bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
What is money? A lawyer’s perspective on the evolution of the US payment system and dollars in the digital age
Authors: Cheng Jess , Torregrossa Joseph
Published: July 2024

This paper analyses the current frictions, and opportunities for evolution, in the US dollar payment system, by viewing money through the lens of network effects, interoperability, and their legal underpinnings. It gives a lawyer’s perspective on the workings of the US payment system and lessons from history, including the free banking era. This paper also discusses current developments, such as various central bank digital currency proposals and private sector stablecoin developments, in this context. The goal is to contribute to the discussion around the future of the US payment system, toward greater efficiency that does not risk introducing instability.
Keys to a successful compliance testing programme
Authors: Rose Ellen
Published: July 2024

Building a successful compliance testing programme is a crucial component of a financial institution's risk management programme. Regulatory requirements and industry best practices dictate that the three lines of defence model be built and implemented to manage risk through policies, processes, procedures, systems, testing and documentation. This paper will explore the fundamentals of each of the lines of defence, testing within the lines of defence, and foundational elements that assist in developing, implementing and improving a compliance testing programme. It is important to note that testing should be conducted in all three lines of defence including, but not limited to, peer reviews, quality control, quality assurance, business risk and controls testing, compliance testing, transaction testing and testing by internal audit. The best way to be assured as to whether controls are working is through testing. Testing across the three lines of defence should be developed and implemented in accordance with the size and complexity of each financial institution. Testing should be risk-based and result in reporting and action performed by the institution. There is little point in testing if results are not acted upon.
The many strategic and tactical benefits of Operational Readiness and Transition (ORAT)
Authors: Mcelvaney Michael
Published: July 2024

When opening new facilities at airports, there are opportunities to ‘get it right’ and risks in getting it wrong’. Operational Readiness and Transition (ORAT) is a programme of activities to address the readiness and improvement of operations while providing tactical and strategic benefits to an airport and airline when they open new facilities. Early engagement is a key differentiator to how and when many new facility projects have been initiating ORAT in the past. Rather than waiting until the erection of new terminals (and other facilities), early engagement allows for ORAT during the planning phase of projects to capture the strategic benefits. ORAT provides a formalised approach to address how a new facility should be designed and constructed by development of a comprehensive concept of operations that includes new or improved key performance indicators (KPIs) for carryover into the design criteria. It also incorporates asset management and life cycle costing into the planning activities. The goal is to avoid operational change orders and higher operational costs over the life cycle of equipment being installed without full cost assessments. Readers will be able to understand the purpose of ORAT and strategic benefits of early engagement in the planning of new facilities and the potential pitfalls of not incorporating an ORAT programme into facility projects.
A Six Sigma type of quality management in international and high-value payments
Authors: Milkau Udo
Published: July 2024

International and high-value payments typically show higher non-STP rates than high-volume (retail) payments. Methods of quantitative quality management can be used to improve process maturity, increase STP rates and reduce costs. By combining the benefits of outsourcing (resulting in processes with high maturity, defined SLAs, and reported quality performance indicators) with a ‘Six Sigma’ type approach, measured non-STP rates can be reduced significantly. Based on a long-term time series of ‘non-STP’ performance data, the results and economic benefits of such a combined approach will be shown and advantages and requirements will be discussed.
Storytelling: A comprehensive, integrated outcomes-focused strategy
Authors: Dediemar Jeanette , Franco Lesli Cartaya
Published: July 2024

Organisations across all sectors must adapt and anticipate the impact of technology, known and evolving, on communications and marketing. Higher education institutions must constantly work to learn and master new channels to best communicate with their students and larger audiences. As professionals work to create content for so many new platforms, creativity fatigue is all but guaranteed. This paper will address ways to avoid story burnout while continuing to produce unique and platform-specific content, providing communications professionals with the methods and tactics for effectively repurposing content, and demonstrating successful use of this method through examples.
Dangers of succumbing to bias in cyber security : An evaluation of the impact of cognitive biases on threat assessments and cyber security strategies
Authors: Darley Hanah-Marie
Published: July 2024

