Technical Expertise Research Articles

AI-driven innovations for enhancing mental health care in Tanzania: opportunities and challenges

Purpose This study aims to explore how artificial intelligence (AI) can enhance mental health care in Tanzania, focusing on its potential to enhance mental health services and address challenges in a low-resource setting. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative case study approach was used, with data collected through semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions involving key stakeholders in mental health and AI, including policymakers, technical experts, health-care providers and patient advocacy groups. Thematic analysis was used to identify key themes related to the opportunities and barriers to AI integration in mental health care. Findings This study identified several benefits of AI in mental health care, including improved diagnostic accuracy, personalised treatment and the potential for real-time monitoring of patients. However, significant barriers to AI adoption remain, such as infrastructure limitations, data privacy concerns and the need for training and resources to effectively integrate AI into mental health services. Originality/value This study contributes to the growing literature on AI in health care by focusing on its application in mental health care in Tanzania, a low-resource setting. The research provides valuable insights into how AI can bridge gaps in mental health service delivery, particularly in underserved regions, while highlighting the challenges that must be addressed for successful implementation.

Efficient Protocol for Isolating Human Fibroblast from Primary Skin Cell Cultures; Application to Keloid, Hypertrophic Scar and Normal Skin Biopsies

Abstract This protocol introduces a streamlined and efficient method for isolating human fibroblast from skin primary cell culture with a specific focus on its application to keloid, hypertrophic scar, and normal skin biopsies. Additionally, the absence of suitable animal models for keloid and hypertrophic scar has led preclinical research to rely on in vitro studies using primary cell cultures. This approach addresses the challenges of existing protocols in terms of time, cost, equipment, and technical expertise required. The method involves derivation, culture, and characterization analysis including cell proliferation, migration, and fibroblastic marker (Vimentin, CD90, CD73, and CD105) expression. Our study yielded high amounts of fibroblast from tested skin explants while maintaining their in vivo-like characteristics and behaviour. Immunostaining assay confirmed that the cultivated fibroblast was positively expressed Vimentin. Flowcytometry results showed high expression of CD90 and CD73 while relatively showing lower expression of CD105. Fibroblast derived from keloid tissue showed the highest rate of proliferation and migration ability compared to the other samples. These findings suggest an efficient and reproducible technique to cultivate high qualified fibroblast from human skin in normal or pathological condition, particularly for keloid and hypertrophic scar. The application of this protocol provides a foundation for further studies to investigate the progression and potential intervention of aberrant fibrotic dermatological disorder, in vitro.

Institutionalising guideline development in a new universal healthcare system: a study in Cyprus

Abstract Issue Guideline development is a lengthy and diligent process that involves the assessment and interpretation of evidence by a committee. Whilst the implementation of high quality healthcare guidelines ensures consistency and quality in healthcare delivery, many countries worldwide, including Cyprus, lack the capacity and resources to develop de novo guidelines. Description of the problem Guidelines developed by internationally recognised organisations, such as NICE, are a valuable resource for countries like Cyprus. The collaboration between NICE and the newly established healthcare system in Cyprus introduced a process for guideline institutionalisation, taking advantage of existing human resources and building guideline development capability in Cyprus. Results This process involved recruiting local professionals to form a guideline secretariat. The secretariat, supported by NICE, is responsible for overseeing the guideline development process including technical expert committee (TEC) recruitment and stakeholder consultation. The TEC contextualise an existing NICE guidelines to reflect local considerations. NICE provides quality assurance to ensure changes are contextual in nature and consistent with the underpinning evidence. Despite initial challenges, getting stakeholder buy-in and engaging healthcare professionals in the TEC, one contextualised guideline has been produced and two others are at the final stage. Lessons Guideline contextualisation is an efficient and sustainable way of building guideline development capability to institutionalize guidelines in settings with limited capacity. Key messages • De-novo guideline development is time consuming and demanding and many countries require an alternative process for producing locally relevant guidelines, capitalising on existing resources. • Support by an established organisation ensures quality, is less resource intensive, and builds capability for the sustainability of the process.

