Feasibility study on a mud block with straw

When, trying to establish “Sustainability” within local built environment, it is important to understand prevailing methods that are using. As a result, concentrating on “methods of wall construction”, it was found that, “mud”, was used over many centuries in traditional architecture. Therefore, concentrating on “mud wall construction”, the goal was set to be developed, a “mud block”, which has more structural durability, less weight, low cost, together with high performance with respect to indoor air quality. However, as an initial attempt of the ultimate invent of “mud block”, this research was carried out to analyse, the correct proportions to invent such block. During the research mainly two types of mud blocks were casted; partially compacted mud block and poured mud block. During the casting process soil, cement, straw were mixed with water in different proportions to understand the best particle mix for the proposed block and compared the compressive strengths of each sample. From the analysis it was found that, there is a high possibility of inventing a effective mud block which has required strength for a load bearing dwellings, while minimizing the structural cast with less weight and low cost with simple manufacturing process

Guidelines for the Prevention of Intravascular Catheter-related Infections

These guidelines have been developed for healthcare personnel who insert intravascular catheters and for persons responsible for surveillance and control of infections in hospital, outpatient, and home healthcare settings. This report was prepared by a working group comprising members from professional organizations representing the disciplines of critical care medicine, infectious diseases, healthcare infection control, surgery, anesthesiology, interventional radiology, pulmonary medicine, pediatric medicine, and nursing. The working group was led by the Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM), in collaboration with the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA), Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA), Surgical Infection Society (SIS), American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP), American Thoracic Society (ATS), American Society of Critical Care Anesthesiologists (ASCCA), Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC), Infusion Nurses Society (INS), Oncology Nursing Society (ONS), American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (ASPEN), Society of Interventional Radiology (SIR), American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society (PIDS), and the Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee (HICPAC) of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and is intended to replace the Guideline for Prevention of Intravascular Catheter-Related Infections published in 2002. These guidelines are intended to provide evidence-based recommendations for preventing intravascular catheter-related infections. Major areas of emphasis include 1) educating and training healthcare personnel who insert and maintain catheters; 2) using maximal sterile barrier precautions during central venous catheter insertion; 3) using a \u3e 0.5% chlorhexidine skin preparation with alcohol for antisepsis; 4) avoiding routine replacement of central venous catheters as a strategy to prevent infection; and 5) using antiseptic/antibiotic impregnated short-term central venous catheters and chlorhexidine impregnated sponge dressings if the rate of infection is not decreasing despite adherence to other strategies (i.e, education and training, maximal sterile barrier precautions, and \u3e0.5% chlorhexidine preparations with alcohol for skin antisepsis). These guidelines also emphasize performance improvement by implementing bundled strategies, and documenting and reporting rates of compliance with all components of the bundle as benchmarks for quality assurance and performance improvement