Quantifying Behavior Driven Energy Savings for Hotels

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Dong, Bing; Wang, Na; Hooks, Edward

2016-08-12

Hotel facilities present abundant opportunities for energy savings. In the United States, there are around 25,000 hotels that spend on an average of $2,196 on energy costs per room each year. This amounts to about 6% of the total annual hotel operating cost. However, unlike offices, there are limited studies on establishing appropriate baselines and quantifying hotel energy savings given the variety of services and amenities, unpredictable customer behaviors, and the around-the-clock operation hours. In this study, we investigate behavior driven energy savings for three medium-size (around 90,000 sf2) hotels that offer similar services in different climate zones. We firstmore » used Department of Energy Asset Scoring Tool to establish baseline models. We then conducted energy saving analysis in EnergyPlus based on a behavior model that defines the upper bound and lower bound of customer and hotel staff behavior. Lastly, we presented a probabilistic energy savings outlook for each hotel. The analysis shows behavior driven energy savings up to 25%. We believe this is the first study to incorporate behavioral factors into energy analysis for hotels. It also demonstrates a procedure to quickly create tailored baselines and identify improvement opportunities for hotels.« less

Smoking in hotels: prevalence, and opinions about restrictions.

PubMed

Semmonds, A; Bailey, K; Bentley, S; Chase, V; Fernando, S; Guruge, A; King, M; Tan, O M; Walsh, R

1995-02-01

Exposure to high levels of environmental tobacco smoke can occur in hotels. Controversy exists about smoking regulation on licensed premises. This survey of 138 people attending one of three Newcastle hotels during 1993 found that 57 per cent of respondents were nonsmokers. Fifty-eight per cent (95 per cent confidence interval (CI) 50 to 66 per cent) of respondents in these hotels believed their health was being adversely affected by other people's smoke in the hotel. Seventy per cent (CI 62 to 78 per cent), including half the smokers, were in favour of restriction of smoking in the hotels. Most preferred the establishment of smoke-free areas to the introduction of total smoking bans in hotels. The failure of hotels to regulate smoking suggests that a legislative approach is required. The case for legislation would be strengthened by a larger study elsewhere in Australia.

Thirdhand smoke and exposure in California hotels: non-smoking rooms fail to protect non-smoking hotel guests from tobacco smoke exposure.

PubMed

Matt, Georg E; Quintana, Penelope J E; Fortmann, Addie L; Zakarian, Joy M; Galaviz, Vanessa E; Chatfield, Dale A; Hoh, Eunha; Hovell, Melbourne F; Winston, Carl

2014-05-01

This study examined tobacco smoke pollution (also known as thirdhand smoke, THS) in hotels with and without complete smoking bans and investigated whether non-smoking guests staying overnight in these hotels were exposed to tobacco smoke pollutants. A stratified random sample of hotels with (n=10) and without (n=30) complete smoking bans was examined. Surfaces and air were analysed for tobacco smoke pollutants (ie, nicotine and 3-ethynylpyridine, 3EP). Non-smoking confederates who stayed overnight in guestrooms provided urine and finger wipe samples to determine exposure to nicotine and the tobacco-specific carcinogen 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone as measured by their metabolites cotinine and 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanol (NNAL), respectively. Compared with hotels with complete smoking bans, surface nicotine and air 3EP were elevated in non-smoking and smoking rooms of hotels that allowed smoking. Air nicotine levels in smoking rooms were significantly higher than those in non-smoking rooms of hotels with and without complete smoking bans. Hallway surfaces outside of smoking rooms also showed higher levels of nicotine than those outside of non-smoking rooms. Non-smoking confederates staying in hotels without complete smoking bans showed higher levels of finger nicotine and urine cotinine than those staying in hotels with complete smoking bans. Confederates showed significant elevations in urinary NNAL after staying in the 10 most polluted rooms. Partial smoking bans in hotels do not protect non-smoking guests from exposure to tobacco smoke and tobacco-specific carcinogens. Non-smokers are advised to stay in hotels with complete smoking bans. Existing policies exempting hotels from complete smoking bans are ineffective.

Crime wave in hotels.

PubMed

1998-04-03

A National Development and Research Institutes study of New York's residential hotels, housing 400 AIDS patients, found rampant criminal activity. The 113-page report, commissioned by Mayor Guiliani, found prostitution, loan sharking, extortion, and theft to be commonplace, some of it perpetrated by hotel managers and employees. The unsafe conditions force some residents to miss medical treatments or drug rehabilitation because they are afraid to leave their rooms.

Design challenges and coordination issues in hotel projects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Saunders, Melvin L., IV; Marsh, David

2002-11-01

The design of a Five Star hotel facility encompasses a myriad of design dilemmas. On the same note, the design of a One Star or Two Star hotel has many dilemmas of its own. The ability of an acoustical consultant, as an integral part of the design team, to recognize the differences between these types of projects can be the difference between a successful hotel project and miserable failure. Different quality hotels require different levels of design criteria. Proper coordination and timing between trades and installations, such as loudspeakers, ceiling coffers, chandeliers, sprinkler heads, and ductwork, is also very important for the success of the overall project. This paper will discuss techniques and methods to produce successful hotel projects, as well as various noise sources throughout these spaces. It will also highlight a number of tips learned through many hotel design experiences.

Chinese hotel general managers' perspectives on energy-saving practices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhu, Yidan

As hotels' concern about sustainability and budget-control is growing steadily, energy-saving issues have become one of the important management concerns hospitality industry face. By executing proper energy-saving practices, previous scholars believed that hotel operation costs can decrease dramatically. Moreover, they believed that conducting energy-saving practices may eventually help the hotel to gain other benefits such as an improved reputation and stronger competitive advantage. The energy-saving issue also has become a critical management problem for the hotel industry in China. Previous research has not investigated energy-saving in China's hotel segment. To achieve a better understanding of the importance of energy-saving, this document attempts to present some insights into China's energy-saving practices in the tourist accommodations sector. Results of the study show the Chinese general managers' attitudes toward energy-saving issues and the differences among the diverse hotel managers who responded to the study. Study results indicate that in China, most of the hotels' energy bills decrease due to the implementation of energy-saving equipments. General managers of hotels in operation for a shorter period of time are typically responsible for making decisions about energy-saving issues; older hotels are used to choosing corporate level concerning to this issue. Larger Chinese hotels generally have official energy-saving usage training sessions for employees, but smaller Chinese hotels sometimes overlook the importance of employee training. The study also found that for the Chinese hospitality industry, energy-saving practices related to electricity are the most efficient and common way to save energy, but older hotels also should pay attention to other ways of saving energy such as water conservation or heating/cooling system.

Hotel housekeeping work influences on hypertension management.

PubMed

Sanon, Marie-Anne

2013-12-01

Characteristics of hotel housekeeping work increase the risk for hypertension development. Little is known about the influences of such work on hypertension management. For this qualitative study, 27 Haitian immigrant hotel housekeepers from Miami-Dade County, FL were interviewed. Interview transcripts were analyzed with the assistance of the Atlas.ti software for code and theme identification. Influences of hotel housekeeping work on hypertension management arose both at the individual and system levels. Factors at the individual level included co-worker dynamics and maintenance of transmigrant life. Factors at the system level included supervisory support, workload, work pace, and work hiring practices. No positive influences were reported for workload and hiring practices. Workplace interventions may be beneficial for effective hypertension management among hotel housekeepers. These work influences must be considered when determining effective methods for hypertension management among hotel housekeepers. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Hotel Housekeeping Work Influences on Hypertension Management

PubMed Central

Sanon, Marie-Anne

2013-01-01

Background Characteristics of hotel housekeeping work increase the risk for hypertension development. Little is known about the influences of such work on hypertension management. Methods For this qualitative study, 27 Haitian immigrant hotel housekeepers from Miami-Dade County, FL were interviewed. Interview transcripts were analyzed with the assistance of the Atlas. ti software for code and theme identification. Results Influences of hotel housekeeping work on hypertension management arose both at the individual and system levels. Factors at the individual level included co-worker dynamics and maintenance of transmigrant life. Factors at the system level included supervisory support, workload, work pace, and work hiring practices. No positive influences were reported for workload and hiring practices. Conclusions Workplace interventions may be beneficial for effective hypertension management among hotel housekeepers. These work influences must be considered when determining effective methods for hypertension management among hotel housekeepers. PMID:23775918

Musculoskeletal disorders in hotel restaurant workers.

PubMed

Chyuan, Jong-Yu Adol; Du, Chung-Li; Yeh, Wen-Yu; Li, Chung-Yi

2004-01-01

A variety of occupational groups have been shown to experience elevated risks of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSD). Little information on WMSD is available in hotel restaurant workers. To document the profile of WMSD in a sample of hotel restaurant workers in Taiwan. A self-administered questionnaire was used to gather information regarding body site specific WMSD, pain intensity and strategies for pain relief amongst a sample of hotel restaurant workers. Among 905 restaurant workers, 785 (84%) reported experience of WMSD in the previous month, with the highest prevalence rate found for the shoulder (58%). The highest mean score for perceived pain intensity was found for the lower back/waist (2.50 points). Despite a high prevalence rate, only a small portion of those reporting WMSD (12%) considered their work capacity or activities of daily living to be affected by WMSD, and only <5% of workers with WMSD sought medical treatment. WMSD related pain is common among hotel restaurant workers in Taiwan, but it does not appear to interfere with job performance or daily living. Self-treatment and alternative therapies that have not been evaluated for effectiveness are commonly employed by hotel restaurant workers.

Visual-search models for location-known detection tasks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gifford, H. C.; Karbaschi, Z.; Banerjee, K.; Das, M.

2017-03-01

Lesion-detection studies that analyze a fixed target position are generally considered predictive of studies involving lesion search, but the extent of the correlation often goes untested. The purpose of this work was to develop a visual-search (VS) model observer for location-known tasks that, coupled with previous work on localization tasks, would allow efficient same-observer assessments of how search and other task variations can alter study outcomes. The model observer featured adjustable parameters to control the search radius around the fixed lesion location and the minimum separation between suspicious locations. Comparisons were made against human observers, a channelized Hotelling observer and a nonprewhitening observer with eye filter in a two-alternative forced-choice study with simulated lumpy background images containing stationary anatomical and quantum noise. These images modeled single-pinhole nuclear medicine scans with different pinhole sizes. When the VS observer's search radius was optimized with training images, close agreement was obtained with human-observer results. Some performance differences between the humans could be explained by varying the model observer's separation parameter. The range of optimal pinhole sizes identified by the VS observer was in agreement with the range determined with the channelized Hotelling observer.

Changes in clinical and hotel expenditures following publication of the nursing home compare report card.

PubMed

Mukamel, Dana B; Spector, William D; Zinn, Jacqueline; Weimer, David L; Ahn, Richard

2010-10-01

Nursing Home Compare first published clinical quality measures at the end of 2002. It is a quality report card that for the first time offers consumers easily accessible information about the clinical quality of nursing homes. It led to changes in consumers' demand, increasing the relative importance of clinical versus hotel aspects of quality in their search and choice of a nursing home. To examine the hypothesis that nursing homes responding to these changes in demand shifted the balance of resources from hotel to clinical activities. The study included 10,022 free-standing nursing homes nationwide during 2001 to 2006. RESEARCH DESIGN AND DATA: A retrospective multivariate statistical analysis of trends in the ratio of clinical to hotel expenditures, using Medicare cost reports, Minimum Data Set and Online Survey, Certification and Reporting data, controlling for changes in residents' acuity and facility fixed effects. Inference is based on robust standard errors. The ratio of clinical to hotel expenditures averaged 1.78. It increased significantly (P < 0.001) by 5% following the publication of the report card. The increase was larger and more significant among nursing homes with worse reported quality, lower occupancy, those located in more competitive markets, for-profit ownership and owned by a chain. The increase in the ratio of clinical to hotel expenditures following publication of the report card suggests that nursing homes responded as expected to the changes in the elasticity of demand with respect to clinical quality brought about by the public reporting of clinical quality measures. The response was stronger among nursing homes facing stronger incentives.

Improving service quality in NHS Trust hospitals: lessons from the hotel sector.

PubMed

Desombre, T; Eccles, G

1998-01-01

This article looks to review recent practice undertaken within the UK hotel sector to improve customer service, and suggests ideals that could be implemented within National Health (NHS) Trust hospitals. At a time of increasing competition, hotel firms are using service enhancement as a means to gain competitive advantage, and therefore developing a range of techniques to measure levels of service quality improvement. With continued change in the health service, where greater focus now lies with patient satisfaction, so there is a requirement for managers to adapt techniques presently being offered in other service industries to improve levels of customer service and ensure patients are targeted to define their levels of satisfaction.

Hotel Employees' Japanese Language Experiences: Implications and Suggestions.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Makita-Discekici, Yasuko

1998-01-01

Analyzes the Japanese language learning experiences of 13 hotel employees in Guam. Results of the study present implications and suggestions for a Japanese language program for the hotel industry. The project began as a result of hotel employees frustrations when they were unable to communicate effectively with their Japanese guests. (Auth/JL)

Geography Matters in Online Hotel Reviews

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Mingshu; Zhou, Xiaolu

2016-06-01

In resonance with the popularity of user-generated contents (UGC) and the volunteered geographic information (VGI), this study crowdsourced 77,098 hotel reviews of 220 hotels provided by U.S. reviewers in the city of San Francisco, 2002 to 2015. In this exploratory analysis, we have revealed that there is spatial dependence of customer satisfaction at different locations (of hotels), which violates the assumption that ordinary least-square (OLS) is the best linear unbiased estimator (BLUE); therefore, spatial model might be required for analysing any antecedents and consequences of such phenomena. These results have implications in marketing and management strategies.

Perceived workplace mistreatment: Case of Latina hotel housekeepers.

PubMed

Hsieh, Yu-Chin Jerrie; Sönmez, Sevil; Apostolopoulos, Yorghos; Lemke, Michael Kenneth

2017-01-01

Latina hotel housekeepers' social class, gender, race/ethnicity, nationality, and United States immigration status render them particularly vulnerable to workplace mistreatment. We sought to reveal the array of policy- and interpersonal-related mistreatment experienced by Latina hotel housekeepers in the southeastern United States employed at 75 local hotels which included 4-star, 3-star, 2-star, and 1-star properties. This ethnographic study involved 27 in-depth interviews with Latina hotel housekeepers. Using semi-structured in-depth interview guides, participants were interviewed until collected data reached saturation. Data were coded to explore themes and relationships for the housekeepers' work environments, and thick descriptions of these environments were developed. Participants ranged in work experience from 1 to 15 years, with all but one unable to reach full-time status, and were paid between $7.25 and $8.00 per hour. Policy-related phenomena, such as low pay, lack of paid sick leave or overtime, and absence of appropriate cleaning tools or protective equipment were all perceived as forms of mistreatment by Latina hotel housekeepers. Interpersonal mistreatment in the form of supervisor favoritism, unfair work assignments, biased allocation of cleaning supplies, disrespect, and verbal abuse due to ethnicity was also perceived. Latina hotel housekeepers endure mistreatment that impacts their psychosocial and physical occupational health. We provide recommendations to minimize workplace mistreatment and improve well-being of Latina hotel housekeepers.

Legionnaires' Disease in Hotels and Passenger Ships: A Systematic Review of Evidence, Sources, and Contributing Factors.

