bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Lean implementation barriers in the apparel industry in Bangladesh
Authors: Bashar Abul , Hasin Ahsan Akhtar , Sakib Md. Nazmus , Bashar Nabila Binta
Published: March 2024

Purpose

In the highly competitive business landscape, manufacturing firms need to adopt an effective manufacturing strategy to attain a successful world-class manufacturing status. Over the past few decades, the lean manufacturing (LM) approach has gained recognition as one of the foremost strategies for enhancing performance. However, the implementation of LM poses significant challenges due to several barriers. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the primary barriers to lean implementation within the apparel industry.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper used an exploratory study approach, using a three-part structured questionnaire to assess the level of agreement on different lean barriers. The measurement of these barriers was conducted using a five-point Likert scale. Empirical data were collected from 177 apparel companies located in Bangladesh.

Findings

The findings of the research highlight that the primary obstacles to implementing LI include a lack of understanding of the lean manufacturing system (LMS), the manufacturing process, the company culture and resistance from employees.

Research limitations/implications

This paper could potentially limit the generalizability of this research, as it exclusively examines a single manufacturing sector – the apparel industry.

Practical implications

This paper will help practitioners in finding solutions to resolve discrepancies between current manufacturing practices and the LMS.

Originality/value

This paper fulfills an identified need to examine the extent of lean adoption within the apparel industry of Bangladesh.
Laboratory evaluation of a nanostructured lubricating grease for tram runflat tires
Authors: Pérez Giraldo Mauricio , Vasquez Mauricio , Toro Alejandro , Buitrago-Sierra Robison , Santa Juan Felipe
Published: March 2024

Purpose

This paper aims to develop a stable gel-type lubricant emulating commercial conditions. This encompassed rheological and tribological assessments, alongside field trials on the Medellín tram system.

Design/methodology/approach

The gel-type lubricant with graphite and aluminum powder is synthesized. Rheological tests, viscosity measurements and linear viscoelastic regime assessments are conducted. Subsequently, tribological analyses encompassing four-ball and twin disc methods are executed. Finally, real-world testing is performed on the Medellín tram system.

Findings

An achieved lubricant met the stipulated criteria, yielding innovative insights into the interaction of graphite and aluminum powder additives under varying tests.

Originality/value

Novel findings are unveiled regarding the interaction of graphite and aluminum powder additives in tribological, rheological and real-world trials. In addition, the wear behavior of polymers is observed, along with the potential utilization of such additives in tramway systems.
Understanding climate risk externalities through the global supply chains: a framework and review of the literature on existing approaches
Authors: Mora Camille J. , Malik Arunima , Shanmuga Sruthi , Sidhu Baljit
Published: March 2024

Purpose

Businesses are increasingly vulnerable and exposed to physical climate change risks, which can cascade through local, national and international supply chains. Currently, few methodologies can capture how physical risks impact businesses via the supply chains, yet outside the business literature, methodologies such as sustainability assessments can assess cascading impacts.

Design/methodology/approach

Adopting a scoping review framework by Arksey and O'Malley (2005) and the PRISMA extension for scoping reviews (PRISMA-ScR), this paper reviews 27 articles that assess climate risk in supply chains.

Findings

The literature on supply chain risks of climate change using quantitative techniques is limited. Our review confirms that no research adopts sustainability assessment methods to assess climate risk at a business-level.

Originality/value

Alongside the need to quantify physical risks to businesses is the growing awareness that climate change impacts traverse global supply chains. We review the state of the literature on methodological approaches and identify the opportunities for researchers to use sustainability assessment methods to assess climate risk in the supply chains of an individual business.
The robot grinding and polishing of additive aviation titanium alloy blades: a review
Authors: Xiao Guijian , Zhang Tangming , He Yi , Zheng Zihan , Wang Jingzhe
Published: March 2024

Purpose

The purpose of this review is to comprehensively consider the material properties and processing of additive titanium alloy and provide a new perspective for the robotic grinding and polishing of additive titanium alloy blades to ensure the surface integrity and machining accuracy of the blades.

Design/methodology/approach

At present, robot grinding and polishing are mainstream processing methods in blade automatic processing. This review systematically summarizes the processing characteristics and processing methods of additive manufacturing (AM) titanium alloy blades. On the one hand, the unique manufacturing process and thermal effect of AM have created the unique processing characteristics of additive titanium alloy blades. On the other hand, the robot grinding and polishing process needs to incorporate the material removal model into the traditional processing flow according to the processing characteristics of the additive titanium alloy.

