Stand-alone Unit Research Articles

Experimental design of a "Snap-on" and standalone single-bed oxygen concentrator for medical applications.

A novel single-bed, “Snap-on” and standalone, medical oxygen concentrator design based on a rapid pressure swing adsorption process was investigated for continuous oxygen supply. The Snap-on concentrator design is easy to hook up to an existing compressed air source, and the unit can then be readily used to produce oxygen for medical applications. It is easily transportable and compared to a traditional oxygen concentrator with its dedicated compressor, the Snap-on concentrator is particularly relevant for the oxygen therapy needs of a larger number of patients in situations such as COVID-19. A commercially available LiLSX zeolite was used for the separation of oxygen from compressed ambient air. The experiments were performed at different feed air pressures using a constant supply of house air in the lab. Further, the device performance was also analyzed using a standalone medium size air compressor. The minimum bed size factor obtained with compressed house air was 100 lb/tons per day contained (TPDc) O2 at a cycle time of 7 s, whereas the minimum bed size factor obtained with a medium size air compressor weighing about 12 lbs was 210 lb/TPDc O2 at a cycle time of 14.5 s under the same feed pressures of 3.1 bar at an oxygen product purity of 90%. The product oxygen flow rate was nearly double for the same amount of adsorbent when using house air for the Snap-on design. The primary reason for this significantly higher oxygen production was the substantially higher and stable air throughput capacity of a typical house air compressor that enabled rapid cycling of the process at near-constant feed pressure compared to a medium size compressor used in a medical oxygen concentrator. The oxygen recovery was approximately 34% for both cases. Thus, the Snap-on oxygen concentrator was found to be easier to build and it delivered more oxygen for medical use compared to standalone units in locations where a constant supply of compressed feed air is available. This is typically the case in facilities such as hospitals, military medical camps and cruise ships. Further, the Snap-on design offers other benefits such as ease of transportation, higher reliability and lower weight.

Characterization of Tiled Architecture for C-Band 1-Bit Beam-Steering Transmitarray.

A new implementation of a beam-steering transmitarray is proposed based on the tiled array architecture. Each pixel of the transmitarray is manufactured as a standalone unit which can be hard-wired for specific transmission characteristics. A set of complementary units, providing reciprocal phase-shifts, can be assembled in a prescribed spatial phase-modulation pattern to perform beam steering and beam forming in a broad spatial range. A compact circuit model of the tiled unit cell is proposed and characterized with full-wave electromagnetic simulations. Waveguide measurements of a prototype unit cell have been carried out. A design example of a tiled 10 × 10-element 1-bit beam-steering transmitarray is presented and its performance benchmarked against the conventional single-panel, i.e., unibody, counterpart. Prototypes of the tiled and single-panel C-band transmitarrays have been fabricated and tested, demonstrating their close performance, good agreement with simulations and a weak effect of fabrication tolerances. The proposed transmitarray antenna configuration has great potential for fifth-generation (5G) communication systems.

LIFE CYCLE ANALYSIS OF SOLAR PV PANELS FOR THEIR EFIICIENCY, COST AND ENVIRONMENTAL PERFORMANCE: A CASE STUDY OF HYDERABAD

As the demand of energy increases, renewable technologies are dominating in the recent years. Solar energy is one of the leading technologies in all of the renewable energies, due to its simplicity. In Pakistan, solar PV stand-alone units are mostly used to meet the energy requirements. During production of solar PV panel, it emits out lot of waste heat and it is necessary to calculate these emissions. This study investigates the complete Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) of two different types of solar panels which are locally available in Hyderabad markets. Complete modeling of Monocrystalline and Polycrystalline PV panels has been done by using GaBi software. This study shows the complete waste heat emissions during each stage of PV panel production. Two different types (Monocrystalline and Polycrystalline) of solar panels are designed under the dimensions of 1 m2. It is calculated that Monocrystalline PV panels are more efficient than Polycrystalline PV panels and they generates more units of electricity under same temperature conditions during its complete life. To enhance the electrical efficiency of solar PV panel, cooling system must be provided across it. The comparative analysis shows that Polycrystalline PV panels requires less amount of electrical energy as compare to Monocrystalline PV panels resulting in the reduction of waste heat emission. At the end of life, this study highlights the significance of recycling of solar panels which consider the reuse of the raw material. In this study, the combination of mechanical, thermal, and chemical process of recycling is considered. Recycling rate of solar PV panel has been assumed to be 90%. Recycling of raw material reduces the waste heat emission during purification process of raw material. Thus, cost is reduced and beneficial for environmental aspects. Result shows that recycling of solar PV panel is more beneficial than landfill for environmental and economic aspects.

