Success Story Research Articles

Deploying ADVISER: Impact and Lessons from Using Artificial Intelligence for Child Vaccination Uptake in Nigeria

More than 5 million children under five years die from largely preventable or treatable medical conditions every year, with an overwhelmingly large proportion of deaths occurring in underdeveloped countries with low vaccination uptake. One of the United Nations' sustainable development goals (SDG 3) aims to end preventable deaths of newborns and children under five years of age. We focus on Nigeria, where the rate of infant mortality is appalling. In particular, low vaccination uptake in Nigeria is a major driver of more than 2,000 daily deaths of children under the age of five years. In this paper, we describe our collaboration with government partners in Nigeria to deploy ADVISER: AI-Driven Vaccination Intervention Optimiser. The framework, based on an integer linear program that seeks to maximize the cumulative probability of successful vaccination, is the first successful deployment of an AI-enabled toolchain for optimizing the allocation of health interventions in Nigeria. In this paper, we provide a background of the ADVISER framework and present results, lessons, and success stories of deploying ADVISER to more than 13,000 families in the state of Oyo, Nigeria.

Abstract 2930: Recovery of limited viable cells from low-quality precious samples for scRNA-seq

Abstract Biomarker discovery is a critical milestone in pursuing personalized and targeted cancer treatments, yet it faces formidable challenges hindering success rates. Limited access to high-quality samples restricts in-depth biological investigation, with scarce and compromised viable cells acting as barriers to progress. Levitation Technology™ addresses these challenges by significantly improving sample quality and preserving maximum viable cells for single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq). This innovative approach overcomes limitations in sample quality and availability and heralds a new era of possibilities, propelling significant advancements in biomarker discovery for personalized cancer treatment. To assess the performance of Levitation Technology using the LeviCell® 1.0 system, 105 cryopreserved samples derived from diseased human tissues were processed by Discovery Life Sciences™. This diverse sample set covered 20 disease indications, including 17 types of cancer. A staggering 70% of the samples (n=74) exhibited cell viability ranging between 14-69%, underscoring the need for enhanced viability for effective scRNA-seq analysis. Notably, 45 of these samples presented fewer than 500,000 cells, a scenario marked by low quality and limited viable cells. Traditional methods fail to recover viable cells from such samples without considerable or complete viable cell loss. After processing the samples with the LeviCell 1.0 system, all samples had improved quality, with an impressive 90% of the most difficult samples (n=40) presenting a viability increase to 70-94%, meeting the minimum quality criteria for scRNA-seq. A notable success story was a particular breast cancer sample with only 31,000 cells and 14% viability. Processing with the LeviCell 1.0 system yielded 13,300 viable cells and a substantial 4.5-fold increase in viability to 64%. Such enhancements in sample quality translate into significant improvements in scRNA-seq data quality, enabling more single-cell data extraction from each invaluable sample. Levitation Technology represents a paradigm shift in sample processing, rescuing even the most challenging samples. This groundbreaking technology maximizes the retention of viable cells while efficiently eliminating dead cells and debris, factors that have traditionally compromised scRNA-seq data quality. By revolutionizing this aspect of sample preparation, Levitation Technology opens up unparalleled opportunities to explore deeper into disease biology, providing a leap forward in biomarker discovery. Citation Format: Camila Egidio, Dinesh Bhosale, Lanxin Shen, Susana Jett, Amir Malek, Teddy de Groot, Suzanne Weaver, Gang Sun, Kevin Travers, Geoff Facer. Recovery of limited viable cells from low-quality precious samples for scRNA-seq [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2024; Part 1 (Regular Abstracts); 2024 Apr 5-10; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2024;84(6_Suppl):Abstract nr 2930.