Findings

Robot belt grinding can solve the processing problem of additive titanium alloy blades. The complex surface of the blade generates a robot grinding trajectory through trajectory planning. The trajectory planning of the robot profoundly affects the machining accuracy and surface quality of the blade. Subsequent research is needed to solve the problems of high machining accuracy of blade profiles, complex surface material removal models and uneven distribution of blade machining allowance. In the process parameters of the robot, the grinding parameters, trajectory planning and error compensation affect the surface quality of the blade through the material removal method, grinding force and grinding temperature. The machining accuracy of the blade surface is affected by robot vibration and stiffness.

Originality/value

This review systematically summarizes the processing characteristics and processing methods of aviation titanium alloy blades manufactured by AM. Combined with the material properties of additive titanium alloy, it provides a new idea for robot grinding and polishing of aviation titanium alloy blades manufactured by AM.
Strategic governance dynamics in manufacturing firms: navigating operational performance through contractual and relational mechanisms in the face of product complexity
Authors: Um Ki-Hyun
Published: March 2024

Purpose

This study aims to (1) validate the efficacy of contractual and relational governance in enhancing operational performance and (2) explore the influence of product complexity on the effectiveness of these governance mechanisms, thereby determining the optimal approach for varying levels of product complexity.

Design/methodology/approach

By utilizing a comprehensive theoretical framework encompassing transaction cost economics, social exchange theory and contingency theory, this research explores the intricate interplay between governance mechanisms, product complexity and operational performance, drawing insights from a dataset comprising 246 responses within Mainland China’s manufacturing sector. To rigorously test the proposed hypotheses, this study employed a hierarchical regression analysis.

Findings

The findings of this study are summarized as follows: (1) while both contractual governance and relational governance have a significant impact on operational performance, relational governance is found to be more effective than contractual governance in enhancing operational performance; and (2) the moderation effect of product complexity is evident, as it weakens the impact of contractual governance while simultaneously enhancing the positive influence of relational governance on operational performance.

Originality/value

The study uncovers a moderation effect of product complexity on the relationship between governance mechanisms and operational performance. This finding adds an original contribution to the literature by highlighting how product complexity can interact with governance strategies, providing practical insights for industries dealing with varying levels of product complexity.
Performing in green: towards eco-innovation through agility and customer involvement
Authors: Rabal Conesa José , Jiménez Jiménez Daniel , Martínez Costa Micaela
Published: March 2024

Purpose

This paper shows how organisational agility allows companies to adopt the necessary changes to remain competitive and produce with a lower environmental impact, implying customers in the value chain.

Design/methodology/approach

This investigation uses a cross-sectional design to collect data on the study variables from a sample of 260 Spanish manufacturing organisations. Structural equations with PLS are applied to test hypotheses.

Findings

Results show that organisational agility is positively related to eco-innovation. Furthermore, eco-innovation results in a positive relationship with organisational performance. Finally, it has been found that customer involvement positively moderates the effect of organisational agility on new green processes and products and makes green product innovations more successful.

Practical implications

Conclusions indicate that would be advisable that innovative companies promote capabilities such as organisational agility, and integrating customer involvement throughout their value chain, for developing successful new green products increasing their results with a lower environmental impact. Likewise, the customer’s involvement in eco-innovation projects has been found, in companies with agile behaviours, that could aim to increase their performance, helping to react more quickly to market trends and saving money in product development.

Originality/value

This investigation addresses three gaps previously identified in the literature. Firstly, it covers a lack of research on how agility could foster green innovation and how this could positively affect their performance outcomes. Secondly, it studies a moderating factor, customer involvement, and its effects on the relationship between organisational agility and eco-innovation in product and process and between eco-innovation in product and organisational performance. Thirdly, it introduces dynamic capabilities theory through agility concept to study the dynamic context of the eco-environment.
A new metric for assessing the “S” dimension in environment, social, governance (ESG) for real estate
Authors: Newell Graeme , Marzuki Muhammad Jufri
Published: March 2024

Purpose

ESG (Environment, Social, Governance) has taken on increased importance in recent years for all stakeholders, with the S dimension now taking on a stronger focus in the real estate space. This paper proposes a new metric to be used in the S space to assess improvements in aspects such as gender equality and cultural diversity in real estate. It adds to the S metrics currently available to see the more effective delivery of the S dimension into real estate investment decision-making.

Design/methodology/approach

A new S metric in ESG is proposed and validated. Using this metric, examples regarding gender equality and cultural diversity are assessed among leading real estate players in Australia. This S metric is assessed over a number of time periods to demonstrate the improvements in gender equality and cultural diversity in these major real estate players.

Findings

This new S metric is seen to be highly effective and robust in capturing the changes in various aspects of the S dimension in ESG in the real estate space today; particularly concerning gender equality and cultural diversity. It is clearly able to demonstrate the significant changes in increased participation of women at the more senior leadership levels by leading players in the real estate space.

