New Paths For Future Research Research Articles

Enhancing Fruit Fly Detection in Complex Backgrounds Using Transformer Architecture with Step Attention Mechanism

This study introduces a novel high-accuracy fruit fly detection model based on the Transformer structure, specifically aimed at addressing the unique challenges in fruit fly detection such as identification of small targets and accurate localization against complex backgrounds. By integrating a step attention mechanism and a cross-loss function, this model significantly enhances the recognition and localization of fruit flies within complex backgrounds, particularly improving the model’s effectiveness in handling small-sized targets and its adaptability under varying environmental conditions. Experimental results demonstrate that the model achieves a precision of 0.96, a recall rate of 0.95, an accuracy of 0.95, and an F1-score of 0.95 on the fruit fly detection task, significantly outperforming leading object detection models such as YOLOv8 and DETR. Specifically, this research delves into and optimizes for challenges faced in fruit fly detection, such as recognition issues under significant light variation, small target size, and complex backgrounds. Through ablation experiments comparing different data augmentation techniques and model configurations, the critical contributions of the step attention mechanism and cross-loss function to enhancing model performance under these complex conditions are further validated. These achievements not only highlight the innovativeness and effectiveness of the proposed method, but also provide robust technical support for solving practical fruit fly detection problems in real-world applications, paving new paths for future research in object detection technology.

Anti-Procrastination Strategies, Techniques and Tools and Their Interrelation with Self-Regulation and Self-Efficacy

Academic procrastination generates several problems and negative consequences both individually and collectively: low student performance, increased stress, negative effects on physical and mental health, and general waste of resources. Therefore, it demands to be studied and understood in its different forms, so that mitigating mechanisms can be developed. The current work seeks to analyse the phenomenon of academic procrastination within postgraduate students registered for the Management Postgraduate Program in a Brazilian Federal University, in order to identify strategies, techniques and tools utilised by the students to overcome procrastination as well as its relation with the concepts of self-regulation and self-efficacy. The current research is descriptive with a qualitative nature, adopting a phenomenological approach through thematic analysis in order to bring to light the experiences and perceptions of individuals from their own perspectives, challenging structural or normative assumptions. In total, 24 students, 12 from the master’s degree program and 12 from the doctorate program in Management were interviewed. As a result, it was noticed that there are some overall inferences that can be taken from the narratives, outlining the phenomenon of academic procrastination and its relations with the concepts of self-regulation and self-efficacy, which led to reinforce the notion that the central elements to understand and specifically combat procrastination are related to the concepts of self-efficacy and self-regulation, which have a considerable influence on students’ motivation, behaviour and habits. The research has also pointed to some key strategies, techniques and tools that can be utilised to support further applied research as well as to guide the faculty in supporting the students to overcome or mitigate the procrastination impulse, such as use of goal orientation, visual tools, and academic support starting with undergraduate degrees. The work has an original contribution as no research has been made on that topic utilising qualitative data through a phenomenological approach, which opens a vast and new path for future research.

Dry-Contact Thermal Interface Material with the Desired Bond Line Thickness and Ultralow Applied Thermal Resistance.

Efforts to directly utilize thixotropic polymer composites for out-of-plane thermal transport applications, known as thermal interface materials (TIMs), have been impeded by their mediocre applied thermal resistance (Reff) in a sandwiched structure. Different from traditional attempts at enhancing thermal conductivity, this study proposes a low-bond line thickness (BLT) path for mitigating the sandwiched thermal impedance. Taking the most common TIM, polydimethylsiloxane/aluminum oxide/zinc oxide (PDMS/Al2O3/ZnO), as an example, liquid metal is designed to on-demand localize at the Al2O3-polymer and Al2O3-filler interface regions, breaking rheological challenges for lowering the BLT. Specifically, during the sandwiched compression process, interfacial LM is just like the lubricant, dexterously promoting the relaxation of immobilized PDMS chains and helping fillers to flow through mitigating the internal friction between Al2O3 and adjacent filler. As a result, this TIM first time exhibits a boundary BLT (4.28 μm) that almost approaches the diameter of the maximum filler and performs an ultralow dry-contact Reff of 4.05 mm2 K/W at 40 psi, outperforming most reported and commercial dry-contact TIMs. This study of the low-BLT direction is believed to point to a new path for future research on high-performance TIMs.

