Research Enterprise Research Articles

Do Tax Incentives Promote Corporate Green Investment?—Evidence from a Quasi-Natural Experiment Based on China’s Corporate Income Tax Reform

It is essential for achieving green and sustainable economic development by using tax incentives to promote green investment. Using the data from the seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth Chinese Private Enterprise Surveys (CPESs) conducted by the Private Enterprise Research Group and using China’s corporate income tax reform in 2008 as a quasi-natural experiment, this paper empirically analyses the effect of tax incentives on corporate green investment based on the difference-in-difference models. The research results show that tax incentives can significantly increase corporate green investment. The mechanism test shows that easing financing constraints is an important channel for tax incentives to promote corporate green investment. In addition, the role of tax incentives in promoting green investment varies depending on the type and location of the enterprise. Relatively speaking, tax incentives have a stronger effect in promoting green investment for corporates with low sales revenue, located in the eastern region, heavy pollution, and high innovation capability. By doing placebo tests and changing measurement methods of indicators for robustness tests, the conclusions of this paper are still valid. Therefore, the government should increase tax incentives to better promote corporate green investment.

Compliance with research participant protection guidelines by Nigerian medical journals

BackgroundStakeholders in medical research have roles in ensuring that research participants are protected. Medical journals play gatekeeping roles in the responsible conduct of research. They help guard against the publication of findings of unethical research, such as those with compromised participant welfare. Nigerian medical journals are being created to support the growing number of research enterprises. In this study, we aimed to determine the compliance of Nigerian medical journals with guidelines on research participant protection.MethodsThis was a descriptive cross-sectional study of Nigerian medical journals and articles. We used a checklist to obtain information on journal characteristics and the presence of recommendations from the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) on the protection of research participants in the journal instructions to authors and articles. The data were analysed via IBM SPSS version 23.ResultsWe studied 40 journals and 350 journal articles. Thirty-one (77.5%) journals required ethical approval and the Declaration of Helsinki statement in their instructions to the authors, while informed consent was present in 26 (65.0%) journals; 6 (15.0%) journals had no participant protection guidelines. Forty-one (11.7%) articles complied with all three recommendations on research participant protection, whereas 60 (17.1%) articles did not. Ethical approval was most common in 268 (76.6%) articles, whereas it was least common in statements on the Declaration of Helsinki in 50 (14.3%) articles. The presence of participant protection recommendations in instructions to authors was not associated with compliance with these recommendations in published articles (p > 0.05).ConclusionAlthough there is fairly good compliance of Nigerian medical journals with research participant protection recommendations, there are still gaps, which highlight the need for remedial measures.

Vital Directions For Health And Health Care: Priorities For 2025.

In 2016, ahead of the US presidential election, the National Academy of Medicine launched the strategic initiative Vital Directions for Health and Health Care-a series of papers on critical areas of US health care written by the nation's experts and intended to provide nonpartisan guidance to the incoming administration. The National Academy of Medicine continued the initiative in 2021. The current series, titled Vital Directions for Health and Health Care: Priorities for 2025, contains six articles on priority areas in US health and medicine that demand urgent attention. Here we provide an overview of the articles, which spotlight key areas for action and transformative change: revitalizing the biomedical research enterprise, modernizing public health, charting new directions for women's health, safely integrating artificial intelligence throughout the health care system, addressing the impact of climate change on health and equity, and transforming the US health care system to one that performs at par with the systems of other industrialized nations. Common themes include coordinating a strategic vision, correcting adverse economic incentives, investing in the health care workforce, reducing fragmentation, and emphasizing equity. Each article offers actionable priorities for the new administration to improve health outcomes for all Americans.

Four Opportunities To Revitalize The US Biomedical Research Enterprise.

The US biomedical research enterprise is renowned for its historical and ongoing scientific breakthroughs and advancements. Yet its capacity to solve complex health issues, bridge health equity gaps, and strengthen public trust is constrained by the lack of an overarching national vision, fragmented coordination for research funding, and critical workforce recruitment and retention challenges. To improve national health outcomes and retain global competitiveness, the sector must embrace new approaches. This article, part of the National Academy of Medicine's Vital Directions for Health and Health Care: Priorities for 2025 initiative, identifies four key opportunities to revitalize the biomedical research enterprise: establishing a national advisory body, bolstering the workforce, prioritizing research to reduce health disparities, and developing approaches to streamlining and coordinating federal research funding. These priorities will help the biomedical research enterprise meet twenty-first-century challenges, promote healthy longevity, and preserve US leadership in the global arena.