Https://awej.org/a-metapragmatic-analysis-of-iraqi-and-american-political-legal-discourse/

This review article explores the potential of social media platforms in teaching English as a second language and expanding language learning horizons. The article discusses various strategies and activities that utilize social media to enhance language learning, such as using multimedia resources, leveraging interactive features and tools, and promoting authentic language input and exposure to native speakers. Language teachers present success stories and case studies highlighting the implementation of social media in teaching. The review also examines research findings and measurable impacts of social media on language learning, including increased language proficiency, enhanced intercultural competence, and improved motivation and engagement. Additionally, the article addresses challenges and considerations associated with social media use, such as privacy concerns, managing information overload, and promoting inclusivity in access to technology. The article concludes by emphasizing the transformative potential of social media in expanding language learning horizons. It highlights the importance of social media in creating dynamic and interactive learning environments beyond traditional classroom boundaries. Furthermore, the article discusses the future implications of social media in English as a second language education, emphasizing the need for educators to stay informed, adapt to emerging trends, and explore innovative approaches. Overall, this review article underscores the significance of social media in language teaching and the opportunities it offers to enhance language learning experiences. It provides insights and recommendations for educators and researchers interested in harnessing the potential of social media platforms for teaching English as a second language.

From hot pot to high tech: Haidilao’s transformation through digital technologies for sustainable business in the restaurant industry

The pandemic has brought many challenges to the restaurant industry but highlighted the importance of embracing digital transformation that enhances organisations’ competitive advantage and sustainable business. The success story of Haidilao, a popular hot pot restaurant, inspires those striving to overcome difficulties and learn from their digital transformation journey. By staying adaptable, proactive and customer-focused, Haidilao has leveraged digital platforms to offer new and innovative services, such as an online ordering and delivery, an intelligent kitchen, an innovative WeChat strategy and even a Cloud Video Conferencing Service to enhance the attractiveness of the dining experience. Haidilao’s story demonstrates the power of innovation and customer-centricity in driving successful digital transformations for sustainable business in the restaurant industry.

Motivation and Economic Behavior Behind the Success of Trader Widows in Indonesia

Purpose: This article analyzes work motivation, forms of economic behavior, and success stories of widowed traders in Indonesia, especially in Sidrap, South Sulawesi. Methods: The research was conducted with a qualitative approach using naturalistic inquiry methods. The data used consists of primary and secondary data, which were collected through observation, interviews and document study. Results and Conclusion: The results of the study show that the motivation for widows in South Sulawesi to choose trading as their profession is the influence of the environment, where the majority of the population are traders, and the fast circulation of money. The economic behavior of trader widows includes distributing goods and utilizing profits for daily consumption needs, non-consumption needs, and saving for future needs, as well as for social activities and increasing capital. Research implications: The results of this research provide an overview of widows who have long been considered weak women and are often underestimated, who actually have high work motivation and have proven to be successful in trading. Originality/value: Widows should not be labeled as women who are weak and need mercy, but many of them are successful in developing businesses, including in the field of trade.

Newborn Screening: Current Practice and Our Journey over the Last 60 Years.

Inborn errors of metabolism comprise a set of more than 2000 known disorders which can result in significant morbidity and may be rapidly fatal. Diagnosing these disorders at birth and treating immediately, however, may often result in a normal to near-normal life for the affected infant. Thus, newborn screening (NBS) has saved or improved the lives of countless individuals since its inception in the 1960s. This review covers NBS, from its early beginnings up to the current day practice. We follow the evolution of NBS, as well as describe the need and how disorders are added to NBS programs, the testing and how its performance is monitored, and the follow-up to the testing. We also briefly touch on NBS outside the United States. Newborn screening in the United States is a major public health success story and it continues to grow and evolve to cover more disorders and utilize new technological advances.

Application of Distributed Graphs for Facilitation of Scalable Botnet Detection and Response

Botnets pose a significant threat to modern network environments, exploiting compromised devices to carry out malicious activities such as distributed denial-of-service attacks, spam campaigns, and data theft. Traditional centralized detection systems often struggle to handle the scale and complexity of botnet attacks, leading to delays in detection and response. In response to these challenges, this paper explores the application of distributed graphs for facilitating scalable botnet detection and response. Distributed graphs offer a promising approach for modelling and analyzing complex network structures, enabling efficient detection of botnet propagation patterns and anomalous behaviour across distributed computing environments. The paper presents an overview of distributed graph-based botnet detection systems, discussing their architecture, design considerations, and key concepts such as graph partitioning, vertex-centric computation, and message passing in distributed graph algorithms. Case studies illustrate the practical application of distributed graph-based botnet detection in diverse network environments, highlighting success stories, challenges encountered, and lessons learned from deploying distributed graph systems in production cybersecurity operations. Finally, the paper discusses challenges and open research questions in the field of distributed graph-based botnet detection, addressing issues such as graph partitioning strategies, fault tolerance, privacy-preserving techniques, and integration with other security tools. It proposes potential avenues for future research and development in scalable botnet detection using distributed graphs, emphasizing the importance of adaptive threat response, collaboration with industry partners, and continuous improvement in detection algorithms for enhancing cybersecurity resilience against botnet attacks.

