Adoption Of New Methods Research Articles

The Use of Fuzzy Vault Technology to Find Out Fingerprint Differences

Fuzzy vault technology is different from biometric security and information recovery. In this article, we explore the utilization of fuzzy vaults in healthcare, because we can acquire crucial information like the vital signs of a person and the specific details of their fingerprint, even when there is limited information about the individual. We discuss both the conceptualized ideas that serve as the foundation for fuzzy vaults, as well as the practical application of these ideas to secure biological templates via biometric means. Our research involves both computer-simulated and actual case history data. Through this, we attempt to balance between preserving biometric privacy while still achieving a degree of identificable physiological variation. In our presentation, we demonstrate a hybrid of tabular data alongside visual illustrations that illustrate the association between different parameters regarding accuracy and the degree of difficulty associated with information recovery via fuzzy vaults. Let's consider the benefits and drawbacks of our options- elements like strength in security, precision, or the potential for application in limited spaces. To conclude this discussion without a definitive conclusion, but by pointing out what additional investigations should be conducted regarding the subject; likely medical advances caused by the adoption of new methods in medical settings should be noted.

Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the State Enteric Disease Public Health Workforce in the Western United States, March-April 2022.

To assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the state-level enteric disease workforce and routine enteric disease surveillance and outbreak investigation activities in the western United States. Key informant interviews conducted using bidirectional video from March to April 2022. Enteric disease epidemiologists at state public health agencies in the western states served by the Colorado and Washington Integrated Food Safety Centers of Excellence. Key themes were identified using grounded theory. Nine themes were identified including excessive workload, shifts in local and state responsibilities, challenges with retention and hiring, importance of student teams, laboratory supplies shortages, changes to case and outbreak investigation priorities, transitioning back to enterics, adoption of new methods and technology, and current and future needs. The COVID-19 pandemic response had a substantial impact on state-level enteric disease activities in western states, with many staff members diverted from routine responsibilities and a de-prioritization of enteric disease work. There is a need for sustainable solutions to address staffing shortages, prioritize employee mental health, and effectively manage routine workloads when responding to emergencies.

Exploratory study on the adaptation of online services offered to people with disabilities, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic

Aim: During the COVID-19 pandemic, many community organizations offering services to people with disabilities (PWD) changed their service delivery, switching from in-person to remote services. However, little is known about what it was like for organizations to quickly pivot their service delivery. The study explored barriers and facilitators to access community services for PWD and identified potential improvements to these services.Methods: The study used a mixed method, multiple case study design, which included a convenience sample of 27 participants recruited from four community organizations delivering services to PWD. Participating staff and members participated in six different focus groups and completed a questionnaire about their level of satisfaction regarding the evolution of the services. Inductive thematic analysis was conducted on the focus group data and the data from the questionnaires were descriptively analyzed.Results: The thematic analyses revealed four themes: “Succeeding in adapting the interventions to continue providing services”, “Enjoying a lot of new things about the new online modality”, “Key elements that have facilitated the transition” and “Facing some difficulties implementing online services”. The median satisfaction score demonstrated that the participants were satisfied with the services. The success of these organizational changes relied on the adoption of new methods and approaches to service delivery.Conclusion: Through this study, barriers and facilitators that the organizations and their beneficiaries have experienced during the pandemic were identified as well as suggestions for improvement. The organizations consider maintaining online services beyond the pandemic to offer PWD easier access to community services.

Assessing medical devices: a qualitative study from the validate perspective.

Our objective was to explore procedures and methods used at health technology assessment (HTA) agencies for assessing medical devices and the underlying views of HTA practitioners about appropriate methodology to identify challenges in adopting new methodologies for assessing devices. We focused on the role of normative commitments of HTA practitioners in the adoption of new methods. An online survey, including questions on procedures, scoping, and assessments of medical devices, was sent to members of the International Network of Agencies for Health Technology Assessment. Interviews were conducted with survey respondents and HTA practitioners involved in assessments of transcatheter aortic valve implantation to gain an in-depth understanding of choices made and views about assessing medical devices. Survey and interview questions were inspired by the "values in doing assessments of health technologies" approach towards HTA, which states that HTA addresses value-laden questions and information. The current practice of assessing medical devices at HTA agencies is predominantly based on procedures, methods, and epistemological principles developed for assessments of drugs. Both practical factors (available time, demands of decision-makers, existing legal frameworks, and HTA guidelines), as well as commitments of HTA practitioners to principles of evidence-based medicine, make the adoption of a new methodology difficult. There is a broad recognition that assessments of medical devices may need changes in HTA methodology. In order to realize this, the HTA community may require both a discussion on the role, responsibility, and goals of HTA, and resulting changes in institutional context to adopt new methodologies.

