bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Production of P2D1 tailocins byDickeya dadantii3937: a temporal relationship between the stressor onset, gene expression, and the concentration of active particles
Authors: Sobolewska Marta , Krzyżanowska Dorota M. , Borowicz Marcin , Czajkowski Robert
Published: November 2024

Tailocins are bacteriocins resembling bacteriophage tails. Previously, we reported the production of P2D1 tailocins in the plant pathogenDickeya dadantii3937, the synthesis of which was upregulated upon treatment with mitomycin C. In the current study, we characterized the temporal relationship between the inducer onset, activation of expression of tailocin-related genes, the concentration of tailocin particles, and the titer of viable producer cells. Using a newly established RT-qPCR assay, we found that the expression of P2D1 structural genes peaks two hours after the addition of mitomycin C. Simultaneous measurement of the titer of tailocins showed that the maximum concentration of these particles in the culture supernatant was reached 6 hours post induction and remained stable till the termination of the experiment (18 hours). Progressing accumulation of tailocins between the second and the sixth-hour post mitomycin C treatment correlated with a sharp drop in the count of viable cells (ca. five orders of magnitude). This effect was related to the mechanism by which tailocins are released from the cells, which involves cell lysis. Our study is the first detailed analysis of the timing of events during P2D1 tailocin synthesis inDickeyaspp.
Alphafold2 refinement improves designability of large de novo proteins
Authors: Frank Christopher , Schiwietz Dominik , Fuß Lara , Ovchinnikov Sergey , Dietz Hendrik
Published: November 2024

Recent advances in computational protein design have enabled the creation of novel proteins for a variety of purposes. The capability for producing custom-shape high-quality backbones for very large proteins would further expand the scope of protein design. To this end, here we introduce the AlphaFold2 (AF2) cycler (af2cycler) design pipeline. AF2cycler is used to refine draft protein backbone geometries of arbitrary shape created by the Chroma diffusion model or other methods, using a combination of AF2 and ProteinMPNN to achieve high designability with minimal deviations from the initial target structure. In silico testing on multiple protein designs (100-1000 amino acids) demonstrated improvements in structural integrity and designability after af2cycling confirmed by enhanced ESMFold repredictions. Experimental wet lab validation through the design of a variety of test proteins with distinct shapes, each comprising 1000 amino acids, showed structural agreement between in silico predictions and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) imaging, establishing the af2cycler’s efficacy in translating designs into real-world results. Af2cycler provides a convenient and reliable protein design workflow, particularly for large proteins, with potential for expanding to applications in areas such as design of higher-order protein complexes and multi-state backbone optimization.
Global identification of mammalian host and nested gene pairs reveal tissue-specific transcriptional interplay
Authors: Montibus Bertille , Cain James A. , Martinez-Nunez Rocio T. , Oakey Rebecca J.
Published: November 2024

Nucleotide sequences along a gene provide instructions to transcriptional and cotranscriptional machinery allowing genome expansion into the transcriptome. Nucleotide sequence can often be shared between two genes and in some occurrences, a gene is located completely within a different gene; these are known as host/nested gene pairs. In these instances, if both genes are transcribed, overlap can result in a transcriptional crosstalk where genes regulate each other. Despite this, a comprehensive annotation of where such genes are located and their expression patterns is lacking. To address this, we provide an up-to-date catalog of host/nested gene pairs in mouse and human, showing that over a tenth of all genes contain a nested gene. We discovered that transcriptional co-occurrence is often tissue specific. This coexpression was especially prevalent within the transcriptionally permissive tissue, testis. We use this developmental system and scRNA-seq analysis to demonstrate that the coexpression of pairs can occur in single cells and transcription in the same place at the same time can enhance the transcript diversity of the host gene. In agreement, host genes are more transcript-diverse than the rest of the transcriptome. Host/nested gene configurations are common in both human and mouse, suggesting that interplay between gene pairs is a feature of the mammalian genome. This highlights the relevance of transcriptional crosstalk between genes which share nucleic acid sequence. The results and analysis are available on an Rshiny application (https://hngeneviewer.sites.er.kcl.ac.uk/hn_viewer/).
Interaction-correlated random matrices
Authors: Saberi Abbas Ali , Saber Sina , Moessner Roderich
Published: November 2024

We introduce a family of random matrices where correlations between matrix elements are induced via interaction-derived Boltzmann factors. Varying these yields access to different ensembles. We find a universal scaling behavior of the finite-size statistics characterized by a heavy-tailed eigenvalue distribution whose extremes are governed by the Fréchet extreme value distribution for the case corresponding to a ferromagnetic Ising transition. The introduction of a finite density of nonlocal interactions restores standard random-matrix behavior. Suitably rescaled average extremes, playing a physical role as an order parameter, can thus discriminate aspects of the interaction structure; they also yield further nonuniversal information. In particular, the link between maximum eigenvalues and order parameters offers a potential route to resolving long-standing problems in statistical physics, such as deriving the exact magnetization scaling function in the two-dimensional Ising model at criticality.