Big data meets storytelling: using machine learning to predict popular fanfiction

Fanfictions are a popular literature genre in which writers reuse a universe, for example to transform heteronormative relationships with queer characters or to bring romance into shows focused on horror and adventure. Fanfictions have been the subject of numerous studies in text mining and network analysis, which used Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques to compare fanfictions with the original scripts or to make various predictions. In this paper, we use NLP to predict the popularity of a story and examine which features contribute to popularity. This endeavor is important given the rising use of AI assistants and the ongoing interest in generating text with desirable characteristics. We used the main two websites to collect fan stories (Fanfiction.net and Archives Of Our Own) on Supernatural, which has been the subject of numerous scholarly works. We extracted high-level features such as the main character and sentiments from 79,288 of these stories and used the features in a binary classification supported by tree-based methods, ensemble methods (random forest), neural networks, and Support Vector Machines. Our optimized classifiers correctly identified popular stories in four out of five cases. By relating features to classification outcomes using SHAP values, we found that fans prefer longer stories with a wider vocabulary, which can inform the prompts of AI chatbots to continue generating such successful stories. However, we also observed that fans wanted stories unlike the original material (e.g., favoring romance and disliking when characters are hurt), hence AI-powered stories may be less popular if they strictly follow the original material of a show.

Exploring the Association between Entrepreneurial Intentions and Personality Traits in University Students of Punjab: Emotional Intelligence as a Moderator

Interest in entrepreneurial intention has significantly increased during the last few decades. Understanding the minds, behaviour, and personality profile of individuals who commence their ventures can help our nation's economy flourish. The motivation behind this study is to investigate the association between Big Five personality traits and the Entrepreneurial Intentions of university students of Punjab and to investigate whether the association between these traits and entrepreneurial intentions is moderated by Emotional Intelligence. Data collection was done from 170 university students through a survey using the Convenience sampling method. The outcomes obtained by correlation-regression analysis through SPSS software show that Openness, Conscientiousness, and Extraversion positively and significantly influenced Entrepreneurial Intentions. Also, Emotional Intelligence as a moderator significantly strengthened the relationships between these dimensions and entrepreneurial intentions which was done using the Cohen, Cohen, West, and Aiken’s approach. This work advocates that some measures should be taken to enhance the personality traits of the students of Punjab as well as encourage them towards entrepreneurship so that they can lay the foundation for global success stories. Educators should create programs for personality development that will assist pupils in developing the kind of personalities that are ideal for becoming entrepreneurs.

Early Validation and Verification of System Behaviour in Model-based Systems Engineering: A Systematic Literature Review

In the Systems Engineering (SE) domain there has been a paradigm shift from document-based to model-based system development artefacts; in fact, new methodologies are emerging to meet the increasing complexity of current systems and the corresponding growing need of digital workflows. In this regard, Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) is considered as a key enabler by many central players of the SE community. MBSE has reached an adequate level of maturity, and there exist documented success stories in its adoption in industry. In particular, one significant benefit of utilising MBSE when compared to the traditional manual and document-centric workflows is that models are available from early phases of systems development; these enable a multitude of analyses prior any implementation effort together with other relevant capabilities, like the automation of development tasks. Nonetheless, it is noticeable there is a lack of a common understanding for how formal analyses for the verification and validation (V&V) of systems behaviour, specifically in the early phases of development, could be placed in an MBSE setting. In this article, we report on the planning, execution, and results of a systematic literature review regarding the early V&V of systems behaviour in the context of model-based systems engineering. The review aims to provide a structured representation of the state of the art with respect to motivations, proposed solutions, and limitations. From an initial set of potentially relevant 701 peer-reviewed publications we selected 149 primary studies, which we analysed according to a rigorous data extraction, analysis, and synthesis process. Based on our results, early V&V has usually the goal of checking the quality of a system design to avoid discovering flaws when parts are being concretely realised; SysML is a de facto standard for describing the system under study, while the solutions for the analyses tend to be varied; also V&V analyses tend to target varied properties with a slight predominance of functional concerns, and following the variation mentioned so far the proposed solutions are largely context specific; the proposed approaches are usually presented without explicit limitations, while when limitations are discussed, readiness of the solutions, handling of analyses simplifications/assumptions, and languages/tools integration are among the most frequently mentioned issues. Based on the survey results and the standard SE practices, we discuss how the current state-of-the-art MBSE supports early V&V of systems behaviour with a special focus on industrial adoption and identify relevant challenges to be researched further.

