Improving oral medication compliance with an electronic aid

Demographic trends indicate that populations in the U.S., Europe, and Japan are aging rapidly. As people age, they will seek more health-care services and ingest more oral medications. Poor compliance in taking medications is especially problematic in the elderly because of the changes in their metabolism, cognitive skills, and physical abilities. Simple devices, special packaging, and physical aids, while offering some improvement, do not appear able to answer this challenge. Drawbacks to such mechanical devices include their inability to accommodate multiple medications, their inability to remind patients when to take their medications, their inability to be easily reprogrammed for different dosage regimens, and their higher packaging costs. Electronic medication compliance dispensers, such as the MedMinder, appear to address many of these issues, but their true utility awaits definitive results from further development and clinical field trials     

Healthcare technology, economics, and policy: an evolving balance

Economic and policy issues increasingly influence healthcare technology solutions as we wrestle with keeping healthcare quality high while keeping costs under control. The healthcare system is also undergoing rapid change brought about by managed care, shifting care to team providers in an outpatient or home environment. The development of health technologies under new market arrangements needs to be examined so that quality of care and cost are not at cross roads. As these issues continue to evolve in the public forum, it is critical for engineers and contributors to technology in healthcare to understand the dynamics that influence technology need and and adoption in the healthcare market. We hope that this special issue will provide a basis for initial understanding of these issues and stimulate further involvement by the bioengineering community at large, for the improvement of healthcare across all of society.     

Electrical, microstructural, physical and chemical characterization of HV XLPE cable peelings for an electrical aging diagnostic data base

The aim of the European project "ARTEMIS" is to develop a diagnostic system for assessing aging in power cable insulation. Its first task was to make a thorough characterisation of the cable insulation before aging. This is intended to provide a background against which any changes introduced by thermo-electric aging can be identified. The aging markers derived from this initial characterisation will be considered both as diagnostic indicators in their own right, and also to develop an aging model for predictive purposes, if and when possible. This stage of the ARTEMIS programme is now complete and we will present an analysis of the results, and show how they may be correlated with the concepts proposed in aging theories.     

基于物联网的智能养老住宅系统设计

通过分析人口老龄化给社会带来的弊端,提出了一种新型的解决途径,设计了智能养老住宅系统。该系统基于物联网平台对老人身体特征参数进行实时监测。并对意外情况进行报警。经测试,系统运行正常,可准确监控并及时报警。保护老人的生命安全。在一定程度缓解了老龄化社会问题的弊端。     

A new accelerated aging procedure for cable life tests

A new accelerated aging procedure for cable life tests has been proposed in this paper. The objective has been to minimize the total test costs using cable samples subject to the constraint that all relavant cable characteristics should be preserved by the samples. The procedure utilizes a combined approach based on available physical and mathematical models and laboratory accelerated aging tests. The behavior of dielectric strength, dielectric loss angle, capacitance and loss of mass in XLPE cable models subjected to different aging conditions (voltages and temperatures) has been monitored in order to verify the proposed procedure. Investigations have proven that the results concerning aging effects obtained under combined stresses (simultaneously electrical and thermal) are different from those obtained under single-stress aging. The degradations caused by combined stresses cannot be directly related to the changes caused by the single stress, i.e. their superposition is not valid. It has been found that tan delta can serve as a representative indicator of other cable properties relevant to aging phenomena.     

Using auctions to divest generation assets

In most states, ratepayers will compensate utilities for their stranded costs, so these costs must be measured accurately and in a way that is easily understood by all concerned parties. Here we describe the options for measuring stranded costs and argue that a simultaneous ascending auction is the best approach.     

Bhopal, Asbestos, and Love Canal . . . How They Should Affect Engineering Education

Over the past 15 years, society has come to expect that engineers, as practitioners and managers, be aware of those activities over which they have control, that could adversely affect the public's well-being. Specifically, due to incidents such as Love Canal, Times Beach, Bhopal, and Chernobyl, and the pollution of groundwater, the public now recognizes that technology which is within the control of others can, if mishandled, jeopardize the health and well-being of thousands of innocent people. This realization will undoubtedly place increasing pressures on engineers to be more aware of the potential adverse consequences of their work. This paper suggests that schools of engineering have a responsibility to prepare engineers to meet these expectations and it recommends an approach to meet this challenge.     