Practical implications

With ESG becoming a critical issue in the real estate sector, issues involved in the S space will take on increased significance going forward. This is critical, as the elements of the S dimension such as gender equality and cultural diversity are important aspects for an effectively functioning real estate industry. The S metric developed in this paper can be used for benchmarking purposes over time, as well as between real estate players, between sub-sections within a real estate organisation, and comparing against other industry sectors. It is also relevant in all organisations, and is not just limited to the real estate sector. Additional metrics in the S space are an important development to further empirically assess the effective delivery of the S dimension of ESG in the real estate sector and more broadly.

Originality/value

This paper specifically proposes this new S metric in ESG in the real estate industry. This is a key issue for the real estate industry going forward at all levels, as it will facilitate a more diverse real estate industry and more effective real estate investment decision-making. This S metric is applicable in all organisational sectors where the S dimension of ESG is important.
The role of organizational resilience in SME service innovation and value cocreation
Authors: Lopez Evelyn , Flecha-Ortiz Jose A. , Santos-Corrada Maria , Dones Virgin
Published: March 2024

Purpose

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected service small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), increasing the importance of understanding how these businesses can become more resilient and how service innovation can be an effective strategy to increase their adaptive capacity and survival. This study aims to examine the role of dynamic capabilities in service innovation as a factor explaining the resilience of SMEs in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic during the COVID-19 crisis and its impact on service innovation. Additionally, the authors assess whether service innovation has a significant impact on value cocreation in these businesses.

Design/methodology/approach

This study used a quantitative method by surveying 118 SME owners in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. The data were analyzed using partial least-squares structural equation modeling.

Findings

The results reflect important theoretical contributions by analyzing resilience from an innovation perspective instead of a retrospective approach, which is an area that has not been analyzed in the literature. Additionally, theoretical contributions to marketing services in SMEs are discussed, which is an underresearched topic. The results advance by discussing the role of service innovation through the reconfiguration of resources and how this can be an effective strategy to increase value cocreation with customers during crises.

Originality/value

This study is original in that it analyzes resilience from the perspective of innovation, and not from a retrospective approach. It offers a vision in response to the need for studies that provide a clearer conceptualization of resilience in small businesses. This highlights the importance of considering regional differences and service innovation as effective strategies to enhance resilience and value cocreation with customers.
I cannot miss it! The influence of supervisor bottom-line mentality on employee presenteeism
Authors: Tan Zhihong , Yang Mengxi , Farro Andrea C. , Yuan Ling
Published: March 2024

Purpose

Based on the cognitive appraisal theory of emotion and social comparison theory, this study explores the mediating mechanism and boundary conditions of supervisor bottom-line mentality on employee presenteeism.

Design/methodology/approach

Using hierarchical regression and bootstrapping, we test the hypothesized relationships with three-stage data from 265 full-time employees in China.

Findings

Supervisor bottom-line mentality has a significant positive influence on employee presenteeism. Workplace fear of missing out plays a mediating role between supervisor bottom-line mentality and employee presenteeism. Employees’ status-striving motivation positively moderates the influence of supervisor bottom-line mentality on employees’ workplace fear of missing out and enhances the mediating effect of workplace fear of missing out.

Practical implications

Presenteeism can be detrimental to employees’ health, and ultimately leads to a decrease in organizational productivity. Research conclusions warn companies to be vigilant about supervisors’ bottom-line mentalities and to strengthen employee health management.

Originality/value

This study explains when and how supervisor bottom-line mentality affects employee health, contributing to the literature on the antecedents of presenteeism and enriching the research on supervisor bottom-line mentalities and employee and organizational outcomes. This study clarifies the emotional mechanisms and boundary conditions of supervisor bottom-line mentality affecting presenteeism.
Olive oil loaded alginate milliparticle with chitosan coating: fabrication and evaluation
Authors: Hadipour Ahmad , Mahmoudi Zahra , Manoochehri Saeed , Ebrahimi-Najafabadi Heshmatollah , Hesari Zahra
Published: March 2024

Purpose

Particles are of the controlled release delivery systems. Also, topically applied olive oil has a protective effect against ultraviolet B (UVB) exposure. Due to its sensitivity to oxidation, various studies have investigated the production of olive oil particles. The purpose of this study was to use chitosan and sodium alginate as the vehicle polymers for olive oil.

Design/methodology/approach

The gelation method used to prepare the sodium alginate miliparticles containing olive oil and particles were coated with chitosan. Morphology and size, zeta potential, infrared spectrum of olive oil miliparticles, encapsulation efficiency and oil release profile were investigated. Among 12 primary fabricated formulations, formulations F5 (olive oil loaded alginate miliparticles) and F11 (olive oil loaded alginate miliparticles + chitosan coat) were selected for further evaluations.

Findings

The size of the miliparticles was in the range of 1,100–1,600 µm. Particles had a spherical appearance, and chitosan coat made a smoother surface according to the scanning electron microscopy. The zeta potential of miliparticles were −30 mV for F5 and +2.7 mV for F11. Fourier transform infrared analysis showed that there was no interaction between olive oil and other excipients. Encapsulation efficiency showed the highest value of 85% in 1:4 (olive oil:alginate solution) miliparticles in F11. Release study indicated a maximum release of 68.22% for F5 and 60.68% for F11 in 24 h (p-value < 0.016). Therefore, coating with chitosan had a marked effect on slowing the release of olive oil. These results indicated that olive oil in various amounts can be successfully encapsulated into the sodium-alginate capsules cross-linked with glutaraldehyde.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no study has used chitosan and sodium alginate as the vehicle polymers for microencapsulation of olive oil.
Foundations and trends in option pricing models: a 45 years global examination based on bibliometric analysis
Authors: Nisha Nisha , Puri Neha , Rajput Namita , Singh Harjit
Published: March 2024

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to analyse and compile the literature on various option pricing models (OPM) or methodologies. The report highlights the gaps in the existing literature review and builds recommendations for potential scholars interested in the subject area.

Design/methodology/approach

In this study, the researchers used a systematic literature review procedure to collect data from Scopus. Bibliometric and structured network analyses were used to examine the bibliometric properties of 864 research documents.

Findings

As per the findings of the study, publication in the field has been increasing at a rate of 6% on average. This study also includes a list of the most influential and productive researchers, frequently used keywords and primary publications in this subject area. In particular, Thematic map and Sankey’s diagram for conceptual structure and for intellectual structure co-citation analysis and bibliographic coupling were used.

Research limitations/implications

Based on the conclusion presented in this paper, there are several potential implications for research, practice and society.

Practical implications

This study provides useful insights for future research in the area of OPM in financial derivatives. Researchers can focus on impactful authors, significant work and productive countries and identify potential collaborators. The study also highlights the commonly used OPMs and emerging themes like machine learning and deep neural network models, which can inform practitioners about new developments in the field and guide the development of new models to address existing limitations.

Social implications

The accurate pricing of financial derivatives has significant implications for society, as it can impact the stability of financial markets and the wider economy. The findings of this study, which identify the most commonly used OPMs and emerging themes, can help improve the accuracy of pricing and risk management in the financial derivatives sector, which can ultimately benefit society as a whole.

Originality/value

It is possibly the initial effort to consolidate the literature on calibration on option price by evaluating and analysing alternative OPM applied by researchers to guide future research in the right direction.
Deblending and interpolation of subsampled blended seismic data based on damped randomized singular spectrum analysis
Authors: Li Zhuowei , Mo Tongtong , Song Jiawen , Wang Benfeng
Published: March 2024

When compared to traditional seismic data acquisition, irregular blended acquisition significantly promotes the acquisition efficiency. Yet, the blending noise of subsampled blended data introduces new obstacles for the subsequent processing of seismic data. Due to the predictability of linear events in the frequency–space domain, the constructed Hankel matrices exhibit low‐rank characteristics. However, the blending noise of subsampled blended data increases the rank, so deblending and interpolation can be implemented via rank‐reduction algorithms such as the singular spectrum analysis. The significant computing cost of the singular value decomposition, however, makes the traditional singular spectrum analysis inefficient. An alternative algorithm, known as the randomized singular spectrum analysis, employs the randomized singular value decomposition instead of the traditional singular value decomposition for rank‐reduction. The randomized singular spectrum analysis significantly enhances the efficiency of the decomposition process, particularly when dealing with large Hankel matrices. There still remains some random noise when using the singular spectrum analysis or randomized singular spectrum analysis for subsampled blended data, because the noise subspace and signal subspace are coupled together. Thus, we incorporate a damping operator into the randomized singular value decomposition and propose a novel damped randomized singular spectrum analysis method. The damped randomized singular spectrum analysis combines the advantages of the randomized singular value decomposition and the damping operator to enhance the computational efficiency and suppress the remaining noise. Moreover, an iterative projected gradient descent strategy is introduced to achieve deblended and interpolated seismic data for subsequent processing. Examples from synthetic data and field data are used to demonstrate the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed damped randomized singular spectrum analysis method, which enhances the accuracy and efficiency during simultaneous deblending and interpolation.
Forest monitoring data of 45 plots across the Japanese archipelago during 1980–2021
Authors: Yoshikawa Tetsuro , Totsu Kumiko , Takeuchi Yayoi , Kadoya Taku , Enoki Tsutomu , Fujii Sakae , Fukamachi Atsuko S. , Hirota Mitsuru , Hoshizaki Kazuhiko , Iiyama Naoki , Ishikawa Yukio , Itô Hiroki , Kobayashi Hajime , Kohyama Takashi S. , Konno Yasuo , Makita Akifumi , Mori Akira S. , Nagamatsu Dai , Nakashizuka Tohru , Namikawa Kanji , Noguchi Mahoko , Sakimoto Michinori , Ozaki Yoshinobu , Seino Tatsuyuki , Sugita Hisashi , Suzuki Jun‐Ichirou , Suzuki Ryo O. , Suzuki Satoshi N. , Takahashi Koichi , Tateno Ryunosuke , Watanabe Ryuichi , Yamashita Tamon , Yoshida Tomohiro , Ishihara Masae I. , Kenta Tanaka , Nakamura Masahiro , Hiura Tsutom
Published: March 2024