Published by the American Physical Society
2024
Comprehensive study of axion photoproduction off the nucleon in chiral effective field theory
Authors: Cao Xiong-Hui , Guo Zhi-Hui
Published: November 2024

We calculate the amplitudes of the axion photoproduction off the nucleon, i.e., γN→aN, within the framework of chiral effective field theory. Several different types of contributions are simultaneously included in our calculation, namely, the nucleon exchanges up to next-to-leading order, the aγγ vertex, and the vector-meson exchanges in the t channel. We utilize the existing hadronic inputs as much as possible to fix the unknown couplings. A comprehensive study of the phenomenological discussions is then provided in this work. Different mechanisms in the γN→aN processes manifest distinct behaviors in the total and differential cross sections, which could provide useful quantities to distinguish different axion models.

Published by the American Physical Society
2024
Formation of undulatory cavities during hydroelastic water entry
Authors: Antolik John T. , Belden Jesse L. , Speirs Nathan B. , Harris Daniel M.
Published: November 2024

This paper is associated with a poster winner of a 2023 American Physical Society's Division of Fluid Dynamics (DFD) Gallery of Fluid Motion Award for work presented at the DFD Gallery of Fluid Motion. The original poster is available online at the Gallery of Fluid Motion,

Published by the American Physical Society
2024
High-speed and infrared imaging of frost propagation on breath figures
Authors: Paulovics David , Raufaste Christophe , Frisch Thomas , Claudet Cyrille , Celestini Franck
Published: November 2024

This paper is associated with a video winner of a 2023 American Physical Society's Division of Fluid Dynamics (DFD) Milton van Dyke Award for work presented at the DFD Gallery of Fluid Motion. The original video is available online at the Gallery of Fluid Motion, .

Published by the American Physical Society
2024
High-fidelity simulations of submerged turbulence interacting with a free surface
Authors: Calado Andre , Balaras Elias
Published: November 2024

This paper is associated with a poster winner of a 2023 American Physical Society's Division of Fluid Dynamics (DFD) Gallery of Fluid Motion Award for work presented at the DFD Gallery of Fluid Motion. The original poster is available online at the Gallery of Fluid Motion,

Published by the American Physical Society
2024
Visualization and feature tracking of the atomization of impinging jets
Authors: Pruitt Evan , Markiewicz William , Gonzalez Carlos , Liu Xiaofeng
Published: November 2024

This paper is associated with a video winner of a 2023 American Physical Society's Division of Fluids Dynamics (DFD) Gallery of Fluid Motion Award for work presented at the DFD Gallery of Fluid Motion. The original video is available online at the Gallery of Fluid Motion,

Published by the American Physical Society
2024
Information-theoretic description of a feedback-control Kuramoto model
Authors: Sowinski Damian R. , Frank Adam , Ghoshal Gourab
Published: November 2024

Semantic information theory (SIT) offers an alternative approach to evaluating the information architecture of complex systems. In this paper, we describe the steps required to SIT via its application to dynamical problems. Our road map has four steps: (1) separating the dynamical system into agent-environment subsystems, (2) choosing an appropriate coarse graining and quantifying correlations, (3) identifying a measure of viability, and (4) implementing a scrambling protocol and measuring the semantic content. We apply the road map to a model inspired by the neural dynamics of epileptic seizures whereby an agent (a control process) attempts to maintain an environment (a base process) in a desynchronized state. The synchronization dynamics is studied through the well-known Kuramoto model of phase synchronization. Our application of SIT to this problem reveals features of both semantic information and the Kuramoto model. For the latter, we find articulating the correlational structure for agent and environment (the oscillators) allows us to cast the model from a computational (information theoretic) perspective, where the agent-environment dynamics form a communication channel. For the former, we find a topological dependence of whether information can be considered semantic or not.

Published by the American Physical Society
2024
Probing spontaneously symmetry-broken phases with spin-charge separation through noise correlation measurements
Authors: Gallego-Lizarribar Kerman , Julià-Farré Sergi , Lewenstein Maciej , Weitenberg Christof , Barbiero Luca , Argüello-Luengo Javier
Published: November 2024

Spontaneously symmetry-broken (SSB) phases are locally ordered states of matter characterizing a large variety of physical systems. Because of their specific ordering, their presence is usually witnessed by means of local order parameters. Here, we propose an alternative approach based on statistical correlations of noise after the ballistic expansion of an atomic cloud. We indeed demonstrate that probing such noise correlators allows one to discriminate among different SSB phases characterized by spin-charge separation. As a particular example, we test our prediction on a 1D extended Fermi-Hubbard model, where the competition between local and nonlocal couplings gives rise to three different SSB phases: a charge density wave, a bond-ordering wave, and an antiferromagnet. Our numerical analysis shows that this approach can accurately capture the presence of these different SSB phases, thus representing an alternative and powerful strategy to characterize strongly interacting quantum matter.

