Yes / This paper examines whether major media advertising expenditures help in predicting future earnings. We consider the role of media advertising in firms’ marketing efforts and posit that persistent advertisers are more likely to benefit from advertising activities in creating long‐lived intangible assets. Employing a sample of persistent UK advertisers over the period 1997–2013, we find that advertising expenditures are significantly positively associated with firms’ future earnings and market value. We also report size and sector‐based differences in the association between advertising and firms’ future earnings. Our additional analysis provides support for the arguments that despite the recent rise in digital advertising budgets, traditional advertising media are still effective in positively influencing firms’ performance. Overall, the results of this study are consistent with the view that advertising expenditures produce intangible assets, at least for firms in certain sectors. These findings have implications for marketers in providing evidence of the value generated by firms’ advertising budgets, for investors in validating the relevance of advertising information in influencing future earnings, and for accounting regulators in relation to the provision of useful insights for any future deliberations on financial reporting policies for advertising expenditures.

No / In the past two decades, the ultra-dependency and unlimited access to the Internet has changed relationships, and communication and have brought numerous benefits for users worldwide. However, as a double-edged sword, such technology has also generated a high degree of risk of victimisation, especially cyberstalking. Evidence has indicated that cyberstalking has led to more heinous crimes such as cyber fraud through data mining and social engineering. Moreover, when the crime transcends into the real world it results in rape and even murder. The use of new technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning has also aggravated the situation where victims are now exposed to various vulnerabilities and risks as it opens new pathways for stalkers to commit this heinous crime. Given the severe impacts of cyberstalking, this chapter will examine the nature of the crime, the use of artificial intelligence in committing stalking, the motives of cyberstalkers and the legal response towards the crime.

No

Yes / The model for delivery of primary eye care in Europe varies from country to country with differing reliance on ophthalmologists, optometrists and dispensing opticians. Comparative analysis of models has tended to focus on interprofessional working arrangements, training and regulatory issues, rather than on whether a particular model is effective for delivering public health goals for that country. National Health Service (NHS) primary eye care services in the UK are predominantly provided under a General Ophthalmic Services (GOS) Contract between the NHS and practice owners (Contractors). Over two-thirds of sight tests conducted in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and all in Scotland are performed under a GOS Contract, however many people entitled to a GOS sight test do not take up their entitlement. The fee paid for sight tests conducted under a GOS Contract in England, Wales and Northern Ireland does not cover the full cost of conducting the examination. The shortfall must be made up through profits of sale of optical appliances but this business model can be a deterrent to establishing practices within socioeconomically deprived communities, and can also be a barrier to uptake of sight tests, even though many people are entitled to a NHS optical voucher towards the cost of spectacles or contact lenses. This paper critiques the GOS Contracts within the UK. We argue that aspects of the way the GOS Contract is implemented are contrary to the public health interest and that different approaches are needed to address eye health inequalities and to reduce preventable sight loss.

Yes / Purpose: The aim of this research therefore is to explore the causes of drug shortages within the pharmaceutical supply chain and assess the adopted mitigation strategies. Research Approach: The study is carried out from an inductive perspective where we seek to understand the phenomenon by a detailed review of extant literature followed by a series of semi-structured interviews with first tier consumers within a case study framework. The respondents were chosen using purposive sampling as those best to comment on the phenomenon under scrutiny. Data was analysed using thematic analysis, where a dual focus was adopted; 1) the preliminary focus was on the identification of system themes (where the system was impacted and the responds e.g. complexity, disruptions and product alternatives) and 2) the secondary focus was the impact on the patient as system recipient and product user (where themes such as stress, anxiety, and adverse drug reactions emerged). Findings and Originality: The analysis show that drug shortages within the pharmaceutical supply chain in the UK occur as a result of stringent regulatory frameworks, faults in the manufacturing processes, lack of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients, monopolistic wholesaler markets; lack of information dissemination, offshore trading and price manipulations for profit. The impact on the consumers is reported to be extensive and can endure long after the disruptive event occurs. The findings indicate that existing recovery strategies are however cumbersome, add complexity to the supply chain and in extreme cases facilitate the infiltration of counterfeits. The study is innovative as it explores disruptive events and associated recovery strategies which have not been adequately addressed in supply chain management studies to date. Research Impact: This research contributes to existing literature by extending discussions on supply chain disruptions within a dynamic supply chain whilst focusing on product service supply chain recovery strategies and mechanisms. Practical Impact: This study provides Operations/Supply Chain Managers and Pharmaceutical companies and professionals with strategies that can be adopted can adopt in reducing and recovering in a more resilient manner to disruptive events. This thus presents the bedrock for resilient practice and systems design and development, thus reducing system vulnerability and ultimately leading to improved product availability and patient care.

