Empirical treatment of bacterial keratitis: an international survey of corneal specialists.

Background/aimsNew antibiotic agents and changing susceptibility patterns may have changed the empirical treatment of bacterial keratitis. Our objective in this study was to survey cornea specialists' practice patterns in the initial treatment of bacterial ulcers.MethodsThis study consisted of a short online survey emailed to members of the Cornea Society listserv for an international sample of cornea specialists. Data collection began July 2014 and ended October 2014.ResultsA total of 1009 surveys were emailed, and we received 140 (14%) responses. The majority of US clinicians surveyed (n=83, 80%) chose fortified antibiotics empirically, with 55% (n=57) selecting fortified vancomycin and 16% (n=17) using fluoroquinolone alone. International respondents were twice as likely to use fluoroquinolone monotherapy (31%, n=11, p=0.07) and less likely to use fortified vancomycin (33%, n=12, p=0.03). Forty-five per cent (n=46) of US respondents reported that their initial antibiotic choice covered methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, compared with 22% (n=8) of international respondents (p<0.01). Overall, respondents who were concerned about availability of antibiotics and toxicity were 20.86 (p<0.001) and 7.48 (p<0.001) times more likely to choose fluoroquinolone monotherapy, respectively. If respondents' primary considerations were broad spectrum coverage or antibiotic resistance they had 7.10 (p<0.001) and 12.51 (p<0.001) times the odds of using fortified vancomycin, respectively.ConclusionPractice patterns for the initial treatment of bacterial keratitis vary with clinicians in the USA being more likely to use fortified antibiotics versus fluoroquinolone monotherapy and more concerned with resistant organisms than their international peers

Initiating e-learning by stealth, participation and consultation in a late majority institution

The uploaded paper is the final version that was sent to the publishers Paper submitted to double issue of JOTSC (2006, 3(3) and 2007 (4(1), co-edited by Shurville and Browne. 3(3) has Shurville and Browne editorial - Introduction: ICT-driven change in higher education: Learning from e-learning 4(1) has Browne and Shurville editorial - Editorial: Educating minds for the knowledge economyThe extent to which opportunities afforded by e-learning are embraced by an institution can depend in large measure on whether it is perceived as enabling and transformative or as a major and disruptive distraction. Most case studies focus on the former. This paper describes how e-learning was introduced into the latter environment. The sensitivity of competing pressures in a research intensive university substantially influenced the manner in which e-learning was promoted. This paper tells that story, from initial stealth to eventual university acknowledgement of the relevance of e-learning specifically to its own context

GMF: A Model Migration Case for the Transformation Tool Contest

Using a real-life evolution taken from the Graphical Modeling Framework, we invite submissions to explore ways in which model transformation and migration tools can be used to migrate models in response to metamodel adaptation.Comment: In Proceedings TTC 2011, arXiv:1111.440

Brief for Respondent. United States v. Wong, 134 S.Ct. 2873 (2014) (No. 13-1074), 2014 WL 5804278

QUESTIONS PRESENTED 1. Is the six-month limit on filing suit under the Federal Tort Claims Act, 28 U.S.C. 2401(b), jurisdictional? 2. If the six-month limit for filing suit under the Federal Tort Claims Act, 28 U.S.C. 2401(b), is not jurisdictional, is it subject to equitable tolling

Factors Affecting the Adoption of Information Communication Technology for Educational Support Activities in Secondary Schools in Vihiga County

