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How will smart technology support SDG 12? an empirical study on sustainability in Indian agricultural operations
Get PDFIndia is one of the fastest growing economies with significant potential for the use of smart farming operations. Although agriculture is a major sector, implementation of smart technologies in the agriculture sector has not progressed in India. We use a mixed-methods approach to develop knowledge on the factors determining this slow adoption of smart technology and develop strategies for large-scale adoption in the Indian agriculture sector. First, qualitative interviews are used to understand the factors behind the slow diffusion of smart technology in the agriculture sector. Based on the responses, we link the results of the qualitative study from the agri-sector to the well-known Diffusion of Innovations (DoI) theory. We then develop a framework for applying Fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) to analyze the impact of multiple causal factors. We apply our research findings to help achieve SDG 12 in the agriculture sector. Our findings indicate individual factors on their own may influence adoption, but some reasonable combinations of factors (e.g., a combination of technology, knowhow, experience, benefits-operation, and finance and reliability) could also result in the large-scale adoption of smart technologies in improving Indian agricultural operations. By doing so, we provide a contextual empirical configurational test of the DoI theory in the Indian smart agricultural context.</p
Corrigendum to "Genetically modified metallothionein/cellulose composite material as an efficient and environmentally friendly biosorbent for Cd<sup>2+</sup> removal" [Int. J. Biol. Macromol. 218 (2022) 543-555
No full textThe authors regret that several incorrect sub-images were mistakenly included in the original publication during the image preparation. Specifically, these errors occurred in Figs. 1, 2, 7 and 9. The figures have now been verified, and are provided in this corrigendum on the following pages. The authors confirm that these corrections do not affect the results, interpretations, or conclusions presented in the article.The authors would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused
How can we optimise co-living for the digital nomad era?
Get PDFPurposeThis research examines digital nomads’ customer priorities and opinions of the services offered by co-living accommodation providers, aiming to understand their needs through an analysis of their experiences, and identifying implications for hospitality.Design/methodology/approachAn inductive qualitative approach was used to identify what digital nomads look for and value in co-living spaces. Using netnography and thematic analysis in NVivo, 1,052 online user reviews of 10 co-living providers on Trustpilot from 2018 to 2024 were collected and analysed.FindingsFindings identified a variety of benefits and challenges of co-living for digital nomads. Data showed that the ability to integrate work, life and community in co-living environments were priorities for digital nomads, an integration which allows them to balance professional productivity with social and emotional well-being. Accommodation quality, workspace functionality, logistical support and privacy also emerged as priorities: inadequacies in these areas were among the most frequently reported challenges.Practical implicationsThis research provides practical and managerial insights for co-living operators and hospitality stakeholders to consider when designing accommodation and organising services, to best cater to the unique needs of digital nomads.Originality/valueThis study advances theoretical understanding of co-living by applying spillover theory as a sensitising concept to explore digital nomads’ work−life integration. It fills a gap in hospitality research by linking digital nomadism with co-living experiences, offering actionable insights into customer priorities
Investigating the determinants of intention to use IoT for preventing food waste by UK food supply chain companies
Get PDFPurpose - Food companies are still unsure about using IoT-based sensors and remain reluctant to adopt them for the purpose of food waste prevention. To address this problem, this study aims to examine the determinants of the intention to use IoT-based sensors for preventing food waste by the food supply chain companies in the UK. Design/methodology/approach - This research develops a comprehensive Motivation- OpportunityAbility-Trust (MOAT) model that extends and contextualises the original Motivation-OpportunityAbility (MOA) model in the context of using IoT sensors in food supply chain companies for preventing food waste. The MOAT model is tested using data collected from a questionnaire survey with 315 senior managers in the UK food sector. Findings - The findings show that opportunity and trust positively influence the managers’ behavioural intention to use IoT for food waste prevention, are therefore key determinants to IoT adoption for food waste prevention. Data analysis highlighted the role of trust as the underlying principle in food supply chains when adopting IoT sensors in all operational level activities. Originality – This study contextualises and extends the original MOA model into MOAT framework to reflect the characteristics and applications IoT in food waste prevention in food supply chains. The MOAT model provides a foundation for further research and practical strategies. This study makes valuable contributions to the theoretical development and practical understanding of the influence of ability, opportunity, motivation and trust on IoT sensor adoption for preventing food waste among food companies.<br/
