Stop the Potential Killer: Prevention of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA)

The risk for hospital-acquired methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections in the ICU is great considering the length of stay and the invasive procedures most patients go through. MRSA infections may lead to death and contribute greatly to the cost of care. The purpose of this study was to examine the evidence for the best possible means of preventing MRSA. The methodology was a review of the current research. Some of the measures that were found to be beneficial included daily bathing with chlorhexidine, environmental decon­tamination, MRSA screenings upon admission, isolation precautions for positive patients, eradication therapy, and strict hand hygiene. Conclusions indicate that hospital acquired MRSA infections can be decreased with strict adherence to the correct regimen and continuous, hospital-wide education and awareness

Étude expérimentale des propriétés optiques des cristaux photoniques bidimensionnels et de leur accordabillité

Photonic crystals are periodic dielectric structures, where the periodicity varies in one, two or three dimensions. Analogous to the periodic potential of electrons in semiconductors, the periodic variation of the dielectric constant influences the electromagnetic properties. The energy of the light is separated in bandgaps, energy ranges in which the propagation of the light is forbidden for certain directions and energies. These properties suggest that photonic crystals may be suitable for fabrication of the components needed for integrated optics. Since the fabrication of three dimensional photonic crystals is still limited by complex fabrication problems we have studied two dimensional photonic crystals. These photonic crystals can be fabricated by standard microelectronic technology. The photonic crystals studied in this thesis consist of GaAs and InP based low index vertical waveguides with a matrix of holes etched into it. The fabrication of photonic crystals with good optical properties is an important factor for photonic crystal devices in integrated optics. In the first part we studied the optical properties of photonic crystal slabs and of Fabry-Pérot cavities. These structures were measured by the internal light source technique, which allows quantitative normalized transmission measurements. The photonic crystals were etched by three different dry etching technologies. Out-of plane scattering is described by a 2D-FDTD fit of the transmission spectra and by a semi-analytical model. The finite hole depth and the conical shape of the holes are important structural parameters. The detailed study of their effects yields an important feedback for the critical parameters of the fabrication process. Photonic crystal waveguides are another group of components in integrated optics. We measured two types of straight photonic crystal waveguides by the endfire technique. Here the light is coupled by optical fibers and ridge waveguides in the photonic crystal waveguides. The transmission spectra reveal fringes which are due to multiple interference of the light in the sample. This interference contains information about propagation losses of the waveguides and an analysis based on the Fourier transform of the transmission spectra enabled us to deduce the propagation losses of the photonic crystal waveguides. The necessity of tuning or trimming the optical properties of photonic crystals is an important issue either compensating fabrication imperfections (trimming) or controlling the optical properties on demand (tuning) for devices like filters. We have shown that it is possible to tune the optical properties of planar photonic crystal cavities by temperature. The experimental results were validated by theoretical calculations. Also we have shown that is possible to tune the optical properties of photonic crystals by infiltrating liquid crystals in the holes. Liquid crystals are a birefringent material whose optical axis can be tuned by external fields (electric, temperature, photonic source, etc.). Phase transitions exhibiting abrupt changes in the refractive index are important characteristics of liquid crystals. The holes of the photonic crystal are infiltrated by a reversible and reliable infiltration process. The infiltration efficiency and the orientation of the molecules in the holes were determined by polarization resolved internal light source measurements. We have shown that the frequency of the Fabry-Pérot resonance changes at the phase transitions of the liquid crystal

