Mandated joint audits: are two auditors better than one? See

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) in the United Kingdom called for the nation’s largest accounting firms to conduct mandatory joint audits of FTSE 350 companies to enhance audit competition, reduce market concentration, and improve audit quality. Using a large sample of Europe...

Analysis of backhaul networks for developing countries to support next generation communication systems See

In its most basic form, the target of fifth generation (5G) is to provide reliable and continued connectivity for the user despite obstacles and challenges. These obstacles and challenges vary depending on the scenario, whether it’s an urban or rural area in developed or devel...

Towards nature-positive engineering: nature-based solutions in attenuating coastal hydrometeorological hazards See

Coastal and deltaic regions are highly vulnerable to hydrometeorological hazards such as storms, flooding, and extreme temperatures—risks that are intensifying under climate change. While hard engineering structures (e.g., levees, seawalls) remain widely used, they can be costly, ecologically disruptive,&#...

A study to investigate the compressive strength and flow of alkali activated slag mortar using two curing regimes See

This research investigates the potential for producing more environmentally friendly mortars by replacing cement with Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag (GGBS). The study examines the influence of key factors on the properties of GGBS-based mortar activated using sodium silicate (SS) and s...

A parametric evaluation of rooftop photovoltaic utilization and yield density considering urban morphology effects See

Urban morphology plays a critical role in shaping the energy utilization potential of rooftop photovoltaic (PV) systems, with key factors including building height, available roof area, as well as obstruction angles and orientation influencing shading patterns and solar exposure. Previous researc...

Experimental and numerical analysis of water condensation in a condensing economiser for heat recovery See

Condensing heat exchangers play a key role in industrial processes to enable high efficiency waste heat recovery. Various designs exist and they depend on the primary heat source, pollution level, installation location, etc. The physics involved in these components is very complex and&#...

Evidence of clinical pathology abnormalities in people with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) from an analytic cross-sectional study See

Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) is a debilitating disease presenting with extreme fatigue, post-exertional malaise, and other symptoms. In the absence of a diagnostic biomarker, ME/CFS is diagnosed clinically, although laboratory tests are routinely used to exclude alt...

Latent tuberculosis infection in high TB disease burden countries dysregulates cellular and immunological profiles which is further enhanced with uncontrolled hyperglycemia See

Tuberculosis (TB) and diabetes mellitus (DM) are both highly prevalent in Pakistan. Latent Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) infection is common however the effect of DM and latent TB infection (LTBI) is less understood. We used RNA arrays to study host transcriptional responses to inves...

Strain distributions for tensile and shear loading around multiple holes in a thermoplastic composite introduced by thermally assisted piercing See

A multiple thermally assisted piercing process has been developed as a method of making equally spaced holes in thermoplastic composites. The consequences for the mechanical properties of the composite of introducing a limited set of inline holes into cross-ply laminates have been inves...