Precondition For Use Research Articles

Environmentally balanced preconditions for use of logging residues in forests of Ukrainian Carpathians for energy production

Use of woody biomass of logging residues at plots where different types of logging has occurred as a planned management activity has to be based on the analysis of relevant environmental risks. These risks include biodiversity losses, soil fertility reduction, and formation of dangerous volumes of flammable materials in forests during the fire-hazardous period, which is especially relevant on plots with high recreational load. As a result of the research, we propose indicative utilization rates for logging residues at sites where care or final cuts occur in spruce, beech and fir dominated stands in various growth conditions. The information basis of the research is formed by the research data on distribution of the relevant forest stands in different types of forest growth conditions, as well as on influence of forest growth conditions on processes of biological destruction and accumulation of forest flammable materials at plots with intensive recreational load. The proposed utilization rates for logging residues serve as an information component in the process of formation of regional strategy of forest bioenergy development.

Exploring Challenges Faced By Elderly In Adopting The Internet And Cultivating Online Connections

Many studies suggest that social networks and online communication can improve the health and social welfare of seniors and enhance their quality of life. However, challenges with the use of online social networks may prevent elderly individuals from accessing these benefits. This study explores the experiences of seniors when facing barriers and challenges in using social networks. Using a phenomenological approach, this qualitative study conducted in 2016 with purposive sampling involved in-depth semi-structured interviews with 9 seniors (3 males and 6 females) with an average age of 68.3 years who confirmed to be active members of at least one online social network. The data analysis, using Colaizzi’s 7-step method, revealed two main themes of "preconditions of use" and "individual concerns," with six relevant subthemes, including the need for equipment and facilities, adequate income, technical knowledge, trust in information, trust in other users, and security and privacy. The findings suggest that elderly individuals face significant barriers and difficulties in using online social networks. However, educational planning can help seniors overcome these barriers and improve their quality of life. This study underscores the importance of understanding the challenges that seniors face in adopting technology and developing effective interventions and solutions to support their digital participation and socialization.

Designed to support or impede energy conservation? How design characteristics influence people's energy use

This paper explores how the design of domestic appliances influences people’s energy use during everyday activities. Drawing on findings from an interview study with 81 informants, a variety of design characteristics were uncovered, which set preconditions for use that in different ways impede or support energy conservation. The identified characteristics did not only concern appliances’ operative functions but also their interactive and communicative functions as well as people’s underlying motives for using specific appliances. Addressing the full range of characteristics during the development of new appliances will highlight a variety of design opportunities and increase the possibilities for developing appliances that support people to go about their everyday activities in less energy-reliant ways.

Мехатроника и робототехника как инновационное звено в развитии инженерного и медицинского образования

Currently, mechatronics and robotics play a huge role in the development of modern medicine. The main purpose of the medicine robotics is the high accuracy and quality of service, efficiency of treatment, reducing the risk of harm to human health. However, despite advances in engineering and technology, health specialists are not always aware of them, and engineers do not have full information concerning the needs of modern medicine. The authors carried out a critical analysis of specific features concerning healthcare and engineering in the field related to the interaction with mechatronics and robotics. Identified the causes of the situation and proposed the ways to solve the problem. The law documents in the field of science, technology and strategy of medicine development were done to achieve this goal, used the methods of analysis of theoretical and practical preconditions of use of mechatronics and robotics as an innovative element in the development of medicine and engineering. Pedagogical solutions of described paradox by adjusting approaches in giving classes on cycles of health professionals’ and engineers’ training are proposed. The facts of reality, which form the basis for action related to the interdisciplinary research are presented. Recommendations to ensure a higher level of interaction between health professionals and engineers robotics are given. The cause of the low interaction between health professionals and engineers in solving interdisciplinary robotics tasks are determined. Pedagogical solutions to this problem are given. According to the research the authors conclude that the reason of not enough close cooperation between the healthcare specialists and robotics engineers is the isolation of different areas of knowledge specialists, lack of adequate information support innovative projects and the lack of interagency planning market-oriented research and analysis of predictive brand information and the lack of clear strategy for commercialization.

