Juan Carlos Archila-Godínez, Han Chen, Gloria Cheng, Sanjana Sanjay Manjrekar and Yaohua Feng
In 2020, an outbreak of Salmonella Stanley linked to imported dried wood ear mushrooms affected 55 individuals in the United States of America. These mushrooms, commonly used in…
Abstract
Purpose
In 2020, an outbreak of Salmonella Stanley linked to imported dried wood ear mushrooms affected 55 individuals in the United States of America. These mushrooms, commonly used in Asian cuisine, require processing, like rehydration and cutting, before serving. The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention advise food preparers to use boiling water for rehydration to inactivate vegetative bacterial pathogens. Little is known about how food handlers prepare this ethnic ingredient and which handling procedures could enable Salmonella proliferation.
Design/methodology/approach
This study used content analysis to investigate handling practices for dried wood ear mushrooms as demonstrated in YouTube recipe videos and to identify food safety implications during handling of the product. A total of 125 Chinese- and English-language YouTube videos were analysed.
Findings
Major steps in handling procedures were identified, including rehydration, cutting/tearing and blanching. Around 62% of the videos failed to specify the water temperature for rehydration. Only three videos specified a water temperature of 100 °C for rehydrating the mushrooms, and 36% of the videos did not specify the soaking duration. Only one video showed handwashing, cleaning and sanitising of surfaces when handling the dried wood ear mushrooms.
Practical implications
This study found that most YouTube videos provided vague and inconsistent descriptions of the rehydration procedure, including water temperature and soaking duration. Food preparers were advised to use boiling water for rehydration to inactivate vegetative bacterial pathogens. However, boiling water alone is insufficient to inactivate all bacterial spores. Extended periods of soaking and storage could be of concern for spore germination and bacterial growth. More validation studies need to be conducted to provide guidance on how to safely handle the mushrooms.
Originality/value
This study will make a distinctive contribution to the field of food safety by being the first to investigate the handling procedure of a unique ethnic food ingredient, dried wood ear mushrooms, which has been linked to a previous outbreak and multiple recalls in the United States of America. The valuable data collected from this study can help target food handling education as well as influence future microbial validation study design and risk assessment.
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Gloria Nkhoma, Chiao Xin Lim, Gerard Kennedy and Ieva Stupans
This paper aims to identify health-care entitlements that exist for asylum seekers with chronic non-communicable disease (CNCD) that promote their health and self-care, and to…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to identify health-care entitlements that exist for asylum seekers with chronic non-communicable disease (CNCD) that promote their health and self-care, and to explore health policies, initiatives and programmes with the potential to foster self-care in this populace.
Design/methodology/approach
Narrative review of literature conducted by searching EMBASE, CINAHL, WEB OF SCIENCE and PSYCINFO databases for articles published from 2010 to 2021. Included articles focussed on policies, programmes or initiatives with the potential to promote health in adult asylum seekers residing in high-income countries. Studies inclusive of other migrant groups such as undocumented migrants and those with mental health conditions were excluded. Eleven studies fitting the inclusion criteria were assessed against the study objectives.
Findings
Free access to health-care services and pharmaceutical products, free access to food banks and supermarket model food banks, English and cooking lessons, community integration training sessions and culturally competent health-care workers were found to promote health and self-care. There is little research on self-care and health promotion in adult asylum seekers with CNCD. CNCDs represent high burden of disease in asylum seekers but have a low priority in reported research.
Originality/value
This narrative review is the first to explicitly focus on asylum seekers in high-income countries with CNCD, excluding mental health conditions, and to explore initiatives, programmes and policies that enhance health promotion to facilitate self-care in this populace.
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Patrick Lo and Dickson K.W. Chiu
The purpose of this paper is to explore the recent viewpoint of classroom teachers and school administration about the role of school librarians, which is lacking adequate…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the recent viewpoint of classroom teachers and school administration about the role of school librarians, which is lacking adequate studies. The current trend of fast-evolving information and communication technologies (ICT) and the emphasis on enquiry-based learning has increasing impacts on school curriculum and the required library support.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper is based on a qualitative analysis of interviews on three practicing secondary school librarians in Hong Kong on three separate occasions to explore a different, richer type of data, in particular new requirements and issues that a questionnaire survey could provide.
Findings
The new roles of the school librarians improving teaching and learning effectiveness under this environment include: being information literacy specialists, leading library improvement projects and providing classroom teaching collaboration and support.
Originality/value
This is one of the very few qualitative studies reporting professional practices and changing roles amongst school librarians in Hong Kong. The results of this study are of practical interest to education policymakers, school administrators, practicing school librarians and educators with a vested interest capitalizing on the school library’s potentials to positively affect students’ achievements.
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Gloria Weng Kei Kam and Eilo Wing Yat Yu
The purpose of this paper is to understand the regime–youth relationship in Macao. It will use the framework by Weiss and Aspinall (2012) to explain the rise of Macao youth…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to understand the regime–youth relationship in Macao. It will use the framework by Weiss and Aspinall (2012) to explain the rise of Macao youth activism and the de-harmonization of their relationship with the authorities.
Design/methodology/approach
According to Weiss and Aspinall, the emergence of youth movements in Asia after the Second World War was based on four factors: the development higher education systems, youth’s collective identities, youth’s trust in the ruling regime and transnational flows of activist ideas and inspirations. This paper analyzes the rise of Macao youth through the four dimensions by Weiss and Aspinall.
