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1 – 10 of over 28000

Abstract

Details

Mixed Race Life Stories
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80071-049-8

Article
Publication date: 27 September 2023

Dean Wilkinson, Alison Thompson, Debbie Kerslake, Isha Chopra and Sophie Badger

The purpose of this paper was to report on the evaluation of the network and resources for violence prevention and reduction in the chosen area of focus. This area had experiences…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper was to report on the evaluation of the network and resources for violence prevention and reduction in the chosen area of focus. This area had experiences deprivation, significant implications due to Covid-19 restrictions and a lack of outdoor recreation space.

Design/methodology/approach

Network analysis methodologies are increasingly being used in criminological research and evaluations to assess the structures of social and economic networks. This study explored, using a mixed-methods network analysis methodology, the nature of the established violence reduction network in a specific geographical location in West Midlands.

Findings

A breadth of network activity is taking place across the community; however, the network analysis highlighted gaps in terms of specialist provision for early years and support from those with lived experience. It was perceived that a lack of continuity, in terms of changes in key roles, has affected the network. Funding mechanisms were perceived ineffective, and not encouraging of development of localisation services. Relationships between network members were predominantly positive with organisations having good communication and accessing support from one another; however, identifying shared goals and better collective working would benefit the network.

Originality/value

This study pioneers using an innovative, mixed methods network analysis to explore a public health approach to violence prevention and reduction. Quantitative data collection and analysis allowed for assessment of the networks capacity and density, whereas qualitative data provided insights and detailed accounts of how the network functions.

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 24 October 2023

Tinna Dögg Sigurdardóttir, Adrian West and Gisli Hannes Gudjonsson

This study aims to examine the scope and contribution of Forensic Clinical Psychology (FCP) advice from the National Crime Agency (NCA) to criminal investigations in the UK to…

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to examine the scope and contribution of Forensic Clinical Psychology (FCP) advice from the National Crime Agency (NCA) to criminal investigations in the UK to address the gap in current knowledge and research.

Design/methodology/approach

The 36 FCP reports reviewed were written between 2017 and 2021. They were analysed using Toulmin’s (1958) application of pertinent arguments to the evaluation process. The potential utility of the reports was analysed in terms of the advice provided.

Findings

Most of the reports involved murder and equivocal death. The reports focused primarily on understanding the offender’s psychopathology, actions, motivation and risk to self and others using a practitioner model of case study methodology. Out of the 539 claims, grounds were provided for 99% of the claims, 91% had designated modality, 62% of the claims were potentially verifiable and 57% of the claims were supported by a warrant and/or backing. Most of the reports provided either moderate or high insight into the offence/offender (92%) and potential for new leads (64%).

Practical implications

The advice provided relied heavily on extensive forensic clinical and investigative experience of offenders, guided by theory and research and was often performed under considerable time pressure. Flexibility, impartiality, rigour and resilience are essential prerequisites for this type of work.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to systematically evaluate forensic clinical psychology reports from the NCA. It shows the pragmatic, dynamic and varied nature of FCP contributions to investigations and its potential utility.

Details

Journal of Criminal Psychology, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2009-3829

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 12 January 2024

Lauranna Teunissen, Kathleen Van Royen, Iris Goemans, Joke Verhaegen, Sara Pabian, Charlotte De Backer, Heidi Vandebosch and Christophe Matthys

Explore what popular food influencers among Flemish emerging adults portray in their Instagram recipe posts in terms of (1) references to food literacy, (2) nutritional value, (3…

Abstract

Purpose

Explore what popular food influencers among Flemish emerging adults portray in their Instagram recipe posts in terms of (1) references to food literacy, (2) nutritional value, (3) rational and emotional appeals and (4) the relation between the nutritional value and rational/emotional appeals.

Design/methodology/approach

A content and nutritional analysis of Instagram recipe posts from seven food influencers (N = 166).

Findings

Findings reveal that food influencers rarely embed references to food literacy in their recipe posts, especially regarding meal planning, food selection, meal consumption and evaluating food-related information. Only in 28.9% of the posts information was given on how to prepare a recipe. Second, 220 recipes were included in the 166 recipe posts, of which the majority (65%) were main course meals that met at least six of the 11 nutrient criteria for a healthy main meal (67.2%). Finally, food influencers promote their recipe posts as positive narratives, focusing on the tastiness (66%) and convenience (40.9%) of meals.

Originality/value

This is the first study to evaluate what food influencers post nutritionally in their Instagram recipes, as well as how they promote these recipes. Health promotors should note the influential role of food influencers and seek ways to collaborate to provide information on how food literacy cues can be embedded in influencers' communications and provide insights into how influencers' recipes can be optimised.

