Major Bloodstream Infection-Causing Bacterial Pathogens and Their Antimicrobial Resistance in South Korea, 2017–2019: Phase I Report From Kor-GLASS

To monitor national antimicrobial resistance (AMR), the Korea Global AMR Surveillance System (Kor-GLASS) was established. This study analyzed bloodstream infection (BSI) cases from Kor-GLASS phase I from January 2017 to December 2019. Nine non-duplicated Kor-GLASS target pathogens, including Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus faecalis, Enterococcus faecium, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Acinetobacter spp., and Salmonella spp., were isolated from blood specimens from eight sentinel hospitals. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing, AMR genotyping, and strain typing were carried out. Among the 20,041 BSI cases, 15,171 cases were caused by one of the target pathogens, and 12,578 blood isolates were collected for the study. Half (1,059/2,134) of S. aureus isolates were resistant to cefoxitin, and 38.1% (333/873) of E. faecium isolates were resistant to vancomycin. Beta-lactamase-non-producing ampicillin-resistant and penicillin-resistant E. faecalis isolates by disk diffusion method were identified, but the isolates were confirmed as ampicillin-susceptible by broth microdilution method. Among E. coli, an increasing number of isolates carried the blaCTX–M–27 gene, and the ertapenem resistance in 1.4% (30/2,110) of K. pneumoniae isolates was mostly (23/30) conferred by K. pneumoniae carbapenemases. A quarter (108/488) of P. aeruginosa isolates were resistant to meropenem, and 30.5% (33/108) of those carried acquired carbapenemase genes. Over 90% (542/599) of A. baumannii isolates were imipenem-resistant, and all except one harbored the blaOXA–23 gene. Kor-GLASS provided comprehensive AMR surveillance data, and the defined molecular mechanisms of resistance helped us to better understand AMR epidemiology. Comparative analysis with other GLASS-enrolled countries is possible owing to the harmonized system provided by GLASS.

Building a VME spectrometer and testing Si PIN diode detector: a feasibility study for the first nuclear astrophysical experiments using a pelletron

This work presents the logical design, connections between NIM and VME elec­tronic modules, and the data acquisition programming to build a complete detector readout system. The test experiments were carried out with commercial silicon PIN diode S3590-09 bare detectors bombarded by charged particles from a 241Am α-source and Rutherford elastic backscattering (RBS) protons induced by 2.5 MeV proton beam bombarding on an Au-on-glass target, and with a NaI scintillation detector bombarded by gammas from 27Al(p, γ)28Si reaction with proton beam energy of 1.379 MeV. The test showed that the spectrometer operated steadily and its versatility for different kind of detector. The energy resolutions of the Si diodes were less than 0.5% energy of a charged particle, which satisfies the foreseen requirement for the upcoming experiments.

INVESTIGATION OF GLASS PLATE FAILURE MECHANISM SUBJECTED TO COPPER AND STEEL PROJECTILE IMPACTS

ABSTRACT: A glass plate was subjected to impact by spherical copper and steel projectiles at low velocities. The glass failure features consisted of a central Hertzian cone made up of comminuted glass and a spider web like cracking pattern around the cone with circumferential and radial cracks. The objective of the investigation was to determine if the damage caused by copper projectile impact compared to steel projectile impact was higher for the same kinetic energy (K.E.) projectiles and the reason for this phenomenon. For the constant K.E. impact, copper projectile apparently caused higher damage in glass plate. Higher damage was attributed to projectile contact duration and the contact area between the projectile and the glass plate. Finite element analysis using LS-DYNA based upon maximum principal strain failure criterion for laminated glass model was able to predict the failed material under the impact location and the cracking pattern in the glass plate for a biased meshing scheme. Radial cracks in glass target were reported to be 15% higher for copper projectile impact than the steel projectile impact. ABSTRAK: Kepingan kaca dikenakan impak oleh projektil kuprum dan keluli berbentuk sfera pada halaju rendah. Ciri-ciri kegagalan kaca terdiri daripada kon berpusat Hertzian yang melibatkan kaca yang hancur dan corak pecahan berbentuk sesawang lelabah pada keliling kon dengan retakan lilitan dan jejarian. Tujuan penyelidikan adalah untuk menentukan sebab bagaimana dengan projektil tenaga kinetik yang sama, kerosakan yang diakibatkan oleh impak projektil kuprum berbanding dengan impak projektil keluli adalah lebih tinggi. Untuk impak tenaga kinetik yang malar, projektil kuprum didapati menyebabkan kerosakan yang lebih ke atas kepingan kaca. Kerosakan lebih disebabkan oleh tempoh sentuhan projektil dan kawasan sentuhan di antara projektil dan kepingan kaca. Analisis unsur terhingga menggunakan LS-DYNA berdasarkan kriteria kegagalan terikan utama maksima untuk model kaca berlamina. Kaedah ini berupaya menjangkakan kegagalan objek pada lokasi impak dan corak retakan pada kepingan kaca untuk skim berjejaring terpincang. Retakan berjejari pada sasaran kaca didapati 15% lebih tinggi untuk impak projektil kuprum berbandingkan dengan impak projektil keluli.

Analysis of Fragmentation of Glass Target with Composite Properties of Materials under Impact Loading

Glass target belongs to brittle target.In order to make use of PVC to enhance defensible performance of glass, combining glass and PVC for a target is considered in this paper. On the basis of experiment, fragmentation of glass faceplate is two adding cones. The relation of the fragmentation shape and thickness of glass is, analysed.So we can make the conclusion that the glass is thicker, the radial cracks and annulus cracks are denser.If it is applied to defend the structure, the better effect of defensible performance is testified when the more energy is absorbed.

Structural Characteristics and Crystallization of Metallic Glass Sputtered Films by Using Zr System Target

Zr-Al-Ni-Cu thin films were deposited by the radio-frequency sputtering method at low substrate temperature using three kinds of targets:Zr55Al10Ni5Cu30bulk metallic glass target (α-BMG target), crystallized bulk metallic glass target (c-BMG target), and an elemental composite target composed of each Zr, Al, Ni chips, and Cu plate. XRD profiles of the films prepared when using these targets indicated that all of the films showed amorphous structures. While XRD profiles of the films usingα- and c-BMG targets revealed a broad peak of2θ=38degree in the same way as theα-BMG target indicating amorphous structures, that of the film using elemental composite targets showed a broad peak of2θ=42degree, which is higher compared to the latter material. As a result of annealing the films at various temperatures for 900 seconds, the film using theα-BMG target showed a crystallization temperature of 748 K, higher than that of BMG with 723 K, while the other films had lower crystallization temperatures below 723 K. XRD profiles also indicated that the crystallized compounds of the films were different from those of BMG target.