Factors associated with death in intensive care unit patients with ventilator-associated pneumonia

Background: The incidence of ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) among patients on mechanical ventilation ranges from 15% to 25%, and mortality ranges from 33% to 38%. Aim: The aim of our study was to analyse the importance of previously uninvestigated potential risk factors for death in intensive care unit (ICU) patients with VAP. Methods: A case-control design was chosen for this study. The study population consisted of all patients who developed ventilator-associated pneumonia in the central ICU of a tertiary care hospital (n = 65) during a period of 6 months. Cases (n=45) included patients who died during their treatments in the ICU, if their primary cause of death was ventilator-VAP. Controls (n=20) included patients with VAP who survived their treatments in the ICU and who subsequently were subsequently transferred to other hospital wards. Results: Significant associations were found between death and age over 65 (ORadjusted = 10.66; CI: 1.22, 93.12; p = 0.032), death and infection upon admission to the ICU (ORadjusted = 434.39; CI: 3.07, 61449.65; p = 0.016), and death and administration of ceftriaxone prior to VAP (ORadjusted = 69.32; CI: 1.74, 2768.92; p = 0.024). A synergistic effect on death was found only for age over 65 and infection upon admission to the ICU. Conclusions: ICU patients with VAP experience have increased risk of mortality if they receive ceftriaxone prophylactically, if they have an infection upon admission to the ICU and if their age is advanced

Effects of recombinations on variability and heritability of traits in maize populations with exotic germplasm

The following maize populations were encompassed by the study: a population with 25% of exotic germplasm (1601/5xZPL913)F2R0 and populations developed after three (1601/5xZPL913)F2R3, that is, five (1601/5xZPL913)F2R5, gene recombination cycles. The S, progeny trial was set lip according to the nested design in two replications and two locations during two years (2001 and 2002). The average values for all traits except moisture at harvest increased. The changes of mean values of yields and other traits can be very important from the aspect of long-term breeding programmes. Different agroecological conditions, genotype, family x location interaction and family x location interaction within the set signficantly affected all observed traits of populations. Genetic and phenotypic variances for all traits except the 1000-kernel weight decreased under the effects of the number of recombination cycles, which was confirmed by the coefficients of heritability. A significant decrease was not detected in yields and ear lengths, which is particularly important for practical breeding. Three cycles of gene recombination are sufficient for this population prior to the application by various breeding methods

Machine Learning-Based Early Warning System for Urban Flood Management

Characterisation of predictive limits of data-driven models (e.g. ANN) for urban flooding based on actual rainfall.With the growth in urban population and other pressures, such as climate change, the impact and severity of urban flood events are likely to continue to increase. “Intelligent water networks” are viewed as the way forward to ensure that infrastructure services are flexible, safe, reliable and economical. Reduction of flood-risk from urban drainage and sewerage infrastructure is likely to require increasingly sophisticated computational techniques to keep pace with the level of data that is collected both from meteorological and online water monitoring systems in the field. This paper describes and characterises an example of an Early Warning System (EWS), designated "RAPIDS" (RAdar Pluvial flooding Identification for Drainage System) that deals with urban drainage systems and the utilisation of rainfall data concurrently to predict flooding of multiple urban areas in near real-time using a single multi-output Artificial Neural Network (ANN). The system has the potential to provide early warning for decision makers within reasonable time, this being a key requirement determining the operational usefulness of such systems. Computational methods that require hours or days to run will not be able to keep pace with fast-changing situations such as manhole flooding or Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) spills and thus the system developed is able to react in close to real time. This paper includes a sensitivity analysis and demonstrates that the - predictive capability of such a system based on actual rainfall is limited to a maximum of the Time of Concentration (ToC) of each node being modelled. To achieve operationally useful prediction times, predictions of rainfall as input signals are likely to be needed for most urban drainage networks.UKWIR RTM project (2011-12

Experimental Investigation of Scour and Pressures on a Single Span Arch Bridge Under Inundation

This paper presents two experiments, carried out in a 605mm-wide flume, to investigate scour and hydrodynamic pressure on a scaled model of a single span arch bridge. The geometry of the bridge model is scaled down according to a prototype bridge, with hydraulic conditions of the experiments representing a small river. Measured scour depths showed that flow vertical contraction by the arch bridge is higher than that of flat-deck bridges. Effect of a single cylindrical debris on scour was also evaluated and found to be negligible at the considered flow depth. Temporal variation of hydrodynamic pressure with scour evolution was also measured. It was found that temporal evolution of scour can reduce hydrodynamic pressure significantly at the initial base of the abutment at downstream face of the bridge, which can erode mortar from the masonry composition of an arch bridge

