Quark masses in QCD: a progress report

Recent progress on QCD sum rule determinations of the light and heavy quark masses is reported. In the light quark sector a major breakthrough has been made recently in connection with the historical systematic uncertainties due to a lack of experimental information on the pseudoscalar resonance spectral functions. It is now possible to suppress this contribution to the 1% level by using suitable integration kernels in Finite Energy QCD sum rules. This allows to determine the up-, down-, and strange-quark masses with an unprecedented precision of some 8-10%. Further reduction of this uncertainty will be possible with improved accuracy in the strong coupling, now the main source of error. In the heavy quark sector, the availability of experimental data in the vector channel, and the use of suitable multipurpose integration kernels allows to increase the accuracy of the charm- and bottom-quarks masses to the 1% level.Comment: Invited review paper to be published in Modern Physics Letters

Hydrodynamic Approach to the Evolution of Cosmic Structures II: Study of N-body Simulations at z=0

We present a series of cosmological N-body simulations which make use of the hydrodynamic approach to the evolution of structures (Dominguez 2000). This approach addresses explicitly the existence of a finite spatial resolution and the dynamical effect of subresolution degrees of freedom. We adapt this method to cosmological simulations of the standard LCDM structure formation scenario and study the effects induced at redshift z=0 by this novel approach on the large-scale clustering patterns as well as (individual) dark matter halos. Comparing these simulations to usual N-body simulations, we find that (i) the new (hydrodynamic) model entails a proliferation of low--mass halos, and (ii) dark matter halos have a higher degree of rotational support. These results agree with the theoretical expectation about the qualitative behaviour of the "correction terms" introduced by the hydrodynamic approach: these terms act as a drain of inflow kinetic energy and a source of vorticity by the small-scale tidal torques and shear stresses.Comment: 18 pages, 17 figs, MNRAS in press, article with full resolution figures avaialble at http://www.aip.de/People/AKnebe/page2/page2.htm

Chlorhexidine Gluconate Bathing in Hospitalized Patients: Reducing Barriers and Increasing Compliance Rate

The organization-wide implementation of Chlorhexidine Gluconate (CHG) bathing protocol is one of many measures used to help reduce hospital-acquired infections (HAI) at the 30-bed, Medical-Surgical Specialties and Palliative Care Unit. CHG bathing compliance rate for the unit for the week of August 14-20 was 82.9%, with a 40.4% refusal rate. This is below the 90% desired performance rate. The purpose of this project is to identify the barriers to CHG compliance and to implement interventions that will aid in reducing these barriers and increase CHG compliance rate. Patient declining was identified as one of the main barriers to CHG bathing. The specific aim of the project is to reduce the number of patients who decline CHG bathing in the unit by 30% by the end of November 2016. A cause and effect analysis was done to explore the reasons for noncompliance to CHG bathing. Direct observations, nurse surveys, and EMR documentation reviews were performed to gather data. Results revealed the need to provide teaching and visual reminders to staff nurses and provide education to patients in the efficacy of CHG bathing in infection prevention. Staff nurses received education on CHG bathing protocol. Visual reminders were placed in common areas. Informational handouts were placed in each admission folder to help patients understand the benefits of CHG bathing as well as the potential risk of their refusal. CHG bathing compliance rate for the week of November 6-12 was 90.9%, with a refusal rate of 31.5%. This showed an 8% increase in compliance and a 22% reduction in the number of patients refusing CHG bathing