233 research outputs found
Praharaj I. Glycopeptide resistance in gram-positive cocci: a review. Interdis cip Perspect Infect Dis
No full textVancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) have emerged as important nosocomial pathogens in the past two decades all over the world and have seriously limited the choices available to clinicians for treating infections caused by these agents. Methicillinresistant Staphylococcus aureus, perhaps the most notorious among the nosocomial pathogens, was till recently susceptible to vancomycin and the other glycopeptides. Emergence of vancomycin nonsusceptible strains of S. aureus has led to a worrisome scenario where the options available for treating serious infections due to these organisms are very limited and not well evaluated. Vancomycin resistance in clinically significant isolates of coagulase-negative staphylococci is also on the rise in many setups. This paper aims to highlight the genetic basis of vancomycin resistance in Enterococcus species and S. aureus. It also focuses on important considerations in detection of vancomycin resistance in these gram-positive bacteria. The problem of glycopeptide resistance in clinical isolates of coagulase-negative staphylococci and the phenomenon of vancomycin tolerance seen in some strains of Streptococcus pneumoniae has also been discussed. Finally, therapeutic options available and being developed against these pathogens have also found a mention
Origin of relaxor behavior in 0.78(Na0.5Bi0.5)TiO3-0.2SrTiO(3)-0.02BaTiO(3) ceramic: An electrical modulus study
No full textThe relaxation dynamics of the polar nano-regions (PNRs) in the 0.78Na(0.5)Bi(0.5)TiO(3)-0.2SrTiO(3)-0.02BaTiO(3) lead free ternary system over a wide temperature range (50-650 degrees C) is investigated using complex electric modulus formalism. The modulus spectra are analyzed across three characteristic temperatures T-B, T-m, and T-f with a special focus on the evolution of dynamics of PNRs. Portraying high capacitance of shoulder response as compared to the bulk response in M ''(f) spectra shows indirectly the presence of highly polarisable entities that persist even above T-B and below T-f. The activation energies extracted from an Arrhenius fit to the relaxation time of both bulk and shoulder response signify different relaxation mechanisms. Further, the value of the stretched exponent beta and the scaling behavior study of the M ''(f) spectra envisage temperature sensitive dipolar relaxation.
Microstructure and frequency dependent electrical properties of lead-free Na0.5Bi0.5TiO3 perovskite
No full textRejuvenation of Water Bodies (Kunds) and Restoring Active Community Spaces in The Cultural Capital of India: Varanasi
No full textPublic spaces are one of the most defining elements of vibrant communities and matured urban landscapes. Cities of past and today have laid great emphasis on provision of public spaces and have defined
the idea of livability through them. But, in the context of increased urbanisation, excessive pressure on urban land is resulting in shrinking of community spaces and vanishing of old legacies from traditional core cities. Because of rampant urban growth not only have man made community spaces reduced, but there is also constant threat on natural landscapes which in turn have acted as public spaces for ages. The city of Varanasi, located in north India, documenting continuity of settlements and culture since 1000 BCE, is one of the most unique destinations showing exemplary natural, architectural, artistic and religious expressions of traditional Indian culture blended with magnificent public spaces and people. The sacred Ganges, concatenate 6.8 km riverfront
Ghats, innumerous temples and inland water bodies (kund) - which are all part of its active public realm. These spaces not only attract lakhs of tourists, but most importantly are an integral part of local community fabric. But uncontrolled urbanization, coupled with poor governance and lack of awareness has resulted in utter neglect and degradation of these resources. This article intends to analyze the existing urban fabric around water bodies (both river fronts and inland spaces) - their use and present state of decay. The Kunds and the talavs, which had once been the outcome of a magnificent blend of natural phenomena and man-made intervention, presently face the threat of extinction. This article also emphasizes on a comprehensive vision for restoration and conservation
of these ecological spaces- which can not only revive these active spaces for the local community, but also help to raise awareness among people and empower them to use and manage their own resources
Promoting latrine construction and use in rural villages practicing open defecation: process evaluation in connection with a randomised controlled trial in Orissa, India.