Details

British Food Journal, vol. 126 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0007-070X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 4 March 2024

Yonghua Huang, Tuanjie Li, Yuming Ning and Yan Zhang

This paper aims to solve the problem of the inability to apply learning methods for robot motion skills based on dynamic movement primitives (DMPs) in tasks with explicit…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to solve the problem of the inability to apply learning methods for robot motion skills based on dynamic movement primitives (DMPs) in tasks with explicit environmental constraints, while ensuring the reliability of the robot system.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors propose a novel DMP that takes into account environmental constraints to enhance the generality of the robot motion skill learning method. First, based on the real-time state of the robot and environmental constraints, the task space is divided into different regions and different control strategies are used in each region. Second, to ensure the effectiveness of the generalized skills (trajectories), the control barrier function is extended to DMP to enforce constraint conditions. Finally, a skill modeling and learning algorithm flow is proposed that takes into account environmental constraints within DMPs.

Findings

By designing numerical simulation and prototype demonstration experiments to study skill learning and generalization under constrained environments. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method is capable of generating motion skills that satisfy environmental constraints. It ensures that robots remain in a safe position throughout the execution of generation skills, thereby avoiding any adverse impact on the surrounding environment.

Originality/value

This paper explores further applications of generalized motion skill learning methods on robots, enhancing the efficiency of robot operations in constrained environments, particularly in non-point-constrained environments. The improved methods are applicable to different types of robots.

Details

Industrial Robot: the international journal of robotics research and application, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0143-991X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 9 October 2023

James Ntiamoah Doku and Gladys A.A. Nabieu

This study provides a bibliometric analysis of bank efficiency and competition over the past years (from 1993 to 2022) to (1) discover the past and current state of knowledge on…

Abstract

Purpose

This study provides a bibliometric analysis of bank efficiency and competition over the past years (from 1993 to 2022) to (1) discover the past and current state of knowledge on bank competition and efficiency, (2) identify leading and authoritative journals and scholars who made significant contributions to the distribution of knowledge and impact, (3) identify nations that made a significant contribution and impact to the literature and (4) identify the structure of collaboration that exists between scholars in the areas of bank competition and efficiency and key thematic areas.

Design/methodology/approach

A total number of 868 documents made up of articles, reviews, book chapters, book and conference papers from the Scopus database were gathered. This study used a bibliometric analytic approach.

Findings

The number of documents on bank competitiveness and efficiency has increased significantly, as have their total publications, citations and national output. Additionally, the most esteemed and prestigious academic journals of eminent academics who have had a significant impact on the dissemination of knowledge on bank efficiency and competition literature champion papers on banking efficiency and competition. In terms of citation performance and collaborative efforts, the United States tops the developed countries, led by China, which is also the most productive. Additionally, single-country publications predominate in the literature, with China ranking first among the top five countries with corresponding authors. While the Lerner index, H-statistic, concentration index and market power were used to measure bank competitive behaviour, the data envelopment analysis approach predominates efficiency estimation techniques that are linked to cost, profit or revenue, scale, technical and productivity indexes.

Originality/value

This study is one of the first to offer bibliometric evidence of both bank competition and efficiency. It also offers proof of the distribution of knowledge and intellectual structure of the concepts and concerns in bank competition and efficiency.

Details

Journal of Economic Studies, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-3585

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 7 December 2022

Peter Mason, Marcjanna Augustyn and Arthur Seakhoa-King

This paper aims to explain how improving tourism destination quality could contribute to addressing the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at tourism destinations.

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to explain how improving tourism destination quality could contribute to addressing the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at tourism destinations.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper synthesizes literature on sustainability, the SDGs and tourism destination quality and considers sustainability from the destination quality frame of reference. The approach starts with a critical analysis of principles of sustainability, as embodied in the 17 SDGs in terms of whether they are primarily concerned with “quantity” or “quality.” This is followed by examining potential links between destination quality and the SDGs using results of a recent empirical research on tourism destination quality (TDQ study).

Findings

This paper reveals that most of the SDGs are largely focused on quantity, while relatively few are concerned primarily with quality. Several TDQ dimensions, specifically “authentic,” “safe,” “well kept,” “affordable,” “novel,” “varied,” “relaxing,” “uncrowded,” “hospitable” and “informative,” and in addition, the holistic perspective of destination quality indicated in the TDQ study, are revealed as having strong links with the SDGs largely because of their concern with quality. This paper therefore proposes a positive relationship between enhancing destination quality and addressing the SDGs at tourism destinations.

Research limitations/implications

This paper calls for future empirical research to test the theoretical links between destination quality and SDGs established in this paper.

