Structural Modeling Research Articles

Unveiling the 3D Morphology of Epitaxial GaAs/AlGaAs Quantum Dots.

Strain-free GaAs/AlGaAs semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) grown by droplet etching and nanohole infilling (DENI) are highly promising candidates for the on-demand generation of indistinguishable and entangled photon sources. The spectroscopic fingerprint and quantum optical properties of QDs are significantly influenced by their morphology. The effects of nanohole geometry and infilled material on the exciton binding energies and fine structure splitting are well-understood. However, a comprehensive understanding of GaAs/AlGaAs QD morphology remains elusive. To address this, we employ high-resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) and reverse engineering through selective chemical etching and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Cross-sectional STEM of uncapped QDs reveals an inverted conical nanohole with Al-rich sidewalls and defect-free interfaces. Subsequent selective chemical etching and AFM measurements further reveal asymmetries in element distribution. This study enhances the understanding of DENI QD morphology and provides a fundamental three-dimensional structural model for simulating and optimizing their optoelectronic properties.

Impact of environmental knowledge, responsibility and concern on sustainable consumption behavior: does customer attitude matter?

PurposeThe constant population growth and inappropriate consumption patterns have led to abnormal use of the earth's capacities, destruction of natural resources, enormous spread of diseases, and increased waste materials. Thus, these issues should be highlighted to avoid serious problems for the earth. Accordingly, this study examines the effect of environmental knowledge (EK), environmental responsibility (ER), and environmental concern (EC) on sustainable consumption behavior (SCB), with the mediating role of customer attitude (CA).Design/methodology/approachThe present applied study is descriptive-correlational. The statistical population includes customers of Hyperstar stores located in Tehran. Overall, a sample size of 384 people was selected based on Cochran's formula. The data were collected using standard questionnaires and analyzed using structural equation modeling and Smart PLS version 3 software.FindingsThe fit of the proposed model was confirmed at measurement, structural, and general levels. Thus, it indicates that the structural model has an acceptable fit. Furthermore, the findings emphasize that ER and EC have a positive effect on CA, and ER and EC have a positive impact on SCB. ER and EC have a positive effect on SCB through the mediation of CA, while EK does not have any significant effect on SCB but EK has an effect on SCB through the mediation of CA.Originality/valueGiven the growth of environmental destruction, it is necessary to consider the change of CA toward buying sustainable products. Therefore, this study pays attention to the mediating role of attitude and examines the effects of EK, EC, and ER that cause SCB among customers of Hyperstars.

Exploring the roles of lean design and operations in improving construction logistics collaboration and supply chain performance

ABSTRACT Previous studies have conceptually mentioned the important roles of lean practices (LP) (in design, planning, operations, and safety) in improving logistics collaboration (LC) and construction supply chain performance (SCP). However, there is a lack of studies exploring their relationships in a structural model. Thus, this study is conducted to provide theoretical insights into how LC and construction SCP can be improved by considering LP. The Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) results show that LP in design and planning has positive impacts on internal LC and SCP while LP in operations and safety has significant impacts on internal and external LC. The results also reveal that internal and external LC positively impact the construction SCP. Based on the research results, we also propose managerial implications for construction managers to improve SCP.

The Influence of Leadership Dynamics and Workplace Stress on Employee Performance in the Entrepreneurial Sector and the Moderating Role of Organizational Support

Employee performance is crucial to the success of organizations, particularly in the entrepreneurial sector. Various factors, such as abusive supervision, job stress, turnover intention, and agile leadership, play a significant role in determining performance outcomes. This study aims to evaluate how perceived organizational support moderates the effects of these factors on employee performance in public firms in the UAE. Data were gathered from a valid sample of 211 respondents. The analysis employed measurement and structural model assessments using Smart PLS version 4.0. The results validated the internal consistency reliability, convergent validity, and discriminant validity of the latent constructs. Structural equation modeling indicated significant effects of agile leadership, abusive supervision, and job stress on employee performance. Furthermore, perceived organizational support was found to significantly moderate the relationships between agile leadership and employee performance, abusive supervision and employee performance, and job stress and employee performance. Based on these findings, several policy recommendations were made for public sector firms in the UAE, particularly highlighting the importance of supportive leadership practices in enhancing employee performance within the entrepreneurial sector.