A qualitative participatory study to identify experiences of coronary heart disease patients to support the development of online self-management services

ObjectiveWeb-based self-management services remain underutilized in current practice. Our aim was to gain insight into disease and self-management experiences of patients in early and progressive stages of coronary heart disease (CHD), to understand moderating effects of daily life experiences on the utilization of web-based self-management services and preconditions for use. MethodsWe applied generative research techniques, which stem from the field of product design and are characterized by the use of creative processes. Three groups of patients with CHD received a sensitizing package to document and reflect on their health, and were subsequently either interviewed or participated in a focus group session. ResultsIn total, 23 patients participated in this study. Emerging themes were (1) fear for recurrent events, (2) experiences with professional care, (3) the perceived inability to prevent disease progression, (4) the desire to go on living without thinking about the disease every day, (5) the social environment as a barrier to or facilitator for self-management, and (6) the need for information tailored to personal preferences. ConclusionHow patients experience their disease varies between stable and post-acute stages, as well as between early and progressive stages of CHD. Patients in post-acute stages of the disease seem to be most amenable to support, while patients in stable stages want to live their life without being reminded of their disease. In the context of self-management, web-based services should be adapted to the variation in needs that occur in the different stages of CHD and new strategies to fit such services to these needs should be developed. Furthermore, they should be tailored to patients’ individual health situation and preferences, support patient empowerment, and manage expectations regarding the progression of their disease.

Use of biometric thermal factors for identification in access systems

The article considers the preconditions for use of the biometric identification and authentication methods based on the features of a human thermogram. The article presents the method of solution of the problem of recognition of a human face contour thermogram, which can improve the quality of functioning of the information security system and provide high factors of FAR and FRR. The method consists in the fact that initially for all image pixels the squared norm of gradient of change of their brightness was calculated. Then on a new black and white monochrome matrix by black colour on a white background all elements are set off, whose values of the norm of the gradient are over a threshold value. As outlines of objects in a monochrome matrix, we take coherent configurations of elements in black. Further, the coefficient is determined and the threshold value of squared norm of gradient is calculated. It is necessary to take into account that the values are higher than the overall average levels of non-zero changes in rows and columns, respectively, and among the connected configurations of elements in black on the monochrome matrix, the configurations, in which the number of input elements is less than a certain value, are rejected. For remaining configurations the average degree of neighborhood is calculated, i.e. the result of division of the sum of all elements of the configuration of neighboring elements into the sum of the elements in the configuration. At the same time, the configurations in which the average degree of neighborhood is less than three are rejected, and the remaining ones are accepted as the desired object boundaries.

An inverse analysis reveals limitations of the soil-CO<sub>2</sub> profile method to calculate CO<sub>2</sub> production and efflux for well-structured soils

Abstract. Soil respiration is the second largest flux in the global carbon cycle, yet the underlying below-ground process, carbon dioxide (CO2) production, is not well understood because it can not be measured in the field. CO2 production has frequently been calculated from the vertical CO2 diffusive flux divergence, known as "soil-CO2 profile method". This relatively simple model requires knowledge of soil CO2 concentration profiles and soil diffusive properties. Application of the method for a tropical lowland forest soil in Panama gave inconsistent results when using diffusion coefficients (D) calculated based on relationships with soil porosity and moisture ("physically modeled" D). Our objective was to investigate whether these inconsistencies were related to (1) the applied interpolation and solution methods and/or (2) uncertainties in the physically modeled profile of D. First, we show that the calculated CO2 production strongly depends on the function used to interpolate between measured CO2 concentrations. Secondly, using an inverse analysis of the soil-CO2 profile method, we deduce which D would be required to explain the observed CO2 concentrations, assuming the model perception is valid. In the top soil, this inversely modeled D closely resembled the physically modeled D. In the deep soil, however, the inversely modeled D increased sharply while the physically modeled D did not. When imposing a constraint during the fit parameter optimization, a solution could be found where this deviation between the physically and inversely modeled D disappeared. A radon (Rn) mass balance model, in which diffusion was calculated based on the physically modeled or constrained inversely modeled D, simulated observed Rn profiles reasonably well. However, the CO2 concentrations which corresponded to the constrained inversely modeled D were too small compared to the measurements. We suggest that, in well-structured soils, a missing description of steady state CO2 exchange fluxes across water-filled pores causes the soil-CO2 profile method to fail. These fluxes are driven by the different diffusivities in inter- vs. intra-aggregate pores which create permanent CO2 gradients if separated by a "diffusive water barrier". These results corroborate other studies which have shown that the theory to treat gas diffusion as homogeneous process, a precondition for use of the soil-CO2 profile method, is inaccurate for pore networks which exhibit spatial separation between CO2 production and diffusion out of the soil.

