bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Nurses’ and doctors’ perspectives on emergency and critical care at primary health care facilities in Kilimanjaro, Tanzania
Authors: Isack Manji N , Mkoka Dickson A. , Mwilike Beatrice E.
Published: October 2024

Background

In Tanzania, primary health care faces the worst challenges in delivering emergency and critical care with purposeful improvement strategies alarming from multiple stakeholders. This study described nurses’ and doctors’ perspectives on emergency and critical care at primary healthcare facilities in Kilimanjaro, Tanzania.

Methods

A descriptive qualitative design was used. Twelve participants; 6 nurses and 6 doctors from three primary healthcare facilities in Moshi Municipal were purposively recruited for the audio-recorded, face-to-face individualized, in-depth interviews. Themes were generated through thematic analysis of the data.

Results

The analysis resulted in five (5) major themes: unconducive environment, disparity and disconnection of the continuum of care along the health care system, routines for emergency and critical care, raised needs for emergency and critical care, and strategies for improvement.

Conclusion

Nurses and doctors in primary healthcare severely face many challenges that limit their ability to manage critical illnesses adequately associated with the absence of favorable infrastructures, guidelines, trained personnel, on-job training, and expert support from higher-level hospitals, and the shortage of staff, lack of essential drugs and equipment, and lack of staff and managerial prioritization thereby tilting the balance of survival in these settings to the worst side.
BREATH TEST TO DETECT WOMEN AT LOW RISK FOR BREAST CANCER: POTENTIAL CLINICAL AND ECONOMIC BENEFITS
Authors: Phillips Michael , Bevers Therese B , Larsen Linda Hovanessian , Pappas Nadine , Pathak Sonali
Published: October 2024

Background

A breath test for volatile organic compounds has identified biomarkers associated with breast cancer. We evaluated the potential clinical and economic benefits of a breath test to detect women at low risk for breast cancer by comparing its negative predictive value (NPV) to the NPV of screening mammography.

Methods

Sensitivity and specificity values for screening mammography were obtained from the Food & Drug Administration Mammography Quality Standards Act; Amendments to Part 900 Regulations Docket No. FDA-2013-N-0134. The high values were sensitivity = 79.0%, specificity = 88.9% and the low values were sensitivity = 66.0%, specificity = 88.9%. In two previous studies of 771 women undergoing mammography, breath testing identified breast cancer with sensitivity=84% and specificity = 68.6% in 178 asymptomatic women, and sensitivity=82% and specificity = 77% in 593 who were symptomatic. These values were projected to a hypothetical screening population of 100,000 asymptomatic women with average breast cancer prevalence of 450/100,000, in order to estimate the NPV and PPV (positive predictive value) for breath testing and screening mammography respectively.

Results

Breath test in asymptomatic women: NPV = 99.895% and PPV = 1.19%; in symptomatic women: NPV = 99.895% and PPV = 1.59%. For screening mammography, NPV = 99.83% and PPV = 2.82% (low values), increasing to NPV= 99.89% and PPV = 3.12% (high values). A negative breath test identified 68.3% of the screening population as having low risk of breast cancer, with NPV similar to mammography. Based on Medicare reimbursement rates, elimination of mammography in women with a negative breath test could reduce the annual cost of breast cancer screening by 38.9%

Conclusions

In a hypothetical screening population, a negative breath test ruled out breast cancer with the same accuracy as a negative mammogram. A screening breath test could potentially eliminate the need for two thirds of all mammograms and reduce the costs of screening without increasing the risk of false-negative findings. If applied in clinical practice, this approach could potentially reduce the costs and burdens of breast cancer screening services, and benefit women by lessening the discomfort, anxiety, radiation exposure, and costs associated with mammography.
Echo-Vision-FM: A Pre-training and Fine-tuning Framework for Echocardiogram Video Vision Foundation Model
Authors: Zhang Ziyang , Wu Qinxin , Ding Sirui , Wang Xiaolong , Ye Jiancheng
Published: October 2024

Background

Echocardiograms provide essential insights into cardiac health, yet their complex, multidimensional data poses significant challenges for analysis and interpretation. Existing deep learning models for echocardiogram analysis often rely heavily on supervised training, which limits their generalizability and robustness across different datasets and clinical environments.

Objective

To develop and evaluateEcho-Vision-FM(Echocardiogram videoVision FoundationModel), a self-supervised video learning framework designed to pre-train a video encoder on large-scale, unlabeled echocardiogram data. Echo-Vision-FM aims to produce robust and transferable video representations, improving downstream performance across diverse echocardiogram datasets and clinical conditions.

Methods

The proposed framework employs advanced self-supervised video learning through a masked auto-encoding technique, which compresses segments of video data and reconstructs the full video by masking non-overlapping video patches. An asymmetric encoder-decoder architecture underpins this approach. To further enhance the learned representations, we introduceSTF-Net, aSpatial-TemporalFusionNet, which integrates spatial and temporal correlations from the video representations. We pre-trained Echo-Vision-FM using the MIMIC-IV-ECHO dataset and fine-tuned it across multiple downstream datasets for specific clinical tasks, including morphological value estimation and the diagnosis of heart function and diseases.

