G. Cantos‐Mateos, B. Vargas‐Quesada, Z. Chinchilla‐Rodríguez and M.A. Zulueta
Research with stem cells is a biomedical venture with great scientific impact, and whose development flows over into many other areas. This article aims to present a dual analysis…
Abstract
Purpose
Research with stem cells is a biomedical venture with great scientific impact, and whose development flows over into many other areas. This article aims to present a dual analysis of Spain's scientific output in this field during the period 1997‐2007.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors used bibliometric indicators of a basic nature as well as techniques for the visualization and analysis of networks of scientific information based on a study of KeyWords Plus.
Findings
The output is mainly concentrated in Cataluña and Madrid, and hospitals are the most productive centres (followed by health institutes), where the main authors are affiliated. Main categories are hematology, oncology and biophysics. The outstanding areas of study revolve around the therapeutic use of transplant of hematopoietic progenitors, the processes of generation, proliferation and differentiation of lines of cells, and the study of neurosciences.
Originality/value
This study provides an overview of Spanish research involving stem cells, detecting and representing the main areas of research. The article considers the potential of KeyWords Plus in combination with the proposed methodology as particularly useful for the analysis and delimitation of a scientific domain.
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Angela I. Canto, Megan A. Crisp, Helaine Larach and A. Paige Blankenship
While often considered a low incidence disability, traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) among students are anything but low incidence occurrences. Furthermore, educators are often at…
Abstract
While often considered a low incidence disability, traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) among students are anything but low incidence occurrences. Furthermore, educators are often at times not made aware that a student is injured; when informed, the information provided is generally limited or incomplete at best leaving educators unsure regarding what is needed for the student. In this chapter, information on TBI and its effects on students is provided. We also explore the history of inclusion, mechanisms for service delivery, accommodations and modifications for injured students, and transitioning and reintegrating students post-injury. Lastly, we provide a review of common barriers to service delivery and offer both proactive and reactive strategies to overcome those barriers.
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Angela I. Canto and Danielle M. Eftaxas
Hospital emergency rooms document approximately 500,000 traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) in children and adolescents aged 0–14 annually; these prevalence rates do not include those…
Abstract
Hospital emergency rooms document approximately 500,000 traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) in children and adolescents aged 0–14 annually; these prevalence rates do not include those learners evaluated in primary care facilities nor those never evaluated by medical professionals. In this chapter, information on TBI and its effect on learners is provided with emphasis on the idiosyncratic nature of the injury and, thus, the need for individualized reintegration and educational plans. The role of educators in the identification, assessment, reintegration, disability classification, intervention delivery, and progress monitoring is described. Lastly, specific intervention options are presented with cautions that interventions should not be simply picked from a menu, but rather targeting key observations and reported deficits in the physical, cognitive, emotional, social, and behavioral domains.
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Kylie L Kingston, Belinda Luke and Eija Vinnari
The purpose of this research was to seek a more refined understanding of the ways beneficiaries are evaluating nonprofit organisations (NPO), from the beneficiaries’ perspectives…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this research was to seek a more refined understanding of the ways beneficiaries are evaluating nonprofit organisations (NPO), from the beneficiaries’ perspectives. Understanding evaluation from beneficiaries’ perspectives is not only important theoretically, but also for enabling evaluation processes to authentically contribute toward enhanced downward accountability.
Design/methodology/approach
Theorisation of immanent evaluation (Deleuze, 1998), the ontological view that there is no form imposed from outside or above but instead an articulation from within, was drawn upon to direct attention toward understanding beneficiaries’ inherent productive evaluative capacity and agency. This theorisation enabled a different way of observing and understanding beneficiary evaluation within a qualitative case study conducted in an Australian NPO. Data was sourced from interviews, observations and document analysis.
Findings
Findings suggest beneficiaries largely viewed the NPO’s evaluation processes to be unsatisfactory toward meeting their needs in relation to meaningful engagement. However, beneficiaries’ evaluative capacity was noted to include their own evaluation criteria and evaluative expressions indicating the production of an evaluative account. Here beneficiaries’ evaluative expressions are representations of events of evaluation, initiated by them. Findings enable a more refined understanding of beneficiaries’ engagement in evaluation, moving beyond traditional considerations of participative evaluation, and illustrating beneficiaries’ agency and active role in the production of evaluation.
