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Yes / This study examined whether the proposed bilingual advantage in inhibitory control and working memory can be extended to a trilingual advantage, and assessed any age-related effects on a continuum in young adults to older adults. Trilinguals, bilinguals and monolinguals’ performance on the Simon task and a numerical version of the N-back task was compared. On the Simon task, there was no language group difference observed, although the data show an age-related decline in inhibitory control only in trilinguals, but not in bilinguals or monolinguals. No clear language group differences were observed between trilinguals and bilinguals on the N-back task, however an overall trilingual and bilingual disadvantage, compared to monolinguals, was observed. Together the results suggest that managing two or three languages, compared to just one, may have a negative impact on inhibitory control and working memory performance. Importantly, they highlight the need to control for a possible confounding effect of including trilinguals/multilinguals in bilingual cohorts and to ensure that participants in monolingual cohorts speak only one language.

Elderly Black and Hispanic adults have poorer overall health, higher disability rates, and lower life expectancies than elderly Whites and other racial and ethnic minority group members. There are also sex differences in health, with women more likely to suffer from non-life threatening chronic conditions and men more likely to suffer from acute conditions. Health pathways, or the processes to good or poor health, are shaped by race, SES, and sex. This study focuses on the race and SES literature, framing race and SES inequalities within a cumulative advantage lens. Using Hierarchical Linear Modeling techniques to examine data from the Health and Retirement Survey, this study finds that there are racial differences in health through health problems, health insurance, and health care treatment, and that Black, Hispanic, and other racial and ethnic minority group members have worse self-reported health than Whites in old age. This study also finds evidence of cumulative advantage through friends in the neighborhood, and finds evidence of cumulative disadvantage through health problems and hospital and nursing home treatment. There are also cumulative disadvantages for women, who have more functional limitations in old age than their male counterparts, and these disadvantages grow over time. This study adds support to the race literature, by furthering understandings of race and SES as interconnected but not interchangeable systems of inequality. In lieu of the findings, this study provides implications for future research and ways to reduce racial health disparities in old age. / Ph. D.

Medical tourism is a relatively recent global economic and political phenomenon which has assumed increasing importance for developing countries, particularly in Asia. It has been slower to develop within the context of the tourism industry in English-speaking Caribbean countries but there is evidence that the tourism policy makers in the region perceive medical tourism as a potentially lucrative niche market. However, while the potential of medical tourism has seemingly been embraced by the region's political directorate, there has been limited discussion of the extent to which this market niche can realistically provide competitive advantage for the region. The argument of this conceptual paper is that the English-speaking Caribbean cannot hope to compete successfully in the global medical tourism market with many developing world destinations in Asia, or even with other Caribbean countries such as Cuba, on factors such as low cost, staff expertise, medical technological capability, investment in healthcare facilities or even in terms of the natural resources of sun, sea and sand. Rather, in order to achieve competitive advantage the countries of the region should, on the one hand, identify and develop their unique resources and competences as they relate to medical tourism, while, on the other hand, they should exploit the demand of the postmodern tourist for authentic experiences. Both these supply and demand side issues, it is argued, can be addressed through the development of a medical tourism product that utilises the region's indigenous herbal remedies.

Yes / Blockchain has enormous capabilities to transform traditional business models in countless ways. Banks in India are building collaborative blockchain ecosystems to create an innovative business model and disrupt the traditional one to create more competitive advantage. This study’s purpose was to examine the relationship between blockchain capabilities (BCC), competitive advantage (CA), and organizational performance (OP), as well as evaluate CA’s mediating role in the relationship between BCC and OP. In this context, a scientific research model, including a hypothesis, has been developed from extant literature. The proposed model was tested using statistical data collected from blockchain specialists, blockchain product marketing managers, experts in future and emergent technology, and banking, finance, and tech managers or executives who are involved in planning and deploying practical blockchain in the financial sector. Data were analyzed and tested using AMOS 22.0 and a process macro using a sample comprising 289 responses. Our empirical results indicated a significant positive relationship between BCC, CA, and OP, as well as a relationship between BCC and OP, partially mediated by CA. This paper took an original approach and contributes to the literature on this subject to understand CA’s mediating role in the relationship between BCC and OP in the Indian banking sector.

In recent years the fashion industry has experienced a high frequency of famous Creative Directors departing the companies for unknown reasons. The same problem does not seem to occur in the Scandinavian fashion industry. This study’s purpose is to explore why Scandinavia does not experience the same problem, contribute a deeper understanding of the leader-designer relationship in the Swedish fashion industry, and to examine how the Scandinavian Cooperative Advantage is applicable in the Swedish fashion industry. Three case studies were conducted at the Swedish fashion companies TRIWA, Baron and Weriseg where both leaders and designers were interviewed. The findings showed that the leaders view their designers as an essential part of the organisation but how they are prioritised depend on the situation. Further more, this study indicates that all of the studied companies have a stakeholder approach, uses a value creating strategy based on cooperation with their stakeholders, are aligned with a typical Swedish organizational culture, and has a Swedish Management Style. Thus this study indicates that the notion of Scandinavian Cooperative Advantage is applicable at the Swedish fashion industry and that this might be a factor for their success.