The identification of criteria essential for the promotion of housekeepers: a pilot study

The motivation and concentration for this research was partially funded by Commonwealth College of Virginia Beach, Virginia to help in the fulfillment of that college\u27s mission: To serve the needs of it\u27s students and it\u27s community by providing quality collegiate Educational programs in careers with positive impact on it\u27s society and environment. The issue of Housekeeping manpower is a primary concern of Hoteliers and a constant human resource need. This research project was designed to illicit primary data from area convention hotels to determine where the need for training exists germane to entry-level and mid-management positions in housekeeping. The results of the research conducted will be shared with the General Managers and Executive Housekeepers of the participating hotels surveyed and used as a basis to develop training courses and or programs conducted through Commonwealth College\u27s Tourism/Hospitality division. The goal of those programs or courses will be to produce quality trained housekeeping managers and supervisors. Commonwealth College is a \u27specialty training\u27 institution that provides career education and training advancement courses for \u27adult learners\u27 who are nontraditional college students

Evaluation of the efficacy and safety of high dose short duration enrofloxacin treatment regimen for uncomplicated urinary tract infections in dogs.

BackgroundUncomplicated urinary tract infections (UTI) in dogs usually are treated with antimicrobial drugs for 10-14 days. Shorter duration antimicrobial regimens have been evaluated in human patients.HypothesisA high dose short duration (HDSD) enrofloxacin protocol administered to dogs with uncomplicated UTI will not be inferior to a 14-day treatment regimen with amoxicillin-clavulanic acid.AnimalsClient-owned adult, otherwise healthy dogs with aerobic bacterial urine culture yielding ≥ 10(3) CFU/mL of bacteria after cystocentesis.MethodsProspective, multicenter, controlled, randomized blinded clinical trial. Enrolled dogs were randomized to group 1 (enrofloxacin 18-20 mg/kg PO q24h for 3 days) or group 2 (amoxicillin-clavulanic acid 13.75-25 mg/kg PO q12h for 14 days). Urine cultures were obtained at days 0, 10, and 21. Microbiologic and clinical cure rates were evaluated 7 days after antimicrobial treatment was discontinued. Lower urinary tract signs and adverse events also were recorded.ResultsThere were 35 dogs in group 1 and 33 in group 2. The microbiologic cure rate was 77.1 and 81.2% for groups 1 and 2, respectively. The clinical cure rate was 88.6 and 87.9% for groups 1 and 2, respectively. Cure rates between groups did not differ according to the selected margin of noninferiority.Conclusions and clinical importanceHDSD enrofloxacin treatment was not inferior to a conventional amoxicillin-clavulanic acid protocol for the treatment of uncomplicated bacterial UTI in dogs. Further research is warranted to determine if this protocol will positively impact owner compliance and decrease the emergence of antimicrobial resistance

Recent Developments on Airborne Forward Looking Interferometer for the Detection of Wake Vortices

A goal of these studies was development of the measurement methods and algorithms necessary to detect wake vortex hazards in real time from either an aircraft or ground-based hyperspectral Fourier Transform Spectrometer (FTS). This paper provides an update on research to model FTS detection of wake vortices. The Terminal Area Simulation System (TASS) was used to generate wake vortex fields of 3-D winds, temperature, and absolute humidity. These fields were input to the Line by Line Radiative Transfer Model (LBLRTM), a hyperspectral radiance model in the infrared, employed for the FTS numerical modeling. An initial set of cases has been analyzed to identify a wake vortex IR signature and signature sensitivities to various state variables. Results from the numerical modeling case studies will be presented. Preliminary results indicated that an imaging IR instrument sensitive to six narrow bands within the 670 to 3150 per centimeter spectral region would be sufficient for wake vortex detection. Noise floor estimates for a recommended instrument are a current research topic

Patent: Cell-Permeable Miniature Proteins

Abstract: The present invention generally relates to miniature proteins, including miniature proteins that are permeable to cells. Certain aspects of the invention are generally related to miniature proteins, such as avian pancreatic polypeptide (aPP), modified such that the miniature proteins are permeable to cells. For instance, a portion of the aPP, such as the alpha helix region and/or the type II polyproline helix region, may be modified to render the region substantially cationic. As an example, one or more residues may be substituted with cationic amino acid residues such as arginine. The miniature proteins may also have additional functions, such as the ability to bind to other proteins such as Bcl2 or hDM2. Another aspect of the invention is generally directed to sequences, such as PRR or PPR, that can be added to other proteins in order to increase their cell permeability. Still other aspects of the invention are generally directed to methods of making such proteins, methods of using such proteins, kits involving such proteins, and the like

Strengthening Extension\u27s Capacity to Conduct Public Issues Education Programs: Results of a National Needs Assessment

This article reports the results of a national survey of Extension professionals to assess their needs to acquire skills to conduct Public Issues Education (P.I.E.) programs. Survey respondents rated all 35 skill needs as either high or moderately high priorities regardless of their geographic region. Some differences in skill need priorities exist at the individual state level, however. These results illustrate a demand for professional development opportunities. While one national curriculum may suffice, professional development may be fine-tuned to address differences in individual states. Professional development may target beginner, intermediate, and advanced skill development levels, depending on individual state needs

Dietary Transfer of Heavy Metals in Manatees

In recent decades, manatees and dugongs globally have exhibited potentially detrimental levels of a variety of heavy metals in their body tissues. The threatened Florida manatee (Trichechus manatus latirostris), which is a subspecies of the West Indian manatee (Trichechus manatus), has shown corresponding high levels of heavy metals in their blood, skin, liver, and kidneys. As obligate herbivores, these animals rely heavily upon seagrasses as a major component of their diet. Globally, seagrasses at low latitudes have high levels of heavy metals in their tissues. Detrimental levels of heavy metals in Sirenians have not been established until now. This study is assessing the heavy metal concentrations of seagrasses in South Florida as a major dietary contributor to manatees, and investigating possible sources of these metals

A Novel Sequence-Based Antigenic Distance Measure for H1N1, with Application to Vaccine Effectiveness and the Selection of Vaccine Strains

H1N1 influenza causes substantial seasonal illness and was the subtype of the 2009 influenza pandemic. Precise measures of antigenic distance between the vaccine and circulating virus strains help researchers design influenza vaccines with high vaccine effectiveness. We here introduce a sequence-based method to predict vaccine effectiveness in humans. Historical epidemiological data show that this sequence-based method is as predictive of vaccine effectiveness as hemagglutination inhibition (HI) assay data from ferret animal model studies. Interestingly, the expected vaccine effectiveness is greater against H1N1 than H3N2, suggesting a stronger immune response against H1N1 than H3N2. The evolution rate of hemagglutinin in H1N1 is also shown to be greater than that in H3N2, presumably due to greater immune selection pressure.Comment: 26 pages, 7 figures, 2 tables, supplemen

Phase transition in the modified fiber bundle model

We extend the standard fiber bundle model (FBM) with the local load sharing in such a way that the conservation of the total load is relaxed when an isolated fiber is broken. In this modified FBM in one dimension (1D), it is revealed that the model exhibits a well-defined phase transition at a finite nonzero value of the load, which is in contrast to the standard 1D FBM. The modified FBM defined in the Watts-Strogatz network is also investigated, and found is the existences of two distinct transitions: one discontinuous and the other continuous. The effects of the long-range shortcuts are also discussed.Comment: 7 pages, to appear in Europhys. Let