PubMed

Mouchtouri, Varvara A; Rudge, James W

2015-01-01

Travel-associated Legionnaires' disease (LD) is a serious problem, and hundreds of cases are reported every year among travelers who stayed at hotels, despite the efforts of international and governmental authorities and hotel operators to prevent additional cases. A systematic review of travel-associated LD events (cases, clusters, outbreaks) and of environmental studies of Legionella contamination in accommodation sites was conducted. Two databases were searched (PubMed and EMBASE). Data were extracted from 50 peer-reviewed articles that provided microbiological and epidemiological evidence for linking the accommodation sites with LD. The strength of evidence was classified as strong, possible, and probable. Three of the 21 hotel-associated events identified and four of nine ship-associated events occurred repeatedly on the same site. Of 197 hotel-associated cases, 158 (80.2%) were linked to hotel cooling towers and/or potable water systems. Ship-associated cases were most commonly linked to hot tubs (59/83, 71.1%). Common contributing factors included inadequate disinfection, maintenance, and monitoring; water stagnation; poor temperature control; and poor ventilation. Across all 30 events, Legionella concentrations in suspected water sources were >10,000 cfu/L, <10,000 cfu/L, and unknown in 11, 3, and 13 events, respectively. In five events, Legionella was not detected only after repeated disinfections. In environmental studies, Legionella was detected in 81.1% of ferries (23/28) and 48.9% of hotels (587/1,200), while all 12 cruise ships examined were negative. This review highlights the need for LD awareness strategies targeting operators of accommodation sites. Increased standardization of LD investigation and reporting, and more rigorous follow-up of LD events, would help generate stronger, more comparable evidence on LD sources, contributing factors, and control measure effectiveness. © 2015 International Society of Travel Medicine.

[Evaluation of a Legionella outbreak emerged in a recently opening hotel].

PubMed

Erdoğan, Haluk; Arslan, Hande

2013-04-01

samples could not be obtained from the cases, the diagnosis were not confirmed by culture but by urinary antigen test. Besides high antibody titer in single serum sample was accepted as a diagnostic marker. Additionally 26 cases who accommodated in the same hotel and presented with high fever without pneumonia were treated in the outpatient clinics of our hospital. Urinary antigen test was performed in 11 of those patients to confirm the prediagnosis of pontiac fever, however all were found negative. Likewise convalescent phase sera for the confirmation of the diagnosis by seroconversion could not be obtained since they all were foreign tourists. Investigation of water sources of the hotel revealed that the municipal drinking water network had not been connected yet and the hotel supplied water from groundwater sources. The analysis of multiple samples from multiple sites of hotel's water system indicated that the water temperature was between 35-45°C and the iron level was beyond the acceptable limits (245 µg/L) recommended for drinking water in the regulation guides. These properties were considered as the factors that enhanced the growth and survival of Legionella species. Water samples were cultivated on BCYE-_ (Buffered Charcoal Yeast Extract a-Ketoglutarate) and GVPC (Glycine-Vancomycin-Polymyxin-Cycloheximide) agar plates and 11 out of a total 13 samples yielded Legionella spp. growth. All isolates were identified as L.pneumophila serogroup 1 by specific antisera. Legionella decontamination of hotel's water system was managed by implementation of hyperchlorination method as well as superheating (> 60°C) of water. The hotel was not closed during the outbreak and cultures of water samples obtained for one year later did not yield any Legionella spp. growth. This outbreak emphasized that hotel residents are at risk for acquiring LD in the presence of a colonized water system, even in a newly constructed building. In conclusion, effective control and decontamination

[To smoke or not to smoke, in restaurants, hotels, and bars].

PubMed

López-Antuñano, Francisco Javier; Tovar-Guzmán, Victor José

2002-01-01

A MEDLINE search was conducted to identify relevant references, to review the information on adverse effects of tobacco smoking and environmental tobacco smoke (ETS). Occupational exposure to ETS causes significant damages to food industry workers. High levels of mutagenic substances have been demonstrated in restaurant air as well as in the urine samples from those workers. Exposition to 3-aminophenyl, a hemoglobin-associated carcinogen. The best way to protect these workers is the reduction of tobacco smoking in restaurants, hotels, bars and taverns. In restaurant workers, ETS attributable risk for lung cancer is evident.

Greening the work force in Brazilian hotels: the role of environmental training.

PubMed

Dias-Angelo, Fernanda; Jabbour, Charbel J C; Calderaro, José Armando

2014-01-01

Organizations are increasingly required to reduce their environmental impact through the adoption of environmental management, which requires the support of human resource practices. The objective of this study is to determine whether human resource management practices, especially training, are supporting environmental management practices at four hotels located in Brazil. This research is qualitative, based on the analysis of four hotels in Brazil. Based on the systematized empirical evidence collected from four hotels (Hotels A, B, C, and D), it can be concluded that: (1) human resource management is still not fully aligned with environmental objectives at the hotels studied; (2) only Hotel B has implemented environmental management practices and aligned with human resource management in a more developed manner, which may indicate that these two variables of analysis could have interrelations; (3) environmental training as a human resource management practice was verified in all hotels analyzed. The greening of human resources practices is not fully aligned with environmental objectives in the hotels studied. If these hotels really wish to "go green," environmental training will be necessary. Hotel stakeholders play a major role in implementing the greening of the hotel industry.

Isolation of Legionella pneumophila from hotels of Greece.

PubMed

Alexiou, S D; Antoniadis, A; Papapaganagiotou, J; Stefanou, T

1989-03-01

Twenty water samples collected from 6 hotels situated in various areas of Greece were examined for the presence of Legionella pneumophila and Legionella-like organisms. Five of the six hotels included in this investigation were associated with cases of legionellosis. Legionella pneumophila serogroups 1 and 8 were isolated from four of six hotels, mainly from the hot water supply system. This is the first isolation and identification of L. pneumophila in Greece.

40 CFR 30.18 - Hotel and motel fire safety.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 1 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false Hotel and motel fire safety. 30.18... EDUCATION, HOSPITALS, AND OTHER NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS Pre-Award Requirements § 30.18 Hotel and motel fire safety. The Hotel and Motel Fire Safety Act of 1990 (Public Law 101-391) establishes a number of fire...

40 CFR 30.18 - Hotel and motel fire safety.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 1 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Hotel and motel fire safety. 30.18... EDUCATION, HOSPITALS, AND OTHER NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS Pre-Award Requirements § 30.18 Hotel and motel fire safety. The Hotel and Motel Fire Safety Act of 1990 (Public Law 101-391) establishes a number of fire...

40 CFR 30.18 - Hotel and motel fire safety.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 1 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false Hotel and motel fire safety. 30.18... EDUCATION, HOSPITALS, AND OTHER NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS Pre-Award Requirements § 30.18 Hotel and motel fire safety. The Hotel and Motel Fire Safety Act of 1990 (Public Law 101-391) establishes a number of fire...

40 CFR 30.18 - Hotel and motel fire safety.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Hotel and motel fire safety. 30.18... EDUCATION, HOSPITALS, AND OTHER NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS Pre-Award Requirements § 30.18 Hotel and motel fire safety. The Hotel and Motel Fire Safety Act of 1990 (Public Law 101-391) establishes a number of fire...

40 CFR 30.18 - Hotel and motel fire safety.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 1 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Hotel and motel fire safety. 30.18... EDUCATION, HOSPITALS, AND OTHER NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS Pre-Award Requirements § 30.18 Hotel and motel fire safety. The Hotel and Motel Fire Safety Act of 1990 (Public Law 101-391) establishes a number of fire...

Understanding Work-Family Spillover in Hotel Managers.

PubMed

Lawson, Katie M; Davis, Kelly D; Crouter, Ann C; O'Neill, John W

2013-06-01

The present study examined the experience of work-family spillover among 586 hotel managers (HMs) working in 50 full-service hotels throughout the U.S. Work-family spillover occurs when behaviors, moods, stresses, and emotions from work spill over into family. We first investigated which hotel managers were more likely to experience spillover and stressful work conditions based on their life circumstances (gender, parental status, age, decision-making latitude at work). Second, we investigated which work conditions (hours worked per week, organizational time expectations, emotional labor, and permeable boundaries) predicted more work-family spillover. Women, employees without children at home, and younger adults experienced the highest levels of negative work-family spillover. Work conditions, particularly organizational time expectations, put HMs at risk for experiencing more negative and less positive work-family spillover. The results provide evidence that modifying certain work conditions in the hotel industry may be helpful in improving the quality of HMs' jobs and retention.

Understanding Work-Family Spillover in Hotel Managers

PubMed Central

Lawson, Katie M.; Davis, Kelly D.; Crouter, Ann C.; O’Neill, John W.

2013-01-01

The present study examined the experience of work-family spillover among 586 hotel managers (HMs) working in 50 full-service hotels throughout the U.S. Work-family spillover occurs when behaviors, moods, stresses, and emotions from work spill over into family. We first investigated which hotel managers were more likely to experience spillover and stressful work conditions based on their life circumstances (gender, parental status, age, decision-making latitude at work). Second, we investigated which work conditions (hours worked per week, organizational time expectations, emotional labor, and permeable boundaries) predicted more work-family spillover. Women, employees without children at home, and younger adults experienced the highest levels of negative work-family spillover. Work conditions, particularly organizational time expectations, put HMs at risk for experiencing more negative and less positive work-family spillover. The results provide evidence that modifying certain work conditions in the hotel industry may be helpful in improving the quality of HMs’ jobs and retention. PMID:23888092

BEAUTY: an enhanced BLAST-based search tool that integrates multiple biological information resources into sequence similarity search results.

PubMed

Worley, K C; Wiese, B A; Smith, R F

1995-09-01

BEAUTY (BLAST enhanced alignment utility) is an enhanced version of the NCBI's BLAST data base search tool that facilitates identification of the functions of matched sequences. We have created new data bases of conserved regions and functional domains for protein sequences in NCBI's Entrez data base, and BEAUTY allows this information to be incorporated directly into BLAST search results. A Conserved Regions Data Base, containing the locations of conserved regions within Entrez protein sequences, was constructed by (1) clustering the entire data base into families, (2) aligning each family using our PIMA multiple sequence alignment program, and (3) scanning the multiple alignments to locate the conserved regions within each aligned sequence. A separate Annotated Domains Data Base was constructed by extracting the locations of all annotated domains and sites from sequences represented in the Entrez, PROSITE, BLOCKS, and PRINTS data bases. BEAUTY performs a BLAST search of those Entrez sequences with conserved regions and/or annotated domains. BEAUTY then uses the information from the Conserved Regions and Annotated Domains data bases to generate, for each matched sequence, a schematic display that allows one to directly compare the relative locations of (1) the conserved regions, (2) annotated domains and sites, and (3) the locally aligned regions matched in the BLAST search. In addition, BEAUTY search results include World-Wide Web hypertext links to a number of external data bases that provide a variety of additional types of information on the function of matched sequences. This convenient integration of protein families, conserved regions, annotated domains, alignment displays, and World-Wide Web resources greatly enhances the biological informativeness of sequence similarity searches. BEAUTY searches can be performed remotely on our system using the "BCM Search Launcher" World-Wide Web pages (URL is < http:/ /gc.bcm.tmc.edu:8088/ search-launcher/launcher.html > ).

Housekeeping ESL. Workplace Literacy Curriculum for Hotels.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Van Duzer, Carol; And Others

This curriculum for hotel employees is based on the analyses of worksite tasks and interactions. Hotel housekeepers were observed on the job, supervisors were consulted, and existing resources were reviewed to determine the language and basic skills needed to effectively and efficiently perform job duties. Twelve curriculum units were developed,…

Impact of the Great East Japan Earthquake on Hotel Industry in Pacific Tohoku Prefectures ---From Spatio-Temporal Dependence of Hotel Availability---

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sato, A.

This paper investigates the impact of the Great Japan Earthquake(and subsequent tsunami turmoil) on socio-economic activities by using data on hotel opportunities collected from an electronic hotel booking service. A method to estimate both primary and secondary regional effects of a natural disaster on human behavior is proposed. It is confirmed that temporal variation in the regional share of available hotels before and after a natural disaster may be an indicator to measure the socio-economic impact at each district.

What do hotels and hospitals have in common? How we can learn from the hotel industry to take better care of patients

PubMed Central

Zygourakis, Corinna C.; Rolston, John D.; Treadway, James; Chang, Susan; Kliot, Michel

2014-01-01

Despite widely divergent public perceptions and goals, hotels and hospitals share many core characteristics. Both serve demanding and increasingly well-informed clienteles, both employ a large hierarchy of workers with varying levels of responsibility, and both have payments that are increasingly tied to customer/patient evaluations. In the hotel industry, decades of management experience and market research have led to widespread improvements and innovations that improve customer satisfaction. But there has been incredibly little cross-fertilization between the hotel and hospital industries. In this paper, we first consider the changes in the healthcare system that are forcing hospitals to become more concerned with patient satisfaction. We discuss the similarities and differences between the hotel and hospital industries, and then outline several of the unique challenges that neurosurgeons face in taking care of patients and increasing their comfort. We cite specific lessons from the hotel industry that can be applied to patients’ preadmission, check-in, hospital stay, discharge planning, and poststay experiences. We believe that hospitals can and should leverage the successful advances within the hotel industry to improve patient satisfaction, without having to repeat identical research or market experimentation. We hope this will lead to rapid improvements in patient experiences and overall wellbeing. PMID:24818061

What do hotels and hospitals have in common? How we can learn from the hotel industry to take better care of patients.

PubMed

Zygourakis, Corinna C; Rolston, John D; Treadway, James; Chang, Susan; Kliot, Michel

2014-01-01

Despite widely divergent public perceptions and goals, hotels and hospitals share many core characteristics. Both serve demanding and increasingly well-informed clienteles, both employ a large hierarchy of workers with varying levels of responsibility, and both have payments that are increasingly tied to customer/patient evaluations. In the hotel industry, decades of management experience and market research have led to widespread improvements and innovations that improve customer satisfaction. But there has been incredibly little cross-fertilization between the hotel and hospital industries. In this paper, we first consider the changes in the healthcare system that are forcing hospitals to become more concerned with patient satisfaction. We discuss the similarities and differences between the hotel and hospital industries, and then outline several of the unique challenges that neurosurgeons face in taking care of patients and increasing their comfort. We cite specific lessons from the hotel industry that can be applied to patients' preadmission, check-in, hospital stay, discharge planning, and poststay experiences. We believe that hospitals can and should leverage the successful advances within the hotel industry to improve patient satisfaction, without having to repeat identical research or market experimentation. We hope this will lead to rapid improvements in patient experiences and overall wellbeing.

δ-Similar Elimination to Enhance Search Performance of Multiobjective Evolutionary Algorithms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aguirre, Hernán; Sato, Masahiko; Tanaka, Kiyoshi

In this paper, we propose δ-similar elimination to improve the search performance of multiobjective evolutionary algorithms in combinatorial optimization problems. This method eliminates similar individuals in objective space to fairly distribute selection among the different regions of the instantaneous Pareto front. We investigate four eliminating methods analyzing their effects using NSGA-II. In addition, we compare the search performance of NSGA-II enhanced by our method and NSGA-II enhanced by controlled elitism.

Spinning Reserve From Hotel Load Response: Initial Progress

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kueck, John D; Kirby, Brendan J

2008-11-01

This project was motivated by the fundamental match between hotel space conditioning load response capability and power system contingency response needs. As power system costs rise and capacity is strained demand response can provide a significant system reliability benefit at a potentially attractive cost. At ORNL s suggestion, Digital Solutions Inc. adapted its hotel air conditioning control technology to supply power system spinning reserve. This energy saving technology is primarily designed to provide the hotel operator with the ability to control individual room temperature set-points based upon occupancy (25% to 50% energy savings based on an earlier study [Kirby andmore » Ally, 2002]). DSI added instantaneous local load shedding capability in response to power system frequency and centrally dispatched load shedding capability in response to power system operator command. The 162 room Music Road Hotel in Pigeon Forge Tennessee agreed to host the spinning reserve test. The Tennessee Valley Authority supplied real-time metering equipment in the form of an internet connected Dranetz-BMI power quality meter and monitoring expertise to record total hotel load during both normal operations and test results. The Sevier County Electric System installed the metering. Preliminary testing showed that hotel load can be curtailed by 22% to 37% depending on the outdoor temperature and the time of day. These results are prior to implementing control over the common area air conditioning loads. Testing was also not at times of highest system or hotel loading. Full response occurred in 12 to 60 seconds from when the system operator s command to shed load was issued. The load drop was very rapid, essentially as fast as the 2 second metering could detect, with all units responding essentially simultaneously. Load restoration was ramped back in over several minutes. The restoration ramp can be adjusted to the power system needs. Frequency response testing was not completed

Indoor radon levels in selected hot spring hotels in Guangdong, China.

