Touchless Thermal Respiratory Monitor

An abnormal respiratory rate and changes in respiratory rate can give an early indication of physiological disorders such as a stroke or heart failure. Also, many drugs prescribed for pain or sedation carry the risk for respiratory depression. Medical devices used to track breathing today often require the use of wires and sensors that can create obvious restrictions in the patient’s motion, ability to maneuver, or even sleep. The long-term objective of this research project is to build a system that can monitor breathing without coming into contact with a patient. The goal of the current project is to optimize the functionality of the sensor and prove functionality by testing on human subjects. The Touchless Thermal Respiratory Monitor was built using a thermal sensor, 3-D printed parts, and a laser. The thermal sensor was programmed to read temperature, and in this project, the location yielding the greatest temperature differential between the air that has been exhaled by the patient and the room temperature will be found. The laser will allow for proper alignment of the thermal sensor to this location. The temperature difference will be monitored and plotted in MATLAB in order to track the respiratory rate. Irregular signals or a lack of signal would indicate that the patient is having breathing problems, or that the patient has moved out of the sensors path

Exchange Rate Uncertainty and Business Sector Investment

No abstract.

TOUCHLESS THERMAL RESPIRATORY MONITOR

The ability to track a person’s respiratory rate is a vital technology that has applications in medical procedures, sleep studies, and patient monitoring. Safety devices used to track breathing today, however, often require the use of wires and sensors that can create obvious restrictions in the patient’s motion, ability to maneuver, or even sleep. The long-term objective of this research project is to build a system that can monitor breathing without coming into contact with the patient. The Touchless Respiratory Thermal Monitor will be built using a 1 pixel thermal sensor, 3-D printed parts, and a laser. The thermal sensor will be programmed to simply read temperature. In a later project improvements will be made to look for a temperature differential between the air that has been exhaled by the patient and the room temperature while the laser allows for proper alignment on the upper lip of the subject. A lack of this temperature difference would indicate that the patient has stopped breathing. Though the design is rather simple, complications are expected on replicating the respiratory pattern of a human. This design will incorporate a 3-D printed mouth and nose attached to a ventilator, a flow rate monitor, and a temperature-controlled bucket of water kept at 100°F. This will be compared to a human’s respiratory pattern to ensure proper replication

Cohesive/Adhesive failure interaction in ductile adhesive joints Part I:A smeared-crack model for cohesive failure

AbstractThis paper proposes a new methodology for the finite element (FE) modelling of failure in adhesively bonded joint. Unlike current methods, cohesive and adhesive failures are treated separately. Initial results show the method׳s ability to give accurate prediction of failure of adhesive joints subjected to thickness-induced constraint and complex multi-axial loading using a single set of material parameters. The present paper (part I), focuses on the development of a smeared-crack model for cohesive failure. Model verification and validation are performed comparing the model predictions with experimental data from 3 point bending End Notched Flexure (3ENF) and Double Cantilever Beam (DCB) fracture tests conducted on adhesively bonded composite panels of different adhesive thicknesses

Reducing the Environmental Impact of Dietary Choice: Perspectives from a Behavioural and Social Change Approach

Climate change is recognised as a significant public health issue that will impact on food security. One of the major contributors to global warming is the livestock industry, and, relative to plant-based agriculture, meat production has a much higher environmental impact in relation to freshwater use, amount of land required, and waste products generated. Promoting increased consumption of plant-based foods is a recommended strategy to reduce human impact on the environment and is also now recognised as a potential strategy to reduce the high rates of some chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease and certain cancers. Currently there is a scant evidence base for policies and programs aiming to increase consumption of plant-based diets and little research on the necessary conditions for that change to occur and the processes involved in such a change. This paper reviews some of the environmental and health consequences of current dietary practices, reviews literature on the determinants of consuming a plant-based diet, and provides recommendations for further research in this area

Reducing the Environmental Impact of Dietary Choice: Perspectives from a Behavioural and Social Change Approach

Climate change is recognised as a significant public health issue that will impact on food security. One of the major contributors to global warming is the livestock industry, and, relative to plant-based agriculture, meat production has a much higher environmental impact in relation to freshwater use, amount of land required, and waste products generated. Promoting increased consumption of plant-based foods is a recommended strategy to reduce human impact on the environment and is also now recognised as a potential strategy to reduce the high rates of some chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease and certain cancers. Currently there is a scant evidence base for policies and programs aiming to increase consumption of plant-based diets and little research on the necessary conditions for that change to occur and the processes involved in such a change. This paper reviews some of the environmental and health consequences of current dietary practices, reviews literature on the determinants of consuming a plant-based diet, and provides recommendations for further research in this area