Chasing after “petty” computer crime

Non-violent crime has found a goldmine of opportunity in the computer world. What constitutes a crime and how it impacts people as a society and individually is very slowly being worked out. The next few years will surely bring changes and decisions that will affect everyone. The pace in which the legal system currently moves is slow. This is to try to ensure fairness to all the parties involved: the victim, the accused and society as a whole. Perhaps issues regarding computing will force it to accelerate, perhaps not. Time will only tell     

Location, location, location

Ten or even five years ago sustainability was a concept alien to society and certainly manufacturing, but with the environment increasingly on the political agenda it is a model that is becoming all pervasive within manufacturing. For many manufacturing businesses, sustainability has been limited to ensuring that waste and effluent are controlled and that operations do not adversely affect the environment. Broader issues of industrial sustainability remain little understood and many companies need tools and techniques to assess and manage their own sustainability. However, the manufacturing industry is beginning to take a central role in delivering sustainable development through the more productive use of materials and natural resources. Many companies have started to realize that it is not just the increasingly punitive legal reprimands that they will suffer for flouting regulation. In the face of growing consumer pressure, it will ultimately be sales and profitability.     

Humanizing the Information Superhighway

We are rapidly moving toward an integration of two of the most powerful technologies shaping modern life: computers and communications. The telephone and television systems are merging with the computer to form an even more powerful and all-encompassing network of communication and information services, known formally as the National Information Infrastructure (NII), and informally as the Information Superhighway. The form this network finally takes will undoubtedly have an enormous impact on our individual lives, our businesses, and our society. The decisions that ultimately will determine it are even now being made. It is crucial that educators, engineers, business people, policy makers and citizens participate in shaping the technology and the institutions surrounding it. Some new ways of thinking about the NII are needed in order to achieve greater sensitivity to its social implications. Instead of regarding the network as a “superhighway”, which emphasizes the technical infrastructure, it can be viewed as a gathering place, like a village square or marketplace, which supports a rich variety of human interactions. This perspective suggests a framework for understanding and analyzing public policy issues related to the NII and some principles for addressing those issues     

Sustainable society formed by unselfish agents

It has been pointed out that if the social configuration of the three relations (market, communal, and obligatory relations) is not balanced, a market‐based society as a total system fails. Using multiagent simulations, this paper shows that a sustainable society is formed when all three relations are integrated and function appropriately. When agent trades are based on the market mechanism (i.e., agents act in their own interest and thus only market relations exist), weak agents who cannot perform transactions die. If a compulsory tax is imposed to enable all weak agents to survive (i.e., obligatory relations exist), then the fiscal deficit increases. On the other hand, if agents who have excess income undertake the unselfish action of distributing their surplus to the weak agents (i.e., communal relations exist), then the trade volume increases. It is shown that the existence of unselfish agents is necessary for the realization of a sustainable society. The survival of all agents, however, is difficult in a communal society. In an artificial society, for all agents to survive and fiscal balance to be maintained, all three social relations must be fully integrated. These results show that adjusting the balance of the three social relations will lead to the realization of a sustainable society. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 157(1): 38–46, 2006; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( http://www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.20368     

Conversion of the Military-Industrial Sector

Modern weapons and their effects and the increasingly burdensome costs of the arms race argue for its reversal. The conversion of military-industrial facilities to commercial or other nonmilitary uses is an important element in such a reversal because, in the absence of credible ways of arranging for an orderly change in national priorities, economic self-interest will be added as a further impediment to the obvious political difficulties in such a change. Conversion is shown to be a complex and time-consuming process involving products, markets, people and facilities. A report on a joint U.S.-Soviet symposium on the subject in June 1984 is also given.     

The science of volunteering

In recent years there has been an increase in demand from developing countries for skilled professional volunteers. This shift in the delivery of development has led to a fresh look at the personal and professional benefits of volunteering overseas. VSO (Voluntary Service Overseas) is an international development charity that works through volunteers. Volunteers live and work with local communities, sharing their skills and knowledge. Opportunities are available for people with specific biology and biomedical engineering skills for medical, technical, and teaching posts around the world. VSO looks for applicants who can be flexible and can adapt their skills to the needs of their placement. This is important because many jobs involve an element of training or community work, which wouldn't normally be part of their regular jobs at home. The view of employers towards career breaks has changed, especially in recent years with more and more people recognizing that sabbaticals can be a part of career development. Research also shows that career breaks are good for developing skills. Taking a different direction in your life does not have to mean taking time out from your career. Working with VSO may not be a holiday, but it is an experience which will challenge and reward all those involved with memories and experiences that will last a lifetime.     

