Guide to on-site wastewater management for industrial and commercial establishments and other institutions: guide for vehicle service station owners and managers

Wastewater treatmentEnvironmental managementOrganizations

A transnational social contract:Social protection policies toward Non-Resident Keralites

The migration process raises a set of migration-related risks and vulnerabilities, yet recognizing these as collective problems is paramount to formulating public policy responses. As one of the first subnational states globally, the South Indian state Kerala has institutionalized various social protection policies toward emigrants and returned migrants under the department of Non-Resident Keralites’ Affairs (NORKA) and its implementation agency NORKA ROOTS. Taking the case of Kerala, this article investigates why subnational states recognize their international emigrants and return migrants as deserving of social protection provisions. Subnational states matter as they are sites of diaspora identification, and it is where migration’s consequences, such as emigrants’ philanthropic development projects and the reintegration of returned migrants, unfold. At the same time, they have less legislative and infrastructural power than federal states in engaging with emigrants and destination countries. By drawing on original data, the article argues that (returned) emigrants’ access to social protection schemes is built on understandings of deservingness based on a combination of protection rationales and economic rationales, rooted in Kerala’s specific developmental and identity discourse. The study demonstrates that despite subnational states having limited institutional capabilities compared with federal states, they are essential stakeholders in articulating transnational social protection policies

Sample size: How many is enough?

Sample size is an element of research design that significantly affects the validity and clinical relevance of the findings identified in research studies. Factors that influence sample size include the effect size, or difference expected between groups or time points, the homogeneity of the study participants, the risk of error that investigators consider acceptable and the rate of participant attrition expected during the study. Appropriate planning in regard to each of these elements optimises the likelihood of finding an important result that is both clinically and statistically meaningful

In-hospital cardiac arrests: Effect of amended Australian Resuscitation Council 2006 guidelines

Objective: To evaluate cardiac arrest outcomes following the introduction of the Australian Resuscitation Council (ARC) 2006 amended guidelines for basic and advanced life support. Methods: A retrospective study of all consecutive cardiac arrests during a 3-year phase pre-implementation (2004–06) and a 3-year phase post-implementation (2007–09) of the ARC 2006 guidelines was conducted at a tertiary referral hospital in Brisbane, Australia. Results: Over the 6-year study phase 690 cardiac arrests were reported. Resuscitation was attempted in 248 patients pre-implementation and 271 patients post-implementation of the ARC 2006 guidelines. After adjusting for significant prognostic factors we found no significant change in return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) (odds ratio 1.21, 95% confidence interval 0.80–1.85, P = 0.37) or survival to discharge (odds ratio 1.49, 95% confidence interval 0.94–2.37, P = 0.09) after the implementation of the ARC 2006 guidelines. Factors that remained significant in the final model for both outcomes included having an initial shockable rhythm, a shorter length of time from collapse to arrival of cardiac arrest team, location of the patient in a critical-care area, shorter length of resuscitation and a day-time arrest (0700–2259 hours). In addition the arrest being witnessed was significant for ROSC and younger age was significant for survival to discharge. Conclusions: There are multiple factors that influence clinical outcomes following an in-hospital cardiac arrest and further research to refine these significant variables will assist in the future management of cardiac arrests. What is known about this topic?: The evaluation of outcomes from in-hospital cardiac arrests focuses on immediate survival expressed as ROSC and survival to hospital discharge. These clinical outcomes have not improved substantially over the last two decades. What does this paper add?: This paper identifies the factors that are related to ROSC and survival to discharge following the implementation of the ARC 2006 guidelines, which included a refocus on providing quality cardiopulmonary resuscitation with minimal interruptions. What are the implications for practitioners?: Given that multiple factors can influence clinical outcomes following an in-hospital cardiac arrest, focusing on maximising a range of factors surrounding cardiopulmonary resuscitation is essential to improve outcomes

High reflectivity grating waveguide coatings for 1064nm

We propose thin single-layer grating waveguide structures to be used as high-reflectivity, but low thermal noise, alternative to conventional coatings for gravitational wave detector test mass mirrors. Grating waveguide (GWG) coatings can show a reflectivity of up to 100% with an overall thickness of less than a wavelength. We theoretically investigate GWG coatings for 1064nm based on tantala (Ta2O5) on a Silica substrate focussing on broad spectral response and low thickness

Algebraic transformation of unary partial algebras II: Single-pushout approach

AbstractThe single-pushout approach to graph transformation is extended to the algebraic transformation of partial many-sorted unary algebras. Such a generalization has been motivated by the need to model the transformation of structures which are richer and more complex than graphs and hypergraphs.The main result presented in this article is an algebraic characterization of the single-pushout transformation in the categories of all conformisms, all closed quomorphisms, and all closed-domain closed quomorphisms of unary partial algebras over a given signature, together with a corresponding operational characterization that may serve as a basis for implementation.Moreover, all three categories are shown to satisfy all of the HLR (high-level replacement) conditions for parallelism, taking as occurrences the total morphisms in each category. Another important result presented in this article is the definition of HLR conditions for amalgamation, which are also satisfied by the categories of partial homomorphisms considered here, taking again the corresponding total morphisms as occurrences