Superconducting Magnet Qualification Methodology for the Material Plasma Exposure Experiment

The Material Plasma Exposure eXperiment (MPEX), currently under design, is a new linear plasma device to advance the understanding of plasma-material interactions through the generation and delivery of plasmas as they are expected in future fusion reactor divertors. MPEX will be a steady-state device to study high-fluence exposures of plasma-facing materials and components. The requirements for the magnetic field at the target and the heating stages make the application of superconducting coils necessary. Conceptual designs for the superconducting magnets have been developed, and multiple cryostats with warm bore diameters of either 65 cm or 156 cm are envisioned to facilitate their integrated and timely assembly with other systems such as vacuum, water cooling, and RF power. Although design, fabrication, and testing for the magnets as stand-alone units are straightforward, challenges will arise during the integration of the system. Two different field profiles will be used during operation. The magnetic field where the electron cyclotron heating occurs needs to operate at both 1.25 and 2.5 T. It is critical that the magnets all share the same magnetic axis and alignment. The mutual inductance between cryostats will affect the quench behavior of the system. Also, cryostat-to-cryostat forces can be as large as 700 kN, and the magnitude and direction will change depending on which coils are energized. The design of the system must take those characteristics into account along with the quench scenarios. This paper describes the qualification approach that will be used to determine whether stand-alone tests can be used to ensure the success of the integrated system. Fiducials will be used to define the location of the magnetic axis for each cryostat to ensure proper alignment. Quench tests of a single magnet will be performed at a current above the normal operating current to account for additional stored energy from the mutual inductance to adjacent cryostats. Also, a 1018 steel plate will be mounted on either end of a cryostat to simulate the cryostat-to-cryostat forces. Requirements for the size and location of the steel plates are described.

Detection of Dementia-Related Abnormal Behaviour Using Recursive Auto-Encoders.

Age-related health issues have been increasing with the rise of life expectancy all over the world. One of these problems is cognitive impairment, which causes elderly people to have problems performing their daily activities. Detection of cognitive impairment at an early stage would enable medical doctors to deepen diagnosis and follow-up on patient status. Recent studies show that daily activities can be used to assess the cognitive status of elderly people. Additionally, the intrinsic structure of activities and the relationships between their sub-activities are important clues for capturing the cognitive abilities of seniors. Existing methods perceive each activity as a stand-alone unit while ignoring their inner structural relationships. This study investigates such relationships by modelling activities hierarchically from their sub-activities, with the overall goal of detecting abnormal activities linked to cognitive impairment. For this purpose, recursive auto-encoders (RAE) and their linear vs. greedy and supervised vs. semi-supervised variants are adopted to model the activities. Then, abnormal activities are systematically detected using RAE’s reconstruction error. Moreover, to apply RAEs for this problem, we introduce a new sensor representation called raw sensor measurement (RSM) that captures the intrinsic structure of activities, such as the frequency and the order of sensor activations. As real-world data are not accessible, we generated data by simulating abnormal behaviour, which reflects on cognitive impairment. Extensive experiments show that RAEs can be used as a decision-supporting tool, especially when the training set is not labelled to detect early indicators of dementia.

