ST22 and ST239 MRSA duopoly in Singaporean hospitals: 2006–2010

2012 ◽  
Vol 141 (1) ◽  
pp. 153-157 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. TEO ◽  
T. Y. TAN ◽  
P. Y. HON ◽  
W. LEE ◽  
T. H. KOH ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Variable Number Tandem Repeat ◽  
Variable Number ◽  
Small Subset ◽  
Monitoring And Control ◽  
Data Compilation ◽  
Laboratory Surveillance ◽  
Mrsa Infection ◽  
The Individual ◽  
And Control ◽  
Selection Of

SUMMARYSurveillance is integral for the monitoring and control of infectious diseases. We conducted prospective laboratory surveillance of methicillin-resistantStaphylococcus aureus(MRSA) in five Singaporean public-sector hospitals from 2006 to 2010, using WHONET 5.6 for data compilation and analysis. Molecular profiling using multilocus variable-number tandem-repeat analysis, staphylococcal cassette chromosomemecclassification and multilocus sequence typing was performed for a random selection of isolates. Our results showed overall stable rates of infection and bacteraemia, although there was significant variance among the individual hospitals, with MRSA rates increasing in two smaller hospitals and showing a trend towards decreasing in the two largest hospitals. The proportion of blood isolates that are EMRSA-15 (ST22-IV) continued to increase over time, slowly replacing the multi-resistant ST239-III. A new MRSA clone – ST45-IV – is now responsible for a small subset of hospital infections locally. More effort is required in Singaporean hospitals in order to reduce the rates of MRSA infection significantly.

A Non-Normality Measure of the Condition Number for Monitoring and Control

1997 ◽  
Vol 119 (2) ◽  
pp. 217-222 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kunsoo Huh ◽  
Jeffrey L. Stein
Keyword(s):  
Optimal Control ◽  
Condition Number ◽  
Minimization Problem ◽  
Monitoring And Control ◽  
Proper Selection ◽  
Modal Structure ◽  
L2 Norm ◽  
And Control ◽  
Normality Measure ◽  
Selection Of

Because the behavior of the condition number can have highly steep and multi-modal structure, optimal control and monitoring problems based on the condition number cannot be easily solved. In this paper, a minimization problem is formulated for κ2(P), the condition number of an eigensystem (P) of a matrix in terms of the L2 norm. A new non-normality measure is shown to exist that guarantees small values for the condition number. In addition, this measure can be minimized by proper selection of controller and observer gains. Application to the design of well-conditioned controller and observer-based monitors is illustrated.

scholarly journals Integral approach of assessment of interaction level of stakeholders of construction enterprises

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (11) ◽  
pp. 44-49
Author(s):  
Marusheva et al. ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Integrated System ◽  
Integral Approach ◽  
Direct Selection ◽  
Expert Assessment ◽  
Monitoring And Control ◽  
Construction Enterprise ◽  
Construction Enterprises ◽  
Integral Assessment ◽  
And Control ◽  
Selection Of

This article is devoted to issues of interaction of stakeholders of construction enterprises. First of all, the peculiarities of the construction industry are defined, which form additional requirements for the development of an integrated system for assessing interaction with stakeholders. Second, approaches to the formation of a register of potential stakeholders have been identified. A template for analysis has been developed, and individual examples are grouped by interaction directions. The methodology of identifying potential stakeholders by means of a three-level process of applying different versions of expert assessment methods in order to minimize their negative factor – subjectivity, is proposed. Methods of direct selection of experts and algorithms of their assessment are defined. Proposals to rank stakeholders according to their priority and potential result from their interaction with the construction enterprise have been developed. According to the integral assessment, ways of controlling the processes of interaction with stakeholders of different ranking levels are proposed, recommendations for building a further strategy for managing these processes are given. A system of modeling interaction between construction enterprises and stakeholders to ensure planning, organization, monitoring, and control processes in optimistic, realistic, and pessimistic scenarios has been created. Recommendations for further use of the methodology of integral assessment of the interaction of stakeholders of construction enterprises in practice are given.

scholarly journals Integrated wind farm layout and control optimization

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mads M. Pedersen ◽  
Gunner C. Larsen
Keyword(s):  
Wind Speed ◽  
Wind Turbine ◽  
Wind Farm ◽  
Design Space ◽  
Wind Farm Layout ◽  
Control Optimization ◽  
Mean Wind Speed ◽  
The Individual ◽  
And Control ◽  
Selection Of

