bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Effects of lambda-cyhalothrin on gut microbiota and related bile acid metabolism in mice
Authors: Zheng Weijia , Xu Lingyuan , Jin Maojun , Wang Jing , Rietjens Ivonne M.C.M. 
Published: August 2024

AbstractBackgroundSince the gut microbiota plays a crucial role in host metabolism and homeostasis, its alterations induced by xenobiotics, such as pesticides, could pose a risk to host health. Our previous in vitro fermentation study showed that pyrethroid pesticides could affect the mouse bacterial community and related bile acid profiles. Hence in the present study, the effects of the selected pyrethroid lambda-cyhalothrin on the intestinal microbial community and its related bile acid metabolism were evaluated in male and female mice.ResultsThe total amount of bile acids in plasma and fecal samples from lambda-cyhalothrin treated mice markedly increased compared to controls, which could be mainly ascribed to the significantly raised proportions of taurine conjugated bile acids in plasma, and the increase in fecal secondary bile acids. In gut microbial profiles, a significantly increased richness ofPrevotellaceaand a depletion ofLachnospiraceaewere found at the family level upon the treatment with lambda-cyhalothrin.ConclusionTreatment of mice with lambda-cyhalothrin affected the gut microbiota with accompanying changes in bile acid homeostasis. The effects on fecal bile acid profiles were in line with those previously observed in our in vitro study and corroborate that pyrethroid pesticides could affect gut microbiota and related bile acid profiles.
A foggy minefield: Experiences of regulation among developers of AI and other medical software in the UK, survey and focus group study
Authors: Potts Henry WW , Bondaronek Paulina , Neves Ana Luísa , Bolotov Alex , Burgess Lucie , Shehu Jona , Spinelli Gabriella , Volpi Emanuela , El-Osta Austen 
Published: August 2024

AbstractIntroductionRegulation is important for medical software, but advances in software, notably developments in artificial intelligence (AI), are developing quickly. There are concerns that regulatory processes are not keeping up and that there is a need for more pro-innovation approaches.MethodsWe conducted a survey (n = 34) and four focus groups to discuss experiences of regulation among UK-based developers.ResultsIn the survey, 35% agreed/strongly agreed that they were confident in their knowledge of relevant regulation, while 50% agreed/strongly agreed that poor regulation was allowing bad products to come to market. The focus groups identified 10 themes around challenges with current processes: the process of obtaining regulatory approval is uncertain; lack of knowledge about regulatory approval; difficulties in obtaining reliable advice; complexity and slow pace of approvals; difficult to get NHS clinician involvement; process is costly and difficult to fund; implications for competition; international differences; incentives to develop lower classification products; and lack of harmonisation between NHS and MHRA. Respondents’ suggestions for solutions to improve processes fell under four themes: financial and structural support; regulatory collaboration and commissioner involvement; process efficiency and adaptability; and education and guidance.DiscussionDevelopers are unhappy with the process of regulation for medical software in the UK, finding it confusing and expensive. They feel systems compare poorly to international comparators. Integration between the MHRA system and NHS commissioning is considered poor.
Does hospital overload increase the risk of death when infected by SARS-CoV-2?
Authors: Glemain Benjamin , Assaad Charles , Ghosn Walid , Moulaire Paul , de Lamballerie Xavier , Zins Marie , Severi Gianluca , Touvier Mathilde , Deleuze Jean-François ,   SAPRIS-SERO study group, Lapidus Nathanaël , Carrat Fabrice 
Published: August 2024

AbstractSeveral studies found an association between the risk of death for COVID-19 patients and hospital overload during the first pandemic wave. We studied this association across the French departments using 82,467 serological samples and a hierarchical Bayesian model. In high-incidence areas, we hypothesized that hospital overload would increase infection fatality rate (IFR) without increasing infection hospitalization rate (IHR). We found that increasing departmental incidence from 3% to 9% rose IFR from 0.42% to 1.14%, and IHR from 1.66% to 3.61%. An increase in incidence from 6% to 12% in people under 60 was associated with an increase in the proportion of people over 60 among those infected, from 11.6% to 17.4%. Higher incidence did increase the risk of death for infected persons, probably due to an older infected population in high-incidence areas rather than hospital overload.
Investigating the superconducting state of
2H−NbS2
as seen by the vortex lattice
Authors: Alshemi A. , Campillo E. , Forgan E. M. , Cubitt R. , Abdel-Hafiez M. , Blackburn E. 
Published: August 2024