Information Communication and Technology (ICT) plays an important role in education institutions by facilitating and improving the teaching and learning process to be in line with the information technology age. ICT has also been credited with the potential to integrate world economies thus demolishing the barriers created by time and distance. However despite IT’s role in improving effectiveness and efficiency in service delivery, its adoption in most of the secondary schools has remained low and limited. This study sought to assess the factors affecting the adoption of ICT for education support activities in secondary schools in Kenya through a survey of Vihiga County. The study was guided by Diffusion of Innovation Theory. The study used a total sample of 69 respondents selected from secondary schools in Vihiga County. Questionnaire method was used to collect primary data from the study respondents. Study data was analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 22.0 for windows whereby descriptive statistics such as frequency distributions and percentages and inferential statistics such as Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient were utilized. The survey established user’s attitude, IT literacy, cost and policy issues in information technology as the major factors affecting the rate of ICT adoption in secondary schools in Kenya. However the study found that the said aspects have strong association with pace of ICT adoption and their effect is similar across schools. The study recommends that the government through its relevant agencies does intensify ICT in-service programs, e-learning workshops and conferences for teachers to enhance their integration capability. Government should coordinate the integration and subsidize the costs as well as monitor the implementation of a well-focused frame work in line with the national education ICT adoption strategy for learning institutions. Keywords: Information and Communication Technology; Secondary Schools; ICT Adoption; Education adoption

Characteristics Of Social Networking Services

Social networking services (SNSs) have recently emerged as a research topic of interest, in line with their commercial success and popularity. They are internet (sometimes mobile) services that have, as a primary purpose, the building and sustaining of users’ social networks. In this article we conduct two analyses. We review the existing literature on social networking software, and we examine the functionality of four leading social networking services: Facebook, MySpace, Second Life, and Twitter. The two analyses are iteratively matched to provide an initial account of six characteristics evident both the in services themselves, and the literature which discusses them. The characteristics help shape the area of study, and can be tested and developed by more rigorous forms of research

Does the sound environment influence the behaviour of zoo-housed birds? A preliminary investigation of ten species across two zoos

This study was made possible thanks to an Economic & Social Research Council grant number ES/R009554/1.In the zoo, the sound environment experienced by captive wild animals will contain numerous anthropogenic features that may elicit different responses to those stimulated by naturally created, or more biologically relevant, sounds. Husbandry activities, visitor presence and neighbouring species (free-living and captive) will all influence the sounds around zoo-housed species; an animal's behavioural responses may therefore provide an insight into how its welfare state is influenced by this changing sound environment. This project aimed to investigate how animal behaviour was influenced by the sound environment at two large UK zoos; one situated in a more rural location and the other in an urban location. Species were selected based on their location in the zoo, the relevance of sound to their natural ecology (e.g., as a form of communication and/or for anti-predator responses) and their novelty as research subjects in the scientific literature. Behavioural data collection was conducted for five days per enclosure per zoo at the population and individual level for birds housed in different styles of enclosure. Instantaneous sampling at one-minute intervals was used to collect information on state behaviours, assessed using a pre-determined species-specific ethogram. Event behaviours were collected continuously for each observation period. The sound environment around or in the enclosure was recorded continuously during each behavioural recording session using a recorder mounted on a tripod. Results showed a variety of responses to the presence of visitors and potential associated changes to sound around the enclosure with some behaviours being more influenced by the presence of visitors (and increases in the volume of sound) compared to others, e.g., vigilance and vocalisations. Overall, birds showed few of the changes thought to indicate poor or impoverished welfare states linked to changes to the sound environment in their enclosure or to the presence of visitors, but we recommend that zoos consider further measurement and recording of sound on a species-by-species basis to capture individual responses and behavioural changes to variation in visitor number and the sound environment.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Listening after the animals : sound and pastoral care in the zoo

This work was supported by the Economic and Social Research Council, grant number ES/R009554/1.In anthropology and across the humanities and social sciences, zoos have tended to be theorized as places of spectacle. Scholars often focus on the ways in which these institutions enable the viewing of other-than-human animals by human publics. This article, however, uses sound-focused ethnographic fieldwork to engage with two UK zoos and to describe a particular mode of cross-species listening which is enacted by zookeepers. The concepts of pastoral care and control discussed by Foucault and applied to the zoo context by Braverman are productively reworked and reorientated in order to understand this form of listening. The article also demonstrates the interconnectedness of keeper, visitor, and animal sound worlds, in the process generating an original perspective that complements and enriches conventional zoo studies.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe