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Recent years have seen the development of new approaches to the study of gender and sexuality in childhood, with attention given to socio-historical, cultural and political contexts. This chapter aims to contribute towards a limited field of research on queer childhood and youth in Central Asia by considering how narratives of queer childhood in Kazakhstan are culturally produced. This chapter draws on the material from in-depth interviews of 11 queer people living in Kazakhstan, focussing on their narratives of childhood. The study exposes the effect of silence about non-heteronormative identities in Kazakhstan on queer children. Narratives of bullying and managing school violence are explored along with narratives of queer childhood within the families of origin. Lastly, the chapter foregrounds instances of agency and resilience, considering how queer children manage to steer themselves away from being an ‘impossible subject’ and contest dominant societal attitudes and discourses.

This study aims to propose a method known as the fuzzy technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (fuzzy TOPSIS) for complex project selection in organizations. To fulfill study objectives, the factors responsible for making a project complex are collected through literature review, which is then analyzed by fuzzy TOPSIS, based on three decision-makers’ opinions.

The selection of complex projects is a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) process for global organizations. Traditional procedures for selecting complex projects are not adequate due to the limitations of linguistic assessment. To crossover such limitation, this study proposes the fuzzy MCDM method to select complex projects in organizations.

A large-scale engine manufacturing company, engaged in the energy business, is studied to validate the suitability of the fuzzy TOPSIS method and rank eight projects of the case company based on project complexity. Out of these eight projects, the closeness coefficient of the most complex project is found to be 0.817 and that of the least complex project is found to be 0.274. Finally, study outcomes are concluded in the conclusion section, along with study limitations and future works.

The outcomes from this research may not be generalized sufficiently due to the subjectivity of the interviewers. The study outcomes support project managers to optimize their project selection processes, especially to select complex projects. The presented methodology can be used extensively used by the project planners/managers to find the driving factors related to project complexity.

The presented study deliberately explained how complex projects in an organization could be select efficiently. This selection methodology supports top management to maintain their proposed projects with optimum resource allocations and maximum productivity.

The purpose of this study is to describe the design and validation of a three-dimensional (3D)-printed phantom of a uterus to support the development of uterine balloon tamponade devices conceived to stop post-partum haemorrhages (PPHs).

The phantom 3D model is generated by analysing the main requirements for validating uterine balloon tamponade devices. A modular approach is implemented to guarantee that the phantom allows testing these devices under multiple working conditions. Once finalised the design, the phantom effectiveness is validated experimentally.

The modular phantom allows performing the required measurements for testing the performance of devices designed to stop PPH.

PPH is the leading obstetric cause of maternal death worldwide, mainly in low- and middle-income countries. The proposed phantom could speed up and optimise the design and validation of devices for PPH treatment, reducing the maternal mortality ratio.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the 3D-printed phantom represents the first example of a modular, flexible and transparent uterus model. It can be used to validate and perform usability tests of medical devices.

This study investigated the effects of reward system (RS) and job conditions (JC) on employee retention (ER). In particular, this study addressed the mediating effect of employee engagement (EE) on the relationship between RS, JC and ER.

This paper employed descriptive survey approach and the unit of analysis consisted of public hospital nursing staff. Data were collected using questionnaires with a sample of 370 nurse respondents. Structural equation modelling with Smart-Partial Least Squares (PLS) 3.3.8 was used in a statistical analysis.

The results revealed that RS and JC significantly related to ER. The study also showed the direct effect of RS and JC on EE. These findings indicate that (EE) has a partial mediating role in the relationship between RS, JC and ER.

The study offers important policy insights for public nursing stakeholders who seek to increase retention of skills among their nursing staff. The findings are also crucial because they may help the health sector improve their ER strategies, especially in dynamic and competitive business situations where organisations are challenged to retain personnel from a limited skilled workforce.

The findings of this study contribute to the literature on retention of nursing employees by enhancing the understanding of the influences of EE, RS and JC on ER among public hospitals.

Building upon the practice-based framework, this paper aims to focus on working practices for understanding how knowledge is transferred among health-care professionals within hospitals.

Using an ethnographic and interpretative approach, the authors conducted preliminary research based on a quali-quantitative methodology within one of the largest hospitals in Southern Italy.

This study allowed to achieve several results that could be significant and relevant within the health-care sector. First, this paper identified some of the main working practices and their associated activities in health care. Moreover, this paper identified the main organizational forms and/or tools enabling hospital personnel to share and learn the various types of knowledge for each of the prior identified practices.

Hospital managers should develop strategies and policies that take into account the nature and typology of knowledge-sharing processes among health-care professionals in terms of practices.

The paper contributes to practice-based studies identifying identified some of the main working practices, as well as the main tools for sharing and learning of the various types of knowledge.

Following the recent global financial crisis, US regulatory agencies issued laws to implement the Basel III accords to ensure the resiliency of the US banking sector. Theories predict that enhanced regulations may alter credit issuance of the regulated banks due to increased capital requirements, but the direction of changes might not be straightforward especially with respect to the agricultural loans. A decrease in credit availability from banks might pose a serious problem for farmers who rely on bank credit especially during economic recessions. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

In this study, the impact of Basel III regulatory framework implementation on agricultural lending in the USA is examined. Using panel data of FDIC-insured banks from 2008 to 2017, the agricultural loan volume and growth rates are examined for agricultural banks and all US banks.