The greatest cyber threat to an organisation may be opposite to what its own security team assesses, a challenge that commonly arises from the impact of cognitive biases. At every turn, cognitive biases can distract and derail cyber security teams and their strategies away from the key risks and threats likely to catastrophically damage their network environments, in favour of new headline-making attack techniques or vulnerabilities which may never be used against their organisation. Focusing on psychological analysis within cyber security contexts including macro and micro examples from the international cyber community and Darktrace’s own customer base, this paper explores the dramatic impact cognitive biases can have on cyber security professionals, cyber strategies and decision making if left unchecked. Statistically, persistent, widely available, lower-sophistication malware and run-of-the-mill phishing campaigns remain a greater global risk to corporations than the newest, most devious exploit kit or ransomware. This paper examines multiple contextual examples of how cognitive biases negatively affect and influence cyber security teams from their security stack, the greatest threats to their networks and digital estates, understanding an attacker’s mindset and selecting technical experts to guide their programmes. Understanding these biases and identifying their role in cyber decision making is the only way to protect organisations from succumbing to biases and likely misdirecting already stretched security resources.
Collaborative decision making is a key tool to address bottlenecks in airport operations
Authors: Villasante Rafael Fernández , Biosca Ignacio , Gracia Irene
Published: July 2024

The process based on sharing common information, establishing milestones and the continuous revision of the main targets that stems from airport collaborative decision making can be an ideal working method at many of the airport’s areas and with different stakeholders. This paper analyses various situations where this procedure has been implemented by Aena, with a specific focus on the COVID-19 crisis and the post-recovery context.
Getting to ROI: Rights metadata and the smart content life cycle
Authors: Klaris Edward
Published: July 2024

Calculating return on investment (ROI) on individual content assets has long been a dream of content companies. Even the most sophisticated media and entertainment companies cannot be exact about how much a piece of content has made in the past and what its lifetime value might be. However, some companies are doing a lot to create rich data about their content assets by investing in systems that track content usage, and by creating metadata not only to describe the content but also to provide rights, financial and usage data that can be linked to the binary content asset (ie the photograph, video or music). Storing rich metadata in databases rather than in Excel or offline will help content companies to know, protect, value and monetise their content efficiently and broadly. Predictive analytics, machine-readable licensing, and ultimately complete content ROI will all become more important to media and entertainment companies competing in the complex digital ecosystem, where optimising channels, territories and platforms is becoming more crucial. Transparency into what content performs better than other content, and how much to invest in content will lead not only to short-term monetisation opportunities, but also to intellectual property value creation for content when companies look to sell and need to point to the quality of their metadata to prove the worth of the company overall.
Using Google Analytics to tidy up content
Authors: Englert Amanda
Published: July 2024

This paper analyses the ways to evaluate the performance of web content with Google Analytics specifically for higher education websites. Customisations in the Google Analytics account including the goal value metric, scroll depth measurement, an engagement timer, and adjusted bounce rate are all easy-to-implement metrics that can help analyse the overall performance of content on the site. This paper will also provide the framework for a content audit using these new metrics to help marketers figure out what content is most important to users, what content is rotting away on the site and how to create an unforgettable experience that will not only better connect the team to the content strategy but better connect the user to the brand.
Quantifying the importance, contribution and efficiency of Cotton Inc.’s paid, owned and earned media through customer journey modelling
Authors: Sciarrino Joann , Friedman Jim , Kirk Todd , Kitchings Kim S. , Prudente John
Published: July 2024

As brand managers and marketing professionals struggle to optimise marketing spend in a post-digital world, many are using the prominent paid, owned and earned (PEO) media model to plan and execute marketing communications. However, when it comes to quantifying the contribution and efficiency of PEO media on business outcomes (such as revenues), marketing professionals struggle to quantify the effects of owned and earned media, which often have low or no direct effect on revenues because they are typically created to have an intermediate or long-term effect on brand attitudes. While marketers quantify paid media effects on revenues using either market response models, which are econometric models, or attribution models, it is not permitted to measure intermediate effects with these methods. Using Cotton Incorporated as a case study, this paper presents a customer journey model, or integrated approach, with brand attachment as a proxy for the intermediate effect. The resulting model is an objective approach to link POE media to demand and describe contribution and efficiency in terms of both revenue and brand attachment. This approach enabled data-driven insights that were used to evaluate and optimise Cotton Incorporated’s entire POE marketing communications efforts more accurately than traditional methods.
Demystifying metaverse data from user-technology interaction
Authors: Manna Reshmi , Singh Ankit , Apte Monica
Published: July 2024

Metaverse data is the collection of detailed information generated from the user's interactions that take place within virtual and augmented realities. Metaverse data includes capturing motion information, recognising gestures, interaction and speech, emotion state assessment and evidence of eye metrics to understand user behaviour in virtual worlds. This paper will explore the different types of metaverse data as well as their implications for marketing efforts. It will also discuss how these technologies can help businesses better understand their customers and cater to their needs in an ever-evolving digital landscape.
The digitisation and commercial licensing of local television news as a model for preservation and access: A case study
Authors: Esparza Anna , Gieringer Morgan Davis
Published: July 2024

