An Assessment of Use of Fabrics and Textiles by North Carolina State University Textiles and Design Faculty

This study describes the results of a questionnaire web survey of faculty in the College of Textiles and College of Design at North Carolina State University. The survey was conducted to determine if and how faculty members use fabric and textile samples, if they are aware of the fabric collections available at the Textiles Library, and if an interest exists in developing an electronic database of fabric samples. Fabric and textile samples are used by faculty for classroom teaching and demonstrations, product development research, historical studies, and research projects. Most faculty members are not aware of the collections held by the Textiles Library. However, an interest does exist in developing an electronic resource. Further study and collaboration between the Libraries and interested faculty are necessary before beginning a digitization project

L’épidémiologie comme outil pour l’amélioration de la prévention de la rage humaine : implications locales et mondiales des données de prophylaxie post exposition, Institut Pasteur du Cambodge, 2003 - 2014

Rabies causes more than 60,000 deaths worldwide each year, including 800 in Cambodia, where canine-mediated rabies virus circulates. Death occurs in nearly 100% of rabies cases, a disease which is nearly 100% avoidable by timely and adequate rabies post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP). Improving access to PEP in rural areas of endemic countries will spare human lives in the short term. This epidemiology PhD used the data collected in patients referred to the rabies prevention clinic and tested dogs at Institut Pasteur du Cambodge (IPC), Phnom Penh. After a baseline assessment of access to and obstacles to access timely and adequate PEP in Cambodia, this PhD aims to contribute to improving: 1/ geographical access and 2/ financial access to PEP for rural populations in Cambodia. We developed an original strategy to identify populations with a high risk of PEP noncompletion after a bite by a potentially rabid dog. This should help improve geographical access to PEP following the implementation in July 2018 of a peripheral rabies prevention center in Western Cambodia. This strategy can be applied to identify difficulties in accessing health services relevant to other health issues, under certain conditions. After patient callback and analysis of rabies deaths among those who did and did not complete the 4-sessions/1-month intradermal PEP regimen of their own accord, we were unable to demonstrate a difference in rabies mortality among patients who only received 3 vaccine sessions over the first week compared to those receiving at least 4 sessions/one month. Abridging the protocol to one week would reduce direct and indirect costs and the loss of income during PEP in the Capital. The adoption of this abridged regimen must be associated with a strengthened clinical monitoring system for at least 6 months following patients’ initial PEP.The work presented in this PhD has implications which reach beyond Cambodia: WHO recommends this new IPC regimen – the first approved one-week, abridged rabies PEP regimen – in its April 2018 guidelines.La rage entraîne plus de 60,000 décès par an dans le Monde, dont 800 au Cambodge, pays fortement endémique pour la rage canine.La mort survient dans près de 100% des cas de rage, maladie évitable dans presque 100% des cas par l’accès à une prophylaxie post-exposition (PPE) antirabique adéquate et en temps utile. L’amélioration de l’accès à une PPE dans les zones rurales des pays endémiques permettra d’épargner des vies humaines à court terme. Cette thèse en épidémiologie a tiré parti des données collectées auprès des patients consultant au centre antirabique et les chiens testés à l’Institut Pasteur du Cambodge (IPC), Phnom Penh. Suite à un bilan épidémiologique de la situation et des obstacles auxquels sont confrontés les patients cherchant à accéder à la PPE adéquate et en temps utile, elle vise à contribuer à améliorer 1/ l’accès géographique et 2/ l’accès financier à une PPE pour les populations rurales du Cambodge. Nous avons développé une stratégie originale d’identification des poches de populations à haut risque d’incomplétude vaccinale après une exposition potentielle à la rage. Ceci devrait permettre d’améliorer l’accès géographique à la PPE et se concrétiser par l’ouverture en Juillet 2018 d’un centre périphérique de prévention de la rage dans l’Ouest du Cambodge. Cette stratégie d’identification de difficultés d’accès aux soins est applicable à d’autres thématiques de santé, sous certaines conditions. Notre rappel des patients et l’analyse des décès par rage parmi les patients n’ayant pas complété de leur propre chef le protocole PPE de 4 sessions intradermales sur 1 mois ne permettent pas de mettre en évidence une différence de mortalité par rage parmi les patients n’ayant reçu que 3 sessions sur 1 semaine, par rapport à au moins 4 sessions/1mois. Le raccourcissement du protocole à 1 semaine permet de réduire les coûts directs et indirects et l’absence de revenus pendant la durée du traitement en capitale. La mise en place de ce protocole doit s’accompagner d’un suivi d’au moins 6 mois des patients après leur prise en charge initiale. L’ensemble de ces travaux a des implications qui dépassent le cadre du Cambodge: Dans ses recommandations d’Avril 2018, l’OMS recommande désormais ce nouveau protocole IPC– le premier protocole PPE antirabique abrégé à 1 semaine

Municipal government strategies for controlling personnel costs during the fiscal storm

Fiscal stress has spurred city governments to search for ways to reduce costs. Human resource professionals and municipal budget officers have been searching for ways to reduce personnel-related costs because this is where the greatest savings can be realized. This paper identifies and examines different personnel cost-containment strategies pursued by a national sample of 90 large U.S. cities. It focuses on hiring, wages and hours, employee benefits and other HR-related actions. Results indicate that jurisdictions whose municipal fiscal conditions are considered to be fair or poor are more likely than cities whose fiscal conditions are perceived to be good to excellent to use many of the cost reduction strategies. Other demographic and organizational variables had some limited relationship with the use of strategies, but were not as significantly associated with costcontainment actions as city economic climate