)-6, adiponectin and leptin in adipose tissue, as well as on the lipid and glycemic profiles of high-fat/sugar diet-induced obese (DIO) rats.

Design/methodology/approach

Obesity was induced in male Wistar rats through a high-fat/sugar diet provided for eight weeks. Control rats received a standard diet. The high-fat/sugar DIO animals were subsequently randomized into DIO (n = 8) and DIO treated with HsE (DIO + HsE, n = 8, 150 mg/kg/day) by gavage, for additional eight weeks. Oral glucose tolerance test was performed, and blood samples and epididymal adipose tissue were collected for biochemical analysis and adipokine protein level evaluation, respectively.

Findings

Compared to the DIO rats, HsE treatment decreased weight gain (50.6%) and mesenteric fat (42%), indicated as diminished visceral fat (22.5%). HsE did not affect the lipid profile and TNF-α levels in adipose tissue; however, it effectively prevented a 13% increase in fasting glucose levels and improved glucose tolerance. Compared with the C group, HsE normalized the adiponectin levels and leptin/adiponectin ratio and decreased the IL-6 (55%) and leptin (18.6%) levels in adipose tissue of obese rats.

Originality/value

HsE improves adipokine protein levels in high-fat/sugar DIO rats, demonstrating the clinical efficacy of HsE in the treatment of obesity and obesity-related diseases.

Details

Nutrition & Food Science , vol. 51 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0034-6659

Keywords

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