Epoxy composites reinforced by alkaline–acid treated yucca fibers

This study investigates the impact of chemical treatments on the physico–chemo–mechanical properties of mechanically extracted yucca fibers and the mechanical performance of epoxy-based bio-composites. Initially, yucca fibers are treated with sulfuric acid (H2SO4 at 1% and 4%, during 30 min) and sodium hydroxide (NaOH at 3% and 8%, during 120 min), aiming to enhance their properties. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) analysis reveals improved surface quality of fibers and reduced diameters, while fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) confirms their functional groups. Yucca-treated fibers exhibit significant tensile strength improvements, with increases of 101.22% (518 MPa) for fibers treated with 3% NaOH and 93.33% (497 MPa) for those treated with 1% sulfuric acid, compared to untreated fibers (257 MPa). Subsequently, bio-composites elaborated via mold casting technique and using these treated fibers demonstrate enhanced mechanical performance. Tensile strength increases by 25% (29.6 MPa) and 45% (34.4 MPa) for composites reinforced with fibers treated with 3% NaOH and 1% sulfuric acid, respectively, compared to untreated fiber composites (23.6 MPa). Similarly, compressive strength improves by 23.35% (79.5 MPa) and 9.85% (89.3 MPa), while bending strength reaches 41.03 MPa (4.3%) and 45.27 MPa (15.1%) for composites reinforced with fibers treated at 3% NaOH and 1% sulfuric acid, respectively

Organisational career growth and work engagement: a moderated mediated model

Purpose – Drawing from the Conservation of Resources Theory and Organisational Justice Theory, this study examined the direct and indirect (via career resilience) effects of organisational career growth on work engagement. We further examined the boundary condition of procedure justice in the relationship between organisational career growth, career resilience, and work engagement. Design/methodology/approach – We employed time-lagged data collected in three waves from 431 employees working in the public health sector. Hierarchical regression analysis and Hayes Process Macro were used to test the study hypotheses. Findings – The findings revealed that organisational career growth has a significant positive direct and indirect influence on work engagement in the presence of career resilience. Also, the boundary condition of procedural justice was significant for employees who perceived procedural justice to be high as opposed to low. Practical implications – Organisational career growth has a positive influence on employee work engagement. Therefore, public health organisations need to prioritise employee career growth by creating an enabling environment that will help employees' career prospects and mitigate employees’ perception of low procedural justice. Originality/value – The originality of this study is in empirically establishing career resilience as an underlying mechanism in the relationship between organisational career growth and work engagement while considering the interactive effect of procedural justice. Additionally, the originality of this paper is demonstrated by empirically establishing that a perceived high level of procedural justice helps healthcare employees improve their work engagement, thus deepening our understanding of work engagement amongst health professionals

Dominance of leading business schools in top journals: Insights for increasing institutional representation

The competitive push for business schools to publish in prestigious journals has resulted in a disproportionate number of papers in prestigious Management and Operations Research/Management Science (OR/MS) journals coming from a select group of institutions. Our analysis shows the Matthew effect of prestigious journals favors established schools with 51.2 % of papers in 18 Management ABS 4* journals and 61.3 % of papers in 3 OR/MS ABS 4* journals involving authors from the 100 top business schools identified by the University of Texas at Dallas (UTD). Citation patterns are similarly concentrated among papers authored by scholars from UTD-listed business schools, with nearly 80 % of citations from 4* Management journals directed to equally rated 4* Management journals (67.8 % for 4* OR/MS journals). An initial regression analysis suggested a positive correlation between the percentage of papers in a journal attributed to authors affiliated with those leading business schools and journal citation performance. However, further examination using multi-level regression adjusted for journal prestige, using the ABS and FT50 lists, showed a negative interaction effect on citation rates for papers from these schools in prestigious OR/MS journals. This insightful finding was confirmed by a post-hoc comparison revealing no significant citation advantage in prestigious journals for papers from leading business schools over those from a broader range of institutions. Thus, while leading business schools benefit from disproportionate space in prestigious journals, this does not translate to a citation advantage for the journals themselves, indicating no Matthew effect at the journal level driven by these schools. We argue that our findings show a unique opportunity for prestigious journals and business schools to expand collaborations with institutions in geographies historically underrepresented without a significant impact on the citation performance of those journals. This inclusion would only benefit research excellence, as our results demonstrate convergence in citation rates, citation patterns on external research areas, and topics across both subsets of papers—from leading institutions and those from a broader institutional spectrum—published in prestigious journals, indicating that diversifying contributions does not compromise the performance of these journals

