bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Locus in focus: locus inflection episodes unfolding through the dynamics of competition
Authors: Edlund Peter 
Published: February 2025

PurposeMy aim is to advance competitive dynamics scholarship by presenting and developing the notion of locus inflection episodes. Such episodes refer to situations featuring changes that specifically generate shifts in the levels at which various actors aggregate as competitors.Design/methodology/approachI ground my theorizing in reanalyzes of two published studies, selected from management literature located beyond competitive dynamics scholarship. These two studies were originally not centered on locus inflection episodes, but the studies feature illustrative instances of such episodes.FindingsMy reanalyzes highlight two salient situations when the strategic repertoires of actions and responses deployed by competing firms create or dissolve various organizational forms that produce shifts in aggregation levels, thus generating locus inflection episodes. These situations include the creation as well as the dissolution of meta-organizations. Throughout the two situations, organizers of competition play an important role as actors that do not compete, but that nonetheless affect how competition unfolds by sparking inflection episodes.Originality/valueCompetitive dynamics scholars have primarily examined what firms do throughout the process of competition (i.e. its “how”). But they have largely disregarded that what firms do when deploying strategic repertoires may include the creation or dissolution of various organizational forms, and that this creation or dissolution can shift the aggregation levels at which competition unfolds. Such shifts are captured by the notion of locus inflection episodes, and competitive dynamics scholars could utilize it to approach the locus of competition (i.e. its “who” and “where”) as a changeable aspect throughout the process of competition.
Football fan engagement: sponsorship brand value and consumer purchase intentions
Authors: Varea Calero Alfredo David , Ramírez-Hurtado José M. , Rejón-Guardia Francisco , Berbel-Pineda Juan M. 
Published: February 2025

PurposeThis study aims to analyse the influence of football fans' involvement on sponsor brand equity and their purchase intention toward the sponsoring brand. To achieve this, we specified a structural model examining the relationships between engagement, brand equity and fans’ purchase intentions.Design/methodology/approachThe data for this study were collected using a structured questionnaire. Three football teams from the city of Quito (Ecuador) that compete in the first division of Ecuadorian professional football were considered. For data collection, both personal interviews and a web link were used. The personal interviews were carried out directly with the fans of the three teams in the vicinity of the stadiums, prior to matches of the Ecuadorian League.FindingsThe study concluded that a greater involvement of fans with a football club positively influences both the valuation of the sponsoring brand and the intention to purchase the product and/or service of the sponsoring brand.Practical implicationsThis work contributes to the literature on brand equity. On the one hand, from the companies’ perspective, it is important for brand managers to realise that football fans constitute an especially significant section of the public to strengthen the brand and even to buy the products of the sponsoring brand. On the other hand, from the point of view of the clubs, it should be borne in mind that the involvement of the fans with the clubs constitutes a major factor in strengthening the sponsoring brands.Originality/valueMost of the research in the literature has studied purchase intention towards the club brand but not towards the sponsoring brand. The research, which is applied to the football industry, conceptually extends the customer-based brand equity (CBBE) model by including the perspective of football fans’ involvement with their clubs.
The impact of an effective academic audit on accreditation performance
Authors: Kumar Atul , Gawande Amol , Kale Shailendra Kumar , Agarwal Akash , Brar Vinaydeep , Raibagkar Shirish 
Published: February 2025

Purpose
This study aims to assess the impact of academic audit, a quality assurance tool in higher educational institutions. It explores the relationship between the effective use of academic audits and the institutions’ quality performance, as indicated by their accreditation score.

Design/methodology/approach
Using a questionnaire, the authors checked whether colleges across India effectively used academic audits and the key challenges in conducting the audit. A sample of 428 was drawn from a population of 6,201 colleges. The challenges in conducting academic audits, mostly operational, were grounded in literature and measured using a five-point Likert scale. Regression analysis and a t-test were used to test the two hypotheses.

