Future Relevance Research Articles

Wearable Activity Recognition for Advancing Elderly Care with Modified Transformer Model

Technological devices such as smartphones can be utilized in tracking various human activities or movements through built-in accelerometers and gyroscopes. Data obtained from these inertial sensors can be utilized in various applications to assist people, including healthcare, human-computer interaction, and sports. As a result, further developments in the effective classification of time series data through machine and deep learning is highly valued and actively pursued. In this study, the transformer model, a deep learning architecture designed for sequential data such as natural language processing (NLP), has been utilized for analysis of time-series motion readings from wearable accelerometers. The transformer model in this study has been refined by incorporating a Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) recurrent neural network (RNN) architecture. By leveraging the HAR70+ dataset with a wide range of activities, the modified transformer model in this study obtained a best accuracy of 95.85%, demonstrating that it can match the performance of state-of-the-art wearable activity recognition methods using Deep Neural Networks (DNN) and LSTM. Hence, the findings presented in this study suggest the future relevance of improved transformer or deep learning models to enhance the quality of life for seniors.

Balancing work and family life during the COVID-19 pandemic: exploring within and between group differences across time, gender, and worksites

ABSTRACT This multi-wave survey was conducted at a Norwegian insurance company before (Time 0: N = 568) and during (Time 1: N = 558/Time 2: N = 601) the COVID-19 pandemic. Nearly twice as many employees agreed or highly agreed that it was harder to balance home life and work during the pandemic than before. No gender differences were found in work-home balance, meaning this applied to both men and women. However, a two-factor structure of the interaction showed higher levels of work-to-home conflict, but not work-to-home enrichment, among women during the pandemic. A repeated measure MANOVA suggested no interaction effects between gender and worksite. A non-significant effect of time suggested that work-to-home conflict and work-to-home enrichment were stable during the pandemic. Although the generalizability of these findings is limited to a WEIRD sample in one Norwegian company, gender differences found in work-to-home conflict and stability found in the work-home interaction might have implications for theory and practices beyond the present study. By exploring stability and change in the work-home interaction during a societal crisis, this study adds to the knowledge of occupational health psychology, with future relevance as work and home boundaries become increasingly blurred.

Application of Artificial Intelligence in Clinical Practice - Perception of a Multinational Group of Nephrologists.

This study investigates the perception of a multinational group of nephrologists on artificial intelligence (AI) application in clinical practice. A validated on-line survey was performed in March 2024, in 4 continents. The results revealed a prevalent familiarity with AI and machine learning (ML) terms, but traditional tools remained favored for clinical decision support. AI's future relevance was acknowledged by more than two thirds of the sample but concerns related to the use of this tool in clinical practice were shared, particularly by nephrologists without any previous contact with AI. This reinforces the need for education in this group of health professionals, to allow full adoption of AI in the management of chronic kidney disease (CKD) in the near future.

The role of African extractive industries in the global energy transition: An analysis of barriers and strategies

Endowed with a significant proportion of the world’s petroleum and solid mineral resources, Africa is the location of a vibrant and dynamic extractive industries sector, which today, is its chief economic mainstay. The revenue generated from the extractive industries has been a significant source of finance for public infrastructure development and investments in education, health and the development of other economic sectors across the continent. However, the African extractive industries have faced massive setbacks in recent years, in particular due to the economic disruptions caused by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, and the global transition to a low carbon economy that has formed a central part of ongoing efforts to respond to the climate change emergency. These challenges have accentuated concerns on the current and future relevance of the African extractive industries in a low-carbon economy world order.This article examines the role played by the African extractive industries in the global energy transition, contextualising these concerns against a continuum of disruption arising as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic and emergent efforts to redress the crisis posed by anthropogenic climate change. If well managed, extractive resources could play a crucial role in advancing energy security and transition in the African continent in the face of these challenges. In addition to its role in addressing current high levels of energy poverty across Africa in this disruptive setting, environmentally-responsible production of extractive resources can help sustain economic and social development across Africa in going forward. This article examines the current opportunities and challenges for cleaner and environmentally-responsible extractive investments in Africa in a low carbon world. It analyses the preconditions and barriers to environmentally-responsible fossil fuels developments in Africa and highlights the key considerations for African policymakers. Its analysis is informed by recognition of, and sensitivity towards, the extreme disruption to fossil fuel governance embodied by the twin concerns of the COVID-19 pandemic and the current “climate emergency.” Through a qualitative analysis, this research has found that if well-managed, African resource-rich countries could utilise the revenues from the extractive industries to invest in low carbon technologies.

