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The purpose of this paper is to report on the journey, by the Access to Communication and Technology (ACT) Service, towards a suitable measure for use in evaluating the outcome of provision of an environmental control (EC) system.

This journey has involved various approaches and methodologies. A literature search together with qualitative research, by the first author, demonstrated that the power of EC provision lies in the psycho‐social domain. Subsequently, ACT evaluated the 26‐item Psycho‐social Impact of Assistive Devices Scale (PIADS), as a research project. This was deemed to be not fit for the purpose of outcome measure in routine clinical practice. During the course of this ACT research project, a shortened version of PIADS (the PIADS‐10) was developed at the University of Western Ontario.

ACT has concluded that the PIADS‐10 is more likely to be fit for purpose, as it is shorter, more understandable for the patient, and easier for the clinician to administer.

Service providers and commissioners should consider PIADS‐10 as a means to evaluate outcome in EC.

The UK government is committed to preventative technologies and increasingly they are being incorporated into residential services for people with learning disabilities. This paper describes an evaluation of a sample of settings in which various assistive technology (AT) devices have been installed following the assessment of individual residents' needs. The impact of this on residents' objective quality of life was assessed using a range of quantitative measures and through some qualitative questions. Despite some positive consequences of the AT being reported by staff in response to the qualitative items, there was no significant impact on any of the quantitative measures. In isolation, AT does not appear to be sufficient to significantly improve objective quality of life outcomes for people with learning disabilities in residential services. Equally, AT does not appear to reduce objective quality of life outcomes. The challenge to service providers is to ensure that the introduction of AT and any associated change to staffing levels or support procedures translates into improvements in residents' overall quality of life. To detect such improvements future research might have to broaden the range of quantitative methods used and supplement them with qualitative techniques.

Economists have recognized knowledge management as a promising tool regarding all aspects of the economy, including health care. The volume of biomedical literature is currently growing at an exponential rate, and the vast number of studies makes it extremely difficult for researchers to keep up with new developments in their research areas. Therefore, the efficient management of huge amounts of data and the accuracy of the knowledge thus obtained are vital concerns. Electronic health (e-health) has emerged as a useful concept to provide data for solo self-care management. Although health care is a common topic on the internet, patients rarely share their health care-related knowledge on social media. This study aims to examine the impact of knowledge on e-health.

This paper complies with the methodological requirements of systematic literature reviews. The present paper has investigated the newest systems and studied their practical techniques in detail. The effects of knowledge on e-health have been categorized into major groups.

The outcomes indicate that the capabilities of information and communication technology certainly promote the exchange of knowledge within clinics. The results also show that institutional architectures have significant impacts on knowledge-sharing exercises, significantly improving patient safety.

These findings will be essential in the understanding of the interplay among various signals in theory and in the understanding of patients’ choice in the e-health community in practice. The results have implications for existing health management and e-health literature. The present paper will help policymakers, health-care executives and project managers to effectively set their operations and make them maintainable, prevent unpredicted obstacles and better allocate their resources. Overall, the results of this paper will guide researchers who are working in the field of e-health.

E-health attempts have mostly focused on answering questions using context-specific technical answers, regardless of the key role of knowledge resources. The present paper has provided an innovative viewpoint on how knowledge resources and knowledge-sharing initiatives may have a role in the innovative work behaviors shown by health-care employees. As noted before, there have been only a few studies regarding the effects of knowledge on health care, so the present paper contributes to the previous literature, particularly about e-health.

In India, one of the prime focuses of a post-graduate management program is to prepare students and make them job-ready. Masters in Business Management (MBA) program helps students to imbibe theoretical and practical skills which are required by the industry, which can make them hit the ground running from the day they start their career. Many students (almost 40–50%) get pre-placement offers based on their performance in summer internship. The selection for summer interns by the corporate happens within a few months of the student joining the MBA program. Signaling theory in education indicates that the level of productivity of an individual is independent of education, but the educational qualification acts as a testimony for higher ability. However, this theory does not explain the reason for the mismatch between “education and work” or “education and the disparity in salary” between individuals who earn differently but have the same qualification. The paper aims to explore three attributes namely – “employability”– the chance of being employable; “pre-placement offers” – the chance of securing a job offer based on the performance in internship and “salary” – the chance of bagging a good job offer with a high salary.

The authors have used longitudinal data consisting of 1,202 students who graduated from reputable business schools (B-Schools) in India. In the study, the authors have used predictive analytics on six years data set that have been gathered. The authors have considered 24 attributes including educational background at the graduate level (BE, B Tech, B Com, BSc, BBA and others), score secured in class ten (high, medium and low), score secured in class twelve (high, medium and low), score secured in graduation (high, medium and low), competency in soft skills (high, medium and low), participation in co-curricular activities (high, medium and low) and social engagement status (high, medium and low).