Since 2014, the Special Collections Department of the University of North Texas Libraries (UNTL) has worked to digitise over 60 years’ worth of historical film and video and provide online digital access to news programming that was originally broadcast under the name WBAP-TV, and later NBC 5/KXAS-TV. Revenue from commercial licensing is expected to contribute an increasingly significant percentage of the funding needed to make the collection fully digitally accessible. This paper looks briefly at the history of the NBC5 news collection and examines the workflows required to prepare film and video for digitisation, perform quality control on digital files, and apply metadata keywords and content description to make footage easier for easily filmmakers to discover online. The paper will also discuss the licensing workflows in place at UNTL and how footage has been licensed for use in a variety of projects.
Modelling longevity risk in practice
Authors: Schiller Frank , Lepschi Susanne
Published: July 2024

In this paper there is a comparison of different models used in practice for calibrating future developments of mortality rates and a discussion of their key shortfalls and issues. One of the main differences between the models lies in the width of the distribution for the forecast. The results are further compared to the standard model in Solvency II and it is shown that from the perspective of time consistency all models are superior to the standard model.
`Bump It Forward`: How a campaign challenged our fundraising status quo
Authors: Brady Karen
Published: July 2024

This paper describes the development and implementation of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine's (LSTM) Bump It Forward campaign, which was launched in January 2021 to provide personal protective equipment (PPE) and protect health workers in African countries until the COVID-19 vaccine reached them. As a specialist and small institution with an embryonic fundraising operation, it was assumed that LSTM would never be successful as a public fundraising charity. However, this campaign challenged these beliefs and LSTM's existing approach to fundraising, resulting in more than five times the original target being raised, and increasing donor numbers seven-fold. This paper considers some of the elements that made the campaign so successful, which shattered the previous misconceptions of fundraising ability and challenged what constitutes best practice, particularly for donor acquisition strategies. The paper concludes with a summary of the lessons learned, which can be applied to fundraising practice in any size of organisation.
Practical lessons from implementing a data-driven approach to passenger flow optimisation and airport capacity management
Authors: Malik Daver
Published: July 2024

While airports have traditionally relied upon historical passenger traffic to plan for future operations, that paradigm is fast changing. Stakeholders, business partners and service providers all need insights into expected passenger activity in advance to better plan and support operations. This paper shares the innovative approach that Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX) adopted to create a data-driven picture of passenger activity and utilisation of terminal facilities as part of its digital transformation initiative. It shows practical ways to take advantage of existing investments and data sources to create an end-to-end operating picture of the airport. This approach allows airports to quantify, with data, how ‘busy’ each passenger touchpoint is and how that provides a direct way to assess and improve passenger flow within their facilities. The applied methodology allows the airport to understand and maximise utilisation of its terminal square footage capacity and have a clearer picture of where and when congestion occurs. More importantly, the paper provides guidance on how to ‘quantify’ what that congestion means with data, something that many airports struggle with. With this approach, airports can create a detailed data-driven picture of their environments with the technology infrastructure they already have. Firmly rooted in advanced data analytics and modelling, the paper also illustrates how, by sharing detailed passenger demand data, PHX is empowering its business partners to proactively plan and improve service levels.
Nanomanagement networking: Organisational resilience to COVID-19 surge capacity in Egypt
Authors: Omran Aly Wael
Published: July 2024

This paper draws on the literature of nanomanagement and organisational resilience to explore the reality of surge capacity in the context of the Egyptian government’s effort to contain the recent COVID-19 pandemic. It utilises nanomanagement networking to explain the significant models of decision making, communication and sense making, taking into account the resilient interconnections and interdependence among organisations, to understand how these impact on the resilience of crisis management surge capacity. With a focus on COVID-19 crisis management in Egypt, the study analyses empirical data collected from interviews with actors from different governmental organisations. Following this, the paper focuses on the role of nanomanagement in realising the resilience of interorganisational network capacity to obtain accurate and up-to-date information in order to develop the system strategies and responses necessary to enable convenient surge capacity for COVID-19 crisis management.
Is the identification of matters in dispute pivotal to the legitimacy of party wall procedures?
Authors: Jones Delwyn
Published: July 2024