PubMed

Song, Gang; Zhang, Boyou; Wang, Xinming; Gong, Jingping; Chan, Daniel; Bernett, John; Lee, S C

2005-03-01

Guangdong is one of the provinces that have most hot springs in China, and many hotels have been set up near hot springs, with spring water introduced into the bath inside each hotel room for hot spring bathing to attract tourists. In the present study, we measured radon in indoor and outdoor air, as well as in hot spring waters, in four hot spring hotels in Guangdong by using NR-667A (III) continuous radon detector. Radon concentrations ranged 53.4-292.5 Bq L(-1) in the hot spring water and 17.2-190.9 Bq m(-3) in outdoor air. Soil gas intrusion, indoor hot spring water use and inefficient ventilation all contributed to the elevated indoor radon levels in the hotel rooms. From the variation of radon levels in closed unoccupied hotel rooms, soil gas intrusion was found to be a very important source of indoor radon in hotel rooms with floors in contact with soils. When there was spring water bathing in the bathes, average radon levels were 10.9-813% higher in the hotel rooms and 13.8-489% higher in bathes compared to their corresponding average levels when there was no spring water use. Spring water use in the hotel rooms had radon transfer coefficients from 1.6x10(-4) to 5.0x10(-3). Radon in some hotel rooms maintained in concentrations much higher than guideline levels might thus have potential health risks to the hotel workers, and technical and management measures should be taken to lower their exposure of radon through inhalation.

Green certification, e-commerce, and low-carbon economy for international tourist hotels.

PubMed

Chen, Long-Fei

2018-05-22

Increasing population and over-consumption are placing unprecedented demands on agriculture and natural resources. The Earth is suffering from global warning and environmental destruction while our agricultural systems are concurrently degrading land, water, biodiversity, and climate on a global scale. For a sustainable future, green certification, e-commerce, and environment education can boost low-carbon economy with decreasing carbon emissions, but very few researches address them for the hotel industry. This research studies the performance impact of e-commerce, international hotel chain, local hotel chain, and green certification for carbon emission reductions of international tourist hotels of Taiwan. It reveals that, after a sufficiently long time, there is an improvement in the environmental and economic performance of the green-certified hotel group. In addition, it reveals that, as recommended by the operation policy, the international hotel chain group together with e-commerce has better performance than local hotel chain. It is also discussed how to sustain the continuing improvement in low-carbon performance of the hotel industry.

Dataset on the energy performance of atrium type hotel buildings.

PubMed

Vujosevic, Milica; Krstic-Furundzic, Aleksandra

2018-04-01

The data presented in this article are related to the research article entitled "The Influence of Atrium on Energy Performance of Hotel Building" (Vujosevic and Krstic-Furundzic, 2017) [1], which describes the annual energy performance of atrium type hotel building in Belgrade climate conditions, with the objective to present the impact of the atrium on the hotel building's energy demands for space heating and cooling. This dataset is made publicly available to show energy performance of selected hotel design alternatives, in order to enable extended analyzes of these data for other researchers.

Evaluation of internal noise methods for Hotelling observers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Yani; Pham, Binh T.; Eckstein, Miguel P.

2005-04-01

Including internal noise in computer model observers to degrade model observer performance to human levels is a common method to allow for quantitatively comparisons of human and model performance. In this paper, we studied two different types of methods for injecting internal noise to Hotelling model observers. The first method adds internal noise to the output of the individual channels: a) Independent non-uniform channel noise, b) Independent uniform channel noise. The second method adds internal noise to the decision variable arising from the combination of channel responses: a) internal noise standard deviation proportional to decision variable's standard deviation due to the external noise, b) internal noise standard deviation proportional to decision variable's variance caused by the external noise. We tested the square window Hotelling observer (HO), channelized Hotelling observer (CHO), and Laguerre-Gauss Hotelling observer (LGHO). The studied task was detection of a filling defect of varying size/shape in one of four simulated arterial segment locations with real x-ray angiography backgrounds. Results show that the internal noise method that leads to the best prediction of human performance differs across the studied models observers. The CHO model best predicts human observer performance with the channel internal noise. The HO and LGHO best predict human observer performance with the decision variable internal noise. These results might help explain why previous studies have found different results on the ability of each Hotelling model to predict human performance. Finally, the present results might guide researchers with the choice of method to include internal noise into their Hotelling models.

Legionella Contamination in Hot Water of Italian Hotels

PubMed Central

Borella, Paola; Montagna, Maria Teresa; Stampi, Serena; Stancanelli, Giovanna; Romano-Spica, Vincenzo; Triassi, Maria; Marchesi, Isabella; Bargellini, Annalisa; Tatò, Daniela; Napoli, Christian; Zanetti, Franca; Leoni, Erica; Moro, Matteo; Scaltriti, Stefania; Ribera D'Alcalà, Gabriella; Santarpia, Rosalba; Boccia, Stefania

2005-01-01

A cross-sectional multicenter survey of Italian hotels was conducted to investigate Legionella spp. contamination of hot water. Chemical parameters (hardness, free chlorine concentration, and trace element concentrations), water systems, and building characteristics were evaluated to study risk factors for colonization. The hot water systems of Italian hotels were strongly colonized by Legionella; 75% of the buildings examined and 60% of the water samples were contaminated, mainly at levels of ≥103 CFU liter−1, and Legionella pneumophila was the most frequently isolated species (87%). L. pneumophila serogroup 1 was isolated from 45.8% of the contaminated sites and from 32.5% of the hotels examined. When a multivariate logistic model was used, only hotel age was associated with contamination, but the risk factors differed depending on the contaminating species and serogroup. Soft water with higher chlorine levels and higher temperatures were associated with L. pneumophila serogroup 1 colonization, whereas the opposite was observed for serogroups 2 to 14. In conclusion, Italian hotels, particularly those located in old buildings, represent a major source of risk for Legionnaires' disease due to the high frequency of Legionella contamination, high germ concentration, and major L. pneumophila serogroup 1 colonization. The possible role of chlorine in favoring the survival of Legionella species is discussed. PMID:16204491

Legionella contamination in hot water of Italian hotels.

PubMed

Borella, Paola; Montagna, Maria Teresa; Stampi, Serena; Stancanelli, Giovanna; Romano-Spica, Vincenzo; Triassi, Maria; Marchesi, Isabella; Bargellini, Annalisa; Tatò, Daniela; Napoli, Christian; Zanetti, Franca; Leoni, Erica; Moro, Matteo; Scaltriti, Stefania; Ribera D'Alcalà, Gabriella; Santarpia, Rosalba; Boccia, Stefania

2005-10-01

A cross-sectional multicenter survey of Italian hotels was conducted to investigate Legionella spp. contamination of hot water. Chemical parameters (hardness, free chlorine concentration, and trace element concentrations), water systems, and building characteristics were evaluated to study risk factors for colonization. The hot water systems of Italian hotels were strongly colonized by Legionella; 75% of the buildings examined and 60% of the water samples were contaminated, mainly at levels of > or =10(3) CFU liter(-1), and Legionella pneumophila was the most frequently isolated species (87%). L. pneumophila serogroup 1 was isolated from 45.8% of the contaminated sites and from 32.5% of the hotels examined. When a multivariate logistic model was used, only hotel age was associated with contamination, but the risk factors differed depending on the contaminating species and serogroup. Soft water with higher chlorine levels and higher temperatures were associated with L. pneumophila serogroup 1 colonization, whereas the opposite was observed for serogroups 2 to 14. In conclusion, Italian hotels, particularly those located in old buildings, represent a major source of risk for Legionnaires' disease due to the high frequency of Legionella contamination, high germ concentration, and major L. pneumophila serogroup 1 colonization. The possible role of chlorine in favoring the survival of Legionella species is discussed.

Occupational exposures and health outcomes among Latina hotel cleaners.

PubMed

Hsieh, Yu-Chin Jerrie; Apostolopoulos, Yorghos; Hatzudis, Kiki; Sönmez, Sevil

2014-01-01

The poor working conditions of Latina hotel cleaners render them particularly vulnerable to elevated occupational hazards that lead to adverse health outcomes. This article presents a comprehensive review of occupational risks (including physical, chemical, biological, and psychosocial risk factors) and health outcomes (including musculoskeletal disorders, respiratory diseases, dermatological diseases and allergies, and psychological disorders) for Latina hotel cleaners, within their unique sociocultural contexts. Preventive interventions for improving Latina hotel cleaners' work and health conditions are recommended.

Hotel & Food Service Industries. Workforce & Workplace Literacy Series.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

BCL Brief, 1992

1992-01-01

This brief gives an overview of the topic of workplace literacy for the hotel and food service industries and lists program contacts. The following organizations operate employee basic skills programs for hotel and food service employees, provide technical assistance, or operate grant programs: Essential Skills Resource Center; Language Training…

Chronic disease risk factors among hotel workers.

PubMed

Gawde, Nilesh Chandrakant; Kurlikar, Prashika R

2016-01-01

Non-communicable diseases have emerged as a global health issue. Role of occupation in pathogenesis of non-communicable diseases has not been explored much especially in the hospitality industry. Objectives of this study include finding risk factor prevalence among hotel workers and studying relationship between occupational group and chronic disease risk factors chiefly high body mass index. A cross-sectional study was conducted among non-managerial employees from classified hotels in India. The study participants self-administered pre-designed pilot-tested questionnaires. The risk factor prevalence rates were expressed as percentages. Chi-square test was used for bi-variate analysis. Overweight was chosen as 'outcome' variable of interest and binary multi-logistic regression analysis was used to identify determinants. The prevalence rates of tobacco use, alcohol use, inadequate physical activity and inadequate intake of fruits and vegetables were 32%, 49%, 24% and 92% respectively among hotel employees. Tobacco use was significantly common among those in food preparation and service, alcohol use among those in food service and security and leisure time physical activity among front office workers. More than two-fifths (42.7%) were overweight. Among the hotel workers, those employed in food preparation and security had higher odds of 1.650 (CI: 1.025 - 2.655) and 3.245 (CI: 1.296 - 8.129) respectively of being overweight. Prevalence of chronic disease risk factors is high among hotel workers. Risk of overweight is significantly high in food preparation and security departments and workplace interventions are necessary to address these risks.

Fungal DNA in hotel rooms in Europe and Asia--associations with latitude, precipitation, building data, room characteristics and hotel ranking.

PubMed

Norbäck, Dan; Cai, Gui-Hong

2011-10-01

There is little information on the indoor environment in hotels. Analysis of fungal DNA by quantitative PCR (qPCR) is a new method which can detect general and specific sequences. Dust was collected through swab sampling of door frames in 69 hotel rooms in 20 countries in Europe and Asia (2007-2009). Five sequences were detected by qPCR: total fungal DNA, Aspergillus and Penicillium DNA (Asp/Pen DNA), Aspergillus versicolor (A. versicolor DNA), Stachybotrys chartarum (S. chartarum DNA) and Streptomyces spp. (Streptomyces DNA). Associations were analysed by multiple linear regression. Total fungal DNA (GM = 1.08 × 10(8) cell equivalents m(-2); GSD = 6.36) and Asp/Pen DNA (GM = 1.79 × 10(7) cell equivalents m(-2); GSD = 10.12) were detected in all rooms. A. versicolor DNA, S. chartarum DNA and Streptomyces DNA were detected in 84%, 28% and 47% of the samples. In total, 20% of the rooms had observed dampness/mould, and 30% had odour. Low latitude (range 1.5-64.2 degrees) was a predictor of Asp/Pen DNA. Seaside location, lack of mechanical ventilation, and dampness or mould were other predictors of total fungal DNA and Asp/Pen DNA. Hotel ranking (Trip Advisor) or self-rated quality of the interior of the hotel room was a predictor of total fungal DNA, A. versicolor DNA and Streptomyces DNA. Odour was a predictor of S. chartarum DNA. In conclusion, fungal DNA in swab samples from hotel rooms was related to latitude, seaside location, ventilation, visible dampness and indoor mould growth. Hotels in tropical areas may have 10-100 times higher levels of common moulds such as Aspergillus and Penicillium species, as compared to a temperate climate zone.

Identifying Sustainable Design Opportunities in Tribal Hotels and Casinos: Mescalero Inn of the Mountain Gods Hotel and Casino

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Fuller, Diana; Martino, Anthony; Begay, Sandra K.

The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, passed by Congress on October 17, 1988 provided tribes with the Federal statute to pursue gaming activities on tribal lands. Many Native communities contribute to larger regional economies and tourism industries. These casino facilities often include resort-style hotel amenities. Not surprisingly, they are also large consumers of energy, operating 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. Tribes with hotels and casinos can implement sustainable design features and not only receive economic gain, but also environmental and community benefits. The intention of this paper is to identify sustainable design opportunities at the Inn ofmore » the Mountain Gods Hotel and Casino. This research stems from previous work the researcher conducted and subsequently published for the Illinois Green Business Association. First, the paper reviews what sustainable design is and points of interest when considering sustainable construction. Next, the paper explores the precedents set by the Blue Lake Rancheria, Rincon Band of Luiseno Indians, and the Forest County Potawatomi Tribe. Then, the research examines areas to collect baseline information and identify opportunities in sustainable design for the Mescalero Apache Tribe, Inn of the Mountain Gods Hotel and Casino located in New Mexico. Lastly, the work explores the resources and funding options available to the tribe.« less

Hellish conditions at single-room occupancy hotels.

PubMed

Foley, D

1998-08-01

Poor conditions exist in many of the commercial single-room occupancy (SRO) hotels for people who are HIV-positive. Living conditions are unsanitary, brutal, and dangerous, and occupants often experience harassment from the hotel owners and staff. Many of the occupants are drug abusers or are mentally incapacitated, and therefore may not have the ability to secure better housing. The situation in the California Suites, an SRO in Manhattan, is described.

Norovirus outbreak associated with a hotel in the west of Ireland, 2006.

PubMed

Michel, A; Fitzgerald, R; Whyte, D; Fitzgerald, A; Beggan, E; O'Connell, N; Greally, T

2007-07-01

An outbreak of gastrointestinal disease (nausea, vomiting or diarrhoea) occurred among a party of wedding guests, staff and other guests in a hotel in the west of Ireland, in October 2006. Upon notification, a multi-disciplinary outbreak control team was convened to investigate and control the outbreak. In all, 98 people were ascertained ill. The median duration of illness was 48 hours. The attack rate ranged between 48 and 85%. The hotel voluntarily notified health authorities and co-operated fully with investigation and control measures. Strict prevention and control measures were instituted promptly, including air ventilation, enhanced hand hygiene, isolation of cases, temporary "cooked food only", temporary alternative accommodation and specialised cleaning. Three cases of norovirus infection were laboratory-confirmed. There was no evidence of food- or water-borne transmission. Clinical and epidemiological findings indicated person-to-person transmission of norovirus. This report highlights the potential for large social gatherings to facilitate the spread of viral gastroenteritis by person-to-person transmission and via contaminated environment. Effective community management of this outbreak appears to have prevented its having an impact on local acute hospital services. The authors conclude that in addition to the existing national guidelines on the management of outbreaks of norovirus in healthcare settings, agreed guidelines for the management of norovirus outbreaks in the hotel and tourism industry are needed in Ireland.

An Efficient VLSI Architecture of the Enhanced Three Step Search Algorithm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Biswas, Baishik; Mukherjee, Rohan; Saha, Priyabrata; Chakrabarti, Indrajit

2016-09-01

The intense computational complexity of any video codec is largely due to the motion estimation unit. The Enhanced Three Step Search is a popular technique that can be adopted for fast motion estimation. This paper proposes a novel VLSI architecture for the implementation of the Enhanced Three Step Search Technique. A new addressing mechanism has been introduced which enhances the speed of operation and reduces the area requirements. The proposed architecture when implemented in Verilog HDL on Virtex-5 Technology and synthesized using Xilinx ISE Design Suite 14.1 achieves a critical path delay of 4.8 ns while the area comes out to be 2.9K gate equivalent. It can be incorporated in commercial devices like smart-phones, camcorders, video conferencing systems etc.

