bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Comparative study of corrosion-based service life prediction of reinforced concrete structures using traditional and machine learning approach
Authors: Rajender Amgoth , Samanta Amiya K. , Paral Animesh 
Published: September 2024

PurposeAccurate predictions of the steady-state corrosion phase and service life to achieve specific safety limits are crucial for assessing the service of reinforced concrete (RC) structures. Forecasting the service life (SL) of structures is imperative for devising maintenance and repair strategy plans. The optimization of maintenance strategies serves to prolong asset life, mitigate asset failures, minimize repair costs and enhance health and safety standards for society.Design/methodology/approachThe well-known empirical conventional (traditional) approaches and machine learning (ML)-based SL prediction models were presented and compared. A comprehensive parametric study was conducted on existing models, considering real-world conditions as reported in the literature. The analysis of traditional and ML models underscored their respective limitations.FindingsEmpirical models have been developed by considering simplified assumptions and relying on factors such as corrosion rate, steel reinforcement diameter and concrete cover depth, utilizing fundamental mathematical formulas. The growth of ML in the structural domain has been identified and highlighted. The ML can capture complex relationships between input and output variables. The performance of ML in corrosion and service life evaluation has been satisfactory. The limitations of ML techniques are discussed, and its open challenges are identified, along with insights into the future direction to develop more accurate and reliable models.Practical implicationsTo enhance the traditional modeling of service life, key areas for future research have been highlighted. These include addressing the heterogeneous properties of concrete, the permeability of concrete and incorporating the interaction between temperature and bond-slip effect, which has been overlooked in existing models. Though the performance of the ML model in service life assessment is satisfactory, models overlooked some parameters, such as the material characterization and chemical composition of individual parameters, which play a significant role. As a recommendation, further research should take these factors into account as input parameters and strive to develop models with superior predictive capabilities.Originality/valueRecent deployment has revealed that ML algorithms can grasp complex relationships among key factors impacting deterioration and offer precise evaluations of remaining SL without relying on traditional models. Incorporation of more comprehensive and diverse data sources toward potential future directions in the RC structural domain can provide valuable insights to decision-makers, guiding their efforts toward the creation of even more resilient, reliable, cost-efficient and eco-friendly RC structures.
The impact of organizational culture on knowledge sharing and absorptive capacity: a study of the microfinance institutions in Pakistan
Authors: Iqbal Salman , Ullah Sami , Rizwan Amina , Nazeer Naima , Rasheed Mamoona , Siddiqi Ahmed Faisal Imtiaz 
Published: September 2024

PurposeMicrofinance institutions (MFI) must adapt to rapidly changing market conditions, including stringent regulations and diverse customer demands, necessitating a high absorptive capacity. This research elucidates how organizational culture promotes knowledge sharing, thereby enhancing an organization’s ability to absorb and utilize new knowledge, with particular attention to the moderating role of MFI size.Design/methodology/approachData were collected from 450 randomly selected employees of MFIs in Pakistan. Hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling in WarpPLS 8.0.FindingsThe findings show that knowledge sharing mediates the relationship between organizational culture and absorptive capacity. The impact is more pronounced in larger MFIs, while smaller MFIs exhibit greater agility in adapting to new knowledge.Practical implicationsMFIs, particularly in dynamic markets like Pakistan, should enhance their absorptive capacity by fostering an organizational culture that promotes knowledge sharing. While larger MFIs benefit from structured knowledge-sharing practices, they should address potential bureaucratic impediments to maintain agility.Social implicationsBy improving absorptive capacity, MFIs can better innovate and tailor their services to underserved communities, contributing to financial inclusion and poverty alleviation in Pakistan. This research provides insights for policymakers and practitioners on fostering sustainable development through strategic organizational practices in MFIs.Originality/valueThe findings offer a practical framework linking theoretical concepts from the resource-based and knowledge-based views to real-world applications, particularly in developing economies. It emphasizes the crucial role of organizational culture in enabling MFIs to adapt and thrive in challenging environments.
Can—and should—automaticity be self‐reported using a single item? A secondary analysis of 16 datasets
Authors: Gardner Benjamin , Lally Phillippa , Rebar Amanda L. 
Published: September 2024