The insignificance of GDP growth rate to people’s welfare: a political economy analysis of China’s impressive GDP

In recent decades, there was a fierce debate about whether Gross Domestic Product (GDP) accurately describe people’s welfare. This manuscript aims to prove, an impressive GDP does not mean that people live on welfare. This topic is important to be discussed, simply, because it shows the actual condition of the people during their impressive GDP growth, besides, theoretically, it also sheds light on the correlation between GDP and real welfare. Taking China between 1980-2014, when China experienced the highest GDP growth as a case study, this investigation used secondary data provided by previous empirical research documents and international organizations’ data such as UNDP, WHO, World Bank and other relevant sources. The data was analyzed by comparative research method for comparing China’s GDP rate with China’s achievement on five aspects of alternative economic development gauges: inequality rates, life expectancy, health quality, education attainment, and environmental impacts. This investigation figured out that the impressive of China’s GDP has no direct correlation to Chinese real welfare. Along with the impression of China’s GDP, the Chinese must deal with inequality, the low government budget for human resources development, and environmental issues. This finding might support the previous analysts who were pessimists about the accuracy of GDP in measuring people’s welfare and develop a new path for future research.

Trust in the financial services context: a meta-analysis

PurposeThis article presents a systematic framework with a meta-analytic approach to finding various antecedents, consequents and moderating effects of trust in financial services.Design/methodology/approachA meta-analysis of 165 articles was performed, which generated 272 observations in a cumulative sample of 86,968 respondents.FindingsThe results of this meta-analysis demonstrated seventeen antecedents of trust constructs and four consequents. Most of these relationships were meaningful and consistent. The authors also found some significant moderators related to culture (individualism, masculinity and long-term orientation) and context (innovation index and device type).Research limitations/implicationsThis meta-analysis reviewed the relationships found throughout the theoretical framework about the trust construct in financial service contexts, identifying new paths for future research. Some limitations, such as the non-use of qualitative studies and the selection of concepts, exist in the secondary data and should be noted.Practical implicationsThe present study can assist financial system managers in decision-making because the findings from the meta-analysis are more consistent than those from traditional primary surveys.Originality/valueThis research tested the impact of antecedents, consequents and moderators of trust in the financial services sector and presented significant results using a meta-analytic review. This meta-analysis contributes to the marketing literature by offering a set of empirical generalizations, including relationship coefficients and fail-safe calculated numbers (FSN).

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor promotes orthodontic tooth movement by alleviating periodontal ligament stem cell senescence

Orthodontic treatment in older adults is more difficult than in younger adults, partially due to delayed osteogenesis caused by senescence of human periodontal ligament stem cells (hPDLSCs). The production of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) which regulates the differentiation and survival of stem cells decreases with age. We aimed to investigate the relationship between BDNF and hPDLSC senescence and its effects on orthodontic tooth movement (OTM). We constructed mouse OTM models using orthodontic nickel‑titanium springs and compared the responses of wild-type (WT) and BDNF+/− mice with or without addition of exogenous BDNF. In vitro, hPDLSCs subjected to the mechanical stretch were used to simulate the cell stretch environment during OTM. We extracted periodontal ligament cells from WT and BDNF+/− mice to evaluate their senescence-related indicators. The application of orthodontic force increased BDNF expression in the periodontium of WT mice, while the mechanical stretch increased BDNF expression in hPDLSCs. Osteogenesis-related indicators, including RUNX2 and ALP decreased and cellular senescence-related indicators such as p16, p53 and β-galactosidase increased in BDNF+/− mice periodontium. Furthermore, periodontal ligament cells extracted from BDNF+/− mice exhibited more senescent compared with cells from WT mice. Application of exogenous BDNF decreased the expression of senescence-related indicators in hPDLSCs by inhibiting Notch3, thereby promoting osteogenic differentiation. Periodontal injection of BDNF decreased the expression of senescence-related indicators in periodontium of aged WT mice. In conclusion, our study showed that BDNF promotes osteogenesis during OTM by alleviating hPDLSCs senescence, paving a new path for future research and clinical applications.

