scholarly journals Antibiotic stewardship programs and the internist’s role

2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 329
Author(s):  
Massimo Giusti ◽  
Elena Cerutti
Keyword(s):  
Management Practices ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Risk Of Infection ◽  
Multifaceted Approach ◽  
Clinical Microbiologist ◽  
Antimicrobial Management ◽  
Medical Wards ◽  
The Cost ◽  
And Control ◽  
The Ideal

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a worldwide issue, but with significant epidemiological diversity in different countries. A recently observed phenomenon is represented by the diffusion of AMR, initially confined to intensive-care units, to medical wards. This was predictable, since patients hospitalized in medical units are made up of more than 70% of elderly people (over 75 years of age in 1 case out of 2). They are fragile patients, with significant comorbidity (over a half with at least 3 diseases), weakened immune systems, and consequently a higher risk of infection. Given such a scenario, it becomes therefore both necessary and urgent to adopt a multifaceted approach of antimicrobial stewardship programs in order to prevent, detect and control the emergence of antimicrobial resistant organisms. The ideal antimicrobial program is led by an infectious diseases (ID) physician and clinical pharmacist with ID training, together with a list of other important staff: clinical microbiologist, information systems specialist, infection control professional, and hospital epidemiologist. In real life, not all the Italian hospitals have got an ID physician and therefore the best canditates for antimicrobial management practices are internists if provided with a specific expertise in ID and antibiotic therapy. Adhering to the principles of optimal antimicrobial therapy in their clinical practice, the internist is able to improve the care and help to reduce the resistance of a patient at his bedside. At the same time, he can achieve other key goals reducing the length of stay and reducing the cost and utilization of health care resources.

On-farm udder health monitoring

2011 ◽  
Vol 39 (02) ◽  
pp. 95-100
Author(s):  
J. C. van Veersen ◽  
O. Sampimon ◽  
R. G. Olde Riekerink ◽  
T. J. G. Lam
Keyword(s):  
Management Practices ◽  
Health Management ◽  
Action Plan ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Health Data ◽  
Control Points ◽  
Udder Health ◽  
Critical Control Points ◽  
On Farm ◽  
Clinical Problems

SummaryIn this article an on-farm monitoring approach on udder health is presented. Monitoring of udder health consists of regular collection and analysis of data and of the regular evaluation of management practices. The ultimate goal is to manage critical control points in udder health management, such as hygiene, body condition, teat ends and treatments, in such a way that results (udder health parameters) are always optimal. Mastitis, however, is a multifactorial disease, and in real life it is not possible to fully prevent all mastitis problems. Therefore udder health data are also monitored with the goal to pick up deviations before they lead to (clinical) problems. By quantifying udder health data and management, a farm is approached as a business, with much attention for efficiency, thought over processes, clear agreements and goals, and including evaluation of processes and results. The whole approach starts with setting SMART (Specific, Measurable, Acceptable, Realistic, Time-bound) goals, followed by an action plan to realize these goals.

scholarly journals The Combined Effect of Weaning Stress and Immune Activation during Pig Gestation on Serum Cytokine and Analyte Concentrations

Animals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 2274
Author(s):  
Haley E. Rymut ◽  
Laurie A. Rund ◽  
Courtni R. Bolt ◽  
Maria B. Villamil ◽  
Bruce R. Southey ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Immune Activation ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Interleukin 1 ◽  
Interleukin 2 ◽  
Blood Chemistry ◽  
Respiratory Syndrome Virus ◽  
Weaning Stress ◽  
And Control ◽  
Metabolic Hormone

Weaning stress can elicit changes in the metabolic, hormone and immune systems of pigs and interact with prolonged disruptions stemming from maternal immune activation (MIA) during gestation. The present study advances the characterization of the combined effects of weaning stress and MIA on blood chemistry, immune and hormone indicators that inform on the health of pigs. Three-week-old female and male offspring of control gilts or gilts infected with the porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus were allocated to weaned or nursed groups. The anion gap and bilirubin profiles suggest that MIA enhances tolerance to the effects of weaning stress. Interleukin 1 beta and interleukin 2 were highest among weaned MIA females, and cortisol was higher among weaned relative to nursed pigs across sexes. Canonical discriminant analysis demonstrated that weaned and nursed pigs have distinct chemistry profiles, whereas MIA and control pigs have distinct cytokine profiles. The results from this study can guide management practices that recognize the effects of the interaction between MIA and weaning stress on the performance and health of pigs.