Co-operative and mutual enterprises research

Co-operative and mutual enterprises research

Enhancing the research enterprise at a health sciences university: A call for an institutional paradigm shift

Enhancing the research enterprise at a health sciences university: A call for an institutional paradigm shift

Diverse perspectives on supporting the health and wellness of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Persons with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities (IDD) are a growing population, frequently living with complex health conditions and unmet healthcare needs. Traditional clinical practice and research methods and measures may require adaptation to reflect their preferences. The perspectives of people with IDD, caregivers/partners, and clinicians were obtained to provide insight into factors contributing to the health and wellness of people with IDD. These, in turn, suggest opportunities for improvements in clinical training and care, and considerations for enhancing research methods and measures. An exploratory design, participatory methods, abductive qualitative approach and thematic analysis were employed. Interview data were obtained in twelve focus groups with people with IDD (n=25), caregivers/partners (n=21), and clinicians (n=27). Particular attention was paid to supporting attendees in focus group participation, with adaptations and accommodations made for communication preferences, and graphic illustrations were provided. Themes emerging across attendee categories that reflect factors contributing to health and wellness for people with IDD include: (1) making healthy choices; (2) participating in everyday activities; (3) benefitting from natural supports (e.g., family, friends, peers); and (4) accessing skilled professional supports (e.g., healthcare provision and payment). Study findings underscore factors related to supporting health and wellness for people with IDD and suggest the importance of autonomy, accessibility, healthy relationships, self-advocacy, and tailored clinical care. People with IDD can be actively engaged throughout the research enterprise to ensure the relevance, acceptability, and accessibility of research methods and measures; promote inclusiveness; and address health disparities.

Investigating Moral Distress in Clinical Research Professionals—A Deep Dive into Troubled Waters

ABSTRACTMoral distress occurs when professionals are constrained from taking what they believe to be ethically appropriate actions or are forced to take actions they believe are ethically inappropriate, challenging their professional identities and representing systems‐level issues within organizations. Moral distress has been recognized in a variety of health care‐related fields; however, the phenomenon is still comparatively unexplored among clinical research professionals (CRPs). In this qualitative study, we interviewed ten CRPs to unearth root causes of moral distress in this ethically unique profession. Four themes emerged from the data as contributors to moral distress: commodification of research; concern for research participants; compromised science; and structures of hierarchy. The experience of racism as a source of moral distress is also explored. The findings of this study indicate that the existence of moral distress in clinical research is troubling not only for the welfare of CRPs but also for the greater clinical research enterprise.

Barriers and facilitators to conducting human subjects research at a safety net institution from the perspective of researchers.

The COVID-19 pandemic revealed glaring problems with clinical research enterprise. Faced with crisis, several trials opened rapidly but enrolled homogenous populations with few Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) individuals. Inclusive trial enrollment is important to inspire trust and confidence in BIPOC populations that have been historically excluded or harmed from research and to improve the generalizability of research findings. Safety-net hospitals and institutions often care for BIPOC populations, and thus it is essential to improve equitable participation in research at these institutions. In this study, we sought to understand barriers and facilitators to research participation at safety net institutions. We conducted semi-structured interviews among principal investigators, research assistants, research coordinators, and research nurses who conducted human subjects research at an urban, safety-net hospital from October, 2022 to December, 2022. We used inductive qualitative methods to identify themes associated with barriers and facilitators to clinical research participation. We completed 28 interviews and identified five themes: (1) compared to non-safety net systems, safety-net systems were perceived to require additional resources and funding to achieve comparable research recruitment and retention; (2) language barriers and translational processes are burdensome for researchers; (3) interactions between research staff and patients impact trust; (4) social determinants of health specific to safety-net populations are a barrier to participation; (5) competing priorities between clinical staff and researchers exist. Safety net institutions face several barriers to conducting human subjects research. However, identified facilitators may help inform future efforts to reduce inequities in research participation.