The Role of Entreprenurship towards Economic Sustainability

Entrepreneurship is the means through which goods and services are provided to the consumers. Goods and services have been provided in the old-fashioned way without technological update as to improve patronage as well as the economy. There had been no spontaneous response to changes in environment, and subsequent non adoption of new methods of production which is militating against the economy. At this juncture, this paper discusses the roles entrepreneurship plays towards the economic sustainability through provision of improved quality products or goods/services for improved wellbeing and economy, promotion of innovation for increased patronage of goods and services and increased economy, new levels lifestyle and new goods and products promotion for higher economy. This paper concludes that entrepreneurship plays very important role in economic sustainability since it adds value to goods or products/services, responds to changes in environment by producing goods in the newest and better ways that brings about goal- oriented activities that in turn brings about target, results and achievements that are geared towards economic sustainability. Amongst the recommendations is that sentiment and favouritism should be avoided in the disbursement of the loan and should be based on merit to ensure that those with the managerial ability should be highly encouraged to enable break even and not failure based on managerial inability and acumen to perform.

New Public Health Approach to Oral Health Care Accessibility in a Pandemic

Introduction
 Poor access to oral healthcare has continually been a major setback to achieving universal oral healthcare. And this is more important in low-to-medium-income communities where a significant portion of the populations cannot afford oral treatments. This situation has contributed to the increased prevalence of oral health diseases. Historically, pandemics have been known to cause a further reduction in access to healthcare with the resultant effects of a burgeoning burden of oral diseases. This review article aims at describing the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on access to population-based dental care and to suggest a new approach to mitigating the effects of lockdown, which practically hinders populations’ access to care during pandemics. These are with a view to improving pandemic preparedness and enhancing population access to oral healthcare in times of restrictions. 
 Areas covered
 This is a review article that focused on COVID-19 pandemic and how it impacted access to oral healthcare. The article also highlighted the new approaches that could be adopted to consistently make oral healthcare obtainable by all despite physical restrictions. Literature searches of key terms were carried out using PubMed and Google Scholar.
 Expert opinion
 So much has been known about the impact of reduced access to oral healthcare. However, ideas on service modification and/or adoption of new methods of improving population-based access to oral care, especially during periods of global health crises have not been proposed.
 Keywords: Access to oral health, Community dentistry, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Dental public health practice, Oral health, Oral health promotion, Population oral health, Universal oral health care

A survey on the challenges, limitations, and opportunities of online testing of infants and young children during the COVID-19 pandemic: using our experiences to improve future practices.

In developmental psychology, the widespread adoption of new methods for testing children does not typically occur over a matter of months. Yet, the COVID-19 pandemic and its associated social distancing requirements created a sudden need among many research groups to use a new method with which they had little or no experience: online testing. Here, we report results from a survey of 159 researchers detailing their early experiences with online testing. The survey approach allowed us to create a general picture of the challenges, limitations, and opportunities of online research, and it identified aspects of the methods that have the potential to impact interpretations of findings. We use the survey results to present considerations to improve online research practices.

XOpat: eXplainable Open Pathology Analysis Tool

AbstractHistopathology research quickly evolves thanks to advances in whole slide imaging (WSI) and artificial intelligence (AI). However, existing WSI viewers are tailored either for clinical or research environments, but none suits both. This hinders the adoption of new methods and communication between the researchers and clinicians. The paper presents xOpat, an open‐source, browser‐based WSI viewer that addresses these problems. xOpat supports various data sources, such as tissue images, pathologists' annotations, or additional data produced by AI models. Furthermore, it provides efficient rendering of multiple data layers, their visual representations, and tools for annotating and presenting findings. Thanks to its modular, protocol‐agnostic, and extensible architecture, xOpat can be easily integrated into different environments and thus helps to bridge the gap between research and clinical practice. To demonstrate the utility of xOpat, we present three case studies, one conducted with a developer of AI algorithms for image segmentation and two with a research pathologist.

