Browse Articles

Truss structure optimization of heavy-duty escalators via finite element analysis

To adapt to the characteristics of high load and long-term operation of heavy-duty escalators, traditional trusses often adopt redundant structural designs to meet higher safety and reliability requirements, resulting in increased self-weight and higher manufacturing costs. Therefore, achieving the redesign of truss structures without compromising mechanical performance is necessary. In this work, static analysis of the heavy-duty escalator truss was conducted using Abaqus finite element simulation software. The influencing factors of truss deflection and weight were analyzed, as well as the effect of truss structure composition, distribution, and dimensions on truss performance, in order to obtain an optimized truss structure with the best mechanical performance. Subsequently, a three-dimensional model of the truss was established and modified based on the actual truss structure. The correctness of the model was verified through experimental results of an actual heavy-duty escalator truss project. Utilizing this model, the goal of reducing deflection and weight under the most economical conditions was pursued, and an economic analysis of the chords was conducted to propose the strengthening and weakening strategies. This work can serve as a guide for the design of heavy-duty escalator truss structures, helping to enhance the rationality and reliability of truss structures, reduce development costs, and improve economic benefits.

Metal Doping of Strongly Confined Halide Perovskite Nanocrystals under Ambient Conditions

Correction: Surgical Site Infection after Craniotomy in Neuro-Oncology (SINO): A protocol for an international prospective multicentre service evaluation across the United Kingdom and Ireland

The dilemma of frontline servant leadership: The conflict between top management directives and grassroots employee wellbeing and retention

Servant leadership in the workplace involves providing services and cultivating trust amongst subordinates. However, leadership dynamics can be distorted when hospitality frontline managers assume leadership roles by strictly adhering to top management strategic directives. This study aims to examine how constraints imposed by top management influence the management styles of frontline managers within the hospitality industry. The current study delved into the interplay amongst servant leadership, employee wellbeing and retention, highlighting the pivotal role of service climate, procedural justice and customer satisfaction as moderating variables. In this research, partial least squares structural equation modelling was used to test the research model, using data collected from 485 respondents. Findings underscore the critical role of hospitality frontline managers in aligning with organisational strategic directives, a requirement that may compromise their servant leadership style. Poor service climate and procedural justice may result from this alignment. The current study emphasises that strictly adhering to predetermined top management decisions can influence the outcomes of servant leadership—an often-overlooked factor in existing research. Lastly, this research enriches the literature on the effect of servant leadership on employee retention.

A Light-Responsive Metal–Organic Framework with Perchlorinated Nanographene Ligands

Confronting the uncertainty: Vulnerability to climate change among smallholder farmers in the Sidaama region, Ethiopia

Smallholder farmers’ vulnerability to climate change varies due to socio-economic and biophysical factors, requiring a context-specific assessment. This study examines livelihood vulnerability in the face of climate change in the Sidaama Region, Ethiopia. A mixed-methods approach with a descriptive and explanatory sequential design was employed. Data from 391 systematically sampled households were analyzed using the Livelihood Vulnerability Index (LVI) and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) framework (LVI_IPCC), alongside Kruskal-Wallis and Dunn’s tests. Results of LVI analysis indicate that the Lowland agroecological zone (AEZ) is the most vulnerable (0.466), followed by the Highland (0.412), while the Midland is least vulnerable (0.376). The Highland AEZ showed greater sensitivity to climate change, whereas the Lowland had the weakest adaptive capacity. The Kruskal-Wallis H test confirmed significant differences in vulnerability across AEZs (H = 49.083, p < 0.001), with Dunn’s test revealing that the Lowland AEZ is significantly more vulnerable than both the Highland and Midland. LVI_IPCC results similarly ranked the Lowland as the most vulnerable (-0.0041), followed by the Midland (-0.072), with the Highland being the least vulnerable (-0.096). Boxplot analysis further confirmed that the lowland had the highest median LVI_IPCC, indicating greater livelihood vulnerability, while the Highland and Midland had lower median values. To reduce vulnerability, targeted interventions such as climate-smart agriculture, diversified income sources, improved microfinance access, and tailored climate adaptation strategies are needed. Local, regional, and national governments should prioritize disaster prevention and mitigation in the Lowland while leveraging the Midland’s higher adaptability for piloting innovative adaptation strategies.