Tuning foreign body response with tailor-engineered nanoscale surface modifications: fundamentals to clinical applications.

Biomaterials are omnipresent in today's healthcare services and are employed in various applications, including implants, sensors, healthcare accessories, and drug delivery systems. Unfavorable host immunological responses frequently jeopardize the efficacy of biomaterials. As a result, surface modification has received much attention in controlling inflammatory responses since it helps camouflage the biomaterial from the host immune system, influencing the foreign body response (FBR) from protein adsorption to fibrous capsule formation. Surfaces with controlled nanotopography and chemistry, among other surface modification methodologies, have effectively altered the immune response to biomaterials. However, the field is still in its early stages, with only a few studies showing a synergistic effect of surface chemistry and nanotopography on inflammatory and wound healing pathways. Therefore, this review will concentrate on the individual and synergistic effects of surface chemistry and nanotopography on FBR modulation and the molecular processes known to modulate these responses. This review will also provide insights into crucial research gaps and advancements in various tactics for modulating FBR, opening new paths for future research. This will further aid in improving our understanding of the immune response to biomaterials, developing advanced surface modification techniques, designing immunomodulatory biomaterials, and translating discoveries into clinical applications.

The evaluation of soft skills by information technology executives when hiring a project manager: a qualitative study

The aim of this article is to describe the process of evaluating soft skills when hiring information technology (IT) project managers, from the perspective of IT executives. We opted for the qualitative approach in which the research method adopted involved in-person interviews with 16 Brazilian IT executives from different business segments. Data analysis was performed using the ATLAS.ti tool and guided by the grounded theory technique with three coding cycles: open, axial and selective. The results showed that the scientific methods that evaluated the behaviour and personality of candidates are deprecated by Brazilian IT executives, because they prefer to use empirical methods, such as interviews with situational questions oriented to practical issues within the area. The theoretical contribution is made by means of six propositions resulting from the study of the hiring process of IT project managers, and can pave new paths for future research.

Children’s Perception of Climate Change in North-Eastern Portugal

Despite the impact that climate change is having on our planet and considering its consequences for future generations, much of the academic literature focuses on adolescent and adult perceptions, giving little relevance to children’s perceptions. Children’s voices have the potential to influence public opinion, which may in turn determine the direction of a new policy on the climate crisis. In this context, it is urgent that we understand how children perceive this problem. This quantitative study was based on the application of 245 questionnaires to children aged between 9 and 13 years old from five schools in north-eastern Portugal, more specifically in the region of Trás-os-Montes. We can say that this study was a convenience study because we delivered the surveys in the schools closest to the working area of the researchers. We used a questionnaire with 26 questions, 24 of which had closed responses (like the Likert type), one open response, and one with multiple choices. In this work, we conducted a descriptive and inferential statistical analysis, and prepared a database, using the statistical software IBM SPSS, which allowed us to conduct some statistical tests, selected according to variables. For the descriptive analysis, several parameters were used for the distribution of variables, namely, frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation. We rejected the null hypothesis (H0) and assumed for the inferential analysis that the sample does not follow a normal distribution, considering the fulfillment of the necessary criteria for parametric tests and after performing the Kolmogorov–Smirnov normality test, whose null hypothesis (H0) is that data are normally distributed, and given that the p-value for the variables under study was p < 0.05. In this regard, non-parametric tests were used. The Mann–Whitney test was used to compare the degree of agreement with climate change statements as a function of the student’s gender and year of schooling, which is a non-parametric test suitable for comparing the distribution functions of an ordinal variable measured in two independent samples. The results show that most of the children expressed concern about the study’s potential problem, and (42%) said they are concerned about climate change. However, they show some doubts and a lack of knowledge about some of the themes, like (33.5%) cannot name only one consequence of climate change. We also found differences between the two study cycles, with children in the 6th grade having a higher average in their understanding of the phenomenon (p = 0.049), as well as the level of education of the parents being positively correlated with a more ecocentric posture, we can see this when we considering the variable parents. We also found that 46.6% of the students say that television is where they learn more about climate change. From the results obtained, we can open new paths for future research and contribute to the definition of policies and educational practices since the school has the responsibility to cooperate in the production of values, attitudes, and pro-environmental behaviors.