Science to Practice: The Dawn of Molecular US Imaging for Clinical Cancer Imaging

Ultrasonography (US) is one of the most commonly used diagnostic modalities in clinical medicine. Gas-filled microbubbles can be used to enhance the contrast of tumors by indicating increased vascularity. Because microbubbles can be detected with high sensitivity and specificity, they fulfill an important precondition for use as a molecular imaging probe. Over the past several years, there have been an increasing number of published studies that showed that markers of angiogenesis and inflammation can be assessed reliably when microbubbles are coupled to antibodies and peptides. Recently, target-specific microbubbles have been developed that are suited for use in humans. Now the identification of the optimal clinical indications for molecular US imaging in clinics is required. In this context, advantages and limitations of US with targeted microbubbles, when compared with other imaging modalities, must be carefully considered. Because US is a transportable, cheap, real-time imaging modality, molecular US imaging may have advantages for initial tumor screening and US-guided interventions; furthermore, it may support therapy monitoring in intervals between whole-body images obtained with positron emission tomography (PET), computed tomography (CT), and magnetic resonance (MR) imaging.

Risk on the ramble: The international transfer of risk and vulnerability

In this paper the purpose is to discuss a concept of technology that can explain how the transfer of technology implies the risk of new failures, misuse, accidents and unhealthy workplaces. Production technologies are often transformed through a steady stream of incremental changes appropriate to their social context, and the technology will therefore gradually acquire some contextually dependent preconditions for use. These preconditions will most probably be revealed when a technology is transferred from one context to another. Thus, a technology transfer project may trigger a long process of re-innovations just to make the technology fully operational in its new context. In a transfer process, technological risks may arise due to incomplete transfer of mastering capacity; mismatch between transferred technology and the environment; transfer of latent conditions for failure; and the transformation of latent conditions or known risks when the technology is installed in a new environment. Longitudinal data from the Norwegian petroleum industry indicates that the first phases in a transfer process will create high technological risks. It will take many years before the transferred technologies are adapted to the new context and the risk level has been normalised.

A monitoring tool for the provision of accessible and attractive urban green spaces

The availability of accessible and attractive green spaces is an integral part of urban quality of life. This paper presents an integrated indicator designed for: (1) the monitoring of the urban green space provision against quantitative and qualitative targets; (2) the comparison between cities and city parts; (3) the assessment of the effects of future policy scenarios; (4) the indication of locations where action is required. The indicator development was guided by five principles: “citizen based”, “functional levels”, “preconditions for use”, “variety of qualities”, and “multiple use”. The parameters were derived from the available research on public preferences and use of green spaces. The indicator is made operational in a GIS-based working procedure starting from the residential places and based on a two-step approach: (1) The accessibility: which green spaces are within reach at different functional levels? (2) The attractiveness: which are the accessible green spaces’ qualities? The GIS-model was applied in four cities of Flanders (northern part of Belgium): Antwerp, Ghent, Aalst and Kortrijk. This article explains the underlying ideas and the construction of the monitoring tool and discusses the suitability as a touchstone for current and future policy as well as its possible guiding role in local planning situations.

Interpreting a contingency table by rules

Joint distributions of discrete random variables, for instance, in the form of contingency tables, are a well-known means for representing knowledge. Their mathematical exactness and easy computability seem to be ideal preconditions for use as a knowledge base. The complexity of information they embody, however, makes it difficult to assign correct probabilities to events or—on the other hand—to understand the meanings of such probabilities and realize dependencies and independences. In this article, we introduce a method to detect automatically dependencies between random variables, extracting and aggregating the information given only by the probability values of the underlying distribution. No further presuppositions are imposed on the random variables; the method works by intensional reasoning. We use probabilistic logic to derive and describe our results, and the interpretation of the joint distribution is presented as a set of probabilistic rules. Most of the rules have the character of default rules, and hints on possible exceptions may be found as well. Moreover, classifications and hierarchical structures may also be taken into account. Thus, the rules are intended to reflect important features of the objects under consideration. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.