Sektorijalna otpornost sorata šljive na prisustvo virusa šarke šljive

One unusual aspect of resistance to sharka (Plum Pox Virus, PPV) has been discovered and studied in plum trees in the six consecutive years. The absence of sharka symptoms in some of primary branches of infected plum trees characterized as resistance. Symptoms appearance was observed and PPV presence was checked serologically by DAS- ELISA test as well as by grafting transmission. That aspect of resistance mainly appears in a portion of the tree crown, i.e. on some primary branches of young plum trees and it is diminishing in following years. That distinct resistance to sharka (PPV) was found in trees of Čačanska rodna, Stanley and Crvena ranka cvs. In selected plum trees in the parts with such resistance no sharka symptoms appeared nor PPV was proved. The absence of sharka symptoms as well as PPV in a portion of a plum tree otherwise diseased by sharka is considered as a sign of resistance. For such aspect of resistance the name “Sectorial Resistance” is proposed. It is continues more and detail research on sectorial resistance of plum to PPV are in progress.Kod stabala šljive sorti Čačanska rodna, Stenli i Crvena ranka obolelih od virusa šarke šljive (VŠŠ, Plum pox virus - PPV) uočeno je prisustvo tipičnih simptoma u određenim delovima krune, a odsustvo u drugim. Izostank simptoma i virusa šarke šljive u delu krune obolelog stabla je nazvana “sektorijalna otpornost”. Okuliranje pupoljaka ovih sorti iz zaraženih delova krune u podlogu-džanariku rezultiralo je prisustvom virusa već u jednogodišnjim prirastima i manifestovanjem bolesti preko tipičnih simptoma u prvoj godini po kalemljenju. Međutim, okuliranje pupoljaka istih sorti iz sektorijalno zdravih delova krune, dalo je potpuno suprotan rezultat. Odsustvo VŠŠ proveravano je serološki DAS-ELISA testom. Na osnovu iznetog može se zaključiti da se kalemljenjem sektorijalna otpornost uspešno prenosi na nove serije sadnica i buduće voćke

On the Other Side of Mirror – A Workshop on Incorporating Geometry of Mirroring in Architectural Practice and Applied Arts

The magic world of mirrors, their application, integration in interiors and exposure in exteriors, intrigues architectural designers and artists for a long time. Inspired with wide recent usages of mirrors in innovative architectural designs practice, as well as in arts, and grounded our understanding on well-known geometric/optic principles of mirroring, the authors conceptualized a Workshop that was offered to students of architecture, forestry and applied arts, as an extracurricular two-weeks activity. After briefly introducing a historical/chronological overview of mirrors application in architectural design practice and applied art, relevant theoretical aspects of mirroring were demonstrated on the Workshop. The participating students were offered two possibilities for integration of mirrors in their design-outcomes: to experiment with analogue models and digital/computing ones. For that reason, a large amount of small glass mirror parts was provided. Also, functional parametric families of digital mirrors (planar, concave and convex) were developed especially for the workshop and offered on-line. Particular foci of this paper are on both: the teaching methodology that was exclusively prepared for the Workshop, and specific usage of experimentation (to trigger unusual ideas and to utilize relevant familiar methods and procedural activities in the new – this context). In the discussion part of this study, a systematized overview of the Workshop results and its analysis from geometric and semantic point of view are given. The results are divided into: first interim critique, second interim critique and final submission. Through a generalization of conclusions, the lessons learned, namely, the level of subject-related geometric knowledge acquired from this unique teaching experience are reviewed, and an analysis of their possible applications in other pedagogic contexts related to geometry-teaching is presented

New policies to deal with climate change and other drivers impacting on resilience to flooding in urban areas: The CORFU approach

Copyright © 2011 Elsevier. NOTICE: this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Environmental Science and Policy. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Environmental Science and Policy, Vol. 14 Issue 7 (2011). DOI: 10.1016/j.envsci.2011.05.008In the context of urban flood management, resilience is equal to resisting, recovering, reflecting and responding. The variety of causes of flooding and their consequences underpin the need for increased and internationally coordinated efforts to enhance technologies and policies for dealing with floods. This paper addresses this issue and presents some novel research ideas related to resilience to flooding in urban areas, which are under development within the EU FP7 project ‘Collaborative research on flood resilience in urban areas’ (CORFU). The approach adopted in this project aims to quantify the cost-effectiveness of resilience measures and integrative and adaptable flood management plans for different scenarios of relevant drivers: urban development, socio-economic trends and climate changes. It is believed that the way in which the different models are being put together, combined with the variability of conditions in case study areas in Asia and in Europe, will ultimately enable more scientifically sound policies for the management of the consequences of urban flooding

Photovoltaic electricity production in a residential house on Réunion

In this paper, the electrical energy generation of photovoltaic (PV) arrays is discussed for three cities on the island of Réunion (the Republic of France) located in the Indian Ocean. Each PV array has a different orientation as it is placed at different parts of the roof of a residential house that supposedly is a sustainable building. The electrical energy generation is obtained by using EnergyPlus software and measured solar radiation data. The highest generation of electric energy is found for the PV array located at the north roof surface. The generation of electric energy at the east-facing PV array is larger than that at the west-facing PV array. The electrical energy generation for the city of Le Port on the coast is higher than that for the cities of Cilao, and Plaine des Cafres that are located in the mountains of Réunion

A coarse-grid approach to representing building blockage effects in 2D urban flood modelling

Copyright © 2012 Elsevier. NOTICE: this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Journal of Hydrology. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Journal of Hydrology, Vol. 426-427, pp. 1-16 (March 2012), DOI: 10.1016/j.jhydrol.2012.01.007The latest information and communications technology has enabled flood modelling in urban areas using high quality terrain data to simulate the detailed flow dynamics in local areas. However, the computational cost rises exponentially as the resolution goes finer. The advance of computing hardware is still a limiting factor for large-scale area or risk/uncertainty analysis modelling with fine resolution that describes the details of building features. Grid coarsening is the straightforward way to reduce the computing efforts for 2D flood modelling. The traditional approach to grid coarsening usually takes the average elevation of a fine grid as the new terrain model for the coarse grid. This approach often results in loss of information that introduces errors to modelling. In this study, the building features in coarse grids were abstracted using the building coverage ratio (BCR) and the conveyance reduction factor (CRF) parameters in a 2D model to simulate flooding in urban areas. The outcome of 2D case studies showed the proposed model can minimise the errors due to terrain averaging and provide a much better accuracy of modelling results at a marginally increased computing cost