AbstractUnderstanding the influence of habit on health behaviour, or the formation or disruption of health habits over time, requires reliable and valid measures of automaticity. The most used measure, the Self‐Report Behavioural Automaticity Index (SRBAI; derived from the Self‐Report Habit Index [SRHI]), comprises four items, which may be impractical in some research contexts. Responding to demand from fellow researchers, this study sought to identify whether and which single items from the SRBAI adequately detect hypothesised effects of automaticity, via secondary analysis of 16 datasets, incorporating 16,838 participants and seven different behaviours. We assessed construct validity through correlations between each item and the full SRBAI (and where possible, the SRHI) and predictive validity by examining correlations with behaviour. All four single‐item measures independently met construct and predictive validity criteria. We recognise compelling conceptual and methodological arguments regarding why people should not attempt to assess automaticity via a single, self‐report item. However, where circumstances require brief measures, three SRBAI items each offer a credible and practical one‐item measure that can substitute for the SRBAI or SRHI. We recommend one item in particular—‘Behaviour X is something I do automatically’—because it tended to most closely replicate the effects of the four‐item SRBAI.
Artificial Intelligence: Opportunities and Challenges for Public Administration
Authors: David Geneviève 
Published: September 2024

AbstractArtificial intelligence (AI) could be at the heart of a fourth revolution by significantly changing professional identity, relationships between individuals and resource management. To help public administration practitioners and researchers cope with changes anticipated by AI, this research note maps existing conceptual approaches on the opportunities and challenges of AI in public administration and proposes a conceptual framework and initiatives that can inform and support effective, public interest‐oriented technology policymaking. This research note outlines a potential research agenda, with multi‐level opportunities and challenges, to accelerate this critical work.
TCSR: Self‐attention with time and category for session‐based recommendation
Authors: Zhu Xiaoyan , Zhang Yu , Li Jiaxuan , Wang Jiayin , Lai Xin 
Published: September 2024

AbstractSession‐based recommendation that uses sequence of items clicked by anonymous users to make recommendations has drawn the attention of many researchers, and a lot of approaches have been proposed. However, there are still problems that have not been well addressed: (1) Time information is either ignored or exploited with a fixed time span and granularity, which fails to understand the personalized interest transfer pattern of users with different clicking speeds; (2) Category information is either omitted or considered independent of the items, which defies the fact that the relationships between categories and items are helpful for the recommendation. To solve these problems, we propose a new session‐based recommendation method, TCSR (self‐attention with time and category for session‐based recommendation). TCSR uses a non‐linear normalized time embedding to perceive user interest transfer patterns on variable granularity and employs a heterogeneous SAN to make full use of both items and categories. Moreover, a cross‐recommendation unit is adapted to adjust recommendations on the item and category sides. Extensive experiments on four real datasets show that TCSR significantly outperforms state‐of‐the‐art approaches.
Dispersal direction, geographic location and river discharge all influence juvenile growth of a freshwater fish
Authors: Barrow Joshua S. , Morrongiello John R. , Koehn John D. , Zampatti Brenton , Fanson Ben , Thiem Jason D. , Tonkin Zeb , Koster Wayne M. , Butler Gavin L. , Strawbridge Arron , Brooks Steven G. , Woods Ryan , Yen Jian D. L. 
Published: September 2024

Abstract

Seeking out appropriate habitat or food resources is one of the key reasons why animals move. Despite the benefits of movement, some individuals in a population remain resident or express alternative movement phenotypes. Movement, however, is energetically costly and can result in resources being diverted away from growth and reproduction. The presence of multiple movement phenotypes within populations suggests that each can have commensurate levels of performance depending on the underlying environmental conditions.

