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Cerebral palsy is one of the leading causes of chronic disability in children. The current pilot study investigated (1) whether an exoskeleton system enables physiological gait patterns and (2) whether the system is user-friendly enough to envision its use in a clinical setting.

Participants included a convenience sample of six children with cerebral palsy. Following informed consent, study volunteers underwent baseline assessments, participated in eight sessions during which they used the exoskeleton system with the objective of achieving proficiency in use of the system, and underwent an end-of-study assessment of walking. Satisfaction and usability questionnaires were given to the family/caregiver.

All participants achieved a more regular gait pattern and improved their 6-Minute Walk Test scores. Overall satisfaction and usability were rated as good.

The exoskeleton system enabled physiological gait patterns, and the system was user-friendly enough to envision its use in a clinical setting.

There is potential for guiding treatment plans for individuals with cerebral palsy.

This chapter aims to identify, analyse, classify and rank the sustainability indices and internationalisation challenges of the footwear industry in the emerging economy of Iran. This would provide deeper decision-making insights into Iranian footwear businesses. First, a list of sustainability indices and internationalisation challenges was obtained by reviewing the literature. Then, a combination of multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) approaches was implemented. The initial sustainability indices and internationalisation challenges were screened using the fuzzy Delphi method, keeping a total of 14 criteria. The best–worst method (BWM) was employed to weigh and rank the criteria. The interpretive structural modelling (ISM) technique and cross-impact matrix applied in MICMAC were employed to visualise the conceptual model based on the levels and classification of the important criteria for the internationalisation of the Iranian footwear industry. The 14 criteria were demonstrated to be important in internationalisation. The most critical sustainability indices were reducing hazardous substances in leather tanning and labour education and training. In contrast, exchange rate instability in Iran’s economy and strict chemical regulations for clothing and footwear were found to be the most important internationalisation challenges. Hence, these criteria should be considered in the internationalisation strategies of the Iranian footwear industry. A combined multilayer sustainable decision-making approach was used to analyse the Iranian footwear industry’s essential sustainability indices and internationalisation challenges. Furthermore, implications and insights are offered to footwear businesses for future decision-making.

In recent years, decision-making regarding business growth has attracted the attention of many researchers. Also, considering the importance of scale in startups for their survival and the development of economies, investigating the scalability of startups in emerging markets that are booming, can be useful. Scaling for international business has taken on a new meaning: they must be leaders in both emerging as well as advanced markets; they must be responsive to customers in both departments, which require tremendous innovation and agility; they have to build the competency needed in designing, developing, and marketing the opposite for advanced world markets; and they need to demonstrate rapid decision-making, innovation, and opportunism in delivery to the cost-sensitive underdeveloped markets. As a result, decision-making about the scale of start-ups at the international level plays an important role. The internationalisation of start-up activities is an extremely important and attractive topic among researchers, entrepreneurs, and practitioners. But there is very little research and also projects on the internationalisation of start-up venture activities, particularly after the gain of scaling and exponential growth.

Pressure on business to direct their activities responsibly has been increased during the last years to extent their suitability performance in all economic, social and environmental dimensions. This has motivated businesses and researchers to identify ways to implement sustainable and resilient operations. In the era of economic globalisation, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are recognised as an engine of sustainable economic development in both the developed and developing world. Their competitiveness drives the economy, both nationally and internationally. SMEs have faced challenges in developing, internationalisation and achieving competitive advantage. Purpose of current study is to identify and analyse the sustainability and resiliency (SR) barriers to SME internationalisation and prioritise the practices to overcome the negative influence of barriers. In this regard, first, barriers and innovative practices have been identified through the literature review. Second, the essential barriers will be selected through reduction steps by the intuitionistic fuzzy Delphi (IF-Delphi) method. After computing the weight of barriers through the IF-DEMATEL method, the practices were prioritised using four multiple attribute decision-making (MADM) methods in an IF environment. Finally, the scores were aggregated by correlation coefficient and standard deviation (CCSD) technique. Results present that ‘Lack of economical resources to global exports’ and ‘Complications in acclimatizing export product design’ are the top priority barriers and ‘Knowledge of global market opportunities’ and ‘Networking with business incubator institutions’ have been recognised as the essential SMEs internationalisation practices. This study contributes to creating a more focussed approach towards the growth of SMEs. The study results would be helpful for industry, policymakers and academia.

In 1995, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) launched the quantitative Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM) in its Human Development Report (1999). The GEM has been a feature of this report ever since. In 2004/05, a group of researchers from Edith Cowan University (Perth, Australia) intended to rely on the GEM to study the experiences of factory women in two of Sri Lanka's Export Processing Zones (EPZs). The experience of this team – at the heart of this chapter – is that the quantitative measures of the GEM, particularly the specific ways in which it causes researchers to conceptualise gender and empowerment, are not adequate to understand the nuanced and complex processes of women's experiences in regards to empowerment. The team's experience caused it to question the relevance and utility of the GEM, and in turn, its sole reliance on a quantitative methodology. As a result, the researchers from Edith Cowan changed their original methodological approach and adopted a stronger qualitative emphasis. In turn, this provided a far more realistic insight into the concepts of gender and empowerment, and indeed the lived experiences of the women it sought to represent.

