A proposed grid middleware system includes specific enhancements to support the development and assessment of highly secure, dependable, service-oriented grid systems and applications. ...Service-oriented architectures can be defined as application architectures "within which all functions are defined as independent services.
•45 % of Xalapa's surface has some type of natural vegetation.•Woody vegetation is a priority element needed to maintain connectivity.•Connectivity is key to preserving long-term ecosystem ...dynamics.•Isolated trees are the last remnants of vegetation in certain areas of the city.
Vegetation plays a fundamental role in conserving the biological diversity of urban areas. From isolated trees to multi-hectare patches, green spaces are critical to species conservation in urban landscapes. The abundance of green spaces can regulate the availability of habitat and resources for species’ survival. In many urban areas, the lack of vegetation inventories and ecological information at fine spatial resolutions limits conservation efforts. To evaluate the potential of very high-resolution imagery (WorldView-2, 30-cm resolution) to fill this gap, we sought to a) map contrasting urban vegetation cover types (grass, shrubs and woody vegetation) at the meter scale and with high accuracy, b) quantify the structural and functional connectivity of urban vegetation, and c) estimate the status of productive vegetation. We focused our analysis on land use and cover in the city of Xalapa in Veracruz, Mexico, and employed multiscale satellite imagery to estimate vegetation cover, connectivity, and health. We identified 38,579 patches of woody vegetation, of which 93 % corresponded to isolated trees contributing to 27 % of vegetation connectivity. Without woody vegetation, the connectivity index decrease up to 97 %; removing grass or shrubs would reduce connectivity by 38 % or 32 %, respectively. We identified 10 patches disproportionately important to connectivity, of which seven had some type of legal protection. Across vegetation types, 38 % of the vegetated area was unhealthy. Wooded element connectivity assessment at a fine spatial resolution is crucial to conserve and restore these key resources for biodiversity and human well-being in urban environments.
Continuous data collection on all new isolates of MRSA via CoSurv has taken place in Wales since January 1996. In order to audit this data collection, and to address some of the issues that it does ...not include, a survey of MRSA was carried out. Questionnaires were completed by infection control teams. Rates were calculated using hospital throughput denominators. Results from the one-day prevalence survey, the two-week incidence survey, and the follow-up survey carried out on new MRSA patients identified in the incidence survey, are presented. Results were found to be broadly similar to those collected via routine surveillance. MRSA was found frequently and disproportionately in the elderly, with higher rates in male than female patients. The highest incidence of total and invasive MRSA was in males aged 75 and over (total: 12·5/1000 finished consultant episodes; invasive: 2·8/1000). Although there was a large community reservoir of MRSA, most appeared to have been acquired in hospital, since most patients had a history of hospitalization, often with multiple hospital admissions. Community-based isolates from cases with no hospital history tended to have been from ulcers. Prevalence and incidence of MRSA was relatively low compared with hospital throughput (mean prevalence: 2·4/100 occupied beds; mean incidence: 3·6/1000 finished consultant episodes), there was also quite large variation between sites, even when screening samples were removed. Patients with MRSA had strikingly long stays before isolation of the organism (prevalence survey: 39 days; incidence survey: 31 days) and highest incidence occurred in elderly care wards. The outcome survey showed that approximately half of the patients were treated with some type of antimicrobial therapy for MRSA. Decontamination therapy was associated with clearance of MRSA only when controlling for sex of the patient. The majority of patients were discharged still with MRSA, mostly to their own homes. The survey emphasizes the need to continue surveillance to detect any changes, to allow guidelines based on evidence to be developed and to monitor the effectiveness of such guidelines.
A case involving a woman with post-caesarean Meleney's gangrene is presented. Rapid fluid resuscitation, urgent debridement of necrotic tissue and antibiotic therapy form the cornerstone of treatment.
The UK Department of Health established the Healthcare-associated Infection (HAI) Surveillance Steering Group in 2000 to develop a strategy for implementing a national programme for HAI surveillance ...in National Health Service trusts. A subgroup of this committee examined the surveillance of surgical site infections following orthopaedic surgery. This group oversaw a pilot scheme that was set up in 12 hospitals around the UK to explore the feasibility of implementing a system of surveillance that engaged clinical staff in its operation, provided a process for continuous data collection and could be maintained as part of routine hospital operation over time. A minimum data set was established by the subgroup, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) definitions of infection were used. By March 2003, the surveillance had been undertaken continuously in 11 sites for one to two years, depending on the date of implementation. Only one hospital had ceased data collection. The information was collected mainly by clinical staff, with support and co-ordination usually provided by infection control teams. Data on more than 5400 procedures were available for analysis for four core procedures: arthroplasty of the hip and knee; hemi-arthroplasty of the hip; and internal fixation of trochanteric fractures of the femur. The data set permitted the calculation of risk-adjusted rates, allowing comparisons between hospitals and within a hospital over time. The methodology enhanced clinical ownership of the surveillance process, re-inforced infection control as the responsibility of all staff, and provided timely feedback and local data analysis. The use of CDC definitions permitted international comparisons of the data.
Recent advances in adaptive optics (AO) have led to the implementation of wide field-of-view AO systems. A number of wide-field AO systems are also planned for the forthcoming Extremely Large ...Telescopes. Such systems have multiple wavefront sensors of different types, and usually multiple deformable mirrors (DMs). Here, we report on our experience integrating cameras and DMs with the real-time control systems of two wide-field AO systems. These are CANARY, which has been operating on-sky since 2010, and DRAGON, which is a laboratory AO real-time demonstrator instrument. We detail the issues and difficulties that arose, along with the solutions we developed. We also provide recommendations for consideration when developing future wide-field AO systems.
This paper presents our research on devising a dependability assessment method for the upcoming OGSA 3.0 middleware using network level fault injection. We compare existing DCE middleware ...dependability testing research with the requirements of testing OGSA middleware and derive a new method and fault model. From this we have implemented an extendable fault injector framework and undertaken some proof of concept experiments with a simulated OGSA middleware system based around Apache SOAP and Apache Tomcat. We also present results from our initial experiments, which uncovered a discrepancy with our simulated OGSA system. We finally detail future research, including plans to adapt this fault injector framework from the stateless environment of a standard Web service to the stateful environment of an OGSA service.
Surveillance data for organisms isolated from blood cultures and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) specimens has been gathered electronically in Wales since 1993. Over this period the proportion of total ...reported organisms from blood cultures and CSF represented by methicillin-resistant staphylococci (MRSA) has risen steadily. This has corresponded to a rise in rates of methicillin resistance amongst Staphylococcus aureus isolated from blood cultures and CSF from 4 to 43%. In certain age/gender groups in 1997, more than 50% of isolates of S. aureus were resistant to methicillin, suggesting that a change in empirical treatment may be necessary for suspected staphylococcal sepsis.
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