Platform Synthesis: The Augmented Domesticity

Architectural creation is always affected by technological development and availability of resources. The aspects of globalisation, urbanisation, planetarization are demanding creative reactions from humanity. ICTs can promote better informed decision-making by reducing digital divide and actionable intelligence for our future urban sustainability. This could improve the efficiency, operation and transparency of physical infrastructure and flexible distribution of resources in urban, district and home habitat. This paper examines two distinct examples of twenty-first century housing model: The Kitchenless project of Anna Puigjaner and the Automated Living System of Design Computation Lab. Both projects are building on the effects of a certain kind of industrial revolution on housing with a distinct approach

Curriculum Development for Teaching Swimming in Hungary

Given the lack of publications describing changing curricular matters and the role of teaching and learning swimming in Hungary, the purpose of this study was to analyze the curricula of 1995, 2001, and 2003. It also was the authors’ goal to examine the role and place of swimming instruction in school education and provide discussion points to promote further review and the possible effects on teaching methodology and skill acquisition. The authors analyzed the Hungarian curricula for the years 1995, 2001, and 2003 based on records, official documents, administrative texts, and formal reports on curricular structures and applications. They concluded that the process of continuous curricular change has impeded the process of teaching and learning swimming in Hungary and recommend that teachers and local curriculum developers make an effort to integrate the best parts of each curriculum

Effectiveness of Cephalosporins in the Sputum of Patients with Nosocomial Bronchopneumonia

Nosocomial bronchopneumonia is a frequent complication in patients with chronic intratracheal intubation. Despite targeted antibiotic treatment, production of abundant bronchial secretion containing pathogen bacteria often tends to be chronic, and so mortality drastically increases. This problem led to an investigation of the penetration of five cephalosporin antibiotics into the sputum. Serum and sputum were collected from 24 chronically intubated patients having purulent nosocomial bronchopneumonia treated in an intensive care unit (ICU). Patients received the following doses intravenously every 24 h: five received 70 mg/kg of body weight cefuroxime, four received 110 mg/kg cefamandole, six received 80 mg/kg ceftriaxone, four received 80 mg/kg ceftazidime, and five received 80 mg/kg cefepime. Antibiotic concentrations in the serum and sputum were evaluated by capillary electrophoresis. MICs were determined for bacteria isolated from the purulent bronchial secretions. The mean levels of the cephalosporins in the sputum did not reach the MICs for the bacteria isolated from the same samples. Ceftriaxone was the only one of the investigated five cephalosporins that had a measurable concentration in the sputum (1.4 ± 1.2 mg/liter). The low concentration of antibiotics in the purulent tracheobronchial secretion can be one of the many reasons for ineffective therapy of nosocomial bronchopneumonia in intubated patients in the ICUs. In the case of intubated or mechanically ventilated patients having chronic bronchopneumonia, determination of drug concentration in the bronchial secretion might be considered when selecting an antibiotic for treatment