Digital Commons Network^™

Economic Order Quantity Predictive Model Using Supervised Machine Learning For Inventory Management Of The Fast-Moving Consumer Goods Distributors, Nancy Deraz

Plymouth Business School Theses

Due to the tough competition that exists today, most distribution companies are in a continuous effort to increase their profits and reduce their costs. An improvement in the distributors’ forecasting process could have significant financial and organizational benefits. This requires decision-makers to have a fast, accurate, and efficient demand forecasting solution to be integrated into their business processes. One of the problems that face the distribution industry is how to control inventory levels by means of accurate demand and economic order quantity (EOQ) prediction. Due to some limitations, EOQ cannot be calculated by the formulas. In this situation, machine learning …

Transformational Leadership And Employee Innovative Behaviour In The Egyptian Travel Agents: A Mediation – Moderation Model, Ahmed Hammad

Plymouth Business School Theses

The tourism industry is one of the largest and fastest growing industries in the world. Specifically, tourism is a vital industry in the Egyptian economy as it is an essential source of its national income. Unfortunately, since 2010, tourism has been severely affected in Egypt due to terrorist attacks, attacks against tourist areas, and recently, the devastating impact of COVID-19, impacting Egypt as a tourist destination. Accordingly, to encounter these challenges, frontline employees’ innovative behaviour (EIB) is significantly needed as they personally engage with clients and meet their needs, and so, their input is crucial to the tourism industry’s survival. …

An Exploration Of The Significant Issues At Work For People With A Diagnosed Mental Health Issue, From The Perspective Of Individuals And Line Managers., Lindsay Louise Rose Badger

Plymouth Business School Theses

This thesis presents findings from an exploratory, in-depth qualitative research project that focused upon surfacing and exploring the significant issues at work for people with diagnosed mental health issues, from the perspective of individuals and line managers. There is growing awareness of the number of people in work with mental health issues; an estimated one in six workers (Elliott et al., 2008; McManus et al., 2016) and the organisational costs: an estimated £42 to £45billion per year (Hampson & Jacob, 2020). The current research field of mental health issues at work focuses upon how work can shape individuals’ mental health …

Exploring The Roles Of Service Supply Chain Performance Measurements In Thai Medical Tourism Industry, Sutinee Somabutr

Plymouth Business School Theses

Medical tourism, a promising industry offering significant economic potential, particularly for Southeast Asian countries like Thailand, has generated a critical academic discourse. The medical tourism industry is complicated by its nature, combining aspects of healthcare, hospitality, and customer satisfaction within a service supply chain. A key academic challenge in this industry is the insufficient exploration and understanding of service supply chain (SSC) performance measurements. The rapid growth of the industry and the existing research gap make a detailed academic study necessary. Addressing this challenge, this study narrows its focus on the important roles and interrelationship of SSC performance measurements within …

Spatial And Seasonal Variations In Dissolved Methane Across A Large Lake, Mike Peacock, Scott J. Davidson, Dolly N. Kothawala, Joel Segersten, Martyn N. Futter

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Lakes process large volumes of organic carbon (OC), are important sources of methane (CH4), and contribute to climatic warming. However, there is a lack of data from large lakes >500 km2, which creates uncertainty in global budgets. In this data article, we present dissolved CH4, OC bioreactivity measurements, water chemistry, and algal biovolumes at 11 stations across Lake Mälaren, the third largest (1,074 km2) Swedish lake. Total phosphorus concentrations show that during the study period the lake was classed as mesotrophic/eutrophic. Overall mean CH4 concentration from all stations, sampled five times to cover seasonal variation, was 2.51 μg l−1 (0.98–5.39 …

The Impact Of Firm Ownership On Innovation: Evidence From China, Xiaoqi Mi

Plymouth Business School Theses

This thesis uses data from the Shanghai Stock Exchange from 2013 to 2019 to focus on the impact of five ownership structures on firm innovation. In this context, innovation refers to firm performance innovation, specialisation innovation and diversification innovation. The results show that concentrated ownership is positively related to firm innovation performance, while foreign ownership is negatively related to firm innovation performance. However, there is no significant linear relationship between firm ownership and innovation performance. Nevertheless, the innovation performance of concentrated ownership does not differ significantly between the different levels when a threshold is used. Insider ownership positively impacts innovation …