Cooperative membership and new technology adoption of family farms: Evidence from China

AbstractVarious policies have been implemented to encourage the development of family farms and cooperatives in the past decade in China. New technology adoption is a crucial part in promoting the performance of family farms. However, empirical evidence on whether and how cooperatives would facilitate family farms to adopt new technologies remains unclear. To address the gap, this paper examines the impact of family farms’ cooperative membership on new technology adoption (i.e., new varieties, new machinery, new fertilizers, new pesticides, new pest control techniques, new production methods and new management methods). Using novel survey data from 848 family farms in China, and employing both propensity score matching approach and endogenous switching probit model, we find that for family farms, cooperative membership has positive and significant impacts on new technology adoption. When looking into different types of technology, we find that the impacts are larger on the adoption of new methods than new techniques. Moreover, the impacts are larger for family farms with lower operation income and smaller size. The findings provide important insights for policymakers tasked with promoting agricultural technology adoption.

Organizational and economic mechanisms for in-firm planning in the ecosystem management model for industrial complexes

This paper analyses modern forms of joint activities based on principles of cross-industry interaction and assesses their potential for implementation in the industrial production process. The focus is on identifying problems and obstacles in the adoption of new methods and developing proposals for their elimination. Additionally, the paper justifies the relevance of developing a complex enterprise management system for the development of high-tech industries based on the mechanism of industrial ecosystems and metaverses. The authors elaborate on the tasks that must be solved to develop and implement a complex enterprise management system. Furthermore, the article evaluates the potential of using new methods for the production of critical products in crisis situations.

Dezintegracja struktur wywiadowczych Związku Sowieckiego po 1991 roku – ujęcie historyczne i ocena skutków tego zjawiska

The end of the Cold War marked a period of substantial changes in the global political system, but also a moment of transformation of the Russian Federation and CIS states’ intelligence. This article identifies the key elements that have influenced the evolution of Russian intelligence structures and doctrinessince 1991. It delves into the fundamental aspects of these changes: the principles governing intelligence institutions, organizational dimensions, and the scope of operational and analytical activities, encompassing the adoption of new methods, techniques, and tools.

Reviewing the Impacts of COVID-19 Pandemic on the Kenyan Aquaculture Sector and Future Adaptive Strategies

For many Kenyans, the aquaculture business provides a vital source of food and work. However, information on Kenya’s aquaculture sector’s resilience in the face of emerging global shocks such as the COVID-19 pandemic requires additional examination. Prior to the epidemic, Kenya’s aquaculture industry had grown from a tiny participant to a critical component of the country’s fish food system, with fish and fisheries products becoming the most extensively traded food commodity in Kenyan market places. However, as indicated in the review, the aquaculture value chain has not been scrutinised since the onset of COVID-19. Lockdowns enacted during the pandemic had a significant influence on access to aquaculture inputs, fish commerce, and the socio-economic livelihoods of stakeholders and players in Kenya’s aquaculture value chain. Thus, initial and long-term adaptive strategies, particularly those implemented by governments, could help to the development of COVID-19 specific and generic resilience to numerous shocks and stressors among stakeholders and players involved in the country’s aquaculture industry. Some of the measures include a government incentive package to help the fisheries and aquaculture sectors recover, improve farming operations, and gain market trust, as well as the adoption of new methods to reduce labor intensity, such as intelligent sensors, camera systems, and automated or remotely controlled monitoring/feeding strategies. Such strategies and policies can protect the sector from future shocks triggered by pandemics and other unforeseen circumstances.

The fit between GLOBE cultural dimensions, budget transparency and performance management across emerging economies

PurposeThere is a dearth of research that investigates the impact of national culture on budgeting and management indexes in the public sector across developing countries. Limited studies in accounting and management have explained the role of national culture in shaping organisational and individual values. It is posited that national cultural variables impact budget transparency and performance management. This study contributes to the literature by examining these relations in 16 developing countries.Design/methodology/approachAdopting an unbalanced timing framework, the current paper seeks to fulfill this gap and applies four cultural dimensions from the GLOBE study (House et al., 2004) as explanatory variables to investigate whether national culture is associated with budget transparency and performance management or not, particularly in the context of developing countries. The paper uses budget transparency as the first dependent variable, based on the OECD database from Qi and Mensah (2011), along with performance management as the second dependent variable, from the BTI Project (2016), according to the leadership's political performance management.FindingsGenerally, the empirical findings reveal a minimal relation among GLOBE cultural variables with budget transparency and performance management. Particularly, the empirical findings indicate that only performance orientation has a significant relation with budget transparency and performance management.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings of this paper suggest that any plan to improve a nation's budget transparency should consider the links between budgeting, performance management and the culture of those that run them.Originality/valueThe formal adoption of new methods by performance management may not be enough without accompanying efforts to transform performance orientation as an index of national culture.

