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This study uncovers the challenges and coping mechanisms related to stigma and discrimination experienced by gay professional team sport athletes.

Utilizing interpretive phenomenological analysis, this study recruited six gay athletes in professional team sports. Data were collected through virtual one-on-one semi-structured interviews, along with field notes and reflexive journaling, and were thematically analyzed.

The first theme highlights the discrimination and marginalization experienced by gay athletes in professional team sports, as well as the perceived differences between these athletes and their heterosexual counterparts. The second theme includes anecdotes illustrating their experiences of exclusion, along with counter-stories that resist marginalization. The last theme comprises stories that underscore the lack of acceptance and advocacy, emphasizing the awareness education aimed at making the sporting realm more inclusive.

Despite the extensive recruiting efforts for this study, numerous sports and countries remain unexplored. Follow-up studies are required to fill this gap. As this study was initiated, additional research is needed to provide information on athletes who are still in the closet. Cross-comparisons between gay athletes and their heterosexual teammates can help bridge the gap in perspectives.

Participants emphasized collective efforts in creating inclusive and welcoming environments for gay athletes, including anti-discrimination policies related to language use, showers and relocation adjustments.

Participants have put forth concrete recommendations for enhancing inclusivity within team sport environments and society at large, including proposals for early educational initiatives within the school systems.

This is the first empirical study that focuses on the experiences of gay professional team sport athletes.

The objective of this study is to investigate an appropriate breast prosthesis of pattern with center of gravity that exerts less clothing pressure on women who are breast cancer patients.

From November 2018, clothing pressure was measured with silk fabric breast prosthesis (SBP) of three different patterns above an affected breast (AB) by the force-sensitive resistance (FSR) sensor.

When wearing SBP above the AB, clothing pressure was significantly different in the healthy breast (HB) and the AB; the highest clothing pressure was at the center of nipple in the AB. Meanwhile, the top of the nipple area in the HB experienced higher clothing pressure than before wearing it. Because wearing heavy breast prosthesis presses down, influencing the HB as well. However, below the bottom of the breast bra curve in the AB, clothing pressure becomes lower than before wearing it. Because when the breast prosthesis was inserted into the bra, the clothing pressure not only increased generally but also the clothing pressure divided at some areas. Also, when comparing three different patterns of SBP, the result indicated a significant difference in clothing pressure only inside of breast cap and the center of gravity of the lower breast prosthesis has the lowest clothing pressure.

A comparison in pressure based on a circuit design (FSR sensors) and an air pack (AP) device was presented. Further work will be focused on the generation of pressure clothing for breast cancer patients.

The paper demonstrates that wearing breast prosthesis with a center of gravity in the lower position from the nipple area has less effect on breast cancer women. The results of this paper facilitate the pattern design of clothing for patients.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse whether internet experience, process quality, outcome quality, customer satisfaction, and post‐use expectations affect the consistent use of health information online by Chinese internet users and how these factors are related to one another.

Data were collected from 219 Chinese university students who are currently using, or have used, the health information services available on the internet. Tertiary students were selected because they are active internet users who frequently use the internet to search for information.

Internet experience affects process quality, but it has no direct relation to outcome quality or customer satisfaction. Process quality determines customer satisfaction toward health information available on the internet and influences the outcome quality; however, the outcome quality is not related to customer satisfaction. The decision to reuse health information found on the internet is influenced by both customer satisfaction and post‐use expectations. The customers' post‐use expectations are primarily influenced by customer satisfaction.

For a successful internet business, internet marketers should recognise that service quality includes both process quality and outcome quality and plan new campaigns that take this factor into consideration. Tracking post‐use expectations can help predict, with reasonable accuracy, the relationship between customer satisfaction and retention of health information found on the internet.

This study provides a better understanding about the users of health information found on the internet in China by taking into account the above‐mentioned factors: internet experience, post‐use expectation, process quality, and outcome quality.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze maritime logistics connectivity of ports and shipping networks in the East Sea Economic Rim (ESER) to promote international trade in the context of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), considering centrality, primary flow and clustering interaction.