Challenges and prospects in advancing clinical neuropsychology

In the ever-evolving field of clinical neuropsychology, significant methodological and conceptual limitations hinder progress. To ensure the continued relevance of this discipline amidst remarkable advancements in neuroscience, medicine, and methodology, these obstacles must be addressed. This opinion article identifies inherent limitations within current clinical neuropsychology, including issues such as multi-collinearity in neuropsychological assessments, lack of validated tools reflecting contemporary cognitive function models, and the use of divergent theoretical frameworks in evaluations, leading to a gap between theory and practice. The disconnect between behavior and biomarkers, particularly evident in neurodegenerative diseases but also relevant for other pathologies, together with the rise of genetic analyses, necessitate change. Methodological improvements are crucial for ensuring the discipline's future relevance. Looking ahead, key perspectives and challenges are outlined, emphasizing the need for a holistic approach to cognitive functioning and congruent tools, patient engagement in experimental studies, rectification of biases, and exploration of variables like personality. Training professionals to bridge the gap between practice and research is essential. By addressing these challenges, clinical neuropsychology can not only adapt to the evolving landscape but also shape it, ensuring a brighter future for the field.

Melatonin protects against diclofenac induced oxidative stress mediated myocardial toxicity in rats: A mechanistic insight

Diclofenac, a traditional non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, is commonly used for treating chronic pain and inflammation. Recently, a number of articles have highlighted the toxicities associated with diclofenac. The current study explores the molecular mechanism of diclofenac induced cardiac toxicity following oxidative stress. Diclofenac inhibits catalase, disrupts the redox balance in cardiac tissue, accelerates the monoamine oxidase induced hydroperoxide generation and eventually inhibits crucial mitochondrial enzyme, viz., aldehyde dehydrogenase, thereby causing myocardial injury. Melatonin, the pineal indoleamine with high antioxidative efficacy, is well known for its cardio-protective properties and its dietary consumption has profound impact on cardiac health. The present study demonstrates perhaps for the first time, that apart from ameliorating oxidative load in the cardiac tissue, melatonin also attenuates the inhibition of catalase and aldehyde dehydrogenase, and prevents stress mediated stimulation of monoamine oxidase. Moreover, favourable binding of diclofenac with melatonin may protect the myocardium from the deleterious effects of this drug. The results indicate toward a novel mechanism of protection by melatonin, having future therapeutic relevance.

The Effect of Everyday-Life Social Contact on Pain.