scholarly journals Multi-Blockchain-Based IoT Data Processing Techniques to Ensure the Integrity of IoT Data in AIoT Edge Computing Environments

Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (10) ◽  
pp. 3515
Author(s):  
Sung-Ho Sim ◽  
Yoon-Su Jeong
Keyword(s):  
Low Cost ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Monitoring And Control ◽  
Constant Size ◽  
Computing Environments ◽  
Iot Devices ◽  
Cloud Servers ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Processing Techniques ◽  
And Control

As the development of IoT technologies has progressed rapidly recently, most IoT data are focused on monitoring and control to process IoT data, but the cost of collecting and linking various IoT data increases, requiring the ability to proactively integrate and analyze collected IoT data so that cloud servers (data centers) can process smartly. In this paper, we propose a blockchain-based IoT big data integrity verification technique to ensure the safety of the Third Party Auditor (TPA), which has a role in auditing the integrity of AIoT data. The proposed technique aims to minimize IoT information loss by multiple blockchain groupings of information and signature keys from IoT devices. The proposed technique allows IoT information to be effectively guaranteed the integrity of AIoT data by linking hash values designated as arbitrary, constant-size blocks with previous blocks in hierarchical chains. The proposed technique performs synchronization using location information between the central server and IoT devices to manage the cost of the integrity of IoT information at low cost. In order to easily control a large number of locations of IoT devices, we perform cross-distributed and blockchain linkage processing under constant rules to improve the load and throughput generated by IoT devices.

scholarly journals Drone Deep Reinforcement Learning: A Review

Electronics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 999
Author(s):  
Ahmad Taher Azar ◽  
Anis Koubaa ◽  
Nada Ali Mohamed ◽  
Habiba A. Ibrahim ◽  
Zahra Fathy Ibrahim ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Reinforcement Learning ◽  
State Of The Art ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Environment Monitoring ◽  
Simulated Environments ◽  
Infrastructure Inspection ◽  
Remote Sensing Mapping ◽  
And Control ◽  
The Military ◽  
Uav Navigation

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are increasingly being used in many challenging and diversified applications. These applications belong to the civilian and the military fields. To name a few; infrastructure inspection, traffic patrolling, remote sensing, mapping, surveillance, rescuing humans and animals, environment monitoring, and Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition, and Reconnaissance (ISTAR) operations. However, the use of UAVs in these applications needs a substantial level of autonomy. In other words, UAVs should have the ability to accomplish planned missions in unexpected situations without requiring human intervention. To ensure this level of autonomy, many artificial intelligence algorithms were designed. These algorithms targeted the guidance, navigation, and control (GNC) of UAVs. In this paper, we described the state of the art of one subset of these algorithms: the deep reinforcement learning (DRL) techniques. We made a detailed description of them, and we deduced the current limitations in this area. We noted that most of these DRL methods were designed to ensure stable and smooth UAV navigation by training computer-simulated environments. We realized that further research efforts are needed to address the challenges that restrain their deployment in real-life scenarios.

scholarly journals Analysis of Non-Idealities on CMOS Passive Mixers

Electronics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 1105
Author(s):  
Antonio D. Martinez-Perez ◽  
Francisco Aznar ◽  
Guillermo Royo ◽  
Santiago Celma
Keyword(s):  
Final Section ◽  
Cmos Technology ◽  
Monte Carlo Analysis ◽  
Image Rejection ◽  
Structure Approach ◽  
Quadrature Scheme ◽  
Current State ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Image Rejection Ratio ◽  
The Ideal

In the current state of the art, WiFi-alike standards require achieving a high Image Rejection Ratio (IRR) while having low power consumption. Thus, quadrature structures based on passive ring mixers offer an attractive and widely used solution, as they can achieve a high IRR while being a passive block. However, it is not easy for the designer to know when a simple quadrature scheme is enough and when they should aim for a double quadrature structure approach, as the latter can improve the performance at the cost of requiring more area and complexity. This study focuses on the IRR, which crucially depends on the symmetry between the I and Q branches. Non-idealities (component mismatches, parasitics, etc.) will degrade the ideal balance by affecting the mixer and/or following/previous stages. This paper analyses the effect of imbalances, providing the constraints for obtaining a 40 dB IRR in the case of a conversion from a one-hundred-megahertz signal to the five-gigahertz range (upconversion) and vice versa (downconversion) for simple and double quadrature schemes. All simulations were carried out with complete device models from 65 nm standard CMOS technology and also a post-layout Monte Carlo analysis was included for mismatch analysis. The final section includes guidelines to help designers choose the most adequate scheme for each case.