Training for outbreak response through the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network

Abstract The WHO designated the Information Centre for International Health Protection (INIG/ZIG 1) at the Robert Koch Institute as the first WHO Collaborating Centre for Global Outbreak Alert and Response (WHO CC GOARN). Its mandate is to aid WHO’s efforts in improving the detection of public health events and enhancing preparedness, readiness, and capabilities for alerts and rapid responses. The main focus of WHO CC GOARN at RKI include supporting WHO in the development and implementation of the GOARN training programme on international outbreak alert and response, as well as facilitating knowledge exchange and information dissemination. GOARN’s extensive engagement in international public health response underscores the need to complement technical expertise with human-centred competencies like effective communication and teamwork, while respecting diversity. On 18 -22 September 2023, WHO CC GOARN at RKI hosted the first “GOARN Outbreak Response Leadership Training Programme”, inviting 24 public health leaders plus highly experienced mentors from all WHO. The training was designed to enhance leadership mind-sets and practices, including advanced interpersonal and situational awareness, managing polarised tension, establishing trusted relationships with stakeholders, and influencing collective decision-making. Alongside expert facilitators and experienced mentors from various fields, participants engaged in open discussion, shared experiences and reflected on lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic and other recent outbreaks. This course provided an opportunity to engage with diverse, experienced and highly regarded leaders, sharing their views and personal experiences on what it means to practise leadership in health emergency response. This training also aimed to build a network of diverse, well-trained and interconnected public health leaders, upholding the principles of diversity, equity and inclusion to ensure that our response efforts resonate with the communities we serve.

Sentiment and success potential of farmers’ producer organizations: A systematic literature review

Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) are a viable alternative to cooperative farming, offering a commercialization model and improved income for smallholders. However, their adoption is often met with mixed sentiment among farmers, who lack capital, technical expertise, and institutional innovations. This study aims to explore the sentiments related to the adoption and success of FPOs in establishing a beneficial platform for small and marginal farmers, using Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA), sentiment and thematic analysis. The findings suggest that FPOs can enhance marketing strategies and agricultural productivity, but their impact on agriculture is case-sensitive. Cooperatives, characterized by member ownership and bottom-up development approaches, are essential factors in the context. A programmatic and comprehensive understanding of FPOs can help to develop a better agricultural and allied business ecosystem for diversified categories of farmers. Study aims to assess the sentiments and success potential of FPOs under an abundance of small and marginal farmers, comparing them to cooperative and contract farming legislation, to encourage a sustainable agribusiness ecosystem in India.

Crisis times and school education: is teacher agency changing?

ABSTRACT This article explores how educators dealt with an unprecedented educational crisis using remote teaching and delve into the characteristics of teacher agency in crisis situations. Employing a multiple case study design, the study explores diverse school experiences in the Metropolitan Region of Santiago, Chile. Data were gathered from three schools, comprising 24 interviews (18 teachers and six administrators) and analysed using grounded theory. Findings suggest that teachers demonstrate the ability to reconstruct the affected dimensions when faced with a lack of pedagogical resources for emergency remote teaching (fracture in the iterative dimension) and uncertainty about the future (fracture in the projective dimension). Moreover, the agentic transition can explain the practical-evaluative dimension in crises. Across three stages, agentic transition outlines a journey for teachers, from grappling with an unprecedented crisis with limited resources to normalising their practices with technical expertise in the context of new remote teaching scenarios. The present article introduces key concepts and models and delves into implications and future projections.

Assessing the Impact of University Teachers' Digital Leadership on Enhancing Student Learning Effectiveness

This research investigates the digital leadership exhibited by university instructors and its significant impact on students' learning effectiveness in higher education. Key aspects of digital leadership evaluated include technical expertise, innovative teaching methods, promotion of digital literacy, data-driven decision-making, and ethical technology use. Using a mixed-methods approach, data was collected through surveys and interviews with educators and students to assess the effectiveness of digital leadership strategies. Findings reveal that while instructors demonstrate moderate competence in technology and teaching methods, they excel in fostering digital literacy and ethical technology use. However, there is room for improvement in data-driven decision-making, which is crucial for enhancing learning efficacy. The study also examines students' learning outcomes related to digital literacy, engagement, metacognitive abilities, and analytical skills, finding modest improvements in these areas. A notable correlation exists between instructors' digital leadership and students' learning efficacy, particularly in data-driven decision-making and digital literacy promotion. Additionally, challenges faced by university educators include keeping up with technological advancements, effectively utilizing data, and maintaining student engagement in digital learning environments.

Infrastructure development, inequality, and employment in Sub-Saharan Africa from the professional perspectives of Kenya, Ghana, and Tanzania

This study investigates the challenges and opportunities in infrastructure development, inequality, and employment in Sub-Saharan Africa. There is a critical gap between infrastructure planning and execution, exacerbated by inadequate funding, bureaucratic hurdles, and a lack of technical expertise, leading to profound inequality in infrastructure and employment opportunities, particularly affecting rural and marginalized communities. The study aims to identify the mismatch between current job market needs and the workforce's skills, analyse the impact of rapid population growth and insufficient educational initiatives, and propose solutions for integrated infrastructure planning and equitable policy development. This research employs qualitative semi-structured interviews and thematic analysis using NVivo to gain in-depth insights into the institutional characteristics influencing infrastructure development, inequality, and employment. Findings reveal significant disparities in infrastructure and employment opportunities, with rural and marginalized communities being disproportionately affected. There is a notable mismatch between job market needs and the available workforce skills, further complicated by rapid population growth and inadequate educational initiatives. The study recommends an integrated approach to infrastructure planning that encompasses sustainability, accessibility, and equitable distribution. Policies should address inequality, ensure equitable access to infrastructure benefits, and align education and skill development with the evolving job market. Leveraging public–private partnerships is also suggested to accelerate infrastructure development efficiently. This paper contributes to the discourse on infrastructure, inequality, and employment in Sub-Saharan Africa, providing a roadmap for addressing these intertwined challenges through integrated policy initiatives.

Frontiers of Artificial Intelligence in Agricultural Sector: Trends and Transformations

Artificial intelligence (AI) in agriculture is transforming the sector by improving resources efficiency, sustainability and productivity. Our study examined a number of AI-related applications such as pest control, crop monitoring, precision farming and soil health evaluation. AI powered devices enables automated fertilization, harvesting and irrigation, and therefore, cutting down the labor expenses and resource waste. Predictive analytics in AI helps with crop yield and weather forecasts which ultimately improves the planning and risk management. The paper also discusses the challenges and limitations of AI adoption in agriculture, such as the need for reliable data, technical expertise and infrastructure investment. Ultimately, the findings highlights the AI can have positive transformative potential in creating resilient agricultural practices that can meet the demands of a growing global population while minimizing environmental impact. However, one of the biggest uses of AI is precision farming, which uses the technology to optimize inputs like water, fertilizer and pesticides by adjusting them to the unique requirements of the crop and the field. AI techniques also make it possible to detect the pests and diseases through picture recognition and predictive analytics, which ultimately minimizes the crop loss and allows for prompt interventions. Widespread use may be hampered by issues with data quality, model interpretability, expensive prices and system integration. Furthermore, issues with labor impact, regulatory frameworks and scalability complicate its adoption. In order to fully utilize AI in agriculture, researchers, farmers and policymakers must work together to overcome these challenges and develop workable and accessible solutions that are suited to a variety of agricultural environments. Present review also highlighted how AI involvement has the ability to revolutionize agricultural sector by developing resilient methods that can both minimize environmental effects and meet the needs of an expanding global population. The agriculture industry can set the path for a sustainable future by adopting AI advances and guaranteeing the environmental stewardship and goals of food safety and security.

