Eric MacIntosh, A. Lauren Couture and Kirsty Spence
The primary purpose of this paper is to explore stakeholder perceptions of an international sport for development program so as to identify some of the management challenges…
Abstract
Purpose
The primary purpose of this paper is to explore stakeholder perceptions of an international sport for development program so as to identify some of the management challenges within a strategic management framework. The secondary purpose is to provide recommendations for the focal organization’s leadership based on those stakeholder perceptions. Hence, participants in this study directly experienced the facilitation and implementation of the international sport for development program. Participant viewpoints are expressed in efforts to identify improvement opportunities in the delivery and operations of this sport for development program.
Design/methodology/approach
In this qualitative research, a case study design was chosen to produce a detailed account of the Commonwealth Games Association of Canada’s (CGC) International Sport and Development (IDS) program. Interviews were conducted with 24 alumni of the IDS program, five CGC IDS administrators, and ten host IDS organization administrators from African and Caribbean regions.
Findings
Findings demonstrated shared perspectives regarding the challenges and various management practices among the three stakeholder groups investigated. In particular, funding and human resource stress was found to be the largest obstacles of maintaining programming and achieving desired outcomes. Several strengths and limitations in the program design, monitoring and evaluation strategy, and program documentation of outcomes were found which can presumably be used to help formulate management strategy moving forward in efforts for continuous improvement.
Research limitations/implications
The study does not take into account the stakeholder group of participants whom were deemed to be on the receiving end of the program and not responsible for the delivery and operations of the initiatives which were the focus of the study.
Practical implications
Recommendations in lieu of present challenges and objectives are also offered and are based on information from the facilitators and implementers of the principal program of research and the results of the semi-structured interviews.
Originality/value
This study examines three different stakeholders that are responsible for the facilitation and implementation of the design, delivery, and daily operations of sport for development projects within an international partnership context.
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Munezza Ata Khan, Umar Ansari and Murtaza Najabat Ali
Real-time monitoring of wound or injured tissues is critical for speedy recovery, and the onset of a cascade of biochemical reactions provides potential biomarkers that facilitate…
Abstract
Purpose
Real-time monitoring of wound or injured tissues is critical for speedy recovery, and the onset of a cascade of biochemical reactions provides potential biomarkers that facilitate the process of wound monitoring, e.g. pH, temperature, moisture level, bacterial load, cytokines, interleukins, etc. Among all the biomarkers, pH has been known to have a profound impact on the wound healing process, and is used to determine the incidence of bacterial infection of the wound (persistently elevated alkaline pH), proteolytic activity at the site of injury, take rate in skin grafting, wound healing stage and preparation for wound debridement.
Design/methodology/approach
This review highlights the significance of pH in determination of clinical parameters and for selection of an appropriate treatment regime, and it presents an in-depth analysis of the designs and fabrication methods that use integrated pH sensors, which have been reported to date for the real-time monitoring of wound healing.
Findings
For an expedited wound healing process, the significance of pH mandated the need of an integrated sensor system that would facilitate real-time monitoring of healing wounds and obviate the requirement of redressing or complicated testing procedures, which are both labor-intensive and painful for the patient. The review also discussed different types of sensor systems which were developed using hydrogel as a pH-responsive system coupled with voltammetry, potentiometry, impedimetric and flex-circuit inductive transducer systems. All of the mentioned devices have considerable potential for clinical applications, and there is need of in vivo testing to validate their efficiency and sensitivity under practical scenarios.
Originality/value
This manuscript is an original review of literature, and permission has been granted to use the figures from previously published papers.
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Tereza Blazkova, Esben Rahbek Gjerdrum Pedersen and Kirsti Reitan Reitan Andersen
This study aims to deepen the understanding of what stakeholders talk about when it comes to sustainable fashion on social media and how. Sustainable fashion is a broad umbrella…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to deepen the understanding of what stakeholders talk about when it comes to sustainable fashion on social media and how. Sustainable fashion is a broad umbrella term, which can distract attention from the differences between the individual subtopics and the sentiments ascribed to them. However, little systematic research exists on how the stakeholder activity and dominant sentiments vary across different sustainable fashion topics.
