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The present study aims to summarize different non-invasive techniques for continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) in diabetic patients using glucose-oxidase biosensors. In diabetic patients, the self-monitoring of blood glucose (BG) levels through minimally invasive techniques provides a quick method of measuring their BG concentration, unlike conventional laboratory measurements. The drawbacks of minimally invasive techniques include physical pain, anxiety and reduced patient compliance. To overcome these limitations, researchers shifted their attention towards the development of a pain-free and non-invasive glucose monitoring system, which showed encouraging results.

This study reviews the development of minimally and non-invasive method for continuous glucose level monitoring in diabetic or hyperglycemic patients. Specifically, glucose monitoring using non-invasive techniques, such as spectroscopy-based methods, polarimetry, fluorescence, electromagnetic variations, transdermal extraction-based methods and using body fluids, has been discussed. The various strategies adopted for improving the overall specificity and performance of biosensors are discussed.

In conclusion, the technology of glucose oxidase-based biosensors for glucose level monitoring is becoming a strong competitor, probably because of high specificity and selectivity, low cost and increased patient compliance. Many industries currently working in this field include Google, Novartis and Microsoft, which demonstrates the significance and strong market potential of self-monitored glucose-oxidase-based biosensors in the near future.

This review paper summarizes comprehensive strategies for continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) in diabetic patients using non-invasive glucose-oxidase biosensors. Non-invasive techniques received significant research interest because of high sensitivity and better patient compliance, unlike invasive ones. Although the results from these innovative devices require frequent calibration against direct BG data, they might be a preferable candidate for future CGM. However, the challenges associated with designing accurate level sensors to biomonitor BG data easily and painlessly needs to be addressed.

The purpose of this article is to analyze the effects patients' socioeconomic characteristics, along with hospital size and location, had on the initial treatment choice for individuals with hypertension with complications and secondary hypertension.

The analysis uses retrospective data and binary logistic regression to analyze treatment choice determinants. Initial diagnostic and/or therapeutic procedures were categorized as invasive or non‐invasive, which served as the dependent variable.

Uninsured people were more likely to get less expensive non‐invasive treatment. Medicare patients were approximately twice as likely to receive an invasive procedure as individuals with private insurance, even after controlling for age and other socioeconomic characteristics. Minorities and males were also more likely to receive an invasive primary procedure. Significant treatment variations across States were also found.

There were insufficient observations to look at variability within patients treated by a single physician. Future research could tie this information into a simultaneous equation system in order to determine whether patients who received one treatment type versus another were better off.

Finding that characteristics other than morbidity affect the type of treatment received indicates that public policy could improve care. Most important, the ability to pay, type of insurance, geographic location and race influence whether patients receive invasive or non‐invasive treatment upon hospitalization for hypertension, indicating that policies prescribing treatment alternatives that remove non‐medical issues from calculation may improve overall outcomes.

Comprehensive treatment‐choice analyzes have been largely overlooked in the hypertension literature. Additionally, few studies analyze choice using data from such a diverse array of geographic areas and socio‐economic strata.

This paper aims to discuss the general principles behind the microwave sensing and demonstrates the potential of cavity microwave resonator device in real-time monitoring for: environmental monitoring with the focus on wastewater pollution, a system for oil/gas/water content evaluation in a dynamic pipeline, a system for real-time determination of bacteria concentration and a method for non-invasive glucose determination.

Microwave sensing is a rapidly developing technology which has been successfully used for various industrial applications including water level measurements, material moisture content, in construction industry for non-invasive evaluation of structures and even in the healthcare industry for non-invasive real-time monitoring of glucose in diabetic patients. Novel microwave cavities designed and tested for specific applications are presented.

The paper provides experimental results of testing the novel microwave sensing systems in a range of industrial and healthcare applications and discusses the potential of these systems for real-time monitoring of processes and parameters.

The concept of real-time microwave sensing was successfully tested, but further experiments are required to account for possible interference mechanisms before it can be used commercially on a large-scale.

It is suggested that a novel approach to wastewater monitoring, namely using specially designed microwave cavity sensors, could lead to a successful development of an advanced platform capable of providing for a real-time detection of water content with superior sensitivity. Also, a system for real-time multiphase fluid composition monitoring is reported, which is essential for sustainable oil industry operation.

The paper illustrated the potential of microwave sensing as a real-time monitoring platform for a broad spectrum of commercial applications, with a focus on system developed by the authors, namely, for the monitoring of a multiphase fluid flow in a dynamic oil pipeline, for real-time monitoring of nutrients concentration in wastewater and for healthcare industry, in particular for real-time non-invasive determination of the glucose levels and bacteria concentration.