Pain is a biopsychosocial phenomenon, resulting from the interplay between physiological and psychological processes and social factors. Given that humans constantly interact with others, the effect of social factors is particularly relevant. Documenting the significance of the social modulation of pain, an increasing number of studies have investigated the effect of social contact on subjective pain intensity and pain-related physiological changes. While evidence suggests that social contact can alleviate pain, contradictory findings indicate an increase in pain intensity and a deterioration of pain coping strategies. This evidence primarily stems from studies examining the effect of social contact on pain within highly controlled laboratory conditions. Moreover, pain assessments often rely on one-time subjective reports of average pain intensity across a predefined period. Ecological momentary assessments (EMAs) can circumvent these problems, as they can capture diverse aspects of behavior and experiences multiple times a day, in real time, with high resolution, and within naturalistic and ecologically valid settings. These multiple measures allow for the examination of fluctuations of pain symptoms throughout the day in relation to affective, cognitive, behavioral, and social factors. In this opinion paper, we review the current state and future relevance of EMA-based social pain research in daily life. Specifically, we examine whether everyday-life social support reduces or enhances pain. The first part of the paper provides a comprehensive overview of the use of EMA in pain research and summarizes the main findings. The review of the relatively limited number of existing EMA studies shows that the association between pain and social contact in everyday life depends on numerous factors, including pain syndromes, temporal dynamics, the nature of social interactions, and characteristics of the interaction partners. In line with laboratory research, there is evidence that everyday-life social contact can alleviate, but also intensify pain, depending on the type of social support. Everyday-life emotional support seems to reduce pain, while extensive solicitous support was found to have opposite effects. Moreover, positive short-term effects of social support can be overshadowed by other symptoms such as fatigue. Overall, gathering and integrating experiences from a patient's social environment can offer valuable insights. These insights can help interpret dynamics in pain intensity and accompanying symptoms such as depression or fatigue. We conclude that factors determining the reducing versus enhancing effects of social contact on pain need to be investigated more thoroughly. We advocate EMA as the assessment method of the future and highlight open questions that should be addressed in future EMA studies on pain and the potential of ecological momentary interventions for pain treatment.

Unlocking Precision Medicine: Liquid Biopsy Advancements in Renal Cancer Detection and Monitoring.

Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) remains a formidable diagnostic challenge, especially in the context of small renal masses. The quest for non-invasive screening tools and biomarkers has steered research towards liquid biopsy, focusing on microRNAs (miRNAs), exosomes, and circulating tumor cells (CTCs). MiRNAs, small non-coding RNAs, exhibit notable dysregulation in RCC, offering promising avenues for diagnosis and prognosis. Studies underscore their potential across various biofluids, including plasma, serum, and urine, for RCC detection and subtype characterization. Encouraging miRNA signatures show correlations with overall survival, indicative of their future relevance in RCC management. Exosomes, with their diverse molecular cargo, including miRNAs, emerge as enticing biomarkers, while CTCs, emanating from primary tumors into the bloodstream, provide valuable insights into cancer progression. Despite these advancements, clinical translation necessitates further validation and standardization, encompassing larger-scale studies and robust evidence generation. Currently lacking approved diagnostic assays for renal cancer, the potential future applications of liquid biopsy in follow-up care, treatment selection, and outcome prediction in RCC patients are profound. This review aims to discuss and highlight recent advancements in liquid biopsy for RCC, exploring their strengths and weaknesses in the comprehensive management of this disease.

Professionalization for Education for Sustainable Development through Action Research using the Example of a University Course

The interdisciplinary character as well as the current and future relevance of the sustainability debate with all its inherent dilemmas and uncertainties, can provide fertile ground for educational innovation. Against this background, a team at the University of Klagenfurt, together with FORUM Umweltbildung and colleagues at teacher training colleges in Austria, designed the four-semester in-service course "BINE - Education for Sustainable Development - Innovations in Education". The aim of BINE is that the participants deal with the topics of sustainable development (SD) and education for sustainable development (ESD) as a learning community. An important element of this is the systematic reflection of innovations in their own practice within the framework of an action research study. The action research process provides a learning basis to promote the concepts of ESD as well as research and implementation skills of the participants. While sustainability topics are used as a vehicle for emancipatory education on the one hand, they are intended to trigger concrete sustainable social development processes on the other. This implies a great challenge, but also holds considerable potential for educational processes. With regard to sustainable development, education in the context of ESD means addressing questions in concrete fields of action about how the future can be shaped sustainably. This includes precise observation, analysis, evaluation and cooperative design of a concrete situation. Reflective action competence - and not blind action or unreflective action patterns - is a main goal of learning (Rauch & Pfaffenwimmer 2020).