Lived experiences of assisted reproductive technology treatment among men with azoospermia in Taiwan:a qualitative study
Get PDFBackgroundAzoospermia, defined as the absence of sperm in the ejaculate, represents the most severe form of male infertility. Advancements in assisted reproductive technologies (ART) have greatly improved treatment options, allowing men with azoospermia to have biological children. While these men are significantly likely to experience psychosocial challenges due to the dual impact of infertility and ART treatment, few studies have explored their lived experiences in East Asian societies. Our study aimed to explore lived psychosocial experiences of ART treatment among men with azoospermia in Taiwan.MethodsWe conducted qualitative in-depth interviews with ten men diagnosed with azoospermia who have undergone ART at a fertility centre in Taipei, Taiwan. Recorded interviews were transcribed and analysed using a descriptive phenomenological approach.ResultsWe found four interconnected themes and nine subthemes. Themes included: psychological turmoil following diagnosis, familial pressures and societal stigma, physical and emotional impact of sperm retrieval processes, compounded guilt from spouse’s suffering and worries about genetic transmission. Azoospermia diagnosis triggered profound emotional distress, disrupting participants’ perceptions of being healthy and adequate. They faced intense familial and societal expectations to achieve fatherhood, compounded by cultural values prioritising lineage and patrilineal continuity. All participants described the pain and discomfort involved in sperm extraction procedures as physically traumatic and emotionally degrading. Many men felt a lack of agency during sperm extraction due to lack of sensitivity and privacy in clinical interactions and environments. Participants expressed profound guilt over the physical and emotional difficulties that their spouses underwent during ART, which further intensified their own feelings of guilt. There were recurrent fears about passing azoospermia to their children, particularly among those with idiopathic or genetic causes.ConclusionOur findings provide insights into the physical, emotional, and social challenges faced by men with azoospermia undergoing ART treatment and demonstrate the need for integrating holistic person-centred approaches and interventions in andrological evaluations and ART treatment to enhance patient well-being, self-esteem and resilience. In societies where filial obligations make couples particularly vulnerable, individual and family interventions should be supplemented by wider sensitisation and awareness programmes to challenge the myths, stereotypes and prejudices associated with male infertility
Building a corpus of digitally mediated EMI classroom interactions:challenges and opportunities for EMI research and pedagogy
Get PDFWhile research on English-medium instruction (EMI) has grown considerably in recent years, we still know relatively little about what happens inside EMI classrooms, particularly in terms of interactional practices. There remains a shortage of empirical resources, such as corpora, that can offer systematic insights into the features of EMI classroom discourse. This paper addresses some of the gaps by outlining the methodological and ethical procedures involved in building and annotating a corpus of digitally mediated EMI interactions, drawn from 24 university seminars in the social sciences across two EMI contexts. Using the Multimodal EMI Corpus (MEMIC) as a case study, we demonstrate how such a resource can be used to examine lexical and discursive features of EMI interaction across modes and registers. We also show how these insights can inform the development of EMI-relevant teaching materials and assessment tasks. The overarching aim of this contribution is to encourage other scholars and practitioners to collect and analyse data from their own local EMI contexts, in order to advance corpus-based research into EMI classroom practices and support more effective, evidence-informed pedagogy.</p
Split averaging:bridging the heterogeneity gap in clients data for federated learning
Get PDFFederated Learning (FL) has gained significant prominence to overcome the issue of data silos in various domains. However, since its introduction FL has been confronted with the presence of Non-Independent and Identically Distributed (Non-IID) data, hindering its broad-scale adoption. In this paper, we present a novel method named Federated Split Averaging (FSA) to tackle the problem of Non-IID data. FSA solves the key challenge that classical FL fails to overcome, specifically accounting for real-world scenarios where data instances from certain classes are completely missing. Unlike conventional FL, where a cloud server blindly averages clients' model parameters, FSA classifies clients into strong and weak groups and aggregates their parameters separately. The spitted parameters are then used to compute dynamic penalty factors, which regularize clients' training and accelerate convergence. {Experimental results on real-world datasets demonstrated that the proposed method can significantly improve model accuracy in handling Non-IID data, achieving up to 7.23% improvement as compared to other state-of-the-art solutions