Risk of stroke admission after long-term exposure to PM1: Evidence from a large cohort in South China

BackgroundLimited attention has been paid to the health effects of long-term PM1 exposure on stroke admission. Current investigations exploring the long-term PM exposure effect are largely based on observational studies, and PM generally is not allocated randomly to participants. Using traditional regression models might confuse messaging and hinder policy recommendations for pollution control and disease prevention policies. MethodsWe conducted a cohort study among 36,271 adults from one of the largest cities in China in 2015 and followed up through 2020. Hazard ratios of stroke admissions following long-term PM1 exposure were estimated via a causal inference approach, marginal structural time-varying Cox proportional hazard model, accounting for multiple confounders. Additionally, several sensitivity analyses and impact modification analyses were carried out. Results and discussionAssociations with 1 μg/m3 increase in long-term PM1 were identified for total (HR, 1.079; 95 %CI, 1.012–1.151) and ischemic stroke admissions (HR, 1.092; 95 %CI, 1.018–1.171). The harmful associations varied with exposure duration, initially increasing and then decreasing. The 2–3 years cumulative exposure was associated with a 3.3–5.4 % raised risk for total stroke. For every 1 μg/m³ increase in long-term PM1 exposure, females exhibited a higher risk of both total and ischemic stroke (13 % and 16 %) than men (4 % and 5 %). Low-exposure individuals (whose annual PM1 concentrations were under the third quartile among the annual concentrations for all the participants) exhibited greater sensitivity to PM1 effects (total stroke: 1.079 vs. 1.107; ischemic stroke: 1.092 vs. 1.116). The results underline the importance of safeguarding low-exposed people in highly polluted areas and suggest that long-term PM1 exposure may increase stroke admission risk, warranting attention to vulnerable groups.

The EU–UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement: A short and long-term comprehensive analysis including FDI

This study thoroughly assesses the impact of Brexit through trade, combining a static and dynamic computable general equilibrium (CGE) model and a structural gravity model. Our analysis allows us to shed light on the role of trade and the potential effects of foreign direct investment (FDI), which has received less attention in the context of Brexit. We simulate a hard Brexit and the new trade and cooperation agreement negotiated by Boris Johnson. We analyse several reductions in the United Kingdom's (UK) capital stock, consistent with the empirical evidence on potential reductions in the FDI capital stock after Brexit. This approach allows us to disentangle the effects of trade's static (short-term) impact from its dynamic (long term) impact. We focus on the impact for the UK but offer macro-economic results for the European Union (including individual countries), the United States, China and the rest of the world. The gravity model estimates considerably larger contractions in the UK's gross domestic product but a smaller role for FDI than the CGE. UK services sectors are affected more negatively than what previous analyses of Brexit focusing on trade suggest.

School or home: Exploring the impact of digital infrastructure on digital literacy of school-age young people in a developing economy

Digital literacy plays a very important role for a developing innovative economy, since one of the global trends significantly affecting the dynamics of open innovation is strengthening of the influence of digital technologies on all spheres of society. This paper seeks to study the impact of digital infrastructure on digital literacy of school-age young people, which starts and develops both at school and/or at home. This paper uses a balanced panel of statistical data that includes 18 regions of Kazakhstan surveyed for the period between 2016 and 2022 on four indicators: the level of digital literacy in Kazakhstan, the share of households with Internet access, the share of Internet users aged 6-15, and the number of students per PC in public schools. Methods of correlation, variance, and structural model analysis proposed hereby consist of successive stages and include five hypotheses for verification. The results have shown that (a) the literature has not accumulated a unified methodology for assessing digital literacy yet; (b) digital infrastructure in Kazakhstan’s public schools has been found to have a negligible impact on formation of digital literacy, as well as on the increase in the number of school-age Internet users; (c) the number of young school-age Internet users have been found to have a positive effect on formation of digital literacy in Kazakhstan; (d) access to the Internet at home has been found to have a significant stable impact on digital literacy in Kazakhstan and an increase in the share of young school-age Internet users. This paper is intended for decision makers, researchers, education and open innovation experts interested in opportunities for the development of citizens’ digital skills and competencies and the implementation of an open innovation economy strategy.

