103 research outputs found
Is There Market Power in the French Comte Cheese Market?
Get PDFAn NEIO approach is used to measure seller market power in the French Comté cheese market, characterised by government-approved supply control. The estimation is performed on quarterly data at the wholesale stage over the period 1985-2005. Three different elasticity shifters are included in the demand specification, and the supply equation accounts for the existence of the European dairy quota policy. The market power estimate is small and statistically insignificant. Monopoly is rejected, as well as weak forms of Cournot oligopoly. Results appear to be robust to the choice of functional form, and suggest little effect of the supply control scheme on consumer prices.Supply control, NEIO, protected designation of origin, Marketing,
The impact of COVID-19 on early career members (ECMs): an ERS ECM survey
No full textRationale: COVID-19 pandemic profoundly disorganised healthcare. Respiratory ECMs were at the frontline of the pandemic. The ERS ECM committee assessed the impact of the pandemic on the work and training of ECMs, and compared the differences between the first wave (FW) and subsequent waves (SWs). Methods: An online survey was disseminated via e-mail and social networks to ERS members, with a first round in May 2020, and a second round in October 2021. ECMs (i.e., aged ≤40 years) were asked to participate. The second round incorporated questions about SWs. Results: Eight hundred and forty-four ECMs responded (45% men), of all ages between 18 and 40 years, from 89 countries. They were physicians (48%), registrars/medical students (28%), allied health professionals (8%), full-time researchers (11%), and medical students doing research (5%). During the FW, 64% had to change their working place, opposed to 17% during SWs. More than 50% considered that training/continuous education was altered during all the waves, but more online training was delivered during SWs. Conference attendance was cancelled for 70% during the FW, whereas it was mostly maintained in an online format during SWs. During all the waves, the preferred sources of information were webinars, peer-reviewed journals, and the ERS website. During the FW, 21% of respondents received no mentorship, and 46% received no psychological support. Fifteen percent had to take 1/23/24, 3:07 PM The impact of COVID-19 on early career members (ECMs): an ERS ECM survey | European Respiratory Society https://erj.ersjournals.com/content/62/suppl_67/PA495 2/5 sick leave for confirmed or suspected COVID-19 and 3% for burnout. Moreover, 54% of research projects were postponed
Developments in lung transplantation over the past decade
Get PDFWith an improved median survival of 6.2 years, lung transplantation has become an increasingly acceptable treatment option for end-stage lung disease. Besides survival benefit, improvement of quality of life is achieved in the vast majority of patients. Many developments have taken place in the field of lung transplantation over the past decade. Broadened indication criteria and bridging techniques for patients awaiting lung transplantation have led to increased waiting lists and changes in allocation schemes worldwide. Moreover, the use of previously unacceptable donor lungs for lung transplantation has increased, with donations from donors after cardiac death, donors with increasing age and donors with positive smoking status extending the donor pool substantially. Use of ex vivo lung perfusion further increased the number of lungs suitable for lung transplantation. Nonetheless, the use of these previously unacceptable lungs did not have detrimental effects on survival and long-term graft outcomes, and has decreased waiting list mortality. To further improve long-term outcomes, strategies have been proposed to modify chronic lung allograft dysfunction progression and minimise toxic immunosuppressive effects. This review summarises the developments in clinical lung transplantation over the past decade
Optimising storage assignment, order picker routing, and order batching for an e-grocery fulfilment centre: An exact and heuristic approach
