bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The value of TPM for Portuguese companies
Authors: Vaz Eduardo , Vieira De Sá José Carlos , Santos Gilberto , Correia Florbela , Ávila Paulo 
Published: October 2021

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to assess the impact of a maintenance philosophy, Total Productive Maintenance (TPM), on the operational performance of the Portuguese industry, identifying how it enables the systematic reduction of waste in maintenance.Design/methodology/approachA structured questionnaire was constructed and sent to 472 Portuguese enterprises, having obtained a sample constituted of 84 valid answers. With a five-point Likert scale, it was possible to assess the impact of the TPM on five operational performance dimensions, being them: quality, flexibility, productivity, safety and costs.FindingsIt was found that the planned maintenance, together with education and training are the practices with the highest degree of implementation in the Portuguese industry, exceeding 70% for both. The productivity is the dimension with a higher degree of impact from the implementation of TPM and costs the dimension that suffered a lesser impact.Practical implicationsThis paper shows and analyses the current state of TPM implementation in the Portuguese industry and it will be useful for maintenance professionals, researchers and others concerned with maintenance, in order to understand the effects of TPM implementation on the operational performance of the Portuguese industries.Originality/valueThe findings from this paper will be valuable for professionals who desire and are looking forward to implement an effective maintenance approach in the maintenance management system, in order to achieve the excellence in maintenance.
Role of governance on SME exports and performance
Authors: Dubey Vivek Kumar , Das Arindam 
Published: October 2021

PurposeThis paper aims to investigate the effect of governance – a proxy for network effects on small and medium enterprises (SME) growth through access to new markets. Specifically, investigate how export intensity (EI) and performance are affected. This study also tests related theories, given the growth in the post-liberalization setting of a developing economy. Specifically, this study tests Uppsala and born global (BG) perspectives for internationalization and resource-based view for performance.Design/methodology/approachThe authors collect secondary data for each SME over a 20 year period from a growth-oriented developing economy – India. This period is after the liberalization of the Indian economy. Thus, the authors test the hypotheses in this context. The authors expect that exports would surge for SMEs given the governance structures considered. The authors consider several governance modes and two types of product classifications, namely, products and services.FindingsThe authors find conditional support for the two models – indicating that governance structures do not consistently support finding new markets. Further, given the governance structure, EI is not consistently a means to improved performance. This is contrary to the expectations. However, at the same time, the authors do find evidence that governance matters and affects products and services differently.Research limitations/implicationsWhile the authors conduct research in India which has a variety of cultures and state policies, the authors still believe comparative study with multi-country data from developing countries might bring further insights. Further, primary data would also help to understand governance and motivational effects (the authors did not consider the later). Implications: The authors believe the research will have implications for policy since the authors find effects of governance. Hence, specific policies that improve the performance of a governance type could be adopted.Practical implicationsAlthough SMEs are affected by many factors, the authors find significant effects for important variables. Hence, the authors believe the government could use the study to design proper policies so that new markets could be discovered through different governance forms, through strategic investment and capacity building.Social implicationsSMEs are a key part of the social fabric of a society/country. The work deals with how SMEs could be helped. Hence, the authors believe the work has important implications for society. Further, as the work deals with large firm-SME interfaces, the authors also inform how these different governance structures are performing and where attention is needed.Originality/valueThe authors find that certain governance-type and SME-type work well together. Further, networks through the governance structures help find new markets – depending on SME-type. The authors find partial support for the Uppsala model and also for the BG model, again depending on the SME-type.
Low-cost real-time fiber optic sensor for intrusion detection
Authors: Abdallah Adel , Fouad Mohamed M. , Ahmed Hesham N. 
Published: October 2021

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to introduce a novel intensity-modulated fiber optic sensor for real-time intrusion detection using a fiber-optic microbend sensor and an optical time-domain reflectometer (OTDR).

Design/methodology/approach
The proposed system is tested using different scenarios using person/car as intruders. Experiments are conducted in the lab and in the field. In the beginning, the OTDR trace is obtained and recorded as a reference signal without intrusion events. The second step is to capture the OTDR trace with intrusion events in one or multiple sectors. This measured signal is then compared to the reference signal and processed by matrix laboratory to determine the intruded sector. Information of the intrusion is displayed on an interactive screen implemented by Visual basic. The deformer is designed and implemented using SOLIDWORKS three-dimensional computer aided design Software.

Findings
The system is tested for intrusions by performing two experiments. The first experiment is performed for both persons (>50 kg) in the lab and cars in an open field with a car moving at 60 km/h using two optical fiber sectors of lengths 200 and 500 m. For test purposes, the deformer length used in the experiment is 2 m. The used signal processing technique in the first experiment has some limitations and its accuracy is 70% after measuring and recording 100 observations. To overcome these limitations, a second experiment with another technique of signal processing is performed.