Results

Echo-Vision-FM achieved superior performance in classifying left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), with an accuracy of 0.905, an F1 score of 0.941, and an AUC of 0.931. In regression tasks, Echo-Vision-FM outperformed state-of-the-art models, achieving a mean absolute error (MAE) of 3.87% and anr2of 0.825 forLVEFprediction. The model also demonstrated significant improvements in estimating end-systolic and end-diastolic volumes, withr2values of 0.782 and 0.742, respectively. Incorporating STF-Net further enhanced performance across all tasks.

Conclusion

Our results demonstrate that large-scale self-supervised video learning on echocardiogram data enables the extraction of transferable and clinically relevant features, surpassing existing methods. The Echo-Vision-FM framework, particularly with the inclusion of STF-Net, significantly improves the extraction of spatiotemporal features, resulting in enhanced predictive accuracy for a range of cardiac parameters. Echo-Vision-FM offers a scalable and effective solution for echocardiogram analysis, with promising applications in clinical diagnostics and research.
Diffuse optical tomography system for acute traumatic brain injury in the intensive care unit: a prospective study on healthy volunteers
Authors: Forcione Mario , Chiarelli Antonio Maria , Perpetuini David , Perkins Guy A. , Stevens Andrew R. , Davies David J. , Belli Antonio
Published: October 2024

Abstract

Significance

Current systems for diffuse optical tomography (DOT) are unsuitable for clinical applications on acute traumatic brain injury (TBI) patients while in the intensive care unit (ICU).

Aim

To develop and test a method for DOT recordings suitable for TBI patients in the ICU. This method is based on measurements and co-registration using 3-D optical scans, and the acquisition of optical data using a custom-made helmet which would enable a multimodal (invasive and non-invasive) neuromonitoring.

Approach

Probe displacements compared to electromagnetic digitization co-registrations were assessed. The capacity to isolate and monitor, using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), the optical signal in the intracranial (ICT) and extracranial tissues (ECT) was tested on 23 healthy volunteers. Participants were scanned with a frequency-domain NIRS device (690 and 830 nm) during 5 Valsalva maneuvers (VM) in a simulated ICU environment.

Results

The results showed an average error in probe displacement of 5.5 mm, a sufficient capacity to isolate oxyhemoglobin O2Hb (p=6.4·10-6) and total hemoglobin HbT (p=2.8·10-5) in the ICT from the ECT, and to follow the changes of hemoglobin in the ICT during the VM (O2Hb, p=9.2·10-4; HbT, p=1.0·10-3).

Conclusions

The developed approach appears to be suitable for use on TBI patients in the ICU.
Evaluating the performance and potential bias of predictive models for the detection of transthyretin cardiac amyloidosis
Authors: Hourmozdi Jonathan , Easton Nicholas , Benigeri Simon , Thomas James D. , Narang Akhil , Ouyang David , Duffy Grant , Okwuosa Ike , Kline Adrienne , Kho Abel N. , Luo Yuan , Shah Sanjiv J. , Ahmad Faraz S.
Published: October 2024

Background

Delays in the diagnosis of transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy (ATTR-CM) contribute to the significant morbidity of the condition, especially in the era of novel disease-modifying therapies. Screening for ATTR-CM with AI and other algorithms may improve timely diagnosis, but these algorithms have not been directly compared with each other.

Methods

We identified patients treated at an integrated health system from 2010-2022 with biopsy or PYP scan-confirmed ATTR-CM and age -and sex-matched them to controls with HF in a 19:1 ratio to target 5% prevalence. We compared the performance of three publicly available algorithms: a random forest model of claims data, the regression-based Mayo ATTR-CM Score, and a deep-learning echo model (EchoNet-LVH). Bias was measured in the best performing models using standard fairness metrics.

Results

We identified 198 confirmed cases of ATTR-CM from 3924 patients in the analytic cohort that had the necessary structured and imaging data for all three models. In this cohort, 78.9% of the cohort self-identified as White, 8.7% Black, 4.0% Hispanic and 8.4% Other. ATTR-CM prevalence was highest in individuals who identified as Black. The claims-based model performed poorly with an AUC of 0.48. EchoNet-LVH had higher AUC (0.88 vs 0.78, DeLong Test p < 0.0001) and average precision (0.61 vs 0.15) compared to the Mayo score. Bias auditing of the top two performing models demonstrated that both models satisfied our fairness criteria forequal opportunity(1.05 for EchoNet-LVH and 0.91 for ATTR-CM Score) among patients who identified as Black.