The study explores the decision-making logics driving the usage of social media among internationalising small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and how it supports entrepreneurial opportunity recognition. The author draws on qualitative data from four internationalising firms all of which had adopted social media. The findings show that causal decision-making logic is the main element driving the initial usage of social media (i.e. pre-adoption). Concerning ongoing usage, the author found evidence of both causal and effectual logic; the choice being dependent on the firm’s resources. The findings also show that both drivers of social media users have a paramount role in entrepreneurial opportunity recognition.

Some researchers consider most social media communications as public, and posts from networks such as Twitter are routinely harvested and published without anonymization and without direct consent from users. In this chapter, we argue that researchers must move beyond the permissions granted by ‘legal’ accounts of the use of these new forms of data (e.g., Terms and Conditions) to a more nuanced and reflexive ethical approach that puts user expectations, safety, and privacy rights center stage. Through two projects, we present qualitative and quantitative data that illustrate social media users’ views on the use of their data by researchers. Over four in five report expecting to be asked for their consent and nine in ten expect anonymity ahead of publication of their Twitter posts. Given the unique nature of this online public environment and what we know about users’ views pertaining to informed consent, anonymity, and harm, we conclude researchers seeking to embark on social media research should conduct a risk assessment to determine likely privacy infringement and potential user harm from publishing user content.

Over the past decade, the number of people engaging with social media has grown rapidly. This means that social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook are potentially good sources of rich, naturally occurring data. As a result, a growing number of researchers are utilizing these platforms for the collection of data on any number of topics. To date, no consistent approach to the ethics of using social media data has been provided to researchers in this sphere. This chapter presents research that has developed an ethics framework for the use of researchers working with social media data. The chapter also presents the framework itself and guidance on how to use the framework when conducting social media research. A full report can be accessed on: http://www.abdn.ac.uk/socsci/research/new-europe-centre/information-societies-projects-225.php

The purpose of this study is to evaluate rice farmers’ perceptions on the manifestations of the climate change and identify efficient strategies and determinants of adoption of these strategies in the Republic of Benin.

Surveys were conducted using participatory research appraisal tools and techniques, such as direct observation, individual interviews and field visits through a questionnaire for data collection. A total of 418 rice farmers across 39 villages located in the three climatic zones of the Republic of Benin were interviewed. Farmers’ perceptions, temperature from 1952 to 2018 and rainfall from 1960 to 2018 data obtained from meteorological stations were analysed using descriptive and inferences statistics.

All the surveyed farmers were aware of climate change and perceived diverse manifestations including the delay in rainfall regarded as the most important risk. They perceived that deforestation, no respect for the laws of nature and desacralization of morals, no respect for cultures and the traditional rainmakers are the main causes of climate change. The disruption of agricultural calendar and the reduction in rice yield were perceived as the main impacts of climate change in rice production. They used various approaches to adapt and mitigate climate change effects. The adoption of adaptation strategies was influenced either negatively or positively by the household size, land size, education level, membership to rice farmer’s association, training in rice production, access to extension services, use of improved varieties and the location in climatic zones.

For each climatic zone of the Republic of Benin, weather data were collected in only one meteorological station.

The study showed that it is important to educate rice farmers on the scientific causes of climate change for better resilience. There is an urgent need to train rice farmers in irrigation and water management techniques to cope with climate variability. To promote irrigation, the authors suggest the establishment of a subsidy and credit mechanism by the government. Factors that influenced adoption of efficient adaptation strategies to climate events must be taken into account for future adaptation policies in the Republic of Benin.

This study provided an overview of the perceptions and adaptations of rice farmers along the climatic gradient in the Republic of Benin. Therefore, the knowledge of the determining factors of the adaptation strategies used by rice farmers could be used in the setting up of effective climate change resilience policies in Benin.

This chapter provides an overview of the specific legal, ethical, and privacy issues that can arise when conducting research using Twitter data. Existing literature is reviewed to inform those who may be undertaking social media research. We also present a number of industry and academic case studies in order to highlight the challenges that may arise in research projects using social media data. Finally, the chapter provides an overview of the process that was followed to gain ethics approval for a Ph.D. project using Twitter as a primary source of data. By outlining a number of Twitter-specific research case studies, the chapter will be a valuable resource to those considering the ethical implications of their own research projects utilizing social media data. Moreover, the chapter outlines existing work looking at the ethical practicalities of social media data and relates their applicability to researching Twitter.