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Among developing countries, the Republic of China in Taiwan (hereinafter Taiwan) has been experiencing economic growth accompanied by improving income distribution. Between 1964 and 1980, the average annual growth rate of the real gross national product was 9.92 per cent (Council for Economic Planning and Development (CEPD), 1982, p. 23). In the same period, the income ratio between the top 20 per cent and the bottom 20 per cent of families dropped from 5.33 to 4.17 and the Gini coefficient decreased from 0.36 to 0.30 (CEPD, 1982, p. 54; Directorate‐General of Budget Accounting and Statistics, 1980, (DGBAS), p. 44). To put it somewhat dif‐ferently, in 1964 the lowest fifth of households received 7.71 per cent of total personal income, and the highest fifth 41.07 per cent. But in 1980, the income share of the lowest fifth increased to 8.82 per cent while that of the highest fifth decreased to 36.80 per cent. The condition of greater equality in income distribution appears more obvious in the capital city of Taipei. In 1981, for instance, its Gini coefficient was estimated to be only 0.28 (Taipei Bureau of Budget, Accounting and Statistics, 1981, (TBBAS), P. 24).

This research aims to examine the moderating role of managerial ability on the relationship between risk-taking behavior and firms' performance.

This research uses 383 manufacturing firm-years listed on the Indonesian Stock Exchange as the research sample. The hypothesis test uses fixed-effect regression analysis.

The result shows that risk-taking behavior has a positive effect on firms' performance for higher managerial ability. Managerial ability provides higher knowledge, skill and information to get benefits and mitigate costs of risk-taking behavior to improve firms' performance. The role of managerial ability to make risk-taking behavior increase firms' performance occurs more for high-ability managers, dual CEO, shareholder-CEO and family CEO.

This research contributes to answering the conflicting arguments and filling the previous findings gap between risk-taking behavior and firm performance by considering managerial ability as a factor to create effective risk mitigation.

Population aging was a global trend, and the most obvious thing after aging was the change in skin appearance. Therefore, the active ingredients that delay skin aging were particularly noticed. Past studies had pointed out that Chinese herbal extracts can improve skin elasticity, reduce wrinkles and melanin precipitation. The purpose of this paper is to explore whether combining hydrolyzed collagen with Chinese herbal extracts can improve skin conditions and achieve anti-inflammatory effects.

Fifty subjects were randomly divided into collagen or placebo groups, and one bottle of collagen or placebo drink was used every day for four weeks, after which skin and inflammatory factors were tested.

In comparison with the baseline results, the skin parameters were improving after four-week intervention. In addition, the IL-6, IL-8, TNF-a were significantly decreased and tissue inhibitor matrix metalloproteinase 1 (TIMP-1) was increased after four-week hydrolyzed collagen intervention.

This study showed that hydrolyzed collagen combined with Chinese herbal extracts can improve the condition of the skin, and can also reduce inflammatory associated factors, thereby achieving anti-aging effects.

This book has presented theoretically driven empirical research that confirms the impact of workplace bullying on the community college campus. Theoretical insights and methods such as equal opportunity theory (Mithaug, 1996), Hochschild’s emotional labour (2003), McPhail’s culture management theory (2002), Bandura’s self-efficacy (1977), and theories on power (Goldblatt, 2007) provide a framework for these data. Further, social dominance theories, (Sidanius & Pratto, 1999) and employee disengagement theories (Samnani, Salamon, & Singh, 2014) give different lenses from which to consider bullying.

Theories provide solid backdrops, yet for those facing workplace bullying, there is nothing theoretical about the experience. The abuse is real and demoralizing; by the definition used throughout this book, bullying is escalating (Einarsen, 2003). In response to bullying, study respondents confirm filing EEO complaints, leaving the job, taking stress leave, and changing work schedules to find relief. The following scenarios provide an opportunity to reflect objectively on workplace bullying and its application to different community college constituencies.

The goal for each discussion is to find relief for the target, and develop recommendations to create a healthy environment. As one reflects on these scenarios, one also needs to consider: (1) A rationale reaction or strategy that is not informed by outrage, anger, or helplessness, (2) what resources can be or should be at the disposal of the target, and (3) what policies or legislations are available to assist the target. Readers should be encouraged to utilize the findings and data in this book and policy at their respective institutions to craft possible solutions. These scenarios are appropriate for those considering the nuances of workplace bullying and leadership in scholastic or practical arenas. Further, emerging leaders and graduate students can also consider solutions to workplace bullying.

The paper aims to identify the critical constraints that impede heritage building (HB) facility managers from discharging their duties effectively and develop an index model to guide HB maintenance management (HBMM) practitioners to the critical constraints.

A literature review was conducted to identify HBMM constraints. Facilty management practitioners assessed the constraints' significance through an online survey. The factor analysis was used to shortlist and group the constraints, and the constraint clusters were analyzed by the fuzzy synthetic evaluation technique. A significant index cluster to determine HBMM constraints criticality was generated using the linear additive model.

Embracing a total of 16 HBMM constraints, the three clusters identified are: (1) managerial and inadequacy constraints, (2) pressure and bureaucracy constraints and (3) HB peculiarities constraints. Based on the generated significant index, the HB peculiarities cluster was identified as the most significant.

