Cycling Empirical Antibiotic Therapy in Hospitals: Meta-Analysis and Models

The rise of resistance together with the shortage of new broad-spectrum antibiotics underlines the urgency of optimizing the use of available drugs to minimize disease burden. Theoretical studies suggest that coordinating empirical usage of antibiotics in a hospital ward can contain the spread of resistance. However, theoretical and clinical studies came to different conclusions regarding the usefulness of rotating first-line therapy (cycling). Here, we performed a quantitative pathogen-specific meta-analysis of clinical studies comparing cycling to standard practice. We searched PubMed and Google Scholar and identified 46 clinical studies addressing the effect of cycling on nosocomial infections, of which 11 met our selection criteria. We employed a method for multivariate meta-analysis using incidence rates as endpoints and find that cycling reduced the incidence rate/1000 patient days of both total infections by 4.95 [9.43–0.48] and resistant infections by 7.2 [14.00–0.44]. This positive effect was observed in most pathogens despite a large variance between individual species. Our findings remain robust in uni- and multivariate metaregressions. We used theoretical models that reflect various infections and hospital settings to compare cycling to random assignment to different drugs (mixing). We make the realistic assumption that therapy is changed when first line treatment is ineffective, which we call “adjustable cycling/mixing”. In concordance with earlier theoretical studies, we find that in strict regimens, cycling is detrimental. However, in adjustable regimens single resistance is suppressed and cycling is successful in most settings. Both a meta-regression and our theoretical model indicate that “adjustable cycling” is especially useful to suppress emergence of multiple resistance. While our model predicts that cycling periods of one month perform well, we expect that too long cycling periods are detrimental. Our results suggest that “adjustable cycling” suppresses multiple resistance and warrants further investigations that allow comparing various diseases and hospital settings

Electrode Kinetic Studies Using a Computerized Data Acquisition and Analysis System

The first section of this dissertation introduces the basic concepts that are necessary for the quantitative description of electrode kinetics. The refinements and corrections in the rate equation that are due to a detailed model of the electrical double layer, and to the potential step relaxation technique are introduced and discussed. A discussion of the non-linear statistical analysis techniques that are necessary for a rigorous analysis of rate equation is presented in the second section. The estimates of the precision of the desired parameters obtained by using statistical methods can be used as a measure of the efficiency of an experiment. Their use as measures of "kinetic information density" is developed and illustrated by comparing charge and current measurement in the potential step technique. Previous approaches to the subject of "kinetic information density" are discussed and compared to the results from statistical analysis. The third section describes the computerized data acquisition and analysis system that was designed and used for the study of electrode kinetics. The final section presents the results of the kinetic studies undertaken on the Zn+2/Zn(Hg) system in 1 F NaNO3, 1 F NaClO4, and 1 F NaCl supporting electrolytes. Ensemble averaging is used in these studies to increase precision and its values is illustrated. The results that are obtained for the rate constants in the various supporting electrolytes are compared and it is shown that the rates are comparable in NaNO3 and NaClO4 supporting electrolytes but significantly greater in 1 F NaCl. These results are compared with results of previous investigators and the quality of the results of this thesis are compared to those of previous investigators.</p

Calidad de servicio y satisfacción del usuario en la unidad de comunicaciones de la Corte Superior de Justicia Lambayeque