Legionellosis Outbreak Associated With a Hotel Fountain.

PubMed

Smith, Shamika S; Ritger, Kathy; Samala, Usha; Black, Stephanie R; Okodua, Margaret; Miller, Loretta; Kozak-Muiznieks, Natalia A; Hicks, Lauri A; Steinheimer, Craig; Ewaidah, Saadeh; Presser, Lance; Siston, Alicia M

2015-12-01

Background.  In August 2012, the Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH) was notified of acute respiratory illness, including 1 fatality, among a group of meeting attendees who stayed at a Chicago hotel during July 30-August 3, 2012. Suspecting Legionnaires' disease (LD), CDPH advised the hotel to close their swimming pool, spa, and decorative lobby fountain and began an investigation. Methods.  Case finding included notification of individuals potentially exposed during July 16-August 15, 2012. Individuals were interviewed using a standardized questionnaire. An environmental assessment was performed. Results.  One hundred fourteen cases were identified: 11 confirmed LD, 29 suspect LD, and 74 Pontiac fever cases. Illness onsets occurred July 21-August 22, 2012. Median age was 48 years (range, 22-82 years), 64% were male, 59% sought medical care (15 hospitalizations), and 3 died. Relative risks for hotel exposures revealed that persons who spent time near the decorative fountain or bar, both located in the lobby were respectively 2.13 (95%, 1.64-2.77) and 1.25 (95% CI, 1.09-1.44) times more likely to become ill than those who did not. Legionella pneumophila serogroup 1 was isolated from samples collected from the fountain, spa, and women's locker room fixtures. Legionella pneumophila serogroup 1 environmental isolates and a clinical isolate had matching sequence-based types. Hotel maintenance records lacked a record of regular cleaning and disinfection of the fountain. Conclusions.  Environmental testing identified Legionella in the hotel's potable water system. Epidemiologic and laboratory data indicated the decorative fountain as the source. Poor fountain maintenance likely created favorable conditions for Legionella overgrowth.

Legionellosis Outbreak Associated With a Hotel Fountain

PubMed Central

Smith, Shamika S.; Ritger, Kathy; Samala, Usha; Black, Stephanie R.; Okodua, Margaret; Miller, Loretta; Kozak-Muiznieks, Natalia A.; Hicks, Lauri A.; Steinheimer, Craig; Ewaidah, Saadeh; Presser, Lance; Siston, Alicia M.

2015-01-01

Background. In August 2012, the Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH) was notified of acute respiratory illness, including 1 fatality, among a group of meeting attendees who stayed at a Chicago hotel during July 30–August 3, 2012. Suspecting Legionnaires' disease (LD), CDPH advised the hotel to close their swimming pool, spa, and decorative lobby fountain and began an investigation. Methods. Case finding included notification of individuals potentially exposed during July 16–August 15, 2012. Individuals were interviewed using a standardized questionnaire. An environmental assessment was performed. Results. One hundred fourteen cases were identified: 11 confirmed LD, 29 suspect LD, and 74 Pontiac fever cases. Illness onsets occurred July 21–August 22, 2012. Median age was 48 years (range, 22–82 years), 64% were male, 59% sought medical care (15 hospitalizations), and 3 died. Relative risks for hotel exposures revealed that persons who spent time near the decorative fountain or bar, both located in the lobby were respectively 2.13 (95%, 1.64–2.77) and 1.25 (95% CI, 1.09–1.44) times more likely to become ill than those who did not. Legionella pneumophila serogroup 1 was isolated from samples collected from the fountain, spa, and women's locker room fixtures. Legionella pneumophila serogroup 1 environmental isolates and a clinical isolate had matching sequence-based types. Hotel maintenance records lacked a record of regular cleaning and disinfection of the fountain. Conclusions. Environmental testing identified Legionella in the hotel's potable water system. Epidemiologic and laboratory data indicated the decorative fountain as the source. Poor fountain maintenance likely created favorable conditions for Legionella overgrowth. PMID:26716104

Chronic disease risk factors among hotel workers

PubMed Central

Gawde, Nilesh Chandrakant; Kurlikar, Prashika R.

2016-01-01

Context: Non-communicable diseases have emerged as a global health issue. Role of occupation in pathogenesis of non-communicable diseases has not been explored much especially in the hospitality industry. Aims: Objectives of this study include finding risk factor prevalence among hotel workers and studying relationship between occupational group and chronic disease risk factors chiefly high body mass index. Settings and Design: A cross-sectional study was conducted among non-managerial employees from classified hotels in India. Materials and Methods: The study participants self-administered pre-designed pilot-tested questionnaires. Statistical analysis used: The risk factor prevalence rates were expressed as percentages. Chi-square test was used for bi-variate analysis. Overweight was chosen as ‘outcome’ variable of interest and binary multi-logistic regression analysis was used to identify determinants. Results: The prevalence rates of tobacco use, alcohol use, inadequate physical activity and inadequate intake of fruits and vegetables were 32%, 49%, 24% and 92% respectively among hotel employees. Tobacco use was significantly common among those in food preparation and service, alcohol use among those in food service and security and leisure time physical activity among front office workers. More than two-fifths (42.7%) were overweight. Among the hotel workers, those employed in food preparation and security had higher odds of 1.650 (CI: 1.025 – 2.655) and 3.245 (CI: 1.296 – 8.129) respectively of being overweight. Conclusions: Prevalence of chronic disease risk factors is high among hotel workers. Risk of overweight is significantly high in food preparation and security departments and workplace interventions are necessary to address these risks PMID:27390474

Selective attention in anxiety: distraction and enhancement in visual search.

PubMed

Rinck, Mike; Becker, Eni S; Kellermann, Jana; Roth, Walton T

2003-01-01

According to cognitive models of anxiety, anxiety patients exhibit an attentional bias towards threat, manifested as greater distractibility by threat stimuli and enhanced detection of them. Both phenomena were studied in two experiments, using a modified visual search task, in which participants were asked to find single target words (GAD-related, speech-related, neutral, or positive) hidden in matrices made up of distractor words (also GAD-related, speech-related, neutral, or positive). Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) patients, social phobia (SP) patients afraid of giving speeches, and healthy controls participated in the visual search task. GAD patients were slowed by GAD-related distractor words but did not show statistically reliable evidence of enhanced detection of GAD-related target words. SP patients showed neither distraction nor enhancement effects. These results extend previous findings of attentional biases observed with other experimental paradigms. Copyright 2003 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

OpinionSeer: interactive visualization of hotel customer feedback.

PubMed

Wu, Yingcai; Wei, Furu; Liu, Shixia; Au, Norman; Cui, Weiwei; Zhou, Hong; Qu, Huamin

2010-01-01

The rapid development of Web technology has resulted in an increasing number of hotel customers sharing their opinions on the hotel services. Effective visual analysis of online customer opinions is needed, as it has a significant impact on building a successful business. In this paper, we present OpinionSeer, an interactive visualization system that could visually analyze a large collection of online hotel customer reviews. The system is built on a new visualization-centric opinion mining technique that considers uncertainty for faithfully modeling and analyzing customer opinions. A new visual representation is developed to convey customer opinions by augmenting well-established scatterplots and radial visualization. To provide multiple-level exploration, we introduce subjective logic to handle and organize subjective opinions with degrees of uncertainty. Several case studies illustrate the effectiveness and usefulness of OpinionSeer on analyzing relationships among multiple data dimensions and comparing opinions of different groups. Aside from data on hotel customer feedback, OpinionSeer could also be applied to visually analyze customer opinions on other products or services.

Sanitary status and incidence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and Clostridium difficile within Canadian hotel rooms.

PubMed

Xu, Changyun; Weese, Scott J; Namvar, Azadeh; Warriner, Keith

2015-04-01

The study described in this article aimed at establishing a baseline assessment of the sanitary status of ice and guest rooms within Canadian hotels. Collectively, 54 hotel rooms belonging to six different national chains were sampled. High-contact surfaces (comforter, alarm clock, bedside lamp, TV remote, bathroom countertop, faucet, and toilet seat) were sampled using adenosine triphosphate (ATP) swabs and replicate organism detection and counting plates. ATP swab readings ranged from 2.12 to 4.42 log relative light units. Coliforms were recovered from 36% of surfaces with high prevalence being recovered from the comforter, TV remote, bathroom countertop, faucet, and toilet seat. Oxacillin-resistant bacteria were recovered from 19% of surfaces with 46% of isolates confirmed as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Two toxigenic Clostridium difficile isolates were recovered in the course of the study. Collectively, 24% of the ice samples harbored coliforms with a single sample testing positive for E. coli. The authors' study demonstrates that hotel rooms represent a potential source of community-acquired infections and the need for enhanced sanitation practices.

Use of hygiene protocols to control the spread of viruses in a hotel.

PubMed

Sifuentes, Laura Y; Koenig, David W; Phillips, Ronnie L; Reynolds, Kelly A; Gerba, Charles P

2014-09-01

The goals of this study were to observe the spread of viruses in a hotel setting and to assess the effectiveness of a hygiene intervention in reducing their spread. Selected fomites in one hotel room were inoculated with bacteriophage ϕx-174, and fomites in a conference center within the same hotel were inoculated using bacteriophage MS2. Cleaning of the contaminated room resulted in the spread of viruses to other rooms by the housekeeping staff. Furthermore, viruses were transferred by hotel guests to the conference center and a communal kitchen area. Additionally, conference attendees transferred viruses from the conference center to their hotel rooms and a communal kitchen area. This study demonstrated how viruses can be spread throughout a hotel setting by both housekeepers and guests. A hygiene intervention, which included providing hand hygiene products and facial tissues to the guests and disinfecting solutions with disposable wipes to the housekeeping staff, was successful in reducing the spread of viruses between the hotel guest rooms and conference center. The hygiene intervention resulted in significantly reduced transfer of the ϕx-174 between the contaminated hotel room and other hotel rooms, communal areas, and the conference center (p = 0.02).

Spatio-temporal Hotelling observer for signal detection from image sequences

PubMed Central

Caucci, Luca; Barrett, Harrison H.; Rodríguez, Jeffrey J.

2010-01-01

Detection of signals in noisy images is necessary in many applications, including astronomy and medical imaging. The optimal linear observer for performing a detection task, called the Hotelling observer in the medical literature, can be regarded as a generalization of the familiar prewhitening matched filter. Performance on the detection task is limited by randomness in the image data, which stems from randomness in the object, randomness in the imaging system, and randomness in the detector outputs due to photon and readout noise, and the Hotelling observer accounts for all of these effects in an optimal way. If multiple temporal frames of images are acquired, the resulting data set is a spatio-temporal random process, and the Hotelling observer becomes a spatio-temporal linear operator. This paper discusses the theory of the spatio-temporal Hotelling observer and estimation of the required spatio-temporal covariance matrices. It also presents a parallel implementation of the observer on a cluster of Sony PLAYSTATION 3 gaming consoles. As an example, we consider the use of the spatio-temporal Hotelling observer for exoplanet detection. PMID:19550494

Spatio-temporal Hotelling observer for signal detection from image sequences.

PubMed

Caucci, Luca; Barrett, Harrison H; Rodriguez, Jeffrey J

2009-06-22

Detection of signals in noisy images is necessary in many applications, including astronomy and medical imaging. The optimal linear observer for performing a detection task, called the Hotelling observer in the medical literature, can be regarded as a generalization of the familiar prewhitening matched filter. Performance on the detection task is limited by randomness in the image data, which stems from randomness in the object, randomness in the imaging system, and randomness in the detector outputs due to photon and readout noise, and the Hotelling observer accounts for all of these effects in an optimal way. If multiple temporal frames of images are acquired, the resulting data set is a spatio-temporal random process, and the Hotelling observer becomes a spatio-temporal linear operator. This paper discusses the theory of the spatio-temporal Hotelling observer and estimation of the required spatio-temporal covariance matrices. It also presents a parallel implementation of the observer on a cluster of Sony PLAYSTATION 3 gaming consoles. As an example, we consider the use of the spatio-temporal Hotelling observer for exoplanet detection.

Health status of hotel workers with special reference to high risk practices and STDs.

PubMed

Pawar, A T; Kakrani, V A

2007-01-01

A cross sectional study was conducted on health status of hotel workers of Pune city. Out of estimated 1000 hotel workers 516 were selected by stratified random sampling technique. The study revealed that 71.5% hotel workers were suffering from one or other type of morbid condition. Anemia was the commonest morbidity with prevalence of 40.3%. 187 (36.2%) of hotel workers had extramarital sexual relations. A total of 77 (14.9%) hotel workers were having STDs at the time of study.

Move to outpatient settings may boost medical hotels.

PubMed

Burns, J

1992-06-08

The shift of surgeries to outpatient settings could be healthy for medical hotels, those amenity-equipped facilities originally developed to ease patients out of costly acute-care beds. Because fewer hospitals have a pressing need to use such alternative lodging, some medical hotels are hoping to hitch their fortunes to the outpatient trade, keeping patients overnight after surgeries that don't require hospital admission.

The impact of virtual reality functions of a hotel website on travel anxiety.

PubMed

Lee, Ook; Oh, Ji-Eun

2007-08-01

This study deals with the impact of virtual reality (VR) features that are embedded in a hotel website on travelers' anxiety. Having more information is thought to be a factor in relieving anxiety in travel. A hotel website can be a good place for gathering information about the accommodation. In this study, we posit that a hotel website with VR functions should lead to a reduction in travelers' anxiety about travel. We built a website of a hotel and used VR functions to show the exterior, the lobby, a guest room, and a restaurant through an interactive and spatial shot of the hotel images. The experiment was conducted with a premise that the subjects were about to embark on a journey to an unknown place and to stay at an unknown hotel whose website contained VR functions. The subjects were asked to play with VR functions of the hotel website and then to complete a survey with questions regarding the degree of anxiety on the travel and psychological relief that might have been perceived by the subjects. The result confirms our hypothesis that there is a statistically significant relationship between the degree of travel anxiety and psychological relief caused by the use of VR functions of a hotel website.

How Clean Are Hotel Rooms? Part II: Examining the Concept of Cleanliness Standards.

PubMed

Almanza, Barbara A; Kirsch, Katie; Kline, Sheryl Fried; Sirsat, Sujata; Stroia, Olivia; Choi, Jin Kyung; Neal, Jay

2015-01-01

Hotel room cleanliness is based on observation and not on microbial assessment even though recent reports suggest that infections may be acquired while staying in hotel rooms. Exploratory research in the first part of the authors' study was conducted to determine if contamination of hotel rooms occurs and whether visual assessments are accurate indicators of hotel room cleanliness. Data suggested the presence of microbial contamination that was not reflective of visual assessments. Unfortunately, no standards exist for interpreting microbiological data and other indicators of cleanliness in hotel rooms. The purpose of the second half of the authors' study was to examine cleanliness standards in other industries to see if they might suggest standards in hotels. Results of the authors' study indicate that standards from other related industries do not provide analogous criteria, but do provide suggestions for further research.

Employment Prospects in the Hotel and Catering Trade: A Franco-American Comparison.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Meriot, Sylvie-Anne

2000-01-01

In both France and the United States, restaurants remain the hotel and catering sector's main employer. In France, 25% of hotel and catering personnel are self-employers versus fewer than 5% in the United States; however, the growth of hotel and restaurant chains in France may eventually limit opportunities for creating an independent activity.…

A framework for stochastic simulation of distribution practices for hotel reservations

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Halkos, George E.; Tsilika, Kyriaki D.