Published by the American Physical Society
2024
Exploiting fourth-generation synchrotron radiation for enzyme and photoreceptor characterization
Authors: Malla Tek Narsingh , Muniyappan Srinivasan , Menendez David , Ogukwe Favour , Dale Aleksandar N. , Clayton Joseph D. , Weatherall Dominique D. , Karki Prabin , Dangi Shishir , Mandella Victoria , Pacheco A. Andrew , Stojković Emina A. , Rose Samuel L. , Orlans Julien , Basu Shibom , de Sanctis Daniele , Schmidt Marius
Published: November 2024

The upgrade of the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) in Grenoble, France to an Extremely Brilliant Source (EBS) is expected to enable time-resolved synchrotron serial crystallography (SSX) experiments with sub-millisecond time resolution. ID29 is a new beamline dedicated to SSX experiments at ESRF–EBS. Here, we report experiments emerging from the initial phase of user operation at ID29. We first used microcrystals of photoactive yellow protein as a model system to exploit the potential of microsecond pulses for SSX. Subsequently, we investigated microcrystals of cytochrome c nitrite reductase (ccNiR) with microsecond X-ray pulses. CcNiR is a decaheme protein that is ideal for the investigation of radiation damage at the various heme-iron sites. Finally, we performed a proof-of-concept subsecond time-resolved SSX experiment by photoactivating microcrystals of a myxobacterial phytochrome.
Structure of an ex vivo
Drosophila TOM complex determined by single-particle cryoEM
Authors: Periasamy Agalya , Ornelas Pamela , Bausewein Thomas , Mitchell Naomi , Zhao Jiamin , Quinn Leonie M. , Kuehlbrandt Werner , Gulbis Jacqueline M.
Published: November 2024

Most mitochondrial precursor proteins are encoded in the cell nucleus and synthesized on cytoplasmic ribosomes. The translocase of the outer membrane (TOM) is the main protein-import pore of mitochondria, recognizing nascent precursors of mitochondrially targeted proteins and transferring them across the outer membrane. A 3.3 Å resolution map and molecular model of a TOM complex from Drosophila melanogaster, obtained by single-particle electron cryomicroscopy, is presented. As the first reported structure of a transgenic protein expressed and purified ex vivo from Drosophila, the method provides impetus for parallel structural and genetic analyses of protein complexes linked to human pathology. The core TOM complex extracted from native membranes of the D. melanogaster retina contains transgenic Tom40 co-assembled with four endogenous TOM components: Tom22, Tom5, Tom6 and Tom7. The Drosophila TOM structure presented here shows that the human and Drosophila TOM are very similar, with small conformational changes at two subunit interfaces attributable to variation in lipid-binding residues. The new structure provides an opportunity to pinpoint general features that differentiate the TOM structures of higher and unicellular eukaryotes. While the quaternary fold of the assembly is retained, local nuances of structural elements implicated in precursor import are indicative of subtle evolutionary change.
Crystal structure, Hirshfeld surface, DFT and molecular docking studies of 2-{4-[(E)-(4-acetylphenyl)diazenyl]phenyl}-1-(5-bromothiophen-2-yl)ethanone; a compound with bromine...oxygen-type contacts
Authors: Santhosh Kumar S. , Srinivasa H.T , Harish Kumar M. , Devarajegowda H. C. , Palakshamurthy B. S.
Published: November 2024

The title compound, C19H13BrN2O3S, a non-liquid crystal molecule, crystallizes in the orthorhombic system, space group Pna21. The torsion angles associated with ester and azo groups are −177.0 (4)°, -anti-periplanar, and 179.0 (4)°, +anti-periplanar, respectively. The packing is consolidated by a weak C—Br...O=C contact, forming infinite chains running along the [001] direction. A Hirshfeld surface analysis revealed that the major contributions to the crystal surface are from H...H, C...H/H...C, O...H/H...O, Br...H/H...Br and S...H/H...S interactions. The computed three-dimensional energy interactions using the basis set B3LYP\631-G(d,p) show that Edis
(217.6 kJ mol−1) is the major component in the structure. The DFT calculations performed at the B3LYP/6–311+ G(d,p) level indicate that the energy gap between HOMO and LUMO is 3.6725 (2) eV. The molecular electrostatic potential (MEP) map generated supports the existence of the Br...O type contact, formed between the electrophilic site of the bromine atom and the nucleophilic site of the ketonic oxygen atom. The molecular docking between the ligand and the Mycobacterium Tuberculosis (PDB ID:1HZP) receptor shows a good binding affinity value of −8.5 kcal mol−1.
Crystal structure of the 1:1 cocrystal 5,5′-(triaz-1-ene-1,3-diyl)bis(3-nitro-1H-1,2,4-triazole)–triethylammonium nitrate
Authors: Gettings Matthew , Zeller Matthias , Piercey Davin
Published: November 2024

The triethylammonium nitrate cocrystal of 5,5′-(triaz-1-ene-1,3-diyl)bis(3-nitro-1H-1,2,4-triazole), C4H3N11O4·C6H16N·NO3 (3), was obtained unintentionally as the product of an attempted synthesis of a heterocyclic C-bromonitrilimine from 3-amino-5-nitro-1,2,4-triazole (ANTA). In the solid state at 150 K, the structure of 3 is modulated by a pseudo-translation along [010] with Z* = 4 (Z = 8 in P
1). Exact translational symmetry is broken by a slight modulation of the triazene molecules and nitrate anions, and by disorder of two of the four triethylammonium cations. An extensive hydrogen-bonding network connects the components of the structure and enables a relatively high density of 1.516 g cm−3. This feature, as well as its high nitrogen content, make this rare triazene-bridged 1,2,4-triazole and possible related similar compounds of interest as potential energetic materials.
Crystal structure of 1-(1-chloroethyl)-6,7-dimethoxy-1,2,3,4-tetrahydroisoquinolinium chloride
Authors: Urunbaeva Ziroat E. , Turgunov Kambarali K. , Saidov Abdusalom Sh. , Vinogradova Valentina I.
Published: November 2024

1-(1-Chloroethyl)-6,7-dimethoxy-1,2,3,4-tetrahydroisoquinoline was synthesized through the reaction of homoveratrylamine with racemic lactic acid. The formation of two enantiomers, RR and SS, was detected by performing X-ray diffraction analysis on their chloride salts. The asymmetric unit of the crystal consists of a C13H19ClNO2
+ molecular cation and a Cl− anion. Two protonated enantiomers of the title compound, with RR and SS configurations of the chiral atoms, are connected into hydrogen-bonded dimers bridged by Cl− anions. Weak C—H...Cl interactions lead to the formation of a chain running along the a-axis direction of the unit cell, which corresponds to the longest dimension (the preferential growth direction) of the needle-shaped monocrystal. The crystal studied was refined as a two-component twin.
Mediating role of political interest on effects of internal control systems on financial management in local government authorities in Ghana
Authors: Gbambegu Umar Abubakar , Osman Adam Ibrahim , Dzang Alhassan Muftawu , Abdallah Abdul Salam , Nterful Joshua
Published: November 2024

Purpose

This study aims to delve into the intricate dynamics within local government authorities in Ghana, exploring the mediating role of political interest in the relationship between internal control systems and financial management.

Design/methodology/approach

Using a hypothesized model grounded on the accountability theory and survey data from 701 respondents across local government authorities in Ghana, this study used Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling as the data analysis approach.

Findings

The findings indicate that internal control systems have a positive influence on financial management. In addition, political interest was found to significantly mediate the relationship between internal control systems and financial management.

Research limitations/implications

The study was, however, limited by the reliance on survey data obtained from the respondents. Although this study used survey data, it was not feasible to cover the entire country because this study was constrained by resources and time. Future studies may therefore explore same linkages by considering the entire country and adding other moderating variables to examine the nexuses. Future research could explore the subcomponents of internal control systems, including the control environment, control activities, risk assessment, monitoring of controls and information and communication in financial management. This would offer a nuanced understanding of how each dimension contributes to effective financial management.

Practical implications

This study offers two crucial contributions from a practical standpoint. This is accomplished by first allowing practitioners and decision-makers to understand the effects of political interest on organisation’s internal control system and financial management. This information can help practitioners and policymakers develop better systems that will reduce the mediating effects of political interest on the linkage between the internal control system and financial management in the local government authorities. In addition, policymakers will be better informed on how to enact legislation, specifically including sections of autonomous operations by these public agencies in the country, which can be undermined by external pressures or the ruling party.

Originality/value

To the best of authors’ knowledge, this research is the first to investigate such a phenomenon in a developing country context, such as Ghana, and it provides insights into why some local government authorities with seemingly robust internal control systems struggle with financial management issues.
The role of objective and subjective knowledge in tourists’ environmentally conscious travel decisions
Authors: Pilgreen Daniel G. , Cho Seung Jin , Zou Suiwen (Sharon) , Viren Paige P.
Published: November 2024

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of tourists’ objective and subjective knowledge on their decision to use environmental best practices in tourism. This study targets the alignment between objective and subjective knowledge to identify under-confidence and over-confidence in climate knowledge and their impact on tourism decision-making.