Research limitations/implications
The system can perfectly display consecutive intrusions of the sectors, but in case of simultaneous intrusions of different sectors, which is difficult to take place in real situations, there will be the ambiguity of the number of intruders and the intruded sector. This will be addressed in future work. Suitable and stable laser power is required to get a suitable level of backscattered power. Optimization of the deformer is required to enhance the sensitivity and reliability of the sensor.

Practical implications
The proposed work enables us to benefit from the ease of implementation and the reduced cost of the intensity-modulated fiber optic sensors because it overcomes the constraints that prevent using the intensity-modulated fiber optic sensors for intrusion detection.

Originality/value
The proposed system is the first time long-range intensity-modulated fiber optic sensor for intrusion detection.
Mechanical properties of the concrete with recycled coarse aggregate surface treated by microbes
Authors: S. Jagan , T.R. Neelakantan 
Published: October 2021

Purpose
Scarcity in the construction aggregates necessitated the use of suitable alternative materials such as recycled aggregates. However, the higher porosity of recycled aggregates due to the presence of adhered mortar affects its quality resulting in limited utilization. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the use of Bacillus subtilis to enhance the properties of the recycled coarse aggregate (RCA). The strains of the bacterial species were collected from the Gene bank, Chandigarh, and cultured to 105 cells/ml to treat the RCA.

Design/methodology/approach
The concrete mixtures are prepared with 0%, 50% and 100% of treated and untreated RCA by mortar mixing approach. The concrete specimens are tested for compressive strength, split tensile strength, flexural strength and elastic modulus at 7, 14 and 28 days, respectively.

Findings
Microbial treatment to RCAs increased the weight of the aggregate and decreased the water absorption of the aggregates. The optimal replacement of RCA was observed to be 50% and the strength of the concrete with 50% of treated RCA was comparable to the normal aggregate concrete. The CaCO3 precipitation by bacterial species fills the pores on the RCA and thus increasing the strength of the concrete.

Originality/value
The originality of the research is to produce concrete with waste recycled aggregate treated by bacteria to overcome the problem of scarcity in construction materials.
Female spouses lived experiences of living with a husband with dementia: a qualitative study on changes in everyday life
Authors: Egilstrød Barbara , Petersen Kirsten Schultz 
Published: October 2021

Purpose
The purpose of this study is to gain a deeper understanding of female spouses’ lived experiences of changes in everyday life while living with a husband with dementia.

Design/methodology/approach
Nine individual interviews of female spouses were conducted in 2017. A phenomenological narrative approach was applied during data collection, and the analysis was inspired by Amedeo Giorgi’s analytic steps.

Findings
Female spouses experienced changes in their marital relationships, and found ways of managing these changes, although they realized life was marked by loneliness and distress. The identified themes reveal how female spouses experienced changes in everyday life as the disease progressed. Everyday routines gradually changed and they actively sought ways to uphold everyday life and a marital relationship.

Research limitations/implications
Research should focus on developing supportive interventions, where the people with the lived experiences in relation to dementia are involved in the research process, to better target the needs for support, when developing interventions.

Practical implications
Insight into everyday life can help health-care service providers to better the support to female spouses and contribute with more individualized support, which may contribute to the quality of care.

Originality/value
In this study, the authors disclose the invisible and silent work that takes place in an everyday life, when living with a husband with dementia during the time span of caregiving. Spouses’ experiences are important to include, when developing intervention to support spouses to better tailor the interventions.
Population level consequences of facultatively cooperative behaviour in a stochastic environment
Authors: Busana Michela , Childs Dylan Z. , Burke Terrence A. , Komdeur Jan , Richardson David S. , Dugdale Hannah L. 
Published: October 2021

Abstract

The social environment in which individuals live affects their fitness and in turn population dynamics as a whole. Birds with facultative cooperative breeding can live in social groups with dominants, subordinate helpers that assist with the breeding of others, and subordinate non‐helpers. Helping behaviour benefits dominants through increased reproductive rates and reduced extrinsic mortality, such that cooperative breeding might have evolved in response to unpredictable, harsh conditions affecting reproduction and/or survival of the dominants. Additionally, there may be different costs and benefits to both helpers and non‐helpers, depending on the time‐scale. For example, early‐life costs might be compensated by later‐life benefits. These differential effects are rarely analysed in the same study.

We examined whether helping behaviour affects population persistence in a stochastic environment and whether there are direct fitness consequences of different life‐history tactics adopted by helpers and non‐helpers.

