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Introduction: The corona virus disease 2019 is an infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 belonging to corona viruses which are enveloped positive stranded RNA viruses. Non-critical coronavirus disease 2019 patients often lack follow up visits which has led to incomplete understanding of disease process. The aim of this study was to find out the prevalence of persistent symptoms in such patients during two months follow-up to a district hospital. Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in a district hospital from September 2020 to February 2021 among non-critical corona virus disease 2019 patients admitted to the isolation center of Nepal. Ethical approval was taken from the ethical review board of Nepal Health Research Council (reference number: 1707). Convenience sampling was done. Data was collected using a structured questionnaire. Data analysis was done using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 26. Point estimate at 95% Confidence Interval was calculated along with frequency and proportion for binary data. Results: Out of 132 patients, 66 (50%) (41.5-58.5 at 95% Confidence Interval) patients had persistent symptoms at two-month follow-up. Forty-eight (36.4%) patients showed one symptom, 15 (11%) had two symptoms, and 3 (2%) had two or more symptoms. The most frequent symptom reported was fatigue in 17 (13%), cough in 15 (11%), myalgia in 9 (7%), and headache in 9 (7%). Conclusions: The prevalence of persistent symptoms at two months follow up in our study was lower than findings from other international studies.

BACKGROUND Pseudomonas aeruginosa is the most common gram-negative bacterium associated with nosocomial infections. Active observation of changes in antibiotic resistance of Pseudomonas aeruginosa is necessary for the selection of appropriate antimicrobial agent for empirical therapy. This study was conducted to determine the antibiotic susceptibility pattern of Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolated from various clinical samples collected from patients admitted in critical and non-critical areas. METHODS Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates obtained from various samples in critical and non-critical areas during one-year period were included in the study. The isolates were identified using standard laboratory procedures, and the susceptibility was checked using the Kirby-Bauer disk-diffusion assay according to Clinical and Laboratory Standard Institute (CLSI) guidelines-2019. RESULTS During one-year period, 224 Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates were isolated from patients admitted to various units, out of which 143 (63.8 %) were from noncritical areas and 81 (36.1 %) were from critical areas. Highest isolation from noncritical area was observed from pus sample 49 (34.26 %) followed by sputum and urine samples 46 (32.16 %) and 27 (16.78 %) respectively. Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolated from critical areas were mainly from endotracheal aspirates 36 (44.4 %) and all were multidrug resistant (MDR) (36.3 %). CONCLUSIONS The present study helps in understanding the emergence of MDR strains in intensive care units (ICUs). Thus, regular surveillance of antibiotic susceptibility pattern is important for reducing the healthcare associated infection (HAI) rates and antimicrobial resistance. KEYWORDS Antibiotic Susceptibility Pattern, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Critical and Non-Critical Areas

Background\ud Decontamination of non-critical objects shared by patients is key in reducing hospital-acquired infections (HAIs), but it is a complex process that needs precise guidance from UK National Health Service (NHS) acute care organizations (ACOs).\ud \ud Aim\ud To review the indications given by NHS ACOs' policies regarding the decontamination of shared non-critical devices.\ud \ud Methods\ud Detailed lists of decontamination protocols for shared non-critical objects were retrieved from cleaning, disinfection and decontamination policies of 35 NHS ACOs. Three parameters were considered for each object: decontamination method, decontamination frequency, and person responsible for decontamination.\ud \ud Findings\ud In total, 1279 decontamination protocols regarding 283 different shared non-critical objects were retrieved. Of these, 689 (54%) did not indicate the person responsible for decontamination, and only 425 (33%) were complete, giving indications for all three parameters analysed. Only 2.5% (32/1279) of decontamination protocols were complete and identical in two policies. In policies where cleaning represented the major decontamination method, chemical disinfection was rarely mentioned and vice versa. General agreement among policies was found for four main decontamination methods (detergent and water, detergent wipes, disinfectant wipes, and use of disposable items), two decontamination frequencies (between events and daily) and two responsible person designations (nurses and domestic staff).\ud \ud Conclusions\ud Decontamination protocol policies for shared non-critical objects had some similarities but did not concur on how each individual object should be decontaminated. The lack of clear indications regarding the person responsible for the decontamination process put at risk the ability of policies to serve as guidance.

