Smart syringe using actuator and force sensor for epidural anesthesia injection

The anesthesia process in the epidural space is quite difficult as it requires a high level of skill. Therefore, a medical accident occurs, and intensive training is required. In order to reduce these medical accidents, medical technology is being developed, which provides safe and accurate treatment services. This paper proposes a smart syringe design for safe and accurate anesthesia in the epidural space. The smart syringe is designed to measure the electrical sensing waveform by using a sensor instead of the sense of the hand during anesthesia and show the position of the needle through external monitoring. To design a smart syringe, a force sensor, actuator, and CPU were used, and a 3D printer was used to produce the outer shape. An animal test was conducted to evaluate the performance test of the smart syringe, and satisfactory results were obtained by measuring the needle insertion process of the smart syringe and the position of the needle through the animal experiment.

A new circulating accumulation emission model for assessing dust emission from open pit mine

To reduce the inaccuracy of using the monitoring data outside the pit to evaluate the unorganized emission dust source of open pit mine, the circulating accumulation emission model is established. Based on the model, the monitoring data in the pit can be converted into the dust emission from the pit. The main conclusions include: (1) the circulating accumulation emission model is suitable for the dust diffusion process in open pit mine. The ratio of diffusion $$\mu$$ μ and the ratio of surplus $$\varepsilon$$ ε were used to simulate the dust diffusion process in open pit mine, containing emission, retention and diffusion. (2) The initial value of the dust in the pit before the team operation has little influence on the final stable value. (3) When the external dust enters the pit, it will accumulate under the action of eddy current. The dust background value in the pit is different from that outside the pit. (4) The dust emission from the pit can be calculated from the monitoring data in the pit based on the circulating accumulation emission model. The model can deal with environmental changes such as the wind direction and speed, without arranging a lot of external monitoring equipment like the traditional external monitoring methods.

Policy Uncertainty and Textual Disclosure

We study how policy uncertainty influences textual disclosure in the U.S. from 1996 to 2015. Consistent with incentives for voluntary disclosure, we find that policy uncertainty increases textual disclosure quantity, as evident in disclosure length, but lowers textual readability and increases the tone of uncertainty and negativity. We also document that the negative impact on readability subsides when firms are subject to tough external monitoring. Finally, we provide evidence implying that investors perceive such disclosure to be valuable, as evident in cheaper equity financing costs under economic policy uncertainty.

Social Capital and Internal Control Material Weaknesses

Using a measure of social capital provided by the Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development, we document that, after controlling for auditor effort, firms headquartered in US counties with higher social capital are less likely to have ineffective internal control over financial reporting than those located in regions with lower social capital. This negative association between local social capital and ineffective internal controls holds when other forms of external monitoring are weak. We also find that the association is driven by ineffective internal control arising from entity-level, but not from account-specific, material weaknesses. Overall, we contribute to the literature that links firms' social environment with financial reporting quality.

The Effects of ERM Adoption on European Insurance Firms Performance and Risks

We investigate the effects of adopting enterprise risk management (ERM) on the performance and risks of European publicly listed insurance firms. Using a dataset for 24 years, we report new results which show that ERM adopters realize significant ERM premiums after controlling for other covariates and endogeneity. Several firm characteristics such as size, opacity, and the choice of external monitoring agents such as auditors are significant determinants of adopting ERM. We fill a gap in the literature by assessing the impact of adopting ERM on firm risks and report new findings for our sample, which show that ERM adopters effectively reduce firm total and systematic risks and, to a greater extent, idiosyncratic risk. Firm-level variables such as size, leverage, dividend payments events, and diversification impact firm total risk. Insurers use corporate events such as dividend payments to signal information about reducing risk. Industry and international diversification reduce firm total risk and idiosyncratic risk, respectively.

Universal Service in Telecommunications: A Case Study of New Zealand and Vietnam Legal and Institutional Frameworks, with Proposals for Reform in Vietnam

<p>This thesis examines models for the delivery of telecommunications universal services in Vietnam and New Zealand. The focus is on identifying obstacles to effective and economically efficient performance of services delivery in Vietnam, and proposing solutions for substantial improvements to legal frameworks and institutional structures. The central argument of the thesis is that the universal service scheme in Vietnam and the supporting laws and agencies responsible for implementation of the scheme need to be improved in order to contribute to the achievement of social targets. The universal service funding mechanism in Vietnam, including the allocation of industry levies and subsidies, is not linked to real costs, nor is it efficient. The laws and legal instruments governing the universal service scheme are incomplete and in parts contradictory. Moreover, the institutional structures reflect diffuse and duplicated accountability among the authorities involved, lack of transparency, and insufficient external monitoring mechanisms. Performance information systems and involvement of the public and stakeholders are also insufficient. The insufficiencies in the Vietnamese structure are illustrated in the thesis by comparing them to the key elements of a best practice model. They are also compared with elements of the New Zealand model that reflect features closer to the best practice: transparency, effective monitoring and performance accountability. These features serve as a basis for the principal proposals for improvements to the legal framework and institutional structures in Vietnam and for economically efficient and competitive funding arrangements.</p>