The focus of this study is primarily on the Greek hotel industry. The objective is to design and develop a framework for stochastic simulation of reservation requests, reservation arrivals, cancellations and hotel occupancy with a planning horizon of a tourist season. In Greek hospitality industry there have been two competing policies for reservation planning process up to 2003: reservations coming directly from customers and a reservations management relying on tour operator(s). Recently the Internet along with other emerging technologies has offered the potential to disrupt enduring distribution arrangements. The focus of the study is on the choice of distribution intermediaries.more » We present an empirical model for the hotel reservation planning process that makes use of a symbolic simulation, Monte Carlo method, as, requests for reservations, cancellations, and arrival rates are all sources of uncertainty. We consider as a case study the problem of determining the optimal booking strategy for a medium size hotel in Skiathos Island, Greece. Probability distributions and parameters estimation result from the historical data available and by following suggestions made in the relevant literature. The results of this study may assist hotel managers define distribution strategies for hotel rooms and evaluate the performance of the reservations management system.« less

Teaching Case: MiHotel--Applicant Processing System Design Case

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Miller, Robert E.; Dunn, Paul

2018-01-01

This teaching case describes the functionality of an applicant processing system designed for a fictitious hotel chain. The system detailed in the case includes a webform where applicants complete and submit job applications. The system also includes a desktop application used by hotel managers and Human Resources to track applications and process…

New Employment Forecasts. Hotel and Catering Industry 1988-1993.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Measurement for Management Decision, Ltd., London (England).

Econometric forecasting models were used to forecast employment levels in the hotel and catering industry in Great Britain through 1993 under several different forecasting scenarios. The growth in employment in the hotel and catering industry over the next 5 years is likely to be broadly based, both across income levels of domestic consumers,…

HOTEL AND MOTEL HOUSEKEEPING AIDE, A SUGGESTED TRAINING PROGRAM.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Office of Education (DHEW), Washington, DC.

A LOCAL TRAINING PROGRAM TO PREPARE HOTEL AND MOTEL HOUSEKEEPING AIDES CAN BE DEVELOPED FROM RESOURCE MATERIAL IN THIS GUIDE. PROGRAM OBJECTIVES ARE TO PREPARE TRAINEES TO PERFORM THE JOBS INVOLVED IN KEEPING HOTEL OR MOTEL ROOMS CLEAN, TO FOLLOW CORRECT PROCEDURES IN USING EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES REQUIRED IN CARING FOR BEDROOMS AND BATHROOMS, AND…

Exposure level of ergonomic risk factors in hotel industries

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nasrull Abdol Rahman, Mohd; Syahir Muhamad Jaffar, Mohd; Fahrul Hassan, Mohd; Zamani Ngali, Mohd; Pauline, Ong

2017-08-01

Ergonomic Risk Factors (ERFs) which contribute to Musculoskeletal Disorders (MSDs) among room attendants were considered as a problem or trouble since these ERFs would affect their work performance for hotel industries. The purpose of this study was to examine the exposure level of ERFs among room attendants in hotel industries. 65 of respondents were obtained from selected hotels in Peninsular Malaysia. Data were collected by direct observation via Workplace Ergonomic Risk Assessment (WERA) and Quick Exposure Checklist (QEC). There were 36 males and 29 females room attendants involved throughout the research. Most of room attendants experienced high exposure level for back, leg, forceful and vibration based on the exposure level evaluation through WERA while QEC results showed that all room attendants were found to have moderate exposure level for risk factors including back for movement use, shoulders/arms, wrists/hands and neck. All the results obtained showed that the related ERFs for MSDs were associated and essential ergonomic interventions are needed in order to eliminate risk of exposures to MSDs among room attendants in hotel industries.

Thesaurus-Enhanced Search Interfaces.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shiri, Ali Asghar; Revie, Crawford; Chowdhury, Gobinda

2002-01-01

Discussion of user interfaces to information retrieval systems focuses on interfaces that incorporate thesauri as part of their searching and browsing facilities. Discusses research literature related to information searching behavior, information retrieval interface evaluation, search term selection, and query expansion; and compares thesaurus…

The impact of later trading hours for Australian public houses (hotels) on levels of violence.

PubMed

Chikritzhs, Tanya; Stockwell, Tim

2002-09-01

To examine the impact of later trading hours for licensed hotels (Australian public houses are usually known as "hotels") in Perth, Western Australia, on levels of violent assault on or near these premises. Data on assault offenses reported to police between July 1, 1991, and June 30, 1997, were examined to identify those offenses that occurred on or close to hotels. During this period, 45 (24%) of the 188 hotels meeting study criteria were granted an extended trading permit for 1AM closing ("ETP hotels"), whereas the rest continued to close at midnight ("non-ETP hotels"). A time-series analysis employing linear regression was used to test whether there was a relationship between the introduction of extended trading and monthly rates of assaults associated with ETP hotels, while controlling for the general trend in assault rates among normally trading hotels. Possible confounders and other variables of interest (e.g., levels of alcohol purchases) were also examined. After controlling for the general trend in assaults occurring throughout Perth hotels, there was a significant increase in monthly assault rates for hotels with late trading following the introduction of extended trading permits. This relationship was largely accounted for by higher volumes of high alcohol content beer, wine and distilled spirits purchased by late trading hotels. Late trading was associated with both increased violence in and around Perth hotels and increased levels of alcohol consumption during the study period. It is suggested that greater numbers of patrons and increased levels of intoxication contributed to the observed increase in violence and that systematic planning and evaluation of late trading licenses is required.

Hotel guest's $14.5 million jury verdict set aside on appeal.

PubMed

1999-08-20

A Missouri Court of Appeals judge reversed a $14.5 million judgement against [name removed] Inc., which had been held liable for the beating and sexual assault of a guest in its hotel. The guest, identified as [name removed], had requested an upgrade to a concierge room, to increase her safety, but the hotel did not fill her request. When [name removed] opened her hotel room door the next morning, an assailant attacked, beat and raped her. The assailant escaped hotel security, but was later apprehended. The initial case against [name removed] and the assailant resulted in a $22.5 million judgement for [name removed] Both parties appealed. [Name removed] prevailed in its argument that the initial trial judge misinstructed the jury, and that [name removed] was unable to show clear and convincing evidence that the hotel's willful or conscious disregard for guest safety caused the situation. However, the court ruled against [name removed] on the basis of [name removed]'s fear-of-AIDS claim, because of her exposure to the virus.

Factors Influencing e-Business Adoption in the Greek Hotel Sector

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Samanta, Ir.; Kyriazopoulos, P.

The purpose of this research is to identify the impact of business process improvement in the area of e-marketing in the hotel industry. The research identifies the barriers which block organizational change effort. A sample of thirty hotels in the city of Athens was used.This paper presents a SWOT analysis of the hotel sector, identifying the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats that firms faced in the process of change. The results show that the majority of firms use, to a small extent, the e-marketing concept to improve their communication strategy and reach market segments.

An Adaptive Image Enhancement Technique by Combining Cuckoo Search and Particle Swarm Optimization Algorithm

PubMed Central

Ye, Zhiwei; Wang, Mingwei; Hu, Zhengbing; Liu, Wei

2015-01-01

Image enhancement is an important procedure of image processing and analysis. This paper presents a new technique using a modified measure and blending of cuckoo search and particle swarm optimization (CS-PSO) for low contrast images to enhance image adaptively. In this way, contrast enhancement is obtained by global transformation of the input intensities; it employs incomplete Beta function as the transformation function and a novel criterion for measuring image quality considering three factors which are threshold, entropy value, and gray-level probability density of the image. The enhancement process is a nonlinear optimization problem with several constraints. CS-PSO is utilized to maximize the objective fitness criterion in order to enhance the contrast and detail in an image by adapting the parameters of a novel extension to a local enhancement technique. The performance of the proposed method has been compared with other existing techniques such as linear contrast stretching, histogram equalization, and evolutionary computing based image enhancement methods like backtracking search algorithm, differential search algorithm, genetic algorithm, and particle swarm optimization in terms of processing time and image quality. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method is robust and adaptive and exhibits the better performance than other methods involved in the paper. PMID:25784928

An adaptive image enhancement technique by combining cuckoo search and particle swarm optimization algorithm.

PubMed

Ye, Zhiwei; Wang, Mingwei; Hu, Zhengbing; Liu, Wei

2015-01-01

Image enhancement is an important procedure of image processing and analysis. This paper presents a new technique using a modified measure and blending of cuckoo search and particle swarm optimization (CS-PSO) for low contrast images to enhance image adaptively. In this way, contrast enhancement is obtained by global transformation of the input intensities; it employs incomplete Beta function as the transformation function and a novel criterion for measuring image quality considering three factors which are threshold, entropy value, and gray-level probability density of the image. The enhancement process is a nonlinear optimization problem with several constraints. CS-PSO is utilized to maximize the objective fitness criterion in order to enhance the contrast and detail in an image by adapting the parameters of a novel extension to a local enhancement technique. The performance of the proposed method has been compared with other existing techniques such as linear contrast stretching, histogram equalization, and evolutionary computing based image enhancement methods like backtracking search algorithm, differential search algorithm, genetic algorithm, and particle swarm optimization in terms of processing time and image quality. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method is robust and adaptive and exhibits the better performance than other methods involved in the paper.

Management Trainees in the Hotel Industry: What Do Managers Expect?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Baum, Tom

1991-01-01

Comparison of a survey of 118 United Kingdom hotel managers (53 percent response) with a similar study of 75 U.S. managers found key differences reflecting the impact of cultures on management expectations. Significant similarities support development of an internationally transferable core curriculum for hotel management. (SK)

Cryptosporidiosis Outbreak Associated With a Single Hotel.

PubMed

Fill, Mary-Margaret A; Lloyd, Jennifer; Chakraverty, Tamal; Sweat, David; Manners, Judy; Garman, Katie; Hlavsa, Michele C; Roellig, Dawn M; Dunn, John R; Schaffner, William; Jones, Timothy F

2017-05-01

We investigated a gastrointestinal illness cluster among persons who attended a baseball tournament (>200 teams) during July 2015. We interviewed representatives of 19 teams; illness was reported among only the 9 (47%) teams that stayed at Hotel A (p < .01). We identified 55 primary cases. A case-control study demonstrated that pool exposure at Hotel A was significantly associated with illness (odds ratio: 7.3; 95% confidence interval: 3.6, 15.2). Eight out of nine (89%) stool specimens tested were positive for Cryptosporidium, with C. hominis IfA12G1 subtype identified in two specimens. The environmental health assessment detected a low free available chlorine level, and pool water tested positive for E. coli and total coliforms. A possible diarrheal contamination event, substantial hotel pool use, and use of cyanuric acid might have contributed to this outbreak and magnitude. Aquatic facilities practicing proper operation and maintenance (e.g., following the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Model Aquatic Health Code) can protect the public’s health.

Hotel-Motel Occupations: Hotel-Motel Clerk. Front Office Manager. Competency-Based Education Curriculum.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McKinney, L. S.

A teacher's guide and student curriculum are provided for a hotel-motel occupations competency-based education curriculum designed to facilitate the learning of skills for front office clerks and managers. The teacher's guide contains an explanation of the curriculum and suggested usage, a list of competencies by job title, evaluation aids,…

Strategic planning for hotel operations: The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company (Part I).

PubMed

Shriver, S J

1993-01-01

The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company won the Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award in 1992. One key to its success is its strategic planning process. This two-part article reviews the Ritz-Carlton's approach to strategic planning. In particular, it describes (1) the role of senior leadership in the planning process and (2) the specific activities that are associated with plan development and implementation.

Tourism and hotel revenues before and after passage of smoke-free restaurant ordinances.

PubMed

Glantz, S A; Charlesworth, A

1999-05-26

Claims that ordinances requiring smoke-free restaurants will adversely affect tourism have been used to argue against passing such ordinances. Data exist regarding the validity of these claims. To determine the changes in hotel revenues and international tourism after passage of smoke-free restaurant ordinances in locales where the effect has been debated. Comparison of hotel revenues and tourism rates before and after passage of 100% smoke-free restaurant ordinances and comparison with US hotel revenue overall. Three states (California, Utah, and Vermont) and 6 cities (Boulder, Colo; Flagstaff, Ariz; Los Angeles, Calif; Mesa, Ariz; New York, NY; and San Francisco, Calif) in which the effect on tourism of smoke-free restaurant ordinances had been debated. Hotel room revenues and hotel revenues as a fraction of total retail sales compared with preordinance revenues and overall US revenues. In constant 1997 dollars, passage of the smoke-free restaurant ordinance was associated with a statistically significant increase in the rate of change of hotel revenues in 4 localities, no significant change in 4 localities, and a significant slowing in the rate of increase (but not a decrease) in 1 locality. There was no significant change in the rate of change of hotel revenues as a fraction of total retail sales (P=.16) or total US hotel revenues associated with the ordinances when pooled across all localities (P = .93). International tourism was either unaffected or increased following implementation of the smoke-free ordinances. Smoke-free ordinances do not appear to adversely affect, and may increase, tourist business.

Description of the food safety system in hotels and how it compares with HACCP standards.

PubMed

Fletcher, Stephanie M; Maharaj, Satnarine R; James, Kenneth

2009-01-01

Tourism is an important earner of foreign exchange in Jamaica; hence, the protection of the visitors' health is very important. A study of travelers to Jamaica in 1996 to 1997 found that travelers' diarrhea (TD) affected almost 25% of visitors. The Ministry of Health (Jamaica) initiated a program for the prevention and control of TD aimed at reducing attack rates from 25.0% to 12.0% over a 5-year period through environmental health and food safety standards of hotels. This article examines the food safety systems in Jamaican hotels located in a popular resort area to find out how comparable they are with the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) strategy. A cross-sectional study was done of hotels in St. Mary and St. Ann. Quantitative data were obtained from food and beverage/sanitation staff and qualitative data through in-depth interviews with hotel managers. Observation of the food safety operations was also done. The majority (75%) of larger hotels used a combination of HACCP and Ministry of Health food safety strategies (p = 0.02) and offered all-inclusive services (r =-0.705, p = 0.001). Larger hotels were more likely to have a better quality team approach, HACCP plan, and monitoring of critical control points (CCPs) and more likely to receive higher scores (p < 0.05). More than two thirds of hotel staff were knowledgeable of HACCP. Significantly smaller hotels (87.5%) received less than 70% in overall score (r = 0.75, p = 0.01). Identification of CCPs and monitoring of CCPs explained 96.6% of the change in the overall HACCP scores (p = 0.001). Hotel managers felt that some hotels' systems were comparable with HACCP and that larger properties were ready for mandatory implementation. Conclusions. While some components of the HACCP system were observed in larger hotels, there were serious shortcomings in its comparison. Mandatory implementation of HACCP would require that sector-specific policies be developed for smaller hotels and implemented on a

Psychosocial work factors and shoulder pain in hotel room cleaners.

PubMed

Burgel, Barbara J; White, Mary C; Gillen, Marion; Krause, Niklas

2010-07-01

Hotel room cleaners have physically demanding jobs that place them at high risk for shoulder pain. Psychosocial work factors may also play a role in shoulder pain, but their independent role has not been studied in this group. Seventy-four percent (941 of 1,276) of hotel room cleaners from five Las Vegas hotels completed a 29-page survey assessing health status, working conditions, and psychosocial work factors. For this study, 493 of the 941 (52%) with complete data for 21 variables were included in multivariate logistic regression analyses. Fifty-six percent reported shoulder pain in the prior four weeks. Room cleaners with effort-reward imbalance (ERI) were three times as likely to report shoulder pain (OR 2.99, 95% CI 1.95-4.59, P = 0.000) even after adjustment for physical workload and other factors. After adjustment for physical workload, job strain and iso-strain were not significantly associated with shoulder pain. ERI is independently associated with shoulder pain in hotel room cleaners even after adjustment for physical workload and other risk factors. 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Changing Occupational Profiles in the Hotel Industry: Case Studies in France, Italy and Spain. Synthesis Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gatti, Mario; Grazia Mereu, Maria; Tagliaferro, Claudio

Changing occupational profiles in the hotel industry in France, Italy, and Spain were examined in case studies that included interviews with hotel managers, human resource managers, and individuals employed in hotel occupations identified as new or entailing new skills. The study focused on the following topics: (1) changes in the hotel industry…

Evaluation of lumbar overload in hotel maids.

