Charting a course for freshwater biomonitoring: the grand challenges identified by the global scientific community

The past 50 years have seen biomonitoring emerge as an essential means of generating the knowledge needed to inform protection and restoration of freshwater ecosystems. Despite the successes of biomonitoring, most freshwater ecosystems remain unmonitored. Moreover, degradation of freshwaters continues at a rapid rate with new threats and novel stressors emerging that are difficult to assess using existing techniques. New technologies and techniques have been developed to improve biomonitoring, but application has been slow and integration with existing approaches is often problematic. Clearly, freshwater biomonitoring faces many important challenges that must be addressed to meet management needs of the coming decades. We identify Grand Challenges facing freshwater biomonitoring with the aim of encouraging research and practice to address these challenges. We asked 256 biomonitoring scientists from around the globe to identify what they considered the most important challenges. From their submissions we established five Grand Challenges and 18 associated subchallenges. For each Grand Challenge, we outline the current state of biomonitoring practice and suggest promising pathways and approaches to address them. By identifying and describing these challenges, we strive to position freshwater biomonitoring to take advantage of emerging opportunities and enhance its capacity to meet current and future management needs

Being-with-staff-in-a-technology-enabled-fashion-store: from Gen Z’s interpersonal experiences with staff to integration of human, technology and the store environment

In the digital age the fashion retailing sector has witnessed the transformation of conventional fashion stores into technology-enabled spaces. However, whilst the store environment and technology have been overly-studied, it has tended to neglect the human aspect of the store as an amalgamation of people, technology and store environment. The purpose of this study is to explore consumers’ interaction with staff in technology-enabled fashion stores, in a daily life-world context, to seek how people, technology and the store environment can be better integrated. The study uses servicescape theory, which is synthesised through two phases that transform it from a psychological perspective into a phenomenological, individual-centric one. A hermeneutic phenomenological approach was employed based on Heidegger’s existential philosophy. Phenomenological interviews were conducted to collect data centred on Gen Z consumers’ interpersonal experiences with staff within a technology-enabled fashion store environment. The interpretation of data and the presentation of findings use an innovative approach that adheres to Heidegger’s philosophy. A four-layers, comprehensive framework emerged from the findings to illustrate the interpersonal experience and its formation by bringing to light the intentional structure that has already been operative in consumers’ everyday patronage of fashion stores. In doing so, this study reveals the essence of consumers’ in-store interaction, thereby forming an enhanced understanding of consumers’ being-in-relation to staff and things in a technologically-enabled servicescape context against the backdrop of individuals’ everyday life. Intra-temporally, this approach provides insights into the improved integration of services provided by staff, technology and other environmental components for enhanced in-store experience, while inter-temporally, it reveals the subtleness and elusiveness of consumer-to-staff (human-to-human level) communication as well as the position of a fashion store in Gen Z consumers’ everyday life. As an innovatory, non-psychological approach aiming to understand consumer everyday experience, this study integrates Heidegger’s philosophy into the field of fashion marketing. As such, it provides an alternative methodological worldview for fashion business studies, with broader implications for practice and theory

The practical value of Bayesian inference in describing the epidemiology of sports injuries

Sports injury surveillance programs have been vital in advancing the understanding of injury epidemiology across various athlete populations. Surveillance-based epidemiological measures of injury occurrence are ubiquitous in the sports medicine literature, and the injury rate is one such commonly used measure. Traditional approaches to calculating injury rates have predominantly relied on frequentist methods, which, while informative, have limitations in addressing certain practical questions. We explore an alternative Bayesian framework for analyzing injury rates, highlighting its potential to enhance sports medicine practice. We delineate the practical implications of adopting a Bayesian approach, contrasting key analytical outputs such as credible intervals with their frequentist counterparts. Through simulated and real-world examples, we demonstrate the types of analyses and inferences that are only possible within this framework. We particularly discuss how Bayesian methods allow for direct calculation of probabilities for specific outcomes and provide intuitive interpretations of uncertainty. We discuss the computational and inferential advantages of the Bayesian approach, illustrating how it can offer more nuanced insights into injury incidence in sport injury epidemiology

Chest drain connector

A breakaway chest drain connector, which includes a first part having an inlet for connecting to an upstream portion of a chest drain tube, a one-way valve and a first flange surrounding the one-way valve; and a second part having an outlet for connecting to a downstream portion of the chest tube, a second flange and a hollow protrusion, the second flange surrounding the hollow protrusion. The second part is connectable to the first part by securing the first flange to the second flange such that the hollow protrusion passes through the one-way valve to form an uninterrupted fluid flow passage from the inlet through the hollow protrusion and the outlet along a longitudinal axis of the connector. The first and second flanges are separable by applying a longitudinal separation force above a defined threshold separation force

