Entire Life Research Articles

Revisiting Ambedkar’s Perception on Religious Identity and Political Modernity in India

Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, an architect of a futuristic India, was a jurist, social reformer, as well as the founding father of the Indian Constitution. He was the first Law and Justice Minister of independent India, who served in first Nehru ministry during 1947–52. He dedicated his entire life for the betterment of India, Indian society, and the lives of the underprivileged in the nation. His goal was to make India more equitable, secular, and free. This goal guided all of his thoughts, projects, and achievements. Drawing on the teachings of Gautam Buddha, Jotirao Phule, and Kabir Saheb, Dr. Ambedkar challenged Hindutva from all directions, offering a fact-based and well-reasoned critique of Hinduism’s attitudes, practices, culture, and sacred texts. Seeking a religious solution for the untouchable issue, he and his numerous followers renounced Hinduism and converted to Buddhism in 1956. He believed that Buddhism was the most egalitarian and inclusive religion and that it aligned with his social justice and equality principles. He disagreed with majoritarianism, which in Indian parlance meant unbridled Hindu dominance. Dr. Ambedkar was an insightful individual with an incredible personality and multifaceted character. He firmly believed that India didn’t need to formally become a Hindu state by amending the Constitution to make Hinduism the official state religion. Dr. Ambedkar’s quest for justice, liberty and equality finds no match in the making of the Constitution of India. His farsightedness has laid the foundation of social, economic and political revolution in Indian society.

Methodological aspects of investment and construction projects management based on IPD, BIM, LEAN. Foreign experience

Overexpenditure of cost and time resources is one of the most significant problems, and cost certainty is one of the key goals of the construction industry in Russia. Using the method of an analytical review of documents, the main problems of the European construction sector that exist in the process of its digital transformation were identified and characterized. Research has shown that the interdisciplinary synergy of BIM (Building Information Model, digital information model), Lean (lean manufacturing) and IPD (Integrated Project Delivery, integrated project execution) can benefit an investment and construction project (ICP) throughout its entire life cycle . However, such a synergetic approach is not currently applied in Russian projects. The article examines the impact of innovative international strategies for implementing COI and examines the obstacles to the implementation of these strategies in Russia.3 key takeaways:1) review of COI contracts to achieve the greatest synergy and increase trust between stakeholders;2) the BIM mandate is important to encourage the use of modern construction methodology in all ISPs in Russia;3) search for innovative methods of changing traditional thinking about construction.Consideration of three main ideas will accelerate the implementation of COI in Russia, leading to better results in the short, medium and long term for all stakeholders.

Should I stay or should I fly: Aerial dispersal in a funnel‐web wolf spider from the grasslands of southern South America

AbstractBallooning is a mechanism of aerial dispersal present in some groups of spiders. By releasing silken threads that are blown by the wind, spiders can travel long distances through the air. Aglaoctenus lagotis is a wolf spider that lives its entire life associated with a funnel‐web, despite the wandering habit that characterizes species in this family. We can find two forms of the species in Uruguay, one of them a strict inhabitant of grasslands of Uruguay. The high habitat specificity and the spiderlings observed surrounding the maternal web suggest a low aerial dispersal capacity in this species. In this study, we tested whether A. lagotis spiderlings are capable of dispersing by ballooning. We conducted laboratory and field experiments during the day and night, to record the occurrence of ballooning and typical behaviours that precede ballooning. We recorded ballooning both in the laboratory and in the field, and it was more frequent during the day. Although it has been reported repeatedly in species from this family, we never observed the pre‐ballooning tip‐toeing behaviour in A. lagotis. Ballooning was preceded by dropping on dragline, considered a behaviour that could generate aerial dispersion of lesser distance than that generated by the tip‐toeing. In this paper, we shall discuss the implications of this form of aerial dispersal, considering that the species analysed is a web wolf spider.