Exploring the behavioral indicators of resilience in professional academy youth soccer

The capacity to demonstrate resilience is important for performance and development outcomes in youth soccer. A key feature of resilience is the demonstration of positive behavioral responses to pressures or setbacks, yet little research exists on the specific behaviors that characterize resilience in the youth soccer literature. This study aimed to explore the behavioral indicators of resilience through focus groups and interviews with 60 participants from six professional soccer academies and one National Soccer Governing Body. The data was collected in two phases, the first involved a discussion of the observable behaviors associated with resilience in youth soccer. In the second phase, participants reflected on examples of resilience behaviors alongside video clips. These acted as a stimulus to contextualize the behaviors arising from the first phase. Content analysis was used to analyze the data and 36 behaviors were identified across six themes: (a) teammate support-focused (e.g., verbal support following mistakes), (b) emotion-focused (e.g., displaying emotional regulation), (c) effort-focused (e.g., physical efforts to overcome challenge), (d) rebound (e.g., positive reactions to a mistake), (e) robust (e.g., showing composure when under pressure), and (f) learning-focused (e.g., willingness to accept feedback). The results offer an insight into a multifaceted range of resilience behaviors in the context of youth soccer. With this knowledge, practitioners can make informed decisions around player development by assessing specific behavioral metrics related to resilience, players can engage in structured self-reflection practices pertaining to resilience development, and researchers can work toward the development of validated observational tools for resilience assessment

Intelligent frozen gait monitoring using software-defined radio frequency sensing

Frozen gait (FG) is an increasingly prevalent concern in individuals with Parkinson’s disease (PD) that limits mobility and increases the risk of falls. Traditional FG detection and monitoring methods using clinical observations and wearable sensors face limitations, such as inflexibility, lack of portability, inaccessibility to individuals, and the inability to provide continuous monitoring in real-life environments. To address these challenges, this experimental study presents the development of a software-defined radio (SDR)-based radio frequency (RF) sensing platform for continuous FG monitoring. Data were collected through multiple experiments involving various physical activities, including FG episodes. The acquired data were processed using advanced signal-processing (ASP) techniques to extract relevant wireless channel state information (WCSI) patterns. The physical activities were classified using machine learning and deep learning models developed on the dataset prepared from the SDR-based RF sensing system. The results demonstrated that the deep learning models outperformed the machine learning models. The bidirectional gated recurrent unit (BiGRU) achieved the highest accuracy of 99.7%. This indicates that the developed system has the potential for accurate, real-time monitoring of FG and other PD symptoms. The proposed RF sensing platform using SDR technology and artificial intelligence (AI) offers an intelligent and continuous monitoring solution, addressing the limitations of traditional methods. This system provides portable, continuous detection of FG events, potentially improving patient care, safety, and early intervention

Update to the PRISMA guidelines for network meta-analyses and scoping reviews and development of guidelines for rapid reviews: a study protocol for a scoping review

Objective: The objective of this scoping review is to develop a list of items for potential inclusion in the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) reporting guidelines for network meta-analysis (NMA), scoping reviews (ScRs), and rapid reviews (RRs). Introduction: The PRISMA extensions for NMA and ScRs were published in 2015 and 2018. However, since then, their methodologies and innovations, including automation, have evolved. There is no reporting guideline for RRs. In 2020, an updated PRISMA statement was published, reflecting advances in the conduct and reporting of systematic reviews. These advances are not yet incorporated into these PRISMA extensions. We will update our previous methods scoping reviews to inform the update of PRISMA-NMA and PRISMA-ScR as well as the development of the PRISMA-RR reporting guidelines. Inclusion criteria: This review will include any study designs evaluating the completeness of reporting, or offering reporting guidance, or assessing methods relevant to NMA, ScRs, or RRs. Editorial guidelines and tutorials that describe items related to reporting completeness will also be eligible. Methods: We will follow the JBI guidance for scoping reviews. For each PRISMA extension, we will (1) search multiple electronic databases from inception, (2) search for unpublished studies, and (3) scan the reference lists of included studies. There will be no language limitations. Screening and data extraction will be conducted by 2 researchers independently. A third researcher will resolve discrepancies. We will conduct frequency analyses of the identified items. The final list of items will be considered for potential inclusion in the relevant PRISMA reporting guidelines. Review registration: NMA protocol (OSF: https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/7BKWY); ScR protocol (OSF: https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/MTA4P); RR protocol (OSF: https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/3JCPE); EQUATOR registration link: https://www.equator-network.org/library/reporting-guidelines-under-development/reporting-guidelines-under-development-for-systematic-reviews

