Charlotte School of Law

ABSTRACTAnnually, 49 million people worldwide are impacted by lower extremity ulcers (LEUs). Diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs) and venous leg ulcers (VLUs) are the most common LEUs. Negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) has emerged as an effective intervention for complex wounds, offering numerous favourable wound healing outcomes. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of single‐use NPWT (sNPWT) versus traditional NPWT (tNPWT) for wound closure in LEUs. Real‐world data was obtained from the US‐based Net Health outpatient database between January 2014 and October 2020 and included patients with LEUs (DFU or VLU) who had been treated with sNPWT or tNPWT. The rate of wound closure and time to wound closure were selected as endpoints. The wound closure rate was significantly higher for all LEUs (p = 0.039), VLUs alone (p = 0.003) and there was no difference for DFU (p = 0.90) that were treated with sNPWT versus tNPWT. The median time to wound closure was significantly shorter for sNPWT (114 days) compared to tNPWT (140 days, p < 0.01). Using sNPWT was associated with significantly higher wound closure rates and shorter time to wound closure. The results provide supportive evidence for using sNPWT for LEUs, demonstrating the opportunity to directly decrease the clinical burden of LEUs on patients. Subgroup analysis revealed a significant difference in wound closure rates for VLU, while no significant difference was observed for DFU. The overall LEU findings may be attributed to differences in the mechanisms of action between the two devices.

This review examines the development and evolution of meeting science over the past three decades. Drawing on diverse disciplinary foundations—including the organizational sciences, communication studies, and computer science—we provide a thematic discussion of meetings research. We organize the body of literature into five key areas of inquiry: (a) meetings as stressors and affective inducing events; (b) meetings as a communication technology that drives performance; (c) meetings as a platform for employee voice, participation, and inclusion; (d) meetings as a stage for leadership and power dynamics; and (e) meetings as an expression of culture and identity. We present illustrative findings from each research stream and conclude by outlining a research agenda that addresses how to build upon what we know around meetings as well as new frontiers.

Abstract The paper estimates the size of the home field advantage in international women’s football and its temporal variability, using 4,416 matches from 1980 through 2022. We document overall home advantage, home advantage over time, and home advantage across geography. Over the entire sample period, the average home advantage is 52.3%. However, home advantage started out very high, declined to less than 60% by the 1980s and experienced further declines throughout the decades after. We show that home advantage differs across geography. Our analysis concludes that the home advantage in international women’s football has statistically converged to that in international men’s football. We postulate that this convergence was aided by knowledge, tactics, nutrition, and physical training accumulated in over a century of international men’s football.

In the era with overall access to the Internet, the social media has provided sound conditions for marketing and development of sports fan economy. This paper summarizes the concept of sports fan economy, discusses the features of sports fan-related social media and demonstrates main marketing models and strategies of the sports fan economy. The paper also proposes a few possible marketing strategies based on sports fans’ consumption behaviors.

Rationale: As time spent seated increases, balanced sitting posture is more important now than ever before. Unbalanced sitting posture deteriorates spinal curvature, which can predispose the pathological discs in the back, leading to irreversible damage. An IoT platform was connected to a chair with pressure sensors attached for this microcontroller device that continuously collected the user's sitting data.&#x0D; Procedures: An Arduino Yun microcontroller board was used to monitor sitting posture with the balance feedback system (BFS), which consisted of reliable pressure sensor kits and an IoT platform. Four pressure sensors were coordinated to acquire sitting pressure using the software algorithm, and data was sent to the Thingspeak server and plotted in real-time. The testing session was divided into three stages to verify the system's performance: pre-BFS stage, BFS-Treatment stage, and post-BFS stage. Each stage consisted of the volunteer sitting in the chair for an hour daily for five consecutive days. During the pre-BFS stage, the volunteer sat in the chair to measure their natural seated pressure distribution without using the application. During the BFS-Treatment stage, the volunteer sat in the chair using the application to review pressure data. For the post-BFS stage, the volunteer did not have access to the application in hopes that they could apply their learnings from the previous stage to sit with corrected posture.&#x0D; Conclusions: The study concluded that the BFS could monitor the user’s sitting posture and help improve posture to maintain a balanced state. This study can contribute to the prevention of various sitting diseases.