RECRUITING LATINO CAREGIVERS INTO DEMENTIA-RELATED RESEARCH: NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART

Abstract Drawing from the theoretical model—the Micro-Meso-Macro Framework— we elucidate factors that facilitated or impeded diverse sample recruitment to a community-based caregiver intervention study with high Hispanic/Latino representation in California. Based on our multi-level analysis of recruitment meetings and community outreach tracking, we documented the following factors implicated in trial participation: 1) Micro: prior encounters with the research enterprise; educational attainment and occupational status; sense of altruism and beneficence; monetary incentivization; comfort with disclosure of private matters; starting from ground zero; gender issues; and 2) Meso/macro: assembling a proactive scientific team; incorporating a marketing perspective; leveraging logos and reputation; training trial staff and community partners; writing project budgets that incentivize diverse trial recruitment; making inroads with community partners; navigating technological challenges; and tapping into resources to alleviate barriers. Latinos were adversely affected by low exposure to research activities and technological barriers which necessitated extra supports during trial participation.

Impediments of Parents’ Involvement in Supporting Literacy Skills Development among Pre-Primary School Children in Tanzania

A child's intellectual, social, and emotional welfare is significantly impacted by the engagement and parenting style of their parents. This paper investigates the obstacles parents face in developing literacy skills among pre-primary school children in Tanzania. The study was conducted in six districts of Tanzania. Using a purposive and snowball sampling strategy, 67 parents—29 men and 38 females—were included in the study. This study used a qualitative technique, with a case study design for data collection, analysis, and interpretation. Data was gathered through focus group discussions (FGDs) and observation. Trustworthiness was realized through credibility, dependability, conformability and transferability. Informed consent was considered, and researchers adhered to the research enterprise norms and principles, by keeping and treating all responses from respondents with high confidentiality. The findings were analysed thematically, yielding several sub-themes. It was discovered that there were various barriers preventing parents from participating in promoting literacy skills development of pre-primary school children. Ultimately, the study suggests that parents should be capacitated inappropriate methods to encourage the development of reading skills in pre-primary schools, as it is critical for parents to support learning both in preschool settings and at home.

Establishing the U.S. Aging Research Enterprise: Founding of the National Institute on Aging

Establishing the U.S. Aging Research Enterprise: Founding of the National Institute on Aging

A case study into the safety management systems for the effects of potential space weather risks, for operators of very high altitude ‘near space’ flights from Mojave Air & Space Port, California, and the associated regulatory challenges

Mojave Air & Space Port is located in Mojave, California, United States. It is at an elevation of 2,801 feet (854 m), is nearly 3000 acres in size and has three runways. It is licensed by the FAA for horizontal launches of reusable spacecraft and is already a major hub for aerospace research and space enterprises, which includes potential space flights and very high altitude subsonic, supersonic, and hypersonic flights.During potential very high-altitude ‘near space’ space flights, the effects of cosmic radiation exposure, especially during sudden changes in space weather, such as ground level enhancement (GLE) or solar particle events (SPEs), could have significant health implications for crew and passengers. This case study examines the intricate landscape of radiation risks, regulatory challenges, licensing complexities, and approaches to risk management for very high-altitude ‘near space’ space flights from Mojave Air and Space Port carrying one or more paying "space flight participant" (being an individual, who is not crew, carried aboard a launch vehicle or re-entry vehicle).The study explores the specific challenges of risk assessment of very high-altitude flights, looking in detail at the risk posed by the space weather radiation environment in flight planning and execution, for both Space Port and flight operator. The study covers the ‘end to end’ licensing process and the regulatory considerations of space weather required for both Space Port and flight operator. Further, we look at the integration of Safety Management Systems (SMS), namely, we explore how SMS frameworks proactively identify, assess, and mitigate risks throughout the ‘near space’ space flight process. Further, the study presents a template for addressing the regulatory framework for flights, risk assessment, pre-flight briefings, and the flight licensing procedure.This case study offers valuable insights for Space Port and flight operators, regulators, and policymakers, contributing to the development of comprehensive safety strategies, which are crucial for safe very high-altitude ‘near space’ space exploration.Plain Language Summary: A case study of how the potential space weather risks can be successfully managed for very high altitude ‘near space’ subsonic, supersonic, and hypersonic flights from Mojave Air and Space Port, California, USA carrying one or more space flight participant(s).