We parameterised a matrix population model describing the population dynamics of female Seychelles warblers Acrocephalus sechellensis, birds that display facultative cooperative breeding. The stochastic density‐dependent model is defined by a (st)age structure that includes life‐history differences between helpers and non‐helpers and thus can estimate the demographic mechanisms of direct benefits of helping behaviour.

We found that population dynamics are strongly influenced by stochastic variation in the reproductive rates of the dominants, that helping behaviour promotes population persistence and that there are only early‐life differences in the direct fitness of helpers and non‐helpers.

Through a matrix population model, we captured multiple demographic rates simultaneously and analysed their relative importance in determining population dynamics of these cooperative breeders. Disentangling early‐life versus lifetime effects of individual tactics sheds new light on the costs and benefits of helping behaviour. For example, the finding that helpers and non‐helpers have similar lifetime reproductive outputs and that differences in reproductive values between the two life‐history tactics arise only in early life suggests that overall, helpers and non‐helpers have a similar balance of costs and benefits when analysing direct benefits. We recommend analysing the consequence of different life‐history tactics, during both early life and over the lifetime, as analyses of these different time frames may produce conflicting results.
SARS‐CoV‐2 and pregnancy outcomes under universal and non‐universal testing in Sweden: register‐based nationwide cohort study
Authors: Stephansson O , Pasternak B , Ahlberg M , Hervius Askling H , Aronsson B , Appelqvist E , Jonsson J , Sengpiel V , Söderling J , Norman M , Ludvigsson JF , Neovius M 
Published: October 2021

ObjectiveTo assess associations of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2) infection and pregnancy outcomes considering testing policy and test‐positivity‐to‐delivery interval.DesignNationwide cohort study.SettingSweden.PopulationFrom the Pregnancy‐Register we identified 88 593 singleton births, 11 March 2020–31 January 2021, linked to data on SARS‐CoV‐2‐positivity from the Public Health Agency, and information on neonatal care admission from the Neonatal Quality Register. Adjusted odds ratios (aORs) were estimated stratified by testing‐policy and test‐positivity‐to‐delivery interval.Main outcome measuresFive‐minute Apgar score, neonatal care admission, stillbirth and preterm birth.ResultsDuring pregnancy, SARS‐CoV‐2 test‐positivity was 5.4% (794/14 665) under universal testing and 1.9% (1402/73 928) under non‐universal testing. There were generally lower risks associated with SARS‐CoV‐2 under universal than non‐universal testing. In women testing positive >10 days from delivery, generally no significant differences in risk were observed under either testing policy. Neonatal care admission was more common (15.3% versus 8.0%; aOR 2.24, 95% CI 1.62–3.11) in women testing positive ≤10 days before delivery under universal testing. There was no significant association with 5‐minute Apgar score below 7 (1.0% versus 1.7%; aOR 0.64, 95% CI 0.24–1.72) or stillbirth (0.3% versus 0.4%; aOR 0.72, 95% CI 0.10–5.20). Compared with term births (2.1%), test‐positivity was higher in medically indicated preterm birth (5.7%; aOR 2.70, 95% CI 1.60–4.58) but not significantly increased in spontaneous preterm birth (2.3%; aOR 1.12, 95% CI 0.62–2.02).ConclusionsTesting policy and timing of test‐positivity impact associations between SARS‐CoV‐2‐positivity and pregnancy outcomes. Under non‐universal testing, women with complications near delivery are more likely to be tested than women without complications, thereby inflating any association with adverse pregnancy outcomes compared with findings under universal testing.Tweetable abstractTesting policy and time from SARS‐CoV‐2 infection to delivery influence the association with pregnancy outcomes.
Factors influencing oral cancer screening preferences in patients attending Tertiary Care University Oral Health Clinic
Authors: McGowan B , Grace H , Beste D , Frey S , Bridges J , Sun J , Nair RG 
Published: October 2021