Practical implications

The use of the proposed framework for managing tourism destination quality and sustainability can help destination managers in enhancing destination quality and the attainment of the SDGs.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first paper that adapts the extant theory on sustainability (represented by the SDGs) by introducing a destination quality frame of reference. The links between tourism destination quality and the SDGs have not been previously investigated. This paper indicates strong relationships between destination quality and several SDGs and thus extends the existing theory on sustainability by introducing the quality improvement perspective.

设计/方法论/方法

本文综述了关于可持续、可持续发展目标和旅游目的地质量的文章, 参考目的地质量框架来考虑可持续性。首先对嵌入17个可持续发展目标中的可持续性的准则进行了批判性分析, 即它们主要考虑的是“数量”还是“质量”。后利用一项最近关于旅游目的地质量(此后即称TDQ研究)的实证研究结果, 检验了目的地质量与可持续发展目标的潜在联系。

目的

这篇概念性文章解释了提高旅游目的地质量可以助力旅游目的地实现联合国可持续发展目标。

发现

本文发现多数可持续发展目标很大程度上都关注数量, 同时较少目标着重关注质量。一些TDQ维度, 特别是“原真性”、“安全”、“保存完好”“可负担”、“新奇”、“多样性”“放松”、“不拥挤”、“好客”、“启发性”和其他一些TDQ研究中目的地质量的整体性视角, 都与可持续发展目标有着强相关性, 很可能是因为它们都与质量有关。因此本文提出提高目的地质量与实现旅游目的地可持续发展目标之间存在积极联系。

研究局限/启示

本研究呼吁未来实证研究检验本文建立的目的地质量和可持续发展目标之间的理论联系。

实践启示

用以管理旅游目的地质量和可持续性的框架的运用有助于目的地管理者提高目的地质量和实现可持续发展目标。

创意/价值

文章首次将目的地质量框架作为参考整合了关于可持续性的理论(以可持续发展目标为代表)。这种旅游目的地之间的质量和可持续发展目标的关联此前尚未有探究。本文表明了目的地质量和几个可持续发展目标间的强关联性, 并由此通过引入质量提升视角来扩展已有的关于可持续性的理论。

Diseño/metodología/enfoque

Este artículo sintetiza la literatura sobre la sostenibilidad, los ODS y la calidad de los destinos turísticos, y considera la sostenibilidad desde el marco de referencia de la calidad de los destinos. El enfoque comienza con un análisis crítico de los principios de sostenibilidad, tal y como se plasman en los 17 ODS, en cuanto a si se refieren principalmente a la “cantidad” o a la “calidad”. A continuación, se examinan los posibles vínculos entre la calidad de los destinos y los ODS, utilizando los resultados de una reciente investigación empírica sobre la calidad de los destinos turísticos (en adelante, el estudio TDQ).

Objetivo

Este trabajo conceptual explica cómo la mejora de la calidad de los destinos turísticos podría contribuir a abordar los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible (ODS) de las Naciones Unidas en los destinos turísticos.

Conclusiones

El documento revela que la mayoría de los ODS se centran en la cantidad, mientras que relativamente pocos se ocupan principalmente de la calidad. Varias dimensiones del TDQ, en concreto, “Auténtico”, “Seguro”, “Bien cuidado”, “Asequible”, “Novedoso”, “Relajante”, “Poco concurrido”, “Hospitalario” e “Informativo”, y además la perspectiva holística de la calidad de los destinos indicada en el estudio del TDQ, se revelan con fuertes vínculos con los ODS, en gran parte debido a su preocupación por la calidad. En consecuencia, el trabajo propone una relación positiva entre la mejora de la calidad del destino y el cumplimiento de los ODS en los destinos turísticos.

Limitaciones/implicaciones de la investigación

El trabajo realiza una llamada a futuras investigaciones empíricas para comprobar los vínculos teóricos entre la calidad de los destinos y los ODS establecidos en este artículo.

Implicaciones prácticas

El uso del marco propuesto para la gestión de la calidad y la sostenibilidad de los destinos turísticos puede ayudar a los gestores de destinos a mejorar la calidad de estos y la consecución de los ODS.

Originalidad/valor

Este es el primer artículo que adapta la teoría existente sobre la sostenibilidad (representada por los ODS) introduciendo un marco de referencia de la calidad de los destinos. Los vínculos entre la calidad de los destinos turísticos y los ODS no se han investigado anteriormente. Este trabajo indica que existen fuertes relaciones entre la calidad de los destinos y varios ODS y, por tanto, amplía la teoría existente sobre la sostenibilidad introduciendo la perspectiva de la mejora de la calidad.