The Fairy Tale World ed. by Andrew Teverson

Reviewed by: The Fairy Tale World ed. by Andrew Teverson Mary Sellers (bio) The Fairy Tale World. Edited by Andrew Teverson, Routledge, 2019, 484 pp. Drawing on the work of established and emerging scholars, this collection of essays—as the title suggests—negotiates fairy tales around the world but also the world of the fairy tale itself. It begins with a definition of the term and a discussion of Andrew Lang’s work, but it quickly gets to the first of many conflicts in the field. The titular term “fairy tale” is fraught with “Eurocentric and Western associations that threaten to obscure the specificity, variety, and function of oral storytelling genres” (Lewis Seifert 159). In an effort to overcome this limiting terminology “that entail[s] homogenizing the world’s wonder tales according to a Euro-American model” (12), Andrew Teverson set out to reclaim the term and “extend and elaborate the emerging critique of the Euro-American focus of fairy-tale studies” (10). This aim is achieved through exposing the international influence of familiar texts, exploring how Märchen evolved differently across the world, expanding the canon to include marginalized works and analyses, and examining how contemporary writers and artists blend older forms and modern interpretations to create a novel pastiche. [End Page 388] The book is divided into five sections with seven or eight chapters in each. The sections—“The Formation of the Canon,” “Africa and the Caribbean,” “The Americas, Asia and Australia,” and “Europe”—provide an excellent overview of both the specific topic and current scholarship in the area. However, there are threads that weave through all the chapters—particularly the ideas of colonialism, imperialism, and fairy-tale origins—that create a global tapestry of ideas. Other cross-chapter motifs are art, contemporary literature, and a definition of fairy tale. However, for those who wish to focus on a specific geographical area, the book offers a sample of approaches to scholarship to highlight the trends in research. Additionally, the geographical focus enables a study of a wider region, as stories travel heedless of political borders. It also allows cross-cultural comparison. For example, how do contemporary retellings in Australia differ from those in Japan or America? Yet, each section can be used as a stand-alone unit for a class or to delve into a geographical exploration of fairy tales in that region. The first section, “The Formation of the Canon,” opens by posing the question “Where do fairy tales belong?” Donald Haase answers the query and “confirms the resistance of folktales and fairy tales to the constraint of a one-dimensional belonging” (30). These tales exist in their own realm, and those who hear them often do not grapple with paratextual meanings and do not place the tales in their specific geographical and cultural setting. This enables fairy tales to be read through multiple lenses. Questions of interpretation and origin continue in the rest of the section through discussions of the origin of the fairy tale in the Middle East, Italy, France, Germany, and the problems inherent in translation. Nancy L. Canepa discusses the works of Giovan Francesco Straparola and Giambattista Basile in her chapter, “The Formation of the Literary Fairy Tale in Early Modern Italy 1550–1636,” commenting on the “murky moral world of the tales” where “violence and deception may or may not prove to be winning strategies” (65). This chapter contrasts well with the “stylish atmosphere of the court” (68) found in the French tales Christine A. Jones uses as her texts in “Social Change and the Development of the Fairy Tale in France 1690–1799.” Overall, this first section lays the groundwork for continuing themes in the rest of the volume. Although the remaining sections are geographically focused, many of the entries grapple with the same sort of question that Ruth Finnegan posed, “Are there fairy tales in Africa?” (105), which introduces her chapter, “Fairy Tale in Africa: A Contrast of Centuries.” Discussions of wonder tales or tales of magic occur in almost every section, expanding the fixed notion of a “fairy tale” to encompass a wider range of narratives. Emily Zoebel Marshall’s study of Anansi tales in “This Is Not a...

Direct Medium-Chain Carboxylic Acid Oil Separation from a Bioreactor by an Electrodialysis/Phase Separation Cell.