Colocalized Raman and IR Spectroscopies via Vibrational-Encoded Fluorescence for Comprehensive Vibrational Analysis

Comprehensibility and impact of vehicle dashboard indicator light symbols on drivers’ preventive maintenance compliance

Background Dashboard indicator light symbols convey information about vehicles status and functioning, but action taken to address issues associated with these symbols depend on drivers’ familiarity and comprehension of the symbols as well as demographic factors. Thus, this study assesses drivers’ familiarity and comprehension of dashboard indicator light symbols and further examines the impact of driver background factors and comprehension level of the symbols on drivers’ preventive maintenance compliance. Method Through a survey involving 2530 drivers, familiarity and comprehension of 25 dashboard indicator symbols used on most vehicles were collected. Descriptive analysis and Generalised Ordered Logistic Regression were used to analyse the data. Results Indicator light symbols that recorded a higher percentage of familiarity and were deemed appropriate were comprehended by most drivers. Symbols with pictorial signs were better understood. Overall, there were substantial significant differences among symbols in drivers’ familiarity and comprehension. Regression analysis indicates that the majority of dashboard indicators with low comprehension had a positively significant relationship, while symbols with better understanding recorded a negative relationship with driver’s preventive maintenance compliance. However, symbols such as tyre pressure, traction, 4*4 active, and power steering warning lights, which were poorly comprehended, showed a negative significant association with preventive maintenance compliance. Conclusion The complex relationship between comprehension and drivers’ preventive maintenance compliance underscores the importance of including driver education programs and symbols standardisation to improve comprehension and preventive maintenance compliance, promoting road safety and vehicle reliability.

Influences of familiarity and recollection on value-based decision-making

We regularly retrieve information from memory to inform decisions in daily life. For example, when choosing a place to eat, we may be enticed by a brand name because of its familiarity or drawn to an independent restaurant because of recollections of a delicious lunch we had there once before. Despite the centrality of memory in such everyday choices, it remains unclear how these different memory processes (i.e., familiarity versus recollection) interact during value judgment and decision-making. Here we describe a novel experimental paradigm that tests the contributions of these processes to risk-based choice. In this task, participants had to retrieve the source of an image from an earlier encoding task to infer the probability of a bet being rewarded. Some images were repeated multiple times at encoding, while others only appeared once and others were lures that never appeared during the encoding task. We examined behavior in this task across two experiments, one conducted fully online and the second both online and in-laboratory. We found that subjective value increased with familiarity during memory-based decision-making. Betting on lure items even increased with false familiarity. Further, we observed evidence that familiarity and source value information interacted, such that the relationship of both familiarity and source value information with betting were increased when both were high. Our results highlight the importance of subjective familiarity in decision-making and potentially indirectly increasing the value of information retrieved from source memory.

Regulating Amine Substitution in Fluorosulfonyl-Based Flame-Retardant Electrolytes for Energy-Dense Lithium Metal Batteries

Creating an arena for being in the same boat: A qualitative study of course instructors’ experiences with the Coping with Depression course’s group setting

Background Depression is a common mental disorder. Recovering from depression, a positive connection has been found between having a social network and having supportive relationships. Coping with Depression course was developed to address a need to reach more people through a non-stigmatising method of intervention outside the traditional mental health services. This course has proven effective in reducing depressive symptoms and is potentially cost-effective. Group dynamics can interfere with achieving a positive therapeutic effect, yet more knowledge is needed about the importance of the group setting of Coping with Depression courses. Aim The study aims to gain a deeper understanding of the use of groups in the Coping with Depression course in primary health care. Method A qualitative research design with thematic data analysis was applied to semi-structured interviews with seven course instructors. Results Based on participant interaction, the findings indicate that the Coping with Depression course’s use of groups is predominantly beneficial. The group setting facilitated supportive fellowship and provided participants with an arena where social and personal growth was possible. Balancing the needs of individual participants with those of the group as a whole was challenging at times for the course instructors.

