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Past studies have shown wide variation in the obesity rates of Asian American ethnic subgroups. However, whether weight-related behaviors that occur during acculturation are associated with obesity disparities among Asian American ethnic subgroups is unknown. This study examines the differences in body mass index (BMI) across Asian American ethnic subgroups and assesses how acculturation and weight-related behaviors influence these differences. The linear regression models employed in this study use data pools from 2011 to 2014 released by the California Health Interview Survey (CHIS). The sample comprises 3,248 foreign-born Asian Americans aged 18–59 years. Asian Americans who spoke fluent English had significantly lower BMIs than those who spoke poor English, but English fluency did not explain body size disparities among Asian American ethnic subgroups. Filipino Americans had the highest average BMI (25.89 kg/m²) and obesity rate (53.12%), and they were particularly prone to engage in unhealthy weight-related behaviors, such as consuming fast food, drinking soda, and engaging in sedentary lifestyles. However, weight-related behaviors did not explain their high risk of obesity compared to other Asian American ethnic subgroups. The results underscore the potential for misinterpretation when pan-ethnic labels, such as Asian American, collapse the unique experiences of different immigrant origin groups. Future research may investigate whether other factors that affect the acculturation process, such as attitudes, self-identity, beliefs, or experiences with racism and discrimination, explain obesity disparities among Asian American ethnic subgroups.

The purpose of this study is to explore the impact of mental health on the job performance among nurses, how shiftwork affects the impact and how social support alters it.

Data were collected through a questionnaire survey from 683 Indian nurses working in multiple hospitals in two major cities in Northern India. Descriptive statistics, correlations and hierarchical regressions were employed to investigate the links between job stress, emotional exhaustion and job performance along with the simultaneous moderating effects of shiftwork and social support on this relationship.

Both job stress and emotional exhaustion were negatively related to job performance. However, three-way interaction analysis revealed that social support moderated the above relationships differently between shift workers and day workers. Social support significantly altered the pattern of the relationship between the independent and dependent variables among day workers but had no impact in mitigating the relationship among shift workers.

The findings endorsed the usefulness of the stress theory, burnout theory, the conservation of resources model and the social support resource theory in modeling the phenomenon and explaining the behavior of day workers but not that of shift workers.

It paved the way for evidence-based practices in health-care management.

This study extends theoretical predictions to India and demonstrates their global portability. It focuses on shiftwork and social support as simultaneous moderators, and through a unique three-way analysis, documents complex interaction patterns that have hitherto been unrecorded. It also brings scholarly attention to the nursing population in India whose organizational behavior is poorly documented in the empirical literature.

This policy paper compares the performance of state-owned enterprise (SOEs) versus private firms in selected emerging economies in Asia, focusing on a number of performance indicators. The indicators are internationally recognized quality innovation, product and/or service innovation, financing of operations, dealing with government regulations and labor performance. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, there has been no such comparative study for these indicators between SOEs and private firms and across countries. Most studies of SOEs have been national case studies. As such, they give us little knowledge of how a country compares with other countries at similar stages of economic development. A cross-country comparative analysis can help us identify broader trends and patterns.

The authors compare and discuss the performance of SOEs versus private firms in a number of emerging Asian countries, namely China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam. To do so, the authors use data from the 2018 World Bank Enterprise Survey (which is the latest available) for the period 2012–2015. The authors focus on a number of key performance indicators, namely internationally recognized quality innovation, product and/or service innovation, financing of operations, dealing with government regulations and labor performance.

The comparative analysis uncovers some interesting differences between the two types of firms. For example, somewhat surprisingly, SOEs tend to innovate more than private firms. However, the single most significant pattern the authors find is that in middle-income Asia both types of firms face formidable challenges with respect to doing business – e.g. scarcity of relevant training programs for employees. Therefore, the priority of policymakers must be to improve the overall business environment for all firms, regardless of their ownership structure.

The nature of this paper is a policy paper. This is because the data used in this study is survey data, conducted every four–five years (or more) for each country in the study and available for very few countries. As the data are not available for a continuous period of time, The authors could not conduct empirical research for this topic and thus made it a policy paper that presents a comparison across Asian countries as case studies.

The five selected Asian countries are interesting case studies for a comparative analysis since they are middle-income countries where SOEs play a significant role in the economy. Furthermore, state ownership is an important institutional dimension in emerging markets, and strong ties with the government can influence the performance of SOEs through various market and non-market channels. Despite the potential importance of the research theme, there is very little existing research on cross-country comparisons of the performance of SOEs vis-à-vis private firms. This could be explained by scarce data availability. With this in mind, the study attempts to shed some light on SOEs' performance and add to the rather limited literature.