Battery Remaining Useful Life Prediction Using Machine Learning Models: A Comparative Study

Predicting the remaining useful life (RUL) of lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries is crucial to preventing system failures and enhancing operational performance. Knowing the RUL of a battery enables one to perform preventative maintenance or replace the battery before its useful life expires, which is vital in safety-critical applications. The prediction of the RUL of Li-ion batteries plays a critical role in their optimal utilization throughout their lifetime and supporting sustainable practices. This paper conducts a comparative analysis to assess the effectiveness of multiple machine learning (ML) models in predicting the capacity fade and RUL of Li-ion batteries. Three case studies are analyzed to assess the performances of the state-of-the-art ML models, considering two distinct datasets. These case studies are conducted under various operating conditions such as temperature, C-rate, state of charge (SOC), and depth of discharge (DOD) of the batteries in Cases 1 and 2, and a different set of features and charging policies for the second dataset in Case 3. Meanwhile, diverse extracted features from the initial cycles of the second dataset are considered in Case 3 to predict the RUL of Li-ion batteries in all cycles. In addition, a multi-feature multi-target (MFMT) feature mapping is introduced to investigate the performance of the developed ML models in predicting the battery capacity fade and RUL in the entire life cycle. Multiple ML models that are developed for the comparison analysis in the proposed methodology include Random Forest (RF), extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost), light gradient-boosting machine (LightGBM), multi-layer perceptron (MLP), long short-term memory (LSTM), and attention-LSTM. Furthermore, hyperparameter tuning is applied to improve the performance of the XGBoost and LightGBM models. The results demonstrate that the extreme gradient boosting with hyperparameter tuning (XGBoost-HT) model outperforms the other ML models in terms of the root-mean-squared error (RMSE) and mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) of the battery capacity fade and RUL for all cycles. The obtained RMSE and MAPE values for XGBoost-HT in terms of cycle life are 69 cycles and 6.5%, respectively, for the third case. In addition, the XGBoost-HT model handles the MFMT feature mapping within an acceptable range of RMSE and MAPE, compared to the rest of the developed ML models and similar benchmarks.

Address Form of Children in Communication (Through the Novel “Southen Forest Land”)

The article focuses on understanding children’s address forms through the novel “Southern Forest Land” from the following aspects: children's address terms to children and children’s address terms to adults. From the survey and classification results, we found that children's address in communication concentrates on two situations (family and community) with six thematic groups associated with two pairs of roles (upper-lower role pair and peer role pair Children's address terms to children have 2 forms of addressing and 5 forms of calling, while children's address terms to adults have 3 forms of addressing and 7 forms of calling. Analysis of the characteristics of address affirms that the language used by children is diverse, reflecting the entire spiritual life, innocence, and simplicity of children. It also reflects the honest, straightforward, warm, generous, and affectionate culture of the people in the Southern region.

Enhancement of recycling system for large WEEE plastics in Korea via material flow analysis (MFA) and hazardous substances assessment

Globally, there is interest in recycling waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) plastics for transition to circular resource society and concern about substances with potential harzard in WEEE. For high-quality recycling of WEEE plastics, it is necessary to find factors that hinder recycling of the entire life of plastics and investigate hazardous substances for recycling safety. In this study, through conducting material flow analysis(MFA), 27 kt of WEEE was collected and only 3.9 % of the production was returned to plastic recycling market. To resolve this gap, further research by related organizations, including updating statistical data on the plastics, is required in addition to consideration for converting unofficial routes into official routes. For the activation of the secondary material recycling market, strict quality control is required, because some samples contained relatively high levels of PBDEs DEHP restricted under law. And it is necessary to monitor of unrestricted substance, TBBPA and Bisphenol A detected at high concentration in WEEE plastic, for the safe recycling of plastic waste.