Current auditor expertise and future relevance of innovative audit technology: evidence from Indonesia public sector auditor

ABSTRACT The COVID-19 pandemic has inevitably accelerated technology adoption in almost all industries, including the auditing industry. Indonesia’s supreme audit institution (Badan Pemeriksa Keuangan-Republik Indonesia – BPK-RI) as a government auditor had to use remote audit technologies in conducting state financial audits. Despite the widespread adoption of digital technologies in public administrations, little attention has been paid to the expertise level of auditors as the main users of audit technologies. This study aims to investigate current auditor expertise, and the future importance, of 18 innovative audit technologies identified from relevant studies. In addition, this study also aims to compare the importance of the technologies with current auditor expertise to identify the relevance-knowledge gap (expertise gap). We surveyed state external auditors (supreme auditors) from Badan Pemeriksa Keuangan Republik Indonesia – BPK-RI. We used t-test and deviation analysis to analyse the data. Cloud computing, self-service reports, and scanbots are perceived as the most relevant technologies, and auditors perceive their knowledge of most technologies as moderate. The results also reveal an expertise gap ranging from moderate to high across all the innovative audit technologies. It appears crucial for policymakers to focus on educational efforts to bridge this gap.

On the future relevance of green hydrogen in Europe

Hydrogen is among the energy carriers, which are most often considered for bringing about a sustainable energy system. Yet, so far, hydrogen has not delivered as an energy carrier. The core objective of this paper is to provide a comprehensive analysis of the state-of-the-art and the future prospects of green hydrogen in the European energy system from economic, energetic and CO2 emissions point-of-view. The analysis shows that there are some increasing opportunities for hydrogen use in industry and in the transport sector, when electrification is not possible or is too expensive, as well as a storage in the European electricity system. However, a hydrogen-based energy system will remain a vision at least over the next decades. The major reason for this is the unfavorable economics mostly due to high investment costs in the whole supply chain. In addition, the overall efficiencies in the hydrogen chains are moderate in general. The full environmental benignity of hydrogen as an energy carrier is only provided when renewable energy sources are used for hydrogen production. However, in Europe, the potentials for green hydrogen are very limited due to the insufficient expansion of renewable electricity generation. For this reason, many European countries are considering options for green hydrogen import. The future of hydrogen is highly dependent on the supporting policy framework. To reduce the risk in the investment in hydrogen infrastructure, as well as to justify the promotion of green hydrogen, it is very important that Europe works out a very clear and realistic long-term implementation strategy.

Flow cytometry: Aspects and application in plant and biological science.

Flow cytometry is a potent method that enables the quick and concurrent investigation of several characteristics of single cells in solution. Photodiodes or photomultiplier tubes are employed to detect the dispersed and fluorescent light signals that are produced by the laser beam as it passes through the cells. Photodetectors transform the light signals produced by the laser into electrical impulses. A computer then analyses these electrical impulses to identify and measure the various cell populations depending on their fluorescence or light scattering characteristics. Based on their fluorescence or light scattering properties, cell populations can be examined and/or isolated. This review covers the basic principle, components, working and specific biological applications of flow cytometry, including studies on plant, cell and molecular biology and methods employed for data processing and interpretation as well as the potential future relevance of this methodology in light of retrospective analysis and recent advancements in flow cytometry.

HTA292 Implications of EU HTA on Future Relevance of Surrogate Outcomes in National Assessment

HTA292 Implications of EU HTA on Future Relevance of Surrogate Outcomes in National Assessment

Assessing Extracellular Vesicles in Human Biofluids Using Flow-Based Analyzers.