Long‐term monitoring of forest tree communities is a basis for elucidating forest structure and dynamics and for evaluating ecosystem functions such as primary production. Because global climate change is changing forest ecosystems from the local to the global scale, it is essential to document long‐term monitoring data of forests to examine the temporal and geographical trends of forest changes. We report monitoring data of 45 forest plots (average area 0.69 ha; range 0.0325–6.25 ha) at 27 sites in Japan. These plots are situated within 32.38° N to 43.36° N and at elevations ranging from 8 to 2453 m above sea level. The forest plots include both old‐growth and secondary forests, and cover various forest biomes, such as warm‐temperate evergreen forests, temperate deciduous broadleaved forests, and boreal or sub‐alpine coniferous forests. In each plot, all living trees and lianas larger than a certain minimum size (typically 15 cm stem girth at breast height) were repeatedly measured and survival and recruitment of stems were recorded over 5–40 years (average 17.3 years). The data are presented in the format used by the Monitoring Sites 1000 Project in Japan (Ishihara et al. 2011, Ecological Research, 26, 1007–1008) and in the sample‐based Darwin Core format. This dataset expands existing open monitoring data for Japanese forests and thereby facilitates further meta‐analysis of forest community structures and changes in relation to climate change and other drivers. The complete data set for this abstract is available in electronic format in MetaCat in JaLTER at http://db.cger.nies.go.jp/JaLTER/metacat/metacat/ERDP-2024-03.1/jalter-en.
Employing a triple metabarcoding approach to differentiate active, dormant and dead microeukaryotes in sediments
Authors: Deng Huiwen , He Cui , Worden Alexandra Z. , Gong Jun
Published: March 2024

Microbial communities are commonly characterised through the metabarcoding of environmental DNA. This DNA originates from both viable (including dormant and active) and dead organisms, leading to recent efforts to distinguish between these states. In this study, we further these approaches by distinguishing not only between viable and dead cells but also between dormant and actively growing cells. This is achieved by sequencing both rRNA and rDNA, in conjunction with propidium monoazide cross‐linked rDNA, to partition the active, dormant and relic fractions in environmental samples. We apply this method to characterise the diversity and assemblage structure of these fractions of microeukaryotes in intertidal sediments during a wet‐dry‐rewet incubation cycle. Our findings indicate that a significant proportion of microeukaryotic phylotypes detected in the total rDNA pools originate from dormant and relic microeukaryotes in the sediments, both in terms of richness (dormant, 13 ± 2%; relic, 47 ± 5%) and read abundance (dormant, 20 ± 7%; relic, 14 ± 5%). The richness and sequence proportion of dormant microeukaryotes notably increase during the transition from wet to dry conditions. Statistical analyses suggest that the dynamics of diversity and assemblage structure across different activity fractions are influenced by various environmental drivers. Our strategy offers a versatile approach that can be adapted to characterise other microbes in a wide range of environments.
History, Paranoia, Fragmentation1
Authors: Carta Stefano
Published: March 2024

In his book Aion, Jung describes something like a quasi‐Hegelian progressive historical realization of the Self in a perspective similar to Fernand Braudel’s longue durée history. This article deals with a similar perspective, as it tries to focus on what we may call a “cultural complex” yet within its unfolding in historical time and belonging not to just one specific cultural group, but to a large cultural basin, which we may indicate as the “West”. This complex marks the birth and development of modernity. The depth, pervasiveness and duration of this cultural complex permeates the lives and psychologies of all of those that are part of it. Therefore, every analytical project must take into account the underlying emotional, epistemic and social field within which this complex constellates. One of the main features of this (trans)cultural complex, strictly connected with the progressive fragmentation of the self and the transformation of the numinosum with its meaning‐giving force, is paranoia. This article analyses the historical and cultural features that produce paranoia and fragmentation and determine paranoid symptoms and attitudes.
War: Mentalization and Totalitarian State of Mind
Authors: Semkiv Iryna
Published: March 2024