Leaching of catalyst platinum from cured silicone elastomers: A preliminary study for comparing reagents

Addition curing systems involve two-part silicones which require the mixture of a silicone polymer with a catalyst to initiate the cure. Platinum is the most commonly used metal catalyst for addition curing of silicones by hydrosilylation which involves the crosslinking by the addition reaction of silicon hydride species to unsaturated bonds, mainly CC, but also CO or CN double bonds. After crosslinking of the polymers, the platinum catalyst cannot be recovered but remains in the silicone materials throughout the entire product life. In the end, platinum is disposed of together with the silicones and is thus lost to the value chain. The overall objective of this work was to develop a recycling process for the recovery of platinum from addition-cured silicone elastomers. In the first step, this was achieved by efficient digestion methods and by optimizing the leaching processes for exemplary commercial silicone elastomer products. Two different silicone materials were investigated, both of which were crosslinked with a platinum catalyst. The initial Pt content in the tested samples was 12.6 ± 0.2 mg/kg for a commercial silicone impression material and 6.3 ± 0.5 mg/kg for a silicone baking mold, measured by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry (GF-AAS). Samples were first frozen with liquid nitrogen to improve brittleness and then crushed with a simple food processor to obtain a silicone granule. Various acid mixtures, mainly based on sulfuric acid, were investigated as digestion methods in order to extract platinum from the silicone network. These had different effects on the dissolution behavior of silicone samples and the amount of platinum extracted in each case. The amount of platinum leached from the filtrate of the digested samples in each case was measured by ICP-OES to evaluate the efficiency of different leaching mixtures. In addition, the dissolved platinum species present in the solutions was identified by UV/VIS as tetrachloridoplatinate(II) complex. The best platinum leaching results so far were obtained with two methods, both of which used a leaching mixture based on sulfuric acid and hexamethyldisiloxane (M2). In the presence of hydrochloric acid, 9.6 ± 1.6 mg platinum/kg was leached from the silicone impression material and 4.2 ± 0.8 mg platinum/kg from the silicone baking mold. With the additional use of aqua regia instead of hydrochloric acid, 10.4 ± 2.8 mg platinum/kg was extracted from the silicone impression material and 4.8 ± 1.0 mg platinum/kg was extracted from the silicone baking mold. These methods were replicated with n = 3. Using statistical evaluation methods (F-test, t-test, and confidence interval), no significant difference was found between these two best methods. Recovery of platinum(0) from leach mixtures has not yet been achieved due to high dilution and very low platinum concentration in samples and will be part of another study.

Digital health integration for noncommunicable diseases: Comprehensive process mapping for full-life-cycle management.

To create a systematic digital health process mapping framework for full-life-cycle noncommunicable disease management grounded in key stakeholder engagement. A triphasic, qualitative methodology was employed to construct a process mapping framework for digital noncommunicable disease management in Shanghai, China. The first phase involved desk research to examine current guidance and practices. In the second phase, pivotal stakeholders participated in focus group discussions to identify prevalent digital touchpoints across lifetime noncommunicable disease management. In the final phase, the Delphi technique was used to refine the framework based on expert insights and obtain consensus. We identified 60 digital touchpoints across five essential stages of full-life-cycle noncommunicable disease management. Most experts acknowledged the rationality and feasibility of these touchpoints. This study led to the creation of a comprehensive digital health process mapping framework that encompasses the entire life cycle of noncommunicable disease management. The insights gained emphasize the importance of a systemic strategic, person-centered approach over a fragmented, purely technocentric approach. We recommend that healthcare professionals use this framework as a linchpin for efficient disease management and seamless technology incorporation in clinical practice.

ХИМИЧЕСКАЯ СТАБИЛЬНОСТЬ, СТРУКТУРА И ТОПОЛОГИЯ ПОВЕРХНОСТИ ОТЕЧЕСТВЕННОЙ КОМПЛЕКСНО СТАБИЛИЗИРОВАННОЙ ДИОКСИДЦИРКОНИЕВОЙ КЕРАМИКИ В МОДЕЛИРУЕМЫХ АГРЕССИВНЫХ СРЕДАХ