Conclusions

In external validation using a large, diverse cohort of patients with heart failure, a deep-learning echo-based model to detect ATTR-CM demonstrated best overall performance compared to two other publicly available models. The results of a bias audit suggest that the regression- and echo-based models are unlikely to exacerbate existing health disparities through inequitable distribution of error with respect to self-identified Black race.
Microscopic Phage Adsorption Assay: High-throughput quantification of virus particle attachment to host bacterial cells
Authors: Antani Jyot D. , Ward Timothy , Emonet Thierry , Turner Paul E.
Published: October 2024

Phages, viruses of bacteria, play a pivotal role in Earth’s biosphere and hold great promise as therapeutic and diagnostic tools in combating infectious diseases. Attachment of phages to bacterial cells is a crucial initial step of the interaction. The classic assay to quantify the dynamics of phage attachment involves co-culturing and enumeration of bacteria and phages, which is laborious, lengthy, hence low-throughput, and only provides ensemble estimates of model-based adsorption rate constants. Here, we utilized fluorescence microscopy and particle tracking to obtain trajectories of individual virus particles interacting with cells. The trajectory durations quantified the heterogeneity in dwell time, the time that each phage spends interacting with a bacterium. The average dwell time strongly correlated with the classically-measured adsorption rate constant. We successfully applied this technique to quantify host-attachment dynamics of several phages including those targeting key bacterial pathogens. This approach should benefit the field of phage biology by providing highly quantitative, model-free readouts at single-virus resolution, helping to uncover single-virus phenomena missed by traditional measurements. Owing to significant reduction in manual effort, our method should enable rapid, high-throughput screening of a phage library against a target bacterial strain for applications such as therapy or diagnosis.
TRIM37 employs peptide motif recognition and substrate-dependent oligomerization to prevent ectopic spindle pole assembly
Authors: Bellaart Andrew , Brambila Amanda , Xu Jiawei , Diaz Francisco Mendez , Deep Amar , Anzola John , Meitinger Franz , Ohta Midori , Corbett Kevin D. , Desai Arshad , Oegema Karen
Published: October 2024

Tightly controlled duplication of centrosomes, the major microtubule-organizing centers of animal cells, ensures bipolarity of the mitotic spindle and accurate chromosome segregation. The RBCC (RING-B-box-coiled coil) ubiquitin ligase TRIM37, whose loss is associated with elevated chromosome missegregation and the tumor-prone developmental human disorder Mulibrey nanism, prevents the formation of ectopic spindle poles that assemble around structured condensates containing the centrosomal protein centrobin. Here, we show that TRIM37’s TRAF domain, unique in the extended TRIM family, engages peptide motifs in centrobin to suppress condensate formation. TRIM proteins form anti-parallel coiled-coil dimers with RING–B-box domains on each end. Oligomerization due to RING–RING interactions and conformational regulation by B-box-2–B-box-2 interfaces are critical for TRIM37 to suppress centrobin condensate formation. These results indicate that, analogous to anti-viral TRIM ligases, TRIM37 activation is linked to the detection of oligomerized substrates. Thus, TRIM37 couples peptide motif recognition and substrate-dependent oligomerization to effect ubiquitination-mediated clearance of ectopic centrosomal protein assemblies.
Public Perceptions and Engagement in mHealth: A European Survey on Attitudes towards Health Apps Use and Data Sharing
Authors: Causio Francesco Andrea , Beccia Flavia , Tona Diego Maria , Verduchi Alessandra , Cristiano Antonio , Calabrò Giovanna Elisa , Pastorino Roberta , van El Carla , Boccia Stefania
Published: October 2024

This study explores public perceptions and engagement in mobile health (mHealth) across eight European countries: Italy, the Netherlands, France, Germany, Spain, Poland, Romania, and Hungary. The focus is on the public’s attitudes toward health app usage and data sharing examined through a cross-sectional survey involving 6,581 participants. The survey revealed that 21.87% of respondents currently use health apps, with 42.71% expressing interest in future use. Regarding data sharing, 52.82% are willing to share health data with healthcare providers, and 25.48% would share data with public and private research institutions. However, concerns about data privacy and security are prevalent, with 63.68% fearing hacking of their data and 72.34% afraid that their data might be used for inappropriate purposes. However, prevalent concerns about data privacy and security emerged, with 72.34% expressing worry about data misuse and 63.68% fearing data hacking.