The interplay among trust, reciprocity and commitment factors in facilitating supply chain collaboration: the case of Vietnamese fishery industry

PurposeSupply chain collaboration is increasingly important in today’s competitive business environment. While prior research has acknowledged the role of relationships in facilitating collaboration, few studies have considered inter-personal and inter-organisational attributes simultaneously. This study addresses this gap by investigating these two levels of the manufacturer-supplier relationship in Vietnam’s fishery industry and their impacts on supply chain collaboration.Design/methodology/approachThe study employed a quantitative approach. A questionnaire was distributed to 635 fishery manufacturers in Vietnam by the drop-and-collect method. EFA and CFA were used to assess the reliability and validity of the measurement model, while CB-SEM was employed for structural model assessment and hypothesis testing.FindingsSupply chain collaboration encompasses incentive alignment, collaborative communication, decision synchronisation, and information sharing. All antecedents, including commitment, inter-organisational trust, reciprocity, and inter-personal trust, positively affect collaboration. Inter-personal trust positively influences the other antecedents, and inter-organisational trust enhances commitment. Furthermore, there are partial mediating effects among these relationship attributes. However, no significant moderating effect regarding firm size is observed.Originality/valueThe study extends the social exchange theory to encompass both inter-personal and inter-organisational relationship attributes. Additionally, it pioneers in investigating the interrelatedness of these antecedents. By addressing the research gap in the Vietnamese fishery supply chain, it offers valuable insights for both academics and practitioners, contributing to theoretical understanding and practical implications in supply chain collaboration.

A comprehensive exploration of the druggable conformational space of protein kinases using AI-predicted structures.

Protein kinase function and interactions with drugs are controlled in part by the movement of the DFG and ɑC-Helix motifs that are related to the catalytic activity of the kinase. Small molecule ligands elicit therapeutic effects with distinct selectivity profiles and residence times that often depend on the active or inactive kinase conformation(s) they bind. Modern AI-based structural modeling methods have the potential to expand upon the limited availability of experimentally determined kinase structures in inactive states. Here, we first explored the conformational space of kinases in the PDB and models generated by AlphaFold2 (AF2) and ESMFold, two prominent AI-based protein structure prediction methods. Our investigation of AF2's ability to explore the conformational diversity of the kinome at various multiple sequence alignment (MSA) depths showed a bias within the predicted structures of kinases in DFG-in conformations, particularly those controlled by the DFG motif, based on their overabundance in the PDB. We demonstrate that predicting kinase structures using AF2 at lower MSA depths explored these alternative conformations more extensively, including identifying previously unobserved conformations for 398 kinases. Ligand enrichment analyses for 23 kinases showed that, on average, docked models distinguished between active molecules and decoys better than random (average AUC (avgAUC) of 64.58), but select models perform well (e.g., avgAUCs for PTK2 and JAK2 were 79.28 and 80.16, respectively). Further analysis explained the ligand enrichment discrepancy between low- and high-performing kinase models as binding site occlusions that would preclude docking. The overall results of our analyses suggested that, although AF2 explored previously uncharted regions of the kinase conformational space and select models exhibited enrichment scores suitable for rational drug discovery, rigorous refinement of AF2 models is likely still necessary for drug discovery campaigns.

Structure of epoxide hydrolase 2 from Mangifera indica throws light on the substrate specificity determinants of plant epoxide hydrolases

Epoxide hydrolases (EHs) are a group of ubiquitous enzymes that catalyze hydrolysis of chemically reactive epoxides to yield corresponding dihydrodiols. Despite extensive studies on EHs from different clades, generic rules governing their substrate specificity determinants have remained elusive. Here, we present structural, biochemical and molecular dynamics simulation studies on MiEH2, a plant epoxide hydrolase from Mangifera indica. Comparative structure-function analysis of nine homologs of MiEH2, which include a few AlphaFold structural models, show that the two conserved tyrosines (MiEH2Y152 and MiEH2Y232) from the lid domain dissect substrate binding tunnel into two halves, forming substrate-binding-pocket one (BP1) and two (BP2). This compartmentalization offers diverse binding modes to their substrates, as exemplified by the binding of smaller aromatic substrates, such as styrene oxide (SO). Docking and molecular dynamics simulations reveal that the linear epoxy fatty acid substrates predominantly occupy BP1, while the aromatic substrates can bind to either BP1 or BP2. Furthermore, SO preferentially binds to BP2, by stacking against catalytically important histidine (MiEH2H297) with the conserved lid tyrosines engaging its epoxide oxygen. Residue (MiEH2L263) next to the catalytic aspartate (MiEH2D262) modulates substrate binding modes. Thus, the divergent binding modes correlate with the differential affinities of the EHs for their substrates. Furthermore, long-range dynamical coupling between the lid and core domains critically influences substrate enantioselectivity in plant EHs.

Functional characterization and structural prediction of hypothetical proteins in monkeypox virus and identification of potential inhibitors.

