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This study seeks to explore the perceptions of young men in Uganda regarding their sexual behaviour, which is normally understood as “high risk” in terms of HIV/AIDS. Specifically, the paper aims to look at the practice of engaging with multiple sexual partners (MSP).

Six 15‐19 year old school‐going young men in rural Uganda played an attribute‐ranking game, wrote personal stories and acted in small dramas as part of the data collection.

The participants of the study spoke about love and sex being important in a relationship, which is why they engaged in MSP, to maximise their experience of both. MSP also allowed the young men to gain pleasure, experience and control: three necessary and sought‐after attributes inherent in their notion of masculinity. The features that challenged these three factors (i.e. money, manipulative girls, parental control), which threatened their ideals of masculinity, were identified by participants as the primary risks of MSP, rather than health threats.

A more open‐minded and positive emphasis is needed regarding the use of condoms, where pleasure and issues of “manliness” are incorporated. By understanding the experiential views of young men, HIV/AIDS prevention programmes can be adapted accordingly to better reflect their lived realities.

The quality of haemodialysis process is a prime concern in renal care. This study, carried out at one of the leading Hospitals in Central India, providing kidney care and dialysis, aims to identify areas in the haemodialysis unit needing special attention, to improve process quality and ensure better patient welfare.

The failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) approach included: deciding haemodialysis process requirements, identifying potential causes of process failure and quantifying associated risk with every cause. Suitable actions were then implemented to reduce the occurrence and improving the controls, thereby reducing risk. The study used primary data generated and monitored over the period: July‐December 2008.

Adopting proper checklists for work monitoring, providing training to enhance patient and staff awareness; led to reduced process errors, mitigating overall risks, eventually resulting in effective patient care.

The quantification of risk associated with every likely failure is subjective.

The findings have a great significance in relation to kidney patients' welfare. The process areas which may get compromised are highlighted so that they get due attention. Error proofing makes the process “robust”, reducing its vulnerability.

This study provides a microscopic error proofing approach to haemodialysis process using a proven engineering tool, FMEA, ensuring quality improvement. This approach can also be extended to cover other hospital activities.

The purpose of this paper is to cover an experimental investigation of the impulse response of the foam-mass system (FMS) to unveil some of the foam dynamic behavior features needed to optimize the impact comfort of seat-occupant system. The equation of motion of the studied system is modeled as a sum of a linear elastic, pneumatic damping and viscoelastic residual forces. An identification methodology based on two separated calibration processes of the viscoelastic parameters was developed.

The viscoelastic damping force representing the foam short memory effects was modeled through the hereditary formulation. Its parameters were predicted from the free vibrational response of the FMS using iterative Prony method for autoregressive–moving–average model. However, the viscoelastic residual force resulting in the long memory effects of the material was modeled with fractional derivative term and its derivative order was predicted from previous cyclic compression standards.

The coefficients of the motion law were determined using closed form solution approach. The predictions obtained from the simulations of the impulse and cyclic tests are reasonably accurate. The physical interpretations as well as the mathematical correlations between the system parameters were discussed in details.

The prediction model combines hereditary and fractional derivative formulations resulting in short and long physical memory effects, respectively. Simulation of impulse and cyclic behavior yields good correlation with experimental findings.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has disrupted global supply chains, revealing dreadful gaps and exposing vulnerabilities. Retailers are challenged to tackle risks and organise themselves to fit into the “new normal” scenario. This global outbreak has established a volatile environment for supply chains; it has raised the question of survival in the market, forcing companies to rethink resilient strategies to be adopted for the post-pandemic situation to mitigate the long-term effects of this virus. This study explores the priorities for retail supply chains (RSCs) to align their business operations and strategies for the post-pandemic world.

This study has utilised integrated full consistency model (FUCOM) – best–worst method (BWM) for assessment of RSCs to enhance their business performance irrespective of pandemic disruptions. The FUCOM has been employed to identify the priorities of determinants enhancing business performance, whereas RSC strategies are evaluated using the BWM method.

The current study identifies “Collaboration Efficiency” as the main criterion for accelerating the performance of RSCs in a dynamic social environment. Also, the study concludes that “Order Fulfilment” and “Digital RSCs” are the most appropriate resilient business strategies to mitigate the long-term effects.

Supply-demand balancing is a challenging task at the moment, but highly significant for the future. The pandemic disruptions have placed intense pressure on retailers to deliver products as per consumers' changing behaviours towards the purchase of essentials and other products. Hence, “Order Fulfilment” and “Digital RSCs” should be adopted for meeting customer requirements and to ensure sustainability in the post-pandemic business world.

This work sets out a comprehensive framework which will be helpful for accelerating RSCs performance against pandemic disruption by adopting resilient strategies to mitigate the long-term effects.

The study aims to examine the influence of Sustainable Human Resource Management (SHRM) practices and Industry 4.0 Technologies (I4Te) adoption on the Employability Skills (ES) of the employees. The study has undertaken four major SHRM practices – Training (TR), Flexibility (FL), Employee Participation (EP) and Employee Empowerment (EE) to measure its impact on the ES along with I4Te.

A survey approach method was designed on the identified constructs from existing literature based on SHRM, I4Te and ES. The survey resulted into 198 valid responses. The study used confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modelling (SEM) using SPSS 25.0 and AMOS 25.0 for constructs validation and hypothesis testing.

The current study reveals that all the four SHRM practices (TR, FL, EP and EE) along with I4Te directly influence ES in the organisation. The I4Te along with the SHRM practices may bring enhancement in the skills and competencies of the employees that is the requirement of future organisations.

Considering the results, the SHRM practices aligned with I4Te may directly influence the employee's ES including core skills, IT skills and personal attributes. The SHRM practices in the organisation will enhance the opportunities for the employees and bring long-term association with the employees.

For the development of the economy and the individual, the SHRM practices need to conduct themselves in more socially responsible ways along with the I4Te to enhance the ES of the employees. The individual development will bring sustainable behavioural changes in the employees.

There has been no research conducted on exploring SHRM, I4Te and ES together. This is the pioneer in the HRM fields that explores the interrelationships and influence amongst the five constructs undertaken in the study.

Hospitality businesses have been challenged to pick fitting electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) management strategies, yet accurate return on investment assessments and contextual contingencies interpretation essential for leveraging eWOM power are largely absent. This study aims to fill these gaps and develop a tool aiming at more holistic and accurate eWOM management assessment.

An agent-based model is developed based on eWOM-related hospitality/business theories and empirical evidence on the NetLogo 6.0.2 platform, wherein a series of simulated experiments are conducted.

Simulation patterns suggest that conformity to the majority’s choice of eWOM usage can be beneficial for consumption satisfaction, yet conformity to a group’s eWOM posting choice can compromise satisfaction. Compared to the brief reputation-boosting benefit of exaggerated advertising, honesty in advertising is preferable given its compatibility with competing eWOM distribution and long-term reputation benefits.

A preliminary tool is developed for hospitality businesses that aids the clearer interpretation of and more accurate/cost-efficient assessment of effectiveness in managing eWOM distribution. Generic directions for improved eWOM management are also provided.

A prototype model is established that surpasses existing models in its ability to capture the complexity of eWOM management and more accurately assess management effectiveness. The authors also reveal emerging novel patterns concerning the interactive dynamics of eWOM behaviors and contextual influences. The research also adds to the scarce agent-based model applications in hospitality research/practices and recommends future potential applications.