Fabrication of Suspended PMMA-Graphene Membrane for High Sensitivity LC-MEMS Pressure Sensor

The LC-MEMS pressure sensor is an attractive option for an implantable sensor. It senses pressure wirelessly through an LC resonator, eliminating the requirement for electrical wiring or a battery system. However, the sensitivity of LC-MEMS pressure sensors is still comparatively low, especially in biomedical applications, which require a highly-sensitive sensor to measure low-pressure variations. This study presents the microfabrication of an LC wireless MEMS pressure sensor that utilizes a PMMA-Graphene (PMMA/Gr) membrane supported on a silicon trench as the deformable structure. The (PMMA/Gr) membrane was employed to increase the sensor’s sensitivity due to its very low elastic modulus making it easy to deform under extremely low pressure. The overall size of the fabricated sensor was limited to 8 mm × 8 mm. The experimental results showed that the capacitance value changed from 1.64 pF to 12.32 pF when the applied pressure varied from 0 to 5 psi. This capacitance variation caused the frequency response to change from 28.74 MHz to 78.76 MHz. The sensor sensitivity was recorded with a value of 193.45 kHz/mmHg and a quality factor of 21. This study concludes that the (PMMA/Gr) membrane-based LC-MEMS pressure sensor has been successfully designed and fabricated and shows good potential in biomedical sensor applications.

Indigenous Knowledge of Healing Among the Tribes: A Reference from the Tribes of Kerala and Assam.

Indigenous knowledge implies inter-generational passed-on understanding and skills developed by the communities. It is conventionally having a long temporal history and spatial association. The vertical transfer of Indigenous knowledge from one generation to another generation doesn’t imply that it is unconditionally static rather it is dynamic in a way because the knowledge modifies itself as a response to change or transition in community lifestyle and environment. However, previous writings on indigenous knowledge of healing have mostly perceived it as unconditionally static knowledge and discussed it as heritage, searching for its recognition, protecting its threatened status, and arguing for its validity against the western framework.

Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax Adjust Investment in Transmission in Response to Change in Transmission Intensity: A Review of the Current State of Research

Malaria parasites can adjust the proportion of parasites that develop into gametocytes, and thus the probability for human-to-vector transmission, through changes in the gametocyte conversion rate. Understanding the factors that impact the commitment of malaria parasites to transmission is required to design better control interventions. Plasmodium spp. persist across countries with vast differences in transmission intensities, and in sites where transmission is highly seasonal. Mounting evidence shows that Plasmodium spp. adjusts the investment in transmission according to seasonality of vector abundance, and transmission intensity. Various techniques to determine the investment in transmission are available, i.e., short-term culture, where the conversion rate can be measured most directly, genome and transcriptome studies, quantification of mature gametocytes, and mosquito feeding assays. In sites with seasonal transmission, the proportion of gametocytes, their densities and infectivity are higher during the wet season, when vectors are plentiful. When countries with pronounced differences in transmission intensity were compared, the investment in transmission was higher when transmission was low, thus maximizing the parasite’s chances to be transmitted to mosquitoes. Increased transmissibility of residual infections after a successful reduction of malaria transmission levels need to be considered when designing intervention measures.

Asymmetric Cost Behavior Across Life Cycle Stages

The traditional model of cost behavior has been criticized for its symmetric cost behavior assumption. A new model has been proposed assuming that costs respond differently to upward and downward activity changes. The main objectives of this paper are to investigate the existence, degree, and nature of asymmetric cost behavior (ACB) phenomenon and examine how the organization life cycle (OLC) affects this phenomenon in the context of Egypt. The current study achieves these objectives by employing multiple regression to explore the behavior of cost of goods sold (COGS), selling, general and administrative cost (SGA), and total cost (TC) for 1577 firm-year observations (99 manufacturing firms) during the period from 2000 to 2019. The results demonstrate that all three cost proxies (COGS, SGA, and TC) are sticky with the highest degree of stickiness to TC. In addition, OLC is a conditional factor that affects how costs behave in response to change in activity level. Consistent with theoretical propositions, both COGS and TC exhibit anti-stickiness behavior for firms in the introduction stage and stickiness behavior for firms in the growth, mature, and shakeout/decline stages. However, SGA is only sticky for firms in the mature stage. However, the hypotheses related to asymmetric behavior of SGA were rejected for firms in the introduction, growth, and shakeout/decline stages.

Effect of Covid-19 pandemic on tourist travel risk and management perceptions

This study aims to explore the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on tourists’ travel risk and management perceptions. Driven on the effect of the pandemic, we investigate tourists’ travel risk and management perceptions and its effect on society using a sample of 716 respondents. The data was collected through social media platforms using a representative sampling method and analyzed applying the PLS-SEM tool. The findings reveal that Covid-19 pandemic has greatly affected travel risk and management perceptions. Travel risk and management perception had a significant association with risk management, service delivery, transportation patterns, distribution channels, avoidance of overpopulated destinations, and hygiene and safety. The results also identified the mediating effect of travel risk and management perceptions. The finding of this study contributes to tourism crises and provides future research insights in the travel and tourism sector and response to change tourists’ travel risk and management perceptions in the post-covid recovery period.

