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Purpose To investigate the effect of studying abroad on catch-up vaccination coverage for measles, rubella, mumps, varicella, and tetanus during the pretravel consultation among young adult travelers.Methods This retrospective cohort study analyzed data from the Japan Pretravel Consultation Registry (J-PRECOR) on individuals aged 18–21 years with childhood vaccination records. Propensity score weighting was used to estimate the average treatment effect on the proportion of participants receiving catch-up vaccination.Results Among 1091 eligible participants, the catch-up vaccination need was highest for mumps (65.7 %) and varicella (49.0 %) and lowest for measles (9.9 %) and rubella (14.0 %). In the unadjusted analysis, the catch-up vaccination rate was 70.6 % for tetanus, 50.9 % for measles, 47.7 % for rubella, 40.0 % for mumps, and 23.9 % for varicella. In the weighted analysis, the study-abroad group had significantly higher catch-up vaccination rates for measles (54.6 % vs. 29.8 %, P = 0.039), rubella (53.0 % vs. 22.1 %, P 

Introduction Despite its importance for young women, the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination coverage remains low in Japan. Previous studies have examined behaviors related to HPV catch-up vaccination. Uniquely, this study aimed to investigate perceptions and factors influencing vaccination coverage among female university students in the catch-up program, focusing on both medical and non-medical undergraduates.Methods A web-based survey was conducted at Kochi University from January 16 to February 13, 2023, targeting female students born between April 2, 1997, and April 1, 2006. The survey collected demographic data and assessed knowledge of HPV infection, cervical cancer, and preventive measures. Chi-square tests and logistic regression analyses were used to identify differences between vaccinated and unvaccinated groups as well as factors related to HPV vaccination.Results Of the 310 participants, 39.0 % were vaccinated against HPV, 35.2 % were freshmen, and 75.2 % were in medical science programs. HPV vaccination was significantly associated with being in upper years of university (OR = 3.78–42.83), studying medical sciences (OR = 1.93), undergoing cervical cancer screening (OR = 4.04), and receiving free vaccination vouchers (OR = 2.03).Conclusion Knowledge and awareness of HPV and cervical cancer significantly contribute to higher vaccination uptake in the generation receiving catch-up vaccinations. Tailoring information and distributing free vaccination vouchers could enhance HPV vaccination rates and awareness in this group.

Catch and release ice angling exposes fish to environments and techniques that differ markedly from those in the open-water season. Accordingly, we studied the influence of quick-strike treble hooks and 0º offset circle hooks on aspects of northern pike (Esox lucius) capture and behaviour using tip-ups during the winter. Based on 221 northern pike captured over three winters, quick strike rigs with multiple hooks had higher catch success, but extended dehooking time and caused more foul hooking. Deep hooking events were infrequent but were most likely to occur when pike were captured on the single treble quick strike rig and circle hook. Camera footage revealed that pike were tentative and appeared to require considerable time to strike. Hook style had no influence on fish behaviour when striking. Our findings suggest that the use of triple treble quick strike rigs may provide benefits to anglers because they hook more and slightly larger fish and do not result in deep-hooking events. Circle hooks caught in the jaw most frequently and were the easiest to remove most of the time; however, they periodically deep-hooked fish, which was unexpected. Ultimately, angler tackle choice will affect their enjoyment of ice angling, and the potential for stress and injury to fish when using tip ups.

Demersal trawl fisheries are increasingly challenged by new and more ambitious gear regulations alongside rising fuel costs. However, knowledge of behavioral differences between species are yet poorly integrated and exploited in commercially operated trawl designs. In the demersal mixed species trawl fishery for Nephrops (Nephrops norvegicus), many fish species are herded by the netting and actively avoid contact with the meshes as opposed to Nephrops, for which most individuals are tumbling along the bottom panel of the gear towards the codend. By reducing the mesh size of the entire lower half of the trawl we reduced the loss of marketable sized Nephrops through the bottom panels significantly by 47.2 % (CI: 33.6–60.2 %) in the North Sea. The unchanged catches of the round fish, cod (Gadus morhua) and hake (Merluccius merluccius) confirm that these species do not come in physical contact with the bottom panel. In contrast, witch flounder (Glyptocephalus cynoglossus) escapes through the bottom panel of the baseline trawl as the treatment gear caught 65.1 % (CI: 39.5–104.9 %) more marketable-sized individuals and 259.7 % (CI: 144.4–459.5 %) more undersized individuals. Our results confirm known species-specific behavior in the forward part of the trawl and demonstrate how this can be exploited with simple design changes to increase the catch efficiency for Nephrops and likely other species without affecting the catches of roundfish. The undersized individuals captured will largely escape through the meshes used in commercial codends.