Fremdsprachenerwerb im Kindergarten

Meine Diplomarbeit beschäftigt sich mit dem Früherwerb von Deutsch als Fremdsprache im Kindergarten der Deutsch-Slowakischen Begegnungsschule (DSB) in Bratislava. Diese wird überwiegend von slowakischsprachigen Kindern besucht; das Verhältnis zu den deutschsprachigen lässt sich ungefähr als 80 zu 20 % beschreiben. Entgegen ihrer Bezeichnung ist die DSB keine bilingual - bikulturelle Schule, sondern entspricht eher einem Immersionsmodell, das auf den Erwerb der Sprache der Minorität, also des Deutschen, fokussiert ist, während Slowakisch nicht gefördert wird. Während meiner achtmonatigen Beschäftigung als Kindergartenpädagogin untersuchte ich im Verfahren der teilnehmenden Beobachtung die konkrete Praxis in einer Kindergartengruppe der Schule. Zentral für meine Beobachtungen war die Frage nach dem Einfluss der fremdsprachlichen Umgebung auf das Sprach-, Spiel- und Interaktionsverhalten der Kinder. Durch die Betonung des Deutschen als der einzigen legitimen Sprache in der Institution kam es zur Herausbildung zweier Sprachräume, die einen differenzierten Gebrauch der Sprachen Slowakisch und Deutsch erlaubten. Im gelenkten Sprachraum, in den Aktivitäten mit den Erzieherinnen, herrschte Akzeptanz über die Verwendung der offiziellen Schulsprache Deutsch von Seiten aller Beteiligten, während im nicht gelenkten Sprachraum, in der Kommunikation der Kinder untereinander, die Interaktionssprache erst ausgehandelt werden musste und Formen von Mehrsprachigkeit zulässig waren. Bezug nehmend auf spracherwerbstheoretische Grundlagen zur frühen Zweisprachigkeit, die im theoretischen Teil der Arbeit erläutert werden, wird die Notwendigkeit einer Förderung der Muttersprache ausführlich dargestellt. Pierre Bourdieus Theorie des sprachlichen Marktes ermöglicht eine Analyse des „monolingualen Habitus“ der Schule, indem dem kulturellen Kapitalwert des Deutschen in der Slowakei nachgegangen wird, der für ein Arrangement mit dem restriktiven Sprachengebrauch der Schule Ausschlag gebend ist. Da es sich bei der Deutsch-Slowakischen Begegnungsschule um eine relativ junge Institution handelt, die quasi noch in ihrem Aufbaustadium steckt, werden am Ende der Arbeit einige Ideen erläutert, die eine Öffnung der Schule in Bezug auf Mehrsprachigkeit ermöglichen würden

Improving Exception Handling by Discovering Change Dependencies in Adaptive Process Management Systems

Process-aware information systems should enable the flexible alignment of business processes to new requirements by supporting deviations from the predefined process model at runtime. To facilitate such dynamic process changes we have adopted techniques from casebased reasoning (CBR). In particular, our existing approach allows to capture the semantics of ad-hoc changes, to support their memorization, and to enable their reuse in upcoming exceptional situations. To further improve change reuse this paper presents an approach for discovering dependencies between ad-hoc modifications from change history. Based on this information better user assistance can be provided when dynamic process changes have to be made

CCBR-Driven Business Process Evolution

Process-aware information systems (PAIS) allow coordinating the execution of business processes by providing the right tasks to the right people at the right time. In order to support a broad spectrum of business processes, PAIS must be flexible at run-time. Ad-hoc deviations from the predefined process schema as well as the quick adaptation of the process schema itself due to changes of the underlying business processes must be supported. This paper presents an integrated approach combining the concepts and methods provided by the process management systems ADEPT and CBRFlow. Integrating these two systems enables ad-hoc modifications of single process instances, the memorization of these modifications using conversational case-based reasoning, and their reuse in similar future situations. In addition, potential process type changes can be derived from cases when similar ad-hoc modifications at the process instance level occur frequently

An Extended Literature Base for an Integrated Unit: Forest Regions of the United States

An example of extending literature-based language arts to an integrated social studies and science unit is presented in this paper. Justification for this type of learning environment is given by citing professional literature. Specific benefits to students are explained. The teacher and student roles in this unit are defined. Teacher-directed activities, literature groups, and student-selected center activities all work together to provide a learning environment in which students are engaged in learning, take responsibility for their learning, and find meaningful uses for language tasks--written and spoken

Neural correlates of laughter and humour

Although laughter and humour have been constituents of humanity for thousands if not millions of years, their systematic study has begun only recently. Investigations into their neurological correlates remain fragmentary and the following review is a first attempt to collate and evaluate these studies, most of which have been published over the last two decades. By employing the classical methods of neurology, brain regions associated with symptomatic (pathological) laughter have been determined and catalogued under other diagnostic signs and symptoms of such conditions as epilepsy, strokes and circumspect brain lesions. These observations have been complemented by newer studies using modern non‐invasive imaging methods. To summarize the results of many studies, the expression of laughter seems to depend on two partially independent neuronal pathways. The first of these, an ‘involuntary' or ‘emotionally driven' system, involves the amygdala, thalamic/hypo‐ and subthalamic areas and the dorsal/tegmental brainstem. The second, ‘voluntary' system originates in the premotor/frontal opercular areas and leads through the motor cortex and pyramidal tract to the ventral brainstem. These systems and the laughter response appear to be coordinated by a laughter‐coordinating centre in the dorsal upper pons. Analyses of the cerebral correlates of humour have been impeded by a lack of consensus among psychologists on exactly what humour is, and of what essential components it consists. Within the past two decades, however, sufficient agreement has been reached that theory‐based hypotheses could be formulated and tested with various non‐invasive methods. For the perception of humour (and depending on the type of humour involved, its mode of transmission, etc.) the right frontal cortex, the medial ventral prefrontal cortex, the right and left posterior (middle and inferior) temporal regions and possibly the cerebellum seem to be involved to varying degrees. An attempt has been made to be as thorough as possible in documenting the foundations upon which these burgeoning areas of research have been based up to the present tim