This paper focuses specifically on two aspects of party wall practice — the significance of the clear identification of matters in dispute in relation to: the acceptance of appointment as a surveyor under the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 and the legitimacy of determinations made under the Act. It concludes with suggestions as to debate and possible reform of current surveying practice, to achieve closer alignment with the general legal concept of determination by ‘tribunal’.
Communicating impact: Building a powerful development and communications relationship
Authors: Mackey Pete , Melichar Charlie , Moran Melanie
Published: July 2024

This paper provides guidance and examples from senior leaders in the field for building an effective strategic relationship between communications and development. In a noisy philanthropic world, where return on investment matters greatly, the paper suggests how leaders and aspiring leaders can break through the all-too-common challenges facing these teams and define a winning relationship. The paper discusses skills, practices and questions at the core of the fundraising and communications partnership, and explores a case study featuring example metrics for success.
Leverage and derivatives: The case of Archegos
Authors: Bouveret Antoine , Haferkorn Martin
Published: July 2024

In March 2021, the default of Archegos, a US family office, led to large losses for some global banks. Archegos was able to accumulate large exposures to, and leverage on, equities by entering into derivatives transactions with bank counterparties. When the price of the underlying stocks started to decline, the firm was unable to meet variation margins, resulting in the liquidation of the stocks by the counterparty banks. In this paper, European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR) data is used to analyse Archegos’ positions and show that it is possible to track the steep increase in concentrated exposures that the family office undertook in February and March 2021. The findings show how regulatory data collected under EMIR can be used to monitor leverage and concentration risk in derivatives markets.
Future mobility: How sustainability and operational efficiency are mutually dependent
Authors: Herger Mario , Mosdorf Lars
Published: July 2024

Mobility demand is increasing across all transport modes. To preserve an individual's mobility freedom and avoid mobility sacrifice and pure price increase, stronger intermodal cooperation are key success factors. In this paper, a technology trend researcher and an airport's general manager strive to lift the view towards the future of mobility. They evaluate the question of how the technical equipment will change, how, among other things, a population's mobility habits lead to increasing demand and how this can be served. The two authors believe that seamless processes in between traffic providers and emission free as well as efficient operations are key contributions to the solution. To think mobility beyond each mobility sector is, therefore, a prerequisite. This includes mutually enriching other mobility sectors' ideas, optimised processes and technologies.
What happens when the funding runs out? Exploring the utility of 'exit strategies' for Australian housing regeneration programmes
Authors: Jacobs Keith , Arthurson Kathy
Published: July 2024

One of the major challenges faced by state housing authorities engaged in housing estate regeneration programmes is to sustain the benefits that accrue from an initial injection of resources. Exit strategies is the term used to describe the set of policies that can be deployed by housing authorities to sustain regeneration at the end of a specific funded programme. This paper presents the findings of recent research to review current practices in developing exit strategies involving five Australian housing regeneration projects. The paper begins by discussing some of the international academic perspectives on housing regeneration. Then it reports on the five case study initiatives. The paper concludes with a discussion on some of the policy implications that emerge from the findings.
How to build scalability into the design and implementation of an enterprise data framework
Authors: Bashuan Sally
Published: July 2024

This paper begins by discussing the need to actively manage data as a valuable enterprise asset. It explores what an enterprise data framework (EDF) looks like, before identifying the elements that are key to creating scalability. These are: 1) speaking the language of the executive and gaining longterm investment and continued support; and 2) designing-in scalability through understanding the landscape, hooking into existing practices, ensuring the right data ownership, roles and responsibilities, avoiding the fool’s path by designing-in flexibility, and having strong triage processes. The paper then acknowledges that scalability is only possible through successful adoption of the framework. The paper finishes by examining who leads the implementation and what a successful chief data officer (CDO) looks like, how the creation of a movement is essential and how key culture is. It concludes that implementing an EDF into a live commercial environment is a matter of iterations and that moving through the maturity curve requires adaptability and resilience by not just the framework but also the CDO and the data function. Three guiding principles are identified: 1) relevance; 2) impact; and 3) being a good ancestor.
Who will be the winners and losers in the battle for mobile payments market share?
Authors: Cognet Olivier
Published: July 2024

