Background Eating out is now common and food served out of the home is often of low nutritional quality. Kilocalorie (kcal) labelling of food and drink products sold in restaurant chains in the US is now mandatory, although in store kcal labelling practices among major UK restaurant and takeaway chains have not been examined. Methods During August 2018, we contacted, visited the website and/or retail outlets of major eating out and takeaway food chains in the UK, including full-service and fast-food restaurants, cafes and coffee shops, some of which had previously made a voluntary pledge to provide kcal labelling. We examined the proportion of chains providing kcal information to customers at point of choice in store and the extent to which kcal information provision adhered to labelling recommendations. We also examined the proportion of chains that did not have point of choice kcal labelling but were able to provide kcal information on request. The study protocol was pre-registered on the Open Science Framework. Results Of the 104 eligible chains, only a small minority (18 chains, 17%) provided in store kcal labelling. Of those that did, provision of kcal information tended not to adhere to recommended labelling practices. Of the 16 eligible chains that had previously committed to a voluntary public health pledge to provide point of choice kcal labelling, labelling did not meet recommendations and 4 (25%) did not provide kcal labelling. Of the 86 chains that did not provide kcal labelling in store, kcal information was available on request from 43 (50%) chains. Conclusions It is rare for eating out and takeaway chains in the UK to provide point of choice kcal labelling and when labelling is provided it does not adhere to recommended labelling practices. Chains that previously volunteered to provide kcal labelling as part of an industry and public health partnership do so inadequately. Voluntary policies have not resulted in adequate kcal labelling in the UK eating out of home sector. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12889-019-7017-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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This paper presents an overview of a national case study exploring the IS/IT outsourcing phenomenon in the public and private sectors of a developing country. Kuwait has been used as an example of a developing country and the data collection for this study was done there. The primary data on IS/IT outsourcing practices, obtained for the first time in Kuwait, were collected by means of survey questionnaire and semi-structured interviews supported by organisational documentation. Several public and private sector organisations were selected to participate in the investigation. The main findings of the study suggest that there are differences between the two sectors in their motivation and risk factors evaluation behind the adoption of IS/IT outsourcing business strategy. The findings also provide an insight into how outsourcing practices, as an information system strategy, are motivated and managed in the context of a developing nation. Also, it has been found that t here will be an increasing utilisation of IT outsourcing services in the public and private sector of Kuwait.

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Objectives: Problematic substance use is one of the most stigmatized health conditions leading research to examine how the labels and models used to describe it influence public stigma. Two recent studies examine whether beliefs in a disease model of addiction influence public stigma but result in equivocal findings—in line with the mixed-blessings model, Kelly et al. (2021) found that while the label “chronically relapsing brain disease” reduced blame attribution, it decreased prognostic optimism and increased perceived danger and need for continued care; however, Rundle et al. (2021) conclude absence of evidence. This study isolates the different factors used in these two studies to assess whether health condition (drug use vs. health concern), etiological label (brain disease vs. problem), and attributional judgment (low vs. high treatment stability) influence public stigma toward problematic substance use. Method: Overall, 1,613 participants were assigned randomly to one of the eight vignette conditions that manipulated these factors. They completed self-report measures of discrete and general public stigma and an indirect measure of discrimination. Results: Greater social distance, danger, and public stigma but lower blame were ascribed to drug use relative to a health concern. Greater (genetic) blame was reported when drug use was labeled as a “chronically relapsing brain disease” relative to a “problem.” Findings for attributional judgment were either inconclusive or statistically equivalent. Discussion: The labels used to describe problematic substance use appear to impact discrete elements of stigma. We suggest that addiction is a functional attribution, which may explain the mixed literature on the impact of etiological labels on stigma to date.

This paper outlines an approach to information systems planning (ISP) that addresses not just the technical problems encountered in ISP but the whole range of problems which derive from social systems, organizational processes, formal organizational arrangements, technology and the external environment. The approach is designed to improve the effectiveness of the high-level planning processes for information systems (IS). A five-phase framework is proposed. The first phase, the perception phase, aims to provide the managers with an environment that enables them to recognize the strategic value of IS and that activates them to participate in strategy formulation. The second phase, the evaluation phase, involves the evaluation of the organization's systems. The third phase, the selection phase, is focused on analysing the data collected from previous phases in order to select feasible projects. The fourth phase, the construction phase, is responsible for producing a set of preliminary IS plans. The fifth phase, the review phase, aims to ensure that ISP effectiveness is further enhanced by ongoing adjustments to the plans. The paper includes brief comments on the initial application of the framework in the Mingchi Institute of Technology.