The impact of neoliberalism on psychological research and practice

Rapid changes in technology have contributed to making globalization a reality, in spite of it being criticized for imposing Western cultural values on the world. Globalization embeds a neoliberal ideology where productivity, competition, and profit prevail. This paper posits that neoliberalism has enabled the persistence and further spread of coloniality in the field of psychology, both as a research enterprise and practice. The production of psychological research, the diagnosis of psychological disorders, and the prescription of Western therapeutic packages all follow the neoliberal profit-making paradigm which commodifies the field of psychology. The underrepresentation of Global South research is discussed, as well as the over-emphasis on individuality in the conceptualization of well-being and success. The call for a decolonial perspective is underlined, advocating a perspective from within, as opposed to a perspective from above, that critically and selectively integrates indigenous knowledge and practices with what is relevant from the West.

CONSTRUCTION OF EARTH CRUST SECTIONS DOWN TO THE MOHO BOUNDARY BASED ON LOW AMPLITUDE REFLECTED WAVES OF RIVER SEISMIC SURVEY USING CPD-2D METHOD (Vitim River, junction zone of the Angara-Lena monocline of the Siberian platform and the Bodaibo-Patom folded system)

In 2019, employees of the Research and Production Enterprise Luch jointly with specialists of the Seismological Branch of the Geophysical Survey of the Russian Academy of Sciences (GS RAS) carried out river seismic exploration works using the common depth point method (CDP-2D) along a 170 km long profile in the lower reaches of the Vitim River. The research was carried out according to the original methodology developed in the Siberian branches of the GS RAS, using the “Baikal” equipment recording seismic signals continuously (in contrast to traditional cable bottom or ground-based systems with time-limited recording). In this case, patented air guns “Malysh” were used in the water for the excitation of elastic waves, which have been recorded by ground registration method on the riverbank. To this day, the archives store primary materials from each receiving point (about 7000, with a distance of 25 m between them) in the form of a continuous hours-long digital recording of seismic signals and noise. These materials make it possible to generate seismograms of significant duration – up to 23 s, equal to the time interval between wave generations, in contrast to 6–10 second seismograms traditionally used to construct sections of the upper part of the Earth’s crust. In addition, the 24-bit Baikal recorder makes it possible to record signals with an amplitude two orders of magnitude lower than the amplitude of seismic noise. On the seismic sections constructed by the processor at arrival times of up to 13–14 sec, due to an increase in the stack fold of signals up to 1000–2000, we can select low-amplitude waves, reflected from boundaries in the middle and lower parts of the Earth’s crust to the Moho boundary. High fold is achieved by increasing the size of the stacking site (bin) by several times. By processing seismograms, generated from archival materials, for the first time, we have a complete vertical section of the Earth’s crust along a 170 km long profile, using low-amplitude signals. The profile passes through the junction zone of the Angara–Lena monocline and the Bodaibo-Patom folded system. The proposed approach can be used to obtain preliminary (and relatively cheap) information about the deep structure of the Earth’s crust along profiles performed using the CDP-2D river seismic exploration method.

A structural equation modeling approach to leveraging the power of extant sentiment analysis tools

AbstractMachine-derived sentiment analysis has become a pervasive and useful tool to address a wide array of issues in natural language processing. Leading technology companies such as Google now provide sentiment analysis tools (SATs) as readily accessible online products. Academic researchers develop and make available SATs to support the research enterprise. One of the major challenges with SATs is the inconsistencies in results among the various SATs. Consequently, the selection of a SAT for a specific purpose may significantly impact the application. This study addresses the foregoing problem by utilizing structural equation modeling to merge the outputs of SATs to develop a combined sentiment metric without the need for a labeled training dataset. This method is applicable to a wide range of text-based problems, is data-driven, and replicable. It was tested using three publicly available datasets and compared against seven different SATs. The results indicate that as a continous measure, the proposed method outperformed other SATs in the movie reviews and SemEval datasets, and achieved a tie for first place with IBM Watson on the Sentiment 140 dataset. Also, compared to the published major alternatives, the arithmetic mean solution, this approach performed better across these three datasets.