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are increasingly being analyzed by flow cytometry. Yet their minuscule size and low refractive index cause the scatter intensity of most EVs to fall below the detection limit of most flow cytometers. A new class of devices, known as spectral flow analyzers, are becoming standards in cell phenotyping studies, largely due to their unique capacity to detect a vast panel of markers with higher sensitivity for light scatter detection. Another class of devices, known as nano-analyzers, provides high-resolution detection of sub-micron-sized particles. Here, the EV phenotyping performance between the Aurora (Cytek) spectral cell analyzer and the NanoFCM (nFCM) nanoflow analyzer are compared. These two devices are specifically chosen given their lead in becoming gold standards in their respective fields. Immune cell-derived EVs remain poorly characterized despite their clinical potential. Therefore, B- and T-cell line-derived EVs and donor-matched human biofluid-derived EVs from plasma, urine, and saliva are used in combination with a panel of established immune markers for this comparative study. A comparative evaluation of both cytometry platforms is performed, discussing their potential and suitability for different applications. It is found that nFCM can accurately i) analyze small EVs (40-200 nm) matching the size accuracy of electron microscopy; ii) measure the concentration of a single EV particle per volume; iii) identify underrepresented EV marker subsets; and iv) provide co-localization of EV surface markers. It can also be shown that human sample biofluids have unique EV marker signatures that can have future clinical relevance. Finally, nFCM and Aurora have their unique strength, preferred fashion of data acquisition, and visualization to fit different research interests.

Bibliometric Performance and Future Relevance of Virtual Manufacturing Technology in the Fourth Industrial Revolution

Virtual manufacturing (VM) technology emerged in the 1980s as a revolutionary strategy to optimize and streamline the entire product/service manufacturing lifecycle. However, over the years, its popularity appears to have waned. Further, the advent of the fourth industrial revolution (4IR) or Industry 4.0 brings with it other integrated digital technologies, including the Internet of Things (IoT), Blockchain, and digital twin (DT), among others. DT offers functions like VM plus other benefits, including intelligent manufacturing, to revolutionize future manufacturing operations activities and predictive capability using real-time data. This paper employs bibliographic metadata from publications indexed on SCOPUS to evaluate the recent trends in VM research and develop predictive models to forecast VM’s future trajectory and relevance in 4IR. The results of the bibliometric evaluation of VM-related scientific literature publications show a rapidly declining research productivity and highlight an exponential decline from the mid-2000s. This period of VM publication decline coincides with the advent of 4IR and DT technology, which are trending. The results of the predictive analytics using the quadratic regression model created in this study to forecast the future relevance of VM in the 4IR era suggest that VM publications show a similar conclusion. VM research output increased until 2009 and then started decreasing exponentially. The quadratic model implies an exponential decrease in yearly VM publications. Future works can evaluate DT and VM research trends from the last two decades.

The Urgent Need for Nutritional Medical Care in Geriatric Patients-Malnutrition in Nursing Homes.

Patients aged 65 and over who are accommodated in hospitals and nursing homes are at high risk of malnutrition and often show signs of it. The future relevance of this problem becomes clear, especially in view of the demographic development of the coming years and decades. In this study, the correlation between malnutrition, hypoalbuminemia, anemia, elevated CRP, and low transferrin levels, as well as mortality in seniors between 65 and 100 years, should be revealed. Therefore, the prevalence of disease-specific malnutrition (DRM), according to the criteria of the guidelines of the German Society of Nutritional Medicine (DGEM), and the prevalence of hypoalbuminemia were presented based on the data of 120 residents who were inpatients in a large Viennese nursing home between 01/2017 and 08/2020. Moreover, 86 of the inpatient residents were women and 34 were men, with a mean age of 84 years (SD: 8.7). In this examination, more than one-third of nursing home residents were malnourished. More than half of the residents were found to have low serum albumin or low transferrin saturation. However, no correlation between elevated CRP, low transferrin, or low serum albumin values and malnutrition could be established. Residents with low serum albumin or low transferrin levels, however, had a higher mortality rate. This study supports the urgent relevance of closer and individually personalized medical nutritional interventions, especially concerning hypoalbuminemic seniors aged 65 years and older.