Large bodied freshwater fishes can be important target species for recreational anglers, with some species introduced intentionally to diversify angling experiences. European barbel Barbus barbus is an important target species in many riverine fisheries, including the River Severn and its River Teme tributary, western England, where it has supported a catch-and-release recreational fishery for approximately 50 years. The River Teme was renowned for the quality of its barbel angling from the 1980s. Since 2007, angler dissatisfaction has increased substantially in this fishery, being associated with alleged declines in the number of barbel being captured and in their population abundances. As there were few data available at that time to investigate these declines, data from periodic electric fishing surveys and some angler catch data were sourced. Analyses revealed temporal declines in the number of sampled barbel during electric fishing surveys, although the number of surveys was low, varied between years and did not target barbel specifically. Analyses of four angler catch data sets (1995–2022) involving more than 1000 captured barbel of 0.5–5.3 kg also revealed significant temporal declines in barbel catches (by number and catch-per-unit-effort). These catch declines were generally coincident with reductions in angler presence and effort on the river, suggesting low catches were a driver of angler dissatisfaction. These results provide empirical support for angler claims of substantial declines in barbel catches and abundances, and emphasise that even limited volumes of angler catch data are useful for understanding temporal changes in exploited but data limited fish populations.

This article examines two unexpectedly successful latecomer firms which emerged from Argentina, a crisis ridden developing economy where the vast majority of firms have languished behind the technology frontier set by global leaders. By comparing the experience of these two unusual firms with that of general trends among successful, mainly Asian latecomers, we hope to throw light on the opportunities facing other firms struggling under adverse economic and policy conditions. Through appreciative theorising we aim to incorporate some ideas from evolutionary economic theory to hopefully extend ‘normal’ (mainly Asian based) latecomer catch-up conceptualisation. The empirical findings, based on a unique and original dataset, suggest that in order to catch-up with global competitors the two latecomer firms were forced to develop strong entrepreneurial capabilities to follow a ‘contrarian path’ in terms of corporate strategy, organizational structures and technological and management capabilities, when policy incentives and macroeconomic conditions pointed them in the opposite direction. The article introduces a new framework to analyse latecomers within the macroeconomic and policy context and raises questions for future latecomer theory, policy and research on latecomer firms’ strategies under adversity.

While the effects of proximity on the technological catch-up of emerging economy firms are well documented, little is known about how the sub-dimensions of cross-national distance impact such firms' acquisition of foreign IP. Cross-national distance is a complex, multi-dimensional construct that has the potential to influence catch-up in different ways, especially for Chinese firms. We use the established Wharton indicators of cross-national distance (Berry et al., 2010) to understand foreign IP acquisition by Chinese firms over a 10-year period. Results show: (1) different sub-dimensions of distance have different direct effects on foreign IP acquisition, (2) a positive effect of knowledge distance on IP acquisition interacts with three other forms of distance, (3) the most aggressive foreign IP acquisition strategies are linked to only three forms of distance, and (4) the impact of disaggregated distance depends on IP asset type and whether the acquirer is in manufacturing or services. Results provide new insight into China's technological catch-up and the complex, multi-dimensional nature of international proximity influencing technological catch-up through acquisitions.

Ultrasonic logging is a widely used technology to assess the cement bond condition in a cased-hole. Advanced ultrasonic pitch-catch measurements can capture reflections at the cement-formation interface (in short, the third interface echo [TIE]), which enables the evaluation of the bond condition, casing eccentering, and the velocity of the material in the cement annulus. However, the usage is limited by the TIE arrival picking due to the low amplitude that results from the eccentered tool and casing, overlapping with the tool-casing multiple reflections, as well as interference from the primary zero-order antisymmetric Lamb wave (A0). We develop a two-step method to enhance and accurately pick the TIE arrivals. We first use mathematical morphological filtering with a neural network framework to mitigate the influence of A0. Then, we use the local window multichannel singular-spectrum analysis to suppress the effect of tool-casing multiples on the TIE. In the second step, we develop a sinusoidal search method with a path postcorrection algorithm to track the TIE arrivals from the enhanced TIE waveforms automatically. Synthetic and field data results show that our TIE processing can effectively eliminate the A0 mode and suppress tool-casing multiples. In addition, the picked TIE arrivals are consistent with actual TIE curves.

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