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The current study aims to provide an overview of the research on political risk using the Web of Science（WoS）database as well as summarize research results and put forward some suggestions for research directions of political risk in international construction projects. It is the first time scientometric analysis of political risk research is executed. In this regard, the papers related to political risk in the WoS database have been retrieved and the literature is sorted out by visual and content analysis methods. Visual analysis is used to analyze the research overview, knowledge base, and research hotspots of this field. The content analysis method is adopted to expound the current research focus from three perspectives inducing the influence of political risk, risk assessment, and risk management measures. The results show that in the political risk context, the number of publications has experienced an increasing trend in recent years. Based on the existing literature on political risk for all companies, this overview provides some suggestions to address the political risk in international construction projects in the future. The results contribute to the scholars understanding of the research overview, research hotspots, and future research directions of political risk research in construction projects.

BackgroundSuicidal ideation serves as a sensitive predictive indicator for non-suicidal self-injury （NSSI） behavior， and NSSI behavior brings profound effects to both mental and physical health of senior high school students. Existing studies have made exploration on the relationship among insomnia， anxiety and NSSI behavior in the general population， but the internal mechanism of NSSI behavior in senior high school students with suicidal ideation requires further study.ObjectiveTo explore the pathway of anxiety between insomnia and NSSI behavior in senior high school students， so as to provide references for the intervention on NSSI behavior in such demographic.MethodsFrom December 10 to 15， 2021， cluster sampling was adopted to select 2 572 senior high school students across three senior high schools in Hubei Province as the research objects. Assessment was conducted by using Insomnia Severity Index （ISI）， Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale-7 item （GAD-7） and Adolescents Self-Harm Scale. Spearman correlation analysis was conducted to examine the correlation among scores of scales finished by senior high school students with suicidal ideation. Model 4 from the SPSS 20.0 Process 4.2 was employed to test the mediating path of anxiety between insomnia and NSSI behavior.ResultsA total of 2 421 valid questionnaires （94.13%） were recovered， which revealed 554 cases （22.88%） with suicidal ideation and 408 cases （16.85%） with NSSI behavior. The scores of ISI， GAD-7 and Adolescents Self-Harm Scale of senior high school students with suicidal ideation were higher than those of students without suicidal ideation （Z=17.124， 20.611， 21.314， P

Author(s): Guobin Wu [sup.1], Xiaopeng Deng [sup.2], Bingsheng Liu [sup.3] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.33763.32, 0000 0004 1761 2484, College of Management and Economics, Tianjin University, , 92 Weijin Road, Nankai [...], During the COVID-19 pandemic, understanding the effects of location information of patients has significant theoretical and practical implications for public crisis management and health communication. Based on fear appeal theories, this research proposed a chain reaction model that links physical distance to the nearest patients, which is informed by the location information of patients, citizens' anxiety, attention to information and preventive behaviors. To test the hypothesized model, we conducted a study during the COVID-19 outbreak in mainland China in March 2020. The survey of 2061 people from 244 cities across 30 provinces showed that physical distance to confirmed cases has a significant influence on citizens' anxiety, which in turn can improve their preventive behaviors through the mediating factor of attention to information. In addition, this research also revealed the twofold effects of vertical collectivism as a personality trait on anxiety. These findings will provide support to help governments take actions to reduce citizens' anxiety and promote preventive behaviors.

Globally, managing political risk is an essential component of international contracting and project management. Due to political unpredictability and volatility in most nations, there could be a substantial influence on the successful completion of any construction project. To mitigate this, contractors employ a systematic strategy for risk management, including expropriation, civil disturbance, and shifts in governmental policies taking into consideration all the political risks connected to global projects. As a result of the political volatility, there is a need for political risk management (PRM) approaches by the International Construction Corporation (ICC). This study investigates the risk identification techniques for international contracting professionals in the construction sector. The methodology for conducting this investigation is based on data collection through questionnaires from construction sector professionals in both academia and industry. The tools were used to develop essential components from the factors established. This was then analysed using quantitative techniques to examine identified risk factors and make study deductions. The findings of this study identified the crucial PRM-related implications for global initiatives and various risks that were considered in typical construction projects. The political environment should be thoroughly examined, prospective risks should be noted, and risk-reduction tactics should be included in this plan. Thus, a successful project is achievable when contractors can identify the risks, preserve their investments, minimize project delays, handle disruptions, and boost project success rates. Additionally, political risks are invariably associated with construction projects, and this is considered a concern for foreign contractors. Thus, good identification techniques will ensure project preparedness, which is required by expatriates and foreign contractors. This is necessary as they need to ensure that their projects are successfully handled and that there are alternative plans to handle any unexpected event on the project.