Who Gets to Be an Author?

AbstractWho gets to be an author in contemporary anthropology and who does not? How do both questions about authorship expose problems surrounding academic labor and scholarly knowledge production, which have become normative features of the discipline? This essay examines how inherited logics and practices of anthropological authorship allow for the accumulation of intellectual capital for select academic laborers while excluding others, most notably field research assistants and students. Among university faculty, intellectual capital tends to concentrate in the hands of an elite few who are immunized from the demands imposed on most other academics, including unstable employment conditions and heavy course loads. This essay considers how anthropological scholars of labor can challenge the reigning logics of anthropological authorship through the adoption of new methods while also working to confront the neoliberal audit culture in higher education, which has created unsustainable demands for the majority of academic laborers.

Историография и переводоведение

The article offers an overview of the development of translation history during the past decade. It focuses on recent debates, research areas and methodological avenues in translation history with special emphasis on interdisciplinarity. Driven by a move away from a Euro-centric view of translation, researchers have become interested in producing connected and comparative histories of translation. The dialogue with the general field of history has led to the adoption of new methods and forms of analysis, such as microhistory, histoire croisée, archival research, oral history and digital translation history, and to the birth of new areas of research such as the role of translation in conflict and war.

МЕТОДИЧЕСКИЙ ПОДХОД ПО ОПРЕДЕЛЕНИЮ СОЦИАЛЬНО-ПСИХОЛОГИЧЕСКОГО ПОРТРЕТА ЛИЧНОСТИ ДЛЯ УПРАВЛЕНИЯ МАЛЫМ БИЗНЕСОМ. ЧАСТЬ 2

This article is a logical continuation of the previous part, devoted to the definition of the sociopsychological portrait of the leader when organizing a small or medium-sized business. The proposed part considers the main characteristics necessary for effective management and the corresponding assessment of the degree of general readiness of the individual for the process of organizing and managing the created business. The main features necessary for a manager to maintain the viability and innovative development of an economic entity are listed. The proposed assessment system will allow self-diagnosis of personality characteristics and determine the areas of necessary self-improvement or the involvement of consultants with professional knowledge and skills. The multi-criteria approach offers a comprehensive consideration of possible situations that arise in practice. The authors of this article express their point of view, developed by many years of experience in management activities, and suggest that the material presented may well be of a debatable nature, since management issues in uncertain conditions do not have a final answer, but are only a recommendation with possible variations in accordance with emerging situations. The pandemic, which has burst into our lives so rapidly, confirms the relevance and need to pay more attention to the issues of socio-psychological readiness, especially of those who make managerial decisions, which is a guarantee of socio-economic stabilization of society. This is especially important in the context of economy 4.0, when it is necessary to generate many options for events and their solutions for digital implementation. Despite the reduction of some professions due to digitalization, a person is the leading link in any system, understanding this implies paying special attention to his preparation for the relevant activity. The technical capabilities that have appeared due to scientific and technological progress can only be used to improve the efficiency of economic processes by a comprehensively competent person. Readiness for inevitable changes, adoption of new methods of organization and management, adaptation to risky situations, the ability to quickly respond to crises, and the like – this is not the whole list of modern conditions that are characteristic of social production today. Therefore, the issues of assessing and describing the requirements for decision makers, simply speaking managers, have always been, are and will be interesting and relevant due to their vital importance for the management and well-being of society.

National culture and public-sector budgeting: the mediating role of country-level institutions using a structural equation modeling approach

PurposeDespite cultural dimensions being included in hundreds of business and management research studies, there have been relatively few studies in public-sector accounting that include the use of cultural dimensions. It is posited that national cultural variables impact the institutions, which, in turn, have an influence on public-sector budgeting. The study aims to contribute to the literature by examining these relations in 31 countries.Design/methodology/approachThese relationships are empirically evaluated by structural equation modeling using measures of national culture from Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness (GLOBE) study and Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGIs) measures named institutions from the World Bank. Furthermore, measures of public-sector budgeting are evaluated in which public-sector budgeting is classified according to the legislative power of the purse and budget transparency.FindingsGenerally, findings reveal that institutions mediate the relationship among national cultural variables and budgeting at the national level. By that means, budgeting in a given nation is linked to the nation's supporting institutions which, in turn, are influenced by the national culture of those who maintain them. Particularly, power distance and uncertainty avoidance impact budgeting through the full mediation of institutions.Research limitations/implicationsThe World Bank's database used for the institutions contained over 200 countries (Kaufmann et al., 2007); the GLOBE cultural database (House et al., 2004) contained data for 62 societies; the public-sector budgeting (Qi and Mensah, 2011) included power of the purse and budgeting transparency country scores for 49 countries and the datasets comprised 31 nations, mostly from Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. While smaller than we would have preferred, the size is consistent with other international studies (for instance: Waldman et al., 2006; Kwok and Tadesse, 2006).Practical implicationsThe findings of the paper suggest that any plan to improve a nation's budgeting should consider the links between budgeting, supporting institutions and the culture of those that run them. The formal adoption of new methods and standards by supporting institutions may not be enough without accompanying efforts to transform national culture.Originality/valueThe theoretical contribution of the paper is discussed further in the paper.