Abstract. Design of an optimal wind farm topology and wind farm control scheduling depends on the chosen metric. The objective of this paper is to investigate the influence of optimal wind farm control on the optimal wind farm layout in terms of power production. A successful fulfilment of this goal requires: 1) an accurate and fast flow model; 2) selection of the minimum set of design parameters that rules the problem; and 3) selection of an optimization algorithm with good scaling properties. For control of the individual wind farm turbines, the two most obvious strategies are wake steering based on active wind turbine yaw control and wind turbine derating. The present investigation is a priori limited to wind turbine derating. A high-speed linearized CFD RANS solver models the flow field and the crucial wind turbine wake interactions inside the wind farm. The actuator disk method is used to model the wind turbines, and utilizing an aerodynamic model, the design space of the optimization problem is reduced to only three variables per turbine – two geometric and one carefully selected variable specifying the individual wind turbine derating setting for each mean wind speed and direction. The full design space spanned by these (2N + Nd Ns N) parameters, where N is the number of wind farm turbines, Nd is the number of direction bins, and Ns is the number of mean wind speed bins. This design space is decomposed in two subsets, which in turn define a nested set of optimization problems to achieve the fastest possible optimization procedure. Following a simplistic sanity check of the platform functionality regarding wind farm layout and control optimization, the capabilities of the developed optimization platform is demonstrated on the Swedish offshore wind farm. For this particular wind farm, the analysis demonstrates that the expected annual energy production can be increased by 4 % by integrating the wind farm control in the design of the wind farm layout, which is 1.2 % higher than what is achieved by optimizing the layout only.

scholarly journals Integrated wind farm layout and control optimization

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 1551-1566
Author(s):  
Mads M. Pedersen ◽  
Gunner C. Larsen
Keyword(s):  
Wind Turbine ◽  
Wind Farm ◽  
Design Space ◽  
Wind Farm Layout ◽  
Control Optimization ◽  
Mean Wind Speed ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Full Design ◽  
And Control ◽  
Selection Of

Abstract. The objective of this paper is to investigate the joint optimization of wind farm layout and wind farm control in terms of power production. A successful fulfilment of this goal requires the following: (1) an accurate and fast flow model, (2) selection of the minimum set of design parameters that rules or governs the problem, and (3) selection of an optimization algorithm with good scaling properties. For control of the individual wind farm turbines with the aim of wind farm production optimization, the two most obvious strategies are wake steering based on active wind turbine yaw control and wind turbine derating. The present investigation is limited to wind turbine derating. A high-speed linearized computational fluid dynamics (CFD) Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) solver models the flow field and the crucial wind turbine wake interactions inside the wind farm. The actuator disc method is used to model the wind turbines, and utilizing an aerodynamic model, the design space of the optimization problem is reduced to only three variables per turbine – two geometric and one carefully selected variable specifying the individual wind turbine derating setting for each mean wind speed and direction. The full design space is spanned by these (2N+NdNsN) parameters, where N is the number of wind farm turbines, Nd is the number of direction bins, and Ns is the number of mean wind speed bins. This design space is decomposed into two subsets, which in turn define a nested set of optimization problems to achieve a significantly faster optimization procedure compared to a direct optimization based on the full design space. Following a simplistic sanity check of the platform functionality regarding wind farm layout and control optimization, the capability of the developed optimization platform is demonstrated on a Swedish offshore wind farm. For this particular wind farm, the analysis demonstrates that the expected annual energy production can be increased by 4 % by integrating the wind farm control into the design of the wind farm layout, which is 1.2 % higher than what is achieved by optimizing the layout only.

scholarly journals Distributed Drives Monitoring and Control: A Laboratory Setup

2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Mini Sreejeth ◽  
Parmod Kumar ◽  
Madhusudan Singh
Keyword(s):  
Supervisory Control ◽  
Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Monitoring And Control ◽  
Laboratory Setup ◽  
Scada System ◽  
Three Phase ◽  
Integrated Operation ◽  
The Individual ◽  
And Control

A laboratory setup of distributed drives system comprising a three-phase induction motor (IM) drive and a permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM) drive is modeled, designed, and developed for the monitoring and control of the individual drives. The integrated operation of IM and PMSM drives system has been analyzed under different operating conditions, and their performance has been monitored through supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system. The necessary SCADA graphical user interface (GUI) has also been created for the display of drive parameters. The performances of IM and PMSM under parametric variations are predicted through sensitivity analysis. An integrated operation of the drives is demonstrated through experimental and simulation results.

