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Abstract This research paper outlines the fundamental areas and current complexities of the gender equity in HRM domain; given the importance of HR and gender equity-centre stage of developing this paper, there has been a noticeable rise in publications in recent years, indicating a rising interest in gender equity concerns within HRM. The influence of leadership styles on gender equality, work-life balance, diversity and inclusion policies, and gender bias in recruitment and promotion are some of the major issues that have been discovered gender equity, as shown by the study’s emphasis on inter-connectedness. The connection between gender and other social characteristics such as race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status is a complex issue. Thus, we suggest potential directions for future research. Analysis was conducted on 1555 studies sourced from the Scopus database between 2005 and 2023. This study aimed to identify research initiatives that concentrate on achieving gender equality in HRM. To ascertain the most influential articles and authors, their citation and publication counts were determined. The predominant area of investigation in HRM research is gender equity, a key issue, while other factors, such as age, nationality, ethnicity, professional background, and cognition, are often neglected.

Corrosion significantly weakens the bond between concrete and steel reinforcements and reduces the strength of reinforced concrete (RC) structures. This study experimentally examined the impact of corrosion on RC beams with Nano silica (NS), focusing on the bond strength behavior through pull-out and flexural bond tests. NS was added in varying percentages (0.5 %, 1 %, 1.5 %, and 2 %) by binder weight to enhance the bond behavior and concrete strength. The compressive strength of concrete, measured at 28 days, ranged from 15.88 % to 31.77 % with different NS proportions. At 60 day, the compressive strengths ranged from 5.50 % to 15.67 % with a normal superplasticizer (NS) at different proportions. Adding 1.5 % NS to the binder weight yielded an optimal mix with enhanced strength properties. Flexural strength, measured at 28 days, ranged from 16.53 % to 42.99 % with various NS proportions. The split tensile strengths at 28 days ranged from 7.90 % to 15.79 % with different NS proportions. The findings showed superior mechanical properties in concrete with NS compared with those without NS. For corrosion resistance, an accelerated corrosion process was induced for the optimal mix using the impressed current technique with a constant voltage and varying current. Pull-out specimens with a 70 mm clear cover and flexural bond specimens with a 20 mm clear cover underwent different hours of accelerated corrosion. The bond strength results indicated that concrete with the optimal NS percentage had lower mass loss and superior corrosion resistance, suggesting a higher bond strength and improved resistance to radial and shear stresses.

Geopolymer concrete (GC) emerges as a sustainable alternative yet faces challenges in achieving optimal resource utilization for strength development. Balancing these aspects is crucial for its large-scale adoption as a sustainable material. The type and dosage of precursors, activator, curing, and mixing conditions influence compressive strength, setting time, and workability. Moreover, multiple experimental trials are required for a desirable geopolymer blend. Even the experimental parameters alone do not meet the design principles concerning sustainable construction. This paper presents a study on the mix design and interpretation of machine learning techniques (MLT) with XAI. To train the model, extensive experimental databases using the shapley additive explanations (SHAP) technique rank input factors that impact the strength aspect. The prediction models' performance was compared using coefficient of determination (R2) and root mean square error (RMSE). SHAP interpretations reveal that temperature, Na to Al ratio, and NaOH molarity are the main factors influencing the compressive strength of GC. Further, these parameters were crucial in developing the dense geopolymer matrix. By integrating XAI into the MLT approach, we have also opened new criteria for understanding the complex relationships between geopolymer concrete potential parameters and their compressive strength.

Aquaculture is practiced in many countries including India; coastal region of Andhra Pradesh is known for its intensive aquaculture farming. Sludge obtained from these farms was used to fill low-lying areas during summer. Aquaculture sludge (AS) is an organic material generated at the bottom of the aquaculture pond produced from shrimp effluents, chemical usage, unsustainable feed, minerals, and disinfectants. It is a polluting material that requires care and attention. This work aims to evaluate the effect of the mixing of aquaculture sludge on the geotechnical properties of clay subsoil. Plasticity, compaction characteristics, and one-dimensional swell consolidation tests were performed on expansive blended clays. The results of the swell-shrink behavior of expansive clays mixed with AS show a significant decrease in swelling phenomenon. Microstructural analysis of expansive clay and clay mixed with AS was carried out using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectrometry (EDS), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) tests to understand the surface textures, particle sizes, and chemical reactions. Microstructural analysis revealed the development of a crystalline structure with a C-S-H gel and CaCO3. In addition, it also shows the development of flocs and the aggregation of clay particles with AS.