Digital Transformation of Transportation in the Age of COVID-19

Purpose: To highlight the key trends in the transportation industry and the role of emerging technologies and digital transformation in acceleration of value creation. The conceptual framework suggests how such transformation could be implemented. Design/methodology/approach: Research in a focus group was carried out where selected digital transformation frameworks were reviewed, and one was selected as the most applicable to the transportation industry. The selected framework was adopted for the transportation industry. Findings: 1. Value creation should be positioned as the key objective of transformation. 2. Digital transformation is not so much about technology as it is about people. 3. The staged approach towards transformation allows it to be paced with account being taken of the maturity of technology as well as the maturity of competencies across the organization. For a successful digital transformation, the organization invests in development of digital capabilities. Moving towards digital means a mindset shift, cultural change and adoption of new methods of working. Research limitations/implications: Transportation companies are at the early stage of transformation at such a scale. The case studies on successful transformations are limited. Therefore, experience is gathered mainly by the test and learn process. It is recommended that findings are validated with a wider group of experts when transformation matures. Comparing the same framework usage in other industries can also offer additional learnings to be considered by change leaders. Originality/value: Transportation industry is in a process of transformation towards connected, electric and autonomous solutions, accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic. The presented framework, adopted for the transportation industry, offers a practical tool for executives and change leaders to lead the transformation.

Clearing a Path to Commercialization of Marine Renewable Energy Technologies Through Public–Private Collaboration

Governments are increasingly turning toward public–private partnerships to bring industry support to improving public assets or services. Here, we describe a unique public–private collaboration where a government entity has developed mechanisms to support public and private sector advancement and commercialization of monitoring technologies for marine renewable energy. These support mechanisms include access to a range of skilled personnel and test facilities that promote rapid innovation, prove reliability, and inspire creativity in technology development as innovations move from concept to practice. The ability to iteratively test hardware and software components, sensors, and systems can accelerate adoption of new methods and instrumentation designs. As a case study, we present the development of passive acoustic monitoring technologies customized for operation in energetic waves and currents. We discuss the value of testing different systems together, under the same conditions, as well as the progression through different test locations. The outcome is multiple, complementary monitoring technologies that are well suited to addressing an area of high environmental uncertainty and reducing barriers to responsible deployment of low-carbon energy conversion systems, creating solutions for the future.

CANDIDA DIAGNOSTIC PLATFORMS: ESSENTIAL IN EARLY MANAGEMENT OF CANDIDA INFECTIONS

Invasive candidiasis (IC) is associated with high morbidity and mortality. Candida species have significant roles in invasive candidiasis andthe emergence of clinical strains that are difficult to treat due tovirulent and resistant properties. Expansion of fungal pathogen diversity necessitates the development and adoption of new methods for prompt diagnosis and management. The review aimed to highlight the relevance of different Candida diagnostic methods for prompt management of Candida infections. The conventional gold standard diagnostic phenotypic-based (culture)method is time-consuming, associated withlow specificity and subjective interpretation.The specificity and sensitivity performances for candidaemia or deep-seated candidiasis of biochemical-based methods, including VITEK, API 20C AUX, and latex agglutination, have higher resolution than the culture. Nucleic acid-basedpolymerase chain reaction diagnostic techniques have been rapidly evolving. PCR will improve the diagnostic performance and patient outcome. The PCR technique uses different ribosomal DNA gene complexes, including D1/D2, ITS1/ITS4, or IGS1/IGS2, ashelpful markersto delineate the main pathogenic fungal species belonging to different genera. Sensitive and specific diagnostic methods for Candida speciesare significant for clinical decision and effective clinical outcome.