The Production and Application of Hydrogels for Wound Management: A Review

Wound treatment has increased in importance in the wound care sector due to the pervasiveness of chronic wounds in the high-risk population including, but not limited to, geriatric population, immunocompromised and obese patients. Furthermore, the number of people diagnosed with diabetes is rapidly growing. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the global diabetic occurrence has increased from 4.7 in 1980 to 8.5 in 2014. As diabetes becomes a common medical condition, it has also become one of the major causes of chronic wounds which require specialised care to address patients’ unique needs. Wound dressings play a vital role in the wound healing process as they protect the wound site from the external environment. They are also capable of interacting with the wound bed in order to facilitate and accelerate the healing process. Advanced dressings such as hydrogels are designed to maintain a moist environment at the site of application and due to high water content are ideal candidates for wound management. Hydrogels can be used for both exudating or dry necrotic wounds. Additionally, hydrogels also demonstrate other unique features such as softness, malleability and biocompatibility. Nowadays, advanced wound care products make up around 7.1 billion of the global market and their production is growing at an annual rate of 8.3 with the market projected to be worth 12.5 billion by 2022. The presented review focuses on novel hydrogel wound dressings, their main characteristics and their wound management applications. It also describes recent methodologies used for their production and the future potential developments

Model-driven Generative Development of Measurement Software

Metrics offer a practical approach to evaluate properties of domain-specific models. However, it is costly to develop and maintain measurement software for each domain specific modeling language. In this paper, we present a model-driven and generative approach to measuring models. The approach is completely domain-independent and operationalized through a prototype that synthesizes a measurement infrastructure for a domain specific modeling language. This model-driven measurement approach is model-driven from two viewpoints: 1) it measures models of a domain specific modeling language; 2) it uses models as unique and consistent metric specifications, w.r.t. a metric specification metamodel which captures all the necessary concepts for model-driven specifications of metrics. The benefit from applying the approach is evaluated by four case studies. They indicate that this approach significantly eases the measurement activities of model-driven development processes

New Approach to Modeling Large-Scale Transitions to Alternative Fuels and Vehicles

A large-scale transition to alternative fuels and vehicles is challenging. New modeling approaches are necessary to supplement existing models, such as MARKAL. One promising approach is simulation gaming. Simulation gaming has been used extensively in many fields, most conspicuously in military applications, to provide insights into the dynamics of uncertain processes. A large-scale game to simulate transitions to alternative fuels and vehicles was developed to explore the potential of this approach. Preliminary results of the game play suggest a possible counterintuitive dynamic: high energy prices can discourage the wide-scale adoption of alternative fuel vehicles because increased fuel costs reduce consumers' ability to pay for more costly alternative vehicle technologies