Unlocking synergies between waste management and climate change mitigation to accelerate decarbonization through circular-economy digitalization in Indonesia

As one of popular destinations in Indonesia for tourism, Lombok Island has been confronted with an overgeneration of solid waste recently. About 600 metric ton (Mt) of the waste is generated daily with 40 % of it as non-biodegradable waste. Amidst the challenges of climate change and the need for decarbonization, this case-study investigates various challenges in strengthening synergies between waste management and climate change mitigation in Lombok, while exploring opportunities to accelerate decarbonization in the waste sector through circular-economy digitalization. Case study of digitalization-based waste recycling in Hainan Island (China) are presented as a model for Lombok to replicate its successful story on how digital technologies contribute to sustainability with respect to efficiency and waste circularity. To obtain relevant data, the research questions cover: How did both Hainan and Lombok Islands deal with the challenges and opportunities associated with digitalization-based circular economy (CE)? What are the implications of digitalization-based waste recycling on the society and economy? It was found that digital revolution has affected all sectors including the waste sector in Hainan. As digitalization has expanded in all sectors, this creates opportunities to optimize waste recycling and decrease GHG emissions, while driving decarbonization across the economy. About 90 % of waste avoidance was attained in Hainan when using digitalization for waste recycling. CE strategies also complement decarbonization to reduce GHG emission from material production through waste recycling, while minimizing its direct emission from local landfills. While the digitalization-based approach is promising for improving waste management in Lombok, its appropriateness and feasibility depend on the Island's socio-economic conditions and digital readiness. The findings underline the importance of integrating digital solutions into local waste management and calls for collaboration among policymakers, stakeholders, and communities to realize the potential of circular-economy digitalization in accelerating decarbonization. By adopting digital opportunities in the waste sector based on China's experiences, Indonesia could accelerate decarbonization pathways in waste sector to accomplish its net-zero emission goals by 2060.

Europe is not like you see on TV! Ramadan drama as a platform of education on Harga in Tunisia

The increase in clandestine migrants to Italy following the 2010 Tunisian uprising has been an issue of popular and political concern in both countries. This article investigates Harga (2021, 2022), a top-rated and critically acclaimed drama series. Produced and aired by Tunisian national television as a vehicle of entertainment-education, Harga strove to make a geopolitical intervention in the process of irregular migration. Combining textual analysis with interviews conducted with the production’s producers and participants, the article explores how local and transnational actors came together to create a counternarrative to the popular success stories of clandestine migrants. This approach contributes to a better understanding of the relationship between media and socio-cultural and political dynamics as well as of their effect on formulating mediated narratives on clandestine migration. Due to Harga’s documentarist depiction of the social and political driving forces behind irregular migration and its open criticism of Tunisian authorities, the show is investigated within the framework of post-uprising Tunisia’s mediascape, and domestic and international political environment. In this regard, it offers a good case study for examining how local politics, transnationalism, and postcolonialism are intertwined in formulating discourses on irregular migration.