The rice-wheat system in the Indo-Gangetic Plain, often termed the ‘food basket’ of South Asia, has witnessed a concerning trend in its potassium balance over the past few decades. This negative trend stems from intensive and exhaustive agricultural practices, leading to 79% of the soil in the region falling into the low to medium potassium available category. Consequently, there has been a decline in soils with high potassium availability. Despite misconceptions about soil potassium sufficiency, abundant crop responses to potassium fertilization in alluvial soils, like those in the Indo-Gangetic Plain, have been observed. However, the current negative potassium balance exceeds acceptable levels, posing a significant threat to system sustainability. Soil deficient in potassium fails to yield optimal outputs without external potassium inputs. Thus, maintaining adequate potassium levels within the rice-wheat system is imperative for sustaining agricultural productivity, preserving soil health, ensuring food security, and mitigating associated environmental impacts. To address these challenges, this review provides a comprehensive understanding of the current nutrient balance, existing fertilizer application rates and methods, and various strategies to optimize potassium mining. These strategies include balanced fertilizer usage, crop residue recycling, minimizing potassium leaching losses, employing customized fertilizers and potassium-solubilizing microbes, establishing a national soil data repository, and implementing policy interventions. By synchronizing potassium application with crop requirements, these strategies aim to enhance potassium use efficiency and maximize return on investment, ensuring the long-term sustainability of the rice-wheat system in the Indo-Gangetic Plains.

The need to improve existing structures has led to extensive research on strengthening techniques. Textile-reinforced mortar (TRM) systems, which involve the integration of high-strength fibers with inorganic matrix, have emerged as a highly promising and viable alternative. The objective of this research is to investigate the mechanical characteristics of inorganic mortar by examining different compositions involving sand, fibers, and cementitious materials. Various combinations were tested to evaluate their compressive strength, split tensile strength, and flexural strength. The findings indicated that a composite mixture (sample 12) comprising microsilica, silica sand, and optimized fibers demonstrated enhanced strength in all three assessments. Research highlights the significance of accurate mixing, additional components, and appropriate fibers to achieve intended performance of the mortar. The compatibility of the mortar is checked with substrate surface and textile sheet. Mortar is evaluated for splitting bond strength, slant shear test, direct pull-off bond strength, and pull-out strength. These results provide information about the strength and bonding characteristics of the mortar in different test scenarios. Values indicate how well the mortar performs with the substrate surface and the textile sheet under various types of stresses and loading conditions.

This paper presents the strength and micro-structural characteristics of high plasticity expansive clay stabilized with ordinary Portland cement (OPC) and geopolymers. Furthermore, sustainability aspects such as cost-efficiency, energy consumption and eco-efficiency of the OPC and geopolymer-stabilized soils were compared. The experimental results revealed that the geopolymer-stabilized soils exhibit higher strength and sustainability performance than the OPC-stabilized soils. This study also explores the developed machine learning prediction models of the geopolymer soils’ unconfined compressive strength (UCS) based on experimental data from current research and previous literature. Linear regression (LR), K-nearest neighbour (KNN), random forest (RF), random forest with random search hyperparameter optimization (BRRF) and random forest with grid search hyperparameter optimization (BGRF) were used as part of ensemble algorithms to predict stabilized soils UCS. Eight parameters such as liquid limit (LL), plasticity index (PI), ground granulated blast furnace slag (S) content, fly ash (FA) content, the molarity of NaOH (M), activator to binder ratio (A/B), Na/Al and Si/Al were used as input to predict UCS of geopolymer soils. The following metrics were used to assess the models’ predictive ability for compressive strength: coefficient of determination (R2), root mean square error (RMSE), mean absolute error (MAE) and mean square error (MSE). The BRRF model has a good potential to predict the UCS of geopolymer soils, according to the findings of its testing (MAE = 0.27, MSE = 0.21, RMSE = 0.46, R2 = 0.99) and training (MAE = 0.78, MSE = 1.48, RMSE = 1.23, R2 = 0.96) phases. According to the RF model's feature importance study, slag content and liquid limit were found to influence forecasting compressive strength, while fly ash content has the least influence.