The study highlights significant generational and geographical differences in mHealth engagement, with older generations displaying a lower adoption level of health apps. Education level emerged as a crucial factor influencing attitudes toward mHealth, with those having tertiary education more likely to use health apps and demand transparency. These findings underscore the need for targeted strategies to enhance digital literacy, ensure data privacy, and promote equitable access to mHealth technologies across Europe.
Deep plasma proteomics identifies and validates an eight-protein biomarker panel that separate benign from malignant tumors in ovarian cancer
Authors: Moskov Mikaela , Hedlund Julia Lindberg , Popova Svetlana , Lycke Maria , Ivansson Emma , Tolf Anna , Gyllensten Ulf , Sundfeldt Karin , Stålberg Karin , Enroth Stefan
Published: October 2024

Ovarian cancer has the highest mortality of all gynecological cancers and in symptomatic women, surgery is commonly used as final diagnostic. Available literature indicates that women with benign tumors could often be conservatively managed but accurate molecular tests are needed for triaging where gold-standard imaging techniques are inconclusive or lacking. Here, we analyzed 5416 plasma proteins in two independent cohorts (N=171+233) with symptomatic women that have been surgically diagnosed with benign or malignant tumors. Using one cohort as discovery, we compared protein levels of benign tumors with early stage (I-II), late stage (III-IV) or any stage (I-IV) ovarian cancer. In this analysis, 327 associations, corresponding to 191 unique proteins, were identified out of which 326 (99.7%) replicated. The 191 proteins were compared with their corresponding tumor gene expression in the replication cohort and only 11% (21/191) were found to have significant correlation. Protein-protein correlation networks were generated and 62 of the 191 proteins were highly correlated with at least one other protein, suggesting that many of the observed associations could be secondary effects. Multivariate models were trained using the discovery cohort including a fixed cut-off for malignancy. In the replication cohort, an eight-protein model achieved an AUC of 0.96 corresponding to 97% sensitivity at 68% specificity. For early-stage tumors, the sensitivity was estimated at 91% at 68% specificity compared to 85% and 54% for CA-125 alone. Our results indicate that up to one third of benign cases could be identified by molecular measures thereby reducing the need for diagnostic surgery.

One Sentence Summary

Plasma proteomics for separation of benign and malignant tumors in ovarian cancer.
Organizational resilience and its implications for healthcare workers in the COVID-19 pandemic: A literature review
Authors: Kaczmarski Karolina , Pasha Atena , Inusah Abdul-Hanan Saani , Li Xiaoming , Qiao Shan
Published: October 2024

Background

Organizational resilience is crucial in supporting the well-being of healthcare workers and ensuring the quality of healthcare services during crises like the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aims to comprehensively review organizational resilience of healthcare facilities in terms of its conception, measurement, and impacts on healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods

A search was conducted in four databases (PubMed, ScienceDirect, PsycINFO, and Web of Science) for empirical articles considering organizational resilience among healthcare facilities during the COVID-19 pandemic from 2019 to 2024. Several keywords from three categories (“COVID-19”, “organizational resilience,” and “healthcare facilities”) were used, and RAYYAN was used to manage references.

Results

Four empirical articles from 172 studies were included, which encompassed a total sample of 6,606 healthcare workers from Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Türkiye. Organizational resilience could influence the individual resilience of healthcare practitioners, enhance crisis management and ensure safety performance. The strategies of enhancing organizational resilience at healthcare worker level included staff training, crisis management protocols, collaboration promotion, and stress management approaches. The ones at health facility level included government intervention, funds for hospital preparedness, competency-based crisis management, and mental health programs for healthcare workers. Our review also suggests a lack of empirical studies, no commonly used measurement instruments, and the heterogeneity of study contexts in the research of organizational resilience in public health.

Conclusions

This review highlights effective strategies to enhance the organizational resilience of healthcare workers and examines their impact during the COVID-19 pandemic. Immediate government action, funding to support hospital preparedness, and the formation of flexible healthcare teams are essential to strengthen organizational resilience among healthcare workers for future crises.
Non-equilibrium remodelling of collagen-IV networks in silico
Authors: Meadowcroft Billie , Sorichetti Valerio , Ratajczyk Eryk , Khalilgharibi Nargess , Mao Yanlan , Palaia Ivan , Saric Andela
Published: October 2024

Collagen-IV is one of the main component of the basement membrane, a layer of material that lines the majority of tissues in multicellular organisms. Collagen-IV molecules assemble into networks, providing stiffness and elasticity to tissues and informing cell and organ shape, especially during development. In this work, we develop coarse grained models for collagen-IV molecules that retain biochemical bond specificity and coarse-grain at two different length scales. Through molecular dynamics simulations, we test the assembly and mechanics of the resulting networks and measure their response to strain in terms of stress, microscopic alignment, and bond dynamics. Within the basement membrane, collagen-IV continually turns over, with rates that are linked with enzyme activity and that affect tissue organisation. We then explore the effects of equilibrium versus out-of-equilibrium (enzymatic) bond remodelling. We find that the latter allows a network to keep its integrity under strain, while relaxing fully over a variety of timescales -- a dynamic response that is unavailable to networks undergoing equilibrium remodelling.
Effects of
XX
catalysts on quantum annealing spectra with perturbative crossings
Authors: Feinstein Natasha , Fry-Bouriaux Louis , Bose Sougato , Warburton P. A.
Published: October 2024

