102 research outputs found
Too Big to Manage: US Megabanksâ Competition by Innovation and the Microfoundations of Financialization
Disagreements over the systemic implicationsâthe futureâof financialization can be traced in part to the absence of sustained attention to the role of banking firms in driving this secular shift forward. That is, the financialization literature lacks an adequate microfoundation. Accounting for the drivers of financialization processes solely at the macro level overlooks the problems of how these processes came about and whether they are sustainable. This paper addresses this explanatory gap, arguing that a key independent microeconomic driver of increasing financialization did exist: the incessant efforts by money-centre banks in the USA to break out of Depression-era restrictions on their size, activities, and markets. These banksâ growth strategies in turbulent times led to an institutional (meso) shiftâthe rise of a megabank-centred shadow banking systemâthat now shapes global financial architecture even while operating in ways that are unsustainable. In short, too-big-to-manage megabanks are at the heart of the fragility and instability of the economy today
Ultra-conformal drawn-on-skin electronics for multifunctional motion artifact-free sensing and point-of-care treatment
An accurate extraction of physiological and physical signals from human skin is crucial for health monitoring, disease prevention, and treatment. Recent advances in wearable bioelectronics directly embedded to the epidermal surface are a promising solution for future epidermal sensing. However, the existing wearable bioelectronics are susceptible to motion artifacts as they lack proper adhesion and conformal interfacing with the skin during motion. Here, we present ultra-conformal, customizable, and deformable drawn-on-skin electronics, which is robust to motion due to strong adhesion and ultra-conformality of the electronic inks drawn directly on skin. Electronic inks, including conductors, semiconductors, and dielectrics, are drawn on-demand in a freeform manner to develop devices, such as transistors, strain sensors, temperature sensors, heaters, skin hydration sensors, and electrophysiological sensors. Electrophysiological signal monitoring during motion shows drawn-on-skin electronics' immunity to motion artifacts. Additionally, electrical stimulation based on drawn-on-skin electronics demonstrates accelerated healing of skin wounds. Designing efficient wearable bioelectronics for health monitoring, disease prevention, and treatment, remains a challenge. Here, the authors demonstrate an ultra-conformal, customizable and deformable drawn-on-skin electronics which is robust to motion artifacts and resistant to physical damage
Mortality from gastrointestinal congenital anomalies at 264 hospitals in 74 low-income, middle-income, and high-income countries: a multicentre, international, prospective cohort study
Summary
Background Congenital anomalies are the fifth leading cause of mortality in children younger than 5 years globally.
Many gastrointestinal congenital anomalies are fatal without timely access to neonatal surgical care, but few studies
have been done on these conditions in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). We compared outcomes of
the seven most common gastrointestinal congenital anomalies in low-income, middle-income, and high-income
countries globally, and identified factors associated with mortality.
Methods We did a multicentre, international prospective cohort study of patients younger than 16 years, presenting to
hospital for the first time with oesophageal atresia, congenital diaphragmatic hernia, intestinal atresia, gastroschisis,
exomphalos, anorectal malformation, and Hirschsprungâs disease. Recruitment was of consecutive patients for a
minimum of 1 month between October, 2018, and April, 2019. We collected data on patient demographics, clinical
status, interventions, and outcomes using the REDCap platform. Patients were followed up for 30 days after primary
intervention, or 30 days after admission if they did not receive an intervention. The primary outcome was all-cause,
in-hospital mortality for all conditions combined and each condition individually, stratified by country income status.
We did a complete case analysis.
Findings We included 3849 patients with 3975 study conditions (560 with oesophageal atresia, 448 with congenital
diaphragmatic hernia, 681 with intestinal atresia, 453 with gastroschisis, 325 with exomphalos, 991 with anorectal
malformation, and 517 with Hirschsprungâs disease) from 264 hospitals (89 in high-income countries, 166 in middleincome
countries, and nine in low-income countries) in 74 countries. Of the 3849 patients, 2231 (58·0%) were male.
Median gestational age at birth was 38 weeks (IQR 36â39) and median bodyweight at presentation was 2·8 kg (2·3â3·3).
Mortality among all patients was 37 (39·8%) of 93 in low-income countries, 583 (20·4%) of 2860 in middle-income
countries, and 50 (5·6%) of 896 in high-income countries (p<0·0001 between all country income groups).