Background & Objective Current evidence shows that telemetry monitoring is commonly overutilized for ‘non-cardiac’ diseases such as COPD exacerbation, pneumonia, pulmonary embolism and sepsis. This issue has not been addressed clearly in the recent American Heart Association (AHA) guidelines and no standard recommendations on the use of telemetry in non-cardiac conditions exist; therefore, clinicians continue to make such decisions based on personal preferences. As medical residency is an important phase during which young physicians develop clinical skills and habits for their future practice, the aim of this study was to understand the prevalent trends related to inappropriate telemetry use amongst the medical residents at a community hospital and the associated factors which influence the use of telemetry monitoring in non-cardiac patients. Methods All the residents undergoing internal medicine training at a community hospital were surveyed with the help of a questionnaire regarding the utility of telemetry in non-critical patients admitted with non-cardiac conditions. Results Survey was completed by 37 residents. Analysis of the responses showed that despite the frequent use of telemetry in non-cardiac conditions, majority of the medical residents are unaware of the correct indications. Seventy-three percent choose ‘continuous’ telemetry when placing the order while only 16% (often or always) discontinue telemetry after 24 hours of uneventful use. Although 84% residents admitted that telemetry is overutilized, still 49% felt that it leads to better patient care while 70% considered it superior to frequent vitals monitoring for early detection of hemodynamic instability. Possible causes of inappropriate use included ‘Lack of knowledge about the related literature’ and ‘Following trends set by the peers’. Conclusion Majority of the medical residents overutilize telemetry in non-cardiac conditions due to lack of knowledge, perceived sense of security and inappropriate trends set by their colleagues. In order to abolish these tendencies, we propose the provision of adequate educational resources to the clinical staff at every level along with other system-based strategies.

Corticosteroids are largely recommended in patients with severe COVID-19. However, evidence to support high-dose methylprednisolone (MP) pulses is not as robust as that demonstrated for low-dose dexamethasone (DXM) in the RECOVERY trial. This is a retrospective cohort study on severe, non-critically ill patients with COVID-19, comparing 3-day MP pulses ≥ 100 mg/day vs. DXM 6 mg/day for 10 days. The primary outcome was in-hospital mortality, and the secondary outcomes were need of intensive care unit (ICU) admission or invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV). Propensity-score matching (PSM) analysis was applied. From March 2020 to April 2021, a total of 2,284 patients were admitted to our hospital due to severe, non-critically ill COVID-19, and of these, 189 (8.3%) were treated with MP, and 493 (21.6%) with DXM. The results showed that patients receiving MP showed higher in-hospital mortality (31.2% vs. 17.8%, p &lt, 0.001), need of ICU admission (29.1% vs. 20.5%, p = 0.017), need of IMV (25.9% vs. 13.8, p &lt, 0.001), and median hospital length of stay (14 days vs. 11 days, p &lt, 0.001). Our results suggest that treatment with low-dose DXM for 10 days is superior to 3 days of high-dose MP pulses in preventing in-hospital mortality and need for ICU admission or IMV in severe, non-critically ill patients with COVID-19.

Objectives This study was aimed at assessing the cleaning practice of non-critical medical equipment (NCME) in the era of corona virus disease-2019 of nurses working in Debre-Tabor comprehensive specialized hospital (DTCSH), north-central Ethiopia. Design Facility based cross-sectional study was conducted in DTCSH, Ethiopia, from July 05 to August 05, 2020. Setting The study was conducted in inpatient and outpatient units of the hospital. Participants A total of 76 randomly selected staff nurses and 6 head nurses were included for observational study and interview respectively. Results Only 1.3%–5.3% of nurses cleaned stethoscopes, thermometers, pulse oximeters, and glucometers right after using these devices for patients. None of them cleaned the blood pressure apparatus before or after checking a patient's blood pressure and glucometer before determining blood glucose levels. Lack of disinfecting materials and lack of training on infection prevention were perceived by head nurses as major barriers for proper cleaning practices. Conclusion Nurses’ cleaning practice of NCME was very low. Therefore, proper supply of materials needed to clean these devices need to be secured. Besides, nurses need to get training on infection prevention., Nurse, Cleaning, Non-critical medical equipment, COVID 19.