A Few Aspects on Lubricant Selection for Stepless Chain Coverters: Efficiency and Service Life

1992 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Schönnenbeck
Keyword(s):  
Friction Coefficient ◽  
Service Life ◽  
Standardized Test ◽  
Test Methods ◽  
Long Term Stability ◽  
Friction Disk ◽  
The Individual ◽  
And Control ◽  
Selection Of

Abstract Stepless vehicle drives will assume their place next to automatic switching units throughout the world if they meet their expected fuel-saving potential. This necessitates optimizing the individual components of the CVT as regards their efficiency. The main source of losses are the hydraulic supply units and the losses which result specifically from non-positive transmission. In the case of stepless chain conveners, these result mainly from friction disk deformation. These losses account for 50 to 70 % of total CVT losses. Both loss components are influenced by the lubricant to a significantly greater extent than it would appear at first sight: In the case of fully-hydraulic clamping and control systems, the viscosity and its long-term stability determines the degree of leakage losses and therefore the size of the pump or pump combinations. This applies to pressure levels between 20 and 40 bar. This in turn is directly proportional to the hydraulic losses on the CVT. The friction coefficient of the lubricant determines the level of the necessary clamping forces. These are responsible for friction-disk deformation. Also of importance as far as the selection of lubricant is concerned is its influence on the CVT service life. The critical service life limits for chain converters are chain breakage (not the subject of this report) and evidence of wear, i.e. grey staining, sheave-grooving, pitting, scoring and rocker pin wear. Standardized test methods exist at P.I.V. for both wear manifestations and for the friction coefficient, these tests allowing a targeted selection of lubricants.

scholarly journals Mixed Infections and Rifampin Heteroresistance among Mycobacterium tuberculosis Clinical Isolates

2015 ◽  
Vol 53 (7) ◽  
pp. 2138-2147 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chao Zheng ◽  
Song Li ◽  
Zhongyue Luo ◽  
Rui Pi ◽  
Honghu Sun ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mycobacterium Tuberculosis ◽  
Odds Ratio ◽  
Variable Number Tandem Repeat ◽  
Risk Groups ◽  
Variable Number ◽  
Mixed Infections ◽  
Proper Solution ◽  
Content Type ◽  
And Control ◽  
First Time

Mixed infections and heteroresistance ofMycobacterium tuberculosiscontribute to the difficulty of diagnosis, treatment, and control of tuberculosis. However, there is still no proper solution for these issues. This study aimed to investigate the potential relationship between mixed infections and heteroresistance and to determine the high-risk groups related to these factors. A total of 499 resistant and susceptible isolates were subjected to spoligotyping and 24-locus variable-number tandem repeat methods to analyze their genotypic lineages and the occurrence of mixed infections. Two hundred ninety-two randomly selected isolates were sequenced on theirrpoBgene to examine mutations and heteroresistance. The results showed that 12 patients had mixed infections, and the corresponding isolates belonged to Manu2 (n= 8), Beijing (n= 2), T (n= 1), and unknown (n= 1) lineages. Manu2 was found to be significantly associated with mixed infections (odds ratio, 47.72; confidence interval, 9.68 to 235.23;P< 0.01). Four isolates (1.37%) were confirmed to be heteroresistant, which was caused by mixed infections in three (75%) isolates; these belonged to Manu2. Additionally, 3.8% of the rifampin-resistant isolates showing no mutation in therpoBgene were significantly associated with mixed infections (χ2, 56.78;P< 0.01). This study revealed for the first time that Manu2 was the predominant group in the cases of mixed infections, and this might be the main reason for heteroresistance and a possible mechanism for isolates without any mutation in therpoBgene to become rifampin resistant. Further studies should focus on this lineage to clarify its relevance to mixed infections.

scholarly journals Genetic and epigenetic associations of MAOA and NR3C1 with depression and childhood adversities

2013 ◽  
Vol 16 (7) ◽  
pp. 1513-1528 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philippe A. Melas ◽  
Yabin Wei ◽  
Chloe C. Y. Wong ◽  
Louise K. Sjöholm ◽  
Elin Åberg ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Dna Methylation ◽  
Variable Number Tandem Repeat ◽  
Childhood Adversity ◽  
Variable Number ◽  
Monoamine Oxidase A ◽  
Childhood Adversities ◽  
Epigenetic Programming ◽  
And Control ◽  
Gene Expression Levels

