Uptake Of New Technologies Research Articles

Implants for HIV prevention in young women: Provider perceptions and lessons learned from contraceptive implant provision.

Preventing new HIV infections, especially amongst young women, is key to ending the HIV epidemic especially in sub-Saharan Africa. Potent antiretroviral (ARV) drugs used as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) are currently being formulated as long-acting implantable devices, or nanosuspension injectables that release drug at a sustained rate providing protection from acquiring HIV. PrEP as implants (PrEP Implants) offers an innovative and novel approach, expanding the HIV prevention toolbox. Feedback from providers and future users in the early clinical product development stages may identify modifiable characteristics which can improve acceptability and uptake of new technologies. Healthcare workers (HCWs) perspectives and lessons learned during the rollout of contraceptive implants will allow us to understand what factors may impact the roll-out of PrEP implants. We conducted eighteen interviews with HCWs (9 Nurses and 9 Community Healthcare Workers) in rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. HCWs listed the long-acting nature of the contraceptive implant as a key benefit, helping to overcome healthcare system barriers like heavy workloads and understaffing. However, challenges like side effects, migration of the implant, stakeholder buy-in and inconsistent training on insertion and removal hampered the roll-out of the contraceptive implant. For PrEP implants, HCWs preferred long-acting products that were palpable and biodegradable. Our findings highlighted that the characteristics of PrEP implants that are perceived to be beneficial by HCWs may not align with that of potential users, potentially impacting the acceptability and uptake of PrEP implants. Further our data highlight the need for sustained and multi-pronged approaches to training HCWs and introducing new health technologies into communities. Finding a balance between the needs of HCWs that accommodate their heavy workloads, limited resources at points of delivery of care and the needs and preferences of potential users need to be carefully considered in the development of PrEP implants.

Energy efficiency in cold supply chains of the food and beverage sector

Food refrigeration during transport, and storage activities makes energy consumption in the supply chain particularly high, with relevant impacts on its sustainability. The growing push towards sustainability and product quality makes it necessary to have a continuous temperature control that allows to avoid food waste and temperature abuses with unmotivated high energy consumption. An efficient management of the cold chain guarantees product quality, customer satisfaction and, more generally, greater protection of public health, with direct impacts on the quantities of food and drinks wasted. In this perspective, energy efficiency not only encompasses benefits for the environment but also for food quality and for the final consumer. All aspects linked to the sustainable development goals, on which the attention of the UN and FAO is also focusing.Aim of the present study is to propose a quantitative approach to map the energy flows throughout the cold chain, while considering the time-temperature relationship of products from farm-to-fork. This approach can support decision makers inside cold chains in the identification of energy efficient best practices which allow to reduce the environmental impact both reducing the energy consumption and the quality losses. Results of the energy flow mapping also allow companies in the cold chains and cold logistic operators to prioritize these energy efficiency measures (i.e., starting from the stage with the highest energy consumptions or quality losses) and subsequent what-if analyses assess the potential energy savings for the whole cold chain. The holistic perspective can support the overcoming reservations to the uptake of new technologies, maintenance policies and sustainable operation management practices.

Implementation of modern technologies (PropTech) by developers on the local housing market

Introduction/background: The implementation of modern technologies in the real estate market is a phenomenon that has been observed for several years in global markets. The emergence of solutions favouring the digitalisation of the relatively change-resistant real estate sector is a response to the changing needs and preferences of customers in this market. Taking up the topic within the framework of PropTech in the local real estate market aims to contribute to the discussion in this area and to identify opportunities for the uptake of new technologies in Polish conditions. The area of real estate development activity in the residential market with regard to the use of modern technologies in the business was selected for analysis. Aim of the paper: The main aim of the paper is to analyse to what extent developers are aware of and interested in modern technologies. The 3 following goals were adopted: G1: assessment of the developers' state of knowledge in the field of modern technologies (PropTech); G2: identifying areas that, in the opinion of developers, have the greatest potential for implementing modern technologies; G3: perspectives for the use of modern technologies in the studied areas. Materials and methods: In order to achieve the intended goals, a survey questionnaire was carried out among developers on the real estate market in Poznań. Results and conclusions: As the survey shows, the development of Proptech for developers is still at a rather early stage. Despite the fact that, in their opinion, customers already have expectations in terms of modern technologies and pay attention to environmentally friendly solutions, they use the available solutions only to a small extent, as if forgetting (or not knowing) that the possibilities for implementing modern technologies are much greater and cover many more areas. Keywords: real estate market, PropTech, modern technologies, housing market, developer.