The results show that agricultural loan growth rates have slowed down, but the amount of agricultural loan volume issuance still remained positive. More detailed examination finds that regulated agricultural banks have decreased both the agricultural loan volume and their loan exposure to the agricultural sector, showing a possible sign of credit crunch.

This study examines whether the implementation of the Basel III regulation has resulted in changes in agricultural loan issuance by US banks as predicted by the lending channel theory.

This paper aims to investigate the relationship between employee training and bank risk to verify whether and to what extent an increase in employee training, as a soft component of total quality management (TQM), affects bank risk.

The research adopts a panel regression, based on a unique dataset of a sample of Italian banks over the period 2011–2018, to test whether employee training affects bank risk, measured alternatively in terms of Z-score, a proxy of bank stability and non-performing loans (NPLs)/gross loans ratio as a proxy of credit risk.

Research findings reveal that increasing employee training leads to growing bank stability. In contrast, credit risk is not affected by employee training. However, by investigating training heterogeneity, this study found that the increase in the number of managerial training hours, as a proxy for soft skills training, negatively impacts credit risk. Therefore, an increase in soft skills leads to a reduction in bank credit risk.

This study provides empirical evidence in support of the relationship between employee training and bank risk, which seems novel in the literature. From a managerial point of view, this study highlights the need for banks to pay attention to the skills, particularly soft skills, that banks' employees must possess to effectively manage bank risk and, more specifically, the core bank risk.

Empirical evidence on the relationship between employee training, soft/hard skills and bank risk appears limited if not absent. Therefore, the findings provide insights for a more nuanced interpretation of variables that affect bank risk.

Solid, liquid and e-waste pose serious health hazards, environmental pollution and contribute to climate change. To address these issues of solid waste management (SWM), amidst many policy decisions, the Government of India roped in several institutions, including self-help groups (SHGs), into the Swachh Bharat Movement (Clean India Mission). This study aims to illustrate the significant contributions of SHG’s in tackling SWM, particularly the plastic waste menace in India, while fostering socio-economic values and sustainable development goals (SDGs).

Using a from-the-field approach, qualitative data were collected from 30 members of three SHGs to understand their significant contributions in mitigating plastic waste.

This research identifies three major themes: economic value creation, social value creation and SDGs via collection and reduction of plastic waste landfills. Furthermore, several related subthemes are identified.

This study offers pragmatic solutions to deal with plastic waste at personal, community, institutional and governmental levels. Moreover, it recommends engaging SHGs to promote sustainable waste management practices such as segregating wastes at source, regulating plastic bag usage, advocating behavioural change towards waste generation and protecting the environment.

The authors consider a proven case of SHG’s contribution to protect the environment and emphasize the need to involve more such groups in waste management practices.

The food industry is continuously developing its online services called food delivery applications (FDAs). This study aims to evaluate FDA's importance–performance and identify strategies to maximize its potential gains from a business partner's perspective.

Data are collected from 208 FDA partners in Indonesia. Importance–performance analysis (IPA) is applied to evaluate the FDA feature and extended the theory of potential gain in customer value (PGCV) to achieve potential gains from FDA business partners.

This study provides a clear and measurable direction for future research to develop FDA performance. Owning customer data, revenue sharing and competitive advantage are the most potential gains from joining the FDA from the business partner perspective.

The respondents are restaurants from the micro, small, and medium enterprises levels. Further research should involve middle to upper level restaurants to discover all business partners' perceptions. This will be very helpful for FDA providers interested in improving the best performance for all their partners.

FDA providers must focus on improving and maintaining the features of owning customer data, revenue sharing, competitive advantage, stable terms and conditions, customer interface, building customer loyalty, online presence, user credit rating, promotion and offers, delivery service and sales enhancement to increase consumer satisfaction and meet the expectations desired by business partners.

This research provides a meaningful theoretical foundation for future work. It extends the theory of PGCV using the value of a partner perspective as a substitute for customer value; hence, the authors call it a potential gain in partner value.

The aim of this case study is to describe what commitment and actions are needed in the Swedish school so that principals — within the Swedish school policy framework and with the goal of creating an inclusive school culture and practice — can positively affect schooling for students with disabilities, with a particular focus on students with autism spectrum conditions (ASC). Three research questions guide the study: (1) What commitment and actions do principals consider important for developing an inclusive school for all students, with a particular focus on students with ASC? (2) How do the principals reflect on their own leadership in the development of inclusive education, with a particular focus on students with ASC? (3) Based on the results, what are the implications of the study in practice?

As part of a three-step data collection method, a snowball sampling was conducted in which n = 6 principals were initially interviewed and the data analyzed by an inductive thematic content analysis.

(1) Certain structures are needed when planning how to develop mutual values when organizing an inclusive school involving students with ASC, (2) the principals could, at times, feel a sense of loneliness in relation to their superiors and decision-makers and (3) more accountability from educators and greater consideration for the student perspective in decision-making are needed.

It was found that (1) certain structures are needed when planning how to develop mutual values when organizing an inclusive school involving students with ASC, (2) the principals could, at times, feel a sense of isolation in relation to their superiors and decision-makers and (3) more accountability from educators and greater consideration for the student perspective in decision-making are needed.

Index for inclusion and elements from the inclusive leadership model were used in the data collection and analysis.