The excessive activation of the monkeypox virus (MPXV-Congo_8-156) is linked to various skin and respiratory disorders such as rashes, fluid-filled blisters, swollen lymph nodes and encephalitis (inflammation of the brain), highlighting MPXV-Congo_8-156 as a promising target for drug intervention. Despite the effectiveness of Cidofovir, in inhibiting MPXV activity, its limited ability to penetrate the skin and its strong side effects restrict its application. To address this challenge, we screened 500 compounds capable of penetrating the skin and gastrointestinal tract to identify potent MPXV inhibitors. Various characterization schemes and structural models of MPXV-Congo_8-156 were explored with bioinformatics tools like PROTPARAM, SOPMA, SWISS-MODEL and PROCHECK. Using molecular docking in PyRx, we evaluated the binding affinities of these compounds with MPXV-Congo_8-156 and identified the top five candidates ranging from - 9.2 to - 8.8kcal/mol. ADMET analysis indicated that all five compounds were safer alternatives, showing no AMES toxicity or carcinogenicity in toxicological assessments. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, conducted for 100ns each, confirmed the docking interactions of the top five compounds alongside the control (Cidofovir), validating their potential as MPXV inhibitors. The compounds with PubChem CID numbers 4061636, 4422538, 3583576, 4856107 and 4800629 demonstrated strong support in terms of root-mean-square deviation (RMSD), root-mean-square fluctuation (RMSF), radius of gyration (Rg), solvent-accessible surface area (SASA) value, hydrogen bond analysis, and Molecular Mechanics Poisson-Boltzmann Surface Area (MM-PBSA) analysis. Thus, our investigation identified these five compounds as promising inhibitors of MPXV, offering potential therapeutic avenues. However, further in vivo studies are necessary to validate our findings.

Development of Instructional Leadership Indicators of Teachers in Educational Opportunity Expansion Schools under the Primary Educational Service Area Offices in the Northeast

The purposes of this study were to: 1) identify instructional leadership of teachers, 2) develop the Instructional leadership indicators of teachers, 3) investigate the goodness-of-fit between the structural model of instructional leadership indicators of teachers and empirical data, and 4) produce a user manual of the instructional leadership indicators of teachers in educational opportunity expansion schools under the Primary Educational Service Area Offices in the northeast. The study was divided into four phases. The findings were as follows 1. The components of instructional leadership of teachers in educational opportunity expansion schools consisted of seven components, namely 1) self and other teacher development, 2) curriculum development ability, 3) learning management ability, 4) learning assessment and evaluation ability, 5) transformational leadership, 6) learning exchange ability and 7) moral and ethics. 2. The indicators of instructional leadership of teachers in educational opportunity expansion schools comprised seven principal components, 25 sub-components and 98 indicators. All principal components achieved the mean scores at high level of appropriateness 3. The indicator structural model of instructional leadership of teachers in educational opportunity expansion schools was congruent with empirical data. (Chi-Square=202.84, df=176, p=0.08095, GFI=0.97, AGFI =0.95, RMSEA=0.016, CN=668.53) and 4. The user manual of the instructional leadership of teacher indicators in educational opportunity expansion schools under the Primary Educational Service Area Offices in four aspects obtained the Index of item-objective congruence (IOC) at 1.00 indicated that the user manual was appropriated to be implemented.

How does managerial coaching influence knowledge sharing in the workplace? A perspective of proactive motivation model

Purpose Drawing upon the Proactive Motivation Model, this study aims to investigate the relationship between managerial coaching and employee knowledge-sharing behavior via psychological safety and learning goal orientation. This study also proposes that employee psychological safety and learning goal orientation sequentially mediate the relationship between managerial coaching and employee knowledge-sharing behavior. Design/methodology/approach This study used a time-lagged quantitative research design to test the proposed hypotheses. Using a self-administered questionnaire, data was gathered from 220 employees of information technology companies in Pakistan. This study used Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) two-stage approach to test the measurement and structural models. Findings The findings of the study support that there is an indirect relationship between managerial coaching and employees’ knowledge-sharing behaviors via psychological safety and learning goal orientation. In addition, the findings also support the sequential mediation of psychological safety and learning goal orientation in the proposed model. Practical implications The results of this study highlight that managers can play a vital role in fostering proactive resource-sharing behaviors of employees in knowledge-intensive organizations. Originality/value There is limited research on the relationship between managerial coaching and employees’ knowledge-sharing behavior. This study has analyzed this relationship using a motivational perspective. It makes important theoretical contributions by investigating the mechanisms through which managerial coaching influences employees’ knowledge-sharing behavior in organizations.