Advancing Social Work Research in Australia: Experienced Researcher Perspectives

ABSTRACT While social work research in Australia is in reasonable shape, it requires a strong research culture promoting rigorous research to enhance its credibility and influence on social policy discourses. This study explored proposals to advance social work research, based on interviews with 20 experienced Australian social work researchers. Strategies identified include improving research culture and training, the development of research infrastructure to promote and stimulate research, and forming new partnerships both among researchers and between researchers and research end-users. Growing and strengthening the research foundations of the discipline is essential to its future relevance. IMPLICATIONS The Australian social work community would benefit from a more deliberate and strategic approach to increasing the quality and quantity of research to inform practice and policy. Opportunities for social work researchers to connect with each other to disseminate, discuss, and plan research could provide a hub for increasing research development and research collaboration. The responsibility and capacity to lead research development and advocate for social work research is shared between the academy, the human services sector, and representative professional associations.

The renewables pull effect: How regional differences in renewable energy costs could influence where industrial production is located in the future

To combat climate change, it is anticipated that in the coming years countries around the world will adopt more stringent policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase the use of clean energy sources. These policies will also affect the industry sector, which means that industrial production is likely to progressively shift from CO2-emitting fossil fuel sources to renewable energy sources. As a result, a region's renewable energy resources could become an increasingly important factor in determining where energy-intensive industries locate their production. We refer to this pull factor as the “renewables pull” effect. Renewables pull could lead to the relocation of some industrial production as a consequence of regional differences in the marginal cost of renewable energy sources. In this paper, we introduce the concept of renewables pull and explain why its importance is likely to increase in the future. Using the examples of direct reduced iron (DRI) and ammonia production, we find that the future costs of climate-neutral production of certain products is likely to vary considerably between regions with different renewable energy resources. However, we also identify the fact that many other factors in addition to energy costs determine the decisions that companies make in term of location, leaving room for further research to better understand the future relevance of renewables pull.

METHODOLOGY FOR ASSESSING THE FINANCIAL EFFICIENCY OF AGRO CLUSTERS

The issues of evaluating the effectiveness of cluster structures will not lose their relevance in the near future. In modern conditions, with limited financial resources, there are serious problems in choosing effective investment options. The proposed cluster assessment methodology to some extent solves this problem.

Anti-Limnatis nilotica activity and kinetic study of Guizotia abyssinica hull crude extract in stream water body ecosystems of Ethiopia

In this work, crude extracts of Niger seed hull (NSH) were used to conduct anti-leech (Limnatis nilotica) experimental activity. Following the standard method, the phytochemical screening of methanol and chloroform extracts was evaluated. The crude methanol extract contained secondary metabolites as terpenoids, flavonoids, and saponins. According to severity effects ranging from 4+ to 1+ and timing zones from 1 to 720 min, including negative paralysis, the paralyzing time was calculated. From 1+ to 4+ severities, the crude extract of NSH exhibited strong anti-leech action. Methanol and chloroform extracts exhibit anti-leech properties that are comparable to the reference medication levaminsole. The dosage contraction of NSH in all dose levels of the standard reference drug Lavamisole resulted in a considerable death of leeches, as shown by the first-order reaction (χ2 = 62.9, df = 5, p < 0.05). The methanol and chloroform extracts of NSH significantly differed in how many leeches they were able to kill (χ2 = 355, df = 5, p < 0.05 and χ2 = 711.7, df = 5, p < 0.05, respectively). Differential canning calorimetry (DSC) was used to characterize the stability research of NSH crude extracts. Thermogram results revealed that four principal chemicals were valid in the 49.5 °C to 300 °C temperature range. According to a pharmacokinetic model, methanolic-extracted NSH kills the leech parasite more quickly than chloroform-extracted NSH. The current kinetic parameter results imply that methanol extract NSH has better anti-leech activity, and that it is a time-saving and environmentally acceptable organic chemical for future relevance to prevent anti-leech activity, and might be chosen for further research.