Introduction Telephone triage services (TTS) play an increasing role in the delivery of healthcare. The objective of this study was to characterize the adult users of a TTS for non-critical emergencies, describe the types of advice given and their subsequent observation, and assess the influence of TTS on the use of the healthcare system in a sanitary region of Switzerland. Methods Data from a TTS based in the French part of Switzerland were analyzed. This service consists of a medical contact center for non-critical emergencies, with trained nurses available 24/7. A random selection of 2,034 adult calls was performed between July and December 2018. Research students contacted users 2 to 4 weeks after the initial call and assessed sociodemographic and clinical data, as well as the impact of the advice received on the use of the healthcare system. Results A sample of 412 users was included in the analyses. The average age was 49.0 (SD 20.4) years; 68.5% were women and 72.8% of Swiss origin. The two main recommendations provided by nurses were to consult the emergency department (ED) (44.6%, n = 184) and to contact a physician on duty (33.2%, n = 137). The majority of users followed the advice given by the nurses (substantial agreement [k = 0.79] with consulting the ED and perfect agreement [k = 0.87] with contacting a physician on duty). We calculated that calling the TTS could decrease the intention to visit the ED by 28.1%. Conclusion TTS for non-critical emergencies have the potential to decrease the use of ED services.

Hydroxychloroquine(HCQ) has been widely used to treat SARS-CoV-2 infection however HCQ pharmacokinetics in this condition have not been studied in non-critical care patient groups. Here we report the serum concentrations of HCQ in a small cohort of patients treated with HCQ as part of the RECOVERY trial.

Part 2: Infrastructure Protection; International audience; This chapter examines potential attack vectors that exist in a nuclear power plant and correlates the likelihood of an attack from each vector. The focus is on the boron monitoring system, which directly affects the reactivity in the core; cyber attacks on this system can lead to increased core wear, unsafe reactivity levels and poor power performance. A mockup model is developed using open-source software and hardware, which is tested to evaluate the potential of cyber attacks. A man-in-the-middle attack is implemented to demonstrate a cyber attack and its potential effects. Additionally, a redundancy-based cyber attack mitigation method is implemented using a hardware device that compares the input/output values of multiple programmable logic controllers. The approach for modeling general attack and defense steps is applicable to industrial control systems in the energy sector.

International audience

Introduction: Health care environment usually remains stressful for health care professionals which may have impact on their psycho-physiological health. Aim: This study was conducted to find the differences in Heart Rate (HR) and Galvanic Skin Response (GSR) among critical and non-critical care unit nurses. Materials and Methods: A comparative study was conducted to find the differences in HR and GSR value of nurses posted in critical and non-critical units. Critical and non-critical care units were classified using patient’s acuity category classification. A total of 100 nurses, 50 from critical and 50 from non-critical care units were selected by simple random sampling technique. HR and GSR were recorded on a digital polygraph (Medicaid systems). Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyse the data. Results: The mean heart rate (beats per minute) and GSR (Amp ~ K) score of nurses working in critical care units (88.32±9.63 and 916.9±473.4) was higher than the nurses working in noncritical units (83.56±5.82 and 687.8±270.0). The difference in the scores of critical care unit nurses were significantly higher than the non-critical unit nurses (p