Design/methodology/approach

A survey of early climate adopters (n = 752) from a US-based travel network and European-based carbon capture provider assessed tourists’ climate change knowledge, attitudes, previous travel behavior and future intentions to engage in environmentally conscious best practices in travel. Using structural equation modeling, a model was developed to explore the impact of objective and subjective knowledge calibration on climate attitudes, past pro-environmental behaviors during travel and future intentions to include best climate practices in travel decisions.

Findings

The results of this study revealed that overconfidence diminished tourists’ climate-related attitudes. Attitudes were positively linked to past actions and future intentions for climate-friendly travel planning. Overconfidence undermined knowledge translation into action by diminishing climate attitudes. The findings of this study suggested that cognitive biases might be significant in shaping climate-conscious tourism behaviors.

Originality/value

While objective and subjective knowledge have been extensively examined in the consumer behavior literature, more attention should be paid to these concepts in the tourism literature. This research addresses this gap in the literature and suggests that objective and subjective knowledge should be addressed separately in future research.
Gender quota laws and firm performance: is there a trade-off?
Authors: Bannò Mariasole , Filippi Emilia , Leggerini Chiara
Published: November 2024

Purpose

The introduction of gender quota laws in many countries has garnered significant attention in the literature and in the political discourse. Proponents of this solution emphasise its potential to bolster opportunities for women, foster their participation on boards of directors and improve corporate governance, market value and firm performance. Conversely, opponents express concerns regarding the possibility of appointing less-qualified women, thereby diminishing board effectiveness and potentially leading to negative consequences on firm market value and performance. This study aims to address this ongoing debate by examining the impact of gender quota laws on firm performance.

Design/methodology/approach

The impact of gender quota laws on firm performance, measured through ROE, ROA and ROI, is evaluated using a database of 27,977 Italian firms and adopting a two-stage traditional treatment effect model.

Findings

The econometric analysis reveals a negative impact of the gender quota law on firm performance.

Originality/value

This study contributes to the academic debate on the pros and cons of imposing gender quota laws by providing empirical evidence on their impact on firm performance.
Antecedents of i-deals: a transaction cost economics perspective
Authors: Yin Yishuai , Zhang Yuxuan , Zhang Pengfei
Published: November 2024

Purpose

Idiosyncratic deals (i-deals) are designed to benefit both the employees and employers. While plenty of previous studies uncover the outcomes of i-deals, little research has explored what drives organizations to adopt i-deals in the first place. Drawing on transaction cost economics theory, this paper aims to investigate how employee–employer exchange characteristics affect different types of i-deals.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on a two-wave questionnaire study of 385 employees from information technology industry in China, hierarchical regression analysis was conducted to test the hypotheses.

Findings

The authors found that human asset specificity and task interdependence are positively related to developmental i-deals, and task interdependence was negatively related to flexible i-deals. Furthermore, environmental uncertainty positively moderates the impact of human asset specificity and task interdependence on developmental i-deals.

Originality/value

This paper contributes to research on i-deals by providing a theoretically more comprehensive and balanced analysis of why and when i-deals are adopted in organizations.
Thrive or dive: navigating the waves of mandatory digital transformation
Authors: Brazo Pedro , Velicia-Martín Felix , Palos-Sanchez Pedro , Roldán José L.
Published: November 2024

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to investigate the mediating influence of three digitalization antecedents on the links between digitalization and survival. It addresses the roots of digitalization to discover different patterns and foundations that contribute to higher survival rates. The article explores whether a learning strategy can attain survivability on its own or whether digitalization facilitates the function of learning in survival.

Design/methodology/approach

The study uses partial least squares structural equation modeling to analyze data from 483 firms to assess this study’s hypothesis. Additionally, necessary condition analysis (NCA) is used to specify the necessary conditions of survivability.

Findings

The authors find a positive relationship between digitalization and business survival, as well as evidence of the strong mediating effect of resilience and learning in survivability. In addition, the study reveals that digitalization can serve as a sufficient condition for survival but not a necessary one, as it may be replaced by the mediating variables.

Research limitations/implications

The research offers insights into digitalization’s impact on business survival but faces limitations such as geographic focus and reliance on self-reported data. Despite this, it contributes to theory and practice by exploring how digitalization, organizational capabilities and resilience intersect.

Practical implications

This study provides insights into the required parameters for survival and the elimination of outliers in NCA.

Originality/value

This work provides insights into different antecedents of digitalization and business survival.
Multi-targeted strength properties of recycled aggregate concrete through a machine learning approach
Authors: Manan Aneel , Pu Zhang , Ahmad Jawad , Umar Muhammad
Published: November 2024

Purpose

Rapid industrialization and construction generate substantial concrete waste, leading to significant environmental issues. Nearly 10 billion metric tonnes of concrete waste are produced globally per year. In addition, concrete also accelerates the consumption of natural resources, leading to the depletion of these natural resources. Therefore, this study uses artificial intelligence (AI) to examine the utilization of recycled concrete aggregate (RCA) in concrete.

