Geopolitics, Global Governance and Crisis Narratives

The financial crisis demonstrated a new quality of interconnected vulnerabilities across the globe. Yet, increased interdependence may lead to increased friction rather than common problem?solving or a shared outlook. This article is concerned with the prospects for future reform of global economic governance, taking as a starting point the apparent shift from the G8 to the G20 as the focal forum for reform. We show that (1) the crisis both reflects and propels important geopolitical change and that (2) interpretations of the crisis differ widely, leading to diverging ideas of different actors about each other and about future reforms. We then consider some implications, notably with regard to the utility of summit?level diplomacy and the transfer of responsibilities to controversial institutions, all within an environment marked by ongoing uncertainty

Daily Life Changes and Life Satisfaction among Korean School-Aged Children in the COVID-19 Pandemic

The recent COVID-19 pandemic has been disrupting the daily lives of people across the world, causing a major concern for psychological well-being in children. This study aimed to examine (1) how life satisfaction and its potential predictors have been affected by the pandemic among school-aged children in Korea, and (2) which factors would predict their life satisfaction during the pandemic. We surveyed 166 fourth-graders in the Seoul metropolitan area to assess their psychological well-being and potentially related variables during the pandemic. The data were compared with those available from two pre-COVID-19 surveys, the 2018 Korean Children and Youth Panel Survey (n = 1236) and the 2019 Korean Children and Youth Well-being Index Survey (n = 334). Higher levels of stress were observed in children during the COVID-19 pandemic; however, the level of their life satisfaction remained unchanged when compared with data from the pre-COVID-19 surveys. The pandemic also affected peer relationship quality and susceptibility to smartphone addiction, but not perceived parenting style nor academic engagement. Interestingly, peer relationship quality no longer predicted life satisfaction during the pandemic; perceived parenting styles and parent-child conversation time predicted life satisfaction. The results suggest a central role of parent-child relationship in supporting the psychological well-being of school-aged children during the pandemic.Y

Daily Life Changes and Life Satisfaction among Korean School-Aged Children in the COVID-19 Pandemic

The recent COVID-19 pandemic has been disrupting the daily lives of people across the world, causing a major concern for psychological well-being in children. This study aimed to examine (1) how life satisfaction and its potential predictors have been affected by the pandemic among school-aged children in Korea, and (2) which factors would predict their life satisfaction during the pandemic. We surveyed 166 fourth-graders in the Seoul metropolitan area to assess their psychological well-being and potentially related variables during the pandemic. The data were compared with those available from two pre-COVID-19 surveys, the 2018 Korean Children and Youth Panel Survey (n = 1236) and the 2019 Korean Children and Youth Well-being Index Survey (n = 334). Higher levels of stress were observed in children during the COVID-19 pandemic; however, the level of their life satisfaction remained unchanged when compared with data from the pre-COVID-19 surveys. The pandemic also affected peer relationship quality and susceptibility to smartphone addiction, but not perceived parenting style nor academic engagement. Interestingly, peer relationship quality no longer predicted life satisfaction during the pandemic; perceived parenting styles and parent-child conversation time predicted life satisfaction. The results suggest a central role of parent-child relationship in supporting the psychological well-being of school-aged children during the pandemic

Skin-interfaced biosensors for advanced wireless physiological monitoring in neonatal and pediatric intensive-care units.

Standard clinical care in neonatal and pediatric intensive-care units (NICUs and PICUs, respectively) involves continuous monitoring of vital signs with hard-wired devices that adhere to the skin and, in certain instances, can involve catheter-based pressure sensors inserted into the arteries. These systems entail risks of causing iatrogenic skin injuries, complicating clinical care and impeding skin-to-skin contact between parent and child. Here we present a wireless, non-invasive technology that not only offers measurement equivalency to existing clinical standards for heart rate, respiration rate, temperature and blood oxygenation, but also provides a range of important additional features, as supported by data from pilot clinical studies in both the NICU and PICU. These new modalities include tracking movements and body orientation, quantifying the physiological benefits of skin-to-skin care, capturing acoustic signatures of cardiac activity, recording vocal biomarkers associated with tonality and temporal characteristics of crying and monitoring a reliable surrogate for systolic blood pressure. These platforms have the potential to substantially enhance the quality of neonatal and pediatric critical care

Skin-interfaced biosensors for advanced wireless physiological monitoring in neonatal and pediatric intensive-care units

Standard clinical care in neonatal and pediatric intensive-care units (NICUs and PICUs, respectively) involves continuous monitoring of vital signs with hard-wired devices that adhere to the skin and, in certain instances, can involve catheter-based pressure sensors inserted into the arteries. These systems entail risks of causing iatrogenic skin injuries, complicating clinical care and impeding skin-to-skin contact between parent and child. Here we present a wireless, non-invasive technology that not only offers measurement equivalency to existing clinical standards for heart rate, respiration rate, temperature and blood oxygenation, but also provides a range of important additional features, as supported by data from pilot clinical studies in both the NICU and PICU. These new modalities include tracking movements and body orientation, quantifying the physiological benefits of skin-to-skin care, capturing acoustic signatures of cardiac activity, recording vocal biomarkers associated with tonality and temporal characteristics of crying and monitoring a reliable surrogate for systolic blood pressure. These platforms have the potential to substantially enhance the quality of neonatal and pediatric critical care