Acceptance Of E-Mobility In India, Anja Marlen Buechler

Plymouth Business School Theses

India signed in 2015 the historic Paris climate agreement together with more than 170 nations in order to fight against global warming and to reduce CO2-emissions in order to control global warming caused by greenhouse effect. The transportation sector was in 2021 the second biggest source of CO2-emissions worldwide. Decarbonising this sector will have a major effect on the worldwide greenhouse gas emissions. That is the reason why this sector will be challenged by the pressure through politics and legal demands for CO2-neutral and emission free vehicles. India is also facing those challenges. At the Glasgow Climate Change Conference in …

Cooperation And Collective Action And Its Prospect To Collective Intelligence In Global German Companies, Kujtime Ademi

Plymouth Business School Theses

Contemporary business organisations face a fierce struggle to survive in a global economic environment which is increasingly characterised by rapid change and transitions. Against the backdrop of such burgeoning competition, corporations are confronted with diminishing innovation, rising customer expectations as well as a workforce distributed across the globe. These factors converge to create a pressing need for companies to organise effective application of employees’ knowledge, skills and experiences. As the changes within the global environment constrain the ability of organisations to adapt to these transitions, they must seek recourse to mechanisms that enable them to proactively tackle economic and social …

The Perceived Value Co-Creation And The Degree Of Value Co-Creation Of Chinese Senior Travellers: A Case Study In Guizhou Province (China), Yu Lei

Plymouth Business School Theses

Gifted with the reality that the number of aged people has been growing at a high rate of speed from year to year, China has great potential to benefit from the development of senior tourism. Besides, value co-creation has become a more and more attractive research topic in tourism context. However, although previous research (including both English and Chinese literature) has paid considerable attention to value co-creation, few studies have focused on senior travellers’ attitudes on value co-creation in tourism industry. As mentioned above, since more and more Chinese seniors show great interest in tourism-related activities, especially in the post …

The Development Of A Maturity Model To Assess Supplier Relationship Management (Srm) Performance In The Egyptian Food Processing Sector, Lobna Hafez

Plymouth Business School Theses

The food processing sector is one of the most important industrial sectors in Egypt. The sector, however, faces various challenges arising from the local supply side, leading to the inconsistent quality of inputs. This could be traced to poor cultivation practices, low quality and unavailability of inputs, lack of quality assurance and quality control and limited skills. Supplier relationship management (SRM) can provide a solution to these challenges. If buying firms worked on improving their relationship with suppliers, mutual benefits could be achieved. For this reason, this research focuses on developing a maturity model to assess the level of SRM …

An Investigation Of Organic Dining Behaviour In Restaurants At Three Selected Cities In The Uk: A Holistic Approach, Lokman Dinc

Plymouth Business School Theses

An Investigation of Organic Dining Behaviour In Restaurants At three selected cities in the UK : A Holistic Approach Lokman Dinc Abstract The organic food market has experienced significant growth in recent decades all over the world. Within the context of the UK, a remarkable rise can be seen considering the recent popularisation of organic food products. UK diners are becoming increasingly conscious about what they eat, while several reasons such as health and environmental concerns shape diners’ organic food consumption. With these trends in mind, the aim of this research is to develop a holistic understanding of organic dining …

An Empirical Study Of Crowd Dynamics And Managing Safety At Events, Kristin Finn

Plymouth Business School Theses

The UK live events market has long been considered to be a growth sector. Given the range of challenges linked to event crowd safety felt by the industry in recent years, and despite recent setbacks associated with new safety measures and public uncertainty following the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, event organisers remain optimistic about the future. Many authors have studied crowd dynamics and safety planning in recent years, but often the emphasis has been one of objective observation and expert opinion. The outcomes of this thesis are timely as it aimed to investigate attitudinal differences among event …

Plasma Aβ42/40 Ratio, P-Tau181, Gfap, And Nfl Across The Alzheimer's Disease Continuum: A Cross-Sectional And Longitudinal Study In The Aibl Cohort, Pratishtha Chatterjee, Steve Pedrini, James D. Doecke, Rohith Thota, Victor L. Villemagne, Vincent Doré, Abhay K. Singh, Penghao Wang, Stephanie Rainey-Smith, Christopher Fowler, Kevin Taddei, Hamid R. Sohrabi, Mark P. Molloy, David Ames, Paul Maruff, Christopher C. Rowe, Colin L. Masters, Ralph N. Martins, Aibl Research Group

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Introduction:

Plasma amyloid beta (Aβ)1-42/Aβ1-40 ratio, phosphorylated-tau181 (p-tau181), glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), and neurofilament light (NfL) are putative blood biomarkers for Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, head-to-head cross-sectional and longitudinal comparisons of the aforementioned biomarkers across the AD continuum are lacking.