Root and shoot biology of Arabidopsis halleri dissected by WGCNA: an insight into the organ pivotal pathways and genes of an hyperaccumulator.

Arabidopsis halleri is a hyperaccumulating pseudo-metallophyte and an emerging model to explore molecular basis of metal tolerance and hyperaccumulation. In this regard, understanding of interacting genes can be a crucial aspect as these interactions regulate several biological functions at molecular level in response to multiple signals. In this current study, we applied a weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) on root and shoot RNA-seq data of A. halleri to predict the related scale-free organ specific co-expression networks, for the first time. A total of 19,653 genes of root and 18,081 genes of shoot were grouped into 14 modules and subjected to GO and KEGG enrichment analysis. "Photosynthesis" and "photosynthesis-antenna proteins" were identified as the most enriched and common pathway to both root and shoot. Whereas "glucosinolate biosynthesis," "autophagy," and "SNARE interactions in vesicular transport" were specific to root, and "circadian rhythm" was found to be enriched only in shoot. Later, hub and bottleneck genes were identified in each module by using cytoHubba plugin based on Cytoscape and scoring the relevance of each gene to the topology of the network. The modules with the most significant differential expression pattern across control and treatment (Cd-Zn treatment) were selected and their hub and bottleneck genes were screened to validate their possible involvement in heavy metal stress. Moreover, we combined the analysis of co-expression modules together with protein-protein interactions (PPIs), confirming some genes as potential candidates in plantheavy metal stress and as biomarkers. The results from this analysis shed the light on the pivotal functions to the hyperaccumulative trait of A. halleri,giving perspective to new paths for future research on this species.

Parents' Creative Self-Concept and Creative Activity as Predictors of Family Lifestyle.

Family rules, routines, and resources shape children’s creativity. However, little is known about how parents’ creative self-concepts and creative activity are related to the lifestyle adults create in their families. Family lifestyle might be operationalized as referring to domain-general dimensions of family social functioning (cohesion, flexibility, communication, and family satisfaction) and domain-specific factors related to creativity, namely, family climate for creativity (encouragement to experience novelty and varieties, encouragement to nonconformism, support of perseverance in creative efforts, encouragement to fantasize). To explore the link between parents’ creativity-related characteristics and family lifestyle, 303 Polish parents (57% mothers) of children aged between 6 and 10 (M = 7.99; SD = 1.38) reported on their creative self-concept (creative self-efficacy and creative personal identity), creative activity, overall family lifestyle, and climate for creativity in their families. We found that parents’ creative self-concept and their creative activity predict support for creativity in the family and more general balanced and satisfying family relationships. We discuss these findings, point new paths for future research, and suggest possible interventions to strengthen families as creativity-fostering environments.

Strategic Leadership: Looking Inside the Box and Moving Out of It

Research related to strategic leadership has risen swiftly in quantity but distributed across divergent academic fields and their respective literatures. Hence, this represents an appropriate time to put forward a wide reaching review that identifies, summarises and integrates the already produced research while highlighting shortcomings in the field and future paths for research. This methodical review of the literature resulted in the identification of 414 articles on the Web of Science database spanning the period between 1985 and 2017. Applying systematic and thorough content analysis, with recourse to bibliometric techniques, the authors here reviewed the articles, identified the core theories and methodologies applied in them. This review served to identify significant gaps in the knowledge in terms of the theoretical orientation and the central content under study. The authors correspondingly propose a broad range of suggestions on all of these topics to help in resolving these shortcomings in knowledge while also raising important questions for future research. The main contributions of this article are: defining and summarising the multi-level literature emerging around strategic leadership; integrating and extracting the potential theoretical contributions from this field; and informing on directions for future research. This article furthermore proposes an integrated model and in addition to a theoretically relevant and innovative agenda that opens up new paths for future research and theory building.