Profiling Standards to Improve Practical Interoperability

Abstract. Standard data models are key to enable a set of data integration functionalities, often characterised using the Findability, Accessibility, Interoperabilty and Reusability (FAIR) principles. However, standardisation is a process of trying to meet many requirements, and standard data models are inherently either very abstract or very comprehensive in the details. This results in several ambiguity pitfalls, inconsistent implementation of standard data models, which in turn hinders trust in the interoperability potential of standardised data, and complicates any integration processes. In practice profiling such standards is useful to overcome such issues to create more useful forms of standardised data for specific applications. However defining custom profiles typically requires a great deal of technical expertise in the underlying expression language of the standard. Maintaining access to this level of expertise is a challenge as profiles become outdated through the time and lose connection with the maintenance of the parent standard from which they originate. Therefore, in this paper, a scalable methodology is proposed, built on the OGC Building Blocks Model approach, that uses semantic modelling to support an easier composition of geospatial data models profiles which directly derive from available standards without losing the relevant dependencies that inform stakeholders which components are interoperable with other standards. The approach is tested within a digital building permit project (CHEK), in which data requirements derive from the semantics of city regulations and common geospatial standards (i.e., CityGML and INSPIRE) are used as reference.

The politics of tinkering: developing the PISA assessment of global competence

ABSTRACT The popularity of OECD’s PISA tests as benchmarks for shaping global and national education policies is premised on its reputation for developing technically robust surveys by engaging leading experts who are untouched by politics. Drawing on the Science and Technology Studies (STS) subfield of the sociology of measurement, we illustrate how the view of these surveys as a-political and purely technical achievements is a myth. Using detailed documentary analysis supported by interviews with PISA insiders, we describe the interplay between technical expertise and political expertise in the development of the 2018 surveys of global competence. This paper highlights the challenge for the PISA insider group who must negotiate how to maintain scientific authority whilst gaining political backing and trust. We refer to the key strategy of ‘tinkering’ that is required to keep various actors aligned to the project through stages of development and moments of uncertainty.

The Role of International Cooperation in Sustainable Development in Nigeria: An Overview

Sustainable development in Nigeria, Africa's most populous country, is an urgent priority due to the interplay of rapid urbanization, environmental degradation, and socio-economic challenges. Nigeria has adopted global frameworks such as the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and various partnerships, including those with the African Union (AU), the Organization of African Unity (OAU), the World Bank, and the World Health Organization (WHO), to address these concerns. International cooperation has played a pivotal role in Nigeria’s development by facilitating technical expertise and financial support across critical sectors like agriculture, health, energy, and environmental management. This paper employs the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) and Results-Based Management (RBM) to analyze how such collaboration has driven progress and highlights the challenges Nigeria faces in achieving sustainable development, including governance issues, over-exploitation of natural resources, and poverty. While international partnerships have catalyzed efforts toward Nigeria’s development goals, significant gaps remain that require attention, such as corruption, environmental degradation, and inadequate infrastructure.

Service specification for senior care workers with traditional Chinese medicine specialty

Abstract Senior care workers specializing in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) healthcare have become an indispensable force in institutional care, community care, and home care. The first Chinese nursing service team aimed to improve the health of the elderly by providing continuous services for physical and mental well-being, disease prevention, physical amelioration, and overall health enhancement using TCM concepts, methods, and technologies. The primary purpose of formulating this TCM health and elderly care worker service specification was to standardize services within the TCM elderly care industry, ensuring that the elderly receive better health and elderly care services supported by technical expertise. This specification outlined the basic requirements for TCM health and elderly care workers, including standards for service content, service quality control, service evaluation, and improvement. It primarily focused on the content and requirements of TCM health and elderly care services, such as constitution identification, life care, acupoint healthcare, and TCM auxiliary nursing for elderly individuals with chronic diseases. This specification is applicable to TCM health and elderly care personnel at various levels of hospitals and healthcare institutions and is noted for its strong applicability and effectiveness.