Here we explore the context‐dependent costs and benefits of upstream and downstream juvenile dispersal in a large river system. We expect that if the energetic costs of moving (upstream against a current or downstream with a current) exceed any benefits to growth, then residents (who do not move) will have faster growth. Alternatively, movement costs may be offset if individuals move to more favourable environments, resulting in dispersers benefiting with faster growth.

We used biological information naturally archived in the otoliths of a potamodromous fish, golden perch Macquaria ambigua, to quantify how movement phenotypes affect growth across individuals exposed to spatiotemporally varying environmental conditions.

We found that juvenile growth differed considerably among dispersal phenotypes (resident, upstream, downstream, stocked): in general, surviving wild‐spawned downstream and upstream dispersers and hatchery‐stocked fish all grew faster than individuals that remained resident within their natal reach. Further, juvenile growth was sensitive to local environmental conditions and had carryover effects from an individual's natal‐year. Juvenile growth of all dispersal phenotypes was higher in years with below average natal‐year summer discharge (when fish are ~2–3 months old), likely because of increased concentrations of food resources. In contrast, the effects of natal‐year spring discharge (around the time individuals were spawned) were dependent on dispersal direction, with positive effects for downstream dispersers and upstream dispersers, and negative effects for resident individuals.

Our results suggest that an individual's growth can benefit from early‐life movement, although the magnitude of this effect depends on local environmental conditions and the direction travelled. Our study reinforces the importance of heterogeneous and connected riverscapes that foster a diversity of individual growth responses.
Associations Among Family Strengths, Depression and Life Satisfaction Between Disabled Children and Their Parent Caregivers: An Actor–Partner Interdependence Mediation Model
Authors: Kim Yoonjung , Chae Heemin 
Published: September 2024

ABSTRACTAimTo explore the actor–partner effect and mediating role of depression on family strength and life satisfaction among children with disabilities and their parent–caregiver dyads.DesignA cross‐sectional study using secondary data collected from the 2020 (third) Korea Disability and Life Dynamics Panel.MethodsThis study included 434 Korean dyads of children with disabilities and their parent caregivers. A dyadic analysis was performed using the actor–partner interdependence mediation model.ResultsThe findings showed significant indirect actor effects of family strength on life satisfaction through depression for children with disabilities and their parent caregivers. The direct partner effects of one's family strengths on a partner's life satisfaction were statistically significant only for children. Additionally, significant indirect partner effects were observed in the association between parents' family strengths and children's life satisfaction through their own and their children's depression. The findings indicated that the life satisfaction of children with disabilities was more likely to be affected by their parent caregivers' perceived family strengths and depression.ConclusionIt is significant for health professionals to acknowledge the mediating and cross‐over pathways linking family strengths to life satisfaction through depression and, thus, focus on family‐based strategies to enhance life satisfaction among children with disabilities and their parent caregivers.Implications for the Profession and/or Patient CareThis study highlights the need for family‐oriented mental health interventions and education to promote life satisfaction among children with disabilities and their parent caregivers.ImpactBasic data were provided for establishing efficient healthcare education and counselling protocols and integrated family intervention programmes that can contribute to improving life satisfaction through the reduction of depression by strengthening the family strengths of disabled children–parent caregivers dyads. In future, studies should explore dyadic interdependence among children with disabilities and their parent caregivers.Reporting MethodSTROBE guidelines were followed for this study.Patient or Public ContributionNo public or patient contribution was required for this study.
Política estatal en territorio indígena: Los negocios étnicos turísticos (NET) en San Pedro de Atacama, Norte de Chile
Authors: Valenzuela América , Chiappe Carlos 
Published: September 2024

AbstractSince 2000, Atacama communities and state agencies established agreements for the installation of a management system for natural and archaeological sites located in Los Flamencos National Reserve (Northern Chile) that have become prominent ethnic tourist businesses‐henceforth NET. The NETs not only represent a matter of economic entrepreneurship in the context of mass tourism in San Pedro de Atacama, but also an exercise of power to mitigate the negative effects of tourism and protect the territory. From an ethnographic perspective, the present study addresses the processes of agreement, installation and functioning of three cases of the Atacama NETs and their relationship with the indigenous state policy.
Evaluating Weight Status, Snacking Patterns, and Physical Activity Levels Among Primary Schoolchildren in Relizane, Algeria: A Comprehensive Analysis
Authors: Hadri Zouheyr , Benada M'hamed , Boumaaza Boualem , Boudalia Sofiane 
Published: September 2024