The study was conducted in a particular jurisdiction, limiting the generalizability of the result. Future research should address this limitation by covering more jurisdictions.

The significant index model (SIM) developed enables HBMM practitioners to objectively assess the criticality of HB constraints and facilitates them to effectively strategize and allocate resources for HBMM.

The SIM, which transforms subjective judgment into the objective assessment of the HBMM constraints' criticality, can assist practitioners, policymakers and other HBMM stakeholders in implementing strategies for the sustainability of HBs.

This study aims to apply theory on consumer learning in virtual experiences to compare how media technologies (i.e. virtual reality [VR] and standard websites) and users’ gender influence the ways in which tourists gather pre-purchase information.

A laboratory experiment with fully immersive VR was conducted to examine consumers’ behavior in gathering pre-purchase information. The sample comprised 128 consumers who had taken a cruise vacation or who were considering purchasing a cruise package in the near future.

The results generally reveal the central role of the feeling of presence, which, in turn, positively impacts users’ enjoyment and aspects of consumer learning (i.e. brand attitude, product knowledge and purchase intent). In particular, the results suggest that compared with standard websites, VR facilitated the tourists’ learning as consumers, especially among women, who tend to dominate the information-gathering stage of planning family vacations.

The results imply that travel agencies and tourism centers working with cruise vacation companies should incorporate VR to make their offers more attractive, especially to women.

The study was the first to apply theory on consumer learning in the cruise tourism industry, specifically to compare fully immersive VR devices versus standard websites and gauge the effect of gender.

The aim of this research is to investigate the influence of low molecular weight chitosan (LWCS) on the dyeability of cotton fabrics. Various concentrations of hydrogen peroxide were used to degrade chitosan to LWCS, which was used to pretreat cotton fabrics under different conditions in order to determine its influence on subsequent acid dyeing of the fabrics. The results showed that the molecular weight of LWCS decreased with increasing concentration of hydrogen peroxide. Additionally, LWCS pretreatment of cotton fabric is beneficial for acid dyeing. The K/S values for fabric dyeing increased with a decrease in LWCS molecular weight and the concomitant increase in concentration; a concentration of 4% LWCS yielded the best result. The anti-bacterial properties of fabrics pretreated with LWCS were better than those pretreated with chitosan. The dye and anti-bacterial fastness after 20 washes were best for fabrics pretreated with LWCS.

Rambutan (Nephelium lappaceum), a ubiquitous fruit in Southeastern Asia, was rich in vitamins and phytochemicals, which were beneficial for improving of skin conditions. The fermentation process increased phytochemicals and antioxidant capacity. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to examine whether phytochemicals can be increased through the fermentation process of rambutan extracts to improve skin aging.

In this study, the authors used the three stages of fermentation with Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Lactobacillus plantarum TCI028 and Acetobacter aceti under red light to develop a fermented rambutan extract.

The level of polyphenols of red-light-based fermented rambutan extract (RLFRE) were significantly increased 108.9% (p < 0.01) and 97% (p < 0.01) compared with fermented rambutan extract (FRE) and pure rambutan extract (RE), respectively. The human skin fibroblasts treated with 0.03 or 0.06% of RLFRE can significantly decrease reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels by 0.74- (p < 0.001) and 0.84-fold (p < 0.001) compared with H₂O₂ group, respectively. And 0.03% of RLFRE can significantly increase in elastin content by 1.13-fold (p < 0.05). Also, ten compounds were identified including one new phenolic compound and nine known compounds from RLFRE. Moreover, red light could enhance the levels of compounds 4, 9 and 3 by 5, 2.5 and 2.5-fold, respectively, relative to the results of FRE. The last, RLFRE isolated compounds significantly facilitated the elastin content on fibroblast (compound 1, 7, 9, 10 compared with control: p < 0.001, compound 2 compared with control: p < 0.001).

In short, this was the first study to unveil that the red-light-based fermentation can enrich the antioxidant content in a rambutan extract and its product had the potential to be developed a functional product for health-promoting effects such as skin aging.

The case study draws on structured interviews with Rob Chase, Founder and CEO of NewGen Surgical, as well as secondary data sources to analyze the effectiveness of these solutions in mitigating the risks and enhancing the company’s competitive advantage.

This case study examines how NewGen Surgical, a small- to medium-sized medical equipment manufacturer based in the USA, navigates a supply chain crisis caused by post-pandemic (COVID-19) supply and demand distress, trade restrictions, and the US–China trade war in 2022. It outlines the journey of CEO and Founder, Robert Chase, as he started, grew and is maintaining the company and its various challenges. The case study reviews the risks and vulnerabilities of the company, which heavily relies on Chinese suppliers for most of its operations. To address the supply chain challenges, the case study explores alternative solutions such as insourcing, reshoring, diversifying the supplier base, changing safety stock and implementing new technologies. The case can be designed to teach business courses such as global business, supply chain and entrepreneurship.

This case study is intended for undergraduate and graduate students in courses such as global business, supply chain and entrepreneurship. In addition, this case study may be incorporated with modules on learning organizations, knowledge management and entrepreneurship to aid students in comprehending the principles of global sourcing, offshoring and supply chain management.