Enhanced Intermediates Inter-migration on Ag Single-Atom Alloys for Boosting Multicarbon Product Selectivity in CO₂ Electroreduction

Correction: Screening potential anti-osteoarthritis compounds using molecular docking based on MAPK and NFκB pathways and validating their anti-osteoarthritis effect

Dynamic Competition between Hubbard and Superexchange Interactions Selectively Localizes Electrons and Holes through Polarons

Effective remediation programs for vulnerable students to overcome learning loss

In March 2020, the world was forced to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic, and as a result, schools in many countries closed to minimize the spread of the coronavirus. Students were required to shift to online learning from home. Not long after that, research showed that students in the first half-year of the COVID-19 pandemic experienced extensive learning losses compared to peers from previous cohorts. An important question is whether these losses can be remediated or lead to permanently lower attainment for a generation of students. Here, we study the effectiveness of a nationwide attempt at remediation in the Netherlands, where the government provided funds for schools to proactively minimize the detrimental effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Unique standardized test score data of over 66,000 Dutch primary school students were combined with information about the various remediation programs employed uniquely in each school to investigate to what extent remediation occurred. Applying a Difference-in-Differences design, we find an overall statistically significant and meaningful increase in the achievement of vulnerable students after participation in remediation programs (+ 0.05 SD). Participating students had a higher increase in test scores compared to non-participants within the same school, and the inequality between the latter and former has slightly been reduced (~10%). Remediation programs offering individual support to students or in small groups, and with a sole emphasis on cognitive skill development, were most successful.

Violations of Coordination: Exploring Metastable Diborides via Energetic Transition Metals

A high throughput method for isolation of plasmatocytes from hemolymph of adult Drosophila

Macrophages are essential innate immune system components, exhibiting diverse functions crucial for disease prevention. While much is known about their role in innate immunity, studying their functional versatility remains a challenge. Drosophila serves as an excellent model for investigating innate immune signaling due to parallels with vertebrate macrophages. Despite extensive research on larval plasmatocytes, there is a lack of sufficient published literature on adult plasmatocytes, hindering understanding of their contribution to late-onset diseases and aging. Current hemolymph extraction protocols from adult flies have limitations, making them less suitable for immunology experiments that require consistency and minimal stress on flies. Most established methods involve specialized tools such as nanoinjectors, silica capillary probes, etc. which are arduous and require advanced equipment. Although these approaches overcome some challenges in immune cell research, they remain complex and technically intricate. Here, for the first time, we present a protocol for quick, easy, cost-effective, and systematic isolation of adult Drosophila plasmatocytes by which we achieve nearly 2500 cells. We strongly suggest that this protocol might facilitate studies aiming to elucidate molecular and genetic mechanisms associated with immune response in various ailments enabling the exploration of immune cell dynamics, cell signaling and their role in disease progression.

Bilaterally Substituted Terphenyl Molecules Efficiently Inhibit the Interaction between a Protein and a Fully Buried α-Helix in the Malaria Parasite Motor System

Factors influencing wildlife roadkill in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Northern, Tanzania

Globally, extension of road network is among the major threats affecting different fauna survival. Roads traversing protected areas, usually harm wildlife species (e.g., wildlife roadkill). Wildlife roadkill is of global conservation concern and has been reported to occur in different protected areas worldwide. Very little information on the problem is currently available in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA). The purpose of this study was to identify factors that affect wildlife roadkill in the NCA. The 82-kilometer main road from Lodoare to Golini served as the study’s transects. Data was collected for a duration of one year from July 2021 to June 2022. Vehicle moving with a speed limit of 20km/hr were used during the data collection. The survey started early in the morning from 07:00 am to 06:00 pm and employed both direct and opportunistic encounter observations for recording wildlife roadkill incidences. The results revealed that 85 individual animals belonging to 21 families, i.e., 5 mammalian, 3 reptilian, and 10 bird orders were recorded killed within one year period in the area. These animals comprised 26 different species, which included 10 mammalian, 5 reptilian, and 11 bird species. Moreover, more birds (69.4%) than mammals (18.8%) and reptiles (11.8%) were found killed in the area. Additionally, the night jars (Caprimulgus europaeus; 30.6%) followed by black rat (Rattus rattus; 7.1%) and chameleon (Chamaeleo chamaeleon; 3.5%) were the most frequently recorded killed species in the area. Furthermore, wildlife roadkills did not differ significantly between seasons (p = 0.371) and time of day (e.g., morning vs. afternoon; p = 0.652) but differed significantly between their body size (e.g., small, medium, and large; p < 0.001) and habitat types (e.g., grassland, woodland, shrubland, wooded grassland, forest; p = 0.005). The study recommends punishments and penalties for overspeeding drivers and installing cameras, speed limits, and signboards along the highway to alert drivers to reduce speed. Further, providing regular education to road users on the impacts of roadkill within the ecosystem is critical.

Photoswitchable Fluorescent Hydrazone for Super-Resolution Cell Membrane Imaging