ABSTRACTObjectivesThis study aimed to comprehensively assess the weight status, snack consumption, and physical activity levels among primary schoolchildren, with a focus on both rural and urban areas.MethodsThis cross‐sectional study surveyed 557 primary schoolchildren aged 6 to 12 years, covering general identification (age, gender), anthropometric measurements (body weight, height, waist, and hip circumference), food patterns (frequency of food consumption), and sports activities.ResultsUsing CDC body mass index thresholds, we identified a 25% prevalence of obesity and over 17% for overweight, revealing a significant urban–rural disparity. In urban areas, boys had a higher obesity rate (32.58%), while girls had a higher overweight rate (15%). Conversely, in rural regions, girls had a higher obesity rate (24.82%), and boys had a higher overweight rate (22.3%). Dietary analysis showed that over 86% consumed three daily meals, but distinctions in snack choices, such as chips, wafers, and biscuits, were noted between urban and rural areas. Additionally, urban schoolchildren were more likely to participate in sports activities compared to their rural counterparts, with rates of 70.22% versus 55.08%, respectively.ConclusionFindings provide valuable insights into the health and food behaviors of primary schoolchildren and can inform interventions and strategies to promote healthier lifestyles.
Searching for Needles in a Haystack: Exploring Alternative Operational Approaches to Classify the Safety of Induced Abortions Using Respondent‐Driven Sampling Data From Two Sub‐Saharan African Settings
Authors: Owolabi Onikepe O. , Rossier Clémentine , Compaore Rachidatou , Kim Caron , Ganatra Bela , Ouedraogo Ramatou , Zan Moussa , Bangha Martin , Baguiya Adama ,   the N‐MAS team
Published: September 2024

AbstractThis study aims to describe the circumstances under which women obtained abortions in two sites, explore more nuanced approaches to classify abortion safety and examine the relationship between safety and self‐reported health outcomes. We analyze data on the most recent abortion or only abortion reported by 551 women in Nairobi slums and 479 women in rural Kaya ages 15–49 years within the three years preceding the study, recruited via respondent‐driven sampling. Using the most liberal safety classification, there were very few safe abortions (8 percent in Nairobi and 5 percent in Burkina Faso). A significant proportion of women reported using unidentified pills which we hypothesize may be medication abortion. Although a smaller proportion of women with safe abortions reported side effects, more of them reported side effects suggestive of infections and sought care for their symptoms. It is important that we explore and move towards more nuanced global safety classifications that more accurately reflect the risk associated with different methods and can capture women's access to comprehensive abortion care and its impact on their health.
A Preliminary Study Using High‐Frequency Ultrasound to Evaluate Vulvar Skin With Lichenoid Vulvar Dermatoses
Authors: Ma Jingyi , Song Yan , Xv Jun , Shen Kaikai , Wu Ming , Chen Jiyun , Zhao Xinyu , Zhu Haohui , Zhang Xijun 
Published: September 2024