In adiabatic quantum computation the required run-time to reach a given ground-state fidelity is dictated by the size of the minimum gap that appears between the ground and first-excited state in the annealing spectrum. In general the presence of avoided level crossings demands an exponential increase in the annealing time with the system size which has consequences both for the efficiency of the algorithm and the required qubit coherence times. One promising avenue being explored to produce more favorable gap scaling is the introduction of nonstoquastic XX couplings in the form of a catalyst—of particular interest are catalysts which utilize accessible information about the optimization problem in their construction. Here we show extreme sensitivity of the effect of an XX catalyst to subtle changes in the encoding of the optimization problem. In particular, we observe that a targeted catalyst containing a single coupling can significantly reduce the gap closing with system size at an avoided level crossing. For slightly different encodings of the same problems however, these same catalysts result in closing gaps in the annealing spectrum. To understand the origin of these closing gaps, we study how the evolution of the ground-state vector is altered by the presence of the catalyst and find that the negative components of the ground-state vector are key to understanding the response of the gap spectrum. We also consider how and when these closing gaps could be utilized in diabatic quantum annealing protocols—a promising alternative to adiabatic quantum annealing in which transitions to higher energy levels are exploited to reduce the run time of the algorithm.

Published by the American Physical Society
2024
Diphoton signals of muon-philic scalars at DarkQuest
Authors: Blinov Nikita , Gori Stefania , Hamer Nick
Published: October 2024

We analyze the capability of the DarkQuest proton beam-dump experiment at Fermilab to discover new light resonances decaying into photons. As an example model, we focus on muon-philic scalar particles that decay to photons. This is one of the few minimal models that can address the (g−2)μ anomaly at low mass. These scalars can be copiously produced by meson decays and muon bremsstrahlung. We point out that thanks to DarkQuest’s compact geometry, muons can propagate through the dump and efficiently produce dark scalars near the end of the dump. This mechanism enables DarkQuest to be sensitive to both long-lived and prompt scalars. At the same time, diphoton signatures are generically not background free, and we discuss in detail the different sources of background and strategies to mitigate them. We find that the backgrounds can be sufficiently reduced for DarkQuest to test currently viable (g−2)μ parameter space.

Published by the American Physical Society
2024
Krylov complexity and gluon cascades in the high energy limit
Authors: Caputa Pawel , Kutak Krzysztof
Published: October 2024

We point out an interesting connection between the mathematical framework of the Krylov basis, which is used to quantify quantum complexity, and the entanglement entropy in high energy QCD. In particular, we observe that the cascade equation of the dipole model is equivalent to the SL(2,R) Schrödinger equation in the Krylov basis. Consequently, the Krylov complexity corresponds to the average distribution of partons and the Krylov entropy is the counterpart of the entanglement entropy computations of [D. E. Kharzeev and E. M. Levin, .]. Our work not only brings new tools for exploring quantum information and complexity in QCD, but also gives hope for experimental tests of some of the recent, physical probes of quantum complexity.

Published by the American Physical Society
2024
Fluctuation-driven morphological patterning: An unconventional approach to morphogenesis
Authors: Agam Oded , Braun Erez
Published: October 2024

Recent experimental investigations into regeneration revealed a remarkable phenomenon: the morphological transformation of a tissue fragment from the incipient spherical configuration to a tubelike structure—the hallmark of a mature —has the dynamical characteristics of a first-order phase transition, with calcium field fluctuations within the tissue playing an essential role. This morphological transition was shown to be generated by activation over a barrier within an effective morphological potential that underlies morphogenesis. Inspired by this intriguing insight, we propose an unconventional mechanism where stochastic fluctuations drive the emergence of morphological patterns. Thus, the inherent fluctuations determine the nature of the dynamics and are not incidental noise in the background of the otherwise deterministic dynamics. Instead, they play an important role as a driving force that defines the attributes of the pattern formation dynamics and the nature of the transition itself. Here, we present a simple model that captures the essence of this mechanism for morphological pattern formation. Specifically, we consider a one-dimensional tissue arranged as a closed contour embedded in a two-dimensional space, where the local curvature of the contour is coupled to a non-negative scalar field. An effective temperature parameter regulates the strength of the fluctuations in the system. The tissue exhibits fluctuations near a circular shape at sufficiently low coupling strengths, but as the coupling strength exceeds some critical value, the circular state becomes unstable. The nature of the transition to the new state, namely whether it is a first-order-like or second-order-like transition, depends on the effective temperature and the effective cutoff on the wavelength of the spatial variations in the system. The former sets the level of noise, while the latter determines the height of the potential barrier between the initial circular state and the final deformed state of the tissue. It is also found that entropic barriers separate various metastable states of the system.