Connecting Medical Personnel to Dentists via Teledentistry in a Children's Hospital System: A Pilot Study.

Investigators evaluated feasibility, acceptability, and sustainability of a teledentistry pilot program within a children's hospital network between March, 2018, and April, 2019. The program connected dentists to medical personnel and patients being treated in urgent care clinics, a primary care clinic, and a freestanding emergency department via synchronous video consultation. Three separate but parallel questionnaires evaluated caregiver, medical personnel, and dentist perspectives on the experience. Utilization of teledentistry was very low (2%, 14/826 opportunities), but attitudes regarding this service were largely positive among all groups involved and across all survey domains. Uptake of new technology has barriers but teledentistry may be an acceptable service, especially in the case of dental trauma.

The NeuroMET project: Metrology and innovation for early diagnosis and accurate stratification of patients with neurodegenerative diseases

AbstractBackgroundThe NeuroMET project aims are to develop: 1) a “NeuroMET memory metric” metrologically validated with clinical laboratory data that will be implemented into a app for delivery of cognitive tests 2) 7T magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy protocols and measurement uncertainty frameworks to be implemented into clinic and applied to larger studies; 3) reference measurement procedures and liquid chromatography based methods for t‐tau; p‐tau; α‐synuclein, NF‐L to underpin standardisation initiatives; 4) new clinical methods for quantification of synucleins and differentiation of synucleopathies for subsequent validation with support from the metrological infrastructure; and 5) construct specification equations to serve as reference for memory task difficulty and person memory abilityMethodMultiple approaches: LC‐MS and GC‐MS from different manufactures; 7 and 3 Tesla MRI and MRS (Siemens); RT‐QUIC; immunoassays (Simoa, MSD and Eurimmune); Rasch Measurement Theory analysis and principal component regression. All data are acquired for healthy controls, subjective cognitive decline, mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease patients recruited at Charitè.Result1) The most promising memory test items from legacy cognitive assessments data (focussing on blocks, numbers and word lists) from the NeuroMET patient cohort were selected to be used for the development of the NeuroMET Memory Metric. Construct specification equations were developed to serve as reference for memory task difficulty and person memory. 2) 7 T MRI and MRS protocols were developed. Those are applied to the project cohort and a framework for the definition and improvement of measurement uncertainty is designed. 3) A t‐tau primary calibrator characterization was finalized and the material shared with the IFCC‐CSF WG to be used for a round robin study. 4) A α‐synuclein reference measurement procedure was finalized and a hydrogen deuterium exchange mass spectrometry method developed to monitor the stability of the protein in different solvents and storage conditions. This methods will underpin the development of a liquid chromatography mass spectrometry method and a RT_QUIC method for synucleopathiesConclusionMultidisciplinary reference methods and frameworks for the definition of measurement uncertainty to be applied to facilitate uptake of new technology, to underpin the definition of clinical thresholds and ultimately to enable early diagnosis and patient stratification

The role of external forces in the adoption of aquaculture innovations: An ex-ante case study of fish farming in Colombia's southern Amazonian region

Several adoption models have been developed to explain the dynamics behind the uptake of new technologies in food-production systems. However, the literature has yet to consider a range of external forces that affect farmers’ decision-making processes. We argue that climate change and institutions are latent explanatory variables that require attention in the literature on aquatic-based innovations. Our aim is to conduct an ex-ante analysis focusing on these two external forces in the context of aquaculture and the adoption of aquaponics technology in Colombia. We use an embedded case-study design incorporating a qualitative and exploratory approach and employ two categories of fish-farming production systems as units of analysis. We triangulate our findings using non-probability sampling techniques and use our findings as a benchmark to discuss the potential adoption of aquaponics technology. Our findings suggest that fluctuations in rainfall and drought are the most important climate variables influencing negatively fish farming activities. Furthermore, we find that the complex institutional structures involved create unequal informal mechanisms among fish-farming production systems. We argue for context-specific designs when considering the adoption of aquaponics and conclude that, while fish-farming production systems encounter these external forces differently, heterogeneity also exists within systems, revealing intricacies worth considering.

