Glasgow defined : a business perspective

Commerce, trade and business together with education have been the heart of Glasgow over the centuries. Glasgow played a central role in developing Scotland's trans-Atlantic commerce and trade- based economy with the development of the tobacco trade. As the 'second city of the empire' in the late 1800s it was, as Findlay (2011) notes, a central player in the first industrial revolution with its textile, mining, iron and shipping industries. Glasgow's leadership in the manufacture of ships, locomotives and heavy engineering reflected not only a highly skilled workforce, but equally a strong tradition of technological innovation and invention together allied to a strong financial and business services base. Through much of the 20th century Glasgow, along with many other industrial cities, had to confront the problems of industrial change and rising social deprivation and experienced several cycles of decline, renewal and regeneration. However, the traditions of innovation, together with a strong higher education sector, and a vibrant culture and dynamism have enabled Glasgow to change and to renew its economy. Since the 1980s, Glasgow has been rebuilding itself through a series regeneration programmes including: the 'Glasgow Miles Better' campaign, the 1988 Glasgow Garden Festival, being European City of Culture in 1990 and, looking forward, hosting the Commonwealth Games in 2014. These, together with a series of development strategies, most notably the private-sector led Glasgow Action which led the implementation of a services-led McKinsey strategy from the mid-1980’s to the Joint Economic Strategy of Glasgow City Council and Scottish Enterprise set out in 2006 'Step Change' strategy programme and – even more recently - the creation of the Glasgow Economic Commission and the private sector-led Glasgow Economic Leadership all illustrate the innovation and strength of commitment of civic, business and academic partners to continuing and strengthening Glasgow's economic growth and renewal

Editorial Commentary: Pathological social withdrawal during in adolescence: a culture-specific or a global phenomenon?

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Building a model for encouraging help-seeking for depression: a qualitative study in a Chinese society

BACKGROUND:Clinical depression has been increasingly prevalent in international health statistics but people are often found to be reluctant to seek help when they encounter depression. However, there is no general theory to explain how personal, social and cultural factors affect an individual's help-seeking intention, nor to guide the design of preventive programmes for such intention once needed.METHODS:Drawing on the theory of planned behavior, we deployed the illness narrative approach and interviewed 18 participants in Hong Kong.RESULTS:With the diverse results we gathered from the interviews, a behavioral model was built to conceptualize the interplays of various factors in shaping one's help-seeking intention and behavior for depression. Participants appeared to have a limited view of treatment options and had diverse views of the symptoms of depression, both of which profoundly affected their motivation to seek help.CONCLUSIONS:The role of family and friends and a holistic approach to mental health education were found to be particularly important for encouraging help-seeking behavior in future campaigns concerning depression.published_or_final_versio

Attitudes towards suicide following an undergraduate suicide prevention module: experience of medical students in Hong Kong

OBJECTIVES: To explore qualitative and quantitative changes in attitudes and experiences of medical students following a special study suicide prevention module. DESIGN: Pilot study. SETTING: The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong. PARTICIPANTS: A 2-week intensive special studies module was delivered to third- and fourth-year medical students in June 2011. The module was elective and involved several modes of teaching. All students filled the Chinese Attitude toward Suicide Questionnaire before and after the course. They also provided written feedback about the module experience. Three students participated in in-depth interviews. RESULTS: In all, 22 students aged 20 to 23 years enrolled in the special studies module; 15 (68%) of whom were male and only one was married. Positive trends were noted in attitudes towards suicide following the participation in the special studies module, namely, reduced negative appraisal of suicide, reduced stigmatisation of the phenomena, and increased sensitivity to suicide-related facts. Feedback of the students suggested inclusion of this module into the main medical curriculum, increased confidence in dealing with issues related to suicide, and appreciation of skills focusing on interviewing in patients. Overall the module was well received by medical students. CONCLUSIONS: A suicide prevention training module seems to have been valued by students and lead to positive attitudes towards understanding suicide. Adopting this initiative as a suicide prevention strategy warrants further exploration.published_or_final_versio

Voluntary business engagement in climate change: A study of the ClimateWise Principles

There is an expectation that the insurance sector should be leading business efforts in responding to climate change due to their inherent exposure to increasing risks. However, insurance companies normally operate on a one year time horizon - underwriting risks through policies which change each year to reflect new knowledge of these risks. The ClimateWise principles is a voluntary initiative of the insurance sector that was launched in 2007 to provide a basis for insurance companies to engage with climate change risks. This paper introduces the ClimateWise initiative and explores progress made since its launch. The paper presents new knowledge on whether this voluntary initiative provides a useful structure for the insurance sector in responding to the challenge of climate change. It finds that while the insurance sector has engaged with climate change, there is much more to do and we welcome the recent changes to ClimateWise that more accurately reflect this. The paper concludes that ClimateWise has been a useful initiative for the insurance companies and as a potential benchmark for the sector it offers some value. However, ClimateWise has not provided a strong enough engagement across the sector to embed climate action into business decisions

Culturally Relevant Protective and Risk Factors of Youth Risk Behaviors Among Pakistani and Indian Students in Hong Kong: A Focus Group Study

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An ecological analysis of secondary school students' drug use in Hong Kong: A case-control study

Background: Youth drug use is a significant at-risk youth behaviour and remains as one of the top priorities for mental health services, researchers and policy planners. The ecological characteristics of secondary school students’ behaviour in Hong Kong are understudied. Aim: To examine individual, familial, social and environmental correlates of drug use among secondary students in Hong Kong. Method: Data were extracted from a school survey with 3078 students. Among the 3078 students, 86 students reported to have used drugs in the past 6 months. A total of 86 age- and gender-matched controls with no drug-use behaviour in the past 6 months were randomly selected from the remaining students. Multiple logistic analysis was used to examine differential correlates between those who used and did not use substance in the past 6 months. Result: Positive school experience and perspective to school and parental support are protective factors of drug use. Lower self-esteem, lower self-efficacy against using drugs and higher level of permissive attitude towards drugs were associated with drug use. Students who were low in self-esteem and rather impulsive tend to use drugs. Conclusion: To prevent students from drug use, efforts in individual, family, school and community-levels should be addressed.postprin

Magnetic resonance spectroscopy demonstrates neuronal loss and altered glutamatergic neurotransmission in Alzheimer's Disease

BACKGROUND: The role of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) is involved in the default mode network during resting state, and is dysfunctional in ageing and Alzheimer’s disease (AD). We used magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) to study the biochemical and metabolite profile in patients with AD, and compared with cognitive-normal healthy controls (HC) with no cognitive complaints …published_or_final_versio

Understanding aborted suicide attempts: a mixed-methods approach

Session - OP20-7N: Understanding and Helping Suicide Attempters 2Congress Theme: New Discoveries and Technologies in Suicide PreventionThe term "aborted suicide attempter" refers to an individual who 1) intents to kill oneself, 2) changes of mind immediately before the actual attempt, and 3) is absence of injury. Studying aborted suicide attempts has an advantage of knowing the actual thoughts and actions that stopped these individuals implementing their plans by themselves. More, Hong Kong is an ideal place to study aborted suicide attempt because the most common suicide method is jumping from a height and this method is relatively "visible" and easier to be intervened by a third party, like ...postprin

Design and evaluation of a Facebook game for self-directed e-learning

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