Methods:

Plasma Aβ1-42, Aβ1-40, p-tau181, GFAP, and NfL were measured utilizing the Single Molecule Array (Simoa) platform and compared cross-sectionally across the AD continuum, wherein Aβ-PET (positron emission tomography)–negative cognitively unimpaired (CU Aβ−, n = 81) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI Aβ−, n = 26) participants were compared with Aβ-PET–positive participants across the AD continuum (CU Aβ+, n = …

The Importance Of Trust And Authenticity Among Stakeholders Involved In Higher Education Data Infrastructure Redevelopments: An Australian Critical Discourse Study, Elizabeth Cook

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Governments require higher education providers (HEPs) to be transparent in their use of public funds and have developed specialised higher education (HE) data infrastructure to enable the data transfer from HEPs to government departments. In 2018, Australia’s Department of Education, Skills and Employment launched Transforming the Collection of Student Information (TCSI) to enhance HE data infrastructure for student data transfer. This critical discourse study explores the discourses, discursive strategies and perspectives surrounding TCSI. Findings included HEP issues and concerns that the interviewees believed were inadequately addressed or ignored despite the Department’s claims of extensive engagement with HEPs to achieve mutually …

Care Visits: Obligations, Opportunities And Constraints For Vietnamese Grandparent Visitors In Australia, Hien Thi Nguyen, Loretta Baldassar, Raelene Wilding

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

In examining the ageing-migration nexus from a Global South perspective, this paper explores the obligations, opportunities and constraints of caregiving performed by Vietnamese grandparent visitors during their sojourns in Australia. Employing a grounded theory approach and care circulation framework, we investigate how grandparent visitors and adult migrant children experience and understand care and ageing in contexts of mobility, including an analysis of how gender, age, socio-economic contexts and culture shape and affect their care norms and practices. The analysis emphasizes the critical contributions that Vietnamese grandparents make to the reproductive labour of their adult migrant children who often face challenges …

Perceptions And Experiences Of Career Success Among Aspiring And Early Career Accountants And The Role Of Organisational Support, Denise Jackson, Julia Richardson, Grant Michelson, Rahat Munir

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Positive perceptions of career success are critical among accounting professionals, given their connection with performance, turnover and organisational commitment. Drawing on career stage theory, this study explores the perceptions and experiences of career success among 475 aspiring (Accounting/Finance students), 305 early career accountants (ECAs) and 165 managers/recruiters in Australia. Findings reflected both objective and subjective dimensions of career success alongside notable differences between aspiring accountants and ECAs, highlighting shifting views across the career stages of exploration and establishment. While ECAs were largely positive about their access to career success, managers/recruiters identified ways to create further opportunities for ECAs' career success.

Awareness Of Social Care Needs In People With Epilepsy And Intellectual Disability, A. Gabrielsson, S. Tromans, H. Newman, P. Triantafyllopoulou, A. Hassiotis, P. Bassett, L. Watkins, I. Sawhney, M. Cooper, L. Griffiths, A. Pullen, A. Roy, H. Angus-Leppan, Rh Thomas, M. Kinney, P. Tittensor, R. Shankar

Peninsula Medical School

Background: Nearly a quarter of people with intellectual disability (ID) have epilepsy with large numbers experiencing drug-resistant epilepsy, and premature mortality. To mitigate epilepsy risks the environment and social care needs, particularly in professional care settings, need to be met. Purpose: To compare professional care groups as regards their subjective confidence and perceived responsibility when managing the need of people with ID and epilepsy. Method: A multi-agency expert panel developed a questionnaire with embedded case vignettes with quantitative and qualitative elements to understand training and confidence in the health and social determinants of people with ID and epilepsy. The cross-sectional …

Poo Matters! A Scoping Review Of Impact Of Constipation On Epilepsy, Alexandra Gabrielsson, Samuel Tromans, Lance Watkins, Lisa Burrows, Richard Laugharne, Rohit Shankar