Recruitment for pediatric non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) studies is often challenged by low enrollment. Understanding parental perceptions regarding NIBS is crucial to develop new communication strategies to increase enrollment.

Integrating a crossed-disciplinary approach, the authors conducted a survey at the 2018 Minnesota State Fair querying the perception of risk and preferences of current and future parents associated with pediatric NIBS research. The survey consisted of 28 closed-text questions including demographics, photographs portraying NIBS, terminologies and factors related to NIBS studies.

Complete surveys were analyzed from 622 parent participants. A significant number of participants (42.8%) perceived the photographs of NIBS as “risky.” Additionally, 65.43% perceived the term “Non-invasive brain therapy” as not risky, a word combination not currently being used when recruiting potential participants. Over 90% (561/622) of participants chose the photograph of child-friendly MRI suite.

Although this survey identified aspects crucial in recruitment for pediatric NIBS research, there were limitations. For example, the authors did not record the sex or demographic distribution (e.g. rural versus urban setting) of the participants. These factors may also influence recruitment messaging.

For important medical research to impact and improve the lives of the potential remedies, participation by the public in clinical trials is necessary. Often the general public perceives the trials as risky as a result of poor marketing communication recruitment material. This study sought to be understood if how the message is encoded has an impact on the decoding by the receiver.

The purpose of the present study is to evaluate chocolate consumption effects with a non invasive metodology. There is evidence that the consumption of dark chocolate and cocoa with high flavonoid content could have positive effects on blood pressure (BP) and weight management (WM); however, there are complications at the moment of obtaining blood samples to evaluate on children at a primary school level.

A total of 54 healthy scholars were included; consumption of 70 per cent cacao dark chocolate was integrated into the daily snack during a 30-day period. Blood pressure, body fat, total content of polyphenols in urine and total antioxidant capacity of saliva were measured. The results obtained were divided in relation of two groups of students, A and B, with lesser or higher difficulties to WM in a self-assessment test; variables were then statistically evaluated.

Consumption of chocolate produced changes in the total content of polyphenols (from 5.6 to 6.8 µg/mL, p < 0.016) and salivary antioxidant capacity [(14.76 ± 5.4 and 16.14 ± 3.9) TEU nmol versus. t = 0; p < 0.029 and p < 0.001 at 15 and 30 days, respectively]. Group B, which presented higher difficulties concerning WM, presented a body fat reduction of about 0.63 per cent after chocolate consumption (p = 0.045) and a diastolic blood pressure reduction of −2.8 mm Hg in average (p < 0.025). A significant weight gain (p < 0.023) was observed only in Group A.

Despite the reduced sensitivity of the non-invasive methodology, differences in urine and salivary content of polyphenols and antioxidant capacity suggest that the design used could be feasible, although extended studies are needed to corroborate it.

A non-invasive study for screening the potential health benefits of dark chocolate was assayed. The results suggest that dark chocolate consumption in children as part of the daily snack could be a complementary element in weight management and in prevention of future risk factors to chronic diseases.

The purpose of this paper is to further simplify the use of NURBS in industrial environnements. Although isogeometric analysis (IGA) has been the object of intensive studies over the past decade, its massive deployment in industrial analysis still appears quite marginal. This is partly due to its implementation, which is not straightforward with respect to the elementary structure of finite element (FE) codes. This often discourages industrial engineers from adopting isogeometric capabilities in their well-established simulation environment.

Based on the concept of Bézier and Lagrange extractions, a novel method is proposed to implement IGA from an existing industrial FE code with the aim of bringing human implementation effort to the minimal possible level (only using standard input-output of finite element analysis (FEA) codes, avoid code-dependent subroutines implementation). An approximate global link to go from Lagrange polynomials to non-uniform-rational-B-splines functions is formulated, which enables the whole FE routines to be untouched during the implementation.

As a result, only the linear system resolution step is bypassed: the resolution is performed in an external script after projecting the FE system onto the reduced, more regular and isogeometric basis. The novel procedure is successfully validated through different numerical experiments involving linear and nonlinear isogeometric analyses using the standard input/output of the industrial FE software Code_Aster.

A non-invasive implementation of IGA into FEA software is proposed. The whole FE routines are untouched during the novel implementation procedure; a focus is made on the IGA solution of nonlinear problems from existing FEA software; technical details on the approach are provided by means of illustrative examples and step-by-step implementation; the methodology is evaluated on a range of two- and three-dimensional elasticity and elastoplasticity benchmarks solved using the commercial software Code_Aster.