Energy, Data, and Decision-Making: a Scoping Review-the 3D Commission.

Access to energy is an important social determinant of health, and expanding the availability of affordable, clean energy is one of the Sustainable Development Goals. It has been argued that climate mitigation policies can, if well-designed in response to contextual factors, also achieve environmental, economic, and social progress, but otherwise pose risks to economic inequity generally and health inequity specifically. Decisions around such policies are hampered by data gaps, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) and among vulnerable populations in high-income countries (HICs). The rise of "big data" offers the potential to address some of these gaps. This scoping review sought to explore the literature linking energy, big data, health, and decision-making.Literature searches in PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science were conducted. English language articles up to April 1, 2020, were included. Pre-agreed study characteristics including geographic location, data collected, and study design were extracted and presented descriptively, and a qualitative thematic analysis was performed on the articles using NVivo.Thirty-nine articles fulfilled eligibility criteria. These included a combination of review articles and research articles using primary or secondary data sources. The articles described health and economic effects of a wide range of energy types and uses, and attempted to model effects of a range of technological and policy innovations, in a variety of geographic contexts. Key themes identified in our analysis included the link between energy consumption and economic development, the role of inequality in understanding and predicting harms and benefits associated with energy production and use, the lack of available data on LMICs in general, and on the local contexts within them in particular. Examples of using "big data," and areas in which the articles themselves described challenges with data limitations, were identified.The findings of this scoping review demonstrate the challenges decision-makers face in achieving energy efficiency gains and reducing emissions, while avoiding the exacerbation of existing inequities. Understanding how to maximize gains in energy efficiency and uptake of new technologies requires a deeper understanding of how work and life is shaped by socioeconomic inequalities between and within countries. This is particularly the case for LMICs and in local contexts where few data are currently available, and for whom existing evidence may not be directly applicable. Big data approaches may offer some value in tracking the uptake of new approaches, provide greater data granularity, and help compensate for evidence gaps in low resource settings.

Teleworking and Online Shopping: Socio-Economic Factors Affecting Their Impact on Transport Demand

Teleworking and online shopping became commonplace during the COVID-19 pandemic and can be expected to maintain a strong presence in the foreseeable future. They can lead to significant changes in mobility patterns and transport demand. It is still unclear, however, how extensive their adoption can be, since each individual has different preferences or constraints. The overall impact on transport depends on which segments of the population will modify their behaviour and on what the substitutes to the current patterns will be. The purpose of this work is to identify the user profiles and spatial aspects that affect the adoption of teleworking and online shopping, and to explore the potential impact on transport demand. To that end, data from an EU-wide survey on mobility were analysed using a Machine Learning methodology. The results suggest that while the take up of the new work and consumption patterns is high on average, there are significant differences among countries and across different socio-economic profiles. Teleworking appears to have a high potential mainly in certain services sectors, affecting commuting patterns predominantly in large urban areas. Online shopping activity is more uniform across the population, although differences among countries and age groups may still be relevant. The findings of this work can be useful for the analysis of policies to encourage the uptake of new technologies in transport and mobility. They can be also a good reference point for future studies on the ex-post analysis of the impacts of the pandemic on mobility.

The geography of agricultural input markets in rural Tanzania

The expansion of agro-dealers into remote areas can be seen as conducive to more smallholders adopting new technologies and inputs, to include improved seed and fertilizer. However, lower travel costs may be offset by agro-dealer decisions on stocking and pricing, reflecting both travel time from wholesale markets as well as the level of competition in localized areas. This paper investigates the geographical distribution of agro-dealers and related patterns of local market competition on the availability and prices of maize seed and fertilizer. We use a unique census of agro-dealers in eight districts of Tanzania (n = 299) which maps distribution points for agricultural inputs in these areas. Results suggested that despite a high number of agro-dealers, almost 30% of farmers lived more than an hour travel time from at least one agro-dealer. Instead of wide geographical coverage, agro-dealers tended to be found in clusters, with strong variation in cluster sizes between different districts. Overall, more remote agro-dealers faced less competition, resulting in fewer stocked product choices and charging higher prices to customers, even after controlling for travel time from district headquarters. Remote farmers are disadvantaged in their uptake of new technologies and critical production inputs due to lack of competition among agro-dealers. Our results suggest that highly aggregated and/or simplified measures of market access fail to reflect important heterogeneity in the market access conditions faced by farmers; a better understanding of distribution networks and competition is needed.