In-line filtration reduced phlebitis associated with peripheral venous cannulation: Focus on cost-effectiveness and patients’ perspectives

2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 154-160
Author(s):  
Gianluca Villa ◽  
Rosa Giua ◽  
Timothy Amass ◽  
Lorenzo Tofani ◽  
Cosimo Chelazzi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cost Effectiveness ◽  
Vascular Access ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Causative Factor ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Previous Trial ◽  
Venous Cannulation ◽  
Group A ◽  
The Cost ◽  
And Control

Background: In a previous trial, in-line filtration significantly prevented postoperative phlebitis associated with short peripheral venous cannulation. This study aims to describe the cost-effectiveness of in-line filtration in reducing phlebitis and examine patients’ perception of in-hospital vascular access management with and without in-line filtration. Methods: We analysed costs associated with in-line filtration: these data were prospectively recorded during the previous trial. Furthermore, we performed a follow-up for all the 268 patients enrolled in this trial. Among these, 213 patients responded and completed 6 months after hospital discharge questionnaires evaluating the perception of and satisfaction with the management of their vascular access. Results: In-line filtration group required 95.60€ more than the no-filtration group (a mean of € 0.71/patient). In terms of satisfaction with the perioperative management of their short peripheral venous cannulation, 110 (82%) and 103 (76.9%) patients, respectively, for in-line filtration and control group, completed this survey. Within in-line filtration group, 97.3% of patients were satisfied/strongly satisfied; if compared with previous experiences on short peripheral venous cannulation, 11% of them recognised in-line filtration as a relevant causative factor in determining their satisfaction. Among patients within the control group, 93.2% were satisfied/strongly satisfied, although up to 30% of them had experienced postoperative phlebitis. At the qualitative interview, they recognised no difference than previous experiences on short peripheral venous cannulation, and mentioned postoperative phlebitis as a common event that ‘normally occurs’ during a hospital stay. Conclusion: In-line filtration is cost-effective in preventing postoperative phlebitis, and it seems to contribute to increasing patient satisfaction and reducing short peripheral venous cannulation–related discomfort

High-Efficiency Cut Blasting with Shell Radial Shaped Charge in Laboratory-Scale Blasting

2015 ◽  
Vol 1094 ◽  
pp. 445-450 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wei Chen ◽  
Hong Hao Ma ◽  
Zhao Wu Shen ◽  
De Bao Wang
Keyword(s):  
High Efficiency ◽  
Circular Tube ◽  
Rock Breaking ◽  
Shaped Charge ◽  
Axial Line ◽  
Rock Excavation ◽  
Crack Network ◽  
Utilization Ratio ◽  
The Cost ◽  
The Ideal

Due to the inefficiency problem of the cut blasting in rock excavation and rock breaking, a shell radial shaped charge device was proposed based of the ideal of ‘cutting to slotting’ and it was validated through experiments. For this device, the shell materials are used to be shaped materials and multiple shaped ring is designed on the circular tube. It can not only reduce charge quantity but also raise the utilization ratio of explosive energy. After explosion, multiple radial shaped charge jets can be formed along the axial line in sequence and then the surrounding rock mass would be cracked. The crack network will be formed along with the further extension of the fraction under the action of quasi static loading of detonation gas. The shell radial shaped charge device was tested through the cut blasting model experiment. Experimental results show that the utilization ratio of blasting hole nearly approaches 98% with this device. The blasting efficiency and cyclical footage can be improved effectively and the cost of drifting can also be reduced.

Synergetic Concept of Software Control of Machining Processes on Metal-Cutting Machines

2021 ◽  
pp. 24-36
Author(s):  
V.L. Zakovorotny ◽  
V.E. Gvindzhiliya
Keyword(s):  
Tool Wear ◽  
Metal Cutting ◽  
Wear Testing ◽  
External Control ◽  
Machining Processes ◽  
Cutting Zone ◽  
Output Characteristics ◽  
The Cost ◽  
And Control ◽  
Cutting System