BackgroundOptical neuronavigation‐guided intracranial surgery has become increasingly common in veterinary medicine, but its use has not yet been described in horses.ObjectivesTo determine the feasibility of optical neuronavigation‐guided intracranial biopsy procedures in the horse, compare the use of the standard fiducial array and anatomic landmarks for patient registration, and evaluate surgeon experience.AnimalsSix equine cadaver heads.MethodsComputed tomography images of each specimen were acquired, with the fiducial array rigidly secured to the frontal bone. Six targets were selected in each specimen. Patient registration was performed separately for 3 targets using the fiducial array, and for 3 targets using anatomic landmarks. In lieu of biopsy, 1 mm diameter wire seeds were placed at each target. Postoperative images were coregistered with the planning scan to calculate Euclidian distance from the tip of the seed to the target.ResultsNo statistical difference between registration techniques was identified. The impact of surgeon experience was examined for each technique using a Mann‐Whitney U test. The experienced surgeon was significantly closer to the intended target (median = 2.52 mm) than were the novice surgeons (median = 6.55 mm) using the fiducial array (P = .001). Although not statistically significant (P = .31), for the experienced surgeon the median distance to target was similar when registering with the fiducial array (2.47 mm) and anatomic landmarks (2.58 mm).Conclusions and Clinical ImportanceRegistration using both fiducial arrays and anatomic landmarks for brain biopsy using optical neuronavigation in horses is feasible.

Interconnected power grid exhibits oscillatory response after a disturbance in the system. One such type of oscillation, the inter‐area oscillation has the oscillation frequency in the range of 0.1–1 Hz. The damping of inter‐area oscillations is difficult with local controllers, but it can be achieved using a wide area damping controller (WADC). For effective control, the input to the WADC should be the most observable signal, and the WADC output should be sent to the most controllable generator. This study presents a measurement‐based novel algorithm for multi‐input‐multi‐output (MIMO) transfer function identification of the power system to estimate such oscillation frequencies. The wide‐area control loop is estimated using the MIMO transfer function, and the WADC design is a combination of the discrete linear quadratic regulator and Kalman filtering for the damping of inter‐area oscillations. Since the MIMO identification is performed using the actual measurements, the proposed method can accurately monitor changes in the power grid, whereas the conventional methods are derived from small‐signal analysis of a linearized model that does not consider changing operating conditions. The overall algorithm is implemented and validated on a RTDS/RSCAD ® and MATLAB ® real‐time co‐simulation platform using two‐area and IEEE 39‐bus power system models.

Evaluations conducted within the context of child custody litigation can be among the most complex evaluations conducted by psychologists. Data from the Internet and social networking sites (SNS) in particular can provide evaluators with information useful during evaluations. For example, SNS data can inform opinions regarding each evaluee’s current and past functioning, the relationships between evaluees, the level of insight evaluees have into their own contributions to conflict, or the parenting skills of adult evaluees. Though data from SNS sources can be helpful, they are, like all other sources of data, only reliably interpreted when considered within the context of all collected information. Collecting, considering, and archiving SNS data comes with their own challenges above and beyond those presented by more traditional sources of records. Approaches for all three of these areas of challenge, as well as additional points of discussion, are presented in this chapter. Finally, two case studies are presented from the author’s evaluation history.

Many factors influence why companies require routine auditor ratifications. In this study, we seek to examine factors that increase or decrease the likelihood of shareholders’ involvement in the ratification of the independent auditor's appointment for foreign cross‐listed companies in the United States. Foreign cross‐listed companies provide a unique opportunity to observe how country‐specific factors impact the auditor ratification vote decision and outcome. Our analysis shows that bank financing, the location of the cross‐listed firm's independent auditor (U.S.‐based vs. non‐U.S.‐based audit office), and non‐audit fee ratio as having the highest marginal effects on the probability of companies requiring their shareholders to ratify the auditor's appointment. We also examine how these factors influence the outcome of the vote. We find that several engagement and country‐specific factors also influence the outcome of the vote.