Design/methodology/approach

An extensive database of 583 data points are collected from the literature for predictive modeling. Four machine learning algorithms, namely artificial neural network (ANN), random forest (RF), ridge regression (RR) and least adjacent shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression (LR), in predicting simultaneously concrete compressive and tensile strength were evaluated. The dataset contains 10 independent variables and two dependent variables. Statistical parameters, including coefficient of determination (R2), mean square error (MSE), mean absolute error (MAE) and root mean square error (RMSE), were employed to assess the accuracy of the algorithms. In addition, K-fold cross-validation was employed to validate the obtained results, and SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) analysis was applied to identify the most sensitive parameters out of the 10 input parameters.

Findings

The results indicate that the RF prediction model performance is better and more satisfactory than other algorithms. Furthermore, the ANN algorithm ranks as the second most accurate algorithm. However, RR and LR exhibit poor findings with low accuracy. K-fold cross-validation was successfully applied to validate the obtained results and SHAP analysis indicates that cement content and recycled aggregate percentages are the effective input parameter. Therefore, special attention should be given to sensitive parameters to enhance the concrete performance.

Originality/value

This study uniquely applies AI to optimize the use of RCA in concrete production. By evaluating four machine learning algorithms, ANN, RF, RR and LR on a comprehensive dataset, this study identities the most effective predictive models for concrete compressive and tensile strength. The use of SHAP analysis to determine key input parameters and K-fold cross-validation for result validation adds to the study robustness. The findings highlight the superior performance of the RF model and provide actionable insights into enhancing concrete performance with RCA, contributing to sustainable construction practice.
The efficacy of high-performance-work-practices (HPWPs) in enhancing employee engagement and service-oriented organisational citizenship behaviour: a qualitative study of hotel managers and employee
Authors: Odiaka Kikachukwu , Chang Kirk
Published: November 2024

Purpose

Various employee engagement strategies are proposed to boost organisational performance and business prosperity. Interestingly scholars criticise that these strategies may not always work and mixed views are proposed, leaving a glaring knowledge gap. Drawing on the theories of high-performance-work-practices (HPWPs), this paper aims to conduct a qualitative study, aiming to explore how strategies affect employee engagement and analyse the underlying mechanism.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper gathers research data by interviewing five managers and 15 employees in the hospitality sector. It analyses data through thematic analysis and adopts “Abilities Motivation Opportunities” (AMO) model in improving the analytic rigour. Ethical practices are arranged throughout the project, including consent form, anonymity in participation, confidentiality in responses, freedom to withdraw and data protection.

Findings

Research findings have advanced employee engagement literatures in two ways. On the one hand, when managers recognise employees’ job ability and effort, employees support engagement strategies. On the other hand, however, if managers do not appreciate employees’ job ability and effort, engagement strategies may not necessarily work.

Practical implications

This paper suggests managers display a positive attitude towards subordinates, such as appreciating subordinates’ effort and showing trust and support, if they wish their engagement strategies maximise to the full potential, particularly when managers’ trust is perceived important by employees. Maintaining a healthy communication channel between managers and subordinates also benefits the employee engagement, working morale and overall performance.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the current research is the first in its kind, examining hotel employee engagement practice and its implications on performance management in the sector of Nigeria hospitality. Unlike prior studies which link HPWPs to performance directly, our research findings have clarified how HPWPs affect performance through the underlying factors. These are employee engagement and managers’ attitude towards employees.
The development and psychometric properties of the Prison Fellowship-Well-being Index (PF WBI)
Authors: Denhof Michael , Crawley Rachel , Puckett Leigha , Wiese Jesse , Ferry Theresa
Published: November 2024

Purpose

This paper aims to describe the development and validation of the Prison Fellowship Well-being index (PF-WBI), a new quantitative tool for assessing prisoner and staff well-being within prison cultures.

Design/methodology/approach

The PF-WBI was developed through an iterative process of item creation, administration alongside established well-being measures and a series of data analyses. Data was collected from both staff and prisoners (n = 989) across four North Dakota prisons.

Findings

Analysis supported a four-factor structure for the PF-WBI measuring motivation/self-esteem, relationships/community functioning, hope/mood and stress-related detriments. The PF-WBI demonstrated excellent internal consistency reliability, convergent validity with established well-being measures and criterion-related validity for both staff and prisoners. Measurement invariance across staff and prisoners was also confirmed.