Medium-chain carboxylic acids (MCCAs) are valuable platform chemicals and can be produced from waste biomass sources or syngas fermentation effluent through microbial chain elongation. We have previously demonstrated successful approaches to separate >90% purity oil with different MCCAs (MCCA oil) by integrating the anaerobic bioprocess with membrane-based liquid-liquid extraction (pertraction) and membrane electrolysis. However, two-compartment membrane electrolysis unit without pertraction was not able to separate MCCA oil. Therefore, we developed a five-compartment electrodialysis/phase separation cell (ED/PS). First, we tested an ED/PS cell in series with pertraction and achieved a maximum MCCA-oil flux of 1.7 × 103 g d-1 per projected area (m2) (19 mL oil d-1) and MCCA-oil transfer efficiency [100% × moles MCCA-oil moles electrons-1] of 74% at 15 A m-2. This extraction system at 15 A m-2 demonstrated a ∼10 times lower electric-power consumption (1.1 kWh kg-1 MCCA oil) than membrane electrolysis in series with pertraction (9.9 kWh kg-1 MCCA oil). Second, we evaluated our ED/PS as a stand-alone unit when integrated with the anaerobic bioprocess and demonstrated that we can selectively extract and separate MCCA oil directly from chain-elongating bioreactor broth with just an abiotic electrochemical cell. However, the electric-power consumption increased considerably due to the lower MCCA concentrations in the bioreactor broth compared to the pertraction broth.

Morphing Origami Block for Lightweight Reconfigurable System

Origami provides a unique tool for the design of robotic frames owing to its simple shaping principle by “folding.” However, achieving the fast and reversible activeness of a highly reconfigurable structure remains challenging owing to the limitations of accessible actuators. In particular, it is difficult to find an actuator that can realize a simultaneously large, rapid, reversible, and stable movement while leading to a favorable form factor for the origami. To overcome this, in this article, we propose a 3-D shape-shifting system consisting of a morphing origami block that complements the stability problem of shape memory alloy wire actuators by tuning its structural characteristics. This cooperative scheme improves the reversibility and stability of the shape-shifting system, which enables the rapid transformation with high degrees of freedom unlike in existing programmable origami. As a stand-alone unit of transformation, morphing block equipped with deployable mechanism and actuators weighs 6 g and has a volume change factor of ten. Furthermore, the transformation time in both directions is less than 5 s, and the block can carry more than 120 g of payload in the deployed state. The proposed system composed of multiple origami blocks can reconfigure itself into diverse 3-D target shapes.

Impact of changes in community psychiatric service provision on mental health presentations to the emergency department.

BackgroundThe reconfiguration of many Irish stand-alone psychiatric units has led to many patients in acute mental health need now being assessed in emergency departments (EDs). This has implications for ED resources and raises questions about appropriate assessment location for this group.AimsThis report aims to examine the impact of removal of a direct community access point for patients in acute mental health need on ED presentations in a Dublin hospital.MethodsWe examined data on ED referrals to psychiatry over 5 years: 12 months before the service change, and four subsequent 12-month periods. We compared numbers referred, mode of referral, average ED length of stay, proportion with no physical issue requiring psychiatric assessment only, and numbers who did not wait for psychiatry assessment.ResultsIn the year directly after the service change, referrals to psychiatry from ED increased by 200%, remaining at this level for the subsequent 3 years. Of these, 32.5% were referred by a GP—more than a threefold increase in numbers from the previous year, with both numbers remaining similarly elevated over subsequent years. In the year after the service change, 52.1% of total ED to psychiatry presented solely for mental health reasons—nearly a fourfold increase in cases from the previous year, and remained high.ConclusionsRemoving a direct community access point for this group resulted in a substantial increase in ED presentations, many of which did not have physical needs. This study has implications for future policy to address the needs of this group, especially in light of the pandemic.

Integrating Signals With High Sampling Rates for Transmission Line Protection in Digital Substations

Travelling wave based protection functions require significantly higher sampling rates than protection functions based on time-domain superimposed quantities or fundamental frequency phasors. Integrating these high sampling rates in digital substations leads to a significant increase of the communication load of process-level networks and causes high computational cost for centralized protection systems. This paper builds on a distributed signal processing approach, which allocates the filtering operations among standalone merging units (SAMU). In particular, the paper presents a decimation filter design to integrate signals with high sampling rates at the process-level. Thereby, signal sequences with high, medium and low sampling rates are provided according to the requirements of the respective protection function. The decimation filter structure is optimized with respect to time delay by the Remez exchange algorithm and with respect to computational cost by a multistage approach and a sparse filter design algorithm. In addition, the filter response is verified against the accuracy constraints defined in IEC 61869-6 and IEC 61869-13. The paper shows that it is feasible to distribute the filtering operations among SAMUs, while keeping the time delay below the maximum allowable processing delay of 2 ms.