No full textWith (e-)grocery retailers striving to increase their efficiency and subsequently reduce their costs, the opportunities that lie in optimising the order picking process of the supply chain is of key importance. The complex nature of assigning articles to an optimal storage location, having efficient routing of order pickers, and optimised grouping of orders calls for an integral approach to these problems. The objective of the research is to reduce the travelled distance of order pickers and subsequently the costs of the order picking process. Next to the integral approach, a new method of Multiple Storage Locations (MSL) is introduced. Historic order data of an e-grocery retailer is used, together with information on stock keeping units (SKUs), to implement SKU allocation with MSL possibility, routing, and batching into models. This ensures that the cost saving effects of these measures can be quantified. A benchmark Mixed Integer Linear Programming model (MILP) is developed and compared to a meta-heuristic Adaptive Large Neighbourhood Search model (ALNS) to determine how much travelled distance would be saved. The ALNS has multiple destroy- and repair heuristics, some of which are novel, that are specific to the problem at hand. The ALNS is able to handle bigger instances than the MILP, whilst ensuring quality of the solution. The MILP model outperforms the ALNS for small instances, however for large instances (instances of 400 orders or more) the ALNS performs, on average, 12.5% better whilst reducing computational time by 14.8%. Finally, areas of improvement are suggested in the ALNS model as well as other effects that should be studied when introducing MSL.Aerospace Engineerin
Evalutating an educational care pathway supported by the diabetes box for patients with type 2 diabetes: A pilot and feasibility study
No full textThe thesis consists of six chapters, including the introduction (Chapter 1), a literature study about the current state of e-health interventions in T2DM care (Chapter 2), the study design of the pilot study (Chapter 3) and the results of the pilot study about the educational care pathway (Chapters 4, 5 and 6). The pathway consists of three aspects: education, self-monitoring and a smartphone application. Education consists of group consultations organized by healthcare providers and individual consultations with a dietitian. In addition, online education videos are added. The pathway is supported with self-monitoring devices: a blood pressure monitor and an activity tracker. Included patients were already in possession of a flash glucose monitor. Furthermore, the pathway is supported by a smartphone app to bring it all together. The pathway is presented to patients in form of the DiaBox, which includes the devices and additional information to take home. Acceptability, usability and feasibility of the care pathway for both patients and healthcare professionals will be studied in this pilot study. These results will be displayed in Chapter 4. Secondary aims are to assess preliminary effects on perceived learning about diabetes and lifestyle factors related to T2DM, patient activation towards diabetes self-management and glucose regulation. These results will be displayed in Chapter 5. In addition, these results will be used to determine if the pathway and DiaBox are suitable for further large scale research. Necessary adaptations and improvements of the pathway and box will also be described, which will be further elaborated on in Chapter 6.Technical Medicine | Sensing and Stimulatio
Graphitic nanoclustering in pulsed laser deposited diamond-like-carbon and carbon nitride thin films
No full textIn this work, Raman spectroscopy and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) are used to investigate sp2 carbon atoms nanoclustering in both diamond-like-carbon (DLC) and amorphous carbon nitride (CNx) films grown at room temperature by pulsed laser deposition. For DLC, ablation of a graphite target using a KrF laser was performed under vacuum, at different laser intensities. CNx growth was achieved using the same system to which a nitrogen atom source was added. For both types of films, increasing the laser intensity was found to reduce the size of the sp2 nanoclusters, as deduced from the variation of the D to the G Raman peaks intensity ratio. Moreover, the estimated size of the sp2 nanoclusters in CN x appears to be consistently larger than that in DLC films. The Lorentzian EPR signal, with a g-value of 2.0028 and room temperature linewidth ranging from approximately 2.3 to 3.9 G, gives further indication about clustering of sp2 paramagnetic centers (with measured spin densities andgt; 1020-cm3). For all films, the EPR linewidth was found to narrow down to approximately 2 G, when measured at 80 K. The EPR line broadening with increasing temperature is greater for the CNx films. Possible structural configurations of the nanoclusters, depending on laser intensity and nitrogen incorporation, are discussed. © 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Barklie RC, 2001, DIAM RELAT MATER, V10, P174, DOI 10.1016-S0925-9635(00)00465-9; Fanchini G, 2002, DIAM RELAT MATER, V11, P1143, DOI 10.1016-S0925-9635(01)00715-4; Ferrari AC, 2000, PHYS REV B, V61, P14095, DOI 10.1103-PhysRevB.61.14095; Hu JT, 1998, PHYS REV B, V57, pR3185, DOI 10.1103-PhysRevB.57.R3185; Ilie A, 2001, J APPL PHYS, V90, P2024, DOI 10.1063-1.1381001; Konchits AA, 2003, J APPL PHYS, V93, P5905, DOI 10.1063-1.1564280; Merel P, 2003, DIAM RELAT MATER, V12, P1075, DOI [10.1016-S0925-9635(02)00304-7, 10.1106-S0925-9635(02)00304-7]; Rodil SE, 2001, J APPL PHYS, V89, P5425, DOI 10.1063-1.1365076; Szorenyi T, 2003, APPL SURF SCI, V208, P502, DOI 10.1016-S0169-4332(02)01445-9; Tabbal M, 1999, J APPL PHYS, V85, P3860, DOI 10.1063-1.369757; Tabbal M, 2000, J APPL PHYS, V88, P5127, DOI 10.1063-1.1314902; Voevodin AA, 2002, J APPL PHYS, V92, P724, DOI 10.1063-1.1481972; Voevodin AA, 1996, SURF COAT TECH, V82, P199, DOI 10.1016-0257-8972(95)02734-343
