scholarly journals Flexible Hybrid Electrodes for Continuous Measurement of the Local Temperature in Long-Term Wounds

Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (8) ◽  
pp. 2741
Author(s):  
Ana María Rodes-Carbonell ◽  
Juan Torregrosa-Valls ◽  
Antonio Guill Ibáñez ◽  
Alvaro Tormos Ferrando ◽  
María Aránzazu Juan Blanco ◽  
...  

Long-term wounds need a continuous assessment of different biophysical parameters for their treatment, and there is a lack of affordable biocompatible devices capable of obtaining that uninterrupted flow of data. A portable prototype that allows caregivers to know the local temperature behavior of a long-term wound over time and compare it with different reference zones has been developed. Alternative flexible substrates, screen-printing techniques, polymeric inks, and an embedded system have been tested to achieve potential indicators of the status and evolution of chronic wounds. The final system is formed by temperature sensors attached to a flexible and stretchable medical-grade substrate, where silver conductive tracks have been printed as interconnections with the data-acquisition unit. In addition, a specific datalogger has been developed for this system. The whole set will enable health personnel to acquire the temperature of the wound and its surroundings in order to make decisions regarding the state and evolution of the wound.

2021 ◽  
pp. 089020702110173
Author(s):  
Nadin Beckmann ◽  
Damian P Birney ◽  
Amirali Minbashian ◽  
Jens F Beckmann

The study aimed to investigate the status of within-person state variability in neuroticism and conscientiousness as individual differences constructs by exploring their (a) temporal stability, (b) cross-context consistency, (c) empirical links to selected antecedents, and (d) empirical links to longer term trait variability. Employing a sample of professionals ( N = 346) from Australian organisations, personality state data together with situation appraisals were collected using experience sampling methodology in field and repeatedly in lab-like settings. Data on personality traits, cognitive ability, and motivational mindsets were collected at baseline and after two years. Contingent (situation contingencies) and non-contingent (relative SD) state variability indices were relatively stable over time and across contexts. Only a small number of predictive effects of state variability were observed, and these differed across contexts. Cognitive ability appeared to be associated with state variability under lab-like conditions. There was limited evidence of links between short-term state and long-term trait variability, except for a small effect for neuroticism. Some evidence of positive manifold was found for non-contingent variability. Systematic efforts are required to further elucidate the complex pattern of results regarding the antecedents, correlates and outcomes of individual differences in state variability.


Author(s):  
James ROSE

ABSTRACT Within the context of the work and achievements of James Croll, this paper reviews the records of direct observations of glacial landforms and sediments made by Charles Lyell, Archibald and James Geikie and James Croll himself, in order to evaluate their contributions to the sciences of glacial geology and Quaternary environmental change. The paper outlines the social and physical environment of Croll's youth and contrasts this with the status and experiences of Lyell and the Geikies. It also outlines the character and role of the ‘Glasgow School’ of geologists, who stimulated Croll's interest into the causes of climate change and directed his focus to the glacial and ‘interglacial’ deposits of central Scotland. Contributions are outlined in chronological order, drawing attention to: (i) Lyell's high-quality observations and interpretations of glacial features in Glen Clova and Strathmore and his subsequent rejection of the glacial theory in favour of processes attributed to floating icebergs; (ii) the significant impact of Archibald Geikie's 1863 paper on the ‘glacial drift of Scotland’, which firmly established the land-ice theory; (iii) the fact that, despite James Croll's inherent dislike of geology and fieldwork, he provided high-quality descriptions and interpretations of the landforms and sediments of central Scotland in order to test his theory of climate change; and (iv) the great communication skills of James Geikie, enhanced by contacts and evidence from around the world. It is concluded that whilst direct observations of glacial landforms and sediments were critical to the long-term development of the study of glaciation, the acceptance of this theory was dependent also upon the skills, personality and status of the Geikies and Croll, who developed and promoted the concepts. Sadly, the subsequent rejection of the land-ice concept by Lyell resulted in the same factors challenging the acceptance of the glacial theory.


Economies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 59
Author(s):  
Dmitriy G. Rodionov ◽  
Evgenii A. Konnikov ◽  
Magomedgusen N. Nasrutdinov

The global COVID-19 pandemic has caused a transformation of virtually all aspects of the world order today. Due to the introduction of the world quarantine, a considerable share of professional communications has been transformed into a format of distance interaction. As a result, the specific weight of traditional components of the investment attractiveness of a region is steadily going down, because modern business can be built without the need for territorial unity. It should be stated that now the criteria according to which investors decide if they are ready to invest in a region are dynamically transforming. The significance of the following characteristics is increasingly growing: the sustainable development of a region, qualities of the social environment, and consistency of the social infrastructure. Thus, the approaches to evaluating the region’s investment attractiveness must be transformed. Moreover, the investment process at the federal level involves the determination of target areas of regional development. Despite the universal significance of innovative development, the region can develop much more dynamically when a complex external environment is formed that complements its development model. Interregional interaction, as well as an integrated approach to innovative development, taking into account not only the momentary effect, but also the qualitative long-term transformation of the region, will significantly increase the return on investment. At the same time, the currently existing methods for assessing the investment attractiveness of the region are usually heuristic in nature and are not universal. The heuristic nature of the existing methods does not allow to completely abstract from the subjectivity of the researcher. Moreover, the existing methods do not take into account the cyclical properties of the innovative development of the region, which lead to the formation of a long-term effect from the transformation of the regional environment. This study is aimed at forming a comprehensive methodology that can be used to evaluate the investment attractiveness of a certain region and conclude about the lines of business that should be developed in it as well as to find ways to increase the region’s investment attractiveness. According to the results of the study, a comprehensive methodology was formed to evaluate the region’s investment attractiveness. It consists of three key indicators, namely, the level of the region’s investment attractiveness, the projected level of the region’s investment attractiveness, and the development vector of the region’s investment attractiveness. This methodology is based on a set of indicators that consider the status of the economic and social environment of the region, as well as the status of the innovative and ecological environment. The methodology can be used to make multi-dimensional conclusions both about the growth areas responsible for increasing the region’s innovative attractiveness and the lines of business that should be developed in the region.