Engaging critical methodologies in qualitative research methods with undergraduate psychology students.

This article describes the experiences of teaching undergraduate psychology students in an Australian context. The degree course the students take has no community or critical units, but it is one of very few in Australia that has a compulsory standalone unit in qualitative methods. While qualitative methods are by no means necessarily inherently critical or community focused, it has presented an opportunity to the teachers of the unit (the authors of this paper). The authors of this paper, who employ community critical methodologies in their research, aim to design teaching which is also grounded in such theory, wherever possible and despite significant limitations. Such teaching is informed by: challenging taken for granted assumptions; deconstruction and problem posing; making things uncomfortable; and relating differently. The paper describes a design of teaching where all the students undertake research projects exploring the research question: "what does psychology offer community?" Following a description of the methodologies and teaching practices, the authors reflect subjectively on their experiences working with the students, on opportunities which arose and on structural boundaries which appear to make community critical methodologies in university teaching very difficult.

An FPGA-Based Neuron Activity Extraction Unit for a Wireless Neural Interface

As computational and functional brain model development are solely dependent upon the data acquired from the neural interface, this device plays a vital role in both prosthetic developments and neurological experiments. A wireless neural interface is preferred over a traditional wired one because it can maximize the comfort of the subject and ensure the freedom of movement while implemented. This paper describes the field programmable gate array (FPGA) prototype design of a low-power multichannel neuron activity extraction unit suitable for a wireless neural interface. To achieve the low-power requirement, we proposed a novel neural signal extraction algorithm which can provide an up to 6000X transmission rate reduction considering the input signal. Consequently, this technique offers at least 2X power reduction compared to the state-of-the-art systems. We implemented this scheme in Xilinx Zynq-7000 FPGA, which can be used as an intermediate transition towards the application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) design for on-chip neural signal processing. The proposed FPGA prototype offers reconfigurable computability, which means the model can be modified and verified according to prerequisites before the final ASIC design. This prototype consists of a signal filtering unit and a signal extraction unit which can be used either as stand-alone units or combined as a complete system. Our proposed scheme also provides a provision to work as a single-channel or a scalable multichannel interface based on user’s demands. We collected practical neural signals from rat brains and validated the efficacy of the implemented system using in-silico signal processing.

Electrostatic Precipitators as an Indoor Air Cleaner—A Literature Review

Many people spend most of their time in an indoor environment. A positive relationship exists between indoor environmental quality and the health, wellbeing, and productivity of occupants in buildings. The indoor environment is affected by pollutants, such as gases and particles. Pollutants can be removed from the indoor environment in various ways. Air-cleaning devices are commonly marketed as benefiting the removal of air pollutants and, consequently, improving indoor air quality. Depending on the type of cleaning technology, air cleaners may generate undesired and toxic byproducts. Different air filtration technologies, such as electrostatic precipitators (ESPs) have been introduced to the market. The ESP has been used in buildings because it can remove particles while only causing low pressure drops. Moreover, ESPs can be either in-duct or standalone units. This review aims to provide an overview of ESP use, methods for testing this product, the performance of existing ESPs concerning removing pollutants and their byproducts, and the existing market for ESPs.