For most residents of Europe, war is a new experience in which they find themselves both as witnesses and participants. In this paper the war in Ukraine serves as an illustration and case example. Like any unfamiliar experience, war elicits profound emotional responses which can be so overwhelming that an individual may be unable to fully process them and to create mental representations of the reality of war. When the psyche becomes entrapped in an unprocessed state, without the capacity to derive meaning from it, this results in the “fossilization” of the psyche akin to what McGinley and Segal describes as a totalitarian state of mind. Subjectivity and individual differences come under collective or personal attack, or both. This state of being prioritizes the needs of the collective psyche over the individual psyche. The image of Gorgon Medusa, who transformed living people into “fossilized” ones, is presented as a metaphor of total identification with the collective dimension. In contrast, the psyche can reveal a creative approach to resolving war‐induced trauma. This is depicted in the concept of the Alchemical Stone and its creation, which symbolizes a harmonious connection between the external and internal realms, the subjective and objective experiences, and the real and the imaginal dimension.
Home Sweet Home: CEOs Acquiring Firms in Their Birth Countries
Authors: MARRA ANTONIO , PETTINICCHIO ANGELA , SHALEV RON
Published: March 2024

We find that foreign‐born CEOs are more inclined than domestic‐born ones to acquire across borders, and that this inclination is explained by their preference for targets in their birth country. This preference is motivated by foreign‐born CEOs’ information advantage in their birth country and by these CEOs’ desire to give back to the birth country. CEOs’ desire to help their birth country also influences target location, increasing the likelihood of a target in countries that colonized the CEO birth country. The motives that drive acquisitions in acquirer CEOs’ birth countries measurably affect the returns of acquirers’ shareholders, target premium, and acquisition synergy. Both acquirers’ returns and synergy but not target premium are abnormally positive when the motive for an acquisition is a CEO's information advantage in the birth country. Targets premiums but not acquirers’ returns and synergy are abnormally positive when the motive for an acquisition is the desire to give back to the CEO's birth country.
A review of Agrilus cuprescens (Ménétries, 1832), the rose stem girdler, in North America
Authors: O'Dea Justin K.
Published: March 2024

Agrilus cuprescens (Ménétries, 1832), the rose stem girdler, is a Palearctic Buprestidae (Coleoptera) pest of Rosa and Rubus species. Its introduction and consequent spread across North America may now make it the most widely distributed Agrilus species, globally.

No evidence reviewed indicated A. cuprescens was present in North America long before it was first reported on Rosa in New Jersey, USA, in 1913. The species incrementally progressed westward, reaching the Pacific coast in Washington, USA, 101 years later. Future spread is most likely within the northern Canadian prairies and the Pacific Northwest regions. Its presence in the latter region poses a contemporary threat to epicentres of Rubus production in both the United States and Canada. As of 2022, confirmed spread within the region extended nearly to the Canadian border in Washington and the southern Willamette Valley in Oregon.

The most comprehensive, foundational investigations of A. cuprescens in North America were conducted in the late 1930s and early 1940s in New York, USA, and in Utah, USA, during the late 1950s and early 1960s following damaging outbreaks on Rubus. Ongoing research in the Pacific Northwest is attempting to refine information on this pest as it progresses towards naturalization within a new North American ecological and agricultural context.

This review aggregates and clarifies the geographical progression, biological understandings and management of this species in North America, which has been fraught with a convoluted history of misidentifications, and varying degrees of consideration given to it as a pest of concern.
Exploring the role of smart cities in supporting ageing‐in‐place in Chongqing, China
Authors: Woolrych Ryan , Li Manlin
Published: March 2024

Objective

Through interviews with older adults and professionals in Chongqing, China, this paper explores the challenges and opportunities faced by smart cities that undertake to better support ageing‐in‐place.

Methods

We undertook a qualitative multi‐methods approach, engaging 46 professional stakeholders and 64 older people to examine the role of smart cities in enabling older people to age‐in‐place in Chongqing, China.

Results

With the development of smart cities, technology has the potential to facilitate ageing‐in‐place by creating opportunities for heathy and active ageing. This study identified specific priorities in delivering age‐friendly smart cities, including the following: shaping smart environments around the everyday lives of older people, designing inclusive and equitable smart cities and ensuring strong forms of institutional governance, trust and relationship building with older people.