Findings
The effective use of academic audits significantly influences the quality of the colleges measured by the accreditation score. Findings show that ineffective implementation of academic audits leads to mediocre accreditation performance. Simultaneously, the colleges face several challenges in implementing academic audits.

Originality/value
This novel attempt examines the relationship between academic audit and accreditation performance. Through this unique study, the authors make a case for using academic audits by higher educational institutions adopting accreditation as a quality strategy. The research unfolds the significant value that academic audit holds for facilitating accreditation.
Optimized printing orientation determination for improving the stiffness of as-printed handles
Authors: Pan Wanbin , Chen Xinyue , Liu Wei , Qiao Lixian , Kuang Haiying , Lu Wen Feng 
Published: February 2025

Purpose
This study aims to improve the stiffness of as-printed handles by finding appropriate printing orientations.

Design/methodology/approach
First, a series of benchmark handles is designed using Taguchi method. Then, for each uniformly sampled printing orientation, every benchmark handle is sliced and undergoes stiffness evaluation (i.e. displacement and mean stress) by using finite element analysis (FEA). This generates a substantial batch of handle-orientation-stiffness samples. With the data, an effective stiffness-prediction network is developed based on the artificial neural network. Finally, using the developed network, the particle swarm optimization is adapted to determine the optimized printing orientation for each input handle, aiming to improve its stiffness.

Findings
Compared with the common slicing software, the printing orientations proposed in this study, based on FEA, result in varying degrees of improvement in stiffness for four handles. Specifically, the displacement and mean stress are reduced by 16.86% and 18.14% on average. The experiments show that the approach has the potential to effectively improve the stiffness of a handle.

Originality/value
Although the anisotropic property in mechanics is unavoidable and difficult to formally describe in 3D printing, the proposed approach can effectively characterize the relationship between the stiffness and the printing orientation for each handle. And, it also can determine an optimized printing orientation for each handle to enhance its stiffness after printing.
Unlocking team performance: the interplay of team empowerment, shared leadership, and relationship conflict in healthcare sector
Authors: Mansoor Talha , Umer Muhammad , Duenas Alejandra 
Published: February 2025

Purpose
The healthcare sector faces leadership challenges, emphasizing the importance of a mechanism to support and empower team members. The present study aims to investigate the impact of team empowerment (TE) on team performance (TP), with the mediating role of shared leadership (SL) and the moderating role of relationship conflict between shared leadership and team performance.

Design/methodology/approach
This study's conceptual model was proposed using the social exchange theory and conservation of resource theory. Data was collected using a self-administrated questionnaire to 492 respondents, of which 42 were team leaders, and 450 were team members from 42 teams in the Pakistani healthcare sector. The Partial Least Square-Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) technique was used to examine the proposed hypotheses of the study.

Findings
The results revealed a significant positive relationship between team empowerment and shared leadership. SL is positively associated with team performance. The present study also found that SL positively mediated the relationship between shared leadership and team performance. Moreover, relationship conflict moderated the relationship between SL and TP.

Practical implications
The finding delineates that healthcare organizations can adopt shared leadership and empower team members by involving them in decision-making, enhancing collaboration, resource utilization, and patient care outcomes. Managers should implement structured strategies like cross-functional training and inclusive decision-making processes to cultivate empowered teams and mitigate relationship conflicts for optimal performance.

Originality/value
The study advocates developing shared leadership practices for better team outcomes. This study is an early attempt to examine the mediating role of shared leadership between team empowerment and team performance.
Intralesional candida antigen versus intralesional varicella zoster vaccine in treatment of molluscum contagiosum: A new promising alternative
Authors: Elradi Mona , Hoseiny Heba Allah Mohamed , Marei Ayman , Boghdadi Ghada , Hosny Doaa 
Published: February 2025