Background Diabetes is a chronic pathology of high prevalence and a large number of associated comorbidities that have an impact on patients’ quality of life. In the hospital environment, poor insulin adherence may lead to episodes of hyperglycaemia or severe hypoglycaemia, increasing long-term complications, as well as morbidity and mortality. Purpose To evaluate the clinical results obtained after the implantation of the insulinisation protocol in non-critical patients in our hospital. This protocol recommends the suspension of oral antidiabetic drugs (OADs) at admission, and if blood glucose >150 mg/dl, baseline insulin control is recommended along with control of preprandial glycaemias by administering rapid-acting insulin. Material and methods On 25 November 2015, a cross-sectional study (submitted to the Ethical Committee for Clinical Research) was carried out. In this study, all patients diagnosed with diabetes who were hospitalised and who had undergone validation of pharmacological treatment were located. The Electronic Clinical History (SELENE ® ) and the Pharmacy Service Managing Software (FARMATOOLS ® ) were used for the location and collection of clinical data. Results A total of 132 patients were evaluated. Sixty-four per cent and 36% of them were males and females respectively, with an average age of 69 years (range 29–93) and an average weight of 80 kg at admission. Fifty per cent of patients’ weight was not registered and this is a vital fact for the evaluation of the patients’ nutritional status and the calculation of the dose of insulin. Ninety per cent of patients had type-2 diabetes and 3% of them were diagnosed during their hospital admission. 46.4% of patients were treated with OADs in monotherapy, 15.2% with OADs plus insulin and 10.4% under a basal-bolus pattern. The overall compliance rate of the treatment to the basal-bolus pattern was very low (32%). These results are in line with the rest of the studies carried out in hospitalised diabetic patients. Conclusion In spite of gaining better glycaemic control with the basal-bolus regimen, the adherence to it was low. In the future, the suspension of the OADs, or their change to insulin after admission, will be a difficult target that we have to reach. References and/or Acknowledgements I would like to express my very great appreciation to the staff of the service. No conflict of interest

E. Guy, P. Punpongsanon, D. Iwai, K. Sato and T. Boubekeur, "LazyNav: 3D ground navigation with non-critical body parts," 2015 IEEE Symposium on 3D User Interfaces (3DUI), 2015, pp. 43-50, doi: 10.1109/3DUI.2015.7131725., With the growing interest in natural input devices and virtual reality, mid-air ground navigation is becoming a fundamental interaction for a large collection of application scenarios. While classical input devices (e.g., mouse/keyboard, gamepad, touchscreen) have their own ground navigation standards, natural input techniques still lack acknowledged mechanisms for travelling in a 3D scene. In particular, for most applications, navigation is not the primary interaction. Thus, the user should navigate in the scene while still being able to perform other interactions with her hands, and observe the displayed content by moving her eyes and locally rotating her head. Since most ground navigation scenarios require only two degrees of freedom to move forward or backward and rotate the view to the left or to the right, we propose LazyNav a mid-air ground navigation control model which lets the users hands, eyes or local head orientation completely free, making use of a single pair of the remaining tracked body elements to tailor the navigation. To this end, we design several navigation body motions and study their desired properties, such as being easy to discover, easy to control, socially acceptable, accurate and not tiring. We also develop several assumptions about motions design for ground navigation and evaluate them. Finally, we highlight general advices on mid-air ground navigation techniques.

This paper addresses challenges with prompt health care delivery using Network Analysis of Critical Path Model (CPM) to plan the hospital capacity with a view to achieving prompt health care service delivery. Hospital activities were identified as either critical and non critical, time or cost consideration was factored in. In all, 16 state health institutions were purposively selected on the basis of most equipped from 55 state health institutions. Data on patients’ arrival and departure were observed and recorded for a period of six months. This was subjected to further analysis to identify the most important activities (critical path) and less important together with their time duration. The average total time spent in the hospital was 43 minutes but with effective capacity planning using network analysis the total time was reduced to 18 minutes and the critical path (activities) were identified to be: A - Card section, F - Medical Doctor and H – Medical Team. Keywords : Critical Path Model (CPM), Capacity Planning (CP), Hospital Services, Network Analysis