Unlocking career success: how digital literacy shapes future job journeys

Asia’s workforce is experiencing rapid changes driven by technological advancements, shifting economic priorities, and evolving skill demands. Digital transformation highlights the critical need for digital literacy and proficiency in emerging technologies. As the job market increasingly prioritizes advanced skills, particularly in management and technical roles, Malaysia envisions sustainable, productivity-driven growth supported by a digitally proficient workforce. However, research has focused mainly on education, leaving a gap in understanding how digital literacy impacts employability across industries. This study bridges that gap by examining how specific digital skills enhance job prospects. Using quantitative methods, data from 278 full-time employees were analysed through self-administered questionnaires to assess digital competencies and employment outcomes. The findings reveal that individuals with strong digital proficiency enjoy better job security, career advancement opportunities, and adaptability to industry changes. These insights inform strategies for governments, businesses, and workforce organisations to enhance human capital development. Targeted investments in digital upskilling and integrating digital literacy into workforce training are crucial for fostering innovation, improving productivity, and ensuring competitiveness in the global digital economy. This study highlights that the workforce should be made aware of the advantages of digital technologies and government policies should emphasise the accessibility of training, raising public awareness of these advantages, and fostering an environment that encourages the adoption of digital technologies. The findings of this study have the potential to boost worker competitiveness in the global market and promote the adoption of digital technologies throughout Asia. In addition, this research provides a roadmap for aligning workforce development with curriculum design and professional growth to prepare Asia’s workforce for future challenges

The design and development of a temperature sensing vest for the monitoring of on-body skin temperature

This work presents a temperature sensing vest that was created using electronic yarn (E-yarn) technology that is capable of measuring skin temperature at two sights on the chest and scapula. Temperature sensing E-yarns were engineered by soldering small-scale thermistors onto Litz wires, encapsulating them within polymer micro-pods, along with supporting yarns, and covering these in a textile braid. The temperature sensing E-yarns in this work also incorporated a resistor to complete the voltage divider circuit required to record temperature using a microcontroller. The E-yarns were calibrated against skin mountable thermistors, which are the gold standard for on-body temperature sensing. The E-yarns were subsequently incorporated into the tight-knitted vest, creating close contact between the wearer and E-yarns. This work presents an initial human trial, where a participant conducted some simple activities where skin temperature was recorded with both E-yarns and skin-mounted thermistors. As reasonably good correlation between the two sensing modalities was observed

The role of big data in public sector accounting and budgeting practices: evidence from a pandemic environment of an emerging economy

This paper investigates the actual and potential application of big data in the public sector accounting and budgeting practices in terms of enhancing accountability and openness in the public sector within the emerging economy of Sri Lanka during the COVID-19 pandemic. This research adopted hybrid ethnographic methodology by implementing data triangulation, where multiple datasets from various platforms were combined and analysed. The datasets were combined and analysed using thematic and summative content analyses. Big data use in the public sector could improve both accounting and budgeting practices in developing economies, especially when meeting challenges in a post-COVID-19 era. However, the political culture and the lack of awareness in big data utilisation have been barriers for big data applications. This research offers insights into policy reforms, especially concerning public sector accounting and budgeting practices, for the application of big data

Using moderated mediation modelling and the interaction of person-affect-cognition-execution model to explore relationships between psychological distress, specific addictive behaviors, and quality of life across Taiwan, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and China

Internet-related addictive behaviors are a public health concern, especially in Asian jurisdictions. Guided by theory, the present study employed moderated mediation modeling using cross-sectional data from Taiwan, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and China to explore relationships between psychological distress, internet-related addictive behaviors, and quality of life (QoL). Jurisdictional differences were also explored. Using snowball sampling to recruit online data, 6,074 participants aged 18 years or older were recruited. Moderated mediation models suggested that psychological distress was related to all internet-related addictive behaviors, and specific behaviors were related to poor QoL in specific domains: gaming addiction to physical and social QoL, shopping addiction to physical, social, and environmental QoL, social networking addiction to all QoL domains, and pornography addiction and gambling addiction to psychological and social QoL (albeit more weakly). Jurisdictional variations were observed, with stronger associations in Taiwan and China compared to Malaysia and Hong Kong. The findings suggest important relationships between psychological distress, internet-related addictive behaviors, and QoL. They also suggest a need for culturally tailored interventions that address psychological distress and specific internet-related addictive behaviors to improve QoL