Assessing individual readiness for change in healthcare: a review of measurement scales

PurposeUnderstanding how individuals respond and adapt to change is essential to assist leaders to manage transformational change effectively. Contemporary health care environments are characterised by frequent and rapid change, often with unrealistic and challenging timeframes. Researchers have employed a range of assessment scales to assess individual readiness for change. Hence, to select the appropriate scale, it is critical to compare the properties of these instruments. A scoping review will be conducted to identify scales that measure an individual's response to change in the healthcare environment.Design/methodology/approachIn this article the authors used the PIC (Population or Problem, Interest, and Context) design and undertook a comprehensive literature search conducted in Eric, MEDLINE, EmCare, CINAHL, PsychINFO and PubMed. Management databases were also searched including Business Source Premium (Ebesco) and Business Collection (InfoRMIT). Reference lists were scrutinized, and citation searches were performed of the included studies. The primary outcome was the quality of the literature searches and the secondary outcome was time spent on the literature search when the PIC model was used as a search strategy tool, compared to the use of another conceptualizing tool or unguided searching.FindingsThis scoping review identified eight scales used to measure an individual's response to change. This scoping review did not identify any individual change readiness scales specifically designed for use in the healthcare environment. However, two scales (the Acceptance of Change Scale and the Resistance to Change Scale) had applicability across a wide variety of organisational settings.Research limitations/implicationsScoping reviews do not set out to comprehensively source all relevant literature but rather to ascertain the nature and extent of the published literature in the field. Therefore, it is possible that a systematic review might uncover additional relevant papers.Practical implicationsThis scoping review will assist change leaders to gain a better understanding of the different scales used to measure individual response to change.Originality/valueTo manage change effectively, change leaders first need to develop an understanding of how individuals respond and adapt to change. Change leaders require the necessary scales to assist them to understand change processes, providing an understanding of where individuals are placed on the change continuum. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this scoping review is the first of its kind to identify and review scales to measure individual response to change.

From Business Agile to Agile Education: a response to change in times of pandemic

The aim of this document is to present a new teaching model in higher education focus on the student. The model develops an iterative and incremental learning system based on the fundamentals of agility and the organization of agile work, improving learning performance and the benefit of students. This model develops a system based on the Scrum methodology that allows continuous deliveries of value from the student to the teacher, adapted to the learning goals of the educational programs, approaching a cultural, organizational and structural change through the application of methods, Agile practices and dynamics within a framework that encourages innovation and continuous improvement of students.

The short-term mean reversion of stock price and the change in trading volume

This study aims to analyze the effect of change in trading volume on the short-term mean reversion of the stock price in the Korean stock market. Through the variance ratio test, this paper finds that the market shows the mean reversion pattern after 2000, but not before. This study also confirms that the mean reversion property is significantly reduced if the effect of change in trading volume is excluded from the return of a stock with a significant contemporaneous correlation between return and change in trading volume in the post-2000 market. The results appear in both the Korea Composite Stock Price Index and Korea Securities Dealers Automated Quotation. This phenomenon stems from the significance of the return response to change in trading volume per se and not the sign of the response. Additionally, the findings imply that the trading volume has a term structure because of the mean reversion of the trading volume and the return also has a partial term structure because of the contemporaneous correlation between return and change in trading volume. This conclusion suggests that considering the short-term impact of change in trading volume enables a more efficient observation of the market and avoidance of asset misallocation.

Quality and strategy for response to change using a software solution in a service enterprise

It is now important for companies to respond proactively to the changing environment, to solve extraordinary situations, to implement an appropriate strategy and to constantly improve the quality of services through innovative changes. When determining the strategy in the company, it is necessary to find the right method and way of management and implementation. This can be facilitated by a number of models, tools and methodologies. This paper is focused on those offered by change management. The authors' own research brought a new software solution. The paper defines the starting points for setting changes in the strategy affecting the quality of the company's services. It describes a new proposed software that links change management methods. All the features have been designed to make it as easy as possible and to help create a strategy. A very valuable feature of the software is linking the entire organization and letting all employees understand what the strategy is and how they can get involved. Sažetak: Sada je važno da tvrtke proaktivno reagiraju na promjenjivo okruženje, rješavaju izvanredne situacije, provode odgovarajuću strategiju i stalno poboljšavaju kvalitetu usluga inovativnim promjenama. Pri određivanju strategije u poduzeću potrebno je pronaći pravu metodu i način upravljanja i provedbe. To mogu olakšati brojni modeli, alati i metodologije. Ovaj je rad usredotočen na one koje nude upravljanje promjenama. Vlastita istraživanja autora donijela su novo softversko rješenje. U radu su definirana polazišta za postavljanje promjena u strategijama koje utječu na kvalitetu usluga poduzeća. Opisuje novi predloženi softver koji povezuje metode upravljanja promjenama. Sve su značajke dizajnirane kako bi ih učinile što jednostavnijim i pomogle u stvaranju strategije. Vrlo vrijedna značajka softvera je povezivanje cijele organizacije i omogućavanje svim zaposlenicima da shvate koja je strategija i kako se mogu uključiti.