2H−NbS2 is a classic example of an anisotropic multiband superconductor, with significant recent work focusing on the interesting responses seen when high magnetic fields are applied precisely parallel to the hexagonal niobium planes. It is often contrasted with its sister compound 2H−NbSe2 because they have similar onset temperatures for superconductivity, but 2H−NbS2 has no charge density wave whereas in 2H−NbSe2 the charge density wave order couples strongly to the superconductivity. Using small-angle neutron scattering, a bulk-sensitive probe, we have studied the vortex lattice and how it responds to the underlying superconducting anisotropy. This is done by controlling the orientation of the field with respect to the Nb planes. The superconducting anisotropy, Γac=7.07±0.2, is found to be field independent over the range measured (0.15 to 1.25 T), and the magnetic field distribution as a function of the applied magnetic field is found to be in excellent quantitative agreement with anisotropic London theory modified with a core-size cutoff correction, providing the first complete validation of this model. We find values of λab=141.9±1.5 nm for the in-plane London penetration depth, and λc∼1µm for the out-of-plane response. The field-independence indicates that we are primarily sampling the larger of the two gaps generating the superconductivity in this material.

Published by the American Physical Society
2024
Noise-Aware Variational Eigensolvers: A Dissipative Route for Lattice Gauge Theories
Authors: Cobos Jesús , Locher David F. , Bermudez Alejandro , Müller Markus , Rico Enrique 
Published: August 2024

We propose a novel variational ansatz for the ground-state preparation of the Z2 lattice gauge theory (LGT) in quantum simulators. It combines dissipative and unitary operations in a completely deterministic scheme with a circuit depth that does not scale with the size of the considered lattice. We find that, with very few variational parameters, the ansatz can achieve >99% precision in energy in both the confined and deconfined phase of the Z2 LGT. We benchmark our proposal against the unitary Hamiltonian variational ansatz showing a reduction in the required number of variational layers to achieve a target precision. After performing a finite-size scaling analysis, we show that our dissipative variational ansatz can predict accurate critical exponents without requiring a number of layers that scales with the system size, which is the standard situation for unitary ansätze. Furthermore, we investigate the performance of this variational eigensolver subject to circuit-level noise, determining variational error thresholds that fix the error rate below which it would be beneficial to increase the number of layers. In light of these quantities and for typical gate errors p in current quantum processors, we provide a detailed assessment of the prospects of our scheme to explore the Z2 LGT on near-term devices.

Published by the American Physical Society
2024
The impact of individual, scientific and organizational factors on the adoption of AR in university education
Authors: Ronaghi Marzieh , Ronaghi Mohammad Hossein , Boskabadi Elahe 
Published: August 2024

PurposeAugmented reality (AR) is an advanced version of the dynamic physical space that is perceived and received via visual, audio, digital and other sensory stimuli. The capabilities of virtual technologies change the field of university and education considerably. The necessity of using virtual technologies in the education field was revealed more in unforeseen disasters such as the COVID-19 pandemic. The adoption of a technology by its users is an important factor in the successful implementation of the technology. The present study evaluates several factors affecting the adoption of AR technology in the realm of tertiary education.Design/methodology/approachThis study is applied in nature, and the necessary data were gathered through a survey questionnaire. The opinions of 621 students were investigated using a simple random sampling method. The multinomial logit test was used in this research.FindingsIt was found that individual and social factors such as age, education level, major and economic characteristics such as one’s income in a month, expenses of a person in a month, the level of access to high-speed internet and access to a laptop or smartphone are effective in AR technology adoption in the field of academic education.Originality/valueThe theoretical contribution of this study is to identify the key factors that influence the adoption of AR technology and develop a model specifically applicable to the educational field. The results of this research can be used by university managers and educational policymakers for the efficient and effective use of this technology.
Effect of the countersunk rivet head dimensions on fatigue behavior of riveted specimens of 2024-T3 alloy
Authors: Lv Guocheng , Jia Dawei , Li Changyou , Zhao Chunyu , Zhang Xiulu , Yan Feng , Zhang Hongzhuang , Li Bing 
Published: August 2024

Purpose
This study aims to investigate the effect of countersunk rivet head dimensions on the fatigue performance of the riveted specimens of 2024-T3 alloy.

Design/methodology/approach
The relationship between rivet head dimensions and fatigue behavior was investigated by finite element method and fatigue test. The fatigue fracture of the specimens was analyzed by scanning electron microscopy.

Findings
A change of the rivet head dimensions will cause a change in the stress concentration and residual normal stress, the stress concentration near the rivet hole causes the fatigue crack source to be located on the straight section of the countersunk rivet hole and the residual normal stress can effectively restrain the initiation and expansion of fatigue cracks. The fatigue cycle will cause the rivet holes to produce different degrees of surface wear.

Originality/value
The fatigue life of the specimens with the height of the rivet head of 2.28 mm and 2.00 mm are similar, but the specimens with the height of the rivet head of 1.72 mm were far higher than the other specimens.
Managerial ability, digital transformation and innovation efficiency: empirical evidence from Chinese manufacturing listed companies
Authors: Shan Hui , Ko Daeyoung , Wang Lan , Wang Gang 
Published: August 2024

Purpose
This study aims to examine the relationship between managerial ability and innovation efficiency, the mediating effect of digital transformation and the moderating effect of internal control.

Design/methodology/approach
This study collected A-share manufacturing listed companies in China from 2008 to 2019 and analyzed the data by means of multiple regression analysis, mediating effect test, moderating effect test and heterogeneity test. Finally, the authors conducted robustness test by remeasuring key variables and adding control variables.

Findings
The empirical results show that the higher managerial ability can improve innovation efficiency, internal control has a positive moderating effect and digital transformation plays a partial mediating effect on the relationship between managerial ability and innovation efficiency. Specially, it is found that the mediating effect of digital transformation is not significant in non-state-owned firms.

Practical implications
This study suggests that it is necessary to focus on the managerial ability in terms of both cultivation and supervision, to further deepen the digital transformation from the aspects of firms, government and society, especially to support the digital transformation of non-state-owned firms, and to make efforts to improve the corporate governance mechanism and internal control system, so as to better comprehensively realize the improvement of enterprise innovation efficiency.

Originality/value
Based on the mediating effect analysis of digital transformation and the moderating effect analysis of internal control, this study explores the role of managerial ability on innovation efficiency from a new perspective, expanding the related theoretical framework and research boundaries.
On-load magnetic field calculation for linear permanent-magnet actuators using hybrid 2-D finite-element method and Maxwell–Fourier analysis
Authors: Ladghem-Chikouche Brahim , Roubache Lazhar , Boughrara Kamel , Dubas Frédéric , Djelloul-Khedda Zakarya , Ibtiouen Rachid 
Published: August 2024

Purpose
The purpose of this study is to present a novel extended hybrid analytical method (HAM) that leverages a two-dimensional (2-D) coupling between the semi-analytical Maxwell–Fourier analysis and the finite element method (FEM) in Cartesian coordinates.

Design/methodology/approach
The proposed model is applied to flat permanent-magnet linear electrical machines with rotor-dual. The magnetic field solution across the entire machine is established by coupling an exact analytical model (AM), designed for regions with relative magnetic permeability equal to unity, with a FEM in ferromagnetic regions. The coupling between AM and FEM occurs bidirectionally (x, y) along the edges separating teeth regions and their adjacent regions through applied boundary conditions.

Findings
The developed HAM yields accurate results concerning the magnetic flux density distribution, cogging force and induced voltage under various operating conditions, including magnetic or geometric parameters. A comparison with hybrid finite-difference and hybrid reluctance network methods demonstrates very satisfactory agreement with 2-D FEM.

Originality/value
The original contribution of this paper lies in establishing a direct coupling between the semi-analytical Maxwell–Fourier analysis and the FEM, particularly at the interface between adjacent regions with differing magnetic parameters.
Integrating facets of information technology governance at a professional council in South Africa
Authors: Chauke Tshepo Arnold , Ngoepe Mpho 
Published: August 2024

Purpose
The purpose of the study is to explore the integration of facets of information technology (IT) governance at a professional council in South Africa with the view to develop a framework.

Design/methodology/approach
This critical emancipatory study used the Information Governance Initiative pinwheel to explore the architecture facet of information governance at the professional council, with a view to developing a framework for entrenching a culture of good corporate governance. Qualitative data was collected through interviews and document analysis. The study was a participatory action research project that involved collaboration between the researcher and study participants in defining and solving the problem through a needs assessment exercise.

Findings
The key findings report on the processes taken by a professional council in identifying and implementing the facets of information governance, that is, records management, IT, content management, data governance, information security, data privacy, risk management, regulatory compliance, long-term digital preservation and, even, business intelligence.

Research limitations/implications
The study was a participatory action research project that involved collaboration between the researcher and study participants in defining and solving the problem through a needs assessment exercise.

