The Ismar David archive: An Electronic finding aid

Ismar David ( 1910 1996) was a German-born graphic artist who launched his professional career in Jerusalem and moved in 19C2 to live and work in the United States. He is noted for his brilliant work in Hebrew and Latin calligraphy, lettering, and type design, as well as a distinctive linear style of illustration. Over a span of six decades, Ismar David amassed an archive of materials that chronicles his design career. In 1997, the archive was donated to the Melbert B. Cary Jr. Graphic Arts Collection at the Rochester Institute of Technology, where it will be preserved and made available for research. To facilitate the use of an archival collection for research, a repository pre pares what is called a finding aid. A finding aid traditionally provides a detailed description of the collection contents and organizes the materials in a coherent and systematic way. In addition, a finding aid often explains a collection\u27s origin, gives relevant biographical information, and notes the scope and content of a collection. Parts of a collection are usually listed with container numbers that are used to identify and request items for examination. In recent years libraries and other archival repositories have begun to publish electronic finding aids on the World Wide Web to help researchers learn the exact content of a collection from a remote location and avoid the travel and detective work that was accepted as part of the research process prior to the explosive growth of the Internet. Many text-encoding options exist and are currently used to create electronic finding aids, including American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII), Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), Encoded Archival Description (EAD), and Portable Document Format (PDF) . EAD and PDF offer the best solutions for publishing finding aids online considering the need to convey hierarchical structure. Any practical choice of technology, however, should consider institutional programmatic decisions, the human labor factor, and on-screen aesthetic goals, among other variables. In light of current trends in archival practice, the purpose of this thesis was: 1 ) to prepare for remote access an electronic finding aid for the Ismar David archive; 2) to incorporate select examples of Ismar David\u27s design work in the electronic guide; and 3) to ensure that the visual appeal of the finding aid complements the skills and reputation of this great designer. To meet these objectives, the collection materials had to be identified, sorted, categorized, and physically ordered. Biographical information about David had to be gathered through reading his writings and writings about him. Based on this work, a paper-based finding aid was prepared, combining the inventory of the collection with descriptive text in a format that meets archival standards. The necessary steps were also taken to obtain and prepare digital images of items in the collection, and to design and lay out the illustrated electronic document. Finally the electronic finding aid for the Ismar David archive was distilled into Portable Document Format, in which navigation features were added. After approval, the guide to the archive will be published on the Internet via the Cary Graphic Arts Collection web site. Publishing the Ismar David finding aid in PDF will preserve the graphic integrity of the document and make the finding aid accessible with the free Adobe Acrobat Reader. Ismar David will surely be the subject of future research. By organizing, comprehensively describing, and facilitating access to the archive, the electronic finding aid will increase the value of this resource for potential users worldwide. The finding aid will enable efficient and controlled access to materials, and therefore help to preserve the collection. And, in its innovative format, the electronic finding aid for the Ismar David archive will in effect serve as a permanent exhibit of the graphic artist\u27s work

THE CAPITAL CRISIS IN BIOTECH AND THE INVISIBLE COSTS OF REGULATION

This paper argues that while the FDA approval process may be trivial in terms of geologic time, it is an eternity when viewed from the perspective of the biotech industry. A delay of even a few months can mean life or death for a nascent one-product biotech company. Spread over an entire industry over a period of years, such delays impose very real costs on companies which may be forced to curtail or eliminate valuable drug research. In the near term, such costs are borne by public shareholders and venture capitalists who voluntarily subject themselves to a risky market and seemingly do not deserve much sympathy. Annualized return rates do not seem to present a very compelling case when human life is at stake. But these same costs are ultimately borne by consumers in several more subtle ways that do put real lives on the line: (i) Consumers are denied use of drugs that are awaiting approval; (ii) When drugs finally do make it through the developmental pipeline, delays in the process increase industry costs and in the absence of governmental price regulation, those increased costs are passed along to consumers in the form of higher drug prices, raising issues of access and regressive taxation; and (iii) Most insidiously, consumers are denied the benefit of drugs that will never be discovered or whose discovery will never be exploited because increased industry costs imply reduced spending on research and development

172. Risk Factors for 30-Day Mortality in Patients with Staphylococcus aureus Bacteremia at a Community Hospital: A Prospective Case–Control Study

Background: Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia (SAB) is associated with 30-day all-cause mortality rates approaching 20–30%. The purpose of this case–control study was to evaluate risk factors for 30-day mortality in patients with SAB at a community hospital. Methods: As part of an antimicrobial stewardship program (ASP) initiative mandating Infectious Diseases consultation for episodes of SAB, our ASP prospectively monitored all cases of SAB at a 341-bed community hospital in Jefferson Hills, PA from April 2017–February 2019. Cases included patients with 30-day mortality from the initial positive blood culture. Only the first episode of SAB was included; patients were excluded if a treatment plan was not established (e.g., left against medical advice). Patient demographics, comorbidities, laboratory results, and clinical management of SAB were evaluated. Inferential statistics were used to analyze risk factors associated with 30-day mortality. Results: 100 patients with SAB were included; 18 (18%) experienced 30-day mortality. Cases were older (median age 76.5 vs. 64 years, P \u3c 0.001), more likely to be located in the intensive care unit (ICU) at time of ASP review (55.6% vs. 30.5%, P = 0.043), and less likely to have initial blood cultures obtained in the emergency department (ED) (38.9% vs. 80.5%, P \u3c 0.001). Variables associated with significantly higher odds for 30-day mortality in univariate analysis: older age, location in ICU at time of ASP review, initial blood cultures obtained at a location other than the ED, and total Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI). Variables with P \u3c 0.2 on univariate analysis were analyzed via multivariate logistic regression (Table 1). Conclusion: Results show that bacteremia due to MRSA and total CCI were not significantly associated with 30-day mortality in SAB, whereas older age was identified as a risk factor. Patients with initial blood cultures obtained at a location other than the ED were at increased odds for 30-day mortality on univariate analysis, which may raise concern for delayed diagnosis