Conclusions

The age‐friendly city and communities movement (AFCC) and smart city policy instruments have potential for realising active ageing by supporting mobility, access to services and civic participation. However, there exists a disconnect between smart city policy and practice in delivering tangible well‐being outcomes for older people. Addressing this requires greater cross‐sectoral working, reconciling smart city policy priorities with AFCC domains and creating the institutional and governance framework to enable socially sustainable cities to support ageing‐in‐place.
Are innate lymphoid cells friend or foe in human pregnancy?
Authors: Katirci Ertan , Kendirci‐Katirci Remziye , Korgun Emin Turkay
Published: March 2024

Innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) are involved in the innate immune system because they lack specific antigen receptors and lineage markers. ILCs also display phenotypic and characteristic features of adaptive immune cells. Therefore, ILCs are functional in essential interactions between adaptive and innate immunity. ILCs are found in both lymphoid and nonlymphoid tissues and migrate to the area of inflammation during the inflammatory process. ILCs respond to pathogens by producing a variety of cytokines and are involved in the barrier defense of antigens and in many immunological processes such as allergic events. Recent research has shown that ILCs are functional during human pregnancy and have been suggested to be essential for the healthy progression of pregnancy. In this review, we focus on the role of ILCs in human pregnancy by discussing the relationship between ILCs and the pregnancy microenvironment, specifically summarizing the role of ILCs in physiological and pathological pregnancies.
Local political representation as a pathway to power: A natural experiment in India
Authors: Goyal Tanushree
Published: March 2024

What drives the career advancement of female politicians in opaque selection environments where party activists hold sway? I argue that women's higher presence in local politics not only improves party elite responsiveness to greater talent supply (top‐down mechanism) but also expands women's capacity to organize grassroots activist networks to influence party‐nomination decisions (bottom‐up mechanism). Using the natural experiment of gender quotas in Delhi, which cause as‐if‐random variation in the number of local reserved seats within state constituencies, I estimate a novel effect of gender quotas. In state constituencies with women's higher presence in local politics, local female politicians are more likely to be promoted, and senior female politicians are more likely to get renominated. Qualitative evidence shows how women leverage grassroots networks and forge informal connections across party hierarchies. The findings emphasize the pivotal role of women's strategic political networks and grassroots organizing in shaping their political careers.
Encouraging politicians to act on climate: A field experiment with local officials in six countries
Authors: Pereira Miguel M. , Giger Nathalie , Perez Maria D. , Axelsson Kaya
Published: March 2024

Local governments play an important role in addressing the climate crisis. However, despite public support for climate action, local policy responses have been limited. We argue that (1) biased beliefs about voter preferences, (2) the time horizon for credit claiming, and (3) source credibility are barriers for legislators to learn and adopt new environmental policies. We test these arguments in a real policy‐learning context. Representatives from six Western countries received customized invitations to a webinar on climate solutions for local governments. We find that constituency opinion on climate issues made local office‐holders more responsive to public preferences. Invitations sent by a climate scientist and emphasizing shorter term policy effects increased interest in the webinar, but did not boost the likelihood of policy commitments. Only US officials responded negatively to climate scientists. The results reveal concrete steps to induce climate action and contribute to scholarship on policy learning.
Sentiment analysis incorporating convolutional neural network into hiddenMarkovmodel
Authors: Najafabadi Maryam Khanian
Published: March 2024

The analysis of sentiments and mining of opinions have become more and more important in years because of the development of social media technologies. The methods that utilize natural language processing and lexicon‐based sentiment analysis techniques to analyze people's opinions in texts require the proper extraction of sentiment words to ensure accuracy. The current issue is tackled with a novel perspective in this paper by introducing a hybrid sentiment analysis technique. This technique brings together Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) and Hidden Markov Models (HMMs), to accurately categorize text data and pinpoint feelings. The proposed method involves 1D convolutional‐layer CNN to extract hidden features from comments and applying HMMs on a feature‐sentence matrix, allowing for the utilization of word sequences in extracting opinions. The method effectively captures diverse text patterns by extracting a range of features from texts using CNN. Text patterns are learned using text HMM by calculating the probabilities between sequences of feature vectors and clustering feature vectors. The paper's experimental evaluation employs benchmark datasets such as CR, MR, Subj, and SST2, demonstrating that the proposed method surpasses existing sentiment analysis techniques and traditional HMMs. One of its strengths is to analyze a range of text patterns and identify crucial features that recognize the emotion of different pieces of a sentence. Additionally, the research findings highlight the improved performance of sentiment analysis tasks through the strategic use of zero padding in conjunction with the masking technique.
The absence of mandatory pregnancy warning labels in online alcohol purchasing contexts
Authors: Pettigrew Simone , Davies Tazman , O'Brien Paula , Sträuli Bella , Petticrew Mark , Bowden Jacquie
Published: March 2024

Introduction

As people increasingly migrate to online shopping platforms, hard‐won improvements in requirements for consumer information provision at the point of sale are being eroded. An example is the alcohol pregnancy warning label for packaged alcoholic beverages that has been recently introduced in Australia and New Zealand. The aim of the present study was to assess the extent to which the pregnancy warning was visible at the online point of sale when the requirement became mandatory in August 2023.