Technological advancements in electronic storage have been trending for cloud computing. The revolution of this computer technology with machine learning and artificial intelligence has created prodigious platforms to the various disciplines of science and technology. Civil engineering is the oldest discipline, and due to the never-ending demand of this domain, it is rapidly adapting to newer computer techniques like image processing, deep learning, big data analysis, neural networks, building information modeling (BIM), unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) system, digital image correlation (DIC), and many more. In the current paper, we portrayed the primary research and achievements of AI and image processing applications in the civil domain. The paper is divided in two parts. The first part provides analysis of existing methods along with examples relevant to the civil domain where it is incorporated. The second part elaborates scientometric study constituting 605 documents (Science Direct database) published in the last two decades. The bibliometrics are further used for producing analytical frameworks based on publications, citations, top journals, top institutions, and funding sources. This study serves as a guide for readers to identify research gaps and use the review for potential future study.

During the EVEDA (engineering validation and engineering design activities) phase of the International Fusion Materials Irradiation Facility (IFMIF) project, a 125 mA/9 MeV linear prototype accelerator (LIPAc) has to be built, tested and operated in Rokkasho-mura (Japan). Involved in this project for several years, CEA-Saclay designed the injector of this accelerator which is composed of an electron cyclotron resonance ion source, delivering a 140 mA deuteron beam at 100 keV, and a low energy beam transport (LEBT) line to match the beam for the injection into the radio-frequency quadrupole. In this paper, the components of the LIPAc injector are described. The commissioning of the ion source and LEBT with beam started in November 2014. The different phases of the commissioning are explained and some noticeable experimental results obtained with a beam at 100 keV are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Epidemiological transition to NCDs is a challenge for fragile health systems in the Caribbean. The Congregations Taking Action against NCDs (CONTACT) Study intervention proposes that trained health advocates (HAs) from places of worship (PoWs), supervised by nurses at nearby primary healthcare centres (PHCs), could facilitate access to primary care among vulnerable communities. Drawing on participatory and systems thinking, we explored the capacity of local PHCs in three Caribbean countries to support this intervention., Methods: Communities in Jamaica (rural, urban), Guyana (rural) and Dominica (Indigenous Kalinago Territory) were selected for CONTACT because of their differing socio-economic, cultural, religious and health system contexts. Through mixed-method concept mapping, we co-developed a list of perceived actionable priorities (possible intervention points ranked highly for feasibility and importance) with 48 policy actors, healthcare practitioners and civic society representatives. Guided in part by the concept mapping findings, we assessed the readiness of 12 purposefully selected PHCs for the intervention, using a staff questionnaire and an observation checklist to identify enablers and constrainers., Results: Concept mapping illustrated stakeholder optimism for the intervention, but revealed perceptions of inadequate primary healthcare service capacity, resources and staff training to support implementation. Readiness assessments of PHCs identified potential enablers and constrainers that were consistent with concept mapping results. Staff support was evident. Constraints included under-staffing, which could hinder supervision of HAs; and inadequate essential NCD medicines, training in NCDs and financial and policy support for embedding community interventions. Despite a history of socio-political disadvantage, the most enabling context was found in the Kalinago Territory, where ongoing community engagement activities could support joint development of programmes between churches and PHCs., Conclusion: Multi-sectoral stakeholder consultation and direct PHC assessments revealed viability of the proposed POW-PHC partnership for NCD prevention and control. However, structural and policy support will be key for implementing change., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Gobin et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Introduction: Community engagement is key to improving the quality of primary health care (PHC), with asset-based interventions shown to have a positive impact on equity and health outcomes. However, there tends to be a disconnect between community-based interventions and PHC, with a lack of evidence on how to develop sustainable community-primary care partnerships. This paper reports on the formative phases of 2 studies exploring the feasibility of embedding community assets, namely places of worship and barbershops, into the PHC pathway for the prevention and control of NCDs in deprived settings. It describes the participatory approach used to map and gather contextual readiness information, including the enablers and constrainers for collaborative partnerships with PHC., Methods: Grounded in community-based participatory research, we used elements of ground-truthing and participatory mapping to locate and gather contextual information on places of worship and barbershops in urban and rural communities. Local knowledge, gathered from community dialogs, led to the creation of sampling frames of these community assets. Selected places of worship were administered a 66-item readiness questionnaire, which included domains on governance and financing, congregation profile, and existing health programs and collaborations. Participating barbershops were administered a 40-item readiness questionnaire, which covered barbers' demographic information, previous training in health promotion, and barbers' willingness to deliver health promotion activities., Results: Fourteen barbershops were identified, of which 10 participated in the readiness survey, while 240 places of worship were identified, of which 14 were selected and assessed for readiness. Contextual differences were found within and between these assets regarding governance, accessibility, and reach. Key enablers for both include training in health promotion, an overwhelming enthusiasm for participation and recognition of the potential benefits of a community-primary care partnership. Lack of previous collaborations with the formal health system was common to both., Conclusion: The participatory approach extended reach within underserved communities, while the readiness data informed intervention design and identified opportunities for partnership development. Contextual differences between community assets require comprehensive readiness investigations to develop suitably tailored interventions that promote reach, acceptance, and sustainability.