Inclined forward osmosis module system for fouling control in sustainable produced water treatment using seawater as draw solution

Produced water (PW) generated from oil and gas production is a threat to the environment if not treated properly. Conventional methods for PW treatment are often accompanied by a series of treatments to fulfill the discharge standard. Forward osmosis (FO) is a promising option due to its high solute retention, less irreversible fouling, low energy footprint and potentially used as a standalone unit. However, FO still suffers from the low flux and fouling when treating highly contaminated feeds. This study investigated fouling control in the FO system for concentrating PW by using seawater as a draw solution (DS). A multi-stage filtration system (via via replenishments of the DS) with an aeration and module inclination for fouling mitigation was proposed to improve concentration factor (CF) and flux. Results showed that the multi-stage concentration offered higher fluxes range of 1.72–15.48−1.72 L/(m2h) (LMH) and four times of CF than the single-stage one with fluxes range of 0.39–9.49 LMH corresponding to CF of 1.75. The aeration was effective to enhance the water flux and suppress the fouling, and showed a significant impact at the rate of 0.4 L/min, reaching flux increment by 11 times at a rate of 1 L/min. The impact of aeration was enhanced by inclining the filtration cell up to 5 times at the inclination angle (θ) of 90° due to the improved contacts of air bubbles with the membrane surface. The contribution of the aeration and cell inclination on the water flux can be explained through the forces acting on moving air bubbles.

Evonik may sell superabsorbents business

Evonik Industries says it is “exploring strategic options” for its superabsorbent polymers business, which the German firm is carving into a stand-alone unit to prepare for a possible sale or joint venture. A sale would be its second large polymer divestment as Evonik hones its focus on specialty chemicals. The company to the private equity firm Advent International last year for $3.4 billion. Superabsorbent polymers, normally derived from acrylic acid, are used in baby diapers, adult undergarments, and other applications. According to the consulting firm Fior Markets, the sector is growing 6.1% annually and is expected to hit $12.2 billion by 2025. Evonik isn’t stating how large the business is other than to note it has 800 employees. Evonik says it is the world’s third-largest maker of superabsorbents, behind Nippon Shokubai and BASF. In 2016, Evonik reduced capacity at its plants in North Carolina and Louisiana in response to demand

Creating a Colocation Unit for End-of-Life Care during a Pandemic.

Background: Palliative care seeks to support the physical, psycho-social and spiritual needs of patients and families who are facing life threatening diseases. Advantages of establishing a palliative care unit, or alternatively co-locating patients, include promoting optimal physical and psychological symptom management; increased family satisfaction; and facilitating resource allocation. Objective: To design a stand-alone hospital unit to provide end of life care during a pandemic. Setting: Mount Sinai Hospital (MSH), a 1,144 bed tertiary- and quaternary-care teaching facility and Brookdale Department of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mt Sinai. Method: Tracking key indicators signaling the need for conversion to a COVID-19 unit, and identifying factors to facilitate a successful conversion. Result/Implementation: Using previously identified key focused action categories as framework, we describe our successful palliative care unit (PCU) conversion into a COVID-19 care unit. Conclusion: We believe that these operational insights gained from transforming our unit during COVID-19 will be helpful to other programs and institutions during a pandemic, or public health emergencies.

Factors affecting uptake of home hemodialysis among self-care dialysis unit patients.

Superior outcomes have been reported among hemodialysis (HD) patients who take active control over their dialysis treatment either at self-care satellite dialysis units or home compared to the regular in-center hemodialysis patient. Although the differences between the home hemodialysis (HHD) and self-care in-center HD (SCHD) are not well described, the growing literature on the superior outcomes of HHD suggests that HHD is the better option. We performed a cross-sectional study in a stand-alone self-care unit to examine the differences in patients that are keen to consider HHD and those who are not. A cross-sectional sample of 44 patients completed a structured interview and the distress thermometer score used to assess psychological stress. Only 68% of patients reported to have heard about the benefits of HHD despite the long-established history and availability of the modality in the unit. One of the more critical findings in our study was that the cohort of patients who were keen to consider HHD believed that self-care and HHD would improve their quality of life (P < 0.05). Specifically, the perceived benefits stated by those willing to consider HHD were the lack of need to travel, association with better outcomes and the possibility of having the treatment in the comfort of home (P < 0.05). We surmise that the answers expressed in this survey likely reflect a difference in perceptions of self-care and beliefs about HHD; hence, the importance of introducing HHD education earlier in the course of their chronic kidney disease journey.