Originality/value
This research furthers understandings of downward accountability and participative evaluation by detailing how beneficiaries’ evaluative capacity is part of an NPO’s evaluative environment, and as such, conceives of an immanent theory of beneficiary evaluation. Findings highlight how evaluation, as a mechanism of downward accountability, functions from beneficiaries’ perspectives and the type of organisational environment capable of enabling and better supporting beneficiary engagement.
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This study describes a telecollaborative project in an upper-level French language course at an American university from the students’ perspectives. The project involved…
Abstract
This study describes a telecollaborative project in an upper-level French language course at an American university from the students’ perspectives. The project involved synchronous computer-mediated communications via the online videoconference platform Skype between US-based French language learners and French native speakers in France. In order to increase the participants’ interest and engagement in the virtual exchanges, the telecollaboration employed critical approaches in the task design. In this telecollaboration, students were asked not only to take part in an intercultural exchange with their partners on potentially sensitive topics that included freedom (e.g., freedom of speech, religious liberty), globalization (e.g., child labor), and immigration (e.g., racism, xenophobia), but also to engage in a short debate on these topics. An online anonymous survey was used to solicit their reactions and attitudes toward this critical approach, as well as toward the technology-enhanced learning activity as a whole. The qualitative analysis of the students’ responses showed that the telecollaboration project was generally well received, despite the inclusion of sensitive topics. Most students indicated that they felt most challenged by and most apprehensive about the topic of immigration, which was attributed to the concurrent complex socio-political situation at the time they participated in the telecollaboration project. High levels of anxiety were also reported from the youngest participants, those who majored or minored in other disciplines than French, and non-degree students. This exploratory study calls for more data and an in-depth analysis of the student’s discourse, especially with respect to potential differences in pragmatic strategies used for addressing sensitive versus less sensitive topics in the target language during virtual exchanges with native speakers in that target language.
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Jay J. Shen, Elmer L. Washington, Ralph Bell, Kyusuk Chung and Donna Gellatly
The number of uninsured has increased during recent years. This study explores underlying factors associated with the insurance-status disparities in hospital care by examining…
Abstract
The number of uninsured has increased during recent years. This study explores underlying factors associated with the insurance-status disparities in hospital care by examining 80,730 acute myocardial infarction discharges in the National Inpatient Sample. Compared to patients having private insurance, Medicaid patients’ higher mortality risk related to severity of illness while the higher mortality of uninsured patients related to interactive effects between insurance status and hospital characteristics. Primary care strategies are likely to improve the hospital care for Medicaid patients while ensuring access to high quality care for patients with limited financial means can improve outcomes for uninsured patients.
Juan Rendon Schneir, Konstantinos Konstantinou, Julie Bradford, Gerd Zimmermann, Heinz Droste, Rafael Canto Palancar and Ade Ajibulu
5G systems will enable an improved transmission performance and the delivery of advanced communication services. To meet the expected requirements, operators will need to invest…
Abstract
Purpose
5G systems will enable an improved transmission performance and the delivery of advanced communication services. To meet the expected requirements, operators will need to invest in network modernisation, with the radio access network being the most expensive network component. One possible way for operators to reduce this investment would be via sharing of resources by means of a multi-tenancy concept. This implies that a mobile service provider may use the common infrastructure of one or various infrastructure providers, whereby it provides services to multiple tenants. This paper aims to study the expected cost savings in terms of capital expenditures (CAPEX) and operational expenditures (OPEX) that can be achieved when using a cloudified 5G multi-tenant network.
Design/methodology/approach
A cost model was used. The study period is 2020-2030 and the study area consists of three local districts in central London, UK.
Findings
This paper describes that the total cost reduction achieved when using multi-tenancy for a 5G broadband network in comparison with the case where operators make the investment independently ranges from 5.2% to 15.5%.
Research limitations/implications
Further research is needed to assess the cost implications of network sharing for 5G on a regional or nationwide basis.
Originality/value
Very little quantitative research about the cost implications of network sharing under 5G networks has been published so far. This paper sheds light on the economic benefits of multi-tenancy in a 5G broadband network.
