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Previous studies consistently label the Materials and Resources (MR) credit category of the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) as the least attainable, despite its critical role in transitioning to a circular economy (CE). To this end, a long-standing gap exists in understanding the MR credit achievement, especially in LEED v4, which has been in use for nearly over a decade. This paper evaluates the level of CE integration in LEED v4 across 971 US-based certified projects. The study comprehensively analyzed the projects achievement patterns of the five MR credits: Building Life Cycle Impact Reduction (C1), Environmental Product Declarations (C2), Sourcing of Raw Materials (C3), Sourcing of Material Ingredients (C4), and Construction and Demolition Waste Management (C5). Results revealed that the most prevalent point achievement pattern was 0-1-0-1-2 out of a maximum of 5-2-2-2-2 for C1, C2, C3, C4, and C5. C1 and C3 posed significant challenges, with 588 and 601 projects receiving zero points, respectively. Additionally, the study statistically investigated differences in achievement across project groups of different certification levels, space use, and floorspace categories. Findings are further validated through interviews with LEED experts, who emphasized challenges such as additional costs, inadequate project specifications, and delays in engaging LEED professionals. Results align the status of LEED projects with the lower impact end of the reduce, reuse, recycle framework of CE, which is limited to waste management approaches. Research implications stress the need for collaborative efforts across the industry, owners, and policymakers to enhance CE practices within LEED projects. Ultimately, this study advocates for incentivizing building reuse, the integration of optimized life cycle assessments, as well as enhancing material data availability and transparency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the ethical and professional responsibilities of engineering Graduate Students (GSs) and Faculty Members (FMs) in relation to Graduate Recruitment Offers (GROs). The authors developed an academic survey for data collection and subsequently evaluated the collected data based on common ethical theories and principles, as well as relevant professional codes of conduct. Based on the survey responses, this study identified the most common driving and preventive reasons for FMs and GSs not to honor a signed GRO. Further, the perception of GSs and FMs in relation to GROs was investigated using statistical methods. Finally, the authors provided an educational framework in the form of a checklist aimed at promoting ethical and professional decision-making as related to GROs. Ultimately, the outcomes of this research can be incorporated into senior seminar courses to enhance engineering undergraduate students' ethical education and promote their ethical thinking as they grow into professional roles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The evident multidrug resistance (MDR) associated with Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is a serious public health problem. Multidrug resistance was defined as resistance to at least one antimicrobial agent in three or even more antimicrobial classes. The hefA gene encodes an active efflux process against antimicrobials, and its expression in H. pylori may contribute to the upsurge of resistant strains. Aim of the study: Detection of MDR H. pylori among endoscopic isolates and examining the role of hefA gene expression in the occurrence of MDR H. pylori. Methods: Our research involved 40 H. pylori endoscopic isolates using conventional microbiological methods. We identified MDR in H. pylori isolates using E testing procedures for metronidazole, ciprofloxacin, amoxicillin as well as clarithromycin. We detected the hefA gene expression among the isolated H. pylori by real-time PCR. Results: out of 40 isolates of H. pylori, 13 (32.5%) were MDR and 27 (67.5%) were not MDR. We found hefA gene in MDR H. pylori isolates with total (mean ± SD) equal to 7.055385±2.591111, but in non-MDR H. pylori isolates were with total (mean ± SD) equal to 2.591111±0.720189. There was a statistically significant difference in hefA expression levels among both MDR H. pylori isolated strains and non-MDR ones; the p value was 0.001. Conclusion: The hefA gene expression in H. pylori plays an important role in the emergence of MDR H. pylori strains as one of the genes encoding for efflux pump mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Celebrating Construction Management and Economics's (CME) 40th anniversary, the goal of this paper is to investigate the knowledge structure and evolution of research trends in CME since its inception. The associated objectives include: (1) analyzing CME's scholarly characteristics; (2) studying CME's publication output over time; (3) examining interconnectivities between CME's research trends; and (4) exploring the potential citation impact of recently published CME's papers. In doing so, this paper implemented a multistep methodology that consists of descriptive assessment, social network analysis (SNA), and predictive machine learning (ML). Results of descriptive assessment showed that CME has witnessed over the years a noticeable growth in the number of publications, citation trends, and collaborative research as depicted increased co-authorship, and that highest percentage of publications were related to "Strategy, Decision Making, Risk, and Finance", "Project planning and Design" and "Contemporary Issues". Output of SNA highlights that research areas with the highest interconnectivity included "Strategy, Decision Making, Risk and Finance" and "Project Planning and Design", and "Labor and Personnel Issues". Furthermore, predictive ML revealed that CME papers have a high probability of becoming high impact publications. In addition to that, the predictive ML results re-emphasized the outcomes of the performed descriptive assessment by reflecting the importance of "Contemporary Issues", "Organizational Issues", "Strategy, Decision Making, Risk, and Finance", and "Labor and Personnel Issues" as emerging research topics with increased potential impact in the future. Ultimately, this paper benefits all CME stakeholders by quantitatively studying current research patterns, their interconnectivities, and future potential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]