Comparing the psychometric evidence of the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21) between Spanish and Chinese primary schoolteachers: insights from classical test theory and rasch analysis

Background: Primary schoolteachers play a pivotal role in the education of children, highlighting the importance of addressing their psychological well-being and mental health. While the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21) is a globally recognized instrument for evaluating mental health, its systematic validation among primary schoolteachers, particularly in a cross-national context, remains understudied. The present cross-cultural study evaluated the psychometric properties of DASS-21 among primary schoolteachers in Spain and China to compare the DASS-21 between teachers across Western and Eastern cultures. Methods: The study sample comprised 1,350 Spanish and 2,580 Chinese primary schoolteachers. The DASS-21, alongside the Emotional Exhaustion Scale for Teachers, was used to evaluate its psychometric properties. The construct and concurrent validity of the DASS-21 were examined using Rasch analysis, Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). Additionally, measurement invariance was tested across two national teacher cohorts. Results: Rasch analysis confirmed the validity of most DASS-21 items among both the Spanish and Chinese teachers, with only the same item from the Anxiety subscale showing inadequate fit in both countries. CFA across both countries initially favored a bifactor model, which was subsequently excluded due to problematic factor loadings. Instead, a single-factor model provided the best fit for Chinese teachers, while a correlated three-factor model was optimal for Spanish teachers. SEM demonstrated the DASS-21’s concurrent validity with emotional exhaustion, with consistent findings across both samples. After excluding Differential Item Functioning (DIF) items, strict measurement invariance between Spanish and Chinese teachers was achieved, as verified by multi-group CFA. Conclusion: The DASS-21 exhibits commendable psychometric properties, rendering it a suitable instrument for evaluating the mental illness of primary schoolteachers in both Spain and China

Djinns as transformative otherness: forms of toxic kinship in postmillennial Turkish horror film

Despite the absence of horror as an established genre in the national cinema of Turkey, the djinn-themed horror films emerged as one of the most popular areas of cultural production in the early 2000s. Investing in the figure of the djinn, which originates from Anatolian folklore, Turkic shamanism, and Islamic mythology, these horror films tell paranormal stories of witchcraft, black magic, demonic possession, and exorcism. This study locates this new genre formation as a symptomatic response to, and a pragmatic appropriation of, not only the changing dynamics of identity in the dominant Turkish political culture, but also the global postmillennial revival of “folk horror”, “paranormal horror”, “occult horror”, and “found-footage horror”. Among this new culture of horror filmmaking, the Dabbe (2006-2015), Siccin (2014-2019), and Üç Harfliler (2010-2019) cycles have proved the most popular. Revenge, grief, adultery, resentment, class conflicts, segregation, and heterodoxy are recurring themes in these stories, and the horror is often located within the heteronormative family unit through representations of monstrous, demonic women who practice witchcraft and black magic – to kill, to break or restore attachments, to take revenge, and to curse or haunt households by communicating with the djinns through the laborious rituals of black magic. This study examines these horror films by addressing the ways in which they (i) represent the ideological crisis of gender identity and familialism captured in the wider generic system of postmillennial Turkish screen media; (ii) negotiate the affiliations of the djinn and the black magic with heterodoxy and religion-folklore syncretisms; (iii) use film form and style to register the horrific; and (iv) encourage their producers and directors to interpret their target audiences and reflect on the processes of production and reception