Methods

Data for alcohol products sold on the websites of the two largest alcohol retailers in Australia were web‐scraped from 1 to 3 August 2023. The captured data for 8343 alcoholic beverages were inspected to determine whether the pregnancy warning was visible.

Results

Virtually no products (0.1%) had the mandatory warning visible on the main sales page, and only 7% enabled visibility of the warning via optional product image rotation functionality.

Discussion and Conclusions

The almost complete absence of the mandatory pregnancy warnings on the main product pages of major alcohol retailers' websites highlights the regulatory problems posed by the emerging shift to online shopping. The very low prevalence of visible pregnancy warnings is likely to be an overestimate of the extent to which consumers would be exposed to warnings due to images being counted as being present regardless of their quality or readability. New regulation is needed to ensure that mandatory information requirements for harmful products are applied to online shopping contexts.
Shift in piscivory by salmonids following invasion of a minnow in an oligotrophic reservoir
Authors: Johnson Rachelle C. , Hoy Marshal S. , Stenberg Karl D. , Mclean Jonathan H. , Jensen Benjamin L. , Code Tessa J. , Ostberg Carl O. , Beauchamp David A.
Published: March 2024

Predation can play an important role in structuring ecological communities, and predator–prey dynamics can be altered following the introduction of new species. An unauthorized introduction of redside shiner (Richardsonius balteatus) into reservoirs in the Upper Skagit River, Washington, USA created concern that a consequent shift in predator–prey dynamics in the reservoirs could reduce recruitment and production of native salmonids in the basin. We estimated predation mortality in Ross Lake on nonnative redside shiner and juvenile native salmonids to evaluate the potential role of predation in regulating these populations and limiting survival of native species of concern. We used bioenergetics modelling and stable isotope analysis combined with directed field measurements of growth, seasonal diet and thermal experience of piscivorous salmonids to quantify their consumption demand on prey fishes to evaluate the relative magnitude of predation mortality on invasive redside shiners and native salmonids. While redside shiner are the dominant prey fish species in Ross Lake, the modest biomass of native salmonids consumed could translate into substantial mortality, the magnitude of which depended on the timing and size at which prey fishes were eaten. This information provides important context for how nonnative species may indirectly impact native species through shared predation (apparent competition) and can inform conservation decisions surrounding nonnative species control, sustainability of native salmonids and introductions of anadromous fishes.
The presence and burden of cognitive issues: discordance between the perception of neurologists and people living with multiple sclerosis
Authors: Penner Iris‐Katharina , Heras Virginia De Las , Jones Eddie , Hetherington Suzannah , Karu Himanshu , Chetlangia Rahul , Biswas Sourav , Castro Patricia Dominguez , Lines Carol
Published: March 2024

Background and purpose

Cognitive impairment is a common symptom of multiple sclerosis (MS) and occurs in more than 40% of people living with MS (plwMS). No real‐world study has assessed the perception of neurologists and plwMS on cognitive issues.

Methods

Using data from the 2011–2019 Adelphi MS Disease Specific Programme database, this real‐world, retrospective, cross‐sectional multi‐cohort study included people aged ≥18 years with relapsing–remitting MS and secondary progressive MS from the United States, UK and the EU. Neurologists provided data on the patient record form for plwMS, with the same plwMS invited to voluntarily complete a patient self‐completion form: a questionnaire about their experiences with MS.

Results

Of 25,374 plwMS, 4817 who provided information on cognitive and mood symptoms were included in the analysis. Of the plwMS, 68% and 59% reported feeling ‘mentally fatigued’ and having ‘difficulty concentrating’, respectively. Neurologists reported only 27% of plwMS as having ‘difficulty concentrating’ and 15% of plwMS as having ‘short‐/long‐term memory problems’. Neurologists reported cognitive or mood symptoms as ‘not experienced’ by a higher percentage of participants with relapsing–remitting MS than secondary progressive MS. Of the plwMS who experienced ‘difficulty concentrating’, most had a concomitant feeling of being ‘mentally fatigued’ (52%), followed by ‘feeling anxious or tense’ (49%) and ‘feeling depressed’ (44%). In plwMS, caregivers reported ‘difficulty concentrating’ (16%) as the most common cognitive issue.

Conclusion

A clear discordance was observed between neurologists and plwMS regarding the perception of the cognitive and neuropsychiatric issues. These results underline the under‐perception of cognitive and emotional affective symptoms in plwMS during neurological consultations.