Peninsula Medical School

BACKGROUND: Epilepsy is a common neurological disorder which frequently presents with co-morbid physical health conditions, including constipation. However, the nature of the relationship between the two conditions has not been well defined. AIM: To quantify constipation's relationship with epilepsy and anti-seizure medication (ASM). METHOD: A scoping review registered on PROSPERO (CRD42022320079) with suitable search terms was conducted and reported in accordance with PRISMA guidance. CINAHL, Embase, PsycInfo and MEDLINE electronic databases were searched by an information specialist. The Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) critical appraisal tools alongside the Oxford Centre for Evidence Based Medicine (OCEBM) levels of evidence were used to …

How To … Define Clinical Education Research Terminology: A Glossary, Gabrielle M. Finn, Ben Charmer, Oliver E. Burton, Aqua Asif, Matthew H.V. Byrne, Nicola Brennan, Megan E.L. Brown

Peninsula Medical School

Clinical education research (ClinEdR) utilises diverse terminology, which can lead to confusion. A common language is essential for enhancing impact. An expert panel drawn from various workstreams within the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Incubator for Clinical Education Research was tasked with reviewing an initial list of terms for the development of a glossary of terms in the field of ClinEdR. The glossary was populated with terms, definitions and foundational papers by the authors and peer-reviewed for accuracy. The glossary of terms developed for ClinEdR should enable researchers to use a common language, promoting consistency and improving …

Guiding Principles For Effective Collaborative Implementation Strategies For Multisite Hospital Improvement Initiatives: A Mixed-Method Realist Evaluation Of Collaborative Strategies Used In Four Multisite Initiatives At Public Hospitals In New South Wales, Australia, Janet C. Long, Mitchell N. Sarkies, Emilie Francis-Auton, Natalie Roberts, Rebecca Hardwick, Hoa Mi Nguyen, Jean Frederic Levesque, Diane E. Watson, Johanna Westbrook, Peter D. Hibbert, Frances Rapport, Jeffrey Braithwaite

Peninsula Medical School

Objective Large-scale, multisite hospital improvement initiatives can advance high-quality care for patients. Implementation support is key to adoption of change in this context. Strategies that foster collaboration within local teams, across sites and between initiative developers and users are important. However not all implementation strategies are successful in all settings, sometimes realising poor or unintended outcomes. Our objective here is to develop guiding principles for effective collaborative implementation strategies for multi-site hospital initiatives. Design Mixed-method realist evaluation. Realist studies aim to examine the underlying theories that explain differing outcomes, identifying mechanisms and contextual factors that may trigger them. Setting We …

Human-Centered Design For Strategic Organizational Shifts In Complex Times, Kristen Laviano Snow

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Nonprofit organizations are faced with unprecedented challenges as they seek to accomplish their lofty missions in a complex environment, ripe with uncertainty. The global COVID-19 pandemic brought forth new problems for communities and workplaces. As a result, some old ways of working may no longer be useful. To make meaningful progress on their social missions while navigating an unfamiliar post-pandemic context, nonprofits need new tools to help them understand and respond to changing community needs. Evidence has shown design thinking to be an effective approach to developing innovative strategies tailored to real needs, however, it has not been widely practiced …

The Discovery And Characterization Of Novel Potent 5-Substituted 3, 3’, 4’, 7-Tetramethoxyflavonoid Dna Triplex Specific Binding Ligands, Vanessa Marie Rangel

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Chemotherapy works by killing fast dividing cells. Unfortunately, these drugs are not specific to cancer tissue and can damage normal cells. Chemotherapy is like taking poison and hoping it kills the cancer cells before it kills you. As an alternative, many researchers have investigated the use of antigene therapy to selectively target cancer causing genes to avoid off target effects. Although promising, the theory is limited by the stability of the triplex structure. Here, we report the discovery of potent triplex binding ligands derived from the natural product quercetin. Chemical derivatives of 5-substituted 3, 3’, 4’, 7-tetramethoxyquercetin derivatives were characterized …

Writing As Transformation: An Action Research Study On Trauma-Informed Curriculum, Nena L. Weinsteiger Guzman

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Trauma exposure is endemic, and this study seeks to address childhood trauma in a compassionate and restorative manner. Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are serious childhood traumas that manifest as toxic stress which can damage the developing brain of a child and affect overall health. The implications are expressed dualistically: academic performance of youth is subdued & diminished, and behavioral interactions can range from unreceptive to erratic and aggressive. Trauma exposure is a predictor of adverse outcomes, which range from higher rates of suspension, expulsion, and incarceration, to dire outcomes, such as lower life expectancy and quality of life. Streamlining trauma-informed …