The findings of the study contradict the signaling theory in education. The findings suggest that the educational qualification alone cannot be the predictor of the employability and the salary offered to the student. The authors note that the better performance at a lower level of qualification (class 12) is the strong predictor in comparison to the student performance at their graduation and post-graduation level. The authors further observed at the post-graduate management education level that soft skills and participation in co-curricular activities are the major deciding factors to predict employability and pre-placement job opportunity and marks secured in class 12 is one more factor that gets added to this list to predict salary. The paper can immensely help management graduates to focus on key aspects that can help to hone appropriate skills and also can help management institutions to select the right students for management programs.

The analysis and the predictive model may apply to Indian B-Schools wherein the quality of students are almost the same or better. Predictive analytics has been used to explain the employability of management graduates alone and not any other.

The authors' study might be useful for those students who often fail to understand “what” skills are the most important predictors of their performance in the pre-placement and final-placement interviews. Moreover, the study may serve as a useful guide to those organizations that often face dilemmas to understand “how” to select an ideal candidate for the particular job profile from a campus.

The authors believe that the current study is one of the few studies that have attempted to examine the employability of management graduates using predictive analytics. The study further contradicts that the signaling theory in education does not help better explain the employability of the students in extremely high-paced business environments.

The Piedmont region in Northern Italy stretches from the Southern slopes of the Alps across the upper reaches of the alluvial Po valley to beyond Turin. It is very varied, but mainly of agricultural vocation, the principal produce being wine, rice and maize. From just North of Ivrea, where the Olivetti headquarters are situated, to Cavaglia, there is a long, forested moraine called La Serra, from which the plain starts. It was on a crystal‐clear December day that we visited the Teknecomp headquarters in Cavaglia: the snow‐covered Alps beyond La Serra looked as if they were only a short distance away in the dazzling sunlight, contrasted by the intense blue of the sky. It was hard to believe that only a couple of hours beforehand we were in a howling blizzard as we entered the Grand St Bernard tunnel!

This study aims to explore the influence of perceived value, enjoyment and novelty of fast-food chains’ smart retailing technology (SRT) on Filipino consumers’ attitude and loyalty.

Purposive sampling was used in identifying the respondents (N = 343). The participants were composed of consumers of the leading fast-food chains in the Philippines, where SRT using self-service ordering kiosks is being implemented. The hypotheses were explored using partial least squares path modeling, and predictive-causal was the study’s research design.

The results reveal that, among the factors, perceived enjoyment substantially contributes to the formation of favorable consumers’ attitude toward SRT. Moreover, perceived value was found to have a moderate effect on attitude while perceived novelty showed small impact. In terms of consumers’ attitude and loyalty, the two variables were found to have large positive and significant relationship. The moderation analysis shows that consumers’ attitude toward SRT has medium indirect effect on the relationship between perceived enjoyment and loyalty, while there is small indirect influence on the links between perceived value and loyalty, and between perceived novelty and loyalty.

As more and more fast-food establishments are adopting the use of SRT via self-ordering kiosks, the present study is the only study in the Philippine context that explores how perceived value, enjoyment and novelty affect consumers’ attitude and loyalty.

Circuit Technology, now in its fourth year, is still an event concentrating exclusively on PCB technology, production equipment and processes. Nevertheless, the organisers believe that Circuit Technology '86 will derive great benefit from participation in the UK's largest electronics gathering, The British Electronics Week.

The wisdom of developmental activities that propose voluminous increase in the built infrastructure is questionable. These can seriously undermine the ability of quintessential small cities to retain the sociocultural and people centric character leading to a saner lifestyle in comparison to the burgeoning metros. This study is based in Nagpur, a Grade II city of central India. It presents a comparative analysis of three unique housing neighbourhoods developed in distinct temporal periods: historic, pre-globalisation, and post-globalisation. It focuses upon seminal parameters that are intrinsic to emotional well-being of residents and encourage positive behavioural responses. The methodology follows a qualitative approach through a study of morphological maps, non-participatory observation, and photo documentation. An argument is developed for a comprehensive urban development process, based upon respect for intrinsic socio-cultural values. It emphasises the need to celebrate and rejuvenate the thread of continuum for betterment of small cities. This enquiry resolves that to make a city smart and sustainable, efforts at people centricity are imperative along with ICT and other smart technologies of the future.

Since its advent in 1983, Circuit Technology has gone from strength to strength, as indicated by visitor attendance which increased from 3000 in 1983 to over 6000 in 1984. Predictions are that, with the larger venue at Olympia's National Hall, previous attendance figures will be exceeded many times at Circuit Technology '85.