This paper looks at the potential for mobile payments in emerging markets, the benefits for consumers and merchants, and the business opportunities available to mobile operators, banks and other financial institutions. Today, some 3.5 billion people, mainly in emerging markets around the world, have no access to formal financial services. They exist by using cash, which is well established and simple, but inconvenient, inefficient and often unsafe. In contrast, there are now more than 5 billion mobile connections worldwide. The mobile phone has evolved from a simple device into a mini-computer with the same security capabilities as many PCs. Using mobile phones for financial transactions is clearly an opportunity to bring major benefits to the world’s unbanked population and, since 2003, many mobile banking schemes have been launched. Yet most of these systems are closed, limited to one bank or one operator, dooming them to limited growth and ultimately losing out to the newer, more open mobile payment business model. Mobile payment offers a practical, convenient and easy-to-use alternative to cash that is safe and opens up terrific new possibilities for consumers, from remote purchasing to access to more advanced financial products. The winners in the race for market share of the mobile financial industry will be those promoting open mobile payment schemes.
Putting it together: Solutions-based collaboration to unite teams in higher education
Authors: Fleming Tara , Becker Rich , Buhrmaster Melanie , Foderingham Winsome A.
Published: July 2024

As public funding of higher education and research continues to decline, philanthropy plays a critical role in helping universities achieve their missions. Gifts fill funding gaps to provide financial aid that equalises access to college and enables scientists to undertake transformative research. When it comes from corporations and foundations, however, philanthropy is often fraught with administrative challenges between the departments tasked with overseeing this support, typically university advancement and sponsored programmes. Academic administrators in the Corporate and Foundation Relations offices at three State University of New York (SUNY) research centres set out to address the complex issues between university advancement and sponsored programmes, the pre-award arm of university research. Due to intricacies in each other’s goals, objectives, methods, processes and measures for success, the departments often have misaligned functions and services that can hamper the growth of philanthropic support from corporate and foundation sources. This paper analyses the areas of management/structure, policy/protocol and engagement/outreach and discuss current challenges, best practices and pathways for solutions.
Six success strategies for building a stronger brand
Authors: Cottineau Julie
Published: July 2024

A strong brand is an entrepreneur's secret weapon. It helps add focus to all business endeavours and get the most of (often limited) resources. Whether an entrepreneur just starting out or a member of an established business who just wants to think and act more entrepreneurially, the six success strategies included in this paper can help leverage your brand smarter and with greater impact to the bottom line. These strategies include working a personal brand, knowing what makes the target tick, standing for something bigger, applying the brand everywhere, being social but not counting friends and adding a fresh twist when innovating new products and services. With examples from iconic brands, such as Virgin, this paper provides rich examples, practical advice and hands-on exercises for stronger and more profitable brand and business building.
Opportunities for student influencer marketing strategies
Authors: Rolfs Megan
Published: July 2024

Corporations’ and big brands’ use of influencer marketing strategies has been growing and becoming more common practice since 2010. As they have come to understand that individuals are heavily influenced by their peers, effective peer marketing campaigns have emerged. This is no different for students, who listen to their peers more than us as higher education professionals. While opportunities exist for higher education, few institutions are taking advantage of this innovative marketing strategy. The Division of Student Affairs at Illinois State University has launched one of the only formal student influencer teams in Student Affairs divisions nationwide. On this team, influencers activate their personal networks, amplifying the division to engage with new communities on campus. As a result, the division’s social media accounts have increased by 245 per cent over the last two years. This paper shares the legitimacy of influencers in social media strategy, presents a student influencer programme in practice within a student affairs division and discusses how similar programmes can be implemented within higher education.
Issues that commonly have an impact upon corporate occupiers and how they can be avoided with appropriate foresight and planning
Authors: Vara Beverley , Woolf Christopher
Published: July 2024

A corporate occupier party to a commercial lease on standard terms can reasonably expect to encounter a wide variety of issues during the life of its tenancy. At the heads of term and lease negotiation stages, matters including protection under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 (the Act) and rent review clauses will be considered, together with the relevant implications. As the tenancy progresses, common landlord-tenant exchanges may involve processes such as the application of service charge mechanisms, conduct of rent reviews and applications for landlord consents to alter, assign or sub-let to enable an occupier to deal with a property more freely. Towards the end of a lease, issues concerning business tenancies may once again arise, as parties consider how Act rights should be best utilised or defended. Also of importance may be the exercise of break clauses, an area of practice that commonly creates major disputes. Finally, not all disputes require a landlord and tenant relationship, for example third party neighbour matters such as disputes regarding rights to light and nuisance. This paper considers these issues from a practical, commercial and legal perspective.
Freedom of expression and digital rights in social media: Challenges and risks
Authors: Kouroupis Dr Konstantinos , Vagianos Dimitrios
Published: July 2024