Subject of the study is the chemical stability of a complex stabilized zirconium dioxide system of 3 mol.% Y2O3 15 mol.% CeO2 in simulated aggressive media (1 and 10% NaOH; 1 and 10% HCl; 1, 10 and 40% CH3COOH.
 The goal – to study the effect of various aggressive media on the structural and chemical stability of domestic comprehensively stabilized zirconium dioxide ceramics under experimental conditions.
 Methods. The tests were carried out on experimental samples of ceramic grinders (40 pcs.) of the same area and shape: the experimental group (20 pcs.) – stabilized zirconium dioxide ceramics, the control group (20 pcs.) – zirconium dioxide ceramics without stabilizing additives. The presence, severity and features of the reaction of zirconium dioxide ceramics to aggressive media were evaluated in a comparative aspect by changing the mass of samples, the microstructure of their surface and the Raman spectra.
 Results. The interaction of complexly stabilized zirconium dioxide with alkaline solutions does not lead to a statistically significant decrease in the mass of samples, under the action of solutions of organic and inorganic acids, a statistically insignificant (p<0.5) increase in total mass is observed. Scanning electron microscopy of ceramic samples of both groups after exposure to aggressive media did not reveal ultrastructural changes in the surface. Raman spectra of light before exposure in aggressive media showed more favorable values of Raman intensity for stabilized zirconium dioxide, which indicates its better degree of crystallization. After exposure to aggressive media, changes in the crystal lattice of the control samples were determined, for stabilized zirconium dioxide, the ratio I260/I320 did not change.
 Conclusions and Relevance. Stabilized zirconium dioxide of the system 3 mol.% Y2O3 15 mol.% CeO2 has increased resistance in aggressive environments, which is of practical importance when choosing a ceramic material for the manufacture of dentures, which are exposed to aggressive biological environments of the oral cavity during the entire service life.

Automated Identification of Sensitive Financial Data Based on the Topic Analysis

Data governance is an extremely important protection and management measure throughout the entire life cycle of data. However, there are still data governance issues, such as data security risks, data privacy breaches, and difficulties in data management and access control. These problems lead to a risk of data breaches and abuse. Therefore, the security classification and grading of data has become an important task to accurately identify sensitive data and adopt appropriate maintenance and management measures with different sensitivity levels. This work started from the problems existing in the current data security classification and grading work, such as inconsistent classification and grading standards, difficult data acquisition and sorting, and weak semantic information of data fields, to find the limitations of the current methods and the direction for improvement. The automatic identification method of sensitive financial data proposed in this paper is based on topic analysis and was constructed by incorporating Jieba word segmentation, word frequency statistics, the skip-gram model, K-means clustering, and other technologies. Expert assistance was sought to select appropriate keywords for enhanced accuracy. This work used the descriptive text library and real business data of a Chinese financial institution for training and testing to further demonstrate its effectiveness and usefulness. The evaluation indicators illustrated the effectiveness of this method in the classification of data security. The proposed method addressed the challenge of sensitivity level division in texts with limited semantic information, which overcame the limitations on model expansion across different domains and provided an optimized application model. All of the above pointed out the direction for the real-time updating of the method.

Towards the co-benefits of carbon capture, utilization and sequestration: A life cycle assessment study for steel slag disposal

Achieving decarbonization in the steel industry is of paramount importance for global carbon neutrality. Given the unavoidable generation of calcium-containing steel slag and carbon-rich flue gas emissions in the steelmaking process, steel slag carbonation is considered a CCUS technology capable of achieving pollution and carbon reduction in the steel industry. This study conducts a life cycle assessment (LCA) of the environmental impacts generated within the system boundaries of mainstream hot braising steel slag treatment and a novel carbonation steel slag approach. Results of the research demonstrate that the carbonation route based on carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) technology reduces the global warming potential (GWP) by 480% compared to the mainstream hot braising route, yielding −76.78 kg CO2 eq./t steel slag. The carbonation route also mitigates the environmental impact of pollutant emissions; however, it introduces a burden shifting associated with energy and resource consumption. Furthermore, to tackle the challenges of industrial application of steel slag carbonation, this study has explored upgrading schemes and proposed a future carbonation steel slag route that achieves process upgrades. By enabling carbonation of flue gas and improving carbonation efficiency, this route is forecasted to elevate the potential of carbon footprint reduction from 5% to 15% throughout the entire life cycle of steelmaking process. The study confirms that steel slag carbonation is a viable carbon-negative technology, delivering a substantiated CCUS solution for achieving co-benefits of pollution and carbon reduction in the steel industry.