Gastroschisis had the greatest difference in mortality between country income strata (nine [90·0%] of ten in lowincome
countries, 97 [31·9%] of 304 in middle-income countries, and two [1·4%] of 139 in high-income countries;
pâ€0·0001 between all country income groups). Factors significantly associated with higher mortality for all patients
combined included country income status (low-income vs high-income countries, risk ratio 2·78 [95% CI 1·88â4·11],
p<0·0001; middle-income vs high-income countries, 2·11 [1·59â2·79], p<0·0001), sepsis at presentation (1·20
[1·04â1·40], p=0·016), higher American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) score at primary intervention
(ASA 4â5 vs ASA 1â2, 1·82 [1·40â2·35], p<0·0001; ASA 3 vs ASA 1â2, 1·58, [1·30â1·92], p<0·0001]), surgical safety
checklist not used (1·39 [1·02â1·90], p=0·035), and ventilation or parenteral nutrition unavailable when needed
(ventilation 1·96, [1·41â2·71], p=0·0001; parenteral nutrition 1·35, [1·05â1·74], p=0·018). Administration of
parenteral nutrition (0·61, [0·47â0·79], p=0·0002) and use of a peripherally inserted central catheter (0·65
[0·50â0·86], p=0·0024) or percutaneous central line (0·69 [0·48â1·00], p=0·049) were associated with lower mortality.
Interpretation Unacceptable differences in mortality exist for gastrointestinal congenital anomalies between lowincome,
middle-income, and high-income countries. Improving access to quality neonatal surgical care in LMICs will
be vital to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 3.2 of ending preventable deaths in neonates and children younger
than 5 years by 2030
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Palm vein authentication and verification system
In this work, both hardware and software of a palm vein capture system have been designed and a prototype is produced. By using this system, a genuine database was created with age and gender information of volunteered test subjects. Widely used pre-processing, acquisition of feature vectors, and classification methods were tested on the database and results are compared with speed versus accuracy. All the modules used in hardware and software were determined as open source. Python has been chosen as a software module programming on a single board computer with Linux kernel. As a result, an appropriately running system has been built with both secure software and hardware interfaces having maximum accuracy at 95.33% while specificity is at 100%
Comparison of Machine Learning Techniques for Fetal Heart Rate Classification
Cardiotocography is a monitoring technique providing important and vital information on fetal status during antepartum and intrapartum periods. The advances in modern obstetric practice allowed many robust and reliable machine learning techniques to be utilized in classifying fetal heart rate signals. The role of machine learning approaches in diagnosing diseases is becoming increasingly essential and intertwined. The main aim of the present study is to determine the most efficient machine learning technique to classify fetal heart rate signals. Therefore, the research has been focused on the widely used and practical machine learning techniques, such as artificial neural network, support vector machine, extreme learning machine, radial basis function network, and random forest. In a comparative way, fetal heart rate signals were classified as normal or hypoxic using the aforementioned machine learning techniques. The performance metrics derived from confusion matrix were used to measure classifiers' success. According to experimental results, although all machine learning techniques produced satisfactory results, artificial neural network yielded the rather well results with the sensitivity of 99.73% and specificity of 97.94%. The study results show that the artificial neural network was superior to other algorithms
âCITYJSON2RDFâ A CONVERTER FOR PRODUCING 3D CITY KNOWLEDGE GRAPHS
The increasing prevalence of 3D city models (3DCMs) in various applications, such as mixed reality and navigation, highlights the need for efficient data exchange. CityGML serves as a standard model for this purpose, encompassing geometric and semantic information in 3DCM data. To enhance interoperability, a compatible transfer mechanism is essential. This study introduces a conversion tool that transforms CityGML data into RDF, a knowledge graph (KG) format. Utilizing semantic web technologies, this conversion ensures the data’s seamless integration across applications. The RDF model facilitates linking to open ontologies, promoting data circulation without loss. The tool employs CityJSON encoding for its mappable JSON structure, enabling straight-forward conversion to RDF using Python components. While existing XML to RDF tools exist, this tool distinguishes itself by addressing accessibility and user intervention challenges. Linking is established by matching subject classes with relevant ontology definitions, a process dependent on developers’ understanding of the CityGML data model. The tool, accessible through URL-2, is still in development, offering a promising solution for achieving effective 3DCM data interoperability
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