This paper deals with the issue of the growing powers of online platforms and social media in the new digital era and their impact on our privacy. Subsequently, on the occasion of the suspension of Donald Trump’s accounts by Facebook and Twitter, serious concerns arise regarding the protection of fundamental rights, such as the right to freedom of expression, in the online environment as well as the operational and organisational challenges in implementing and meeting privacy requirements. Through a comparative analysis of the European and international legal frameworks that cover the freedom of expression, this paper aims to demonstrate how to balance the rights, freedoms and interests of the individual against the challenges imposed by the ongoing technological evolutions. Moreover, ‘A Europe fit for the digital age’ is one of the most important priorities of the European Commission for the years 2019–24 and includes the promotion of technology and science in an open, democratic and sustainable digital society. Social media play a major role in the implementation of a fair and competitive digital economy as they constitute a forum of commerce and culture. The extent of their interference with our digital rights, however, is controversial. In addition, there is no complete and clear regulatory framework regarding their powers and operation. Therefore, the ultimate goal of the study is to propose fruitful solutions to the internet governance with respect to the consolidation of digital privacy and the deployment of technological tools, such as artificial intelligence.
Implementing an integrated workplace management system at a major university : Part 1
Authors: Terrell Michael , Manwarren Joshua
Published: July 2024

Liberty University is in the process of implementing an Integrated Workplace Management System (IWMS). The purpose of this paper is to share our facilities story to draw parallels, identify similarities and provide background for the challenges that we are currently facing. This information is provided in a two-part series. Part 1 focuses on environmental factors that identified the need and prompted our search for a proper IWMS. It discusses the process that was utilised to define deliverables, the process for vendor evaluation and selection, and the lessons learned from that process. Part 2, which will be published in a future issue, will focus on the specific steps being taken to transition from a legacy computerised maintenance management system (CMMS) and implementation of the selected IWMS. It will also discuss lessons learned and recommendations and consideration for those embarking on a software solution implementation. Facilities management is universal, and we all share many similar challenges; by telling our story we hope to show commonality across industries.
Understanding buyer and seller behaviour for improved payment product development
Authors: Liezenberg Chiel , Smorenberg Harry
Published: July 2024

Every payment professional has tried this at least once: a full segmentation of payment solutions. One often sees arbitrarily chosen dual segmentations based on the properties of the different payment solutions. Examples are online vs offline, prepaid vs postpaid, guaranteed vs non-guaranteed, micro vs macro amount and business vs consumer payments. Such segmentations may provide a clearer view on what the world of payments has to offer, but they fail to provide insight into the key drivers of transactions: the behaviour of buyers and sellers. A better understanding of their behaviour provides the direction for optimising the use of existing payment services, improving existing services and developing new payment services. This paper introduces the concept of ‘transaction contexts’ in order to understand key determinants for the transactional behaviour of buyers and sellers, thus providing an all-encompassing framework for payment product development and management. This framework is applied to some practical examples.
Bucking the trend: How Keflavik International Airport advanced its expansion programme during a time of historic aviation disruption
Authors: Rúnarsson Guðmundur Daði
Published: July 2024

This paper discusses the topic of how Keflavik International Airport (KEF) in Iceland continued its programme of airport and terminal expansion to better serve its customers despite the difficulties posed by the COVID-19 pandemic affecting air travel. The situation, which decreased passenger numbers from an all-time high to an all-time low in a matter of days, did not stop Isavia, the airport operator, moving forward with long-planned expansion at KEF. Isavia optimised its expansion plans, revisited environmental plans and enhanced its operation readiness while creating local jobs. The paper describes how KEF continued its plans in the difficult pandemic period.
Towards interoperability for European payment infrastructures
Authors: Sciusco Luigi R. F.
Published: July 2024

This paper describes the EU Commission Communication on interoperability of public services, adopted in December 2010, and its possible implementation by financial market infrastructures. The Commission defined ambitious objectives and their achievement requires close collaboration between regulators and markets in order to streamline cross-border processes, to establish trusted information exchange, and to create interoperable infrastructures and systems. It is a cornerstone, and the implementation of the EU Commission recommendations by payment systems could help cultivate a European ecosystem with citizens familiar with interoperability and financial market infrastructures ready to collaborate, and common frameworks, tools and services facilitating the establishment of European financial services. The paper explains the relevance of the Communication for European financial market infrastructures and analyses how they could benefit from the application of the most relevant recommendations of the EU Commission for the financial sector. The paper draws conclusions on the possible involvement of European payment systems overseers to provide financial market infrastructures and their providers with proper incentives for interoperability.
Impacting ethnic marketing practices in the pharmaceutical industry: A qualitative study of transformative African American women leaders
Authors: Bonaparte Yvette Lynne
Published: July 2024