AbstractMolluscum contagiosum (MC) is a self‐limited but notoriously highly infectious viral infection. It is often encountered by children. Most traditional therapies are invasive and have a high rate of recurrence. Intralesional immunotherapy is a recent noninvasive modality with promising results. To evaluate and compare the efficacy of candida antigen and varicella zoster vaccine (VZV) in the treatment of MC, 48 patients with MC were allocated randomly into two groups: group A, treated with biweekly intralesional candida antigen injected at a dose of 0.3 mL/session and group B treated with biweekly intralesional VZV injection at a dose of 0.1 mL/session both for a maximum of five sessions. In group B, response was complete in 50% of patients, partial in 37.5% of them, and absent in 12.5%, while in the candida group, complete clearance was observed in 37.5% of patients, partial response in 50% of them, and no response in 12.5%, with no statistically significant difference in the response between the two groups. Intralesional immunotherapy is safe and effective in treating MC. Candida antigen efficacy was established in several studies and VZV represents a new promising therapeutic agent with comparable results.
Unified model for microscopic and mesoscopic wave‐induced fluid flow in a fluid‐saturated porous periodically layered medium
Authors: Liao Jianping , Guo Junxin , Liu Hexiu , He Yanbin , Li Anyu , Cheng Liang , Zhou Lin 
Published: February 2025

AbstractThe interlayer mesoscopic wave‐induced fluid flow and the squirt flow are two important mechanisms for seismic attenuation and dispersion in the fluid‐saturated porous layered rock. Although numerous studies have been conducted on these two mechanisms, their combined effects (especially the resulting frequency‐dependent anisotropy features) have not been sufficiently investigated. Hence, we propose a concise and rigorous theoretical model to quantify the combined effects of these two mechanisms. We first quantify the squirt flow effects through a wet rock frame for each layer that has frequency‐dependent and complex‐valued elastic properties. Then, we apply Biot's quasi‐static poroelasticity theory to derive the analytical solutions for the effective stiffness coefficients of the periodically layered rock. Using the derived rock stiffness coefficients, we calculate the seismic attenuation and dispersion, as well as the frequency‐dependent anisotropy. Two cases are studied, one with alternating water‐ and gas‐saturated layers (constant rock frame properties) and the other with periodically distributed fracture layers (constant saturating fluid properties). The P‐waves in these two cases are both influenced by the mesoscopic interlayer wave‐induced fluid flow and the squirt flow. However, the SV‐wave is solely affected by the squirt flow in the first case and primarily influenced by the mesoscopic interlayer wave‐induced fluid flow in the second case, respectively. The wave velocity and attenuation in the first case are isotropic, whereas those in the second case exhibit frequency‐dependent anisotropy (induced by the mesoscopic interlayer wave‐induced fluid flow). To validate our model, we compare our model to the measured extensional attenuation in a partially saturated sandstone sample under different effective pressures. The joint effects of the mesoscopic interlayer wave‐induced fluid flow and the squirt flow observed in the experiments are well predicted by our model. Our model has potential applications in the seismic characterization of reservoirs composed of layered rocks, such as shale reservoirs.
Fish and chips: Conservation of freshwater fish populations through an integrative multi‐stakeholder approach
Authors: Nagel Christoffer , Pander Joachim , Droll Jan , Loy Georg , Grüner Barbara , Wesemann Johannes , Geist Juergen 
Published: February 2025

Abstract

Rivers and their fish populations are under threat, prompting diverse conservation efforts. Effective freshwater conservation requires collaborative projects involving multiple stakeholders, including scientists, practitioners, and government agencies. Knowledge produced in these projects can be used to guide the application of evidence‐based conservation actions.

We present a unique large‐scale and long‐term river and fish monitoring project at the alpine River Inn (Bavaria, Germany), where stakeholders from the private sector closely collaborate with science and governmental institutions.

After a first phase of implementing and assessing habitat restoration, we recently employed passive integrated transponder (PIT) technology to tag and track several 10,000 fish from diverse species. A comprehensive monitoring infrastructure comprising 34 permanent and several temporary monitoring sites across 150 river kilometres now enables the detection of fish movement patterns across main parts of the River Inn catchment. This infrastructure also includes a citizen science initiative where anglers report captured fish in scanning stations.