High precision metal-cutting machines ensure that the programmed machine actuator trajectories correspond to the real ones. For lathes these are the trajectories of the longitudinal and transverse calipers of the system, as well as the spindle. The purpose of processing is to produce parts of a given quality while minimizing the manufacturing costs. The condition of the dynamic cutting system, determined by the trajectories of forces and deformations, affects the quality indicators of parts and the cutting efficiency, which depends on the intensity of tool wear. The properties of the system change depending on the phase trajectory of the power of irreversible transformations of the energy supplied to the cutting zone by the work performed. Their changes related with the evolution of the parameters of the dynamic link formed by cutting are manifested in the development of tool wear and changes in the quality of the part. Thus, the power of irreversible energy transformations is one of the internal factors causing changes in the output characteristics of processing and the state of the process. In this regard, when processing on machine tools, there is a problem of synergistic coordination of external control (for example, the CNC program) with internal one, the source of which is the irreversible transformation of the energy supplied to the cutting zone. The article considers the problem of synergetic coordination of external and internal controls during cutting process, the solution of which will allow increasing the efficiency of processing on CNC machines. A mathematical model of a controlled dynamic cutting system and control algorithms are proposed to improve the efficiency of processing parts of a given quality while minimizing the intensity of tool wear. Testing of the developed algorithms has shown that their use reduces the cost of manufacturing parts by 1.2.

Agile framework for capital projects

2021 ◽  
Vol 61 (2) ◽  
pp. 422
Author(s):  
Polly Mahapatra ◽  
Paris Shahriari
Keyword(s):  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Hybrid Approach ◽  
Oil And Gas Industry ◽  
Quick Response ◽  
Capital Projects ◽  
Gas Industry ◽  
Response To Change ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Early Phases ◽  
The Ideal

Under the increased pressure of rapidly changing market conditions and disrupting technologies, continuous improvements in efficiency become indispensable for all oil and gas operators. Traditional project management principles in the oil and gas industry employ rigid methods of planning and execution that can sometimes hinder adaptability and a quick response to change. Considering the potential that Agile principles can offer as a solution, the challenge, therefore, is to identify the ideal, hybrid, approach that leverages Agile while incorporating the traditional linear workflow necessitated by the oil and gas industry. This paper seeks to assess pre-existing literature in the application of the Agile principles in the oil and gas industry with a focus on Major Capital Projects (MCPs), backed by the successes experienced as a result of specific pilot projects completed at Chevron’s Australian Business Unit. In particular, this paper will focus on how agility has resulted in improvements to the cost, schedule, teaming and cohesion of MCPs in the early phases as well as key learnings form the pilot agility projects.

172 Scenario-based Training Is an Effective Tactic for Teaching Applied Livestock Management Practices to Extension Personnel

2021 ◽  
Vol 99 (Supplement_3) ◽  
pp. 92-92
Author(s):  
Jennie L Ivey ◽  
Lew G Strickland ◽  
Justin D Rhinehart
Keyword(s):  
Management Practices ◽  
Teaching Effectiveness ◽  
Training Session ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Extension Agents ◽  
Adult Educator ◽  
Topic Area ◽  
Virtual Training ◽  
Training Tool ◽  
Instructor Effectiveness

Abstract Developing livestock and equine trainings to empower county Extension agents is challenging, especially when spanning in-person and online delivery modules. Real life application of training concepts is difficult, particularly when participants have varied backgrounds and experience. Thus, we assessed if scenario-based training modules were an effective training method across in-person and virtual formats. The same scenario-based training was delivered at three, regional in-person trainings (n = 42), and one virtual training (n = 32). Training format consisted of four, species-specific lectures addressing various production topics. Small groups then developed recommendations for a specific scenario, followed by a debriefing session consisting of group reactions and specialist recommendations. Topic-area application to county programs, instructor effectiveness, and overall benefit of the training session were evaluated (Qualtrics, in-person n = 26, 62% completion; virtual n = 17, 53% completion). Data were assessed using analysis of variance and mean comparisons (α=0.05), with Tukey’s pairwise post hoc analysis where appropriate (STATA 16). Across all sessions, likert scale responses (1=poor and 5=excellent, n = 43) indicated lecture sessions were applicable to county areas of need across material content (mean±SD, cattle=4.71±0.57, equine=4.64±0.50), teaching effectiveness (cattle=4.77±0.42, equine=4.75±0.43), and overall quality (cattle=4.68±0.57, equine=4.67±0.51), respectively. Scenario-based training benefit was not influenced by the number of times an agent had attended in-service training on livestock species, agent appointment (youth vs. adult educator), or training location (p >0.05). Attendance at previous in-service trainings (cattle P = 0.005; equine P = 0.013) and agent appointment (cattle P = 0.0006; equine P = 0.05) had a significant impact on the number of questions agents reported to have received on scenario topics in the last 12 months. More topic area questions were reported by agents with adult education responsibilities and previous training attendance. Based upon these results, scenario-based training is an effective in-person and virtual training tool for 4-H and adult Extension agents of varying experience.

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