Christmas Fantasy

Fiction by Alice Robertson

A study of middle and later adolescent girlhood with special reference to the educational and expressional activities of the church

Thesis (M.A.)--Boston Universit

Hand hygiene techniques:Still a requirement for evidence for practice?

Introduction Two hand hygiene techniques are promoted internationally: the World Health Organisation’s 6 step and the Centre for Disease Control’s 3 step techniques; both of which may be considered to have suboptimum levels of empirical evidence for use with alcohol based hand rub (ABHR). Objectives The aim of the study was to compare the effectiveness of the two techniques in clinical practice. Methods A prospective parallel group randomised controlled trial (RCT) was conducted with 1:1 allocation of 6 step versus the 3 step ABHR hand hygiene technique in a clinical setting. The primary outcome was residual microbiological load. Secondary outcomes were hand surface coverage and duration. The participants were medical and nursing participants (n=120) in a large teaching hospital. Results The 6 step technique was statistically more effective at reducing the bacterial count 1900cfu/ml (95% CI 1300, 2400cfu/ml) to 380cfu/ml (95% CI 150, 860 cfu/ml) than the 3 step 1200cfu/ml (95% CI 940, 1850cfu/ml) to 750cfu/ml (95% CI 380, 1400cfu/ml) (p=0.016) but even with direct observation by two researchers and use of an instruction card demonstrating the technique, compliance with the 6 step technique was only 65%, compared to 100% compliance with 3 step technique. Further those participants with 100% compliance with 6 step technique had a significantly greater log reduction in bacterial load with no additional time or difference in coverage compared to those with 65% compliance with 6 step technique (p=0.01). Conclusion To our knowledge this is the first published RCT to demonstrate the 6 step technique is superior to the 3 step technique in reducing the residual bacterial load after hand hygiene using alcohol based hand rub in clinical practice. What remains unknown is whether the residual bacterial load after the 3 step technique is low enough to reduce risk of transmission from the hands and whether the 6 step technique can be adapted to enhance compliance in order to maximise reduction in residual bacterial load and reduce duration

Chronicles of Oklahoma

Article details the author's journey to Okmulgee, the capitol of the Creek Nation, to see the Creek Indian Council in session

Conference on the Status of Women\u27s Studies in Africa 1991

Correspondence regarding a conference on the status of Women\u27s Studies in Africa 1991

The super-recogniser advantage extends to the detection of hyper-realistic face masks

Hyper-realistic silicone masks provide a viable route to identity fraud. Over the last decade, more than 40 known criminal acts have been committed by perpetrators using this type of disguise. With the increasing availability and bespoke sophistication of these masks, research must now focus on ways to enhance their detection. In this study, we investigate whether super-recognisers (SRs), people who excel at identity recognition, are more likely to detect this type of fraud, in comparison to typical-recogniser controls. Across three tasks, we examined mask detection rates in the absence of a pre-task prompt (covert task), and again after making participants aware of their use in criminal settings (explicit task). Finally, participants were asked to indicate which aspects of the masks could support their detection (regions of interest task). The findings show an SR advantage for the detection of hyper-realistic masks across the covert and explicit mask detection tasks. In addition, the eye, mouth, and nose regions appear to be particularly indicative of the presence of a mask. The lack of natural skin texture, proportional features, expressiveness, and asymmetry are also salient cues. The theoretical and applied implications of these findings are discussed

Longitudinal Analysis of Tactical Strategy in the Men's Division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship

This study explored longitudinal changes in contemporary mixed martial arts (MMA) combat within the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). A secondary aim was to investigate how bout duration influences the contribution of performance indicators on outcome. Data were acquired via the official analytics provider to the UFC (FightMetric). Male fights with a winner from between 2000 and 2015 (n = 2,831) were examined, with 13 common performance indicators attained during each round for each participant along with duration (min) and year of fight. Non-metric dimensional scaling (nMDS) was used to examine bout characteristics by year. The Repeated Incremental Pruning to Produce Error Reduction (RIPPER) algorithm was run to determine a set of rules to explain bout outcome. The nMDS displayed that winning bout performance indicator attributes were dissimilar across the years. Eight rules were generated from the RIPPER, with fight duration featuring in three of eight rules. Distinct shifts occurred (albeit without linear trend) in performance indicator characteristics during the observed period. This was characterized by a more diverse combat style in the years following 2008. However, offensive grappling has remained a key factor regardless of year, and is influenced by bout duration

On the Conditional and Unconditional Type I Error Rates and Power of Tests in Linear Models with Heteroscedastic Errors

Preliminary tests for homoscedasticity may be unnecessary in general linear models. Based on Monte Carlo simulations, results suggest that when testing for differences between independent slopes, the unconditional use of weighted least squares regression and HC4 regression performed the best across a wide range of conditions