Stakeholder communication is institutionalized through the establishment of a project advisory board and an annual conference in which the major findings of the previous year are discussed and the future science and management agenda is set. Knowledge transfer also occurs through the translation of scientific findings into easy‐to‐follow guidelines, as well as through lectures and workshops.

Synthesis and applications. This practitioner perspective offers a template case study for integrative river restoration and fish conservation campaigns. The successful application of information into conservation actions is based on active engagement of practitioners and easy‐to‐follow guidelines. The approach presented herein relies on the principles of knowledge co‐production and adaptive management, and is illustrated with examples that are transferable to other aquatic ecosystems.
Wood trait–decay relationships vary with topography and rainfall seasonality in a subtropical forest in China
Authors: Wu Donghao , Chen Yong , Ellwood M. D. Farnon , Shao Zhenzhen , Wang Yongjia , Cornelissen Johannes H. C. , Chu Chengjin 
Published: February 2025

Abstract

Plant traits affect wood decomposition. Far less acknowledged, wood trait–decay relationships may vary with environmental conditions that alter the spatiotemporal distribution of decomposer activities. Unfavourable environments can suppress decomposer activities and weaken the wood trait–decay relationships. We hypothesize that waterlogged soils in the valley during rainy season may decrease termite activities and decomposition rates, especially of palatable deadwood. By comparison, wood trait–decay relationships could be less affected at the ridge and hilltop during rainy season.

We conducted wood decay experiments of 137 tree species in three sites (valley/ridge/hilltop) differing in microclimate in a 50‐ha plot in a subtropical forest. Eight physical and chemical traits were measured to determine the most influential wood properties for termite feeding activities and wood decomposition rates. Samples were harvested after the rainy or after a whole year (rainy‐plus‐dry season). Mass loss and volume loss (i.e. termite feeding activities) of the first harvest were attributed to the rainy season, while the difference between two harvests were attributed to the dry season.

We found that termite feeding activities and wood mass loss during the rainy season were decreased by soil waterlogging in the valley but not on the ridge or hilltop. Wood density predominantly controlled termite feeding and wood mass loss, but its negative effects appeared at the ridge and hilltop only during rainy season, and in the valley only during the dry season. Notably, warmer soil temperatures in the valley accelerated termite activities during the dry season, causing similar final wood mass loss as higher elevation sites.

Synthesis. Our study reveals that environmental effects on wood decomposition are not only mediated by trait changes directly, but also via the spatiotemporal variations of wood trait–decay relationships indirectly. Moreover, wood decomposition does not strictly follow the elevational temperature gradients due to the negative effects of rainfall at lower elevation. Notably, future droughts may reduce soil waterlogging and accelerate termite activities and the decomposition of lower density wood, particularly in valleys. We are concerned that deadwood carbon stocks once waterlogged by rainfall could become C source under future droughts, especially in regions where termites are dominant decomposers.
Persistent Desert Microbiota in the Southern European Sky
Authors: Cáliz Joan , Menéndez‐Serra Mateu , Triadó‐Margarit Xavier , Avila Anna , Casamayor Emilio O. 
Published: February 2025