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 12 April 2023

Eduard Hartwich, Philipp Ollig, Gilbert Fridgen and Alexander Rieger

This paper aims to establish a fundamental and comprehensive understanding of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) by identifying and structuring common characteristics within a taxonomy…

2375

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to establish a fundamental and comprehensive understanding of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) by identifying and structuring common characteristics within a taxonomy. NFTs are hyped and increasingly marketed as essential building blocks of the Metaverse. However, the dynamic evolution of the NFT space has posed challenges for those seeking to develop a deep and comprehensive understanding of NFTs, their features and their capabilities.

Design/methodology/approach

Utilizing common guidelines for the creation of taxonomies, the authors developed (over 3 iterations), a multi-layer taxonomy based on workshops and interviews with 11 academic and 15 industry experts. Through an evaluation of 25 NFTs, the authors demonstrate the usefulness of the taxonomy.

Findings

The taxonomy has 4 layers, 14 dimensions and 42 characteristics, which describe NFTs in terms of reference object, token properties, token distribution and realizable value.

Originality/value

The authors' framework is the first to systematically cover the emerging NFT phenomenon. This framework is concise yet extendible and presents many avenues for future research in a plethora of disciplines. The characteristics identified in the authors' taxonomy are useful for NFT- and Metaverse-related research in finance, marketing, law and information systems. Additionally, the taxonomy can serve as an information source for policymakers as they consider NFT regulation.

Details

Internet Research, vol. 34 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1066-2243

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 9 August 2023

Aaron Beacom, Vassilios Ziakas and Sylvia Trendafilova

This paper examines the role of senior personnel within Active Partnerships as the personnel seek to strategically manage UK policy developments. This paper explores how Active…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper examines the role of senior personnel within Active Partnerships as the personnel seek to strategically manage UK policy developments. This paper explores how Active Partnerships engage with the policy process within an environment characterized by systemic structural changes, mounting fiscal challenges, political uncertainty and a succession of public health concerns.

Design/methodology/approach

Using the Multiple-Streams Framework (MSF), a case study approach was adopted, focusing on the perspectives of senior personnel. Semi-structured interviews with individuals involved in the management and operation of five Active Partnerships across the South of England and one national stakeholder that works closely with Active Partnerships were conducted. Data were collected during the period following Andy Reed's review of the operation of Active Partnerships. The interviews were complemented by documentary analysis.

Findings

Findings illustrate that while senior practitioners within Active Partnerships often behave in line with Lipsky's notion of street-level bureaucrats, by maximizing collective leverage, advocating priorities and providing a voice for local partners, the senior practitioners adopt behaviors more akin to policy entrepreneurs. In this sense, they seek to influence the policy process at critical junctures in order to promote preferred outcomes and protect sectoral interests.

Originality/value

This study has explored the relationship between strategic management and the policy process in the context of the rapidly changing policy domain that frames the work of regional sports organizations known as Active Partnerships. The conceptual frame of the investigation is the concept of “policy entrepreneurship”, which seeks to articulate how individuals and collectives engage in the policy process, in order to secure outcomes conducive to their objectives. This, in turn, provides a sense of context for the contemporary challenges associated with the management of sport and physical activity (PA).

Details

Sport, Business and Management: An International Journal, vol. 13 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2042-678X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 17 April 2023

Laura Saunders, Rachel Williams, Genevieve Galarneau and Gianna C. Gifford

The purpose of this study was to get a baseline understanding of the state of reference services in urban public libraries in the United States.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to get a baseline understanding of the state of reference services in urban public libraries in the United States.

Design/methodology/approach

The researchers surveyed all members of the Urban Libraries Council, a network of public library systems in urban centers across the country. The survey asked about their reference services, including how reference is offered, volume and types of questions and staff responsibilities. Participants were also asked how reference has changed in the past 5–10 years and what changes they anticipate in the future.

Findings

This study found that the vast majority of urban public libraries still maintain a physical reference desk, but most also offer reference services in other formats as well. Most libraries have seen numbers of reference questions decline. Reference staff members are engaged in instruction, programming and community outreach as well. Looking ahead, some libraries expect reference questions to continue to decline and demand for virtual services to increase.

Practical implications

Directors and reference staff of public libraries, especially those in urban and suburban settings, will find these results useful for benchmarking against their own experiences and for planning for future changes.

Originality/value

While discussions of changes in reference service and volumes of reference questions are plentiful, as are predictions of how these declines will impact reference services, there is little current research on the actual state of those services. This study fills a gap in the literature by providing a baseline overview of the reference services in urban public libraries.

Details

Reference Services Review, vol. 51 no. 3/4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0090-7324

Keywords

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