Yes / The health supply chain within the United Kingdom follows a traditional model adopted by many countries globally. This is typically the sourcing of products from manufacturer to pharmacy (hospital and community) via wholesaler or direct. New models of delivery are being piloted and evaluated to improve supply chain efficiency and effectiveness

Yes / Cross-sectional and longitudinal studies have consistently reported an association between education and myopia. However, conventional observational studies are at risk of bias due to confounding by factors such as socioeconomic position and parental educational attainment. The current study aimed to estimate the causal effect of education on refractive error using regression discontinuity analysis. Methods: Regression discontinuity analysis was applied to assess the influence on refractive error of the raising of the school leaving age (ROSLA) from 15 to 16 years introduced in England and Wales in 1972. For comparison, a conventional ordinary least squares (OLS) analysis was performed. The analysis sample comprised 21,548 UK Biobank participants born in a nine-year interval centered on September 1957, the date of birth of those first affected by ROSLA. Results: In OLS analysis, the ROSLA 1972 reform was associated with a −0.29 D (95% confidence interval [CI]: −0.36 to −0.21, P < 0.001) more negative refractive error. In other words, the refractive error of the study sample became more negative by −0.29 D during the transition from a minimum school leaving age of 15 to 16 years of age. Regression discontinuity analysis estimated the causal effect of the ROSLA 1972 reform on refractive error as −0.77 D (95% CI: −1.53 to −0.02, P = 0.04). Conclusions: Additional compulsory schooling due to the ROSLA 1972 reform was associated with a more negative refractive error, providing additional support for a causal relationship between education and myopia. / Global Education program of the Russian Federation government (DP) and an NIHR Senior Research Fellowship award SRF-2015-08-005 (CW), The Department for Health through an award made by the NIHR to the Biomedical Research Centre at Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, and UCL Institute of Ophthalmology, London, United Kingdom (grant no. BRC2_009). Additional support was provided by The Special Trustees of Moorfields Eye Hospital, London, United Kingdom (grant no. ST 12 09)

No / Based on research conducted during a large-scale European Commission project on international perspectives on positive/affirmative action measures, the authors provide a comparative analysis of the legal context and perceptions of the impact of positive action in the United Kingdom and the United States. The study adopted participatory methods including consensus workshops, interviews, and legal analysis to obtain data from those individuals responsible for designing and implementing positive action measures. Findings are discussed, conclusions drawn, and wide-ranging recommendations are made at governmental and organizational levels. The authors conclude by suggesting possible implications for policy and argue for widespread awareness-raising campaigns of both the need for positive action measures for disadvantaged groups and the benefits of such measures for wider society. They also recommend the adoption of a more coherent and collaborative approach to the utilization and evaluation of the effectiveness of positive or affirmative action.

Yes / This paper provides an overview of the laws regulating positive action in the UK. It also presents key findings from a selection of research studies on positive action in the UK conducted between 2003 and 2009 by the Centre for Inclusion and Diversity at the University of Bradford, and provides examples of positive action drawn from these studies.

No / This study considered the nature of continuing bonds with deceased relatives in a sample of Pakistani Muslims living in the United Kingdom. Ten participants were interviewed following a cultural psychology approach and transcripts were analyzed using grounded theory methodology. Dreaming, talking with others about the deceased, following the deceased's example, keeping memories and mementos, and doing actions thought to help the deceased were forms of continued relationship found. These were intertwined with the process of grieving and were influenced by the family, culture, and religion. Religion was a strong influence on the prominence given by participants to finishing well and on the notion of doing actions thought to help the deceased. Cultural mores, such as the community, and collectivist ethos and the expectation that emotion would be expressed around the time of death, were found to be supportive for some but sources of tension for other participants. Expressing a continuing bond through following the deceased's example so as to make them proud or happy seemed to be reinforced by cultural roots in respect for elders. Participants gave instances of tensions in areas such as expression of emotion and communality versus individualism that arose as a result of their position between two cultural frameworks, some illustrating how assimilation into the host culture set up conflict with the expected norms of their family/ancestral culture. The study highlights how understanding different cultural and religious influences may enrich the concept of continuing bonds.