Author(s):  
Matthias Geihs ◽  
Oleg Nikiforov ◽  
Denise Demirel ◽  
Alexander Sauer ◽  
Denis Butin ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (10) ◽  
pp. 4026
Author(s):  
Mohammad Wais Azimy ◽  
Ghulam Dastgir Khan ◽  
Yuichiro Yoshida ◽  
Keisuke Kawata

The government of Afghanistan promotes saffron production as a means to achieve economic development while reducing the widely spread opium cultivation in the country by providing necessary support to its farmers via saffron farmer service centers. This study investigates the causal effects of relevant attributes of potential saffron production promotion policies on the participation probabilities of saffron farmers. This study applies a randomized conjoint experiment to primary survey data of 298 farmers in Herat Province, which is perceived by the government as the center of saffron production in the country. The proposed hypothetical saffron production promotion policy consists of six attributes, namely, provision of machinery equipment, weather-based crop insurance, accessibility to long-term loans, location of saffron farmer service centers, provider of services, and annual payment. In the randomized conjoint experiment design, the respondents rank two alternative policies and policies against the status quo. The desirable policy comprises the machinery provision, long-term (up to 5 years) loan accessibility, an easily accessible service center, and policy implementation by international non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The estimated results reveal that saffron farmers are highly supportive of the proposed saffron promotion policy and that their willingness to pay is as high as 17% of their per capita income.


2002 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 70-95
Author(s):  
Rubin Patterson ◽  
James Bozeman

AbstractIncreased economic integration throughout the world, the growing dominance of foreign affiliate production over international exports, the routinization of innovation, and amplified knowledge-intensiveness of FDI collectively characterize the new global economic environment in which SADC nations are attempting to develop and compete. This paper provides a detailed summary of the global economic context and one of its leading engines, namely, science and technology (S&T). Analysis of Africa's post-independence S&T travails and successes constitutes the second section of the paper. Various factors that have collectively arrested S&T growth are discussed. The third and largest section is the analysis of commonalities and particularities of S&T needs and activities by the SADC secretariat and member states. Focused analytical reports on the status of S&T development efforts in Botswana and Zimbabwe comprise the final section. Based on the contextual threats and opportunities discussed above, the paper concludes with two concrete recommendations: integrating and adopting the elements suggested in the paper for a long-term S&T development model, and pursuing state-sponsored or quasi-state-sponsored reverse engineering campaigns.


Author(s):  
A.M. Pasquino ◽  
A. Albanese ◽  
M. Bozzola ◽  
G.E. Butler ◽  
F. Buzi ◽  
...  

AbstractIdiopathic short stature (ISS) is a term used to describe the status of children with short stature that cannot be attributed to a specific cause. Many children diagnosed as having ISS have partial GH insensitivity, which can result from disturbances at various points of the GH-IGF-I axis. Several clinical studies on spontaneous growth in ISS showed that adult height was almost in the range of target height. GH treatment led to adult height not significantly higher than the pretreatment predicted adult height in most reports. No metabolic side effects have been observed, even when the dose was higher than in GH deficiency. Manipulation of puberty with gonadotrophin releasing hormone analogues reported by a few authors in a small number of children has shown conflicting results. Long-term psychological benefits of GH therapy for short normal children have not been demonstrated to date.


1980 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 773-791 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. C. Coleman

The intention of this paper is to look at some of the problems which arise in attempts to provide ‘explanations’ of mercantilism and especially its English manifestations. By ‘explanations’ I mean the efforts which some writers have made causally to relate the historical appearance of sets of economic notions or general recommendations on economic policy or even acts of economic policy by the state to particular long-term phenomena of, or trends in, economic history. Historians of economic thought have not generally made such attempts. With a few exceptions they have normally concerned themselves with tracing and analysing the contributions to economic theory made by those labelled as mercantilists. The most extreme case of non-explanation is provided by Eli Heckscher's reiterated contention in his two massive volumes that mercantilism was not to be explained by reference to the economic circumstances of the time; mercantilist policy was not to be seen as ‘the outcome of the economic situation’; mercantilist writers did not construct their system ‘out of any knowledge of reality however derived’. So strongly held an antideterminist fortress, however congenial a haven for some historians of ideas, has given no comfort to other historians – economic or political, Marxist or non-Marxist – who obstinately exhibit empiricist tendencies. Some forays against the fortress have been made. Barry Supple's analysis of English commerce in the early seventeenth century and the resulting presentation of mercantilist thought and policy as ‘the economics of depression’ has passed into the textbooks and achieved the status of an orthodoxy.


1997 ◽  
Vol 66 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 273-300 ◽  
Author(s):  

AbstractThis article aims to throw a light on the problems relating to the proposed enlargement of the composition of the UN Security Council at present by studying the creation of four non-permanent seats in the Security Council in 1963 from the British and the French perspectives. The examination is based on the author's research of original documents in the archives of the British and French foreign ministries and upon information provided to the author by British, French and Finnish diplomats. The author concludes that, as between 1946 and 1963, British and French short term interests are still best served by maintaining the status quo in the Security Council. However, in a long term perspective it is not clear where the interests of these two States lie.


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