Artificial intelligence powered OCR models for digitizing ayurveda manuscripts

This article presents a novel approach to transcribe Ayurveda manuscripts using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology enhanced with machine learning and forensic handwriting analysis techniques. Traditional transcription methods for these manuscripts are time-consuming and challenging due to diverse scripts and handwriting styles. The proposed methodology involves collecting manuscript samples from various sources and training OCR models to recognize the nuances of these scripts. By incorporating forensic handwriting principles, such as consistency and natural variation, the OCR models achieve greater accuracy. Additionally, the development of user-friendly interfaces allows scholars to train these models without needing technical expertise, streamlining the digitization process. Preliminary results show that this approach significantly improves transcription accuracy compared to conventional OCR software. This method offers a scalable solution for digitizing Ayurveda texts, preserving cultural heritage, and accelerating research in Ayurveda medicine. Future research will focus on refining OCR models and expanding their application to other scripts and languages.

Capacity and crisis: examining the state-level policy response to COVID-19 in Tamil Nadu, India.

The capacity of government agencies to develop effective policy responses to external shocks is an important area of focus for health policy processes, as illustrated by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, few empirical studies exploring sub-national capacity of governments and the influence of institutional, organizational and political factors in shaping the policy response to complex emergencies have been conducted. The purpose of this study is to examine the governance capacity to develop and implement a policy response to a major health emergency-COVID-19-in Tamil Nadu, India, and to understand the factors shaping governance capacity during the first and second waves (2020-2021). Tamil Nadu offers a useful case for exploring governance capacity due to its longstanding public health institutions and previous experiences with disaster and outbreak response. We utilized three sources of data: (1) a review of key policy documents (n = 164); (2) a review of English-language media articles in the Indian press (n = 336); and (3) in-depth interviews with senior decision-makers, technical experts and other stakeholders (n = 10). We present four key findings from this analysis. First, Tamil Nadu's institutional framework enabled state-level governance capacity during an emergency of massive complexity, allowing for flexibility and nimbleness to adapt to evolving dynamics of centralization and decentralization over the course of the pandemic. Second, the ability to integrate public health expertise was circumscribed at important phases. Third, while coordination with external experts was utilized extensively, engagement with civil society groups was perceived as limited. Fourth, the electoral cycle was perceived by some to have constrained governance capacity at a critical point in the pandemic. By analysing the dynamics of state-level capacity in Tamil Nadu during a complex emergency, this study provides important learnings for other contexts globally regarding the drivers shaping capacity to develop and implement policy responses to crises.

Barriers to implement energy efficiency strategies to heating, ventilation, air conditioning of airside system in commercial buildings in Sri Lanka

At present, debates on climate change, fossil fuel depletion, and energy saving highlight the need for a sustainable built environment to reduce energy consumption and emission trends. The Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) system is a priority due to its significant share of a building’s electricity consumption. While energy efficiency strategies for central air conditioning systems focus on both waterside and airside components, implementing airside efficiency strategies is notably lacking in Sri Lanka. This is a concern because airside inefficiencies lead to excessive energy use, higher operational costs, and compromised indoor air quality. Thus, the study aims to address this gap by identifying the barriers to implementing energy efficiency strategies for HVAC airside systems in Sri Lankan commercial buildings. To explore these barriers, a qualitative research approach was employed, involving interviews with 17 industry experts. The study identified 27 barriers, with key barriers being a lack of technical expertise, rapid technological advancements, misalignment with organisational objectives, limited financial resources, inadequate training and technical knowledge, and insufficient regulatory support. The insights gained from this study can assist industry professionals in enhancing HVAC energy performance and encourage further academic research on this sub-branch of HVAC systems in the Sri Lankan context.

A Novel Enterococcus-Based Nanofertilizer Promotes Seedling Growth and Vigor in Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.).