Novel framework for BIM interoperability for sustainability and green buildings - an application for concrete structures

The construction industry has a great impact on the environment, therefore sustainable construction presents itself as a growing requirement of society. However, the concern with green buildings must not only be considered during the construction stage, but also during the entire life cycle of the building, integrating all stages from the design up until the demolition. Ensuring that the information permeates this lifecycle without data losses is vital. This way, efficient interoperability can support sustainability, allowing data to feed the process, and promoting the creation of more sustainable buildings. BIM (Building Information Modeling) arises as a means to support interoperability improvements in the AEC (Architecture, Engineering, and Construction) industry, by sharing models through open formats and enabling communication amongst actors. This paper presents a framework for BIM interoperability, with the goal to support knowledge organization and aid users in the decision-making processes. It will allow users to track sustainability concepts throughout the entire green BIM lifecycle and to improve processes in the construction industry toward more interoperable processes, minimizing data loss, and improving communication and efficiency. The framework is presented through process mapping techniques to analyze and integrate sustainability concepts using BIM throughout the lifecycle of a building. This framework considers not only data interoperability but also other aspects such as process, business, and service interoperability. Also, an application of the framework is described, using the case of cast-in-place concrete structures. Research findings identified the critical data points in the lifecycle of concrete structures which can influence sustainability.

The Long Arm of Childhood Bullying Victimization: Associations with Social Isolation, Gender Differences and Depression in Later Life.

The association between childhood bullying victimization and depression has been well-explored among young adults, but little is known about whether this relationship persists into later life stages, specifically during middle-aged and older phases. Moreover, the intricate mechanisms underpinning this association and the potential existence of gender differences within this context remain inadequately elucidated. To address this gap in knowledge, this study aims to investigate the association between childhood bullying victimization and depression in later life, with a focus on exploring the mediating role of social isolation and the moderating roles of gender. A nationally representative sample of 5,070 individuals (mean age = 61.02, SD = 9.48; male = 55%) was drawn from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study. By employing the bootstrapping analysis method, the mediating role of social isolation was examined, and the moderating role of gender was tested through the generation of interaction items. The results reveal a significant association between childhood bullying victimization and severe depression in later life. Additionally, social isolation plays a mediating role in this association between childhood bullying victimization and social isolation, and the association between social isolation and depression, as well as the relationship between social isolation and depression, are both moderated by gender, presenting stronger effects for female groups than for male groups. However, no moderating role of gender is found in terms of the direct association between childhood bullying victimization and depression. These findings highlight the fact that childhood bullying is not only a problem in the immediate term but also a concern that affects individuals across entire life course. This study has implications for healthcare in proactively investigating, diagnosing, and treating depression by inquiring about childhood bullying victimization experiences. Furthermore, intervention policies that aim to reduce social isolation may be particularly beneficial in mitigating the negative associations, especially for female individuals.

Eğitim Stratejilerinin Yapılandırılması ve Yönteminin İncelenmesi

Strategy formulation in education examines how actors prepare alternatives, sets out some tools for use in this process, and explains why some strategy alternatives have been brought up or dropped from the agenda. In this context, it is related to other activities such as creating an agenda, identifying problems, implementing and establishing strategy coalitions. However, the original side of the strategy formulation is the focus on the micro-level of public strategies. Why some strategy tools and trends are used, the assumptions that are taken into account about the problems and related parties when using these tools, and their resources are also included in the process. As important as it is to explain the conditions under which the formulation of structuring educational strategies is shaped, it is also necessary to take into account economic, social, geographical, historical, and cultural limitations in making strategies. It is important to take into account the economic situation of the country when making educational strategies. For a successful strategy formulation, strategists need to analyze the economic challenges they will face in the coming years well and correctly identify the challenges that need to be dealt with. The social environment covers the entire life of people as individuals and groups. Due to social relations and interactions, there are differences in religion, philosophical belief, sect, values and thoughts among people in society. Dec. These differences are the source of the formation of other institutions in civil society. Within this framework, strategy makers have to develop strategies by analyzing the social structure of the country well. Key Words: Education, Educational Strategy, Configuration, Method