PubMed

Silva, J S; Correa, L R C; Morrone, L C

2012-01-01

Work-related musculoskeletal disorders are responsible for important amount of declining productivity among workers. Its economic impact is considered important because, in some aspects, such as sickness absence, it can cause increase in costs for employers. This paper aimed at identifying whether the activities that the hotel maids perform during working hours may lead to the development of musculoskeletal disorders. Cross-sectional study conducted in a hotel in the city of São Paulo, Brazil. Performed an ergonomic analysis of the job application with a checklist consisting of risk assessment of low back pain. The maids are responsible for the cleaning of hotel rooms, including to lean in order to clean the bathroom. The activity is associated with ergonomic risk for poor posture, manual transport of loads and use of physical force in the upper limbs. This job presents a moderate risk of low back pain according to checklist for assessing the ergonomic situation. Negative ergonomic aspects are associated with the development or aggravation of musculoskeletal disorders in these workers. We suggest modification in work organisation. Another possibility is decreased the weight of the carts, keeping areas of replacement material on each floor.

Hospitalizations among employees in the Danish hotel and restaurant industry.

PubMed

Hannerz, Harald; Tüchsen, Finn; Kristensen, Tage S

2002-09-01

The aim of the present study was to provide a broad picture of the morbidity among employees in the Danish hotel and restaurant industry. Cohorts of all 20-59-year-old employees in the Danish hotel and restaurant industry in the years 1981, 1986, 1991 and 1994 were formed to calculate age-standardized hospitalization ratios (SHR) and time trends (1981-1997) for many different diagnoses. Both for women and men, significantly higher SHRs were found for infectious and parasitic diseases, neoplasms, diseases in the nervous system and sense organs, diseases of the circulatory system, diseases of the respiratory system, diseases of the digestive system and diseases of the musculoskeletal system among employees in hotels and restaurants than in the digestive system and diseases of the musculoskeletal system among employees in hotels and restaurants than in the working population at large. Furthermore, among women a significantly elevated risk was found for injuries in the lower extremities, injuries in the upper extremities and head injuries, and among men a high risk was found for head injuries and a low risk for ruptures in ligaments and muscles. The trend assessments did not detect any significant changes in SHRs over time. Employment in the Danish hotel and restaurant industry is associated with an elevated hospitalization risk due to many diseases, which may be related to occupation and lifestyle. In line with the official policy of reducing inequality in health, focus should be placed on the health problems in this group.

Space-Hotel Early Bird - Visions for a Commercial Space Hotel

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Amekrane, R.; Holze, C.; Apel, U.

2002-01-01

rachid.amekrane@astrium-space.com/Fax: +49 421 539-24801, cholze@zarm.uni-bremen.de/Fax: +49 421 218-7473, The International Space Station was planed for research purposes. In 2001 the first private man, Denis Tito,visited the ISS and the second private man, Mark Shuttleworth is following him. The gate towards the commercial utilization of manned space flight has been pushed open. Space pioneers as Wernher von Braun and Sir Arthur C. Clarke had the dream that one day a space station in earth orbit will host tourists. It is evident that the ISS is not designed to host tourists. Therefore the dream of the pioneers is still open. By asking the question "how should a space station should look like to host tourists?", the German Aerospace Society DGLR e.V. organized a contest under the patronage of Mr. Joerg Feustel-Buechl, the Director of Manned Spaceflight and Microgravity, European Space Agency (ESA) in April 2001. Because the definition and design of living space is the content of architecture the approach was to gather new ideas from young architects in cooperation with space experts. This contest was directed at students of architecture and the task set was to design a hotel for the earth orbit and to accommodate 220 guests. The contest got the name "Early Bird - Visions of a Space Hotel". The results and models of the student's work were shown in an exhibition in Hamburg/Germany, which was open to the public from September 19th till October 20th 2001. During the summer term of 2001 seventeen designs were completed. Having specialists, as volunteers, in the field of space in charge meant that it could be ensured that the designs reflected a certain possibility of being able to be realized. Within this interdisciplinary project both parties learned from each other. The 17 different designs were focused on the expectations and needs of a future space tourist. The designs are for sure not feasible today, but the designs are in that sense realistic that they could be

Strategic planning for hotel operations: The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company (Part II).

PubMed

Shriver, S J

1993-01-01

The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company won the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award in 1992. One key to its success is its strategic planning process. In this second part of a two-part article, Stephen Shriver concludes his review of the Ritz-Carlton's approach to strategic planning. Shriver begins by outlining some key steps in plan development and goes on to describe how the Ritz-Carlton disseminates, implements, and evaluates the plan.

Hilbert's Hotel in polarization singularities.

PubMed

Wang, Yangyundou; Gbur, Greg

2017-12-15

We demonstrate theoretically how the creation of polarization singularities by the evolution of a fractional nonuniform polarization optical element involves the peculiar mathematics of countably infinite sets in the form of "Hilbert's Hotel." Two distinct topological processes can be observed, depending on the structure of the fractional optical element.

Single-room occupancy hotels: possible solutions and alternatives.

PubMed

Foley, D

1998-09-01

New York City's Division of AIDS Services and Income Support (DASIS) places clients in economical, commercial residences in one of 33 hotels in the New York City area, termed single-room occupancy (SRO) hotels. There have been many problems with these hotels in terms of safety and health. One problem is how to enforce housing laws when city agencies have had drastic personnel cutbacks, and landlords are not held accountable for repairs and building conditions. Without a strategic plan to supplement SROs with necessary services, and a way to deal with homeless people with AIDS, it will be difficult to redeem the condition of SROs and lessen dependency on them as a long-term solution. The West Side SRO Law Project offers tips on how tenants in SROs can safeguard their rights and document their cases if they feel that their rights have been violated. Included is a resource list for legal help and emergency numbers for the Department of Buildings in New York City and the surrounding boroughs.

One for the road: on the utility of citation data for identifying problem hotels.

PubMed

Wood, L J; McLean, S; Davidson, J; Montgomery, I M

1995-01-01

Drink drivers arrested in Tasmania are routinely asked by police where they had last been drinking, and these data were examined for 716 drivers arrested in Southern Tasmania during a 4-month period in 1992. Nearly half (43%) of arrested drink drivers cited individual hotels as the place where they had last been drinking. This enabled a citation score to be assigned to each of the 82 hotels in metropolitan Hobart. The distribution of citation scores was highly skewed, with eight hotels accounting for 45% of hotel citations, and two accounting for 20%. The hotels' citation scores were compared in relation to the rank order of their licence fees, since better measures of patronage proved unobtainable. Some hotels with small total alcohol sales did appear to have an unexpectedly large number of citations, suggesting less than responsible serving practices. Hoteliers' comments were sought on the interpretation of citation scores, and incorporated into a discussion of the limitations of the data in determining the extent of individual hotel responsibility for drink drivers. Important questions remaining include (1) what is the validity of citations made by drink drivers at the time of arrest; (2) what appropriate and quantifiable denominator can be used to adjust the number of citations to the level of patronage; and (3) what level of citations is too high and requires action?

"There's no-fresh air there": narratives of smoke exposure among residents of extended-stay hotels.

PubMed

Lewinson, Terri; Bryant, Lawrence Oliver

2015-05-01

Hotel environments have been identified as places where hospitality workers and patrons are at an increased risk for smoke exposure and associated health hazards. However, little research has been conducted to understand experiences of long-term hotel residents. This article presents narrative accounts of tobacco smoke exposure from 37 residents at extended-stay hotels in a large metropolitan Atlanta county. Residents' narratives included an awareness of smoking as an unhealthy habit but a shared activity that facilitates social engagement at the hotel. Secondhand smoke narratives included descriptions of exposure from roommates and hotel neighbors. Thirdhand smoke narratives included reports of persistent pollution and smoke residue in the hotel environment. These results suggest a need for further research to understand the extent and impact of tobacco smoke exposure among this understudied population. The implications of this research support the efforts of social workers to engage in clean air advocacy and policy making for a vulnerable population.

Hospitality Service: Hotel and Restaurant Management and Culinary Arts Curriculum Guide.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Joliet Junior Coll., IL.

This publication contains competency-based materials for hotel/restaurant management and culinary arts. The materials are designed for students to learn from a work station concept by rotating through a variety of real work settings in a hotel/restaurant environment. In addition, the materials indicate whether or not the students have developed…

Metrics for Hotel and Lodging.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cooper, Gloria S., Ed.; Magisos, Joel H., Ed.

Designed to meet the job-related metric measurement needs of students interested in hotel and lodging, this instructional package is one of three for the hospitality and recreation occupations cluster, part of a set of 55 packages for metric instruction in different occupations. The package is intended for students who already know the…

Optimum contracted-for water supply for hotels in arid coastal regions.

PubMed

Lamei, A; von Münch, E; van der Zaag, P; Imam, E

2009-01-01

Hotels in arid coastal areas use mainly desalinated water for their domestic water demands, and treated wastewater for irrigating green areas. Private water companies supply these hotels with their domestic water needs. There is normally a contractual agreement stating a minimum requirement that has to be supplied by the water company and that the hotel management has to pay for regardless of its actual consumption ("contracted-for water supply"). This paper describes a model to determine what value a hotel should choose for its contracted-for water supply in order to minimize its total annual water costs. An example from an arid coastal tourism-dominated city is presented: Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.The managers of hotels with expected high occupancy rates (74% and above) can contract for more than 80%. On the other hand, hotels with expected lower occupancy rates (60% and less) can contract for less than 70% of the peak daily domestic water demand. With a green area ratio of 40 m(2)/room or less, an on-site wastewater treatment plant can satisfy the required irrigation demand for an occupancy rate as low as 42%. Increasing the ratio of green irrigated area to 100 m(2)/room does not affect the contracted-for water supply at occupancy rates above 72%; at lower occupancy rates, however, on-site treated wastewater is insufficient for irrigating the green areas. Increasing the green irrigated area to 120 m(2)/room increases the need for additional water, either from externally sourced treated wastewater or potable water. The cost of the former is much lower than the latter (0.58 versus 1.52 to 2.14 US$/m(3) in the case study area).

How Clean Are Hotel Rooms? Part I: Visual Observations vs. Microbiological Contamination.

PubMed

Almanza, Barbara A; Kirsch, Katie; Kline, Sheryl Fried; Sirsat, Sujata; Stroia, Olivia; Choi, Jin Kyung; Neal, Jay

2015-01-01

Current evidence of hotel room cleanliness is based on observation rather than empirically based microbial assessment. The purpose of the study described here was to determine if observation provides an accurate indicator of cleanliness. Results demonstrated that visual assessment did not accurately predict microbial contamination. Although testing standards have not yet been established for hotel rooms and will be evaluated in Part II of the authors' study, potential microbial hazards included the sponge and mop (housekeeping cart), toilet, bathroom floor, bathroom sink, and light switch. Hotel managers should increase cleaning in key areas to reduce guest exposure to harmful bacteria.

The reproductive experience of women living in hotels for the homeless in New York City.

PubMed

Chavkin, W; Kristal, A; Seabron, C; Guigli, P E

1987-01-01

Incidence of low birth weight, infant mortality and attendance at prenatal care were estimated for 401 residents of welfare hotels in New York City and compared to data from housing project residents and the city-wide population. Hotel residents and the pertinent data were ascertained from children's birth certificates dating from January 1982 to June 1984. In 1984 there were 2889 families (3498 adults and 6789 children) housed in 48 privately managed hotels and 7 shelters in the city, set up as emergency housing for the homeless. Most of these families were single women; over 50% were under 25. The racial and ethnic composition of hotel residents was similar to that of housing project tenants. The hotel residents have high birth rates: from 7/month in 1982 to 23/month in 1984. They receive significantly less prenatal care than project or city dwellers; more than half have 0-3 visits. The hotel residents had 2.5 times the likelihood of getting no prenatal care than project tenants, and 4.12 times the likelihood than the citywide population. Mean birth weight for hotel infants was 2979 g; for project infants 3128 g; for city infants 3253 g. Both welfare groups were significantly lower than citywide average birth weights. The infant mortality was 24.9 per 1000 for the hotel group, 16.6 for the project group, and 12.0 for the city population. The stress and inconvenience of living far from social service offices, clinics, schools and shops was considered the likely cause of poor attendance at prenatal care. It was recommended that the city provide on-site health education and care, social and nutrition services in the hotels, and refrigerators for mothers with newborn children.

Ergonomics and accessibility for people with visual impairment in hotels.

PubMed

Dos Santos, Larissa Nascimento; de Carvalho, Ricardo José Matos

2012-01-01

This article presents a diagnosis of luxury or superior hotels in the city of Natal, located in the state of Rio Grande do Norte, in northeastern Brazil, in what concerns accessibility to the visually impaired. The main objective is to present the guiding principles to design actions and interventions that must be considered in the preparation or revision of technical standards and manuals of good practice in accessibility related to people with visual impairments who are hotel users. The survey showed that the hotels do not meet the normative indications of accessibility, their facilities are in-accessible (have prevented access) or of reduced accessibility and its employees are not prepared to provide adequate hospital services for people with visual impairment. It was concluded that some of the accessibility problems faced by people with visual impairments are also faced by people in general.

Hotel and Restaurant Management; A Bibliography of Books and Audio-Visual Materials.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Malkames, James P.; And Others

This bibliography represents a collection of 1,300 book volumes and audiovisual materials collected by the Luzerne County Community College Library in support of the college's Hotel and Restaurant Management curriculum. It covers such diverse topics as advertising, business practices, decoration, nutrition, hotel law, insurance landscaping, health…

12. VIEW OF MERCHANTS' HOTEL IN MID 19th CENTURY, 'FOURTH ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

12. VIEW OF MERCHANTS' HOTEL IN MID- 19th CENTURY, 'FOURTH STREET, PHILA., WEST SIDE, FROM MARKET TO ARCH', as it appeared in The Baxter Panoramic Business Directory, Est. 1857 which is available for viewing at the Free Library of Philadelphia, in the Castner Collection, Philadelphia Vol. No. 12, 'Streets 1'. - Merchants' Hotel, 40-50 North Fourth Street, Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, PA

From Hotel to High School: Converting a Residential Hotel into a New Type of Senior High School. Report and Recommendations of the Concourse Plaza High School Planning Committee.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sasserath, Simpson

This document reports the result of a 5-day meeting held to recommend the structural building adaptations and the curriculum organization necessary to the renovation of Concourse Plaza Hotel into a high school. According to the planning committee, the hotel has many features adaptable to a school, which would permit a meaningful departure from the…

'Bee hotels' as tools for native pollinator conservation: a premature verdict?

PubMed

MacIvor, J Scott; Packer, Laurence

2015-01-01

Society is increasingly concerned with declining wild bee populations. Although most bees nest in the ground, considerable effort has centered on installing 'bee hotels'--also known as nest boxes or trap nests--which artificially aggregate nest sites of above ground nesting bees. Campaigns to 'save the bees' often promote these devices despite the absence of data indicating they have a positive effect. From a survey of almost 600 bee hotels set up over a period of three years in Toronto, Canada, introduced bees nested at 32.9% of sites and represented 24.6% of more than 27,000 total bees and wasps recorded (47.1% of all bees recorded). Native bees were parasitized more than introduced bees and females of introduced bee species provisioned nests with significantly more female larva each year. Native wasps were significantly more abundant than both native and introduced bees and occupied almost 3/4 of all bee hotels each year; further, introduced wasps were the only group to significantly increase in relative abundance year over year. More research is needed to elucidate the potential pitfalls and benefits of using bee hotels in the conservation and population dynamics of wild native bees.