LVAD as destination therapy-the economic dilemma

The artificial heart, after decades of development, remains a long way off as a practical remedy for people with failing hearts. But a related technology, the left ventricular assist device (LVAD), has passed major milestones in its development and is poised for widespread use. This technology, which is an offshoot of the artificial heart program, may well have greater impact on society than the artificial heart. It is time to consider its probable costs to society. A heart transplant is the present treatment of choice for end-stage heart failure (ESHF).     

多回路电缆金属护套环流计算软件的开发与应用

目前城市电网中35kV以上电压等级的电缆线路越来越多,35 kV以上电压等级线路往往使用单芯电缆。单芯电力电缆线芯通过交变电流时,金属护套上会产生感应电势。为了防止感应电压过大对人体造成伤害,需要将金属护套两端牢固接地。当电缆金属护套两端接地时金属护套中会有环流通过,护套环流过大时会严重影响电缆的安全运行。通过MATLAB及LabVIEW软件编程方法实现了计算一至四回路任意排列电缆线路的护套环流,利用环流计算软件提出抑制环流措施和电缆优化敷设方式,为未来电缆敷设提供科学指导意见。     

运用科学管理手段提高安全管理水平

安全管理工作十分重要,如果这项工作做不好,势必给国家和人民造成巨大的损失。因而,世界各国都非常重视。现代社会中,各项事业都有了较大发展和进步,传统的安全管理方式已经不适应现代社会发展要求,必须研究应用科学的管理方式提高安全管理水平,促进我国各项事业的发展。     

Reliability improvement and economic benefits of online monitoringsystems for large induction machines

Microprocessor-based monitoring systems are being developed for the regular analysis of large induction machine variables and to predict possible fault conditions, so that preventive maintenance can be organized in a cost-effective manner. A method for the evaluation of the improvement of machine reliability made by such monitoring systems is presented. An economic and financial analysis to examine the viability of a condition monitoring system for a large machine using comprehensive rotor, stator, and other parameter measurements is developed. In two case studies, the costs of design, construction, mounting, and operation of condition monitoring systems are discussed, and estimates are made at current costs. These costs are balanced against the costs avoided in cases of unexpected machine failures, lost production, and repairs. Cost estimates for repairs and downtime are made using published information from previous reliability surveys on electrical machines. Information is presented for different machine sizes, which will indicate any relevance of the machine size when evaluating monitoring systems     

Power Reform Enters New Stage——An exclusive interview with Wang Qiang, director of Department of Policies and Regulations of SERC, and deputy director of Reconstruction Office

In 2008 power reform enters a new stage in which new breakthroughs will be made. Firstly, leftovers from the separation of power plants from power grids will have been basically settled;secondly, research on major issues concerningpower system will be initiated;thirdly, pilot work for power system reform will be launched. The China Southern Power Grid will be listed on market. This is not only a central enterprise being listed, but also an important part of the power system reform. The pilot plan of the company reform aims to create an operation mechanism for an orderly competitive regional power market, which is centered on energy-saving dispatch and power tariff reform. It needs patience and time to form a competitive and orderly power market in China. It also needs to keep the cohesion of the people, and to continuously prepare for challenges, thus the goal of the reform will certainly be achieved.     

400 kV地下电缆的敷设及成本控制

2004年,丹麦电网3条挤压成形的400kV双回电缆正式带电运行.这3条双回电缆采用波纹管,用于从奥尔胡斯到奥尔堡的400kV输电线路(140km)长达14.7km的线段中.文章介绍了400kV电缆系统,电缆的布局和连接、过渡组件以及电缆的补偿;同时也介绍了电缆线路的维护经验,还讨论了电缆的载流量,并与架空输电线路的载流量进行了对比,并将温度分布感应和动态负荷计算应用于控制中心每日的计划、预测工作中;最后,将架空线路与地下电缆线路的成本进行了对比.