Design/methodology/approach
This study is based on a social media analysis of 19,179 tweets authored by 1,819 distinct stakeholders on Twitter (now “X”) from 2007 to 2022. A large language model, a type of artificial intelligence (AI) that focuses on understanding and generating human language, is used to conduct a sentiment analysis of six stakeholder groups and 81 keywords linked to sustainable fashion. Two case examples are used to highlight the differences in stakeholder perceptions of sustainable fashion.
Findings
The social media analysis demonstrates how subcategories of sustainable fashion significantly differ in terms of stakeholder interest, activity and sentiments. For instance, tweets on circular economy and relevant subcategories (closed loop, recycling, upcycling, etc.) are popular, whereas issues linked to environmental, social and governance (ESG) and due diligence receive little attention on social media. While sentiments toward sustainable fashion are in general positive, discussions on topics such as labor rights issues are consistently associated with negative sentiments across most stakeholder groups.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the literature by demonstrating how stakeholders and sentiments vary across different topics linked to sustainable fashion on social media, which has become one of the main channels for communicating sustainability content. The findings thereby shed new light on dominant stakeholder positions regarding a wide variety of sustainable fashion topics.
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Brady Lund and Jinxuan Ma
This study investigates the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the types and sources of information sought by older adults along with their motivations in the Midwestern United…
Abstract
Purpose
This study investigates the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the types and sources of information sought by older adults along with their motivations in the Midwestern United States.
Design/methodology/approach
Interviews were conducted with 30 older adults residing in rural communities around the Midwestern United States during late-summer (July/August) 2020, using a protocol based on Dervin's Sense-Making Methodology. The resulting data was analyzed using standard content analysis procedures, guided by the theoretical frameworks based on Dervin's Sense-Making and Williamson's Ecological Model of Information Behavior. Implications of COVID-19 for the normative behaviors described in these models are discussed.
Findings
Findings show that older adults were concerned primarily with health and political information during this period, but that this information was not necessarily sought only to address an informational need, but also to satisfy the need to maintain social and emotional connections in coping with isolation and loneliness. Sources of information that allowed for social interaction with people were favored. Wider personal networks (community members) were strained by the social distancing measures and closures. These findings have theoretical and practical implications for considering the impact of social restrictions on information seeking behaviors of older adults in a time of crisis.
Originality/value
This study is the first, known to the authors, that applied the two adopted theoretical frameworks to explore information seeking behaviors of older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Makbule Gezmen Karadağ, Duygu Ağagündüz, Hilal Yıldıran, Sabriye Arslan and Onur Toka
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the perception and knowledge of standard food/meal portion size and related factors in young adults.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the perception and knowledge of standard food/meal portion size and related factors in young adults.
Design/methodology/approach
The present study was conducted on 1,000 volunteer young adults, consisting of 504 men and 496 women (18 and 28 years). The portion size of food/meal, amount of food measuring utensils and also nutritional knowledge were evaluated via a questionnaire and some visual materials.
Findings
Knowledge of portion sizes, amount of food each utensil holds and nutrition was evaluated via a questionnaire and some visual materials. Knowledge of portion size with respect to food groups (p = 0.015), meals (p < 0.001) and food measuring utensils (p = 0.002) and nutritional knowledge scores (p = 0.011) differed based on body mass indexes (BMI). Women had on mean a higher nutritional knowledge score than men (2.0 ± 1.3, 1.9 ± 1.1 points, respectively). The probability of having knowledge about food measuring utensils was 1.4-fold greater for individuals who had been previously educated about nutrition (p = 0.034). Individuals of the faculty of health sciences had higher mean scores for all portion scores (p < 0.05).
Originality/value
The study findings highlighted that portion knowledge and perception of young adults were affected by gender, BMI, enrolled faculty and nutritional knowledge status. This is the first study, through which the portion knowledge and perception subcomponents (food, meal and measuring utensils) are evaluated, indicating each subcomponent to be affected by distinct factors.