24 CFR 203.16 - Certificate and contract regarding use of dwelling for transient or hotel purposes.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... use of dwelling for transient or hotel purposes. 203.16 Section 203.16 Housing and Urban Development... use of dwelling for transient or hotel purposes. Every application filed with respect to insurance of... housing or any part thereof covered by the mortgage for transient or hotel purposes, together with the...

24 CFR 203.16 - Certificate and contract regarding use of dwelling for transient or hotel purposes.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... use of dwelling for transient or hotel purposes. 203.16 Section 203.16 Housing and Urban Development... use of dwelling for transient or hotel purposes. Every application filed with respect to insurance of... housing or any part thereof covered by the mortgage for transient or hotel purposes, together with the...

Prevalence of Legionella spp. in water systems of hospitals and hotels in South Western Greece.

PubMed

Fragou, K; Kokkinos, P; Gogos, C; Alamanos, Y; Vantarakis, A

2012-01-01

The aim of the present study was to determine the prevalence of Legionella spp. in water systems of hospitals and hotels located in South Western Greece, to study the molecular epidemiology of the isolated strains and their possible association with bacterial contamination (total count and Pseudomonas aeruginosa), the water pH, and temperature. A prevalence survey for Legionella spp. by culturing techniques in water distribution systems of eight hospitals and nine hotels occurred in South Western Greece. Water sampling and microbiological analysis were carried out following the ISO methods. Legionella pneumophila was detected in 33% and 36% of the distribution systems of hospitals and hotels, respectively. Our survey results suggest a frequent prevalence of elevated concentrations of Legionella spp. in water systems of hospitals and hotels. Our investigation has confirmed the need to regularly monitor the microbiological condition of water systems in hospitals and hotels.

Mite and pet allergen exposure in hotels in Uberlândia, Midwestern Brazil.

PubMed

Simplício, E C; Silva, D A O; Braga, I A; Sopelete, M C; Sung, S J; Taketomi, E A

2007-08-01

Mite allergens are involved in airway sensitization and allergic diseases. We evaluated the exposure to house dust-mite (Der p 1 and Der f 1) and pet (Fel d 1 and Can f 1) allergens in hotels in Uberlândia, Midwestern Brazil. A total of 140 dust samples were collected from bedding (n = 98) and carpet (n = 42) of bedrooms in 20 hotels enrolled for this study. Geometric mean (GM) levels of Der f 1 (11.30 microg/g of dust; 95% CI: 8.34-15.30 microg/g) were significantly higher than Der p 1 (0.15 microg/g of dust; 95% CI: 0.13-0.18 microg/g) in bedding dust samples (P < 0.001), regardless of the hotel classes. Der f 1 levels were significantly higher in bedding (11.30 microg/g of dust; 95% CI: 8.34-15.30 microg/g) than carpet (6.32 microg/g of dust; 95% CI: 4.31-9.26 microg/g) dust samples (P < 0.05). High levels of Der f 1 (>10 microg/g of dust) were found in 58%, 76%, and 69% of dust samples from Simple, Economical, and Tourist/Superior hotels, respectively, while GM levels of Fel d 1 (0.11 microg/g of dust; 95% CI: 0.09-0.14 microg/g) and Can f 1 (0.30 microg/g of dust; 95% CI: 0.20-0.44 microg/g) were relatively low. These results indicate that Der f 1 is the predominant allergen in hotels in Uberlândia, especially in bedding dust samples, regardless of the hotel classes and could represent an important risk factor for exacerbation of allergic symptoms in previously mite-sensitized guests. Mites and pets are important sources of indoor allergens. Most people spend the greatest part of their time indoors. Hotels can constitute an important allergen reservoir of the indoor environment and could represent an important risk for exacerbation of allergic symptoms in previously sensitized guests. Thus, hotels should also be included for planning indoor allergen avoidance as part of a global management strategy, especially in patients with respiratory allergy.

The impact of later trading hours for hotels (public houses) on breath alcohol levels of apprehended impaired drivers.

PubMed

Chikritzhs, Tanya; Stockwell, Tim

2007-10-01

To examine the impact of extended trading permits (ETPs) for licensed hotels in Perth, Western Australia on impaired driver breath alcohol levels (BALs) between July 1993 and June 1997. Forty-three hotels obtained ETPs allowing later closing hours and 130 maintained standard closing time (controls). Impaired driver BALs were linked to 'last place of drinking' hotels. Before and after period BALs of drivers who last drank at ETP or non-ETP hotels were compared by time of day of apprehension and sex, controlling for age. Impaired female drivers apprehended between 10.01 p.m. and 12 midnight (before closing time) had significantly lower BALs after drinking at ETP hotels. Male drivers aged 18-25 years and apprehended between 12.01 and 2.00 a.m. after drinking at ETP hotels had significantly higher BALs than drivers who drank at non-ETP hotels. At peak times for alcohol-related offences, late trading is associated with higher BALs among those drinkers most at risk of alcohol-related harm.

Work Conditions and Health and Well-Being of Latina Hotel Housekeepers.

PubMed

Hsieh, Yu-Chin; Apostolopoulos, Yorghos; Sönmez, Sevil

2016-06-01

Hotel housekeepers are exposed to a plethora of disproportionately high work-induced hazards that can lead to adverse health consequences. Latina hotel housekeepers are rendered particularly vulnerable to elevated occupational hazards and resultant health strains due to their socioeconomic status, immigration status, language barriers, and lack of access to healthcare services. The findings from the 27 interviews with Latina hotel housekeepers indicated that the interviewees were exposed to physical, chemical, and social hazards in the workplace and suffered musculoskeletal injuries. In terms of psychological wellness, the time pressure of cleaning rooms quickly and work-related stress stemming from workplace mistreatment emerged as major work-related stressors. Recommendations are made for the introduction of multilevel interventions designed to prevent work-related injuries and illnesses and to promote healthier workplaces.

Rosebud Casino and Hotel NPDES Proposed Permit

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Indian Country, Minor Permit, proposed permit SD-0034584, Rosebud Casino and Hotel, South Dakota, is authorized to discharge from its wastewater treatment facility in Todd County, South Dakota to an unnamed drainageway(s) tributary to Rock Creek.

[Changes of bacterial community structure on reusing domestic sewage of Daoxianghujing Hotel to landscape water].

PubMed

Zhu, Jing-nan; Wang, Xiao-dan; Zhai, Zhen-hua; Ma, Wen-lin; Li, Rong-qi; Wang, Xue-lian; Li, Yan-hong

2010-05-01

A 16S rDNA library was used to evaluate the bacterial diversity and identify dominant groups of bacteria in different treatment pools in the domestic sewage system of the Beijing Daoxianghujing Hotel. The results revealed that there were many types of bacteria in the hotel domestic sewage, and the bacterial Shannon-Weaver diversity index was 3.12. In addition, epsilon Proteobacteria was found to be the dominant group with the ratio of 32%. In addition, both the CFB phylum, Fusobacteria, gamma Proteobacteria and Firmicutes were also reached to 9%-15%. After treated with the reclaimed water station, the bacterial Shannon-Weaver diversity index was reduced to 2. 41 and beta Proteobacteria became the dominant group and occupied 73% of the total clones. However, following artificial wetland training, the bacterial Shannon-Weaver diversity index in the sample increased to 3.38, Actinobacteria arrived to 33% and became the most dominant group; Cyanobacteria reached to 26%, and was the second dominant group. But, the control sample comprised 38% Cyanobacteria, and mainly involved in Cyanobium, Synechoccus and Microcystis, with ratios of 47.1%, 17.6% and 8.8%, respectively. Some bacteria of Microcystis aenruginosa were also detected, which probably resulted in the light bloom finally. Therefore, the bacterial diversity and community structures changed in response to treatment of the hotel domestic sewage; there was no cyanobacteria bloom explosion in the treated water. This study will aid in investigation the changes of microbial ecology in different types of water and providing the useful information for enhancing the cyanobacteria blooms control from ecological angle.

A Trip to the Statler Hilton Hotel. The Special Education Curriculum Series.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kendall, Muriel

A program designed for high school level work-study classes for students of limited mental ability presents specific curriculum methods and materials to teach information regarding positions available in the hotel industry. A field trip tour of the Boston Statler Hilton Hotel if the focal activity of the unit, and is accompanied by a history of…

Occupational Programs for the Restaurant/Hotel Business

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hoenninger, Ronald W.; Riegel, Carl D.

1978-01-01

Describes the development of a Hotel and Restaurant Management Program, designed to provide career training, develop educational opportunities, and provide a forum through which the continuing education needs of the local hospitality industry could be assessed and evaluated. (TP)

CAREER TRAINING IN HOTEL AND RESTAURANT OPERATION...AT CITY COLLEGE OF SAN FRANCISCO.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

BATMALE, LOUIS F.; MULLANY, GEORGE G.

THE HOTEL AND RESTAURANT PROGRAM, ONE OF 35 SEMIPROFESSIONAL TRAINING PROGRAMS AT CITY COLLEGE OF SAN FRANCISCO, COMBINES GENERAL EDUCATION, RELATED BUSINESS INSTRUCTION, HOTEL AND RESTAURANT CLASSES, FOOD PREPARATION AND SERVICE TRAINING, AND WORK EXPERIENCE. THIS DESCRIPTION OF THE PROGRAM INCLUDES (1) PURPOSES AND OBJECTIVES, (2) CURRICULUM,…

What Makes Hotel Expatriates Remain in Their Overseas Assignments: A Grounded Theory Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ho, Zoe Ju-Yu

2012-01-01

In this study the researcher uses a qualitative research design to discover what makes hotel expatriates remain in their overseas assignments. In-depth interviews, participant observations, and personal documents are used as data collection methods. Four hotel expatriates are recruited as participants of the study. The collected interview…

Applying revised gap analysis model in measuring hotel service quality.

PubMed

Lee, Yu-Cheng; Wang, Yu-Che; Chien, Chih-Hung; Wu, Chia-Huei; Lu, Shu-Chiung; Tsai, Sang-Bing; Dong, Weiwei

2016-01-01

With the number of tourists coming to Taiwan growing by 10-20 % since 2010, the number has increased due to an increasing number of foreign tourists, particularly after deregulation allowed admitting tourist groups, followed later on by foreign individual tourists, from mainland China. The purpose of this study is to propose a revised gap model to evaluate and improve service quality in Taiwanese hotel industry. Thus, service quality could be clearly measured through gap analysis, which was more effective for offering direction in developing and improving service quality. The HOLSERV instrument was used to identify and analyze service gaps from the perceptions of internal and external customers. The sample for this study included three main categories of respondents: tourists, employees, and managers. The results show that five gaps influenced tourists' evaluations of service quality. In particular, the study revealed that Gap 1 (management perceptions vs. customer expectations) and Gap 9 (service provider perceptions of management perceptions vs. service delivery) were more critical than the others in affecting perceived service quality, making service delivery the main area of improvement. This study contributes toward an evaluation of the service quality of the Taiwanese hotel industry from the perspectives of customers, service providers, and managers, which is considerably valuable for hotel managers. It was the aim of this study to explore all of these together in order to better understand the possible gaps in the hotel industry in Taiwan.

Work Stress and Well-being in the Hotel Industry.

PubMed

O'Neill, John W; Davis, Kelly

2011-06-01

Employee stress is a significant issue in the hospitality industry, and it is costly for employers and employees alike. Although addressing and reducing stress is both a noble goal and is capable of resulting in expense reductions for employers, the nature and quantity of hospitality employee stress is not fully understood. The first aim of this study was to identify common work stressors in a sample of 164 managerial and hourly workers employed at 65 different hotels who were each interviewed for eight consecutive days. The two most common stressors were interpersonal tensions at work and overloads (e.g., technology not functioning). The second aim was to determine whether there were differences in the types and frequency of work stressors by job type (i.e., managers v. non-managers), gender, and marital status. Hotel managers reported significantly more stressors than hourly employees. There were no significant differences by gender or marital status. The third aim was to investigate whether the various stressors were linked to hotel employee health and work outcomes. More employee and coworker stressors were linked to more negative physical health symptoms. Also, interpersonal tensions at work were linked to lower job satisfaction and greater turnover intentions.

The Hotel Payload, plans for the period 2003-2006

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hansen, Gudmund; Mikalsen, Per-Arne

2003-08-01

The cost and complexity of scientific experiments, carried by traditional sounding rocket payloads, are increasing. At the same time the scientific environment faces declining funding for this basic research. In order to meet the invitation from the science community, Andøya Rocket Range runs a programme for developing a sounding rocket payload, in order to achieve an inexpensive and cost-effective tool for atmosphere research and educational training. The Hotel Payload is a new technological payload concept in the sounding rocket family. By means of standardized mechanical structures and electronics, flexibility in data collection and transmission, roomy vehicles are affordable to most of the scientific research environments as well as for educational training. A complete vehicle - ready for installation of scientific experiments - is offered to the scientists to a fixed price. The fixed price service also includes launch services. This paper describes the Hotel Payload concept and its technology. In addition the three year plan for the development project is discussed. The opportunity of using the Hotel Payload as a platform for a collaborative triangle between research, education and industry is also discussed.

Solar-Cooled Hotel in the Virgin Islands

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Harber, H.

1982-01-01

Performance of solar cooling system is described in 21-page report. System provides cooling for public areas including ball rooms, restaurant, lounge, lobby and shops. Chilled water from solar-cooling system is also used to cool hot water from hotel's desalinization plant.

Can fire safety in hotels be improved? Results from the survey of a panel of experts in Spain.

PubMed

Rubio-Romero, Juan Carlos; Márquez-Sierra, Francisco; Suárez-Cebador, Manuel

2016-06-08

The hotel industry is an important driver of the European labour market with over 250,000 hotels employing some 2 million people. In Spain, 240 workers were injured by fires in hotels from 2004 to 2008. Fire is considered to be the most important risk in the hotel industry, but the lack of an EU-wide data recording system for hotels makes it difficult to give exact figures for fire events. We analysed the state of fire prevention systems in hotels in Spain with the aim of proposing strategies to improve fire safety. A 10-item questionnaire was administered from 2007 to 2009 to 15 Spanish experts in fire safety. The questions were measured using a Likert scale and classified into 4 sections: current state of installations, influence of establishment characteristics, application of regulations and priority ranking of actions. Descriptive statistics summarized the data and t-tests evaluated the agreement foreach statement in the questionnaire. The statistical analysis showed homogeneity in the responses by the experts in all four categories: current state of fire safety installations, influence of establishment characteristics, application of regulations, and priority of actions. There was consensus among the experts over the necessity to improve the enforcement of regulations and also regarding the existence of an association between the hotel category (in Spain they are ranked using a 1 to 5 "star" rating system) and the level of fire safety; hotels with a higher category had higher levels of safety. There is a need to identify ways to apply fire safety standards to older hotels so that they comply with new regulations, to standardize regulations for different regions and countries, to improve the maintenance of installations and equipment, to increase the effectiveness of inspections conducted by government bodies, and to raise the general awareness of stakeholders involved in hotel fire prevention.

A gastroenteritis outbreak due to norovirus associated with a Colorado hotel.

PubMed

Dippold, Laura; Lee, Robin; Selman, Carol; Monroe, Steve; Henry, Chuck

2003-12-01

Describing the system components of norovirus outbreaks is important in understanding how to prevent future outbreaks. Investigation of these components includes environmental, epidemiologic, and laboratory perspectives. This study describes how an investigation from these three perspectives was conducted and the significance of each component in understanding norovirus outbreaks. On May 23, 2000, members of a professional group attending two meetings at a local hotel in Englewood, Colorado, began to complain of gastrointestinal illness. Sixty-nine illnesses were reported among 133 attendees. Eight hotel employees also complained of illness. Staff from the Tri-County Health Department and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention investigated the outbreak. Three stool specimens collected from ill attendees contained norovirus. While the epidemiologic component did not identify a specific vehicle of transmission, the environmental investigation revealed food-handling practices, food handler perceptions, and hotel policies that may have contributed to disease transmission.

Personnel scheduling using an integer programming model- an application at Avanti Blue-Nile Hotels.