Planning for 'The New Normal': Foresight and Management of the Possibilities of Socio-economic Spillovers due to COVID-19 Pandemic

The next normal will not look like any in the years preceding the COVID-19, a pandemic that changed many socio-economic situations around the world. In this paper, we shall explore the possibilities of the socio-economic spillovers that are expected in an unprecedented pandemic, studying their importance, how to deal with them to eliminate their "opportunity cost" on the next normal.A synthesis for the type of spillovers in the ‘new normal’, its future socio-economic challenges are presented to enhance the readiness to the coming era. In order to visualise the amount of the possibilities and opportunities of the socio-economic spillover, a framework is proposed, and then all the 480 possibilities are list. Tools are developed further to optimize the best socio-economic possibilities, which would different per the community condition and the stage of the new normal. The main implication of this work is that it would change the way any future pandemic or global emergency spillovers are evaluated or dealt with. This would establish a new path for future research in the ‘new normal guidance’ which are recommended as part of the conclusion. The framework and tools need to be further tested in more different conditions so that they can be globally generalised.

Noise patterns in visceral surgical procedures: Analysis of second-by-second dBA data of 599 procedures over the course of one year

The objective of this study is to analyze noise patterns during 599 visceral surgical procedures. Considering work-safety regulations, we will identify immanent noise patterns during major visceral surgeries. Increased levels of noise are known to have negative health impacts. Based on a very fine-grained data collection over a year, this study will introduce a new procedure for visual representation of intra-surgery noise progression and pave new paths for future research on noise reduction in visceral surgery. Digital decibel sound-level meters were used to record the total noise in three operating theatres in one-second cycles over a year. These data were matched to archival data on surgery characteristics. Because surgeries inherently vary in length, we developed a new procedure to normalize surgery times to run cross-surgery comparisons. Based on this procedure, dBA values were adjusted to each normalized time point. Noise-level patterns are presented for surgeries contingent on important surgery characteristics: 16 different surgery types, operation method, day/night time point and operation complexity (complexity levels 1–3). This serves to cover a wide spectrum of day-to-day surgeries. The noise patterns reveal significant sound level differences of about 1 dBA, with the most-common noise level being spread between 55 and 60 dBA. This indicates a sound situation in many of the surgeries studied likely to cause stress in patients and staff. Absolute and relative risks of meeting or exceeding 60 dBA differ considerably across operation types. In conclusion, the study reveals that maximum noise levels of 55 dBA are frequently exceeded during visceral surgical procedures. Especially complex surgeries show, on average, a higher noise exposure. Our findings warrant active noise management for visceral surgery to reduce potential negative impacts of noise on surgical performance and outcome.

The use of product scarcity in marketing

PurposeAs a frequently observed business phenomenon, the use of product scarcity to improve a product’s market performance has received increasing attention from both academics and practitioners. The resulting literature has covered a wide variety of issues based on various theories, using different research methods, in a diverse range of settings. However, this diversity also makes it difficult to grasp the core themes and findings, and to see the outstanding knowledge gaps. This paper aims to review previous studies on the use of product scarcity in marketing and identifies new directions for future research.Design/methodology/approachA systematic review was conducted to identify and analyse 66 research papers published in business and management journals between 1970 and 2017.FindingsThe authors examined the underlying theories of scarcity-based marketing, and developed a conceptual framework that describes the key factors of product scarcity and how they influence both consumers and the market. They also highlighted some key achievements in modelling the processes involved in using product scarcity in marketing.Originality/valueThis analysis of the identified papers suggests that there are substantial gaps in our knowledge of this field, which opens up new paths for future research. For future research, the authors identified three directions aimed at: addressing the practical needs of firms in understanding product scarcity; guiding the implementation of scarcity-based strategies; and measuring, monitoring and predicting the level of product scarcity and its impacts during implementation.