Originality/value

The PF-WBI offers a new and versatile tool for researchers and practitioners to assess staff and prisoner well-being in correctional settings. It can be used to evaluate prison cultures and the effectiveness of culture improvement efforts.
Emotional intelligence and self-efficacy as mediators in the relationship between transformational leadership and proactive customer service performance
Authors: Sharma Praveen Kumar , Kumra Rajeev
Published: November 2024

Purpose

This study aims to explore the relationship between transformational leadership and proactive customer service performance (PCSP) in the airline industry, considering self-efficacy and emotional intelligence as mediators.

Design/methodology/approach

Bandura’s self-efficacy theory was used for formulating hypotheses. Data were gathered from 500 frontline employees and 30 supervisors to create subordinate dyads, resulting in a final sample size of 370 participants. Structural equation modeling was employed for the purpose of data analysis.

Findings

The results indicated that supervisors’ transformational leadership impacted the self-efficacy and emotional intelligence of service and frontline employees, thereby influencing PCSP. Self-efficacy and emotional intelligence of frontline employees were positively correlated with PCSP. These findings add to the existing literature by providing empirical proof of a positive association between transformational leadership and perceived customer service performance. Furthermore, this study supported the mediating roles of self-efficacy and emotional intelligence of frontline employees as mediators, showing their importance in translating transformational leadership behaviors into enhanced customer service performance.

Practical implications

The airline sector will benefit significantly from the findings of this research. It highlights the significance of transformational leadership in improving PCSP. Organizations should emphasize the creation and growth of transformational leaders capable of inspiring and motivating staff to provide excellent customer service. In addition, the research highlights the significance of self-efficacy and emotional intelligence as factors that mediate the relationship between transformational leadership and PCSP. Organizations may foster PCSP by investing in training and development programs that seek to improve workers’ self-efficacy and emotional intelligence. These programs may help participants gain confidence in their ability to deliver excellent customer service as well as improve their knowledge.

Originality/value

This research paper presents novel theoretical and practical developments in the airline industry. This research paper collected data in two phases from supervisor–subordinate dyads.
Could you show me the path(s) to slow fashion consumption? An application of the prototype willingness model
Authors: van Gogh Roseline , Bats Yani , Walrave Michel , Poels Karolien
Published: November 2024

Purpose

Since buying slow fashion can be both a rational choice and socially reactive behavior, this study adopts the prototype willingness model to predict Flemish young adults’ slow fashion consumption.

Design/methodology/approach

An online survey was administered to consumers aged 18–25 years old (N = 264). Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling were used to analyze the data.

Findings

Attitude and descriptive norm predicted intention to buy slow fashion, which in turn predicted current self-reported slow fashion consumption. Injunctive norm, prototype favorability and prototype similarity predicted socially reactive willingness to buy slow fashion.

Research limitations/implications

The sample is predominantly female and higher educated. The results were partially in line with the PWM, indicating that the model is suitable for predicting young adults’ self-reported slow fashion consumption.

Practical implications

Slow fashion brands might benefit from increasing the visibility of slow fashion consumption and the occurrence of socially reactive shopping situations as well as improving the prototypical image of slow fashion consumers and the perception of what others approve.

Originality/value

Prior research generally uses rational behavioral models to predict slow fashion consumption. This study is the first to apply the PWM to slow fashion consumption, accounting for rational (i.e. reasoned) and non-rational (i.e. socially reactive) decision-making. Furthermore, this study argues the relevance of “prototypes” in sustainable decision-making.
Assessment of educational performances: the role of zakat and learning–teaching process in higher education institution in Malaysia
Authors: Mat Daud Mohamad Syahmi , Wahid Hairunnizam
Published: November 2024

Purpose

This study aims to investigate the effects of financial aid via zakat and the perceived learning–teaching process on the educational outcomes of undergraduate students in Malaysia.

Design/methodology/approach

Approximately 350 zakat recipients (mustahiq) were selected to evaluate their educational outcomes, measured by the learning process, student readiness and academic performance. Partial least squares (PLS) regression was used to test the selected samples and approve the hypothesis.

Findings

In accordance with the underlying theories, the results of the PLS regression highlighted several major findings: financial aid, through zakat indeed increases positive effects in the learning process; zakat aid is found to increase student readiness in the education process and academic performance of undergraduate students; and student readiness in the education process plays a significant role in mediating the effect between zakat aid and the learning process and academic performance. This study also demonstrates that the learning process is equally important for student readiness and academic performance.

Originality/value

Importantly, this study contributes novelty by exploring the impact of zakat in education, specifically the higher education sector, because previous studies have enormously discussed zakat as a poverty-mitigating topic. The findings of this study are essential for zakat stakeholders to understand the contribution of zakat to developing human capital, particularly post-COVID-19 in Malaysia.
A framework to guide and support the design of a smart city based on the PDCA cycle approach
Authors: Correia Diogo , Lourenço Marques João , Teixeira Leonor
Published: November 2024

Purpose

Information and communication technologies brought a new paradigm that allows policymakers to ground their actions on real-time events. Smart cities were initially conceived as a technological vision separate from urban planning. As a result, projects were rarely connected between departments, objectives were not aligned with strategic goals and there was a lack of citizen participation. This study aims to propose a framework to guide and support the design and implementation of a smart city.