Findings
The rise of Macao youth movement is attributable to the development of tertiary education, youth’s collective identities, lowered trust in the regime and international inspiration. Better-educated Macao youth have been increasing their demands for political participation while their distrust in the MSAR government pushes their mobilization. The rise of youth movements around the world after the millennium inspires Macao youth activists’ political mobilization. Interestingly, Macao’s youth movement has been gradually integrated into the opposition forces instead of campaigning by youth organizations. In response to youth activism, the MSAR government, however, could not alleviate the youth’s hostility against the authorities, but its repressive approach intensified the regime-youth tension.
Originality/value
The paper includes interviews with leaders of young activists for their understanding of youth movement in Macao. It can serve the purpose for comparative study of youth movement among Asian societies.
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Inma Rodríguez-Ardura and Antoni Meseguer-Artola
Recent research on immersive experiences in online environments for higher education has attributed a fundamental role to two distinct yet connected psychological phenomena: the…
Abstract
Recent research on immersive experiences in online environments for higher education has attributed a fundamental role to two distinct yet connected psychological phenomena: the feelings of being virtually present in the education environment, often simply called presence, and peak episodes of flow. The authors conceptually delimitate these two psychological facets of e-learners’ experiences and examine their interplay. The authors show how flow episodes are elicited by students’ sense of control over the online education environment, their attention being focussed on the learning tasks, and their feelings of being physically placed in the online education setting. Also, the interactivity created by the online education environment evokes an e-learner’s imagery, which in turn triggers presence feelings and episodes of flow. The authors further show that, although presence and flow are triggered by some common antecedents, they differ in the object of the individual’s immersion, and that presence feelings facilitate flow. Moreover, the authors provide practical recommendations for higher education institutions, policy makers and the academic and information and communication technology community involved in e-learning, to make sure e-learner experiences reach their fullest potential.
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Venkatapparao Mummalaneni and Juan (Gloria) Meng
This paper seeks to use the consumer‐perceived levels of internet shopping skills and challenges, to cluster the young Chinese customers and to compare the quality perceptions of…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper seeks to use the consumer‐perceived levels of internet shopping skills and challenges, to cluster the young Chinese customers and to compare the quality perceptions of customers from the different clusters.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey of 237 college students from Beijing with the average age of 20.2 was conducted via a paper‐and‐pencil questionnaire. All the constructs were measured using established scales. The students completed the questionnaire in their native language.
Findings
The paper finds that, at the present level of internet development in China, online consumers can be segmented on the basis of their self‐rated internet skills and their perception of the challenges involved in online shopping.
Practical implications
Online customer segments obtained through internet skill and challenge level perceptions are demonstrated to explain some of the differences in the online shopping behaviors and service quality perceptions. The managers of online stores in China could segment young Chinese consumers based on this conceptual background.
Originality/value
The online shopping environment in China is characterized by a relatively low level of participation, but a rapid rate of growth, especially among young consumers. This is one of the first studies which evaluated the young Chinese consumers' online shopping behaviors and provided a conceptual basis for segmenting this market.
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Maria-Eugenia Ruiz-Molina, Irene Gil-Saura, Gloria Berenguer-Contri and Christoph Auch
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the effect of candidates’ perceptions of the attributes of a professional certification scheme based on competences, as well as personal…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the effect of candidates’ perceptions of the attributes of a professional certification scheme based on competences, as well as personal factors, that may influence in the behavioral intentions toward such certification program, i.e. intention to participate in the certification process and willingness to pay for the certificate.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on a survey of 2,630 professionals about the “Certified Professional” program in eight European countries, the influence of the perceived attributes of the certification program and the personal characteristics of the potential candidates on their behavioral intentions are analyzed.
Findings
Difficulty and fairness of the certification process, credibility, innovativeness, international recognition and future usefulness of the professional certificate influence positively on the candidate’s likelihood of applying for being certified and the willingness to pay. Young professionals not holding a university diploma show high probability to participate in the certification process and intention to pay for the certificate.
Practical implications
Promotional efforts to launch a professional certification scheme should concentrate in creating strong associations of the certificate with the notions of international prestige, credibility and usefulness to enhance employability and professional growth. Segmentation criteria to increase communication effectiveness are defined.
Originality/value
In recent years, there has been a proliferation of professional certification programs in competences, and literature has advocated the need to investigate the perceived value of such systems in terms of benefits and barriers perceived by potential applicants for accreditation. The present paper aims at addressing this research gap.
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Abstract
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The aim of this paper is to examine the impact of implementing Six Sigma system on job satisfaction and employee morale, and how job satisfaction, employee morale and Six Sigma…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to examine the impact of implementing Six Sigma system on job satisfaction and employee morale, and how job satisfaction, employee morale and Six Sigma implementation are to support each other.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper builds a research framework which includes the variables of Six Sigma, job satisfaction, and employee morale. The research methodology is the use of a field survey questionnaire of a Taiwanese company.
Findings
The paper finds that the method of Six Sigma implementation in Taiwanese company was by a top‐down approach, where is the managers received the training and then were expected to pass on the relevant knowledge to their subordinates. It also reveals that one key issue in Six Sigma implementation is which organizational departments should first receive the Six Sigma training. the field study found that the first departments related to logistics management, and then onto production line departments. Implementing Six Sigma training has impact on organizational job satisfaction and employee morale. The performance of Six Sigma training was able to achieve job satisfaction and employee morale, but the employees who participated in Six Sigma training were more positive with regard to job satisfaction and employee morale.
Originality/value
Every organization has their special characteristics in relation to the Six Sigma system, job satisfaction and employee morale. The organization should aim to better understand the relationship and content of job satisfaction and employee morale with regard to successful Six Sigma implementation.