Predicting purchasing behavior of green food in Algerian context

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is twofold: first, the verification of applicability of reasoned action theory to analyze consumer behavior in Algerian context; and second, the identification and analysis of factors influencing purchasing behavior in green food sector.Design/methodology/approachThe authors proposed a model based on reasoned action theory that combines two types of variables, the green marketing type and personal type, in order to predict purchasing behavior of green food. The authors have established a structural equations modeling, with a path analysis on a sample of 304 Algerian consumers from Algiers town.FindingsThe model was confirmed and the results showed how green marketing and personal factors influence the green food purchasing behavior in direct and indirect way, in presence of the mediating variables’ attitude toward green food and intention to buy green food.Research limitations/implicationsThere is no database or any information concerning green consumption in Algerian context. There is a lack of information about green production in food field. The choice of reasoned action theory as a theory explaining the decision-making process leading to purchasing act is based on fact that the Algerian field of food sector is virgin of this type of analysis, so the authors thought it is appropriate to apply the reasoned action theory as a first initiative in this field. Also, a more recent and more innovative psychological theory should be applied in the future studies.Practical implicationsThe study will give researchers interested in Algerian context a better understanding of consumer behavior, especially in green product case, and will open new paths for future research in the same field by the application of another psychological theory that is more recent and innovative; the study can open research paths for other fields as well, such as consumer behavior toward green cosmetic products in Algeria.Social implicationsThe implications of this research can assist marketers for better positioning in green food market using the results indicated in research. The better understanding of factors influencing consumer purchasing behavior will encourage contractors to invest in this field in Algiers town context.Originality/valueThe study was established in a context where consumer market data of green food are non-existent, so the research represents an orientation to green food marketers toward a better positioning in relation to influence factors of their market target.

Social innovation and social entrepreneurship: discovering origins, exploring current and future trends

Nonprofit sector integrates an important part of the economy, which serves as a critical factor for social change. Social innovation and social entrepreneurship are of paramount importance for the nonprofit sector aiming to solve social needs. The purpose of this paper is, through bibliometric mapping techniques, based on 2695 documents, to understand thematic evolution of social innovation and social entrepreneurship. The main conclusion is that, from the analysis, we can see that the scientific production in this field of knowledge has intensified in recent years, but the centrality and the search density undergo major changes. New paths for future research are outlined.

Predicting personalized process-outcome associations in psychotherapy using machine learning approaches—A demonstration

Objective: Personalized treatment methods have shown great promise in efficacy studies across many fields of medicine and mental health. Little is known, however, about their utility in process-outcome research. This study is the first to apply personalized treatment methods in the field of process-outcome research, as demonstrated based on the alliance-outcome association. Method: Using a sample of 741 patients, individual regressions were fitted to estimate within-patient effects of the alliance-outcome association. The Boruta algorithm was used to identify patient intake characteristics that moderate the within-patient alliance-outcome association. The nearest neighbor approach was used to identify patients whose relevant pretreatment characteristics were similar to those of a target patient. The alliance-outcome associations of the most similar patients were subsequently used to predict the alliance-outcome association of the target patient. Results: Irrespective of the number of selected nearest neighbors, the correlation between the observed and predicted alliance-outcome associations was low and insignificant. According to the true error of the prediction, the demonstrated approach was unable to improve predictions made with a simple comparison model. Conclusion: The study demonstrated the application of personalized treatment methods in process-outcome research and opens many new paths for future research.

Mediterranean diasporas: politics and ideas in the long 19th century

ABSTRACTThis round table discusses a collection that explores the circulation of ideas across and beyond the Mediterranean in the long nineteenth century, a space normally consigned to the margins of historiographical concerns and studied in discrete geographical areas. The commentators agree that the diasporic approach centred on biography taken by the collection demonstrates the existence of a plurality of liberal strands and political projects, highlights the importance of exchanges between European peripheries like Russia, the Adriatic and Greece, and challenges the notion of the derivative nature of eastern and oriental political culture. At the same time, the round table suggests new paths for future research, pointing to the desirability of producing a transnational conceptual history of liberalism that connects and compares East and West, and of applying the same transnational methodological approach to other seas.

Interorganizational Relationships in Marketing: A Critical Review and Research Agenda

Over recent decades, the area of marketing interorganizational relationships (IORs) has received increasing attention from both academics and practitioners, even if a comprehensive portrayal of past research is still lacking. Hence, the aim of the present paper is to review the literature on marketing IORs in order to develop a framework meant to organize the different contributions in this area and suggest new paths for future research. The analysis suggests that three main streams of research can be identified with regard to the type of relationship between variables investigated by each article. Moreover, taking into account the purpose of the IOR, common patterns within each stream may be identified. A critical analysis of articles grounded on both the streams and the purpose of marketing IORs suggests there are still substantial gaps in knowledge, which open new paths for future research regarding both methodological issues and hot topics.