Design/methodology/approach

Interviews with eight policymakers and one secretary of state are conducted to explore current decision-making processes, specifically, to understand if and how smart city strategies are designed and who their main contributors are. Based on these findings, an inductive thematic analysis of existing literature studies to inspire the steps of the proposed framework is performed. Finally, these steps are discussed in a focus group with nine smart city experts to characterize the guidelines comprehensively.

Findings

Policymakers confirmed the lack of a standard method and approach to orient their smart city strategies. Results describe a flexible, participatory framework that envisions 12 steps divided into 4 phases with dedicated guidelines.

Originality/value

This paper integrates the plan-do-check-act cycle approach into the thinking for urban planning design. In addition, it raises the need to reflect on the definition of a country’s strategic plan and the alignment and execution of cities’ roadmaps.
Total environmental target constraints and border air pollution effects: deterioration or alleviation?
Authors: Liu Bingbing
Published: November 2024

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to study the governance effect of total environmental target constraint policy (TETC) on border polluted areas. China’s administrative border areas are “pollution havens.” The paper analyzes how TETC affects the pollution situation in border areas. The TETC policy sets overall emission reduction targets for each province, and the achievement of these targets is closely related to the promotion of local officials. So, can TETC provide pollution control incentives for enterprises and governments? This deserves further research. By evaluating China’s overall environmental target policies, we can obtain directions for optimizing policy design.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper uses the difference-in-differences model to evaluate the impact of TETC on air pollution in boundary areas. Industrial enterprises located at the provincial border are in the treatment group, while industrial enterprises located within the province are in the control group. We also use group regression to analyze the policy impact effects caused by differences in urban resource endowment, types of corporate pollution and marketization levels. Finally, we constructed a spatial difference-in-differences model to analyze the distance heterogeneity of policy impacts.

Findings

TETC significantly reduces the SO2 emissions of enterprises in province borders areas compared with intra-provincial enterprises. TETC has reduced the proportion of highly polluting enterprises at province borders. Incentives for promoting officials have prompted local governments to increase environmental law enforcement and environmental protection investment, and the pollution emissions of border enterprises have been effectively alleviated. The heterogeneity analysis shows that TETC significantly restrains the pollution emissions with high pollution types, non-resource-based cities and enterprises with low market levels.

Research limitations/implications

As a developing country, China has generated a large amount of pollution during the process of industrialization. The government has taken a series of measures to reduce pollution emissions. The TETC is a typical policy with high policy constraints. Although this article tries to control the impact of some important air pollution policies as much as possible, it cannot control the impact of all other policies. So, the impact effects we empirically obtained may include some other policy factors, but these effects are relatively small and do not affect the overall regression results.

Originality/value

This paper has theoretical reference significance for optimizing the design of environmental policies, reducing the “principal-agent” problem of environmental governance and improving pollution control at province borders.
A decision support system for resilient vehicle route planning using mathematical modeling and artificial neural networks: a case study
Authors: Heidari Razieh , Ghazanfari Mehdi , Rasouli Mohammad Reza
Published: November 2024

Purpose

The vehicle routing problem (VRP) is critical for the successful execution of logistics activities. However, there is strong evidence that efficiently solving the VRP is often complicated and requires more powerful – and possibly intelligent – support tools. In accordance with this necessity, the present study proposes a decision support system (DSS) applicable to the VRP, which includes both initial planning and replanning phases to support the real-time operations.

Design/methodology/approach

The proposed DSS lies at the basis of resilience thinking to provide a capacity to absorb and withstand the impact of disruptions, where resilience is connected with the factors of preparedness, flexibility and redundancy. These factors are approached in this study through a number of operational strategies in the reactive and proactive modes. The DSS includes a multi-layer perceptron neural network to predict changes that may arise in dynamic contexts, a modified k-means clustering algorithm to group customers with both static and dynamic attributes and two mixed-integer programming models to produce primary and alternate routing plans.

Findings

The research is motivated by the operational challenges faced by a collaborative networked clinical laboratory, which seeks to enhance efficiency and productivity in the daily management of medical sample collection and delivery through the implementation of increased automation. The findings reveal that centralized planning leads to heightened vulnerability in route planning and increased costs for replanning. Furthermore, the effectiveness of resilience-enhancement strategies varies based on the source and level of uncertainty.

Originality/value

The contributions of this paper are as follows: incorporating resilience thinking into the operational planning of logistics services, managing the decision-making of transport and collection companies through a DSS framework to ensure proper support to real-time operations, addressing the clustered VRP in a dynamic setting and adopting forecasting approaches to cover possible sources of dynamism.