The aim of this paper is to determine the essential features of information literacy; what role it should play in university library user education; and how programs can be best implemented.

The researchers systemically surveyed and reviewed publications related to information literacy and library user education.

It was found that a well‐designed information literacy program benefits the library and its staff, faculty, and students; librarians should play a leading role in the design and operation of programs, but collaboration with faculty, IT professionals and students is essential; programs should be embedded in the curriculum, be largely cooperative, and be problem‐based; evaluation and assessment are essential components; emphasis should be placed on first‐year students; and, ideally, the librarians will turn into educators and the library will become a learning center combining learning, research and technology.

This paper reflects the opinions of the researchers and the authors of the reviewed literature who have insights into the issues related to information literacy and library user education. These opinions present useful guidelines for both librarian and teacher practitioners.

This paper provides a point of view on the relationship between information literacy and library user education in the six themes described above.

This investigation examined the challenges faced by women in leadership positions in the US construction industry. The overall purpose of this study was to gain a better understanding of the challenges, and identify suitable practices, strategies and suggestions to support the employment and retention of women in the US construction industry.

Using a qualitative approach, the authors distributed a survey to the target audience composed of women leaders in the US construction industry, and 14 participants completed the survey.

The outcomes of the study revealed the following challenges: negative perceptions of women in the industry manifested through discrimination and hostility; a stressful work environment that does not promote a good work-life balance; and a lack of role models that impacts women’s retention and career development in the construction industry.

This study discusses possible strategies and recommendations for women in construction to rise through the ranks of power within the industry.

The accuracy of consumer price knowledge is dependent on numerous factors. This study examined the effect of some variables related to consumers' attitudes towards prices and some demographic variables on price knowledge. Results showed that consumers were more knowledgeable about the relationships between the prices of competitor brands than about the actual prices in themselves. When certain error margins were allowed, the differences between absolute and relative price knowledge were not as evident. In addition, the accuracy of consumer knowledge of prices was found to be dependent on how much importance they placed on price, and it influenced subjects' perceptions of themselves as shoppers. In this study, women and people with low income level were more knowledgeable about prices. The statistical effects and relationships between these variables were analyzed taking into account the economic, social, and cultural setting in which the research was conducted.

This paper aims to investigate the moderating effect of political instability and regulatory obstacles on the relationship between corruption and export intensity in the context of Tunisian small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

This study uses data from the World Bank Enterprise Survey (WBES). The sample consists of 537 Tunisian SMEs. The partial least squares method was used to analyse the data.

The direct effect of corruption on export intensity was found to be non-significant. It was significantly negative when corruption was combined with regulatory obstacles, whereas it was positive when corruption coexisted with political instability. Additional analyses revealed that results were sensitive to firm size (small versus medium) and sector of activity (service versus manufacturing).

This paper has some limitations related to the use of secondary data. Enhanced variable measurements and more detailed data collection are recommended for future studies.

This paper is useful to researchers and policymakers who are interested in understanding the effects of a poor institutional environment on SME exports in developing countries.

This paper considers the impact of corruption on the export intensity of SMEs in the presence of political instability and regulatory obstacles in Tunisia. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the joint effect of these institutional variables on the exports of firms has not been examined in previous research.

This chapter of the book aims to introduce multiobjective linear programming (MLP) as an optimum tool to find the best quality engineering techniques (QET) in the main domains of supply chain management (SCM). The importance of finding the best quality techniques in SCM elements in the shortest possible time and at the least cost allows all organizations to increase the power of experts’ analysis in supply chain network (SCN) data under cost-effective conditions. In other words, this chapter aims to introduce an operations research model by presenting MLP for obtaining the best QET in the main domains of SCM. MLP is one of the most determinative tools in this chapter that can provide a competitive advantage. Under goal and system constraints, the most challenging task for decision-makers (DMs) is to decide which components to fund and at what levels. The definition of a comprehensive target value among the required goals and determining system constraints is the strength of this chapter. Therefore, this chapter can guide the readers to extract the best statistical and non-statistical techniques with the application of an operations research model through MLP in supply chain elements and shows a new innovation of the effective application of operations research approach in this field. The analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is a supplemental tool in this chapter to facilitate the relevant decision-making process.