Standards and non-tariff barriers in trade – A case study of South Asia

SAFTA (South Asian Free Trade Area) is not a success story. Geographically connected, but highly dis-integrated, with more than 90 % outward-oriented trade, this is the case of South Asia. Of course, military, and political tensions are the major obstacles. However, recent data and studies show that cumbersome procedures, ruthless application of NTMs (Non-Tariff Measures) and restrictions are the biggest challenges for trade in the region. NTMs are important for public health and the environment but if such standards are mutually recognized through bilateral or multilateral agreements then the hectic and lengthy procedures can be avoided. This is the basic hypothesis investigated and checked in this research. Taking four economies, (Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, and SriLanka) two-step process is adopted; firstly, AVEs (Ad Valorem Equivalents) of NTMs are calculated and then incorporated in an extended GTAP (Global Trade Analysis Project) based CGE model. Simulation results suggest that if standards are mutually recognized then all countries will be better off, intra-regional trade and welfare will increase. The study recommends that SAFTA should proceed to establish such a mechanism that enables member countries to recognize the certificates and tests approved by the exporting countries. Further, Port restrictions and the issue of para-tariffs should be discussed in future negotiations.

Steam explosion pretreatment: Dramatic reduction in energy consumption for wheat bran grinding

Wheat bran has attracted attention for its high dietary fiber content with unique nutritional value. Grinding wheat bran into flour to produce whole wheat products effectively meets the surging demand for functional foods. Nonetheless, the grinding of high-tenacity wheat bran requires a huge amount of energy, which raises the costs of wheat bran flour. To reduce the energy consumption in wheat bran flour, we proposed a steam explosion pretreatment assisted wheat bran grinding process in this study. Steam explosion (0.5 MPa, 2 min) allows effective destruction of the wheat bran dense structure, reduces the mechanical properties of the wheat bran, and increases the yield and cell wall breakage rate of the wheat bran flour. The steam explosion pretreatment can reduce energy consumption by 57.6% in the wheat bran grinding process, which offers tremendous opportunities for making industrial production a success story. Besides, reconstituted whole wheat flour with the addition of steam-exploded wheat bran exhibited excellent processing properties. Overall, this work demonstrates that steam explosion pretreatment has a significant effect on wheat bran and drastically reduces energy consumption during wheat bran grinding, and steam-exploded wheat bran flour can upgrade the processability of reconstituted whole wheat flour, which holds tremendous application potential.

Does epidemiological evidence support the success story of Uganda's response to COVID-19?

Uganda has received praise for its success in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. This opinion piece uses publically available data from Johns Hopkins University to suggest that it is far from clear whether the Public Health and Social Measures (PHSM) introduced in Uganda influenced the course of the first outbreak. In addition, the analysis of data from the second and third waves in Uganda suggest that government action had little or no effect on these outbreaks. The dominant narrative of successful PHSM, therefore, needs to be reconsidered, and alternative explanations for the low rates of COVID-19-related mortality in the country need to be further understood.

Entrepreneurial culture in small businesses in Sinaloa

This research work aimed to analyse the conditions of entrepreneurial activity and culture in the environment of small businesses in Sinaloa, considering the relevance and correlation between success stories and their processes. The importance of this topic is that there is a requirement for administrative orientation since the functions of the partners are related to the administrative role, and they have been updating themselves in the processes and management of local and international transactions that mark the new orientations. In this way, innovative techniques and strategies are required to deal with conflicts in relation to the above. Likewise, this will enable them to develop and implement strategies and actions aligned with the technological and sustainable (social, economic, and environmental) advances that are demanded today in the rules of world trade. Hypothesis. Adequate management is considered a pillar for the long-term success of small businesses, motivating the innovative spirit of an organisation's partners, and creating competitive advantages for the organisation over its competitors.

