Deaths of older Australians related to their use of motorised mobility scooters

This study describes motorized mobility scooter (MMS) rider-related fatalities in the older Australian population during the years 2000–2011, identified from the National Coronial Information System. Seventy-seven fatalities were identified, most aged 80 years or older (74.1%) and males predominated (76.6%). Most deaths (88.3%) resulted from collisions with motor vehicles or falling from the MMS. These findings are consistent with the reported morbidity data. Challenges to MMS case identification included lack of specification in reports to Coroners and inadequate codes. Improved specificity and coding are necessary to fully describe the extent of MMS-related injury. This study raises the issue of emerging largely unregulated consumer products. Further research is required to understand the uptake and use of MMS in the ageing population. Strategies are needed to decrease rider injuries whilst meeting community mobility needs.     

Encouraging Entrepreneurship: Microfinance,Knowledge Support,and the Costs of Operating in Institutional Voids

This study focuses on the supplemented strategies of microfinance institutions (MFIs), in which the MFI offers nonfinancial services, such as entrepreneurship related knowledge, in addition to financial services to impoverished borrowers at the bottom of the pyramid (BoP). We examine two contextual factors–foreign direct investment (FDI) and loan defaults–to better understand the relationship between providing knowledge support to encourage entrepreneurship and costs of operating at the BoP for MFIs. In contexts where FDI is low and loan defaults are high, providing knowledge support to encourage entrepreneurship aggravates the MFI's costs of operating at the BoP. However, in contexts where FDI is high and loan defaults are low, providing knowledge support to encourage entrepreneurship among impoverished borrowers does not aggravate the MFI's costs of operating at the BoP. Hence, in emerging markets where governments welcome FDI and curb loan defaults, MFIs can viably support entrepreneurship among the poor. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Hyperfiliation and cultural citizenship: African American consumer acculturation

The experiences of African American expatriates in South Africa are explored to explain how acculturation in circumstances of hyperfiliation influences cross-cultural consumption for the purposes of performing cultural citizenship. The acculturation sub-processes of revision, restoration, and retroversion are analyzed to examine the ways in which social capital is mobilized in citizenship projects. These aspects of expatriate experiences are unpacked, theoretical implications are identified, and managerial implications are discussed.     

Internal marketing as a change management tool: A case study in re-branding

This article examines the rational, power and political considerations of internal marketing (IM) when implementing a change management initiative, such as re-branding. Based on the findings of a qualitative case study of a Canadian university and the views of multiple stakeholder groups, additional considerations have been identified that relate to the transformation or ‘control’ stage of change. Particularly, tactics have been presented that are believed to facilitate the transition or re-branding process. This research provides important perspective on the role of IM in the context of organizational behavior. Using a grounded theory research method, an adapted model is proposed that comprises elements of internal marketing as well as change management.     

Economic growth and the environment: Theory and facts

Several recent papers propose competing theoretical explanations for the empirical observation of an inverted U-shape relationship between environmental degradation and per-capita income. We propose the following test of the theory: calibrate a theoretical model to an already developed economy using information unrelated to the pollution–income curve. Then simulate the model starting from a less developed initial condition and compare the predicted pollution–income relationship with that in the data. Our results are mixed. Some support exists for the theory that the inverted U-shape results from a corner solution in which less developed countries do not abate pollution. However, because we find abatement is relatively inexpensive, the model predicts pollution peaks at a level of per capita income much lower than that observed in our U.S. data. For some pollutants, we find evidence of a structural break in preferences in the early 1970s. When the structural break is added, the model performs better for two of three pollutants.     

Risk of major amputation or death among patients with critical limb ischemia initially treated with endovascular intervention,surgical bypass,minor amputation,or conservative management

Aims: Patients with critical limb ischemia (CLI) have an increased risk of major amputation. The initial treatment approach for CLI may significantly impact the subsequent risk of major amputation or death. The objective of this study was to describe the initial treatment approaches of patients with CLI and the limb outcomes associated with each approach.

Methods: Data from MarketScan Commercial and Medicare Supplemental Databases from January 2006–December 2014 was utilized. Cohorts of CLI patients were defined as follows: (1) peripheral vascular intervention (PVI); (2) peripheral vascular surgery (PVS); (3) minor amputation without concomitant PVI or PVS (MinAMP); and (4) Patients without PVI, PVS, or MinAMP (conservative therapy). The odds of major amputation or inpatient death were estimated using the Cox proportional hazards model. For those patients requiring a major amputation, the incremental expenditures per member per month (PMPM) were estimated using a gamma log-link model.