Universal Service in Telecommunications: A Case Study of New Zealand and Vietnam Legal and Institutional Frameworks, with Proposals for Reform in Vietnam

<p>This thesis examines models for the delivery of telecommunications universal services in Vietnam and New Zealand. The focus is on identifying obstacles to effective and economically efficient performance of services delivery in Vietnam, and proposing solutions for substantial improvements to legal frameworks and institutional structures. The central argument of the thesis is that the universal service scheme in Vietnam and the supporting laws and agencies responsible for implementation of the scheme need to be improved in order to contribute to the achievement of social targets. The universal service funding mechanism in Vietnam, including the allocation of industry levies and subsidies, is not linked to real costs, nor is it efficient. The laws and legal instruments governing the universal service scheme are incomplete and in parts contradictory. Moreover, the institutional structures reflect diffuse and duplicated accountability among the authorities involved, lack of transparency, and insufficient external monitoring mechanisms. Performance information systems and involvement of the public and stakeholders are also insufficient. The insufficiencies in the Vietnamese structure are illustrated in the thesis by comparing them to the key elements of a best practice model. They are also compared with elements of the New Zealand model that reflect features closer to the best practice: transparency, effective monitoring and performance accountability. These features serve as a basis for the principal proposals for improvements to the legal framework and institutional structures in Vietnam and for economically efficient and competitive funding arrangements.</p>

Do Firms Redact Information from Material Contracts to Conceal Bad News?

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) allows firms to redact information from material contracts by submitting confidential treatment requests, if redacted information is not material and would cause competitive harm upon public disclosure. This study examines whether managers use confidential treatment requests to conceal bad news. We show that confidential treatment requests are positively associated with residual short interest, a proxy for managers’ private negative information. This positive association is more pronounced for firms with lower litigation risk, higher executive equity incentives, and lower external monitoring. Confidential treatment requests filed by firms with higher residual short interests are associated with higher stock price crash risk and poorer future performance. Collectively, our results suggest that managers redact information from material contracts to conceal bad news.

Good Practices of Quality Control in the Area Surrounding of Natural Mineral Water Abstraction of São Pedro Do Sul Medical Spa (Portugal)

São Pedro do Sul medical spa is a space with a millenary tradition in providing health services from the natural hot groundwater. The main source of supply of this thermal unit, was along the time, the Traditional Spring, which in the last decades has been controlled, and shows to have constancy in the flow rate, with about 10 L/s, with a temperature of 68.6°C in the origin. From 1999 onwards, with the construction of new abstraction, Well AC1, with 500m deep, with a maximum flow rate of 12.2 L/s, at 67°C, the exploitation potential of this resource increased. Due to the fabulous characteristics of the resource’s potential (hot natural mineral water), there has been over time a great development in the spa medical activity, having already frequented these spa 25450 users per year, reflecting a maximum annual turnover of 5.4 million euros, coming from thermalism alone. Currently, there are two Bathhouses in operation and the resource is used, not only for therapeutic and wellness thermalism but also for geothermal uses and yet in the cosmetic area. This situation becomes the perfect scenario for attracting investment, increasing the circulation of people and goods, but also in the interest of building new bathhouses, hotels and restaurants and subsequently new roads, gardens, public drinking water and sanitation networks. All this pressure causes a lot of potential damage to the environment, including the underground water environment, and could eventually lead to the closure of the medical spa, if the natural mineral water from the abstractions become contaminated. In Portugal, there are several legally imposed defensive mechanisms of the mineral aquifer system, namely the implementation of the Protection Perimeter, but also the analytical control of the natural mineral water, at the abstraction head, both in chemical and microbiological terms, in addition to the orientation to have an automatic, on-line, record system associated to the abstractions, monitoring parameters such as: water level, flow rate, temperature, pH and conductivity of the water captured. However, the Sao Pedro do Sul medical spa go further, implementing an external monitoring system, consisting of: i) double piezometers (to sample groundwater at different depths), ii) street rainwater samplers, and iii) records precipitation and respective quality. Thus, in this paper, after a brief presentation of the importance of the resource and the physical aspects of the place (geology, hydrogeology and quality of the resource), the fundamental elements of the implemented external monitoring system and its main results are presented, showing that precipitation itself is already contaminated, that street rainwater sample presents chemical elements that are highly harmful to public health, and that groundwater sometimes presents very worrying results. Finally, some actions are mentioned that have been implemented to minimize the potential for contamination of natural mineral water from abstractions and the mineral aquifer system.