Stroke is the second most common cause of death and remains a persistent health challenge globally. Due to its highly time-sensitive nature, earlier stroke treatments should be enforced for improved ...patient outcome. The mobile stroke unit (MSU) was conceptualized and implemented to deliver the diagnosis and treatment to a stroke patient in the ultra-early time window (<1 h) in the pre-hospital setting and has shown to be clinically effective. However, due to geographical challenges, most rural communities are still unable to receive timely stroke intervention, as access to specialized stroke facilities for optimal stroke treatment poses a challenge. Therefore, the aircraft counterpart (Air-MSU) of the conventional road MSU offers a plausible solution to this shortcoming by expanding the catchment area for regional locations in Australia. The implementation of Air-MSU is currently hindered by several technical limitations, where current commercially available CT scanners are still oversized and too heavy to be integrated into a conventional helicopter emergency medical service (HEMS). In collaboration with the Australian Stroke Alliance and Melbourne Brain Centre, this article aims to explore the possibilities and methodologies in reducing the weight and, effectively, the size of an existing CT scanner, such that it can be retrofitted into the proposed search and rescue helicopter—Agusta Westland AW189. The result will be Australia’s first-ever customized CT scanner structure designed to fit in a search-and-rescue helicopter used for Air-MSU.
Climate change and other global environmental problems constitute a significant challenge to contemporary political philosophy, especially with respect to complacency. This paper assesses Rawls' ...theory, and argues for three conclusions. First, Rawls does not already solve such problems, and simple extensions of his theory are unlikely to do so. This is so despite the rich structure of Rawls' philosophy, and the appeal of some of its parts. Second, the most promising areas for extension - the circumstances of justice, the duty to maintain and promote just institutions, and his vision of social development - are those that have not yet been explored. Third, unfortunately, Rawls' views on these topics are both seriously underdeveloped, and largely stipulative. Hence, in trying to meet climate change, Rawlsians are more likely to add new theories to Rawls, and perhaps even to transform his original account, than to generate an approach "from the inside out".
The Real Tragedy of the Commons GARDINER, STEPHEN M.
Philosophy & public affairs,
October 2001, Letnik:
30, Številka:
4
Journal Article
Recenzirano
In two celebrated and widely anthologized articles, as well as several books, the biologist Garrett Hardin claims (a) that the world population problem has a certain structure: It is a tragedy of the ...commons; and, (b) that, given this structure, the only tenable solutions involve either coercion or immense human suffering. Gardiner argues for two claims. First, Hardin's arguments are deeply flawed. Second, much of Hardin's pessimism is justified.
► Liquid crystalline chromophores have been synthesized for photonic band-edge laser devices. ► These are bimesogenic compounds consisting of the repeating unit from the semiconducting polymer, ...CNPPV. ► Single mode laser emission was observed in chiral nematic samples doped with the chromophores up to a concentration of 10wt.%. ► The excitation threshold is found to increase with the concentration of the chromophore.
We present results on laser action from liquid crystal compounds whereby one sub-unit of the molecular structure consists of the cyano-substituted chromophore, {phenylene-bis (2-cyanopropene)}, similar to the basic unit of the semiconducting polymer structure poly(cyanoterephthalylidene). These compounds were found to exhibit nematic liquid crystal phases. In addition, by virtue of the liquid crystalline properties, the compounds were found to be highly miscible in wide temperature range commercial nematogen mixtures. When optically excited at λ=355nm, laser emission was observed in the blue/green region of the visible spectrum (480–530nm) and at larger concentrations by weight than is achievable using conventional laser dyes. Upon increasing the concentration of dye from 2 to 5wt.% the threshold was found to increase from Eth=0.42±0.02μJ/pulse (≈20mJ/cm2) to Eth=0.66±0.03μJ/pulse (≈34mJ/cm2). Laser emission was also observed at concentrations of 10wt.% but was less stable than that observed for lower concentrations of the chromophore.
We present experimental results on the bulk flexoelectric coefficients e and effective elastic coefficients K of non-symmetric bimesogenic liquid crystals when the number of terminal and lateral ...fluoro substituents is increased. These coefficients are of importance because the flexoelastic ratio e/K governs the magnitude of flexoelectro-optic switching in chiral nematic liquid crystals. The study is carried out for two different types of linkage in the flexible spacer chain that connects the separate mesogenic units: these are either an ether or an ester unit. It is found that increasing the number of fluorine atoms on the mesogenic units typically leads to a small increase in e and a decrease in K, resulting in an enhancement of e/K. The most dramatic increase in e/K, however, is observed when the linking group is changed from ether to ester units, which can largely be attributed to an increase in e. Increasing the number of fluorine atoms does, however, increase the viscoelastic ratio and therefore leads to a concomitant increase in the response time. This is observed for both types of linkage, although the ester-linked compounds exhibit smaller viscoelastic ratios compared with their ether-linked counterparts. Highly fluorinated ester-linked compounds are also found to exhibit lower transition temperatures and dielectric anisotropies. As a result, these compounds are promising materials for use in electro-optic devices.
In this paper, we focus on stratospheric sulfate injection as a geoengineering scheme, and provide a combined scientific and ethical analysis of climate response tests, which are a subset of outdoor ...tests that would seek to impose detectable and attributable changes to climate variables on global or regional scales. We assess the current state of scientific understanding on the plausibility and scalability of climate response tests. Then, we delineate a minimal baseline against which to consider whether certain climate response tests would be relevant for a deployment scenario. Our analysis shows that some climate response tests, such as those attempting to detect changes in regional climate impacts, may not be deployable in time periods relevant to realistic geoengineering scenarios. This might pose significant challenges for justifying stratospheric sulfate aerosol injection deployment overall. We then survey some of the major ethical challenges that proposed climate response tests face. We consider what levels of confidence would be required to ethically justify approving a proposed test; whether the consequences of tests are subject to similar questions of justice, compensation, and informed consent as full‐scale deployment; and whether questions of intent and hubris are morally relevant for climate response tests. We suggest further research into laboratory‐based work and modeling may help to narrow the scientific uncertainties related to climate response tests, and help inform future ethical debate. However, even if such work is pursued, the ethical issues raised by proposed climate response tests are significant and manifold.
Key Points
Climate response tests aimed at detecting changes in regional climate impacts may not be achievable in time scales relevant for deployment
Other possible climate response tests face difficult ethical questions around uncertainty, justice, compensation, consent, intent, and hubris
Further research may help to narrow the scientific uncertainties related to climate response tests, and help inform future ethical debate
This collection gathers seminal papers from the emerging area of ethics and climate change. It should be of broad interest to those concerned with global justice, environmental science and policy, ...and the future of humanity.
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