Excessive use of chemical fertilizers poses significant environmental and health concerns. Microbial-based biofertilizers are increasingly being promoted as safe alternatives. However, they have limitations such as gaining farmers' trust, the need for technical expertise, and the variable performance of microbes in the field. The development of nanobiofertilizers as agro-stimulants and agro-protective agents for climate-smart and sustainable agriculture could overcome these limitations. In the present study, auxin-producing Enterococcus sp. SR9, based on its plant growth-promoting traits, was selected for the microbe-assisted synthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs). These microbial-nanoparticles SR9AgNPs were characterized using UV/Vis spectrophotometry, scanning electron microscopy, and a size analyzer. To test the efficacy of SR9AgNPs compared to treatment with the SR9 isolate alone, the germination rates of cucumber (Cucumis sativus), tomato (Solanum lycopersicum), and wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) seeds were analyzed. The data revealed that seeds simultaneously treated with SR9AgNPs and SR9 showed better germination rates than untreated control plants. In the case of vigor, wheat showed the most positive response to the nanoparticle treatment, with a higher vigor index than the other crops analyzed. The toxicity assessment of SR9AgNPs demonstrated no apparent toxicity at a concentration of 100 ppm, resulting in the highest germination and biomass gain in wheat seedlings. This work represents the first step in the characterization of microbial-assisted SR9AgNPs and encourages future studies to extend these conclusions to other relevant crops under field conditions.

A Latitudinal Gradient of Reference Genomes.

Global inequality rooted in legacies of colonialism and uneven development can lead to systematic biases in scientific knowledge. In ecology and evolutionary biology, findings, funding and research effort are disproportionately concentrated at high latitudes, while biological diversity is concentrated at low latitudes. This discrepancy may have a particular influence in fields like phylogeography, molecular ecology and conservation genetics, where the rise of genomics has increased the cost and technical expertise required to apply state-of-the-art methods. Here, we ask whether a fundamental biogeographic pattern-the latitudinal gradient of species richness in tetrapods-is reflected in the available reference genomes, an important data resource for various applications of molecular tools for biodiversity research and conservation. We also ask whether sequencing approaches differ between the Global South and Global North, reviewing the last 5 years of conservation genetics research in four leading journals. We find that extant reference genomes are scarce relative to species richness at low latitudes and that reduced representation and whole-genome sequencing are disproportionately applied to taxa in the Global North. We conclude with recommendations to close this gap and improve international collaborations in biodiversity genomics.

Geospatial Mapping and Meteorological Flood Risk Assessment: A Global Research Trend Analysis.

Flooding is a global threat causing significant economic and environmental damage, necessitating a policy response and collaborative strategy. This study assessed global research trends and advances in geospatial and meteorological flood risk assessment (G_MFRA), considering the ongoing debate on flood risk management and adaptation strategies. A total of 1872 original articles were downloaded in BibTex format using the Web of Science (WOS) and Scopus databases to retrieve G_MFRA studies published from 1985 to 2023. The annual growth rate of 15.48% implies that the field of G_MFRA has been increasing over time during the study period. The analysis of global trends in flood risk research and practice highlights the key themes, methodologies, and emerging directions. There exists a notable gap in data and methodologies for flood risk assessment studies between developed and developing countries, particularly in Africa and South America, highlighting the urgency of coordinated research efforts and cohesive policy actions. The challenges identified in the body of extant literature include technical expertise, complex communication networks, and resource constraints associated with the application gaps of the study methodologies. This study advocates for a holistic research approach to flood disaster management through ecosystem-based adaptation that underpins the Sustainable Development Goals to develop innovative flood techniques and models with the potential to influence global decision-making in the G_MFRA domain. Addressing these global challenges requires a networked partnership between the research community, institutions, and countries.

Sustainable Vanilla Farming in Kilifi, Kenya: A Pathway to Biodiversity Conservation

The article investigates how Kilifi County, Kenya’s sustainable vanilla growing could contribute to both economic growth and ecological preservation. Although the region’s warm, humid environment makes it ideal for growing vanilla, its ecosystems are in peril due to the intense agricultural methods. The study emphasizes the value of biodiversity and how it contributes to the preservation of ecosystem services that are essential to agricultural output. It promotes environmentally friendly methods that can boost farmers’ livelihoods and biodiversity, such as integrated pest control, organic farming, and agroforestry. The lack of technical expertise, early financial investment, and the effects of climate change are among the obstacles to sustainable vanilla production that are mentioned in the article. It suggests focused interventions—such as research development, government policy, and community involvement—to deal with these issues and advance a model of ecologically sustainable vanilla production in Kilifi.