Reducing the Environmental Impact of Dietary Choice: Perspectives from a Behavioural and Social Change Approach

Climate change is recognised as a significant public health issue that will impact on food security. One of the major contributors to global warming is the livestock industry, and, relative to plant-based agriculture, meat production has a much higher environmental impact in relation to freshwater use, amount of land required, and waste products generated. Promoting increased consumption of plant-based foods is a recommended strategy to reduce human impact on the environment and is also now recognised as a potential strategy to reduce the high rates of some chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease and certain cancers. Currently there is a scant evidence base for policies and programs aiming to increase consumption of plant-based diets and little research on the necessary conditions for that change to occur and the processes involved in such a change. This paper reviews some of the environmental and health consequences of current dietary practices, reviews literature on the determinants of consuming a plant-based diet, and provides recommendations for further research in this area

Internet Outreach / A Guide for Health Promoters & Peer Educators

This manual brings together the experiences of an Internet outreach project conducted by theWestern Australian AIDS Council (WAAC) and the Western Australian Centre for Health PromotionResearch (WACHPR) at Curtin University of Technology along with other selected research. It presents guidelines on the development and implementation of Internet outreach programs for health promotion practitioners and peer education workers.It is divided into sections for ease of navigation, including an overview of Internet outreach as a health promotion strategy and the CyberReach project (through the implementation of which the contents were produced). There are additional components to support agencies interested in learning more about whether Internet outreach may be a useful strategy for them in expanding the range of their current services.Who this manual is for: Anyone working in health service delivery with an interest in developing Internet-based health promotion outreach programs. Although based on a project targeting same sex attracted youth (SSAY) and men who have sex with men (MSM), we believe there are aspects applicable to health practitioners working with other groups in a range of health and human services areas

Reducing the Environmental Impact of Dietary Choice: Perspectives from a Behavioural and Social Change Approach

Climate change is recognised as a significant public health issue that will impact on food security. One of the major contributors to global warming is the livestock industry, and, relative to plant-based agriculture, meat production has a much higher environmental impact in relation to freshwater use, amount of land required, and waste products generated. Promoting increased consumption of plant-based foods is a recommended strategy to reduce human impact on the environment and is also now recognised as a potential strategy to reduce the high rates of some chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease and certain cancers. Currently there is a scant evidence base for policies and programs aiming to increase consumption of plant-based diets and little research on the necessary conditions for that change to occur and the processes involved in such a change. This paper reviews some of the environmental and health consequences of current dietary practices, reviews literature on the determinants of consuming a plant-based diet, and provides recommendations for further research in this area

The impact of nutritional choices on global warming and policy implications: examining the link between dietary choices and greenhouse gas emissions

Research over the past 10 years has illustrated an important connection between dietary choices, the food systems required to produce them, and the subsequent impact on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Several recent studies have used data on the GHG contribution of different food types to model the impact of different dietary patterns on GHG emissions; these studies have most commonly compared the average diet for a particular country to healthier dietary options and vegetarian options. We present a systematic review of this research that models different dietary choices and the associated GHG emissions with the main aim in this paper of contrasting the research implications for policy and practice. A database search of CINAHL, ScienceDirect, Scopus, Web of Science, ProQuest, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, and Mednar in July 2014 identified 21 primary studies modeling the GHG emissions related to a dietary pattern published since 1995. Diets containing a higher ratio of plant to animal products were generally associated with lower GHG emissions; however, the results varied across countries and studies, as did the recommendations by the study authors.Some authors proposed leading with health messages that have a dual environmental gain, whereas others proposed messaging around environmental impact. These inconsistencies in recommended approaches to reduce diet-related GHG emissions relate not just to differences in research findings but also to assumptions about community and political support for action, and there is little empirical evidence on community knowledge, attitudes, and behavioral intention at present to support these recommendations. The paper concludes with a commentary on the policy implications and the need for further research on how to frame the issue so as to garner community and political support to address the leading recommendations of this research