The purpose of this research is to introduce a mapping of the Simple Knowledge Organization Systems (SKOS) Core metadata to an ontology‐based model, whose main aim is to foster the semantic interoperability of different concept schemes.

Research objectives have been achieved through the introduction of a common ground for the definition of concepts, based on shared definitions included in widely used upper ontologies. This effort makes use of a particular upper ontology: OpenCyc, the open source version of Cyc, which is currently one of the most complete general knowledge bases.

An in‐depth study of the SKOS vocabulary has suggested its extension, with the aim of correcting the shortcomings related with SKOS schemes semantic interoperability. However, although such an extension would help avoid ambiguities and enable inter‐thesaurus interoperability, the paper is focused on using a non‐invasive contribution. Non‐invasive in that the SKOS Core should not be modified as a result of this activity, but also, non‐invasive in that current SKOS schemes would not require modifications.

The use of formal representations to provide the SKOS terms with computational semantics, as well as the introduction of an intermediate ontology‐based model built on the SKOS information. Although both proposals stand on one upper ontology (OpenCyc), they could be easily adapted to others, which provides an added value to this research work.

The paper aims to deal with the analysis of tribodiagnostic parameters of oil filter device to investigate the possibility to launch a thorough treatment of non-invasive filtration of oil during the full operation of machinery and equipment.

Tribotechnical diagnostic of the oils is based on the observation of the operating oil aging and assesses the rate of change of intensity and the degree of degradation of the oil to change the performance characteristics of the oil and, thus, the capacity of oil for the satisfactory operation of the device. Tribotechnical diagnostic equipment is based on monitoring the wear of its components and assessing the concentration of wear particles in the analyzed oil and intensity of wear.

The monitored values show a stabilization at levels in which the contamination cannot damage machinery and equipment and their individual components. It is shown that with this method, the oil becomes a very important indicator and gives, by using several tribotechnical analysis described in the paper, immediate representation of the internal condition of the tribosystems in the machine. The desired level of purity of the oil system becomes a standard value for the next period of operation, and any deviation of analyzed values can be almost immediately identified.

The paper involves investigation on non-invasive filtration of oil during the full operation of machinery and equipment; non-invasive filtration experimental analysis of used oil after filtration; And experimental effectiveness evaluation of the filtration. Purity of the oil system becomes the target value for the online monitoring.

Crystallization is the process widely used for components separation and solids purification. The systems for crystallization process evaluation applied so far, involve numerous non-invasive tomographic measurement techniques which suffers from some reported problems. The purpose of this paper is to show the abilities of three-dimensional Electrical Capacitance Tomography (3D ECT) in the context of non-invasive and non-intrusive visualization of crystallization processes. Multiple aspects and problems of ECT imaging, as well as the computer model design to work with the high relative permittivity liquids, have been pointed out.

To design the most efficient (from a mechanical and electrical point of view) 3D ECT sensor structure, the high-precise impedance meter was applied. The three types of sensor were designed, built, and tested. To meet the new concept requirements, the dedicated ECT device has been constructed.

It has been shown that the ECT technique can be applied to the diagnosis of crystallization. The crystals distribution can be identified using this technique. The achieved measurement resolution allows detecting the localization of crystals. The usage of stabilized electrodes improves the sensitivity of the sensor and provides the images better suitable for further analysis.

The dedicated 3D ECT sensor construction has been proposed to increase its sensitivity in the border area, where the crystals grow. Regarding this feature, some new algorithms for the potential field distribution and the sensitivity matrix calculation have been developed. The adaptation of the iterative 3D image reconstruction process has also been described.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a technical insight into recent developments in brain‐computer interface (BCI) technology and its applications.

Following an introduction to BCI, this paper considers the different means of detecting brain waves and then discusses a number of BCI development programmes and applications.

Invasive, partially invasive and non‐invasive BCI techniques are the topic of extensive study and aim to allow the control of external devices by human thought. Invasive BCIs are being applied to patients suffering paralysis and requiring cranial surgery and aim to restore movement or impart other functions such as the operation of robotic arms or communication. Wireless invasive microelectrode arrays are under development. Of the non‐invasive techniques, electroencephalography is attracting the greatest interest and is being applied to a range of military and healthcare uses.

This paper provides an introduction to BCI technology and a review of recent research and a number of key applications.