No full textBACKGROUND: Our group conducted a cluster-randomised trial in 100 villages of Orissa, India to measure the impact of a rural sanitation intervention implemented under the government of India's Total Sanitation Campaign, on diarrhoea and soil-transmitted helminth infections. This paper reports on a process evaluation conducted in the context of the trial. METHODS: Process evaluation data were collected through review of key documentation, quantitative surveys, direct observations, and semi-structured interviews with staff from implementing NGOs and community members. Between March 2011 and March 2012, trained enumerators recorded observations on latrine construction status every 6-8 weeks in the 50 intervention villages and noted activities reported to have taken place based on NGO staff interviews and review of NGO records. A survey among 10% of households in intervention and control villages was conducted to compare levels of awareness of key intervention components. In addition, 10% of village water and sanitation committee (VWSC) members were interviewed to measure their level of involvement in the intervention delivery. RESULTS: The percentage of households with a latrine (completed or under construction) increased from 8% at baseline to 66% one year after the start of the intervention in March 2012. Almost none of the intervention households recall any form of participatory community-level activities at the start of the programme, although intervention households were generally more aware of the Total Sanitation Campaign (91% versus 49%, p < 0.001), VWSCs (51% versus 9%, p < 0.001), adolescent girls groups (23% versus 8%, p < 0.01), wall paintings (44% versus 7%, p < 0.001) and were more likely to report a household visit on sanitation during the past three months (65% versus 3%, p < 0.001). We found no strong evidence of an association between levels of awareness of or participation in mobilisation activities and levels of latrine coverage in intervention villages. CONCLUSIONS: The levels of coverage achieved and the levels of awareness of the mobilisation process in our intervention villages were lower than planned, but similar to those reported elsewhere in India under the TSC. Our process evaluation highlights important gaps between the TSC guidelines and their implementation on the ground. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Number on clinicaltrial.gov: NCT01214785
Data Analytics in Web-based Education in the Higher-education Classroom
No full textAttention span of students in a classroom is very short. To overcome this, different active learning methodologies have been used in the past. Active learning keeps the students busy and engaged throughout the lecture. It breaks the lecture into certain time intervals by intermixing breaks, demonstrations and questions after each interval. For using active learning, clickers and laptops are commonly used in higher education classroom. Most experiments in higher education classroom studying different characteristics of students like learning performance and attention, use clickers and laptop. But, most of these experiments are in a controlled setting, not scalable and compromise the privacy of students. We overcome these problems in an active learning setup in the higher education classroom where we use a web-mediated teaching tool called ASQ. ASQ is a web application that helps to give presentation in a classroom where the presenter has control over the flow of the presentation. ASQ also allows the presenter to interleave the presentation with questions, videos and other interactive JavaScript components. Anyone can anonymously join a presentation in ASQ using a web browser. ASQ tracks the activity of every student interaction by generating event logs each second. In the previous work using ASQ, it has been shown that these logs could be used to infer the attention level of students in the classroom. The goal of this thesis is to gather insights about the fine-grained study behaviour of students in a higher education classroom by analyzing these event logs.We investigate (i) the effect of lecture elements (like the difficulty, relative positioning and spacing of questions; and duration of discussion in the slides) on study behaviour (like attention level, performance and reaction time while answering questions) of students; (ii) the relationship that might exist between attention percentage of students and their participation in the in-class questions; (iii) if students are taking external help when answering questions during the lecture and the relationship that might exist between their tendency to take external help with the difficulty of questions. We conduct our study in a classroom of around 300 students, for 15 lectures in the Web and Database Technology course at TU Delft taught by 2 instructors. We find significant effect of (i) spacing of questions on reaction time and instructor on performance; (ii) length of discussion time associated with a slide on the attention level of students which agrees with past studies; (iii) relative positioning of questions on the performance of students. However, we do not find significant effect of difficulty of questions on performance and reaction time of students while answering these questions. We also find significant effect that students with more attention percentage participate more in the in-class questions. Finally, we find that students take external help while answering questions but the tendency to take external help does not depend on the difficulty of questions
Glycopeptide Resistance in Gram-Positive Cocci: A Review
No full textVancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) have emerged as important nosocomial pathogens in the past two decades all over the world and have seriously limited the choices available to clinicians for treating infections caused by these agents. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, perhaps the most notorious among the nosocomial pathogens, was till recently susceptible to vancomycin and the other glycopeptides. Emergence of vancomycin nonsusceptible strains of S. aureus has led to a worrisome scenario where the options available for treating serious infections due to these organisms are very limited and not well evaluated. Vancomycin resistance in clinically significant isolates of coagulase-negative staphylococci is also on the rise in many setups.
This paper aims to highlight the genetic basis of vancomycin resistance in Enterococcus species and S. aureus. It also focuses on important considerations in detection of vancomycin resistance in these gram-positive bacteria. The problem of glycopeptide resistance in clinical isolates of coagulase-negative staphylococci and the phenomenon of vancomycin tolerance seen in some strains of Streptococcus pneumoniae has also been discussed. Finally, therapeutic options available and being developed against these pathogens have also found a mention
How do students want their workplace-based feedback visualized in order to support self-regulated learning? Initial results & reflections from a co-design study in medical education
No full textDeveloping good self-regulated learning (SRL) skills is highly important for medical students, not only to help them to navigate and succeed at their current study, but to support their continuing professional development and lifelong learning once they enter the workplace. A key component of SRL is the ability to reflect on feedback and to use this to spot gaps in knowledge/skills, identify learning opportunities and plan new learning goals and activities. Technology can help by providing students with tools that scaffold their development of these skills. This paper reports on the co-design of myPAL, a student-facing learning analytics system. Within co-design workshops, we worked with students to improve myPAL. These hands-on, creative workshops involved students in discussion of their current and desired use of feedback, practical interface/visualisation design and prototype use and adaptation. Using this participative approach we have identified one key visualisation and a set of functions/features that students want to be available to help them to review and act on their feedback. In this paper we report and reflect on the co-design approach that has been used, including the observed benefits of taking such an approach as well as its limitations. We also outline the further work that is planned to develop & evaluate the required improvements to myPAL
Creating a place for learning - Bridging physical and virtual learning spaces at conferences
No full textThis paper presents a reflective case study of the introduction of Learning Toolbox as an ePoster solution for conferences. The Learning Toolbox ePoster platform is designed to overcome practical knowledge sharing and communication problems encountered in both the traditional paper poster and standard, screen-based ePoster approaches. Additionally it draws on the trialogic learning theory, by offering ePoster authors and viewers support for discussion and knowledge development focused on an object (the ePoster). As such it aims to support greater engagement, community building and knowledge creation within and beyond an academic conference. In this paper we describe the educational aims behind Learning Toolbox, the technological solution, the practical approach used to introduce it as the ePoster platform at a large international conference, a review of its use at the conference and then reflect on what contributed to its successful adoption. Finally open challenges and further work are identified (including evaluating the impact on learning and engagement beyond the conference and scaling up the numbers of ePosters whilst still allowing authors to present to and discuss their work directly with an audience) to which we propose possible solutions
- …