We relate vascular network structure to hemodynamics after vessel obstructions. We consider tree-like networks with a viscoelastic fluid with the rheological characteristics of blood. We analyze the network hemodynamic response, which is a function of the frequencies involved in the driving, and a measurement of the resistance to flow. This response function allows the study of the hemodynamics of the system, without the knowledge of a particular pressure gradient. We find analytical expressions for the network response, that explicitly show the roles played by the network structure, the degree of obstruction, and the geometrical place in which obstructions occur. Notably, we find that the sequence of resistances of the network without occlusions, strongly determines the tendencies that the response function has with the anatomical place where obstructions are located. We identify anatomical sites in a network that are critical for its overall capacity to supply blood to a tissue after obstructions. We demonstrate that relatively small obstructions in such critical sites are able to cause a much larger decrease on flow than larger obstructions placed in non-critical sites. Our results indicate that, to a large extent, the response of the network is determined locally. That is, it depends on the structure that the vasculature has around the place where occlusions are found. This result is manifest in a network that follows Murray's law, which is in reasonable agreement with several mammalian vasculatures. For this one, occlusions in early generation vessels have a radically different effect than occlusions in late generation vessels occluding the same percentage of area available to flow. This locality implies that whenever there is a tissue irrigated by a tree-like in-vivo vasculature, our model is able to interpret how important obstructions are for the irrigation of such tissue.

The strip wetting model is defined by giving a (continuous space) one dimensionnal random walk $S$ a reward $\gb$ each time it hits the strip $\R^{+} \times [0,a]$ (where $a$ is a positive parameter), which plays the role of a defect line. We show that this model exhibits a phase transition between a delocalized regime ($\gb < \gb_{c}^{a}$) and a localized one ($\gb > \gb_{c}^{a}$), where the critical point $\gb_{c}^{a} > 0$ depends on $S$ and on $a$. In this paper we give a precise pathwise description of the transition, extracting the full scaling limits of the model. Our approach is based on Markov renewal theory., 32 pages. To appear in "Stochastic Processes and their Applications"

We prove an equivariant version of Beilinson's conjecture on non-critical $L$-values of strongly modular abelian varieties over number fields. As an application, we prove a weak version of Zagier's conjecture on $L(E,2)$ and Deninger's conjecture on $L(E,3)$ for non-CM strongly modular $\mathbf{Q}$-curves., 18 pages

This article deals with collision and hazard detection for motorcycles via accelerometer measures. A machine learning approach is proposed. A two-phase method is developed that is capable of first detecting non critical anomalies (unusually high accelerations) and critical hazards for which an airbag deployment could be needed. The method is based on Self Organizing Maps and has two may advantages over the classical approach: 1) the machine learning approach easily scales with the number of sensors. 2) It is tuned using normal driving and does not require expensive crash-tests for tuning. In the paper the system is designed starting from data from an instrumented vehicle and validated in simulation.

In current inertial confinement fusion (ICF) facilities, KDP and DKDP crystals are the second harmonic generation (SHG) and third harmonic generation (THG) materials for the Nd:glass laser (1053 nm). Based on the trend for the development of short wavelengths for ICF driving lasers, technical solutions for fourth harmonic generation (FHG) will undoubtedly attract more and more attention. In this paper, the rapid growth of an ADP crystal and non-critical phase-matching (NCPM) FHG of a 1053-nm laser using an ADP crystal are reported. The NCPM temperature is 33.7°C. The conversion efficiency from 526 to 263 nm is 70%, and the angular acceptance range is 55.4 mrad; these results are superior to those for the DKDP crystals. This research has shown that ADP crystals will be a competitive candidate in future ICF facilities when the utilisation of high-energy, high-efficiency UV lasers at wavelengths shorter than the present 351 nm is of interest.

We carry out a gauge invariant analysis of certain perturbations of $D-2$-branes solutions of low energy string theories. We get generically a system of second order coupled differential equations, and show that only in very particular cases it is possible to reduce it to just one differential equation. Later, we apply it to a multi-parameter, generically singular family of constant dilaton solutions of non-critical string theories in $D$ dimensions, a generalization of that recently found in arXiv:0709.0471[hep-th]. According to arguments coming from the holographic gauge theory-gravity correspondence, and at least in some region of the parameters space, we obtain glue-ball spectra of Yang-Mills theories in diverse dimensions, putting special emphasis in the scalar metric perturbations not considered previously in the literature in the non critical setup. We compare our numerical results to those studied previously and to lattice results, finding qualitative and in some cases, tuning properly the parameters, quantitative agreement. These results seem to show some kind of universality of the models, as well as an irrelevance of the singular character of the solutions. We also develop the analysis for the T-dual, non trivial dilaton family of solutions, showing perfect agreement between them., A new reference added.

