What future, which technology? On the problem of describing relevant futures.

Doing research on future and emerging technologies raises a number of significant ontological and epistemological challenges. The fundamental uncertainty of the future, combined with problems of appropriate descriptions of technology in general, render it difficult to come to an appropriate account of the likely shape and use of future technologies. This paper discusses several streams of research that address this issue, including the question of relevant description and context, interpretive flexibility, affordances of technology, and multi-stability of technological trajectories. The paper proposes that some of these problems may be addressed by using a democratic and participative approach to technology research and development. Participative technology assessment is then discussed as an example of an established way of democratically engaging with technology stakeholders during research and development. The paper concludes by discussing the promises and limitations of such a participative approach with regard to the question of understanding and researching future technologies

Information Asymmetries and the Paradox of Sustainable Business Models: Toward an integrated theory of sustainable entrepreneurship

In this conceptual paper, the traditional conceptualization of sustainable entrepreneurship is challenged because of a fundamental tension between processes involved in sustainable development and processes involved in entrepreneurship: the concept of sustainable business models contains a paradox, because sustainability involves the reduction of information asymmetries, whereas entrepreneurship involves enhanced and secured levels of information asymmetries. We therefore propose a new and integrated theory of sustainable entrepreneurship that overcomes this paradox. The basic argument is that environmental problems have to be conceptualized as wicked problems or sustainability-related ecosystem failures. Because all actors involved in the entrepreneurial process are characterized by their epistemic insufficiency regarding the solving of these problems, the role of information in the sustainable entrepreneurial process changes. On the one hand, the reduction of information asymmetries primarily aims to enable actors to become critical of sustainable entrepreneurs’ actual business models. On the other hand, the epistemic insufficiency of sustainable entrepreneurs guarantees that information asymmetries remain as a source of new sustainable business opportunities. Three further characteristics of sustainable entrepreneurs are distinguished: sustainability and entrepreneurship-related risk-taking; sustainability and entrepreneurship-related self-efficacy; and the development of satisficing and open-ended solutions, together with multiple stakeholders

European, Multicenter, Prospective, Non-comparative Clinical Evaluation of an Extended Depth of Focus Intraocular Lens

PURPOSE: To evaluate clinical and safety results obtained with an extended depth of focus (EDOF) intraocular lens (IOL). METHODS: In this European, multicenter, prospective, uncontrolled, interventional study, 77 patients were enrolled in the study, 71 patients received bilateral implantation of the Mini Well Ready EDOF IOL (SIFI S.p.A.), and 68 patients completed the study and were evaluated 2 to 4 months postoperatively. Each clinical examination recorded uncorrected (UDVA) and corrected (CDVA) distance visual acuity, uncorrected (UIVA) and distancecorrected (DCIVA) intermediate visual acuity, and uncorrected (UNVA), distance-corrected (DCNVA), and corrected (CNVA) near visual acuity. A defocus curve from +2.00 to -5.00 diopters (D) was obtained, contrast sensitivity and reading ability were assessed, and the perception of dysphotopsia was evaluated. RESULTS: Mean binocular visual results showed UDVA, UIVA, and UNVA values of -0.01 \ub1 0.15, 0.03 \ub1 0.10, and 0.10 \ub1 0.11 logMAR, respectively. Mean binocular defocus curve demonstrated a visual acuity of 0.30 logMAR or better from +2.00 to -3.00 D. Mean photopic contrast sensitivity values were 1.86, 2.18, 1,97, 1.51, and 1.17 at 1.5, 3.0, 6.0, 12.0, and 18.0 cycles per degree, respectively. A fluent reading speed of 80 words per minute was reached at 0.5 logRAD by 95.31% of patients without distance correction. The mean halo size was 33.06 \ub1 14.25, mean halo intensity was 38.00 \ub1 18.51, mean glare size was 23.85 \ub1 10.43, and mean glare intensity was 42.23 \ub1 13.22. One postoperative complication, a moderate photophobia, was observed and classified as related to the lens. CONCLUSIONS: The Mini Well Ready EDOF IOL provides good visual acuity across various distances and functional reading ability provided at a near range, and delivers an enhanced contrast sensitivity while causing a low incidence of photic phenomena