Energy Network Innovation for Green Transition: Economic Issues and Regulatory Options

In this age of low-cost capital and stimulus packages, is it the best time to heavily invest in tomorrow’s energy networks and research infrastructure? In the academic literature it is widely acknowledged that innovation is key to decarbonising the energy sector and fostering sustainable development. However, post liberalisation has been struggling to promote R&D and innovation. Is this a case of business, regulatory, or policy failure, or are there other factors involved? In this paper, we discuss the reasons for slow uptake of new technologies in energy networks and propose some remedies for the European context, where innovation in the area of energy networks is crucial for the implementation of the Green Transition. The solutions to address this shortfall need to be considered in an overarching manner. The specific points raised here are based on incentive regulation, the establishment of competitive funding models like Ofgem’s Low Carbon Network Fund, and a large European collaborative research hub.

Stress and Coping in Older Australians During COVID-19: Health, Service Utilization, Grandparenting, and Technology Use

ABSTRACT Objectives This study examined the impacts of COVID-19 lockdown on health and lifestyle factors for older adults in Sydney, Australia. The study examined demographic differences, social engagement, loneliness, physical activity, emotion regulation, technology use, and grandparenting experiences and their contribution to emotional health and quality of life during lockdown. Methods Participants were 201 community-dwelling older adults (60–87 years, M = 70.55, SD = 6.50; 67.8% female) who completed self-report scales measuring physical and emotional health outcomes, quality of life, health service utilization, changes in diet and physical activity, impacts on grandparenting roles, and uptake of new technology. Results One-third of older adults experienced depression, and 1 in 5 experienced elevated anxiety and/or psychological distress during lockdown. Specific emotion regulation strategies, better social and family engagement, and new technology use were associated with better emotional health and quality of life; 63% of older adults used new technologies to connect with others. Conclusions Older adults were adaptable and resilient during lockdown, demonstrating high uptake of new technologies to remain connected to others, while negative emotional health outcomes were linked to loneliness and unhelpful emotion regulation. Clinical implications Further diversifying use of video technologies may facilitate improved physical and emotional health outcomes.

Increasing the Level of Abstraction as a Strategy for Accelerating the Adoption of Complex Technologies

Many new technologies are complex and embody high levels of technical sophistication, and applying them should require significant knowledge and experience. Yet, the rapid adoption and incorporation of these technologies into other innovations seems inconsistent with the expertise needed to make them work. In this paper, we propose increasing levels of abstraction as a strategy for speeding the adoption of new technologies. Higher-level abstractions package complexity in ways that makes them easier to understand and recombine, and they decrease the resources needed by firms to deploy sophisticated technical know-how. Increasing the level of abstraction is a way to push forward the innovative frontier by making such difficult-to-use technologies readily accessible to other innovators. Although this framing has been used in engineering and software development to describe modular encapsulation and cumulative innovation, we propose its use in the management literature to describe more broadly the uptake of new technologies and their facile recombination. This framing casts a different light on cumulative innovation and exposes new managerial questions to explore

Patchwork Earth: navigating pathways to just, thriving, and sustainable futures

Patchwork Earth: navigating pathways to just, thriving, and sustainable futures

Rethinking community empowerment in the energy transformation: A critical review of the definitions, drivers and outcomes

