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This paper examines various internal factors that influence green-procurement implementation in the public sector of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) by investigating the relationships between the innovation capability of organizations and green-procurement implementation with the mediating impact of employees' commitment to change. A structural model is proposed using scales from literature. Primary research data was collected using a cross-sectional survey involving 50 respondents from public-sector organizations in Abu Dhabi. Results revealed that the innovation capability of the organization has a positive influence on green-procurement implementation. In addition, employees' commitment to change influences green-procurement implementation. This paper contributes to the literature by studying green-procurement implementation in the UAE's public sector, in which new constructs to existing concepts are introduced and tested. This paper also complements contemporary knowledge on green procurement, organizational innovation, and environmental practices. The paper emphasizes that top management and government officials must reevaluate their own personal values and commitment to certain issues as they formulate green-procurement policies, regulations, and training programs designed for procurement officials within the UAE's government organizations. This paper is expected to have multiple theoretical and practical implications to the study of green procurement in the UAE public sector and beyond and could set the stage to conduct more studies this field in the UAE in order to support the changes to come. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pursuit of better coordination schemes is crucial for contemporary supply chains to survive in a highly competitive environment. A supply chain may employ revenue sharing, information sharing and quantity discounts etc. to gain that viable edge. Another recent trend is to store vendor's inventory at the buyer's warehouse, known as vendor-managed-inventory (VMI) with consignment stock (CS) agreement. This paper brings the present literature in VMI with consignment stock closer to real life by introducing the notion of screening defective items. A single-vendor single-buyer supply chain is considered where the vendor ships every production batch in a number of lots to the buyer's warehouse. The buyer withdraws and screens these products while fulfilling the market demand. An analytical model is developed to depict this scenario. The impact of different fractions of defective items, storage costs as well as disposal schemes is also studied. The results indicate that the prominence of the proposed storage scheme over the conventional one remains proportional to the size and number of shipments in a cycle. Besides, the non-financial component of storage costs has a critical impact on the cost of the supply chain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Tourism is an important industry for Malaysia, and home-stay accommodation businesses play a significant role in aiding the success of the tourism industry. The aim of this paper is to analyse the start-up motivation factors and business challenges for home-stay accommodation businesses. The data were gathered from a survey of 1250 home-stay entrepreneurs in the country with a usable response rate of (n =853) or 68.24 per cent was achieved, and was analysed descriptively. To get more in-depth understanding of the phenomenon, interviews with selected 35 home-stay accommodation entrepreneurs were also conducted. It was found that the main motivations of home-stay entrepreneurs are different to those of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) business in other sectors. The identification of motivational factors in this study provides a clearer account of what actually motivates entrepreneurs to ventures into home-stay accommodation businesses – an under researched area. The paper propose a revised model of motivations factors of home-stay accommodation entrepreneurs, which incorporates two distinct sets of push and pull factors – one that applies to the entrepreneurs of SMEs in other industry and one applies to entrepreneurs in home-stay accommodation tourism industry. The data also present the result of several key business challenges in this unique niche industry such as lack of service orientation, lack of facilities, safety concern, competition with incompliance unregistered home-stay operators and difficult to maintain optimum levels of cleanness. In addition to developing the theory on home-stay accommodation businesses, the findings of this paper will have relevance for policy making and supportive measures at the federal or state government levels to create an environment that will stimulate the competitiveness of SMEs in home-stay accommodation businesses in their attempts for business growth and key strategy for economic improvement. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Simulation-based educational products are excellent set of illustrative tools that proffer features like visualization of the dynamic behavior of a real system, etc. Such products have great efficacy in education and are known to be one of the first-rate student centered learning methodologies. These products allow students to practice skills such as critical thinking and decision-making. In this paper, a case is presented where a scenario-based e-learning product namely ‘supply chain simulator’ is developed at KFUPM for an introductory technology course. The product simulates a supply chain – a network of facilities and distribution systems that carries out the task of procurement and transformation of materials from manufacturer to customer. The product was put to test during four semesters and results of the survey conducted by the instructors and the students are presented. The results clearly suggest the benefits of using such a tool in enhancing student learning. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• E-procurement practices does not influence environmental performance in the UAE. • E-procurement practices in the UAE has a significant influence on big data analytics capability. • Big data analytics capability fully mediates the relationship between e-procurement and environmental performance. The emergence of big data technology and concepts has created the potential to transform and innovate the traditional e-procurement system into green e-procurement. Utilizing resource orchestration theory, this paper suggests that if organizations embrace and reorganize some of the resources and capabilities offered by big data within their e-procurement functions, it will help achieve improved environmental performance. Based on a sample of 216 procurement professionals in the United Arab Emirates, we empirically investigate the effects of big data analytics capabilities (BDAC) on e-procurement (EP) and environmental performance (ENP) using PLS-SEM analysis. This paper has determined that EP does not influence (ENP), but it has a significant influence on BDAC; and when BDAC was introduced as a mediator between EP and ENP, a significant and positive effect was found on ENP, indicating full mediation. Our findings offer a more advanced understanding of the impact of BDAC on e-procurement, thereby addressing the crucial questions of how and when BDAC can enhance environmental sustainability in procurement and supply chains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The incidence of diabetes, now affecting more than 170 million individuals is growing rapidly. Type 2 diabetes, which accounts for 90% of all diabetes cases, is associated with increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Thiazolidinediones (TZDs), used for the treatment of patients with type 2 diabetes improve insulin sensitivity and endothelial dysfunction and exert beneficial effects on the lipid profile by activating the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPAR-γ). Moreover, a large body of evidence indicates that TZDs exhibit antiatherogenic effects independent of their antidiabetic and lipid-lowering properties by modulating inflammatory processes. This review will focus on the role of PPAR-γ agonists in the vessel wall and summarize their effects on C-reactive protein (CRP), plasminogen activator inhibitor type-1 (PAI-1), matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9), adiponectin and ATP-binding cassette transporter A1 (ABCA1) and their implications for treatment of advanced stages of atherosclerosis, particularly in a setting of type 2 diabetes. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract Social sustainability is concerned with the human side of sustainability. The literature indicates a growing movement towards adopting social practices in the supply chain, and despite the diffusion of the topic, it appears that social sustainability is relatively new in the service sector in general and in the healthcare sector in particular. This study explored this issue and identified the motivators, barriers, and enablers of social sustainability in a healthcare supply chain with the lens of "stakeholder theory" and a focus on four stakeholder groups: suppliers, employees, patients/community and owners/government. These aspects were further explored using a structured research method and specific research objectives. The SIPOC chart was used to list the healthcare suppliers, the inputs (such as employees) supplied and used by main processes in healthcare, the outputs (products and services) of these processes, and their customers (patients and community). This facilitates linkages of different supply chain stakeholders. This is exploratory research; data were collected from various departments of 10 hospitals of United Arab Emirates (UAE), and a comprehensive depiction of what drives, inhibits, and facilitates social sustainability practices in healthcare as perceived by all stakeholders' groups was formulated. Study results confirmed that, while separate attention to each stakeholder group is important, a comprehensive analysis of all stakeholders' perceptions of what constitutes a socially sustainable supply chain would offer more benefits and help hospital managers balance the expectations of all involved parties. Highlights • To apply stakeholder theory and SIPOC technique for investigating social sustainability in health care supply chains. • To explore the motivators, barriers, and enablers of social sustainability from stakeholders' perspectives. • To identify commonalities of social sustainability perceptions among stakeholder groups. • To develop a comprehensive social sustainability framework that integrates the perspectives of all stakeholder groups. • To recommend strategies for improving the measures of social sustainability across the entire health care supply chain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thiazolidinediones (TZDs) are widely used oral antihyperglycemic drugs that facilitate insulin action and increase insulin-stimulated glucose metabolism, thereby decreasing insulin resistance. However, concerns have been raised regarding the association between TZD use and a heightened risk for congestive heart failure (CHF).This study used claims data to conduct a retrospective examination of the CHF risk in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and to compare the association with CHF in those receiving the TZD pioglitazone and those receiving insulin.Patients with type 2 diabetes aged ≥18 years who had begun treatment with pioglitazone or insulin between January 1999 and December 2001 were identified using the PharMetrics Patient-Centric database. The sample was restricted to patients for whom there were ≥12 months of data before the index date (date of the first prescription for pioglitazone or insulin) and ≥3 months of follow-up data. Patients receiving a diagnosis of CHF before the index date were excluded. The propensity score for receiving pioglitazone was estimated using logistic regression based on available observed patient characteristics. Patients receiving insulin were matched in a 1:1 ratio with patients receiving pioglitazone based on a difference of no more than ±0.01 in the estimated propensity score for receiving pioglitazone therapy. CHF risk was examined using the Cox proportional-hazards model.After exclusion of ineligible patients, 1668 matched pairs of patients receiving pioglitazone or insulin were identified (50.9% men, 49.1% women; mean [SE] age, 51.2 [0.2] years). The 2-year crude incidence rate of CHF was significantly lower in the pioglitazone group compared with the insulin group (primary/secondary diagnosis of CHF, 2.0% vs 4.0%, respectively; P < 0.001; inpatient hospitalization for CHF, 0.7% vs 2.5%; P < 0.001). The hazard ratio for pioglitazone versus insulin was 0.501 (95% CI, 0.331–0.758; P = 0.001) for a primary or secondary diagnosis of CHF in any setting and 0.263 (95% CI, 0.135–0.511; P < 0.001) for any occurrence of an inpatient hospitalization for CHF.In this retrospective analysis of data from patients with type 2 diabetes, pioglitazone therapy was associated with significantly lower incidence rates of CHF and inpatient hospitalization compared with insulin therapy. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]