Effects of oral intake of water in patients with oropharyngeal dysphagia

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Dysphagia is associated with numerous medical conditions and the major intervention to avoid aspiration in people with dysphagia involves modifying the diet to thickened fluids. This is associated with issues related to patient quality of life and in many cases non-compliance leading to dehydration. Given these concerns and in the absence of conclusive scientific evidence, we designed a study, to further investigate the effects of oral intake of water in people with dysphagia.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We monitored lung related complications, hydration levels and assessed quality of life in two groups of people with dysphagia. The control group was allowed only thickened fluids and patients in the intervention group were allowed access to water for a period of five days.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Our findings indicate a significantly increased risk in the development lung complications in patients given access to water (6/42; 14.3%) compared to the control group (0/34; no cases). We have further defined patients at highest risk, namely those with degenerative neurologic dysfunction who are immobile or have low mobility. Our results indicate increased total fluid intake in the patients allowed access to water, and the quality of life surveys, albeit from a limited number of patients (24% of patients), suggest the dissatisfaction of patients to diets composed of only thickened fluids.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>On the basis of these findings we recommend that acute patients, patients with severe neurological dysfunction and immobility should be strongly encouraged to adhere to a thickened fluid or modified solid consistency diet. We recommend that subacute patients with relatively good mobility should have choice after being well-informed of the relative risk.</p> <p>Trial registration</p> <p>Australia and New Zealand Clinical Trials Register (ANZCTR): <a href="http://www.anzctr.org.au/ACTRN12608000107325.aspx">ACTRN12608000107325</a></p

Exploring scale-up, spread, and sustainability: an instrumental case study tracing an innovation to enhance dysphagia care

Background Adoption, adaptation, scale-up, spread, and sustainability are ill-defined, undertheorised, and little-researched implementation science concepts. An instrumental case study will track the adoption and adaptation, or not, of a locally developed innovation about dysphagia as a patient safety issue. The case study will examine a conceptual framework with a continuum of spread comprising hierarchical control or ‘making it happen’, participatory adaptation or ‘help it happen’, and facilitated evolution or ‘let it happen’. Methods This case study is a prospective, longitudinal design using mixed methods. The fifteen-month (October 2012 to December 2013) instrumental case study is set in large, healthcare organisation in England. The innovation refers to introducing a nationally recognised, inter-disciplinary dysphagia competency framework to guide workforce development about fundamental aspects of care. Adoption and adaptation will be examined at an organisational level and along two, contrasting care pathways: stroke and fractured neck of femur. A number of educational interventions will be deployed, including training a cadre of trainers to cascade the essentials of dysphagia management and developing a Dysphagia Toolkit as a learning resource. Mixed methods will be used to investigate scale-up, spread, and sustainability in acute and community settings. A purposive sample of senior managers and clinical leaders will be interviewed to identify path dependency or the context specific particularities of implementation. A pre- and post-evaluation, using mealtime observations and a survey, will investigate the learning effect on staff adherence to patient specific dysphagia recommendations and attitudes towards dysphagia, respectively. Official documents and an ethnographic field journal allow critical junctures, temporal aspects and confounding factors to be explored. Discussion Researching spread and sustainability presents methodological and practical challenges. These include fidelity, adaptation latitude, time, and organisational changes. An instrumental case study will allow these confounding factors to be tracked over time and in place. The case study is underpinned by, and will test a conceptual framework about spread, to explore theoretical generalizability

Spekulace a Odcizení

This MA thesis explores the intersection between the methodologies of science fiction and art. Science Fiction has always had a specific relationship to reality and in particular to scientific knowledge. But its influence is not limited merely to the world of technological development and speculation. Science fiction is in a unique position as a genre in that its influence can be felt everywhere, and that its permeability and adaptability are defining features of it. Many surveys of the influence of science fiction have been conducted, but very few have focused on the contemporary impetus to engage in speculative world building, and the ways that these practices intersect with contemporary art and philosophy. This essay gives a brief overview of the history of science fiction, starting in its development in ancient and classical stories into the present day. It also gives an overview of the development and changes in science fiction thought within the field of science fiction studies. Following this it conducts an evaluation of the ways in which science fiction interacts with contemporary theory and practice. Specific attention is paid to the ways that science fiction led to the development of certain modes of accelerationist thought, speculative realism and its relationship to knowledge, and utopian studies as separate from science fiction. Following this a brief survey of contemporary artists whose work interacts with certain principles unique to science fiction will be conducted. Specific attention will be paid to concepts of worldbuilding and estrangement, as well as methods for engaging and presenting postcolonial thought and practice. This paper argues that there is much to gain in studying science fiction, and provides examples of cases where such readings can be useful and productive