Chronic lung allograft dysfunction after lung transplantation
No full textChronic lung allograft dysfunction (CLAD) remains one of the most important complications after lung transplantation, affecting 50% of patients by 5 years post-transplant. It is a major cause of morbidity and the leading cause of mortality beyond 5 years after the transplantation procedure. CLAD is characterised by a persistent and mostly progressive fall in forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1) of >20% compared with the postoperative best FEV1 and is believed to be the consequence of chronic rejection. In recent years, it has become clear that different phenotypes of CLAD can be identified, based on the pulmonary function evolution and findings on chest imaging. In the present chapter, we will focus on the current definition of CLAD and its phenotypes, risk factors for its development, outcome and possible treatment options.</p
Physical recovery across care pathways up to 12 months after hospitalization for COVID-19: A multicenter prospective cohort study (CO-FLOW)
Get PDFBACKGROUD: The sudden COVID-19 pandemic forced quick development of care pathways for patients with different needs. Trajectories of physical recovery in hospitalized patients for COVID-19 following different care pathways are unknown. We aimed to assess trajectories of physical recovery and levels of physical function reached within the different care pathways. Additionally, we assessed differences in physical function across care pathways at follow-up visits. METHODS: This multicenter prospective cohort study of adults who had been hospitalized for COVID-19 was performed in 10 centers, including 7 hospitals (1 academic and 6 regional hospitals) and 3 rehabilitation centers (1 medical rehabilitation center and 2 skilled nursing facilities), located in the Netherlands. Study visits were performed at 3, 6, and 12 months post-hospital discharge and included assessment of cardiorespiratory fitness (6 min walk test [6MWT], 1 min sit-to-stand test [1MSTST]), muscle strength (maximum handgrip strength [HGS]) and mobility (de Morton Mobility Index [DEMMI]). FINDINGS: We report findings for 582 patients who had been discharged from hospital between March 24, 2020 and June 17, 2021. Patients had a median age of 60·0 years, 68·9% (401/582) were male, 94·6% (561/582) had received oxygen therapy, and 35·2% (205/582) mechanical ventilation. We followed patients across four different rehabilitation settings: no rehabilitation (No-rehab, 19·6% [114/582]), community-based rehabilitation (Com-rehab, 54·1% [315/582]), medical rehabilitation (Med-rehab, 13·7% [80/582]), and rehabilitation in a skilled nursing facility (SNF-rehab, 12·5% [73/582]). Overall, outcomes in 6MWT (14·9 meters [95% CI 7·4 to 22·4]), 1MSTST (2·2 repetitions [1·5 to 2·8]), and HGS (3·5 kg [2·9 to 4·0]) improved significantly (p<0·001) from 3 to 6 months and only HGS from 6 to 12 months (2·5 kg [1·8 to 3·1]; p<0·001). DEMMI scores did not significantly improve over time. At 3 months, percentage of normative values reached in 1MSTST differed significantly (p<0.001) across care pathways, with largest impairments in Med- and SNF-rehab groups. At 12 months these differences were no longer significant, reaching, overall, 90·5% on 6MWD, 75·4% on 1MSTST, and 106·9% on HGS. INTERPRETATION: Overall, physical function improved after hospitalization for COVID-19, with largest improvement within 6 months post-discharge. Patients with rehabilitation after hospital discharge improved in more than one component of physical function, whereas patients without rehabilitation improved solely in muscle strength. Patients who received rehabilitation, and particularly patients with Med- and SNF-rehab, had more severe impairment in physical function at 3 months, but reached equal levels at 12 months compared to patients without follow-up treatment. Our findings indicate the importance of rehabilitation. FUNDING: ZonMw, Rijndam Rehabilitation, Laurens (The Netherlands)
COVID-19 follow-up programmes across Europe:an ERS END-COVID CRC survey
Get PDFA large heterogeneity in the management of post-COVID-19 syndrome and in standard operating procedures for COVID-19 follow-up programmes across Europe exists https://bit.ly/3OdPxg
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