Practical implications
The study’s findings suggest that, with the right information governance policy in place, adopting the facets of information governance can be used to address concerns related to information integrity in the short and medium terms. As a long-term option for retaining data and information, it would have various drawbacks and would not, however, ensure the initial dependability of the information.

Originality/value
A framework for information governance to ensure that the professional organisation and board members adopt a tailored governance system is suggested.
Process improvement strategy (PIS) and employee productivity amid COVID-19 pandemic among bank employees
Authors: Sulaimon Abdul-Hameed Adeola , Ametepe Paul Kojo 
Published: August 2024

PurposeThis study aims to examine process improvement strategy (PIS) (proxied by remote work, workforce training, and technological innovation), and employee productivity amid the COVID-19 pandemic among bank employees.Design/methodology/approachThe study employed cross-sectional and descriptive design by applying multistage sampling techniques using convenience sampling to select the study organization and stratified and simple random sampling to select 900 respondents for the study. Data were collected by using validated measures of the study variables designed into a questionnaire. Pearson’s correlation and simple regression analysis were employed to establish relationships and causal effects among variables respectively.FindingsResults showed significant relationships between the PIS (work-from-home, workplace training, and technological innovation) and the outcome variable (employee productivity); and predictive capabilities between the PIS and the outcome variables (employee productivity). The study revealed that remote work accounted for the highest variability (R2 = 0.775) in employee productivity, followed by workplace training (R2 = 0.499), and finally investment in technological innovation (R2 = 0.486)] and as such PIS fosters employee productivity and may, therefore, be applied when faced with a similar pandemic in the future.Originality/valueThe study was recognized for its significance in examining how PIS supports enhancing employee productivity in banks and, by extension, other organizations during a pandemic. The research has proven to be crucial in providing insights into bank management in emerging economies and other organizations worldwide that have previously gone unnoticed during a pandemic. It has aided in the extension of existing literature on PIS and employee productivity by carefully developing a framework, thus covering practical knowledge gaps.
The effect of political environment on security and privacy of contact tracing apps evaluation
Authors: Alnsour Yazan , Juma’h Ahmad H. 
Published: August 2024

PurposeContact tracing apps have emerged to collect data and mitigate the spread of infectious diseases. However, privacy and security concerns have caused individuals to hesitate to adopt these solutions. Our objective is to evaluate the role of the political environment, information privacy, security and users’ intentions to use contact tracing apps.Design/methodology/approachWe scraped the digital app store and collected 399 relevant reviews and other data from 21 contact tracing apps in the USA. A semi-supervised machine learning model was developed to extract information on privacy and security aspects from the reviews.FindingsOur findings show a positive connection between security controls and user adoption, as reflected in star ratings. Users residing in states with blue political environments tend to assign higher ratings to apps, especially when robust security controls are in place. These findings confirm the influence of the political environment on the adoption of contact tracing apps. In times of a pandemic, our findings suggest that users prioritize security over privacy concerns, emphasizing the critical role of strong security features in promoting app acceptance.Originality/valueThis paper emphasizes the political environment of the state offering the app intersects with concerns about security and privacy as well as the effectiveness of security and privacy measures, influencing the app’s ratings. Also, it shows the importance of understanding and addressing the role of the political environment when designing and promoting such public health tools, regardless of the specific disease or outbreak.
What do medical students know about sustainable development?
Authors: Borlu Arda , Coşkun Aslan Tuğba , Durmus Hasan , Öner Neslihan , Tat Ayşe Nur 
Published: August 2024

Purpose
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the level of sustainability consciousness (SC) and sustainable development (SD) awareness of medical students, as well as to identify the factors associated with them.

Design/methodology/approach
This cross-sectional and descriptive study was conducted among 1,435 medical students. The socio-demographic questionnaire and the sustainability consciousness questionnaire (SCQ-L) were the data collection instruments.

Findings
A significant proportion of medical students had not heard of the concept of SD (63.6%), only 7.9% of the participants reported that they could define the SD concept. Female gender and good economic status were associated with significantly higher median SCQ-L total score (p = 0.001). Although all SD goals are closely related to health, almost half of the medical students reported no impact on SD. Besides, 47.8% of the medical students reported that physicians could have an active role in achieving SD.

Social implications
As the realization of SD and health services are closely linked, it is important to examine the sustainability knowledge, attitude and behavior of health professionals.

Originality/value
This study examined the SD awareness and SC knowledge, attitude and behavior among medical students, the leading health-care professionals of the future.