The paper applies a complex network model, using a big data system consisting of an automated identification system, electronic data interchange and distributive and complex data. Three perspectives, including connectivity in trading ports and regions, centralities in the realm of complex network and potential marketing and regional impacts, and sixteen criteria are considered for this analysis. A visual approach has been also applied to highlight port connectivity and ship flows for the reader’s convenience.

The paper shows that port connectivity and maritime logistics are enablers to promote Korean international trade in Northeast China through the ESER, and 25 major ports are well connected to promote international trade in the region with visual data of ship flows by ship type and by flag.

Owing to the lack of port management information systems among the countries in the ESER except Korea and Japan, this paper could not capture cargo types and amounts on board. Port connectivity analysis shows links of the ports in the ESER to major ports in southeast Asia along the Twenty-first Century Maritime Silk Road (MSR). These results contribute to drawing policy implications to promote the ESER and provide suggestions for promoting Korean international trade by enhancing maritime logistics connectivity.

Unlike the existing literature showing descriptive and policy-oriented research related to ESER, this paper applied a vigorous method with a big amount of data to analyze port connectivity and ship flows in the ESER, considering China’s BRI affecting the global supply chain system, maritime transportation, and logistics. In addition, the paper shows how the seaports in the ESER are connected along the MSR.

The maritime freight transportation industry has played an important role in the Korean economy. The Korean maritime freight transportation industry is faced with a period of transforming it competitively and efficiently in this global age. This paper, therefore, aims to identify the impact of the maritime freight transportation industry in the Korean national economy. Hence, this paper provides policy-makers with accessible and reliable information regarding the role of the Korean maritime freight transportation industry. This study employs input-output (I-O) analysis to examine the role of the maritime freight transportation industry in the national economy for the period 1995-2003, with specific application to Korea. This study pays particular attention to the maritime freight transportation industry by taking the industry as exogenous variable and then investigates its economic impacts. We identify inter-industry linkage effects in 20 sectors, production-inducing effects, added value-inducing effects, and supply-shortage effects of the maritime freight transportation industry.

Purpose – To understand women's participation in domestic and global sex (entertainment) industries in South Korea, this study proposes an integrative theoretical framework of political economy with three analytical dimensions: position in the world-system, local patriarchy, and the state policies.

Method/approach – The theory that seeks to understand the South Korean government's policy on prostitution is formulated based on reviews of transnational and global research on gender and sex work, local patriarchy, and political economy of world-system. Two historical examples of the sex industry, businesses near U.S. military camps on the Korean peninsula and Korean prostitutes in several cities of Japan, are used to illustrate the theory. The data for these cases were collected from a variety of sources including government and nongovernment documents, newspaper articles, film, and demographic information.

Findings – The application of the theoretical frame makes it possible to understand the socioeconomic and political contexts in which South Korean society, as a semiperipheral nation, has produced a vast number of women in the sex industry.

Practical implications – When the government's policy emphasizes rapid economic growth viewing women as a source of revenue, it will be difficult to understand marginalization of women's status in informal sectors and massive production of prostitutes in domestic and transnational scale.

Value of study – Using a macro and structural perspective, this study sheds light on the transnational/global nature of the prostitution industry, and specifically the role of the state, and local patriarchy in the globalizing South Korean sex industry.

The aim of this paper is to present a comprehensive analysis of risk management in East Asia from 1998 to 2021 by using bibliometric methods and tools to explore research trends, hotspots, and directions for future research.

The data source for this paper is the Web of Science Core Collection, and 7,154 publications and related information have been derived. We use recognized bibliometric indicators to evaluate publications and visually analyze them through scientific mapping tools (VOS Viewer and CiteSpace).

The analysis results show that China is the most productive and influential country/region. East Asia countries have strong cooperation with each other and also have cooperation with other countries. The study shows that risk management has been involved in various fields such as credit, supply chain, health emergency and disaster especially in the background of COVID-19. We also found that machine learning, especially deep learning, has been playing an increasingly important role in risk management due to its excellent performance.

This paper focuses on studying risk management in East Asia, exploring its publication's fundamental information, citation and cooperation networks, hotspots, and research trends. It provides some reference value for scholars who are interested or further research in this field.