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Luis Orea, Inmaculada Álvarez-Ayuso and Luis Servén
This chapter provides an empirical assessment of the effects of infrastructure provision on structural change and aggregate productivity using industrylevel data for a set of…
Abstract
This chapter provides an empirical assessment of the effects of infrastructure provision on structural change and aggregate productivity using industrylevel data for a set of developed and developing countries over 1995–2010. A distinctive feature of the empirical strategy followed is that it allows the measurement of the resource reallocation directly attributable to infrastructure provision. To achieve this, a two-level top-down decomposition of aggregate productivity that combines and extends several strands of the literature is proposed. The empirical application reveals significant production losses attributable to misallocation of inputs across firms, especially among African countries. Also, the results show that infrastructure provision has stimulated aggregate total factor productivity growth through both within and between industry productivity gains.
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Ioannis Koliousis, Dongmei Cao and Panagiotis Koliousis
This paper aims to examine the impact of deregulation on the European transport industry in the form of privatization, on the managerial efficiency of a panel of deregulated…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine the impact of deregulation on the European transport industry in the form of privatization, on the managerial efficiency of a panel of deregulated transport companies.
Design/methodology/approach
This research examines a data set of 25 deregulated transport companies from a sample of 12 EU nations from 1988 to 2015. Some studies have analyzed deregulation by using non-parametric models. However, only a limited number of studies focus on the impact of deregulation on the managerial efficiency. This study answers two questions: whether deregulation, in the form of privatization, in the transport sector has any effect on the managerial efficiency, on the profitability and on the investment decisions of the firm, and whether this premise is robust enough across the European transport industry. This study formulates a multivariate regression framework utilizing data from major privatized European transport companies. The final panel includes 25 companies, from 12 EU - Member States for the period 1988-2015, equaling 375 firm-year observations based on a rigorous selection methodology.
Findings
The study confirms that transport companies, post-privatization, are more efficient regarding operating efficiency and profitability. The authors find no evidence that deregulation improves investment efficiency.
Social implications
The study addresses the regulators’ dilemma, whether to deregulate, by focusing on analyzing the improvement of the managerial efficiency.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the transport industry management literature in three ways. First, the authors update the literature of the economic theory of regulation with an empirical examination which covers the latest years across the EU Member States. Second, the authors introduce a comparison of the effects of deregulation on different components of the managerial efficiency, namely, investment, profitability and operating efficiency of the incumbents in the EU transport industry. Third, they examine deregulation by using two approaches: a traditional one where deregulation is a dummy variable assessing the overall effect on incumbents’ efficiency performance; and a novel approach where the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s deregulation index is used to measure the regulation intensity, accounting also for industry-wide impact assessment. This two-sided approach increases the robustness of the results.
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Kanokpan Wiboolyasarin, Watcharapol Wiboolyasarin, Ruedee Kamonsawad, Phornrat Tiranant, Poomipat Boonyakitanont and Nattawut Jinowat
The use of three-dimensional virtual worlds (3DVWs) is increasingly becoming a common practice in language education to provide digital learning environments for second-language…
Abstract
Purpose
The use of three-dimensional virtual worlds (3DVWs) is increasingly becoming a common practice in language education to provide digital learning environments for second-language (L2) communicative classes. This study aimed to identify the key factors underlying communication in 3DVWs that can improve the communication skills of L2 learners.
Design/methodology/approach
To achieve this, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were conducted to validate the identified factors affecting communication in 3DVWs. A self-reported questionnaire with 47 items on a five-point Likert scale was administered to 513 pre-service teachers, teachers and lecturers in the field of language education.
Findings
The results of the EFA revealed four factors that contribute to communication in 3DVWs, namely learner motivation, interaction pattern, language development and learner autonomy. CFA results provided support for the updated model, with statistically significant Chi-square results (χ² (df = 83) = 181.049, p < 0.001) indicating a good fit between the model and the data.
Originality/value
The findings suggest that the four EFA-derived parameters are valid and can assist instructional designers and L2 instructors in creating 3DVWs that enhance L2 learners' communication abilities. This study provides valuable insights for educators, instructional designers and researchers in the field of language education and technology-enhanced learning.