Empowering communities to engage with the energy transformation is vital to meet climate change mitigation and sustainable development goals. Communities have a key role to play in the energy transformation, through the uptake of new technologies and changing how they engage with energy. However, they remain marginalised limiting the broader benefits of meaningful participation such as energy democracy, energy justice and energy citizenship, which may be achieved through transformation. Addressing this problem requires an understanding of how to facilitate empowerment. Using a multidisciplinary approach, this paper synthesises the literature on community empowerment for sustainable transformations. It outlines a conceptualisation of empowerment through its definition, drivers and outcomes. Community empowerment in the energy transformation should be about the community’s own goals and transformative action. This view of empowerment can be enabled through a variety of different drivers. Empowerment is identified as a multifaceted concept associated with a range of different outcomes such as participation, agency, autonomy and power-shift. Whilst the four outcomes identified in this review are typically described in isolation; we suggest that they are instead a scale wherein each step is a form of empowerment in its own right and yet represents an overall trajectory of empowerment. Facilitating community empowerment within the energy transformation requires a shift in both research and practice.

An Initial Study of Practicing Psychologists' Views of the Utility of Ecological Momentary Assessment for Difficult Psychotherapy Cases.

Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) is a burgeoning area of research, and several clinical applications of the resulting data have been identified by researchers, suggesting potential benefit to psychotherapy practice. However, practitioners often do not use traditional empirically-supported tools for diagnosis and outcome monitoring (e.g., validated interview measures and questionnaires). Thus, it is not clear how readily practitioners will take up newer technology-enhanced assessment methods, despite current enthusiasm among researchers. The current study aimed to explore the perceived usefulness of EMA-based tools for clinical assessment and outcome monitoring of difficult psychotherapy cases, as well as to identify correlates of attitudes about the usefulness of these tools. Clinical psychologists in active therapy practice with adults (n = 375) completed an internet survey including the Attitudes toward Standardized Assessment scale and the Attitudes toward Standardized Assessment Scales-Monitoring and Feedback. Respondents characterized their current diagnostic and outcome monitoring practices and rated how helpful they would find several assessment and outcome monitoring resources for a difficult case, including both traditional instruments and EMA-based methods. EMA-based tools had lower perceived usefulness than existing instruments. Attitudes toward standardized assessment and outcome monitoring predicted the perceived utility of these methods, as did several professional variables. Practicing psychologists may not adopt EMA for clinical assessment more readily than traditional assessment tools. Recommendations for facilitating the uptake of new technologies by psychotherapists are offered.

International survey; current practice in On-line adaptive radiotherapy (ART) delivered using Magnetic Resonance Image (MRI) guidance.

The uptake of new technologies has varied internationally and there have often been barriers to implementation. On-line adaptive radiotherapy (ART) promises to improve patient outcome. This survey focuses on the implementation phase of delivering ART and professional roles and responsibilities currently involved in the workflow and changes which may be expected in the future. A 38 question survey included aspects on current practice; professional responsibilities; benefits and barriers; and decision making and responsibilities. For the purposes of the questionnaire and paper, ART was considered where tumour and /or organs at risk were contoured and re-planning was performed on-line. The questionnaire was electronically distributed via radiotherapy networks. Nineteen international responses were received. Europe (n = 11), United States of America (n = 4); Canada (n = 2), Australia (n = 1) and Hong Kong (n = 1). The majority of centres started using ART in either 2018 (n = 7) or 2019 (n = 6). Four centres started treating with ART between 2015 and 2017, and the first was in 2014. Centres initially treated prostate and oligometastases patients, expanding to treat prostate, oligometastases, pancreas and rectum. The majority of centres were working in conventional roles, however moving towards radiographers taking more responsibility in contouring organs at risk (OAR), target and dosimetry. The three most important criteria chosen by medical doctors to determine if ART should be used were overall gross anatomy changes of target and OAR, target not covered by planning target volume (PTV) and OAR close to the high dose area. There was no clear consensus on the minimum improvement in dose to target or reduction in dose to OAR to warrant adaption. On-line ART has been implemented successfully internationally. Initial practice maintains conventional professional roles and responsibilities, however there is trend to changing roles for the future. There is little consensus regarding the triggers of adaption.