Chlamydophila psittaci subclinical infection in chronic polyarthritis

OBJECTIVES: Recent evidence indicates that Chlamydophila psittaci (Cp) may establish chronic infections, which may promote autoimmunity and/or B cell lymphoproliferation. METHODS: The presence of a subclinical Cp infection was investigated in 293 patients with chronic inflammatory polyarthritis, including 175 patients with rheumatoid factor (RF)-positive and/or anti-CCP-positive rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and 118 with seronegative polyarthritis (46 RF-negative/anti-CCP-negative RA, 36 psoriatic arthritis and 36 undifferentiated spondyloarthritis). One hundred and eighty-five healthy controls were also investigated. The presence of Cp infection was assessed in peripheral blood mononuclear cells using several PCR protocols targeting different regions of the Cp genome (16S-23S spacer rRNA, OMP-A, and Gro-EL). The DNA of other Chlamydia species (C. Pneumoniae and C. Trachomatis) was also investigated. Amplicons were sequenced to confirm the specificity of PCR products. RESULTS: The presence of a subclinical chronic Cp infection was observed in a significantly higher percentage of patients with chronic polyarthritis (38/293; 13%) compared to healthy controls (1/185, 0.5%; OR=27.4, 95%CI:3.73-201.6, p<0.0001). Furthermore, the prevalence of Cp was higher in seronegative polyarthritis (23/118; 19.5%) than in seropositive RA patients (15/175; 7.4%; OR=2.58, 95%CI: 1.28-5.19, p=0.0078). The highest prevalence of Cp infection was found in RF/anti-CCP double-negative RA patients (13/46, 28.3%), followed by patients with psoriatic arthritis (6/36; 16.7%). No differences in age, sex, disease duration and undergoing therapies were noticed between Cp-positive and Cp-negative patients; nor between seropositive and seronegative patients. CONCLUSIONS: Cp may be an infectious trigger possibly involved in the pathogenesis of a fraction of inflammatory polyarthritis, particularly in seronegative patients

Martian CO profiles from the solar occultation experiment of NOMAD on board TGO

International audienceCarbon monoxide is one of the important minor species in the Martian atmosphere due to its role in the photochemical stability of the \ce{CO2} atmosphere and can also be used as a dynamical tracer. The SO spectrometer onboard the Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) scans the Martian limb in the infrared provides transmittances with fine vertical sampling ($\sim 1$km). In the spectral region, the sounding of \ce{CO} is found to be reliable due to its strong and well separated absorption lines. Here, we present the retrieval scheme for \ce{CO} from the solar occultation observation. Our scheme obtains density profiles up to 100 km with a vertical resolution better than $5$km and errors below $15\%$. The observations for the last two seasons of Mars Year 34 (MY34, April 2018 - March 2019) are analyzed here. We found important results such as a strong depletion of CO density during the global dust storm (GDS) and a clear dynamical influence of global Hadley circulation on the CO distribution

Martian CO profiles from the solar occultation experiment of NOMAD on board TGO

International audienceCarbon monoxide is one of the important minor species in the Martian atmosphere due to its role in the photochemical stability of the \ce{CO2} atmosphere and can also be used as a dynamical tracer. The SO spectrometer onboard the Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) scans the Martian limb in the infrared provides transmittances with fine vertical sampling ($\sim 1$km). In the spectral region, the sounding of \ce{CO} is found to be reliable due to its strong and well separated absorption lines. Here, we present the retrieval scheme for \ce{CO} from the solar occultation observation. Our scheme obtains density profiles up to 100 km with a vertical resolution better than $5$km and errors below $15\%$. The observations for the last two seasons of Mars Year 34 (MY34, April 2018 - March 2019) are analyzed here. We found important results such as a strong depletion of CO density during the global dust storm (GDS) and a clear dynamical influence of global Hadley circulation on the CO distribution