The pharmaceutical industry reports itself to be in need of transformation in light of its maturity and complexity. Additionally, marketing practices within healthcare have shifted from mass market approaches to approaches that recognise the value of targeted markets, inclusive of ethnic markets such as the African American market. This qualitative study includes semi-structured interviews with eight African American women mid-level and senior-level leaders in three global pharmaceutical companies. Their experiences are reviewed in the context of the seven tenets that comprise the transformative leadership model, and examples of their impact on ethnic marketing practices within the industry are discussed. Marketing-related activities specifically mentioned include clinical trial recruitment, targeted promotional activities and sales team diversity. This research adds to the body of knowledge relative to ethnic marketing considerations for the pharmaceutical industry and has implications for both scholars and practitioners regarding the importance of diverse and transformative leadership, and marketing practices within the pharmaceutical industry.
Vested outsourcing in corporate real estate and facilities management
Authors: Vitasek Kate , Fenn Ingrid
Published: July 2024

In 2003 the University of Tennessee began a research project tasked to answer a simple question: ‘Is there a better way to outsource?’ Researchers studied some of the world’s most successful outsourcing relationships, including Procter & Gamble, Microsoft and McDonald’s. Researchers immediately saw trends in these successful relationships where organisations were shifting away from transaction-based agreements to collaborative outcome-based outsourcing relationships that the researchers described as a ‘vested’ mind-set. Researchers codified their learning into a methodology they coined ‘Vested Outsourcing®’, or Vested for short. Today, Vested is referred to as a mind-set, methodology and business model that enables highly collaborative relationships in which buying organisations and their service providers are committed equally to each other’s success. Organisations that have applied the concept often refer to it as a movement because of its power to transform the way organisations outsource. This article addresses the fundamentals of Vested Outsourcing as well as its applicability to corporate real estate and facilities management, including under what circumstances it can be most beneficial. Case studies from within Corporate Real Estate and Facilities Management (CREFM) are shared, including TD Bank, Vancouver Coastal Health and Novartis.
The transformation of the city of Najaf, Iraq: Analysis, reality and future prospects
Authors: Farhan Sabeeh Lafta , Jasim Ihsan Abbas , Al-Mamoori Sohaib Kareem
Published: July 2024

This paper addresses the subject of the transformation of traditional environments and how this affects the future style of sacred cities. The study attempts to analyse and evaluate the traditional structural characteristics and structural transformations in holy shrine city centres, and to find an approach to protect the urban and architectural style of those cities. The paper assumes an existing impact of urbanisation on the traditional structure of the sacred city of Najaf in Iraq. Holy cities provide the organic connection between acts of worship and religion and reveal the mechanism and reasons behind the regulatory nature of holy shrines and their role in achieving organisational integration of urban structure in all areas of replanning in a historical holy city. The research demonstrates that the need to accommodate visitors does not justify the random acts of destruction and removal of historical areas and buildings on the pretext of providing car parking spaces and rest areas for visitors during religious visits. Alternative solutions for special events should be sought that meet visitor needs while at the same time preserving the traditional structures.
Rethinking the future of payments
Authors: Ledford Steve
Published: July 2024

As more nations implement immediate payment systems, the industry has an opportunity to make payments not only faster, but safer and more useful. Tokenisation of payment credentials, credit-only transactions, imposition of robust access security, real-time anti-fraud/anti-money laundering/sanctions screening and network activity monitoring are ways to make any payment system safer. There is a continuum of choices that balance settlement risk with cost and complexity. Internet and mobile connectivity support rich, timely, flexible messaging. Combined, these factors provide an opportunity to build an unprecedented platform for payments innovation.
Embattled social media managers in the midst of COVID-19 pandemic struggle with mental health
Authors: Dobies Tony
Published: July 2024

West Virginia University surveyed social media managers in higher education just weeks into the coronavirus disease-2019 pandemic to get a better sense of our community as a whole, especially when it comes to mental health and self-care during crisis situations. The findings show that, generally, the higher education social media community is struggling more than ever with mental health issues. This paper includes demographics, ways supervisors can help support social media managers handle stress and the importance of including managers on crisis communication teams.
Stewarding major donors: Why is it important and how to do it well
Authors: Muscatelli Annarosa
Published: July 2024

This paper explores the stewardship of major giving donors and provides guidance and examples for building an authentic relationship between institution and donor. In a world where our donor’s attention (and money) is constantly being fought over, the paper suggests how as fundraisers we might cut through this noise and keep donors engaged with our causes.
A realist evaluation of online examinations and remote proctoring for pre-registration nursing students
Authors: Ford Claire , Jillian Park Laura , Leader Claire
Published: July 2024