Abstract Monoamine oxidase A (MAOA) harbours a polymorphic upstream variable-number tandem repeat (u-VNTR). The MAOA-L allele of the u-VNTR leads to decreased gene expression levels in vitro and has been found to increase the risk of conduct disorder in males with childhood adversities. Early-life adversities have been associated with hypermethylation of the glucocorticoid receptor (NR3C1). In this study, we first performed a genetic association analysis of the MAOA u-VNTR using individuals with depression (n = 392) and controls (n = 1276). Next, DNA methylation analyses of MAOA and NR3C1 were performed using saliva samples of depressed and control subgroups. Adult MAOA-L females with childhood adversities were found to have a higher risk of developing depression (p = 0.006) and overall MAOA methylation levels were decreased in depressed females compared to controls (mean depressed, 42% vs. mean controls, 44%; p = 0.04). One specific childhood adversity [early parental death (EPD)] was associated with hypermethylation of NR3C1 close to an NGFI-A binding site (mean EPD, 19% vs. mean non-EPD, 14%; p = 0.005). Regression analysis indicated that this association may be mediated by the MAOA-L allele (adjusted R2 = 0.24, ANOVA: F = 23.48, p < 0.001). Conclusively: (1) depression in females may result from a gene × childhood-adversity interaction and/or a dysregulated epigenetic programming of MAOA; (2) childhood-adversity subtypes may differentially impact DNA methylation at NR3C1; (3) baseline MAOA-genotypic variations may affect the extent of NR3C1 methylation.

Laughter and the Moral Guide

2019 ◽  
pp. 145-162
Author(s):  
Michael Trapp
Keyword(s):  
Diagnostic Tool ◽  
Close Reading ◽  
Monitoring And Control ◽  
Careful Monitoring ◽  
Dio Chrysostom ◽  
Imperial Period ◽  
Important Diagnostic Tool ◽  
The Individual ◽  
And Control ◽  
Modes Of Engagement

In the perspective of the moralist, laughter is both an important diagnostic tool (it matters with whom and at whom one laughs), and a potentially dangerous propensity requiring careful monitoring and control. Though differing in their modes of engagement with their target audiences, Dio Chrysostom and Plutarch share a concern with well- and ill-directed laughter at both the level of the individual and that of whole communities: Dio above all (though by no means only) in his Euboean and Alexandrian Orations (Orr. 7 and 32); Plutarch both in his texts on ethical self-improvement in the Moralia and, most colorfully, in his Life of Antony (which shares with Dio’s Or. 30 a particular anxiety about Alexandria as a city of morally dubious laughter). Close reading of these texts has thus much to tell us about the fine texture of moral philosophical engagement with laughter in the Roman Imperial period.

scholarly journals Evaluation of Tactics for Managing Resistance of Venturia inaequalis to Sterol Demethylation Inhibitors

Plant Disease ◽  
1999 ◽  
Vol 83 (9) ◽  
pp. 857-863 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wolfram Köller ◽  
W. F. Wilcox
Keyword(s):  
Venturia Inaequalis ◽  
Apple Scab ◽  
Run Off ◽  
Equivalent Control ◽  
Sterol Demethylation Inhibitors ◽  
The Individual ◽  
And Control ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Low Rate ◽  
Selection Of

The impact on the selection and control of subpopulations of V. inaequalis resistant to the sterol demethylation inhibitor (DMI) fenarimol or to dodine were evaluated with respect to several tactics of apple scab control. Experiments were conducted in an experimental orchard with elevated levels of DMI and dodine resistance over a period of three consecutive seasons. The DMI-resistant subpopulation was poorly (14%) controlled at a fenarimol rate of 15 mg/liter (sprayed to run-off), whereas control was significantly improved (54%) at twice that rate. Mancozeb mixed with the low rate of fenarimol also improved the control of DMI-resistant isolates, but the improvement was due to the indiscriminate control of both the DMI-sensitive and -resistant populations provided by mancozeb. The selection of fenarimol-resistant isolates resulting from poor control of the resistant subpopulation by the low rate of fenarimol was equivalent whether fenarimol was applied singly or in mixture with mancozeb. Consequently, the use of high DMI rates in mixture with a protective fungicide is expected to delay the build-up of resistant subpopulations by limiting their increase through two separate principles of control. For dodine in mixture with fenarimol, it was found that each mixing partner applied alone selected both fe-narimol- and dodine-resistant isolates. This selection pattern was partly explained by the possibility that one of the multiple genes underlying fenarimol and dodine resistance confers resistance to both fungicides, in addition to the selection of double-resistant isolates. Regardless, a mixture of fenarimol with dodine each employed at a low rate controlled both the fenarimol-and the dodine-resistant subpopulation at least as effectively as the individual components at twice their mixture rate, and an accelerated selection of double-resistant isolates was not detected. In commercial orchard trials, mixtures of DMIs with either a protective fungicide or with dodine provided equivalent control even when levels of DMI resistance, dodine resistance, or both were moderately elevated. With the exception of orchards with high levels of DMI or dodine resistance, dodine might be an alternative to protective fungicides as a mixing partner with DMIs.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document