An Insight into the Role of Phenolics in Abiotic Stress Tolerance in Plants: Current Perspective for Sustainable Environment

Phenolic compounds (PCs) are a prominent class of secondary metabolites produced by plants and are essential for the natural role of the entire plant life cycle. PCs are formed in plants under both favorable and unfavorable conditions and have essential functions in signaling pathways, such as cell division, nutrient mineralization, hormone control, and reproduction. Under abiotic stress conditions, plants produce more polyphenols, which aid them in adapting to their environment. The phenylpropanoid biosynthetic pathway is activated under various environmental stress conditions, such as drought, heavy metal toxicity, salinity, and high/low temperatures, resulting in the deposition of compounds. These compounds can neutralize reactive oxygen species (ROS) produced in excessive amounts in crops under stressful conditions and adversely affect plants. It is imperative to investigate the functions of PCs in response to several abiotic stresses, as the phenylpropanoid pathway plays a crucial role in the metabolic pathway in crop plants, leading to the biosynthesis of a wide range of PCs. These compounds play various roles in plant growth, development, and response to environmental stress. Therefore, this review provides a comprehensive understanding of PCs and their exchanges with other cellular components, which is crucial for harnessing their potential to improve crop resilience to environmental stresses.

Aleksandry Czechówny dwie wyprawy „do wód” – do Iwonicza (1875 r.) i Szczawnicy (1880 r.). Wybór z „Dziennika”

Aleksandra Czechówna’s two trips “To the waters”– to Iwonicz (1875) and Szczawnica (1880) (Selected Works) Aleksandra Apolonia Czechówna (1839–1923) was the daughter of Tomasz Czech and Aleksandra nee Zielińska. The journal she was writing for her entire life – almost un interruptedly for 68 years (1856–1923) is kept in the National Archive in Krakow under file no. 29/1582/1–29/1582/44 (former file no. IT 428/1–428/44). It is a great source pre senting cultural and social life of Krakow during the second half of 19th century and first two decades of the 20th century. During hot summer months people were willing to leave the city. They would often go to the countryside but also the “the waters” – spa towns, which offered not only a ther apeutic activity but also leisure and entertainment. Numerous doctors were more and more often promoting spa treatment. Aleksandra Czechówna, living in Krakow, was also trying to spend the dog days of summer away from the city. She would often visit her family in the countryside or go for trips around Krakow. But to help her health or just accompanying her parents, several times she had also a chance to visit spa towns, mostly Polish ones but also abroad. The presented two accounts from Aleksandra Czechówna’s trips to “the baths” – to Iwonicz in 1875 and to Szczawnica 1880, create an interesting contributory studies of the daily life of that times when the habit of holiday trips and spa treatment was emerging and developing dynamically. The text comes from two volumes of Aleksandra Czechówna’s “Journal”: vol. 14 file no. 29/1582/14 (former file no. IT 428/14) and vol. 18, file no. 29/1582/18 (former file no. IT 428/18).

Sustainability through materials: A review of green options in construction

In light of the growing worldwide consciousness regarding environmental issues and the depletion of resources, attaining sustainability in the construction sector has become a necessity. This study carefully examines how environmentally friendly materials support sustainable building practices, emphasizing three key areas of investigation: the broad spectrum of feasible green materials, the quantitative differences in emissions between green and conventional materials, and the overall effect of these materials on the economy and health. The study employs a robust quantitative approach, leveraging numerical optimization and detailed analyses to explore a wide array of environmental resources, including recycled, renewable, and low-impact options. A comparison between materials is completed, offering refined insights into the environmental benefits of green materials across the entire life cycle-from manufacturing to lifecycle. The primary findings highlight the observable benefits of using these materials and demonstrate how they can drastically lower emissions and environmental effects. It offers verifiable proof of the viability of removing dangerous exposures and promoting healthier indoor environments by utilizing environmentally friendly materials. The graphical information and numerical findings that are provided in this paper form the basis for putting workable and significant strategies into action. The results support the broad use of green materials by providing evidence of their beneficial effects on economic growth, environmental preservation, and human health. The strong quantitative evidence highlights the applicability of these suggestions and offers a convincing case for incorporating sustainable practices in the building industry.