We're Listening: A Study Of Music Preference In Modern Society, Michael B. Glover

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the formation of music preference in an effort to identify specific ages when preferred music is likely to be discovered. One hundred one individuals participated in an online survey, answering questions about their listening habits, music preferences, and the social elements that contributed most to those preferences. Participants were asked to identify their current, second, and third favorite music at the time of the study and whether their preferences had changed over time. According to findings, males were likely to discover their current favorite music at the age of 12.46 years, and …

Exploring Academic Capital Formation Of Hmong American Undergraduate College Students, Lou Vang

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this mixed methods research study was to investigate whether academic capital is associated with student gender, student generation status, and parental education level of Hmong American undergraduate college students. The study also examined the educational experience of Hmong American undergraduate college students to understand the barriers they faced in obtaining academic capital and how they overcame them. The study's first phase collected and analyzed survey responses from 150 Hmong American undergraduate college students. The study's second phase interviewed six students who participated in the survey from the first phase. The first phase yielded quantitative results that suggested …

Continuation Teachers' Perceptions Of Grading Practices, Tobi W. Page

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The history of grading practices is riddled with inequities, dating to the inception of the traditional grading system, which was designed to rank and sort. Despite expanding public education to include all members of society, traditional grading practices have yet to evolve in response to the growing demand for equitable and student-centered grading practices. Many alternative education schools have a non-traditional grading structure in response to the students’ learning needs. With an understanding of the history and challenges of alternative education settings, this study sought to add the perceptions and practices of continuation high school teachers to the current body …

Identifying Success Strategies For Hmong American Students In Higher Education, Jason Xiong

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Hmong Americans' postsecondary completion rates remain low when compared to other Asian ethnic groups. As the Hmong population continues to grow, so does the need for intervention to increase the total number of postsecondary graduates. Many Hmong Americans are first-generation college students and continue to face challenges and barriers that prevent them from being successful in higher education. “Forty-seven and a half percent of Hmong adults (25 years or older) reported having attended college, but not earning a degree” (National Commission on Asian American and Pacific Islander Research in Education, 2011). Without a college degree, Hmong Americans face limited resources …

Relationships Between K-12 In-Service Teachers’ Personal Environmental Education Teacher Efficacy, Environmental Identity, And Concern For Implementation Of California’S Environmental Principles And Concepts, Dean Matthew Reese

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Significant environmental impacts such as climate change, reduction in biodiversity, increasing food scarcity, impacts on water supply and availability, and exacerbation of human health problems are occurring and are expected to increase. Despite these environmental challenges the teaching of California’s environmental literacy standards, the California Environmental Principles and Concepts (CA EP&Cs), in the K-12 public education system is infrequent and inadequate. The purpose of this study was to use a mixed methods approach to examine relationships between environmental identity (EI), personal environmental education teacher efficacy (PEETE), and peak stage of concern (SOC) for implementing CA EP&Cs for K-12 in-service teachers …

Examining Attention To Leadership When Hiring School Administrators In A High Poverty, Ethnically Diverse School District: A Case Study, Veronica A. Tigert

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this mixed methods case study was to understand the hiring practices of a school district when considering a principal and how the school district attends to leadership within those hiring practices. The central premise of the study was leadership matters and is second to teaching in student achievement. However, the historical record paints a picture of less than adequate attention to effective hiring practices and a limited scope when addressing leadership. A small school district in California was selected to participate in the study. The design incorporated mixed methods to analyze the hiring practices through a survey …

Targeting Ribonucleotide Reductase For Breast Cancer Treatment, Nahid Sultana

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Breast cancer is the second most common type of cancer in the world. Hormone receptor (HR) positive breast cancer (BC) is a prevalent disease accounting for approximately 2 million new cases globally. Almost 70-80% of breast cancer patients are women with a positive score for the estrogen receptor (ER). Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) which have a negative score for estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR) and human epidermal growth factor receptor type 2 (HER2) is considered an aggressive histological breast cancer subtype with limited treatment options.Frequently, doxorubicin (DOXO)-based chemotherapy is utilized in this patient population due to the lack of …