We derive pentagon type relations for the 3-point boundary tachyon correlation functions in the non-critical open string theory with generic c_{matter} < 1 and study their solutions in the case of FZZ branes. A new general formula for the Liouville 3-point factor is derived., 18 pages, harvmac; misprints corrected, section 3.2 extended, a new general formula for the Liouville 3-point factor added

In this paper, we investigate the spinor field realizations of the $W_{2,4}$ algebra, making use of the fact that the $W_{2,4}$ algebra can be linearized through the addition of a spin-1 current. And then the nilpotent BRST charges of the spinor non-critical $W_{2,4}$ string were built with these realizations., 10 pages, no figures, revtex4 style, accepted by Commun.Theor.Phys

We study certain supersymmetry breaking deformations of linear dilaton backgrounds in different dimensions. In some cases, the deformed theory has bulk closed strings tachyons. In other cases there are no bulk tachyons, but there are localized tachyons. The real time condensation of these localized tachyons is described by an exactly solvable worldsheet CFT. We also find some stable, non-supersymmetric backgrounds., 33 pages, references added

A world-volume model of non-critical 3-brane is quantized in a strong coupling phase where fluctuations of the conformal mode become dominant. This phase, called the conformal-mode dominant phase, is realized at the very high energy far beyond the Planck mass scale. We separately treat the conformal mode and the traceless mode and quantize the conformal mode "non-perturbatively", while the traceless mode is treated in the perturbation which is renormalizable and asymptotically free. In the conformal-mode dominant phase, the coupling of the traceless mode vanishes and the world-volume dynamics is described as a four dimensional conformal field theory (CFT_4). We canonically quantize this model on R*S^3 where the dynamical metric fields are expanded using spherical tensor harmonics on S^3. Conformal charges and conformal algebra are constructed. They give strong constraints on physical states. We find that all negative-metric modes are related to positive-metric modes through the charges so that they are not independent physical modes themselves. An infinite number of physical states satisfying the conformal invariance conditions are constructed. In appendix, we construct spherical vector, tensor harmonics on S^3 in the useable form using Wigner D-functions and Clebsch-Gordan coefficients and calculate integrals of their products., 53 pages, published version

We examine the cosmological evolution equations of de Sitter, flat and anti-de Sitter braneworlds sandwiched in between two n dimensional AdS-Schwarzschild spacetimes. We are careful to use the correct form for the induced Newton's constant on the brane, and show that it would be naive to assume the energy of the bulk spacetime is just given by the sum of the black hole masses. By carefully calculating the energy of the bulk for large mass we show that the induced geometry of the braneworld is just a radiation dominated FRW universe with the radiation coming from a CFT that is dual to the AdS bulk., 15 pages, no figures; references added, minor additions and clarifications, version to appear in Phys. Lett. B

The correspondence of the non-critical string theory and the Yang-Mills theory is examined according to the recent Polyakov's proposal, and two possible solutions of the bulk equations are addressed near the fixed points of the pure Yang-Mills theory: (i) One solution asymptotically approaches to the AdS space at the ultraviolet limit where the conformally invariant field theory is realized. (ii) The second one approaches to the flat space in both the infrared and the ultraviolet limits. The area law of the Wilson-loop and the asymptotic freedom with logarithmic behaviour are seen in the respective limit., 17 pages, no figure, Latex

The c1 matrix models are analyzed within large N renormalization group, taking into account touching (or branching) interactions. The c0 is naturally associated with an unstable fixed point, separating the Liouville phase (gamma1. In this picture, the critical behavior of c>1 matrix models is generically that of branched polymers, but only within a scaling region which is exponentially small when c -> 1. It also explains the behavior of multiple Ising spins coupled to gravity. Large crossover effects occur for c-1 small enough, with a c ~ 1 pseudo-scaling which explains numerical results., Comment: 20 pages, REVTeX3.0 + epsf, 10 figures. 1 reference added. To appear in Nucl. Phys. B

