Ultrasonographic Applications in the Thorax

Rapid developments and increasing technological knowledge have changed perspectives on ultrasonography. Previously, ultrasonography was used to evaluate chest wall pathologies, to distinguish between pleural effusion and consolidation, to evacuate pleural effusion, or to evaluate diaphragm movement. Today, it is also used in a wide range of pleural and parenchymal diseases. Ultrasonography is not just used in the emergency department and the intensive care units. It is also utilized in many clinical branches dealing with the respiratory system—due to its ease of use, fast access, price advantage, non-radiation exposure, higher diagnostic sensitivity, and specificity in many clinical situations—and has become a part of the examination. In this review, we have assessed not just transthoracic ultrasonography but also more focal and targeted sonographic applications, such as the endobronchial ultrasound and esophageal ultrasound.

Is Europe prepared to go digital? Making the case for developing digital capacity: an exploratory analysis of Eurostat survey data

Digital divides are globally recognised as a wicked problem that threatens to become the new face of inequality. They are formed by discrepancies in Internet access, digital skills, and tangible outcomes (e.g. health, economic) between populations. Previous studies indicated that Europe has an average Internet access rate of 90%, yet rarely specify for different demographics and does not report on the presence of digital skills. This exploratory analysis used the 2019 community survey on ICT usage in households and by individuals from Eurostat, which is a sample of the population aged 16-74 on Internet access and digital skills. The cross-country comparative analysis includes EEA and Switzerland. Data was collected between January and August 2019 and analysed between April and May 2021. Large differences in Internet access were observed (75-98%), especially between North-Western (94-98%) and South-Eastern Europe (75-87%). Low age, high education levels, employment, and living in an urban environment appear to positively influence the development of higher digital skills. The cross-country analysis exhibits a positive correlation between high capital stock and income/earnings and the digital skills development, while showing that the internet-access price bears marginal influence over digital literacy levels. The findings suggest Europe is current unable to host a sustainable digital society without exacerbating cross-country inequalities. Investment in building digital capacity in the general population should be the primary objective of European countries to ensure they can benefit maximally from the advancements of the Digital Era.

Explaining the definition of wholesale access prices in the Portuguese telecommunications industry

<p style='text-indent:20px;'>The 2016–2018 triennium was a period marked by a fierce dispute between the European Commission and Autoridade Nacional de Comunicações, Portugal, on the need to regulate wholesale access prices. While the European Commission defended the imposition of Fiber-To-The-x regulation in non-competitive areas, the Portuguese sectoral regulator argued in favor of the persistence of Fiber-To-The-x deregulation. Following a Game Theory approach, the present study demonstrates that the transition from Fiber-To-The-x deregulation to Fiber-To-The-x regulation should only occur when a given territorial unit becomes a competitive area since the subgame perfect Nash equilibrium captures a regulatory framework optimally characterized by the imposition of active access price deregulation (regulation) in non-competitive (competitive) areas, that is, local administrative units characterized by a weak (strong) degree of vertical spillover, respectively. Meanwhile, ducts access regulation must be permanently imposed throughout the national territory, despite it can be relaxed in competitive areas if the regulator imposes intra-flexibility to establish a monopolistic bottleneck to ensure social welfare maximization. Previous conclusions require to introduce both facility-based and service-based competition at the entry stage as well as active and passive obligations at the regulation stage in a multi-stage game with complete information. The present analysis legitimizes the emergence of a new optimization theory in the telecommunications literature, whose modus operandi is contrary to (coincident with) the ladder of investment theory in non-competitive (competitive) areas, respectively. Differently from the view sustained by the ladder of investment theory, which defends that a short-term regulatory touch combined with long-term market deregulation is a socially optimal strategy, the new theory confirms that a regulatory intervention is socially desirable only in the long run. The conceptual refinement is meticulously explained and labeled as the <i>theory of creative creation</i> because, differently from the Schumpeterian gale of creative destruction, whose processes of industrial mutation are permanently market-driven by assumption, a period of regulatory holidays followed by successive regulatory interventions dependent on the degree of vertical spillover observed in the telecommunications industry can effectively promote investment realization that continuously revolutionizes the market structure from within, incessantly destroying the old technology. The theory of creative creation reflects the regulatory framework currently in force in the Portuguese Telecommunications Industry.</p>

Access Prices Indexed to Geographical Coverage of Innovative Telecom Services

The literature on access prices and investment has suggested that firms under-invest when subject to an access provision obligation combined with a fixed access price per consumer. In this paper, I study an access price per consumer for an innovative service such as superfast broadband provided by a regulated firm that is a function of its geographical coverage (indexation approach). The indexation approach can enhance economic efficiency beyond what is achieved with a fixed access price under a set of standard assumptions. In particular, it can simultaneously induce the firms to set lower retail prices, lead to wider geographical coverage of innovative services and higher social welfare level compared with a fixed access price. Moreover, in the model, the indexation may be used to achieve approximately the Ramsey outcome, or the first-best coverage level. I address how a regulator can set the access price indexation optimally, based on the coverage cost plus an incentive. I highlight the potential role of indexation as a tool to reduce the need for public subsidies and the associated tax distortions when compared with a fixed access price.