ABSTRACTLong‐range atmospheric processes facilitate global microbial dispersal, with a pivotal role in Earth's ecosystem functioning and global health. Aerobiological studies have traditionally focused on low troposphere aerosols, leading to the assumption that airborne communities are primarily controlled by neighbouring ecosystems. We show a temporal sampling of aerosols from the free troposphere extending a period of almost three decades, coupled with the study of both high troposphere air masses provenances and genetic data of topsoils from North Africa and from a global public bacterial database. The results unveil a long‐lasting influence of airborne North African desert microorganisms in Southern Europe. Although sea spray dominates global aerosol emissions, the predominance of desert microorganisms was widespread even in rain traced back to the Atlantic Ocean. The frequency of dust outbreaks, altitude reached, and long residence times are postulated as critical factors that significantly shape the long‐range and persistence of aerial assemblages, with air mass provenance playing a secondary role. This study advances the current understanding of atmospheric microorganisms, underscoring their close and long‐lasting relationship with terrestrial ecosystems. Further research is needed to fully understand intercontinental aerial connections with deserts and drylands elsewhere, and the influence of desert immigrants on worldwide ecosystems.
The Rules of the Coronation: Differentiating Convention from Practice and Custom
Authors: Harris Carolyn S. , Lagassé Philippe 
Published: February 2025

AbstractThe coronation of a new monarch is a constitutional event governed by unwritten rules. To understand which aspects of the coronation are constitutionally significant—and which are better understood as the product of tradition or novel approaches—this article examines how three types of unwritten rules structure the ceremony: conventions, customs and practices. The article argues that the central elements of the coronation service—notably the oath, investiture, anointment and public recognition of the new monarch and consort—rise to the level of constitutional convention. Who attends the coronation and where it is held, in contrast, are framed by customs that are no longer constitutionally binding. The most recent coronation of King Charles III on 6 May 2023 also highlights how new practices are incorporated into the ceremony to reflect political and cultural changes surrounding the Crown, such as the adaptions of the oath and the inclusion of multiple faith leaders.
Forced to Live: Controlled Forced Feeding of Political Prisoners and the Challenge to Nation‐States’ Civilising Processes
Authors: Vertigans Stephen , Connolly John , Dolan Paddy 
Published: February 2025

ABSTRACTSince the nineteenth century, struggles between state power and political prisoners' right to die have aroused considerable interest. State enforcement to ‘make live’ through force‐feeding also raises important questions concerning processes that inform government approaches, often through methods considered to be brutal, and how these actions fit within perceptions of civilised behaviour. The social scientific focus of hunger strikes tends to be informed by Foucauldian bio‐power and governmentality which we draw upon when applying insights from figurational sociology. These insights allow us to better capture shifting social processes and changing public attitudes and behaviours that weaken state control over life and death. Different empirical examples are drawn upon, namely prison based forced feeding programmes that are directed at international ‘Islamicists’, Irish republicans and British suffragettes. Comparing groups' levels of integration within controlling states' societies, highlight distinctions in power balances, layers of mutual identification and entwined public perceptions and state reactions that help explain the implementation, cessation or continuation of force‐feeding.
Unveiling the dynamic interactions of gluten–starch–water in frozen dough: An in‐depth review
Authors: Rasheed Mohsin , Fan Xiangqi , Guo Boli , Jiang Jikai , Li Ming , Zhang Yingquan , Zhang Bo , Cui Yutong 
Published: February 2025

AbstractIn recent decades, frozen dough has become an attractive means of preserving and offering the convenience of fresh‐tasting foods while retaining their nutritional benefits. However, the frozen dough industry still faces significant challenges related to processing, freezing, and storage that affect the dough's quality and stability during thawing. Understanding the complex interactions between proteins (gluten, glutenin, gliadin, and glutenin macropolymers), starch dynamics (gelatinization and retrogradation), and water distribution—particularly how ice crystals interact with the gluten–starch matrix—is essential for improving frozen dough quality. This review also delves into the rheological properties resulting from the interplay of these components, emphasizing their collective impact on dough texture and stability. Additionally, it explores various freezing mechanisms and innovative strategies to reduce freeze damage, as well as practical challenges in translating theoretical insights into industrial applications. Finally, it proposes future strategies for improving the shelf life and quality of frozen dough by optimizing freezing methods and water distribution. Through a comprehensive synthesis of current literature, this review underscores the critical importance of gluten–starch–water interactions in frozen dough and highlights promising strategies for enhancing product performance and quality.