Published by the American Physical Society
2024
Characterizing Matrix-Product States and Projected Entangled-Pair States Preparable via Measurement and Feedback
Authors: Zhang Yifan , Gopalakrishnan Sarang , Styliaris Georgios
Published: October 2024

Preparing long-range entangled states poses significant challenges for near-term quantum devices. It is known that measurement and feedback (MF) can aid this task by allowing the preparation of certain paradigmatic long-range entangled states with only constant circuit depth. Here, we systematically explore the structure of states that can be prepared using constant-depth local circuits and a single MF round. Using the framework of tensor networks, the preparability under MF translates to tensor symmetries. We detail the structure of matrix-product states (MPSs) and projected entangled-pair states (PEPSs) that can be prepared using MF, revealing the coexistence of Clifford-like properties and magic. In one dimension, we show that states with Abelian-symmetry-protected topological order are a restricted class of MF-preparable states. In two dimensions, we parametrize a subset of states with Abelian topological order that are MF preparable. Finally, we discuss the analogous implementation of operators via MF, providing a structural theorem that connects to the well-known Clifford teleportation.

Published by the American Physical Society
2024
Go big or go home: do narcissistic CEOs pursue affordable loss behaviors?
Authors: Wang Wenzhou , Shen Zhe , Yuan Wenlong
Published: October 2024

Purpose

The affordable loss (AL) heuristic, as one crucial sub-dimension of effectuation, delineates the maximum level of investment entrepreneurs are ready to lose in a worst-case scenario. Conflicting conceptualizations remain regarding whether entrepreneurs’ psychological traits matter for AL. Based on the narcissistic admiration and narcissistic rivalry perspective, this study investigates the relationship between chief executive officer (CEO) narcissism and AL behaviors.

Design/methodology/approach

Using data collected from the CEOs and paired vice presidents at 122 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in mainland China, the authors intend to further explore the association between psychological traits, especially CEO narcissism and AL behaviors under environment and resource constraints (e.g. perceived uncertainty and slack resources).

Findings

The findings show that CEO admiration-based narcissism is positively related to AL behaviors in the firm. Furthermore, when firms hold more slack resources, narcissistic admiration has a stronger positive association with AL; while when the environment becomes more uncertain, narcissistic admiration has a weaker positive association with AL. In contrast, CEO rivalry-based narcissism is negatively related to AL behaviors in the firm. When the environment becomes more uncertain, narcissistic rivalry has a stronger negative association with AL.

Originality/value

This article contributes to trait-based effectuation research and suggests that individual psychological traits affect AL behaviors at the firm level, though the patterns of the relationship vary with both the type of narcissism and contexts.
Is my city a competitive tourism destination? An assessment from residents’ perspective
Authors: Costa Rui Augusto , Chim-Miki Adriana Fumi , Fong Lawrence Hoc Nang
Published: October 2024

Purpose

This study aims to examine the effects of natural, cultural and urban resources on the city's tourism competitiveness from the residents' perspective and identifies the factors that city managers should prioritize.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors used multiple methods. The partial least squares structural equation modeling tested our theoretical assumption and the importance–performance map analysis provided an extra interpretation of the results to make them tangible to city managers. Data collection was done with residents of Viseu, Portugal.

Findings

The findings indicated that tourism competitiveness from the residents' perspective depends on the leisure activities they can enjoy as much as tourists, as the limits between tourism activities and everyday life are tenuous. The quality of leisure is part of residents' well-being; however, the results suggested that tourism development fails to engage residents in the destination's leisure offer. The cultural heritage is not attractive to them because it is part of their day-by-day living area or they need to enjoy the cultural offer. To accommodate residents' demands, destination managers need to improve the offer of outdoor activities and urban leisure opportunities.

Research limitations/implications

The main limitations were the sample size and the data collection after a pandemic context, that is, in a period of economic crisis that reduced leisure consumption. The implications point out variables to managers prioritize to improve place management and rethink tourism competitiveness based on a citizen-centered view. It is also a way to understand residents as staycationers.

Practical implications

Our research contributed to urban and city research literature with meaningful findings that can help city managers improve the positive impacts of tourism on residents and enhance the integration of tourism and urban daily life.

Social implications

The authors suggested strategies for integrating residents into cultural activities.

Originality/value

Theoretically, this study is set up in the frontier of rethinking and promoting society-centric tourism development. The research contributed to urban and city research literature with meaningful findings that can help city managers improve the positive impacts of tourism on residents and enhance the integration of tourism and urban daily life. In this direction, the authors suggest strategies for integrating residents into cultural activities.
Effect of lubricant inertia on textured journal bearing implementing mass conserving (JFO) boundary conditions
Authors: Das Debajit , Kakoty Sashindra Kumar
Published: October 2024

Purpose

Cavitation plays a significant role in the performance of textured journal bearings. Furthermore, because of the usage of low-viscosity lubricants and the high working speed of machines, it is pertinent to consider the lubricant inertia while analyzing the operating characteristics of bearings. This paper aims to investigate the influence of lubricant inertia in the case of a spherically textured journal bearing, considering both protrusion and dimple texturing and implementing the mass-conserving (JFO) boundary conditions.