Background: Adolescents and young people (10-24 years old) in the Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) region represent approximately 25% of the region's population. Since the 2008 global economic crisis, the pace of reduction in poverty and income inequality in the LAC region has stalled. The region is characterised by high levels of inequities and is also vulnerable to many natural disasters. Food systems are changing with increased availability and marketing of packaged and fast foods and sugar-sweetened drinks. Adolescence is a formative phase of the life course with multiple physical, emotional and social changes which can make them vulnerable to health problems. We assess the potential impact of macro-determinants, human and economic development as well as income inequality, on 2 top-ranking regional priorities for adolescent nutrition and mental health, using measures of overweight and suicidal ideation and planning which some have shown to be associated., Methods and Findings: The Global School-based Health Survey (GSHS) is a nationally representative self-administered, school-based survey. We examined overweight/obesity and suicidal ideation with planning by gross domestic product (GDP) per capita or human development index (HDI) in 10-19-year-old adolescents from 21 LAC countries between 2009 and 2013. Sample sizes varied from 943 in Anguilla to 27,988 in Argentina. A total of 55,295 adolescents had a measure of overweight/obesity status, and 59,061 adolescents reported about suicidal ideation with planning. There was equal representation by sex in the surveys (52% girls and 48% boys). A total of 28.8% of boys and 28.1% of girls had overweight/obesity, and 7.5% of boys and 17.5% of girls reported suicidal ideation with planning over the last 12 months. Adjusted for individual socioeconomic and risk behaviours, and relative to the highest GDP per capita tertile, the middle tertile was associated with 42% (95% confidence interval (CI) 59% to 17%, p = 0.003) and 32% (95% CI 60% to 5%, p = 0.023), and the lowest tertile with 40% (95% CI 55% to 19%, p = 0.001) and 46% (95% CI 59% to 29%, p < 0.001) lower chances of overweight/obesity for girls and boys, respectively. A similar positive effect was seen with HDI, with lowest chances of overweight in the lowest tertile compared with the highest tertile for both sexes. Overweight/obesity was positively related with suicidal ideation with planning for girls (odds ratio (OR) 1.12, 95% CI 1.02 to 1.22, p = 0.009) and weakly related for boys (OR 1.09, 95% CI 0.96 to 1.24, p = 0.182). In contrast to overweight/obesity status, suicidal ideation with planning was not related to macro-level indices despite both outcomes sharing common individual socioeconomic and risk behaviour correlates. Limitations include the dominance of Argentinians in the sample (40%), the exclusion of vulnerable adolescents who dropped out of school, and reporting bias due to stigma of mental health-related issues., Conclusions: This study shows that economic and human development were positively associated with adolescent overweight/obesity but not with suicidal ideation with planning. We also observed an interconnectedness between overweight/obesity and suicide ideation with planning among girls. These findings highlight the importance of strategies that engage with both upstream and downstream determinants to improve adolescent nutrition and mental health., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Background: Periodontitis and metabolic syndrome (MetS) are two major global health problems that are widely prevalent in the world, although the former is a common infection in developing countries and the latter is a non-infectious but prevalent disease in developed countries. This study aims to provide an updated review on the existence and magnitude of the relationship between periodontal disease and the risk of MetS. Methods: We searched the PubMed, Web of Science, ScienceDirect, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure, and Wanfang databases for original studies assessing the association between periodontitis and MetS published before August 2019. We calculated the pooled crude and adjusted odds ratios (ORs) together with the 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) to estimate the strength of this association. Subgroup analysis was performed by considering the diagnostic method or the country where the studies were performed. Results: We identified 43 potentially eligible articles for this systematic review, including 32 cross-sectional studies, eight case-control studies, and three cohort studies. Among them, 39 articles presented enough information to be included in the meta-analysis. The pooled crude and adjusted ORs were 1.99 (95% CI: 1.75-2.25) and 1.46 (95% CI: 1.31-1.61), respectively. Subgroup analysis showed a consistent relation stratified by either the diagnostic method or the country where the studies were performed. The pooled OR was 1.68 (95% CI: 1.41-2.00) for Japan, 1.75 (95% CI: 1.31-2.34) for the USA, 1.81 (95% CI: 1.35-2.42) for Korea, and 2.29 (95% CI: 1.53-3.41) for China. Conclusion: Our results provide compelling evidence for the association between periodontitis and MetS. Patients with periodontal disease are a critical screening population for MetS. We also recommend that people exhibiting components of MetS should receive a periodontal check-up and pay attention to their oral health., (Copyright © 2020 Gobin, Tian, Liu and Wang.)