Internet of Beer: A Review on Smart Technologies from Mash to Pint

The beer production chain includes some crucial steps regarding processing, delivery, service, and consumption that can benefit from the implementation of IoT (Internet of Things) based technologies. Large breweries implemented the use of sensors and digitization before smaller ones among which are craft breweries. Internet of Beer (IoB) technologies are becoming accessible to mid and small sized brewing companies. Therefore, the objective of this work is to review mainly low-cost IoB smart technologies that can be implemented from the mash to the final product and its service, to improve the brewing production, control, delivery, and final quality increasing profitability. The reviewed applications were retrieved both from the scientific databases and from the web. The work is structured in three macro areas such as beer processing, product logistics and traceability, and service. The results show a future trend characterized by a very fast increase in the use of IoB (also open source) systems to drive efficiency, productivity, quality, and safety. This will be done by real-time monitoring and a data-driven decision support system (DSS). Crucial aspects needing further investigation are data ownership and data standardization. The access price of IoB devices and software is destined for a significant decrease while their diversification on the market will grow leading to a massive future implementation within all the production levels.

Methodical Approach to Identifying Buying Motives within Various Sales Channels Based on Behavioral Segmentation

The methods for identifying differences in the buying motives in online and offline trade are developed based on a theoretical analysis of approaches to the customer segmentation and their dependence on its purpose. The purpose of the study is to identify differences in the buying motives in online and offline trade and to substantiate the feasibility of conducting behavioral segmentation in order to identify such differences. The empirical research results are based on the quantitative marketing research (polls). The buying motives in offline and online sales channels were studied in several stages. The key advantages of offline and online sales channels were identified in terms of customer perception at the first stage. The following advantages were identified in offline and online trade: high quality guaranteed by the seller for buyers with high incomes; accessibility as the speed and convenience of access, price acceptability for buyers with average and below average incomes; and the breadth, depth, and updateability of the product range for all groups. The buying motives in offline and online trade were identified as factors that encouraged buying at the second stage. The polls have shown that key motives for customers to opt for offline sales channels are related to the perception of the aggregate properties of products that exceed the properties of similar products in online sales channels. The main reasons for buying through online sales channels are the following key indicators that determine the quality of the buying service: convenience and speed of purchasing, speed of delivery, and convenient time to receive an order. This study allowed to develop a model for studying the consumer behavior in order to identify the key rational and emotional motives of buying through online and offline sales channels. The information component of this model was based on the marketing research involving the sequential implementation of the following stages: studying the market trends in order to identify changes in the motives of consumer behavior; selecting segmentation criteria and carrying out marketing research; identifying the key benefits of offline and online sales channels in terms of customer perception; identifying and grouping the key motives that guided customers when choosing a channel for buying; identifying the causes of changes in the rational and emotional motives of consumer behavior; and developing and implementing the marketing communications programs that implied an impact on the emotional and rational motives.

POSITIONING ANALYSIS OF CLASS 2 TON TRUCKS AS A BASIS FOR DETERMINING POSITIONING STRATEGIES IN THE EX KARISEDENAN BESUKI EAST JAVA

This Research aim to to analyse map of ATPM class truck positioning 2 ton pursuant to perception of consumer in Ex Besuki karesidenan. Elementary which used to position ATPM truck 2 ton is perception of consumer to determinant attribute looking like which compose product, price, salesman, discounted, availibility of spar-part, price sell again, access price, endurance, strength of machine, payload capacities, suspensi, each fuel efficiency and akselerasi of Truck class ATPM 2 ton. Technique analyse is Multidimensional Scaling ( MDS). This Research is done/conducted by taking responder counted 100 responder with method of purposive sampling. obtained data to be tested to use analysis of MDS to know and And Reliability Validity, result of map of ATPM class truck positioning 2 ton ( Mitsubishi Canter, Toyota Dyna, Hino Dutro and of Isuzu ELF)) pursuant to perception of consumer, and equality of responder attitude in giving assessment. Pursuant to result of analaisis there are difference of each position of Truck class ATPM 2 ton pursuant to perception of consumer and indicate that ATPM brand ton second class truck of Hino Dutro represent competitor closest or direct competitor (competitor direct) of brand of Toyota Dyna, especially concerning price, discounted, availibility of access, price sell again, access price, endurance, strength of machine, payload capacities, suspensi, fuel efficiency and akselerasi. Operator of Mitsubishi Canter and of Isuzu ELF don't have direct competitor because owning biggest difference or unique and clear diferensiasi. Pursuant to its Positioning of Mitsubishi represent vehicle owning nimble akselerasi and price sell high again and have weakness at payload capacities which small relative, Toyota represent strong vehicle and big energy

Conclusion

The concluding chapter uses the analytic framework of the volume to explain the political economy of electricity. First, social welfare concerns continue to play an important part in shaping Indian electricity; policy making in the sector will need to engage these concerns rather than wish them away. Second, successful states have managed to turn a vicious cycle or low level equilibrium between electoral and electricity outcomes into a virtuous cycle, by delivering on a combination of access, price, and service. Third, past reform efforts reform efforts have failed to seriously engage state-specific political contexts but instead sought to carve out zones of depoliticized decision making. We categorize the state cases based on their relative ability to do so. Finally, the conclusion reflects on how a political mapping of power can help understand the future of Indian electricity as it negotiates a growing turn to renewable electricity.