Self-efficacy, emotional loneliness, and psychological distress among women undergoing a domestic violence intervention
No full textThis study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a domestic violence intervention addressing abused mothers in England. It was hypothesized that (a) the women would improve significantly on various measures after the intervention, b) changes in the women’s psychological distress would be mediated by self-efficacy, emotional loneliness, social isolation, and parenting competence, and c) self-efficacy would mediate changes in parental competence, emotional loneliness, and social isolation. Ninety-five mothers of low socio-economic status, experiencing domestic violence completed questionnaires before and after the intervention: General Health Questionnaire, Loneliness Scale, Parenting Sense of Competence Scale, General Self-Efficacy Scale, and Distance from Child Scale. Post intervention participants improved in self-efficacy, psychological distress, emotional loneliness, and parenting competence. Self-efficacy at post-intervention mediated post-intervention change in psychological distress, emotional loneliness, and parenting competence, while emotional loneliness mediated change in psychological distress, and psychological distress mediated change in self-efficacy. The present study identified mothers’ pre-intervention vulnerability characteristics (high psychological distress and emotional loneliness; low parental competence and self-efficacy) and mechanisms by which such characteristics may affect outcomes. The findings suggest that interventions focusing on strengthening self-efficacy and reducing emotional loneliness may support the most disadvantaged of maltreated women toward attaining more positive outcomes.<br/
Investigating the determinants of intention to use IoT for preventing food waste by UK food supply chain companies
Get PDFPurpose - Food companies are still unsure about using IoT-based sensors and remain reluctant to adopt them for the purpose of food waste prevention. To address this problem, this study aims to examine the determinants of the intention to use IoT-based sensors for preventing food waste by the food supply chain companies in the UK. Design/methodology/approach - This research develops a comprehensive Motivation- OpportunityAbility-Trust (MOAT) model that extends and contextualises the original Motivation-OpportunityAbility (MOA) model in the context of using IoT sensors in food supply chain companies for preventing food waste. The MOAT model is tested using data collected from a questionnaire survey with 315 senior managers in the UK food sector. Findings - The findings show that opportunity and trust positively influence the managers’ behavioural intention to use IoT for food waste prevention, are therefore key determinants to IoT adoption for food waste prevention. Data analysis highlighted the role of trust as the underlying principle in food supply chains when adopting IoT sensors in all operational level activities. Originality – This study contextualises and extends the original MOA model into MOAT framework to reflect the characteristics and applications IoT in food waste prevention in food supply chains. The MOAT model provides a foundation for further research and practical strategies. This study makes valuable contributions to the theoretical development and practical understanding of the influence of ability, opportunity, motivation and trust on IoT sensor adoption for preventing food waste among food companies.<br/
Experiences and perceptions of care for medications with a risk of dependence:insights from patients and healthcare professionals
Get PDFBackground: Medications with a risk of dependence are widely prescribed but have been associated with a poor experience of care for patients. This study aimed to understand patient and healthcare staff perspectives in the prescription, management, and deprescription of benzodiazepines, z-drugs, opioids for chronic noncancer pain, gabapentinoids, and antidepressants. Methods: Online semistructured interviews were conducted with 20 patients and 15 healthcare professionals from five different GP practices. Data were analyzed using codebook thematic analysis. Results: Patients and healthcare professionals shared concerns about medications with a risk of dependence and described deprescription as a challenging and complex process. While the value of providing patients with detailed medication-related information was recognized by healthcare professionals, patients felt that more information was needed. The use of regular, personalized medication reviews was seen as important for patient care and medication management, but patients felt this was lacking from current care. Conclusion: The findings of this study provide new insights into how medications with a risk of dependence are managed and how care is experienced by patients. The findings have clear implications for improving patient experience, which is a key aspect of quality care.</p
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