Search results
21 – 30 of 115
It is to be regretted that Local Authorities are the subject of some criticism regarding their attitude to Clean Food Weeks. Indeed, an eminent speaker in a recent B.B.C…
Abstract
It is to be regretted that Local Authorities are the subject of some criticism regarding their attitude to Clean Food Weeks. Indeed, an eminent speaker in a recent B.B.C. discussion programme confessed to having never heard of the project. That, in some instances, this criticism is justified there can be no doubt. During the past twelve months approximately one hundred of these weeks have been held throughout the country. Their value cannot be underestimated. Propaganda and guidance are the weapons of this campaign, and these, where possible, are surely preferable to legal action. The local Press shows an admirable willingness to co‐operate in these projects, and this assistance can be of immeasurable value. Irrespective of what the Ministries of Food and Health do, or do not do, to promote food hygiene, it is the responsibility of every Local Authority to ensure that its traders and public realise the prime importance of a fuller understanding of the necessity for clean food. Since their conception, the Model Byelaws have been favourably received. Of the 1,444 Local Authorities in England and Wales, 1,200 have taken steps for their partial adoption, whilst in over 800 of these cases their full usage has been confirmed. Although the gaining of the co‐operation of the trader is the first step, the education of the general public can play a major part in the suppression of the sale of contaminated, and even in some cases adulterated, food. The public is sometimes termed “food conscious”—we are not quite sure what this expression means, but a public fully conscious of the dangers of unclean food can do a great deal to ease the work of the already overburdened Food and Drugs Officer. In a recent article in this Journal, Mr. R. A. Robinson mentions the “careless admission of foreign bodies in loaves and the rest”. Whether or not the purchaser of such an article should report the matter to the Local Health Department, or remonstrate with the retailer, is not our concern at the moment, but the increase in the number of these complaints is due to a greater alertness in the purchaser, and not, we trust, to an increasing carelessness on the part of the manufacturer. The aim of all Public Health Departments should be to encourage the public to insist upon a clean restaurant or café, where the food is hygienically prepared; once this is established, the undesirable premises will be forced either to improve their standards or to put up their shutters through lack of business. An excellently written booklet, eminently suitable for public distribution in connection with Clean Food Weeks, is reviewed elsewhere in this issue. An intensive drive now for a general education in the dangers of contaminated food will repay a full dividend in the not too far distant future.
Aarhus Kommunes Biblioteker (Teknisk Bibliotek), Ingerslevs Plads 7, Aarhus, Denmark. Representative: V. NEDERGAARD PEDERSEN (Librarian).
Augustine Adomah-Afari, Doris Doris Darkoa Mantey and Kwasi Awuah-Werekoh
The purpose of this paper is to determine the factors that influence patients’ long-term relationship with healthcare providers in healthcare delivery at hospitals.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to determine the factors that influence patients’ long-term relationship with healthcare providers in healthcare delivery at hospitals.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were gathered using 170 patients in a cross-sectional survey with quantitative research methods at a public regional hospital. Results were obtained using descriptive analysis and regression analysis.
Findings
Generally, the study found that the health-related factors (the reception of staff, providers’ attitude, waiting time, competence and expertise and the hospital environment) that influence patients’ long-term relationship with the healthcare providers/hospital were statistically significant (p < 0.001). The findings showed that overall 90.0 per cent of the patients were very satisfied with the overall healthcare services at the hospital.
Research limitations/implications
Limited sample size, lack of examination of healthcare providers’ perspectives and non-application of qualitative methods make it difficult to give a true picture of how these can enhance patients’ intent to keep a long-term relationship with the healthcare providers/hospital.
Practical implications
The paper suggests that health policymakers and practitioners need to enhance measures that will make patients satisfied leading to their long-term commitment and cordial relationship with the healthcare providers/hospital.
Social implications
The study demonstrated how health-related factors will be associated with the patients’ agreement/intent to keep a long-term relationship with their service providers at hospitals. Thus, the overall hypothesis was true that there is a relationship between patients’ satisfaction with the healthcare experienced and their long-term relationship with healthcare providers/hospital.
Originality/value
This is one of the few studies conducted on the topic in the context of Ghana’s health sector. It recommends that there should be a good interpersonal relationship between healthcare providers and patients, as patients’ satisfaction is not based on only receiving treatment at the health facility.
Details
Keywords
Nancy J. Adler and Joyce S. Osland
Whereas most societal commentators continue to review the historical patterns of men’s leadership in search of models for 21st-century success, few have begun to recognize, let…
Abstract
Whereas most societal commentators continue to review the historical patterns of men’s leadership in search of models for 21st-century success, few have begun to recognize, let alone appreciate, the equivalent patterns of women’s leadership and the future contributions that women could potentially make as leaders. What could and are women bringing to society as global leaders? Why at this moment in history is there such a marked increase in the number of women leaders? Are we entering an era in which both male and female leaders will shape history, both symbolically and in reality? And if so, will we discover that women, on average, lead in different ways than men, or will we learn that role (global leader) explains more than gender? This chapter reveals the accelerating trends of women joining men in senior leadership positions, establishes the relationship of women leaders to our overall understanding of global leadership, and sets forth an agenda to accomplish much needed research and understanding.
Details
Keywords
Doris Omerzel Gomezelj and Irena Kušce
This paper aims to analyse the determinants of business start-ups and their impact on entrepreneurial performance. The theoretical part indicates that the importance of small- and…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to analyse the determinants of business start-ups and their impact on entrepreneurial performance. The theoretical part indicates that the importance of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) considers the role of entrepreneur in the business process and provides an overview of theoretical and empirical findings in the main determinants of business start-ups.
