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Katarzyna Powierza,1 Jolanta Sawicka-Powierza,2 Beata Urban,3 Beata Żelazowska-Rutkowska,4 Bogdan Cylwik,4 Bożena Mikołuć,5 Olga Kowalewska,6 Alina Bakunowicz-Łazarczyk3 1University Clinical Hospital in Bialystok, Medical University of Bialystok, Bialystok 15-276, Poland; 2Department of Family Medicine, Medical University of Bialystok, Bialystok 15-054, Poland; 3Department of Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus, Medical University of Bialystok, Bialystok 15-274, Poland; 4Department of Pediatric Laboratory Diagnostics, Medical University of Bialystok, Bialystok 15-274, Poland; 5Department of Pediatrics, Rheumatology, Immunology and Metabolic Bone Diseases, Medical University of Bialystok, Bialystok 15-274, Poland; 6Psychiatric Clinic, Lund, Division of Psychiatry, Lund 222 40, SwedenCorrespondence: Jolanta Sawicka-PowierzaDepartment of Family Medicine, Medical University of Bialystok, Mieszka I 4B Street, Bialystok 15-054, PolandTel +48 857326820Fax +48 857327848Email jolasawicka@gmail.comPurpose: The aim of our study was to determine endothelin-1 (ET-1) concentration in chronic idiopathic uveitis in children and adolescents depending on anatomical location and grade of inflammation.Methods: The cross-sectional study was conducted among 17 patients with chronic idiopathic uveitis and 22 healthy controls. Concentration of ET-1 in serum was determined using a commercially available ELISA kit. The concentration of C reactive protein (CRP) in serum was determined by immunoturbidimetric method using CRP4 reagent kit (Roche Diagnostics GmbH, Mannheim, Germany).Results: Statistically significant difference between ET-1 concentration in patients with chronic idiopathic uveitis and controls was found 1.33 (1.22; 1.48) vs 1.93 (1.1; 3.11), p = 0.008). No correlations were found between ET-1 concentration and age, either in chronic idiopathic uveitis patients or controls. Nine out of 17 patients presented with anterior uveitis, 5 with posterior and 3 with panuveitis. There were no differences in ET-1 concentration between anterior, posterior and panuveitis (p = 0.634), and in terms of grade of inflammation.Conclusion: ET-1 expression is disturbed in pediatric chronic idiopathic uveitis irrespective of the anatomical location and grade of inflammation. Lower expression of ET-1 plays a crucial role in disturbed vascular tone control and can result in permanent visual impairment in chronic non-infectious uveitis.Keywords: adolescents, children, chronic idiopathic uveitis, endothelin-1

Human–robot collaborative applications have been receiving increasing attention in industrial applications. The efficiency of the applications is often quite low compared to traditional robotic applications without human interaction. Especially for applications that use speed and separation monitoring, there is potential to increase the efficiency with a cost-effective and easy to implement method. In this paper, we proposed to add human–machine differentiation to the speed and separation monitoring in human–robot collaborative applications. The formula for the protective separation distance was extended with a variable for the kind of object that approaches the robot. Different sensors for differentiation of human and non-human objects are presented. Thermal cameras are used to take measurements in a proof of concept. Through differentiation of human and non-human objects, it is possible to decrease the protective separation distance between the robot and the object and therefore increase the overall efficiency of the collaborative application.

The increasing amount of Internet of Things (IoT) devices and wearables require a reliable energy source. Energy harvesting can power these devices without changing batteries. Three-dimensional printing allows us to manufacture tailored harvesting devices in an easy and fast way. This paper presents the development of hybrid and non-hybrid 3D printed electromagnetic vibration energy harvesters. Various harvesting approaches, their utilised geometry, functional principle, power output and the applied printing processes are shown. The gathered harvesters are analysed, challenges examined and research gaps in the field identified. The advantages and challenges of 3D printing harvesters are discussed. Reported applications and strategies to improve the performance of printed harvesting devices are presented.

Copyright of Anaesthesiologie & Intensivmedizin is the property of DGAI e.V. - Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Anasthesiologie und Intensivmedizin e.V. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Despite being one of the official languages in Switzerland, the phonetic properties of Swiss Standard German (SSG) have been studied insufficiently. Regarding Alemannic (ALM) dialects, most of the available phonetic studies have dealt with consonants rather than vowels. To counteract this general lack of research, this study investigates the long-vowel inventories of four ALM dialects as well as their respective SSG varieties regarding vowel quality. The aim of the study is twofold: on the one hand, it provides the first comparative acoustic analysis of ALM and SSG vowels; on the other hand, it investigates to which extent interference from ALM dialects determines the vowel qualities of SSG varieties. To this end, four male and four female speakers from Bern, Chur, Brig, and Zurich were recorded producing each vowel three times, which resulted in a corpus of 1632 tokens. The results show that ALM vowel quality is basically transferred to the SSG varieties in two dialect regions: Chur and Brig. Instead, in the SSG varieties spoken in Bern and Zurich certain vowel qualities did not match the ALM ones, mostly for that was fronted in the SSG variety of either dialect. Additionally, the Bern SSG <ä> was produced as both [┋ː] and [ӕː], while was realised more in the back. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Infusing an enterprising spirit into student endeavors and the promotion of entrepreneurial skills has been implemented worldwide as an impetus to promote "technopreneurship". This study empirically investigates entrepreneurial perceptions among non-business engineering students before and after exposure to an entrepreneurship intervention. Initially theory on this relatively new phenomenon--technopreneurship, together with existing findings on intentions, education and perceptions, is presented. After identifying salient themes and variables a hypothesis is formulated to confirm or reject the basic predictions of the research question. Based on a pretest-posttest quasi experimental design, survey data is quantitatively analysed, and findings generally indicate a significant increase in self-employment intentions. Recommendations are made in light of the empirical findings and integrated with existing conceptual findings to advance theoretical and practical developments in this relatively unexplored field. (Contains 4 tables.)

Copyright of Journal of Small Business & Entrepreneurship is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)