Se tiene por objetivo en esta investigación el determinar la relación entre la calidad de servicio y satisfacción del usuario de la unidad de comunicaciones de la Corte Superior de Justicia Lambayeque, el presente estudio es de tipo no experimental con un diseño tipo descriptivo correlacional, con una población 350 usuarios que acuden a la unidad de comunicaciones de la Corte Superior de Justicia Lambayeque. Considere en la muestra 35 usuarios que acuden a la unidad de comunicaciones, del tipo no probabilístico. Mediante la recolección de los datos se implementó la técnica de la encuesta y por su instrumento mediante el cuestionario que sirvió para evaluar la calidad de servicio y satisfacción del usuario; mediante los resultados obtenidos demuestran que mediante las variables de calidad de servicio y satisfacción del usuario existe una moderada relación positiva de r= 0.710; en conclusión a un buen nivel de calidad de servicio le correspondería un buen nivel de satisfacción del usuario, a un deficiente nivel de calidad de servicio le corresponde un deficiente nivel de satisfacción del usuario. En razón a ello se concluye que existe moderada relación positiva entre la calidad de servicio y satisfacción del usuario de la unidad de comunicaciones de la Corte Superior de Justicia Lambayeque

Causas de la apatía de los estudiantes del Bachillerato en Ciencias y Letras, de las escuelas medias, durante el proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje de la asignatura de filosofía

Con la presente investigación se buscó encontrar causas de la apatía de los estudiantes de undécimo grado, del Bachillerato en Ciencias y Letras en la asignatura de Filosofía, tanto en escuelas oficiales como particulares. Para lograr nuestro objetivo aplicamos cuestionarios a estudiantes del Colegio Remón Cantera, Instituto América, Instituto Fermín Nadeau, Instituto José Dolores Moscote, de igual manera a dos escuelas particulares, Colegio Sant Marys e Instituto Panamericano (Nocturna). Nuestro objetivo específico se ve reflejado en las experiencias vividas en las aulas de clases, buscar en ello lo que realmente genera la apatía, las actitudes de los docentes al enseñar Filosofía, y analizar las causas y consecuencias de tal apatía y no olvidar las experiencias de los egresados. La recolección de datos la logramos realizar mediante instrumentos de recolección, tales como: cuestionario y guías de observación; y la técnica de la entrevista. Se distribuyeron doscientos cincuenta y dos cuestionarios a los estudiantes en los colegios, la misma fue coordinada en los salones de clases. Las guías de observación permitieron ver la metodología dada por el docente en el salón de clases y se utilizó la entrevista para los egresados por su experiencia en Filosofía. El estudio buscó determinar cuáles son realmente las causas que llevan a los estudiantes a tener una apatía en lo relacionado con la materia de Filosofía. Al finalizar nuestro trabajo concluimos que realmente gran parte de la apatía estriba en el mal manejo de los conceptos propios de la disciplina

Plataforma de compra online basado en técnicas de filtrado colaborativo para la predicción y recomendación de productos

En el presente trabajo se desarrolló una plataforma de compras online basado en la técnica de filtrado colaborativo. La técnica consiste en la predicción de preferencias y recomendación de productos a los clientes, basándose en la similitud de gustos en los productos de un grupo de usuarios. Además, para presentar el contenido de forma personalizada y de calidad con un entorno de diseño adaptable, se consideró el ISO/IEC 9126 para la obtención de un software de calidad. Esto quiere decir que esta plataforma se puede adaptar a cualquier dispositivo con acceso a internet.Tesi

How Research Data Management Plans Can Help in Harmonizing Open Science and Approaches in the Digital Economy

Within this perspective article, we intend to summarise definitions and terms that are often used in the context of open science and data-driven R&D and we discuss upcoming European regulations concerning data, data sharing and handling. With this background in hand, we take a closer look at the potential connections and permeable interfaces of open science and digital economy, in which data and resulting immaterial goods can become vital pieces as tradeable items. We believe that both science and the digital economy can profit from a seamless transition and foresee that the scientific outcomes of publicly funded research can be better exploited. To close the gap between open science and the digital economy, and to serve for a balancing of the interests of data producers, data consumers, and an economy around services and the public, we introduce the concept of generic research data management plans (RDMs), which have in part been developed through a community effort and which have been evaluated by academic and industry members of the NFDI4Cat consortium. We are of the opinion that in data-driven research, RDMs do need to become a vital element in publicly funded projects