Antibiotic pollution and associated antimicrobial resistance in the environment

The widespread and injudicious usage of antibiotics to contain pathogenic microbial infections, coupled with inadequate treatment of wastes containing non-metabolized antibiotics and their residues is resulting in rising environmental antibiotic concentrations, leading to ‘antibiotic pollution’. Antibiotic pollution is an emerging global challenge as it is proving a major driver for antibiotic- or antimicrobial-resistance (ABR/ AMR) with escalating ramifications worldwide, precipitating a surge in human morbidity. The extensive administration of antibiotics across domains such as human healthcare settings, agriculture, and aquaculture farming endangers the presence of antibiotics in diverse matrices including water, soil, and air. As a result, this dissemination significantly leads to the development of antibiotic resistance in the profuse sectors of the environment further provoking consequential health implications at different trophic levels. Owing to its significance, and to mitigate antibiotic pollution and its subsequential AMR, governmental guidelines and regulations are implemented across the globe to cultivate public awareness as concerted efforts for addressing this global predicament. Given the insufficient attention to the growing antibiotic pollution issues, prompt efforts must be taken to contemplate current circumstances and the rigor of the ongoing research. In this review, we endeavor to elucidate the escalation of antibiotic concentration and antibiotic-driven AMR in water, air, and soil environments with potential public health threats. Further, it focuses on various strategies and interventions to attenuate antibiotic pollution and mitigate its adverse impacts on the healthcare infrastructure, highlighting the success stories, challenges, and future directions.

First density estimates for a recovering bobcat population in Ohio using DNA from scat

AbstractThe recovery of mammalian species in the US Midwest through natural recolonization constitutes a conservation success story, yet management remains challenging due to many unknowns related to population dynamics and numeric trends. Abundance is a critical parameter for management decisions, and estimating the density and abundance of elusive species, such as terrestrial carnivores, remains challenging despite recent technological advances. In this study, we evaluated density and abundance of a recovering carnivore species, the bobcat (Lynx rufus) in two areas of Ohio using non‐invasive DNA from scat. The target areas in eastern and southern Ohio have been shown to have uneven dynamics and recolonization success and we expected that this would be reflected in differences in density and abundance. We collected 298 bobcat scats between July 2018 and April 2019 on 150 km of repeated transects. Of these, 102 scats were successfully genotyped, and 55 individuals were identified (33 in eastern Ohio and 22 in southern Ohio). Using Spatially Explicit Capture–Recapture models, we estimated 18.9 ± 4.1 and 10.9 ± 2.7 bobcats/100 km2 in eastern and southern Ohio study areas, respectively. Our results support prior telemetry data which indicated that bobcats in eastern Ohio had smaller home‐ranges than bobcats in southern Ohio, and thus could support a higher density of individuals. The higher densities were similar to other eastern US populations and are much higher than other Midwestern recovering populations. Our results provide a snapshot of the population status and can be used to determine sustainable management strategies for Ohio's bobcat population.

School leadership training transfer in Ghana: Views of successful basic school leaders

Various professional development activities including training workshops are organised annually for school leaders. However, there have been questions as to whether participants in training workshops do necessarily implement lessons learnt from such workshops in their schools. This study reports lessons from school leaders who were adjudged to have been successful in implementing lessons from a British Council Connecting Classrooms training workshops for school leaders in Ghana. Adopting a qualitative phenomenological case study research approach using interviews, the study explored what school leaders perceived to be the factors that contributed to their successful implementation of lessons from the training workshops. The study found that when the focus of the workshop met participants needs, engagement of workshop participants in action planning, attending the workshop together with teachers and School Improvement Support Officers, follow-up visits by workshop trainers and organisers, creating of a platform for workshop participants to share experiences, and the organisation of a post-workshop reflective experience and successful stories sharing conference got them to commit to implementing lessons from the workshops. It is therefore recommended that organisers of training workshops for school leaders should incorporate these activities in their organisation of training workshop to achieve the intended impact.

A Systematic Literature Review on the Relationships between Social Presence, Learning Satisfaction and Persistence in Online Learning

Online learning has gained prominence due to numerous success stories, becoming a vital component and instrument for reforming classrooms in higher vocational education. However, the physical detachment inherent in online self-directed learning has raised concerns about student disengagement and isolation during the learning process. Social presence theory provides a unique perspective, methods, and tools for researching online learning. This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of the existing literature, with a focus on social presence, learning satisfaction, and persistence. The results reveal the intricate impact of social presence on learning satisfaction and persistence in online learning environments. A systematic literature review (SLR) was conducted to uncover research findings from May 2013 to June 2023. The selected articles underwent a thorough assessment, and duplicates were removed. The updated criteria for conducting systematic reviews and meta-analyses were used for the literature review. The research team critically analysed, finalised, and deliberated on the significance of the SLR. Out of the 220 papers initially considered, 28 met the specific criteria for adjustment and inclusion/exclusion.