A Novel Optimisation Framework to Support Increased Uptake of Low Carbon Industrial Energy Systems

Combustion of fossil fuels in industrial energy systems (IES) is responsible for over 45 % of CO2 emissions. Low Carbon IES will go a long way in achieving the climate goal of the Paris Agreement; yet, uptake of concepts to deliver low carbon IES is slow. Cost and emissions minimisation based optimisation frameworks applied to design and assess IES, though important, are not able to directly quantify the uptake of new technologies to deliver low carbon IES in a country or region. This work presents a novel MINLP framework capable of directly maximing the adoption of low carbon IES within a country and region whilst determining the optimal energy flows and associate costs. The method is applied to a case stufy of 6,181 energy systems in wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) in 27 EU countries to support increased adoption of technology switching (from combustion to electrochemistry), and fuel switching (from natural gas to biogas). Results show that without policy interventions uptake of these measures is only in 0.2 % of the plants located in Denmark, with policy intervention uptake increases to 60 % in more countries. The novel framework shows how the uptake of a new cleaner technology in a country or region can be accelerated.

Smart Villages: Where Can They Happen?

The European Union is actively promoting the idea of “smart villages”. The increased uptake of new technology and in particular, the use of the internet, is seen as a vital part of strategies to combat rural decline. It is evident that those areas most poorly connected to the internet are those confronted by the greatest decline. The analysis in this paper is based on Poland, which at the time of EU accession had many deeply disadvantaged rural areas. Using fine-grained socio-economic data, an association can be found between weak internet access and rural decline in Poland. The preliminary conclusions about the utility of the smart village concept as a revitalisation tool for rural Poland point to theoretical and methodological dilemmas. Barriers to the concept’s implementation are also observed, although there is a chance they may be overcome with the continued spread of information and communication technologies in rural areas.

Exploring UK doctors' attitudes towards online patient feedback: Thematic analysis of survey data.

IntroductionPatients are increasingly using online platforms to give feedback about their health-care experiences. Online feedback has been proposed as a way to drive transformative change in the health service through informing choice and improving quality. Attitudes held by health-care professionals influence the uptake of new technologies. Understanding these attitudes is essential in exploring the potential of online patient feedback as a standard feedback mechanism. This study explores the content of free-text comments left by doctors responding to a survey with the aim of understanding their attitudes towards online feedback.MethodsA cross-sectional online questionnaire was completed by 1001 UK primary and secondary-care doctors. Doctors were given the opportunity to leave a free-text comment about online patient feedback. Doctors’ attitudes towards online patient feedback were identified and explored using thematic analysis. Descriptive statistics and chi-square tests were used to examine demographic differences between those doctors who left a comment and those who did not.ResultsThematic analysis identified five key interrelated themes: anonymity, confidentiality, representativeness, moderation/regulation of online feedback and platform type. The characteristics of those leaving a comment very closely matched those of the entire survey sample.ConclusionAcross the comments, the most prominent finding was a general scepticism and caution towards online feedback, with most of the key themes relating to the perceived limitations and challenges. Further work exploring ways of addressing and verifying online comments without breaching confidentiality could provide valuable information to health systems seeking to drive improvement through patient online feedback.

A Review of Heat Pump Systems and Applications in Cold Climates: Evidence from Lithuania

Similar to other cold climate countries, space heating and domestic hot water (DHW) accounts form the largest share of household energy demand in Lithuania. Heat pump technology is considered to be one of the environmentally friendly solutions to increase energy efficiency and reduce the carbon footprint of buildings. Heat pumps have been finding their way into the Lithuanian market since 2002, and currently there are many good practice examples present in the country, especially in the residential and public sectors. Heat pump use is economically advantageous in the Baltic Region, and the market share of these systems is growing. Studies have reported seasonal performance factor (SPF) ranges within 1.8 and 5.6. The lower SPF values are typically attributable to air source heat pumps, whereas the higher efficiency is achieved by ground or water source heat pump applications. While the traditional heat pump techniques are well established in the region, there is a slow uptake of new technologies, such as solar-assisted heat pumps, absorption heat pumps and heat pumps integrated into foundations, tunnels or diaphragm walls. This paper provides a critical review of different heat pump technologies, using Lithuania as a cold climate case study to overview the market trends within the European context. Potential trends for the heat pump technology development in terms of application areas, cost-benefit predictions, as well as environmental aspects, are discussed.