Using structural topic modeling to understand ethnicity-related narratives.

Narrative identity is a promising approach for understanding the content of individuals' ethnic identities but can be limited by the time-intensive nature of human coding and the reliance on preestablished coding systems. The aim of our preregistered study is to elucidate the content of individuals' ethnicity-related experiences using a novel statistical approach. We applied structural topic modeling (STM), a natural language processing tool, to narratives written by an ethnically diverse sample of 1149 young adults about a moment they felt aware of their ethnicity. We identified 14 topics within ethnicity narratives and analyzed how each topic related to both the participant's ethnicity and the human-coded themes of agency and communion. For example, the topic Gained perspective of structural inequality was associated with greater agency, whereas Peer dynamics was associated with greater communion. Ethnic/cultural celebration was associated with both. This study introduces STM as a useful tool for extracting topic content in narrative data and demonstrates how the multi-method assessment of ethnicity narratives provides greater insight into the content of ethnic experiences. These findings contribute to our understanding of contextualized aspects of personality, including the innovative ways we might examine them.

Nephrotoxicity of Intravenous Ganciclovir in Pediatric Hematopoietic Cell Transplant Recipients.

Associations between ganciclovir and severe nephrotoxicity are incompletely defined. Studies incorporating the time-varying nature of medication exposures and those that address confounding by indication are particularly scarce in children undergoing hematopoietic cell transplantation. We identified children undergoing hematopoietic cell transplantation in the Pediatric Health Information System database and tracked them for 1 year following transplantation. The primary exposure of interest was the use of ganciclovir, which was treated as a time-varying variable. Secondary exposures of interest included cidofovir, foscarnet, amphotericin B, aminoglycosides, vancomycin and calcineurin inhibitors. The primary outcome of interest was renal replacement therapy, which was assessed using marginal structural Cox proportional hazards regression model incorporating time-varying variables and inverse-probability-of-treatment weight. Of 17,924 children who underwent hematopoietic cell transplantation during the study period, 3078 (17.2%) had exposure to ganciclovir. In marginal structural Cox proportional hazards regression model incorporating time-varying variables and inverse-probability-of-treatment weight, ganciclovir was associated with an increased hazard of renal replacement therapy (adjusted hazard ratio: 1.84, 95% confidence interval: 1.22-2.76). Some of secondary exposures of interest, including cidofovir, amphotericin B and vancomycin, also were associated with renal replacement therapy. Intravenously administered ganciclovir is associated with renal dysfunction severe enough to require renal replacement therapy in pediatric hematopoietic cell transplant recipients. Ganciclovir should be used with caution and close monitoring. Approaches to mitigate the risks of nephrotoxicity should be investigated.

Philosophical research in Brazil: A structural topic modeling approach with a focus on temporal and gender trends

AbstractThis paper employs structural topic modeling (STM) to describe the academic philosophy landscape in Brazil. Based on a public national database, a corpus consisting of 12,515 abstracts of monographs defended in philosophy graduate programs between 1991 and 2021 was compiled. The final STM model identified 74 meaningful research topics, clustered into 7 thematic categories. This study discusses the prevalence of the most significant topics and categories, their trends across three decades, and their (positive or negative) association with the supervisor's gender. Results show the first empirical evidence that Brazilian philosophical research exhibits a greater focus on philosophers than on specific themes or problems. Moreover, by visualizing the variations in topic prevalence over time, it was possible to track the rise or decline of the major interest categories and topics. Finally, results also show which topics are more influenced or less influenced by gender.

Moderating Effect Of Employee Service Quality And Mediating Impact Of Experiential Marketing in UAE Entrepreneurial Sector

Considersing the organizational success, employees performance has been accepted as among the fundamental role players. However, several organizational factors like abusive supervision, job stress, turnover intention, and agile leadership have been accepted as among the most critical determinants of such performance outcomes. The objective of this research is to investigate the moderating effect of perceived organizational support on the relationships between abusive supervision, job stress, turnover intention, and agile leadership with employee performance in public firms in the UAE. A valid sample of 211 respondents from the public sector firms in UAE has been collected. The present study applies the measurement model and structural model assessment using the Smart PLS version 4.0. The findings confirm the presence of the internal consistency reliability, convergent validity, and discriminant validity of the latent constructs when examined through their relative items. Moreover, the structural equation modelling reveals that there is a significant impact of agile leadership, abusive supervision, and job stress on the employee performance among the public firms of UAE. Additionally, the findings state that there is a significant moderating effect of perceived organizational support on the relationship between agile leadership and employee performance, between abusive supervision and employee performance, and between job stress and employee performance, respectively. Based upon the given findings, several policy implications have also been suggested for the policymakers specifically at the public firms in UAE.