Design/methodology/approach
The empirical part is based on quantitative survey results from a model of business start-up factors and relations with the entrepreneurs' performance. The data were analysed using the statistical package for data analysis SPSS for Windows. The factor analysis was performed separately for the set of variables that have measured the reasons for founding the start-up, the personality traits, environmental factors and performance. The paper used a multiple linear regression model to identify the strength, direction and impact of different factors on the start-up performance.
Findings
In general, the study identifies which indicators influence entrepreneurs' performance (personal and business) in the first years of their companies. The paper revealed the heterogeneity of the measures for performance and their different natures (from financial indicators to those related to the entrepreneur satisfaction). Consequently, one of the most significant findings of the research is that, in spite of the fact that the most commonly used indicators for the firm performance in the literature are financial, the paper should not neglect the so-called perceived performance. This is how entrepreneurs are satisfied with their success.
Research limitations/implications
The study is limited to Slovenian SMEs, but can be generalised to other regions. The study offers notable contributions for research and practice (improvements in SME environmental factors).
Practical implications
The personal traits and appropriate business environments can have beneficial effects on the entrepreneur's perceived performance. The findings can be used to guide the government in efficient management of different dimensions of entrepreneur environment.
Originality/value
This study proved the existence of latent elements of the entrepreneur's perceived performance. It gives valuable information, which hopefully will help the policy makers and entrepreneurs to give greater respect to the meaning of critical personal and environmental factors.
Details
Keywords
Written by a librarian and history professor, the purpose of this paper is to describe a collaborative, primary source literacy project and report its effectiveness in teaching…
Abstract
Purpose
Written by a librarian and history professor, the purpose of this paper is to describe a collaborative, primary source literacy project and report its effectiveness in teaching undergraduates to critically analyze information and develop primary source literacy.
Design/methodology/approach
The methodology used included a research project with 24 undergraduates and a pre- and post-survey. The research project and student survey incorporated principles from the “Guidelines for Primary Source Literacy”, published in 2017 by the ACRL’s Rare Books and Manuscripts Section and the Society of American Archivists. The paper offers research and practical implications for librarians and instructors interested in strategies to teach information literacy. For instance, the paper includes a review of literature on “archival intelligence” or “primary source literacy” and describes the 2017 Guidelines for Primary Source Literacy.
Findings
Socially, the paper includes implications for how to create an inclusive learning experience for students with mechanisms such as a scaffolded assignment, hands-on instruction, imposter syndrome awareness and a no-Google policy.
Originality/value
Given that this is one of the first articles to document how practitioners are incorporating the new 2017 Guidelines, this is sure to be an original and valuable essay.
Details
Keywords
Thomas H. Thompson and Kabir Chandra Sen
The authors contrast Beckett and Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA) baseball card valuations. Also, the authors contrast the Bill James statistics for winshares (WIN) and…
Abstract
Purpose
The authors contrast Beckett and Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA) baseball card valuations. Also, the authors contrast the Bill James statistics for winshares (WIN) and reference.com statistics for wins above replacement (WAR).
Design/methodology/approach
This study examines the impact of analytics on Topps 1957 baseball card values.
Findings
The authors' examination of variables that influence Topps 1957 baseball card values yields similar results for mint and very good rated cards over the early period (1982), pre-strike (1989), post-strike (1998) and recent (2009) periods. In single variable and multiple regressions, Baseball Hall of Fame (HOF) membership and New York Yankee (NYY) nostalgia coefficient are significant at the 5% level or higher for mint and very good rated cards over all reported periods. The Brooklyn Dodger (BD) parameter is significant at the 5% level or higher in single variable regressions for all reported periods and for 1982 and 1989 for multiple regressions. Reflecting a lack of nostalgia, the New York Giant card coefficients are statistically insignificant over all periods. Also, the authors see a lack of negative bias for Black-player cards. The authors observe that Black-player card coefficients are positive and sometimes statistically significant. This indicates a positive relationship between Black-player cards and prices.
Originality/value
This is the first study to examine the impact of WINS and WAR analytics on baseball card values.
Details
Keywords
Juliette Summers, Doris Ruth Eikhof and Sara Carter
The purpose of this paper is to critically explore media representations of opting-out and how these present particular professional identities as appropriate career choices for…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to critically explore media representations of opting-out and how these present particular professional identities as appropriate career choices for women. Through an examination of a UK women's magazine the paper looks at how opting-out in favour of work based on traditionally female housewifery skills and attributes is communicated and justified in the texts.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper adopts a social identity approach to a qualitative content analysis of 17 consecutive monthly magazine features.
Findings
While the magazine frames women's career choices as unlimited, identity is presented as gendered, biologically fixed and therefore inescapable. The magazine presents opting out as an appropriate route for women based on a “female identity” grounded in traditional female attributes of caring, hosting, baking, etc. However, this leaves women's work open to potentially negative interpretations of these traditional female attributes. The texts appeal to a post-feminist discourse and imply that problems experienced by women in public sphere careers are partly the outcome of the feminism of the 1960s and 1970s.
Research limitations/implications
Future research should study how readers interpret the texts.
Originality/value
The paper demonstrates the explanatory potential of using of a social identity approach in the analysis of media texts.
Details
Keywords
George Cheney, Matt Noyes, Emi Do, Marcelo Vieta, Joseba Azkarraga and Charlie Michel