Efficient Deconvolution Architecture for Heterogeneous Systems-on-Chip.

Today, convolutional and deconvolutional neural network models are exceptionally popular thanks to the impressive accuracies they have been proven in several computer-vision applications. To speed up the overall tasks of these neural networks, purpose-designed accelerators are highly desirable. Unfortunately, the high computational complexity and the huge memory demand make the design of efficient hardware architectures, as well as their deployment in resource- and power-constrained embedded systems, still quite challenging. This paper presents a novel purpose-designed hardware accelerator to perform 2D deconvolutions. The proposed structure applies a hardware-oriented computational approach that overcomes the issues of traditional deconvolution methods, and it is suitable for being implemented within any virtually system-on-chip based on field-programmable gate array devices. In fact, the novel accelerator is simply scalable to comply with resources available within both high- and low-end devices by adequately scaling the adopted parallelism. As an example, when exploited to accelerate the Deep Convolutional Generative Adversarial Network model, the novel accelerator, running as a standalone unit implemented within the Xilinx Zynq XC7Z020 System-on-Chip (SoC) device, performs up to 72 GOPs. Moreover, it dissipates less than 500 mW@200 MHz and occupies ~5.6%, ~4.1%, ~17%, and ~96%, respectively, of the look-up tables, flip-flops, random access memory, and digital signal processors available on-chip. When accommodated within the same device, the whole embedded system equipped with the novel accelerator performs up to 54 GOPs and dissipates less than 1.8 W@150 MHz. Thanks to the increased parallelism exploitable, more than 900 GOPs can be executed when the high-end Virtex-7 XC7VX690T device is used as the implementation platform. Moreover, in comparison with state-of-the-art competitors implemented within the Zynq XC7Z045 device, the system proposed here reaches a computational capability up to ~20% higher, and saves more than 60% and 80% of power consumption and logic resources requirement, respectively, using ~5.7× fewer on-chip memory resources.

Surgeon's practices and beliefs in Australia and New Zealand regarding the donor site wound for paediatric skin grafts.

Children's burns care in Australasia is performed by paediatric surgeons and by plastic surgeons. The aim was to determine practices regarding the donor site wound (DSW), and to explore any differences by training scheme or nature of unit (paediatric vs. mixed). Online survey of Australasian burns surgeons. Forty surgeons responded. 23/40 paediatric surgeons, 23/40 worked in a stand-alone children's burns unit. All used powered dermatomes. Alginates were the most common DSW dressing. Idealised dressings favour patient factors over cost. Plastic, and mixed-practice, surgeons use a broader range of dermatome settings in children >1 year. Mixed practice surgeons use thicker settings. All surgeons see pain as a common DSW problem. Paediatric surgeons recognise itch as a problem. While there are differences related to training scheme and the mix of patients being treated, there is a broader commonality of practice.

Attitudes, Knowledge, and Practices of Customs Administrators on Trade Facilitation

Abstract In light of renewed interests to boost African trade through continental integration, the authors identified trade facilitation as an integral component of complimenting the integration processes. This is especially relevant in the southern region where the majority of borders are characterised by complex and duplicated processes due to the lack of ‘one-stop border posts’. This study explores the attitudes, knowledge and practices of customs administrators on trade facilitation in Zimbabwe. Based on questionnaires, face-to-face interviews, and secondary data collected from the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA), the results indicated that ‘trade facilitation’ was not included in strategic policies of ZIMRA. In terms of risk factors, low staff remuneration was identified as the major issue. Many cross-border authorities at the border (overstaffed) and outdated infrastructure were major constraints in the flow of cargo and people. The study recommends that ZIMRA should provide training on the ‘single window system’ in order to improve on coordinated border management. Secondly, ZIMRA should review staff remuneration frequently and synchronise it with regional standards. Thirdly, there should be alignment and coordination of the trade-related issues within various government ministries. Fourthly, customs authorities should establish stand-alone trade facilitation units at ports of entry.