ABSTRACTBackgroundLichenoid vulvar dermatoses (LVD) are inflammatory diseases primarily affecting the vulva and anus. This study aims to evaluate the skin changes in patients with LVD using high‐frequency ultrasound.MethodsForty‐five patients with LVD, who attended Henan Provincial People's Hospital from November 2021 to March 2024, were selected. According to the pathological conclusions, patients were divided into two groups: the vulvar lichen sclerosus (VLS) group (n = 24) and the vulvar lichen simplex chronicus (VLSC) group (n = 21). Thirty age‐ and BMI‐matched healthy women were selected as the control group. We assessed the epidermal thickness, subepidermal low echogenic band (SLEB) thickness, dermal thickness, and vascular index (VI) among the three groups. Receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) analysis was performed to determine the diagnostic efficacy of these ultrasound parameters for LVD. Binary logistic regression was used to investigate risk factors influencing LVD pathology in VLS patients.ResultsEpidermal thickness, SLEB thickness, dermal thickness, and VI were increased in the VLS and VLSC groups compared to the control group (p < 0.05). There were no statistically significant differences in ultrasound parameters between the VLS and VLSC groups (p > 0.05). The ROC curves showed that the area under the curve (AUC) value for the dermis (AUC = 0.882) was the largest for VLS, and VI (AUC = 0.917), it was the largest for VLSC. Binary logistic regression indicated that having an allergic disease was a risk factor for VLS between VLS and VLSC groups (OR = 6.797, p = 0.028).ConclusionHigh‐frequency ultrasound can detect thickening of the skin and increasing VI in patients with LVD, which can be helpful in the evaluation and management of LVD.
Comparison of commercial next‐generation sequencing assays to conventional culture methods for bacterial identification and antimicrobial susceptibility of samples obtained from clinical cases of canine superficial bacterial folliculitis
Authors: Smart Kimberly , Pieper Jason B. , Viall Austin K. , Noxon James O. , Berger Darren J. 
Published: September 2024

AbstractBackgroundBacterial identification and antimicrobial susceptibility testing is an important step in timely therapeutic decisions for canine superficial bacterial folliculitis (SBF), commonly caused by Staphylococcus pseudintermedius. Next‐generation sequencing (NGS) offers the appeal of potentially expedited results with complete detection of bacterial organisms and associated resistance genes compared to culture. Limited studies exist comparing the two methodologies for clinical samples.Hypothesis/ObjectivesTo compare and contrast genotypic and phenotypic methods for bacterial identification and antimicrobial susceptibility from cases of canine SBF.AnimalsTwenty‐four client‐owned dogs with lesions consistent with SBF were enrolled.Materials and MethodsA sterile culturette swab was used to sample dogs with SBF lesions. The swab was rinsed in 0.9 mL of sterile phosphate‐buffered saline and vortexed to create a homogenous solution. Two swabs for NGS laboratories (Labs) and one swab for culture (Culture Lab) were randomly sampled from this solution and submitted for bacterial identification and antimicrobial susceptibility.ResultsNo statistical difference regarding turnaround time for NGS Labs compared to Culture Lab was found. NGS Lab 1 identified more organisms than NGS Lab 2 and Culture Lab, which were both statistically significant. There was no statistical difference in detection frequency for Staphylococcus spp. among all laboratories. There was poor agreement for the presence of meticillin resistance and most antimicrobials among all laboratories.Conclusions and Clinical RelevanceUtilisation of NGS as a replacement for traditional culture when sampling canine SBF lesions is not supported at this time.
Language as a Communication Tool for Maximum Participation in Municipalities: Lessons from Moqhaka Local Municipality, South Africa
Authors: Mnguni Aaron , Hlohlolo Sephiri David 
Published: September 2024

This study attempts to accent the momentousness of public participation as an essential element of successful good local governance in the Republic of South Africa. Public participation is a fundamental dimension of democracy and an important factor in the deepening of democratic process. In this study, a total of 283 literate and semi-literate residents from the Moqhaka Local Municipality (comprising Kroonstad, Viljoenskroon and Steynsrus) participated in a purposive non-probability sampling exercise. Questionnaires were given to respondents following the population sizes, where Kroonstad (150 respondents) being the largest, followed by Viljoenskroon (80 respondents), and lastly, Steynsrus (53 respondents). The results showed overwhelmingly that both literate and semi-literate members of the Municipality strongly suggest that the use of African languages, in this case Sesotho is crucial for democracy to thrive. This paper intended to revitalise and encourage public participation at South African local municipalities, and to help minimise protest actions where residents constantly demand better service delivery. This has been true with the low voter turnout rate during the November 2021 local government elections. Local municipalities in South Africa are facing a huge task of advocating the involvement of communities and community organisations in local government. Language of communication is thus important in achieving this.