Introduction: We present a new diabetes risk score developed and validated in a multi-ethnic population in Guyana, South America. Measurement of in-country diabetes prevalence is a vital epidemiologic tool to combat the pandemic. It is believed that for every person diagnosed with type 2 diabetes there is another undiagnosed. The International Diabetes Federation (IDF) recommends a two-step detection programme using a risk score questionnaire to identify high-risk individuals followed by glycaemic measure., Methods: Data on 798 persons from the 2016 STEPwise Approach to Chronic Disease Risk Factor Surveillance (STEPS) were used to correlate responses to 36 questions with glycated haemoglobin (HbA1C) and fasting plasma glucose (FPG) results. Bootstrapping was used to internally validate the derived seven-variable model. This model with the addition of family history questions was tested in a convenience sample of 659 Guyanese adults and externally validated in a cohort of another 528., Results: An 8-item Guyana Diabetes Risk Score (GDRS) was derived. The final model performed with an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.812 CONCLUSIONS: The validated eight-item Guyana Diabetes Risk Score will be extremely useful in identifying individuals at high risk of having diabetes in Caribbean, Black or East Indian populations.

Introduction: Periodontal ligament stem cells (PDLSCs) are vital for the regeneration of periodontal tissues. Potassium dihydrogen phosphate (KH 2 PO 4 ) has recently been applied as a component of the mineralization inducing medium (MM), which can be used to induce osteogenic differentiation of dental stem cells. However, whether KH 2 PO 4 has effects on PDLSCs has not been studied., Materials and Methods: PDLSCs were isolated by magnetic activated cell sorting and cultured. Alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity and ALP protein expression of PDLSCs treated with different concentrations of KH 2 PO 4 were examined to make sure the optimal concentration of KH 2 PO 4 for the following experiments. The effects of KH 2 PO 4 on the proliferation and differentiation of PDLSCs were investigated by flow cytometry, cell counting kit-8 assay, alizarin red staining, real-time RT-PCR, and Western blot. The involvement of nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) pathway in KH 2 PO 4 -treated PDLSCs was analyzed by Western blot and alizarin red staining., Results: ALP activity assay and ALP protein expression examination revealed that 1.8 mmol/L KH 2 PO 4 was the optimal concentration for the induction of hPDLSCs by KH 2 PO 4 . The proliferation and mineralization capacity of PDLSCs treated with KH 2 PO 4 were enhanced as compared with the control group. PDLSCs treated with KH 2 PO 4 showed an improved proliferation capacity in logarithmic growth phase at day 7. As PDLSCs were treated with KH 2 PO 4 , the expression of odonto/osteogenic markers (OCN/OCN, DSP/DSPP, OSX/OSX, RUNX2/RUNX2, and ALP/ALP) in cells were up-regulated at day 3 or 7. Moreover, the expression of IκBα in cytoplasm was down-regulated, along with an increased expression