Results: Conservative therapy was associated with significantly higher odds of major amputation or inpatient death compared to patients who underwent minor amputation (1.59-times), PVI (2.08-times), or PVS (2.12-times). Patients treated with an initial strategy of minor amputation also had higher odds of major amputation or inpatient death compared to PVS (1.31-times) or PVI (1.33-times). The estimated incremental expenditures PMPM for patients with a major amputation was $5,165.

Conclusions: Revascularization reduces the risk of a major amputation or inpatient death for patients with CLI when compared to conservative therapy. Major amputation is also associated with significantly higher healthcare expenditures.     

Why are some modes of acquisition more profitable? A study of the credit card industry

A key challenge in financial services marketing is attracting good customers to the firm. For most financial services firms, including credit card firms, a good customer is also a profitable customer. Managers would like to use marketing tactics that attract the most profitable customers while closely monitoring and perhaps limiting expenditures on marketing tactics that tend to attract relatively less profitable customers. Therefore, managers need to understand the relative effectiveness of different modes of new account acquisition and the impact that the various modes of acquisition may have on overall account profitability. To date, there have been very few studies that have calculated individual level customer profitability and then investigated the relationship between new customer acquisition source and customer profitability. That is, how do modes of acquisition differ in their ability to attract profitable customers? We answer this question using a proprietary and novel data set from the credit card industry. Of the four modes of acquisition used in this industry, we find that Internet and direct mail efforts generate more profitable customers than telemarketing and direct selling. We provide possible explanations for these findings. Our work adds to the growing literature in customer relationship management and our results have important managerial implications for resource allocation among acquisition strategies.     

Mind the gender gap: Inequalities in the emergent professions of artificial intelligence (AI) and data science

The emergence of new prestigious professions in data science and artificial intelligence (AI) provide a rare opportunity to explore the gendered dynamics of technical careers as they are being formed. In this paper, we contribute to the literature on gender inequality in digital work by curating and analysing a unique cross-country data set. We use innovative data science methodology to investigate the nature of work and skills in these under-researched fields. Our research finds persistent disparities in jobs, qualifications, seniority, industry, attrition and even self-confidence in these fields. We identify structural inequality in data and AI, with career trajectories of professionals differentiated by gender, reflecting the broader history of computing. Our work is original in illuminating gendering processes within elite high-tech jobs as they are being configured. Paying attention to these nascent fields is crucial if we are to ensure that women take their rightful place at forefront of technological innovation.     

The Hidden Costs of Soil Mining to Agricultural Sustainability in Developing Countries: A Case Study of Machakos District,Eastern Kenya

With respect to the idea of multifunctional agriculture, one way to raise farmers' environmental stewardship is to reward environmental practices through food quality labelling schemes. The objective of our study was to identify existing relationships between the production of quality food and the production of environmental goods at farm level. In this article, we report the results of analyses conducted to examine the effects of major ‘quality’ and ‘eco-labelling’ schemes in the Midi-Pyrenees region of the south of France. Factor analysis and analysis of variance were used with a data set of 107 farms—some participating in the labelling schemes and some not participating—for which environmental scores had been assigned. The statistical analyses were complemented by a qualitative analysis based on in-depth interviews of 85 farmers and review of the labelling standard guidelines. This study shows that organic farms and farms enrolled in various quality and eco-labelling programmes in France do provide some environmental benefits. However, they do not necessarily perform better than other farms on all environmental measures.     

Intergovernmental Fiscal Arrangements and Provincial Consumption Risk Sharing in China

This paper utilizes a panel data set on two major fiscal reforms in China—the fiscal contract system (FCS) in 1980-93 and the tax-sharing system (TSS) after 1994—to examine how the various aspects of intergovernmental fiscal arrangement affect the ability of the fiscal system to facilitate risk sharing. The high revenue decentralization and the proliferation of extrabudgetary revenue items in the FCS generally weakened the central government's ability to support interprovincial risk sharing. This situation was reversed in the TSS period. In addition, the effect of central-to-local transfer (transfer-in) and local-to-central transfer (transfer-out) on risk sharing was asymmetric in the sense that transfer-out enhances risk sharing but transfer-in does not.