A personal thermal comfort model based on causal artificial intelligence: a physiological sensor-enabled causal identifiability.

Personal thermal comfort affects occupants' health, well-being, and productivity. Its satisfaction is subjective, based on individual characteristics and dynamic environments, and challenging to understand, requiring predicted outcomes and explanations of how and why the outcomes happen. This research fulfills this concern using a personal thermal comfort model based on causal artificial intelligence. It encodes personal thermal comfort satisfaction based on a new causal-and-effect framework to connect the human mind and environmental factors. Random variables encode relevant factors, and the structural causal model performs cause-and-effect relationships. The do-calculus (e.g., d-separated and d-connected) draws the common sense of the model based on causal structure representation, contributing to a human-intelligent understanding. A directed acyclic graph and exact-inference-based variable elimination quantify the model parameters based on real-world observational data. The strength of causal relationships is verified based on causal odd ratio, causal sensitivity, and causal impact. The results highlight that our proposed model can encode physiological and physical factors to predict and explain personal thermal comfort satisfaction. It can predict and explain such satisfaction reasonably and robustly, converging to human-like interpretation. It can be applied to intelligent systems to understand personal thermal comfort.

In silico design of multi-epitope vaccines against the hantaviruses by integrated structural vaccinology and molecular modeling approaches.

Hantaviruses are single-stranded RNA viruses belonging to the family Bunyaviridae that causes hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome (HCPS) and hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) worldwide. Currently, there is no effective vaccination or therapy available for the treatment of hantavirus, hence there is a dire need for research to formulate therapeutics for the disease. Computational vaccine designing is currently a highly accurate, time and cost-effective approach for designing effective vaccines against different diseases. In the current study, we shortlisted highly antigenic proteins i.e., envelope, and nucleoprotein from the proteome of hantavirus and subjected to the selection of highly antigenic epitopes to design of next-generation multi-epitope vaccine constructs. A highly antigenic and stable adjuvant was attached to the immune epitopes (T-cell, B-cell, and HTL) to design Env-Vac, NP-Vac, and Com-Vac constructs, which exhibit stronger antigenic, non-allergenic, and favorable physiochemical properties. Moreover, the 3D structures were predicted and docking analysis revealed robust interactions with the human Toll-like receptor 3 (TLR3) to initiate the immune cascade. The total free energy calculated for Env-Vac, NP-Vac, and Com-Vac was -50.02 kcal/mol, -24.13 kcal/mol, and -62.30 kcal/mol, respectively. In silico cloning, results demonstrated a CAI value for the Env-Vac, NP-Vac, and Com-Vac of 0.957, 0.954, and 0.956, respectively, while their corresponding GC contents were 65.1%, 64.0%, and 63.6%. In addition, the immune simulation results from three doses of shots released significant levels of IgG, IgM, interleukins, and cytokines, as well as antigen clearance over time, after receiving the vaccine and two booster doses. Our vaccines against Hantavirus were found to be highly immunogenic, inducing a robust immune response that demands experimental validation for clinical usage.

The impact of TQM on financial and non-financial performance: the mediating role of corporate social responsibility

PurposeThis article aims to examine the direct and indirect effect among total quality management (TQM), corporate social responsibility (CSR) and financial and non-financial performance.Design/methodology/approachThe empirical data were collected from a survey of 120 Tunisian certified firms using questionnaires. Structural equation path modeling PLS-SEM) was performed to test the research hypotheses.FindingsThe results indicate that TQM has no direct effect on financial performance (FP), while they positively impact non-financial performance (NFP) and CSR. The study also shows that CSR positively and significantly influences FP and NFP. In addition, it reveals the positive impact of FP on NFP. Furthermore, the results reveal an indirect effect of TQM on financial and non-financial performance through CSR.Originality/valueThe empirical study bridges the gap in the literature by analyzing the direct and indirect effect between TQM, CSR and performance in a single model. It also highlights the important role of CSR between TQM and financial and non-financial performance in the context of emerging countries.