Design/methodology/approach

A novel modified Reynolds equation has been developed to accommodate the effects of lubricant inertia and cavitation. The cavitation is treated by using mass-conserving (Jakobsson−Floberg−Olsson [JFO]) boundary conditions. The governing equation is solved by the Gauss−Seidel method with successive over-relaxation. To enhance computational efficiency and expedite the convergence process, the progressive mesh densification (PMD) method has been integrated into the solution process.

Findings

The current study indicates that the JFO boundary conditions result in higher load-carrying capacity and lesser friction variables for heavily loaded bearings, whereas the flow coefficient is reduced due to the application of JFO boundary conditions. The lubricant inertia effect enhances the flow coefficients for lightly loaded and protrusion-textured bearings.

Originality/value

It is crucial to understand the combined effects of lubricant inertia and cavitation for the effective design of textured journal bearings. The findings from this work will help in designing textured journal bearings more effectively and accurately, particularly when low-viscosity oil is used.

Peer review

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/ILT-07-2024-0276/
Sudan’s climate-culture story: a project with HEART – Heritage Empowered Action for Risk in Tuti
Authors: Minguez Garcia Barbara , Saif Alislam Abdulgadir Ahmed Malathe , Elgadi Esraa Osman , Elkhalifa Akram Ahmed
Published: October 2024

Purpose

Located at the confluence of the White and Blue Niles, in the core of Sudan’s capital, the small island of Tuti has been affected by flooding events throughout its history. To protect it, the Tuti people (Tawatas) developed the Taya, a traditional early warning, community-based flood management system. However, several challenges, including climate change impacts, demographic variations, a fluctuating economy and, more recently, an ongoing armed conflict, are increasing the risks associated with the annual flooding, threatening this traditional knowledge and other local community practices.

Design/methodology/approach

In the framework of International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM)’s Net Zero: Heritage for Climate Action project Tuti Island was presented as an innovation site, aiming to deepen on Tuti’s traditional knowledge as an efficient heritage-based adaptation strategy to reduce the impacts of climate change. Unfortunately, the implementation of the project faced more challenges and constraints than initially foreseen when the conflict broke out in the capital of Sudan in April 2023. The project activities, methodology and approach had to be redesigned in light of the new situation.

Findings

The Taya traditional system plays a key role in reducing vulnerabilities and enhancing the community’s capacity to address the impacts of climate change, as well as to cope with other crises, including armed conflict, due to its deep connection with the Tawata’s identity.

Originality/value

The project, which was originally planned to focus on climate action through heritage, became a representative case of the disaster–conflict nexus, reminding us that overlapping crises may occur in the same area, putting additional pressure on the population, their cultural heritage and the measures to tackle specific issues.
Does the underdog theory of entrepreneurship apply to refugees? Scrutinizing the determinants of entrepreneurial intentions of refugees in Portugal
Authors: Noorbakhsh Sajad , Teixeira Aurora Castro , Brochado Ana
Published: October 2024

Purpose

Refugee entrepreneurship is increasingly viewed as a “silver bullet” being able to promote host countries’ economic performance and enable the successful integration of refugees. This study aims to identify the main determinants of entrepreneurial intentions of refugees in Portugal based on the underdog theory.

Design/methodology/approach

In this study, the authors scrutinize the entrepreneurial intentions of refugees living in Portugal, an overlooked context, using a purpose-built inquiry responded to by 41 refugees and resorting to fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis, complemented with partial least squares path modeling.

Findings

Some important results are worth highlighting: the entrepreneurial intentions of the respondent sample of refugees living in Portugal are high; the theoretical arguments underlying the underdog or challenge-based entrepreneurship theory are validated in the context of the respondent sample; and psychological related factors associated with the more standard explanations of entrepreneurial intentions constitute necessary conditions for high refugee entrepreneurial intentions.

Originality/value

Entrepreneurial intentions to launch a business have been discussed in the entrepreneurship literature vastly, but it has not yet received much attention when focusing on refugees, often identified as underdogs (potential) entrepreneurs. This study contributes to the literature by testing the challenge-based entrepreneurship theory to identify the primary factors influencing refugee entrepreneurial intentions.
AI4people − an ethical framework for a good AI society: the Ghana (Ga) perspective
Authors: Ammah Laud Nii Attoh , Lütge Christoph , Kriebitz Alexander , Ramkissoon Lavina
Published: October 2024

Purpose

The introduction of artificial intelligence (AI) applications in the Global South brings tremendous potential for both good and harm. This paper aims to highlight the guiding ethical principles and normative frameworks for the ethical use of AI in the lens of the traditional Ga (a tribe in Ghana) philosophy and add to the academic literature and research on AI and ethics within the African context.

Design/methodology/approach

Literature overview on the African philosophy of Ga tradition as applied to AI and application of it to the AI4people ethical framework for a good AI society.