Impact of delivery instruments on the environment: A life cycle assessment

AbstractObjectiveTo determine a break‐even point in the carbon footprint of disposable and reusable instrument sets used in the delivery room. This can aid hospitals in making sustainable choices.MethodsObservational study conducted in a university hospital with an obstetric care centre. The study used life cycle assessment (LCA) to compare a reusable (minimal 500 times use) with a disposable instrumental set (single use). LCA quantifies the environmental impact of products over their entire life cycle. The contribution to climate change (i.e., carbon footprint) was used as the environmental indicator [in kg CO2 equivalent (eq.)]. Primary outcome was to determine a ‘break‐even point’: the number of uses at which the carbon footprint of the two sets was similar. Secondary outcomes: (1) ‘worst case scenario’, in which both sets are only used once; (2) ‘scenario of 500 deliveries’ and (3) annual carbon footprint reduction when switching to the set with the lowest environmental impact.ResultsAfter ≥3 times use, the carbon footprint of the reusable set becomes lower than the disposable set. When both sets are used only once, the reusable set had a higher impact on the environment (1.2 kg CO2 eq. difference). In case of using both sets during 500 deliveries, the difference in kg CO2 eq. was 400 kg CO2 eq., corresponding with a 2.3 times lower environmental impact in favour of the reusable set and a reduction of about 1800 kg CO2 eq. per year.ConclusionsDisposable instrumental sets used in the delivery room have a higher impact on the environment compared to reusable sets.

Postnatal changes in thyroid cartilage shape and cartilage matrix composition are not synchronized in Mus musculus.

The study was conducted to quantify laryngeal cartilage matrix composition and to investigate its relationship with cartilage shape in a mouse model. A sample of 30 mice (CD-1 mouse, Mus musculus) from five age groups (postnatal Days 2, 21, 90, 365, and 720) were used. Three-dimensional mouse laryngeal thyroid cartilage reconstructions were generated from contrast-enhanced micro-computed tomography (CT) image stacks. Cartilage matrix composition was estimated as Hounsfield units (HU). HU were determined by overlaying 3D reconstructions as masks on micro-CT image stacks and then measuring the attenuation. Cartilage shape was quantified with landmarks placed on the surface of the thyroid cartilage. Shape differences between the five age groups were analyzed using geometric morphometrics and multiparametric analysis of landmarks. The relationship between HU and shape was investigated with correlational analyses. Among five age groups, HU became higher in older animals. The shape of the thyroid cartilage changes with age throughout the entire life of a mouse. The changes in shape were not synchronized with changes in cartilage matrix composition. The thyroid cartilage of young and old M. musculus larynx showed a homogenous mineralization pattern. High-resolution contrast-enhanced micro-CT imaging makes the mouse larynx accessible for analysis of genetic and environmental factors affecting shape and matrix composition.

Fundamental principles of planning innovative activities at the enterprise

This article defines and establishes the essence of the concept of "innovation activity" and also identifies the stages of the innovation process, which are four in total. The types of planning and peculiarities of their application to innovation activities are considered. It is determined that the types of plans differ in terms of objectives, subject matter, level, content and planning period. According to the target orientation, there are strategic, current and operational planning of innovations. Strategic planning as an element of strategic management is to define the mission of the organization at each stage of its life cycle, to form a system of goals and a strategy for behavior in the innovation markets. The author summarizes that the main condition for the formation of the innovation market is the volume of investments in both scientific and scientific and technical activities. Given the 3-5-year duration of the innovation process, long-term and medium-term investments play a key role, providing financing for innovations throughout their entire life cycle It is determined that innovation activity is aimed at the practical use of scientific, scientific and technical results and intellectual potential in order to obtain new or radically improved products, production technology and satisfaction of effective consumer demand for high-quality goods and services, and improvement of social services.