Can digital finance enhance enterprise research and development innovation? The mediating role of dual consumption behavior transformation

This research explores the influence of digital finance on enterprise technological innovation, emphasizing the mediating effect of dual consumption behavior transformation, using panel data from Chinese listed companies from 2011–2022. The results reveal that digital finance significantly boosts research and development (R&D) innovation, and from the perspective of three subdimensions, expanding the coverage of digital finance matters more. Additionally, the study highlights the amplifying role of upgrading consumption structures and expanding consumer credit in this dynamic, with digital finance having a stronger effect. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the incentive effects of digital finance on technological innovation are more pronounced in state-owned enterprises, high-tech enterprises, and those audited by the four major auditing enterprises. This paper enriches the relevant research on the impact of digital finance on enterprise innovation. It provides a theoretical basis and policy reference for how financial markets can better serve the real economy.

The ethical inadequacy of uninformed surrogate consent: advancing respect for persons in clinical research.

In clinical research, decision-making capacity is often equated with unspecified conceptions of autonomy, and autonomy is often equated with personhood. On this view, the loss of decision-making capacity is seen as a loss of autonomy, and the loss of autonomy subsumes a loss of personhood. An ethical concern arises at the intersection of those philosophical considerations with the legal considerations in informed consent. Because persons with inadequate decision-making capacity cannot provide legally effective consent, enrollment in research can occur only if a surrogate gives permission on the person's behalf. Federal regulations and resulting institutional policies allow permission from surrogates empowered under state law to consent to medical treatment procedures, typically in a hierarchy of legislatively prioritized relationships lacking regard for what the surrogate actually knows about the current research-related values and preferences of the potential subject. As a result, the research enterprise often countenances reliance on surrogates who have no relational or informational basis for an enrollment decision that aligns with the values and preferences of the subject. Arguing from the perspective that losing decision-making capacity does not alter the moral status of persons, and that respect for persons rather than respect for autonomy is the central ethical obligation, I assess the ethical implications of allowing persons with no knowledge of the values and preferences of the potential subject to make enrollment decisions, concluding that reliance on uninformed surrogates is not an ethically defensible approach to enrolling subjects in clinical research.

Centering Care in the Academic Research Enterprise: Reflections and a Call to Action from the Inaugural Convening of Care

Centering Care in the Academic Research Enterprise: Reflections and a Call to Action from the Inaugural Convening of Care

Don’t pass me by: Tackling vaccine hesitancy among migrants via the RIVER-EU project

Abstract Literature research has suggested that vaccination hesitancy (VH) has been increasing in recent years across migrant populations. It poses various challenges, including risks of outbreaks, and re-emergence of diseases. Nevertheless, only few studies provide an insight of the interventions successful in tackling VH among these groups. This presentation will describe a multi-country research enterprise that aims to respond to these needs. The “RIVER-EU - Reducing Inequalities in Vaccine uptake in the European Region - Engaging Underserved communities” project (funding from EU’s Horizon 2020, Grant Agreement No. 964353) involves several underserved communities, such as Ukrainian migrants (UMs) in Poland, migrants and refugees in Greece, females with Turkish/Moroccan migration background in the Netherlands and the marginalized Roma communities in Slovakia. The project aims at improving child and adolescent HPV/MMR vaccination among these communities by implementing tailored interventions, suitable for each target country. The focus is on removing health system barriers to vaccination. The data regarding VH are an important by-product of the RIVER-EU project, and shows the connection between perceived access barriers and VH. A project-based approach to combat VH among UMs in Poland will serve as a case study to demonstrate the complex process of development of adequate interventions, that could be used to support this migrant group, with disturbingly low vaccination uptake. However, this presentation will go beyond this case study findings - a review of the existing evidence will help generalize our results. Overall, this presentation will show to how investigating various drivers of under-immunization helps to assess what approaches, strategies and interventions are effective to combat VH among marginalized migrant groups.