We present a general argument for the construction of BRST charges of the `non-critical' $\W_{2,4}$, $\W_{2,5}$, $\W_{2,6}$, and $\W_{2,8}$ strings. This evidences the existence of BRST charges for a kind of soft-type algebras which can be constructed from two copies of quantum $\W_{2,s}$ algebras, (s=3,4,5,6,8)., 11 pages, phyzzx.tex, IC/94/336

It was previously shown that at critical central charge, $N$-extended superstrings can be embedded in $(N+1)$-extended superstrings. In other words, $(N=0,c=26)\to (N=1,c=15)\to (N=2,c=6)\to (N=3,c=0) \to (N=4,c=0) $. In this paper, we show that similar embeddings are also possible for $N$-extended superstrings at non-critical central charge. For any $x$, the embedding is $(N=0,c=26+x) \to (N=1,c=15+x) \to (N=2,c=6+x) \to (N=3,c=x) \to (N=4,c=x)$. As was conjectured by Vafa, the $(N=2,c=9) \to (N=3,c=3)$ embedding can be used to prove that $N=0$ topological strings are special vaccua of N=1 topological strings., 8 pages latex, KCL-TH-94-6 and OU-HET 189

We propose a new method which analyzes the dynamical triangulation from the viewpoint of the non-critical string field theory. By using the transfer matrix formalism, we construct the non-critical string field theory (including $c>1$ cases) at the discrete level. For pure quantum gravity, we succeed in taking the continuum limit and obtain the $c=0$ non-critical string field theory at the continuous level. We also study about the universality of the non-critical string field theory., 64 pages

We compute correlation functions in $N=2$ non critical superstrings on the sphere. Our calculations are restrained to the ($s=0$) bulk amplitudes. We show that the four point function factorizes as a consequence of the non-critical kinematics, but differently from the $N=0,1$ cases no extra discrete state appears in the $\hat c\to 1^-$ limit., 10 pages

Background Regular and timely monitoring of blood glucose (BG) levels in hospitalized patients with diabetes mellitus is crucial to optimizing inpatient glycaemic control. However, methods to quantify timeliness as a measurement of quality of care are lacking. We propose an analytical approach that utilizes BG measurements from electronic records to assess adherence to an inpatient BG monitoring protocol in hospital wards. Methods We applied our proposed analytical approach to electronic records obtained from 24 non-critical care wards in November and December 2013 from a tertiary care hospital in Singapore. We applied distributional analytics to evaluate daily adherence to BG monitoring timings. A one-sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov (1S-KS) test was performed to test daily BG timings against non-adherence represented by the uniform distribution. This test was performed among wards with high power, determined through simulation. The 1S-KS test was coupled with visualization via the cumulative distribution function (cdf) plot and a two-sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov (2S-KS) test, enabling comparison of the BG timing distributions between two consecutive days. We also applied mixture modelling to identify the key features in daily BG timings. Results We found that 11 out of the 24 wards had high power. Among these wards, 1S-KS test with cdf plots indicated adherence to BG monitoring protocols. Integrating both 1S-KS and 2S-KS information within a moving window consisting of two consecutive days did not suggest frequent potential change from or towards non-adherence to protocol. From mixture modelling among wards with high power, we consistently identified four components with high concentration of BG measurements taken before mealtimes and around bedtime. This agnostic analysis provided additional evidence that the wards were adherent to BG monitoring protocols. Conclusions We demonstrated the utility of our proposed analytical approach as a monitoring tool. It provided information to healthcare providers regarding the timeliness of daily BG measurements. From the real data application, there were empirical evidences suggesting adherence of BG timings to protocol among wards with adequate power for assessing timeliness. Our approach is extendable to other areas of healthcare where timeliness of patient care processes is important.