Thermally stable mesoporous tetragonal zirconia through surfactant-controlled synthesis and Si-stabilization

Thermally stable, highly mesoporous Si-stabilized ZrO₂ was prepared by sol–gel-synthesis. By utilizing the surfactant dodecylamine (DDA), large mesopores with a pore width of ∼9.4 nm are formed. Combined with an NH₃-treatment on the hydrogel, a high specific surface area of up to 225 m² g⁻¹ and pore volume up to 0.46 cm³ g⁻¹ are obtained after calcination at 973 K. The individual contributions of Si-addition, DDA surfactant and the NH₃-treatment on the resulting pore system were studied by inductively coupled plasma with optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES), X-ray diffraction (XRD), N₂ sorption, and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Electron tomography was applied to visualize and investigate the mesopore network in 3D space. While Si prevents the growth of ZrO₂ crystallites and stabilizes the t-ZrO₂ phase, DDA generates a homogeneous mesopore network within the zirconia. The NH₃-treatment unblocks inaccessible pores, thereby increasing specific surface area and pore volume while retaining the pore width distribution

Evaluación de competencias laborales y desarrollo profesional del personal técnico de la empresa Linde Gas Perú S.A. – Chiclayo

Las competencias laborales son conocimientos saber, habilidades y actitudes, que, aplicados en el desempeño hay una determinada responsabilidad o aportación profesional asegurando su buen logro. Es a partir de la combinación de estos factores en la empresa industrial Linde Gas Perú S.A. que surge la necesidad de realizar la presente investigación. El presente estudio tiene como objetivo, determinar la influencia entre la competencia laboral y el desarrollo profesional de los trabajadores técnicos de la empresa Linde Gas Perú S.A. según la tipología de Achaerandio .La investigación es de carácter cuantitativa ,descriptiva , correlacional. La población estuvo constituida por 15 trabajadores del área técnica, siendo nuestra muestra igual a la población, para la recolección de datos, se aplicó la técnica de la encuesta y como instrumento de investigación, un cuestionario estructurado de 25 preguntas para determinar la influencia entre las competencias laborales y desarrollo profesional El instrumento fue validado con la prueba de confiabilidad a través del Coeficiente Alpha de Cronbach. En cuanto al análisis de datos, se utilizó la estadística descriptiva correlacional, en función de porcentaje.Tesi

Recommendations for a multicampus course developed through a “Students as Partners” project

This paper presents recommendations for a Multicampus course, developed through a Student as Partners project. In this project students, a teacher and an educational developer collaborated following the principles of the Students as Partners framework. Through interpretation of previous course evaluations and discussions, we created a shared understanding of how the course had worked and what to improve. Our main recommendations are to have lectures and learning activities that are diverse and adapted to the students’ different needs. These recommendations are not groundbreaking in themselves, however, the grounding in a common understanding through the use of the Student as Partners framework is novel and gives new perspectives to course development and educational development in general

Hard X‐ray Nanotomography for 3D Analysis of Coking in Nickel‐based Catalysts

Understanding catalyst deactivation by coking is crucial for knowledge-based catalyst and process design in reactions with carbonaceous species. Post-mortem analysis of catalyst coking is often performed by bulk characterization methods. Here, hard X-ray ptychographic computed tomography (PXCT) was used to study Ni/Al$_{2}$O$_{3}$ catalysts for CO$_{2}$ methanation and CH$_{4}$ dry reforming after artificial coking treatment. PXCT generated quantitative 3D maps of local electron density at ca. 80 nm resolution, allowing to visualize and evaluate the severity of coking in entire catalyst particles of ca. 40 μm diameter. Coking was primarily revealed in the nanoporous solid, which was not detectable in resolved macropores. Coke formation was independently confirmed by operando Raman spectroscopy. PXCT is highlighted as an emerging characterization tool for nanoscale identification, co-localization, and potentially quantification of deactivation phenomena in 3D space within entire catalyst particles