Screening strategies in surveillance and control of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)

With reports of hospital-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) continuing to increase and therapeutic options decrease, infection control methods are of increasing importance. Here we investigate the relationship between surveillance and infection control. Surveillance plays two roles with respect to control: it allows detection of infected/colonized individuals necessary for their removal from the general population, and it allows quantification of control success. We develop a stochastic model of MRSA transmission dynamics exploring the effects of two screening strategies in an epidemic setting: random and on admission. We consider both hospital and community populations and include control and surveillance in a single framework. Random screening was more efficient at hospital surveillance and allowed nosocomial control, which also prevented epidemic behaviour in the community. Therefore, random screening was the more effective control strategy for both the hospital and community populations in this setting. Surveillance strategies have significant impact on both ascertainment of infection prevalence and its control

The 5g yields 4f pionic transition in Th 232 and U 238

X ray energy measurements in 5g yields 4f pionic transitions of Th-232 and U-23

VTOL in ground effect flows for closely spaced jets

Results of a series of in ground effect twin jet tests are presented along with flow models for closely spaced jets to help predict pressure and upwash forces on simulated aircraft surfaces. The isolated twin jet tests revealed unstable fountains over a range of spacings and jet heights, regions of below ambient pressure on the ground, and negative pressure differential in the upwash flow field. A separate computer code was developed for vertically oriented, incompressible jets. This model more accurately reflects fountain behavior without fully formed wall jets, and adequately predicts ground isobars, upwash dynamic pressure decay, and fountain lift force variation with height above ground

Supporting Pluralism by Artificial Intelligence: Conceptualizing Epistemic Disagreements as Digital Artifacts

A crucial concept in philosophy and social sciences, epistemic disagreement, has not yet been adequately reflected in the Web. In this paper, we call for development of intelligent tools dealing with epistemic disagreements on the Web to support pluralism. As a first step, we present Polyphony, an ontology for representing and annotating epistemic disagreements

Low-speed inducers for cryogenic upper-stage engines

Two-phase, low-speed hydrogen and oxygen inducers driven by electric motors and applicable to the tug engine were designed and constructed. The oxygen inducer was tested in liquid and two-phase oxygen. Its head and flow performance were approximately as designed, and it was able to accelerate to full speed in 3 seconds and produce its design flow and head. The analysis of the two-phase data indicated that the inducer was able to pump with vapor volume fractions in excess of 60 percent. The pump met all of its requirements (duration of runs and number of starts) to demonstrate its mechanical integrity

On the structure of large N cancellations in baryon chiral perturbation theory

We show how to compute loop graphs in heavy baryon chiral perturbation theory including the full functional dependence on the ratio of the Delta--nucleon mass difference to the pion mass, while at the same time automatically incorporating the 1/N cancellations that follow from the large-N spin-flavor symmetry of baryons in QCD. The one-loop renormalization of the baryon axial vector current is studied to demonstrate the procedure. A new cancellation is identified in the one-loop contribution to the baryon axial vector current. We show that loop corrections to the axial vector currents are exceptionally sensitive to deviations of the ratios of baryon-pion axial couplings from SU(6) values