Findings

Existing principles in AI are based on and mostly influenced by western principles, which may give rise to biases in AI outcomes and design implications in Africa. The research finds a high degree of overlap in the AI4People ethical framework for a good AI society and the Ga philosophy.

Research limitations/implications

There are a few existing literatures on AI ethics in Africa and on Ga philosophy.

Originality/value

This research offers valuable contribution to the ongoing discourse of Africa’s adoption of AI and widens the debate on AI and ethics beyond the western ethical approaches.
Hybrid product branding strategies for brand value creation – combining and comparing green product innovations, limited editions and co-branding
Authors: Steffl Jonas , Ganassali Stéphane , Emes Jutta
Published: October 2024

Purpose

This study aims to examine whether, and how, green product innovations (GPIs), limited edition products, co-branded products and a combination of these product branding strategies affect consumers’ perception of brand value.

Design/methodology/approach

Two empirical between-subject experiments were conducted. Study 1 (N = 406) compares the impact of green and non-GPI on green brand image and brand value. Study 2 (N = 808) compares the incidence of GPIs, limited editions, co-branded products and a combination of these strategies on brand value, while exploring the mediating effect of perceived scarcity and moderating mechanism of consumers’ attitude toward co-branding partnership.

Findings

GPIs outperform nongreen alternatives in creating favorable brand values. Green brand image mediates the positive impact of GPI on consumers’ perceived values of the brand. In the context of GPIs, limited edition and co-branding are effective in enhancing a brand’s quality, price, emotional and social values. The success, however, relies on creating a perception of scarcity and fostering a positive attitude toward the co-branding partnership.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to examine the positive impact of different green product branding strategies on a brand’s quality value, price value, emotional value and social value perception.
Launching a European Employee Stock Ownership Plan (European ESOP)
Authors: Lowitzsch Jens , Menke John D. , Suarsana Denis , Nuttall Graeme , Gonza Tej , Mirabel Thibault
Published: October 2024

Purpose

With a third of business successions failing, the EU is still confronted with a haemorrhage of around 150,000 enterprises and 600,000 jobs every year. Although 30 years of research have confirmed the positive effects of employee share ownership (ESO) for European enterprises and its important function for business succession, best practice, such as the US ESOP, is thinly spread across the EU. Nevertheless, Member States (MS) have developed a broad variety of ESO schemes involving intermediary entities to acquire and administer employee shares in the employer firm in particular for the transfer of businesses to employees. However, for small and medium enterprise (SME) owners the main barrier is still a lack of clearcut and transparent options to sell their enterprise to their employees and corresponding incentives to do so. In this light, this paper proposes a European approach, that is, a European Employee Stock Ownership Plan (European ESOP).

Design/methodology/approach

A “Common European ESOP Regime”, as a first step towards a “Common European Regime on EFP” would complement existing national laws aiming primarily at their harmonisation. As the name suggests, this would be a second contract law regime parallel to national legislation on ESO. Its objective is to eliminate obstacles to the single market that mainly, though not exclusively, stem from heterogeneous regulatory density. The existing obstacles are due to the multifarious development of national laws governing employee financial participation (EFP) in the MS. The “Common European ESOP Regime” would offer employers and employees a choice between two alternative EFP regimes one originating in national legislation, the other in European legislation. The choice between these two alternatives would be entirely optional, as in the case of the European Company Statute.

Findings

The European ESOP is modelled on the US ESOP and EU best practices. It embraces six European types of legal vehicles, i.e. the employee ownership trust (EOT), the French employee ownership mutual fund (FCPE), the Austrian civil law foundation, the Spanish Sociedad Laboral, the cooperative and the closely held limited liability company.

Originality/value

The “Common European ESOP regime” would neither replace nor override national legislation but would serve as a cross-border alternative to national laws, to be used at the discretion of the parties involved. Regarding its contents, it would contain best practice rules derived from each of the ESOP vehicles discussed to reflect the entire life cycle of SMEs (starting up, consolidation and succession).
The future of tourism: interview with Jeremy Sampson on the need for systemic change in tourism
Authors: Hartman Stefan , Sampson Jeremy
Published: October 2024

Purpose

As the Journal of Tourism Futures celebrates its 10th Anniversary, Dr Stefan Hartman (head of department at the European Tourism Futures Institute, NHL Stenden University of Applied Sciences) interviews Jeremy Sampson (CEO of The Travel Foundation) about his view on the evolution of the tourism industry and the need for systemic change.

Design/methodology/approach

A personal interview held on July, 16, 2024.

Findings

Jeremy Sampson highlights the importance of scenario planning and strategic foresight and its evolution. Sampson elaborates on his personal career journey, the approach of the Travel Foundation and how this informed a strong focus on the ground impact as well as systemic change.

Originality/value

The interview provides unique insights into the motivation of Sampson and The Travel Foundation and their approaches, aiming to be the change makers in the tourism industry. A role that is very much needed, perhaps particularly from a third sector organization such as The Travel Foundation.