Point cloud registration is pivotal across various applications, yet traditional methods rely on unordered point clouds, leading to significant challenges in terms of computational complexity and feature richness. These methods often use k-nearest neighbors (KNN) or neighborhood ball queries to access local neighborhood information, which is not only computationally intensive but also confines the analysis within the object's boundary, making it difficult to determine if points are precisely on the boundary using local features alone. This indicates a lack of sufficient local feature richness. In this paper, we propose a novel registration strategy utilizing ordered point clouds, which are now obtainable through advanced depth cameras, 3D sensors, and structured light-based 3D reconstruction. Our approach eliminates the need for computationally expensive KNN queries by leveraging the inherent ordering of points, significantly reducing processing time; extracts local features by utilizing 2D coordinates, providing richer features compared to traditional methods, which are constrained by object boundaries; compares feature similarity between two point clouds without keypoint extraction, enhancing efficiency and accuracy; and integrates image feature-matching techniques, leveraging the coordinate correspondence between 2D images and 3D-ordered point clouds. Experiments on both synthetic and real-world datasets, including indoor and industrial environments, demonstrate that our algorithm achieves an optimal balance between registration accuracy and efficiency, with registration times consistently under one second. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: This research explores the complex interplay between cognitive biases and Environmental Compliance Risk Perception (ECRP) in international construction projects. Understanding such a relationship is essential as it can have significant implications for the success and environmental sustainability of these projects. Methods: This study analyzed a scenario-based questionnaire survey conducted with 270 international construction practitioners. It employed Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) to identify the influencing factors of cognitive biases and their impact on ECRP. The factors considered included individual, organizational, and project-specific aspects. Results: The analysis revealed that Cultural Bias (CuB), Confirmation Bias (CoB), and Short-Termism (ST) significantly influence ECRP. These biases are affected by a complex interplay of the aforementioned antecedents. Discussion: Based on the results, an innovative framework for evaluating ECRP was proposed. Additionally, a management strategy was developed to recognize and mitigate the cognitive biases of professionals during the bidding and execution phases of international construction projects. By clarifying the factors influencing cognitive biases and their complex relationship with ECRP, this research emphasizes the importance of addressing employee cognitive biases in conjunction with improving environmental awareness in environmental compliance management. It fills a crucial gap in the existing literature and offers international contractors strategies to reduce these biases, thereby enhancing their environmental protection capabilities and minimizing potential negative environmental impacts from international construction projects, which is vital for advancing sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global high-speed railway (HSR) market is developing rapidly, and the amount of international joint ventures (IJVs) of HSR projects is surging. Even though previous studies claim that cooperation and competition simultaneously exist in the HSR IJVs and engaging in coopetition activities is of great significance, how to enhance their coopetition capability to better create common benefits and capture private benefits has rarely been informed. To bridge the gap, this study aims to identify the factors influencing coopetition capability in the HSR IJVs and develop a path model to reveal the internal mechanism. This study identified 19 factors along with their categories through a literature review and pilot study, and collected data from the HSR IJVs practitioners using a questionnaire survey. Based on the measurement model test and path analysis, five categories were validated and six paths were supported. The research findings demonstrate that both environmental and organizational conditions have a positive effect on coopetition capability, and develop an analytical framework of coopetition capability in the context of HSR IJVs. This study will contribute to the existing knowledge on coopetition theory, and assist the HSR IJVs' members and other infrastructure projects contractors in their coopetition capability enhancement and successful projects completion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study assessed the relationships between maternal systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) or rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and risk for autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) in offspring. Seven observational studies, including 25,005 ASD cases and 4,543,321 participants, were included for meta-analysis. Pooled results by using random-effects models suggested that maternal RA was associated with an increased risk for ASDs [odds ratio (OR) 1.39, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.16-1.67], while maternal SLE was associated with an increased risk for ASDs only in western population (OR 1.91, 95% CI 1.02-3.57). Further study is warranted to confirm these results.