of p-P65 in cytoplasm and an up-regulated expression of P65 in nucleus. When treated with BMS345541 (the specific NF-κB inhibitor), the odonto/osteogenic differentiation of KH 2 PO 4 -treated PDLSCs was significantly attenuated., Conclusion: KH 2 PO 4 can improve the proliferation and odonto/osteogenic differentiation capacity of PDLSCs via NF-κB pathway, and thus represents a potential target involved in the regeneration of periodontium for clinical treatments., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Aim: This study aimed to investigate the distinct expression pattern of circular RNAs (circRNAs) in stem cells from apical papilla (SCAPs) during osteogenesis. Materials & methods: Isolated SCAPs were cultured in growth medium or osteogenic medium, respectively. Total RNA was extracted and submitted to RNA-sequencing. Expression profiles of circRNAs and constructed circRNA-miRNA-mRNA networks were determined. Results: A total of 333 unregulated circRNAs and 317 downregulated circRNAs in osteogenic differentiation were detected. Bioinformatics analysis identified that several biological pathways may be associated with osteogenic differentiation of SCAPs. Moreover, ten circRNAs, 21 miRNAs and 19 mRNAs were selected to construct competing endogenous RNA networks. Conclusion: This study revealed that expression profiles of circRNAs were significantly altered and specific circRNAs might function as competing endogenous RNAs in SCAPs during osteogenic differentiation.

Yunnan Baiyao is a traditional Chinese herbal remedy that has long been used for its characteristics of wound healing, bone regeneration, and anti-inflammation. However, the effects of Yunnan Baiyao on the odonto/osteogenic differentiation of stem cells from apical papilla (SCAPs) and the potential mechanisms remain unclear. The aim of this study was to investigate the odonto/osteogenic differentiation effects of Yunnan Baiyao on SCAPs and the underlying mechanisms involved. SCAPs were isolated and cocultured with Yunnan Baiyao conditioned media. The proliferation ability was determined by cell counting kit 8 and flow cytometry. The differentiation capacity and the involvement of NF- κ B pathway were investigated by alkaline phosphatase assay, alizarin red staining, immunofluorescence assay, real-time RT-PCR, and western blot analyses. Yunnan Baiyao conditioned medium at the concentration of 50  μ g/mL upregulated alkaline phosphatase activity, induced more mineralized nodules, and increased the expression of odonto/osteogenic genes/proteins (e.g., OCN /OCN, OPN /OPN, OSX /OSX, RUNX2 /RUNX2, ALP /ALP, COL-I /COL-I, DMP1, DSP /DSPP) of SCAPs. In addition, the expression of cytoplasmic phos-I κ B α , phos-P65, and nuclear P65 was significantly increased in Yunnan Baiyao conditioned medium treated SCAPs in a time-dependent manner. Conversely, the differentiation of Yunnan Baiyao conditioned medium treated SCAPs was obviously inhibited when these stem cells were cocultured with the specific NF- κ B inhibitor BMS345541. Yunnan Baiyao can promote the odonto/osteogenic differentiation of SCAPs via the NF- κ B signaling pathway.