AbstractBackgroundUnderstanding factors that influence patients' preferences towards oral cancer (OC) screening is imperative to provide high‐quality evidence‐based OC screening interventions that can be targeted for population‐level uptake. This study determined adult patients' knowledge and awareness of OC, and how health behaviours influenced their preferences towards OC screening.MethodsThis cross‐sectional study used a 42‐point questionnaire, between February and May 2020 using a combination of in‐person and telephone interviews. Chi‐square test and multiple logistic regression analysis were applied to confounding factors that returned statistical significance against OC knowledge and awareness. Significance of P < 0.05 was accepted.ResultsSixty‐eight (38.6%) participants out of a total 176 had good knowledge of OC and 89 (50.6%) had good awareness. A total of 31.8% reported preference for OC screening by a general dental practitioner (GDP) over a general medical practitioner (GMP). Majority (72.7%) reported acceptance of OC screening at their next GDP visit. Ages 56–70 (OR = 0.357, 95% CI) and previous smokers (OR = 0.336, 95% CI) significantly influenced screening preferences. Knowledge of risk factors did not significantly influence OC screening preferences (χ2 = 3.178, P = 0.075).ConclusionsSignificant gaps in OC knowledge, screening and role of GDPs exist with smoking history and age influencing OC screening preferences.
LGBTI attitudes towards and experiences of aged care: Results of an exploratory survey
Authors: McClean Tom 
Published: October 2021

AbstractObjectiveTo gather views of older LGBTI (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex) people on their experiences and expectations of aged care.MethodsAn online survey of participants recruited through a large provider in NSW, Australia, and three organisations in the LGBTI community.ResultsRespondents were older members of the LGBTI community, with a range of kinds of experience of aged care (including as clients, workers and advocates). They were somewhat skewed towards regional areas and many reported different kinds of vulnerability. They reported feeling safe to disclose their LGBTI status when engaging with services and not having difficulties on that basis. However, most disagreed that services currently meet the needs of LGBTI people. They said visible signs of welcome, inclusive language, treating disclosures sensitively and managing relations with partners and family were most important for older LGBTI people. Their own choices about aged care would be influenced by service inclusiveness and quality. There were no clear trends by demography, vulnerability or other characteristics.ConclusionsProviders should continue to focus on inclusiveness, and improve support for managing relations with family.
Democracy by Deterrence: Norms, Constitutions, and Electoral Tilting
Authors: Helmke Gretchen , Kroeger Mary , Paine Jack 
Published: October 2021

AbstractIn contemporary democracies, backsliding typically occurs through legal machinations. Self‐enforcing democracy requires that political parties refrain from exploiting legal opportunities to tilt electoral rules. Using a formal model, we argue that informal norms of mutual forbearance and formal constitutional rules are fundamentally intertwined via a logic of deterrence. By circumscribing how far each party can legally bend the rules, legal bounds create reversion points if mutual forbearance collapses. If legal bounds are symmetric between parties, they deter electoral tilting by making credible each party's threat to punish transgressions by the other. If legal bounds become sufficiently asymmetric, however, the foundations for forbearance crumble. Asymmetries emerge when some groups (a) are more vulnerable than others to legally permissible electoral distortions and (b) favored and disfavored groups sort heavily into parties. We apply this mechanism to explain gerrymandering and voting rights in the United States in the post‐Civil Rights era.
Cardiovascular and renal effects of novel nonpeptide nociceptin opioid peptide receptor agonists
Authors: Denys Ian B. , Gao Juan , Sutphen Jane C. , Zaveri Nurulain T. , Kapusta Daniel R. 
Published: October 2021

Background and PurposePartial agonists of the nociceptin opioid peptide (NOP) receptor have potential therapeutic use as antihypertensive and water diuretics (aquaretics). To date, peptide NOP receptor ligands have failed to progress in clinical trials due to poor pharmacokinetics and adverse effects. Nonpeptide, small‐molecule NOP receptor ligands may be more suitable as therapeutic agents. This study investigated the cardiovascular and renal responses produced by the novel nonpeptide NOP agonists AT‐403, AT‐090, AT‐127, and AT‐039.Experimental ApproachChanges in mean arterial pressure (MAP), heart rate (HR), renal excretory function and occurrence of sedation and hyperphagia were determined before and after i.v. bolus injection or infusion of the NOP agonists in conscious Sprague–Dawley rats. Additional studies involving (i) measurement of renal sympathetic nerve activity (RSNA) and (ii) renal denervation were conducted to investigate the role of the renal nerves in the cardiorenal responses to AT‐039.Key ResultsBolus i.v. injection of AT‐403, AT‐090, AT‐127 and AT‐039 produced significant decreases in MAP and HR and a sodium‐sparing diuresis. AT‐403, AT‐090, and AT‐127, but not AT‐039, induced sedation and hyperphagia at all doses tested. Infusion i.v. of AT‐039 produced hypotension and aquaresis without adverse central nervous system effects or change in HR, responses that were also observed in renal denervated rats.Conclusions and ImplicationsNonpeptide NOP agonists decrease blood pressure and produce aquaresis in conscious rodents. Due to lack of sedation and hyperphagia, AT‐039 represents a novel NOP agonist that may be useful for treatment of hypertension and/or volume overload/hyponatraemic states.