Due to the COVID-19 lockdown restrictions in 2021, it was not possible for face-to-face examinations to be held on Northumbria University campus. Alternative examination methods needed to be utilised; however, due to the Professional Statutory Regulatory Body (PSRB) requirements for nursing students, these also needed to be appropriately supervised. This research study aimed to evaluate and explore the use of remote proctoring services for online unseen exams and how this changing assessment strategy affected pre-registration nursing students during the COVID-19 pandemic. A realist evaluation methodology was used to uncover understanding that can improve undergraduate implementation of online proctoring by providing explanations and understanding into why online proctoring programmes may or may not work, for whom, and in what contexts. Pre-registration nursing students from all fields of nursing (BSc and MSc) who sat an online assessment in 2021 and 2022 were invited to participate in an online survey and were recruited using purposeful and volunteer sampling. Students (n=87) completed the online survey, which contained both qualitative and quantitative questions. Data was independently analysed, and emerging themes identified were compared and agreed upon by the research team. Five interconnecting themes emerged which were formulated into a diagram comprising the following: familiarity with software; practice with hardware; confidence with IT issues; ongoing pastoral support; and academic misconduct awareness. The findings of this study might help inform the academic institution’s practices regarding the benefits of conducting examinations and assessments remotely and the necessary steps to take in order to enhance students’ experiences of using this alternative approach.
Tree-related risk to structures
Authors: O’Callaghan Dealga P. , Mercer Giles
Published: July 2024

Tree-caused subsidence is a major problem in Britain and has been for many years, with the cost to insurers running into hundreds of millions of pounds per year. Subsidence damage ranges from minor cracking to significant structural damage, meaning that trees are often viewed negatively for this reason, despite the benefits they provide. It is estimated that there are 150m urban trees in Britain, a significant proportion of which have statutory protection. This paper presents a factual account of the various components of subsidence, including a basic explanation of how trees function and how they use water in the context of clay soils, climate, building damage, the housing stock and tree management options. Recent case law in this area is placed in the context of the legal framework surrounding subsidence.
Surviving the ‘retail apocalypse’: How Urban Outfitters became the bad boy of retail and lived to tell about it
Authors: Harasta Joseph
Published: July 2024

Beginning in the early 2000s, retailers, such as The Gap, Old Navy, Eddie Bauer and Anne Taylor Loft, faced dwindling sales, bankruptcies and mass closures, from which some were unable to recover. Faced with increased competition from online companies like Amazon and an ever-expanding box store presence from giants like Wal-Mart and Target, traditional clothing and accessory retailers faced hard times. A massive ‘Great Recession’ in 2008 did not help either. Stores that flourished for decades in malls throughout America were faced with fewer customers and increased overheads. Some of these malls, which had been the home turf for these successful chains for years, are also facing hard times and closures. This article assesses the brand strategy of one of the companies, Urban Outfitters, in this battered and highly competitive market. Unlike its competitors, however, Urban Outfitters defied all traditional business logic and pioneered an in-your-face, non-politically correct production and marketing plan that would prove to be its most successful and fascinating management model — mainstream negativity can lead to long-term financial success.
Levelling up the high street
Authors: Duncan Michael
Published: July 2024

The decline in high-street retail over recent years has prompted the UK Government to introduce the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill, which at time of writing is making its way through Parliament. It aims, among other things, to reduce the number of vacant units on high streets in England and Wales by giving local authorities the power to put vacant high-street properties into rental auctions. This paper examines the key provisions of Part 10 of the Bill, as currently drafted, and the effect it is likely to have on the market for high-street properties.
The schedule of condition: A party wall surveyor's best friend?
Authors: Skelt Christopher
Published: July 2024

There are some very large construction sites in London and indeed across the country that are at various stages in their execution. A lot of the larger developments are on sites that affect a large number of adjoining owners whose interests could be residential, commercial, retail or even subterranean, in the case of London Underground. Several of the sites are choosing to excavate basements to maximise the development, the size of which would be confined or restricted above ground. With the predicted movement within and beneath the surrounding properties there is a real need to ensure that clear and accurate records of these potentially delicate and fragile structures are put in place before works commence. There are many factors that influence how a schedule of condition is undertaken and why. This paper explains the procedure and the thought processes that you should go through to produce a schedule of condition, and uses a recent instruction as an example.