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Objective: To determine impact of undertaking an international educational program during a nurse's or midwife's pre-registration program on subsequent practice, focusing on how nurses and midwives were transformed personally through participation in such programs. Background: Participation in international educational programs has been reported to enhance nursing and midwifery students' personal and professional development, however long-term impacts remain unclear. This paper presents findings drawn from a larger grounded theory study. Study design and Methods: Charmaz's grounded theory methodology was used to elicit experiences from 13 general nurses, two mental health nurses, three midwives and four dual qualified nurse/midwives across eight different countries. Data analysis led to the creation of three categories, with this paper reporting on the category of Developing as a Person. Findings: Participation in international educational programs can be transformative for nurses and midwives with long-lasting impacts, contributing positively to their personal growth and development. Discussion: The study findings underscore significant long-term impacts of international educational programs for nurses and midwives. These outcomes highlight the importance of incorporating international experiences into healthcare education. Conclusion: By providing opportunities for healthcare professionals to engage with diverse settings and populations, organisations and educational institutions can foster the development of well-rounded and globally competent practitioners. Implications for research, policy, and practice: The study's findings hold significant implications for research, policy, and practice in healthcare education. To deepen our understandings, additional longitudinal research across diverse countries is warranted. Policymakers have an opportunity to acknowledge the positive impact of these programs on the personal growth and development of nurses and midwives, potentially leading to the integration of global competency requirements into licensure programs. In order to provide comprehensive education, educational institutions should consider the inclusion of study abroad opportunities, cultural exchanges, and global clinical placements within nursing and midwifery curricula. What is already known about the topic? • International educational programs are widely used as a way of developing nursing and midwifery students' cultural understandings. • Previous studies have reported on short-term impacts of international educational programs. What this paper adds: • Long-term impacts of participation in an international educational program on nurses and midwives are described. • Personal development and subsequent transformations occur for nurses and midwives as a result of participation in international educational programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The term “bourbon” has become increasingly popular in markets all over the globe. The popularity of the bourbon trend has been exploited for both labelling liquors and describing nonalcoholic products. Bourbon has several separate definitions, usually differing on the issue of the geographical scope of the spirit’s production. The bourbon liquor industry has experienced periods of significant downturn followed by periods of explosive revival, motivated mainly by foreign interest, from countries such as Japan, in the product In the 1970s, Japanese interest in whisky and US bourbon facilitated a resurgence of the then-struggling US bourbon industry. In 2018, production of bourbon reached its highest level since 1972. Compared to the exports of 1997, bourbon exports to foreign countries tripled in volume and price in 2018 There are minimal legal protections currently available to America’s bourbon producers to insulate their unique spirit from foreign competition. Despite successful adoption and use of geographical indications (GIs) in many countries, the United States has avoided employing GIs to insulate local products in international markets, with the exception of a few protections for regionally produced wines. GIs have been gaining significance as accessibility to international markets has increased substantially in recent years. In 2015, Japan joined the GI trend, agreeing to recognize GIs with the EU. Products such as Scotch whisky are recognized and protected as GIs in Japan. The previous year, the Japanese company Suntory acquired Jim Beam, a Kentucky-based company comprised of several well-known bourbon labels. The relationship between the US bourbon and Japanese whisky markets has a long history and an arguably longer future ahead. Many of the arguments for the use of GIs have not been updated since countries such as Japan joined the international trend towards GI adoption. Thus, this paper will use the bourbon industry as an example to illustrate and further arguments presented by advocates of GIs. Looking to the successful adoption of GI agreements in Japan, this paper will highlight the benefits of participation in GI recognition and advocate for the US’s entering into GI agreements with Japan and other international bodies generally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: A growing body of research demonstrates that adapting the popular entertainment activity "escape rooms" for educational purposes as an innovative teaching method can improve the learning experience. Escape rooms promote teamwork, encourage analytical thinking, and improve problem solving. Despite the increasing development and use of escape rooms in health sciences programs and academic libraries, there is little literature on the use of this method in health sciences libraries with health professions students. Case Presentation: Staff at a health sciences library collaborated with faculty to incorporate escape rooms into library instruction in a variety of settings (in-person, hybrid, online) and formats (team, individual) with health professions students from various disciplines (optometry, pharmacy, medicine). The escape rooms described in this paper offered unique experiences for students through active learning. Discussion: Important considerations when planning escape rooms for health sciences library instruction include deciding on team-based or individual design, calculating potential costs in time and money, deciding on an in-person, hybrid, or online format, and determining whether grades should be assigned. Escape rooms can be an effective strategy for library instruction in the health sciences, working in multiple formats to bring game-based learning to a variety of health professions students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The OLMAR method, which stands for the on-line moving average reversion method, is reported to be one of the most powerful among portfolio selection algorithms in the stock markets. In this research, we use intensive statistical and simulation analyses of long-term data on stock market changes to uncover the secrets of why and when the superiority appears. We find that there have been long-lasting fluctuations in the stock markets and that the OLMAR method actively makes use of such characteristics. In this paper, we analyze long-term stock data from Japan and the United States. The analyses confirm the following points. 1) The OLMAR method yields superior returns. 2) By using the moving average divergence rate provided by the OLMAR method, it is possible to detect specific fluctuation characteristics in long-term stock data from Japan and the United States. 3) Superior returns cannot be obtained from data in which specific fluctuation characteristics have been corrected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]