PubMed

Kassa, Biniyam Asmare; Tizazu, Anteneh Eshetu

2013-01-01

In this paper, we report perhaps a first of its kind application of management science in the Ethiopian hotel industry. Avanti Blue Nile Hotels, a newly established five star hotel in Bahir Dar, is the company for which we developed an integer programming model that determines an optimal weekly shift schedule for the Hotel's engineering department personnel while satisfying several constraints including weekly rest requirements per employee, rest requirements between working shifts per employee, required number of personnel per shift, and other constraints. The model is implemented on an excel solver routine. The model enables the company's personnel department management to develop a fair personnel schedule as needed and to effectively utilize personnel resources while satisfying several technical, legal and economic requirements. These encouraging achievements make us optimistic about the gains other Ethiopian organizations can amass by introducing management science approaches in their management planning and decision making systems.

The impact of later trading hours for hotels on levels of impaired driver road crashes and driver breath alcohol levels.

PubMed

Chikritzhs, Tanya; Stockwell, Tim

2006-09-01

To examine the impact of later trading hours for licensed hotels in Perth, Western Australia on levels of associated impaired driver road crashes and driver breath alcohol levels (BALs). Police data on the "last place of drinking" for impaired drivers involved in road crashes and their corresponding BALs were examined to identify those associated with Perth hotels between 1 July 1990 and 30 June 1997. During this period, 43 (23%) of the 186 hotels meeting study criteria were granted an Extended Trading Permit for 1 a.m. closing (ETP hotels), while the rest continued to close at midnight (non-ETP hotels). Time-series analyses employing multiple linear regressions were applied to determine whether an association existed between the introduction of extended trading and (i) monthly levels of impaired driver road crashes associated with ETP hotels and (ii) driver BALs associated with ETP hotels. Trends associated with non-ETP hotels were included as controls and possible confounders were considered. After controlling for the trend in crash rates associated with non-ETP hotels and the introduction of mobile police breath testing stations to Perth freeways, a significant increase in monthly crash rates for ETP hotels was found. This relationship was largely accounted for by higher volumes of high-alcohol content beer, wine and spirits purchased by ETP hotels. No relation was found between driver BALs and the introduction of ETPs. Late trading was associated with increased levels of impaired driver road crashes and alcohol consumption, particularly high-risk alcoholic beverages. Greater numbers of patrons and characteristics specific to clientele of hotels which applied for late trading hours (i.e. younger age, greater propensity to drunk-drive, preference for high-risk beverages) were suggested as having contributed to this increase.

Diversity and Utilization of Bamboo Plants in The Area of Hotel in Kedewatan Village, Ubud, Bali

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Utami, N. W. F.; Pradnyawathi, N. L. M.

2017-10-01

Bamboo or tiying (Balinese language) is a widely used non-timber plant in Indonesia especially in Bali. The presence of bamboo appertains to its ethno-botanical function of bamboo especially for rituals. However, there are other utilization of bamboo which is naturally grown or intentionally planted. Kedewatan as a famous place in northern Ubud, Bali have many lavish hotels with its natural environment and appealing place. The aims of this study is to invent bamboo species diversity and bamboo utilization on private areas of hotel in Kedewatan. Methods used in this study was field survey with observation and interview technic. Observation was implemented by purposive sampling methods by selecting hotel which adjacent to Ayung and Wos rivers. Interview was conducted with some key persons in charge on managing hotel garden. In addition, bamboo species identification was established through literature study. The results show that there are eleven bamboo species found on the survey area with most commonly employed species in the area were tiying tali (Gigantochloa apus (J.A. & J.H. Schultes) Kurz.) and tiying gading (Phyllostachys sulphurea (Carr.) A. e.t. C. Riv.) which were belong to exotic species. The areas which bamboo cultivated were welcome area as a hedgerow and near hotel lobby, between, outside and inside villa buildings, and naturally grown in the riverbanks with a good landscaping arrangement. Bamboo plantations were utilized to adorn and support the quality of the hotel building as well as to conserve soil and water along Ayung and Wos river canyons. The other utilization of bamboo was to facilitate ritual activity in Kedewatan village. They are allowed to ask for limited amount of bamboo culms with condition not to damage the physical appearance and function that desired by the hotel manager or hotel owner.

The Marketing Effectiveness of Hotel Facebook Pages: From Perspectives of Customers and Messages

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Leung, Xi Yu

2012-01-01

In the hotel industry, social media marketing has become a new trend hoteliers are chasing and an increasing number of hotels are using social media to promote their business. However, the marketing effectiveness of social media is still a big challenge in both academic and business world. Since social media marketing is totally different from…

Comparison of patrons of hotels with early opening and standard hours.

PubMed

Smith, D I

1986-02-01

A comparison was made of 72 men who were patrons in hotels with 6 A.M. or 7 A.M. opening, with a control group of 87 men interviewed in nearby hotels with 10 A.M. opening. The two groups were very similar on biographical characteristics, yet the men in the early-opening group consumed significantly more alcohol, had more drinking sessions, spent longer in drinking, and had significantly higher SMAST scores. The early opening was apparently facilitating problem drinking.

Brief Report: Eye Movements during Visual Search Tasks Indicate Enhanced Stimulus Discriminability in Subjects with PDD

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kemner, Chantal; van Ewijk, Lizet; van Engeland, Herman; Hooge, Ignace

2008-01-01

Subjects with PDD excel on certain visuo-spatial tasks, amongst which visual search tasks, and this has been attributed to enhanced perceptual discrimination. However, an alternative explanation is that subjects with PDD show a different, more effective search strategy. The present study aimed to test both hypotheses, by measuring eye movements…

Human Resource Development in the Irish Hotel Industry: The Case of the Small Firm.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nolan, Clara

2002-01-01

A profile of small businesses in the Irish hotel industry shows that all claim to believe in human resource development but few practice it. Small hotels favor informal, specific job training focused on solution of immediate problems rather than long-term development. (Contains 119 references.) (SK)

[A KABP (knowledge, attitude, belief and behavior) study about AIDS among taxi drivers and hotel attendants in Beijing].

PubMed

Zhang, X; Luo, B; Zhang, K

1994-12-01

This article reports the KABP study on 448 taxi drivers and 556 hotel attendants in Beijing for the first time in China. A self-administered questionnaire was used to investigate knowledge, attitude, belief and practice (KABP) about AIDS. In terms of knowledge, 23.8% of hotel attendants and 36.8% of taxi drivers did not know that contact with blood could transmit HIV. Thirtyfive percent of hotel attendants and 42.2% of taxi drivers did not believe that intravenous drug users were at high risk. Some drivers (13.6%) and hotel attendants (3.4%) reported having multiple sexual partners. Forty-one point nine percent of taxi drivers and 16.6% of hotel attendants preferred the idea of multiple sexual partners. Among hotel attendants, a negative association was found between knowledge about AIDS and multiple sexual behavior (P < 0.01). Regarding attitude toward condom use, 56.2% of taxi drivers and 47.8% of hotel attendants who have had a sexual experience thought that condom use interfered with sexual pleasure. Seventy-six point eight percent of taxi drivers and 79.8% of hotel attendants believed that they could change their behaviors in order to minimize the chances of getting HIV. This study indicates that HIV education is important in reducing the number of sexual partners and promoting the use of safe sex practices like condom use. Furthermore, as reported by the study population, education can change behavior.

Work Stress and Well-being in the Hotel Industry

PubMed Central

O'Neill, John W.; Davis, Kelly

2013-01-01

Employee stress is a significant issue in the hospitality industry, and it is costly for employers and employees alike. Although addressing and reducing stress is both a noble goal and is capable of resulting in expense reductions for employers, the nature and quantity of hospitality employee stress is not fully understood. The first aim of this study was to identify common work stressors in a sample of 164 managerial and hourly workers employed at 65 different hotels who were each interviewed for eight consecutive days. The two most common stressors were interpersonal tensions at work and overloads (e.g., technology not functioning). The second aim was to determine whether there were differences in the types and frequency of work stressors by job type (i.e., managers v. non-managers), gender, and marital status. Hotel managers reported significantly more stressors than hourly employees. There were no significant differences by gender or marital status. The third aim was to investigate whether the various stressors were linked to hotel employee health and work outcomes. More employee and coworker stressors were linked to more negative physical health symptoms. Also, interpersonal tensions at work were linked to lower job satisfaction and greater turnover intentions. PMID:23794780

Parameters for an Effective Entrepreneurial, Regional, Hotel/Restaurant Management Training Program in Manitoba, Canada.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rossing, Rainer C.

Owners or managers of 34 small and medium-sized hotels and restaurants in the Assiniboine Community College area were interviewed to acquire information for an entrepreneurial, regional hotel and restaurant (H/R) management training program in Manitoba. A literature review revealed the following: employability, vocational technical, and business…

Colonization of Legionella species in Turkish baths in hotels in Alanya, Turkey.

PubMed

Erdogan, Haluk; Arslan, Hande

2015-05-01

This study evaluated the prevalence of Legionella species in water samples collected from Turkish baths in hotels in Alanya, Turkey, from August 2003 to September 2013. Water samples were collected in 100-mL sterile containers and then concentrated by filtration. Heat treatment was used to eliminate other microorganisms from the samples, which were then spread on Legionella-selective-buffered charcoal yeast extract alpha (BCYE-α) agar and on BCYE-α agar supplemented with glycine, vancomycin, polymyxin, and cycloheximide. Cysteine-dependent colonies were identified by latex agglutination. In total, 135 samples from 52 hotels with Turkish baths were evaluated. Legionella species were identified in 11/52 (21.2%) hotels and 18/135 (13.3%) samples. The most frequently isolated species was Legionella pneumophila, with most isolates belonging to serogroups 6 (55.6%) and 1 (22.2%). The colony count was <100 colony-forming units (CFU) mL(-1) in nine samples, from 100 to 1000 CFU mL(-1) in six samples, and >1000 CFU mL(-1) in three samples. These findings suggest that the hot water systems of Turkish baths in hotels must be viewed as a possible source of travel-associated Legionnaires' disease, and preventative measures should be put in place.

A Comparison of the Use of Text Summaries, Plain Thumbnails, and Enhanced Thumbnails for Web Search Tasks.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Woodruff, Allison; Rosenholtz, Ruth; Morrison, Julie B.; Faulring, Andrew; Pirolli, Peter

2002-01-01

Discussion of Web search strategies focuses on a comparative study of textual and graphical summarization mechanisms applied to search engine results. Suggests that thumbnail images (graphical summaries) can increase efficiency in processing results, and that enhanced thumbnails (augmented with readable textual elements) had more consistent…

Survival Processing Enhances Visual Search Efficiency.

PubMed

Cho, Kit W

2018-05-01

Words rated for their survival relevance are remembered better than when rated using other well-known memory mnemonics. This finding, which is known as the survival advantage effect and has been replicated in many studies, suggests that our memory systems are molded by natural selection pressures. In two experiments, the present study used a visual search task to examine whether there is likewise a survival advantage for our visual systems. Participants rated words for their survival relevance or for their pleasantness before locating that object's picture in a search array with 8 or 16 objects. Although there was no difference in search times among the two rating scenarios when set size was 8, survival processing reduced visual search times when set size was 16. These findings reflect a search efficiency effect and suggest that similar to our memory systems, our visual systems are also tuned toward self-preservation.

Genomic Investigation of a Legionellosis Outbreak in a Persistently Colonized Hotel.

PubMed

Sánchez-Busó, Leonor; Guiral, Silvia; Crespi, Sebastián; Moya, Víctor; Camaró, María L; Olmos, María P; Adrián, Francisco; Morera, Vicente; González-Morán, Francisco; Vanaclocha, Hermelinda; González-Candelas, Fernando

2015-01-01

A long-lasting legionellosis outbreak was reported between November 2011 and July 2012 in a hotel in Calpe (Spain) affecting 44 patients including six deaths. Intensive epidemiological and microbiological investigations were performed in order to detect the reservoirs. Clinical and environmental samples were tested for the presence and genetic characterization of Legionella pneumophila. Six of the isolates were subjected to whole-genome sequencing. Sequencing of 14 clinical and 260 environmental samples revealed sequence type (ST) 23 as the main responsible strain for the infections. This ST was found in the spa pool, from where it spread to other hotel public spaces, explaining the ST23 clinical cases, including guests who had not visited the spa. Uncultured clinical specimens showed profiles compatible with ST23, ST578, and mixed patterns. Profiles compatible with ST578 were obtained by direct sequencing from biofilm samples collected from the domestic water system, which provided evidence for the source of infection for non ST23 patients. Whole genome data from five ST23 strains and the identification of different STs and Legionella species showed that different hotel premises were likely colonized since the hotel opening thus explaining how different patients had been infected by distinct STs. Both epidemiological and molecular data are essential in the investigation of legionellosis outbreaks. Whole-genome sequencing data revealed significant intra-ST variability and allowed to make further inference on the short-term evolution of a local colonization of L. pneumophila.

Genomic Investigation of a Legionellosis Outbreak in a Persistently Colonized Hotel

PubMed Central

Sánchez-Busó, Leonor; Guiral, Silvia; Crespi, Sebastián; Moya, Víctor; Camaró, María L.; Olmos, María P.; Adrián, Francisco; Morera, Vicente; González-Morán, Francisco; Vanaclocha, Hermelinda; González-Candelas, Fernando

2016-01-01

Objectives: A long-lasting legionellosis outbreak was reported between November 2011 and July 2012 in a hotel in Calpe (Spain) affecting 44 patients including six deaths. Intensive epidemiological and microbiological investigations were performed in order to detect the reservoirs. Methods: Clinical and environmental samples were tested for the presence and genetic characterization of Legionella pneumophila. Six of the isolates were subjected to whole-genome sequencing. Results: Sequencing of 14 clinical and 260 environmental samples revealed sequence type (ST) 23 as the main responsible strain for the infections. This ST was found in the spa pool, from where it spread to other hotel public spaces, explaining the ST23 clinical cases, including guests who had not visited the spa. Uncultured clinical specimens showed profiles compatible with ST23, ST578, and mixed patterns. Profiles compatible with ST578 were obtained by direct sequencing from biofilm samples collected from the domestic water system, which provided evidence for the source of infection for non ST23 patients. Whole genome data from five ST23 strains and the identification of different STs and Legionella species showed that different hotel premises were likely colonized since the hotel opening thus explaining how different patients had been infected by distinct STs. Conclusions: Both epidemiological and molecular data are essential in the investigation of legionellosis outbreaks. Whole-genome sequencing data revealed significant intra-ST variability and allowed to make further inference on the short-term evolution of a local colonization of L. pneumophila. PMID:26834713

ESL for Hotel/Hospitality Industry. Level: Beginner.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Western Suffolk County Board of Cooperative Educational Services, Northport, NY.

This document contains eight lesson plans for a beginning course in work-related English for non-English or limited-English speaking entry-level employees in the hotel and hospitality industry. Course objectives include the following: helping participants understand and use job-specific vocabulary; receive and understand job-related instructions;…

Preliminary report: outbreak of Legionnaires disease in a hotel in Calp, Spain, update on 22 February 2012.

PubMed

Vanaclocha, H; Guiral, S; Morera, V; Calatayud, M A; Castellanos, M; Moya, V; Jerez, G; Gonzalez, F

2012-02-23

Research is ongoing on eighteen cases of Legionellosis, including four deaths, identified among tourists and employees in a hotel in Calp, Spain. Cases occurred during a period of two months, indicating the possibility of a point-source transmission at the hotel. An environmental investigation identified several positive samples in the hotel, which as a precautionary measure, was closed until requested improvements were made. Surveillance measures currently remain active.

[The risk of manual handling loads in the hotel sector].

PubMed

Muraca, G; Martino, L Barbaro; Abbate, A; De Pasquale, D; Barbuzza, O; Brecciaroli, R

2007-01-01

The aim of our study is to evaluate the manual handling risk and the incidence of muscle-skeletal pathologies in the hotel compartment. Our study is conducted on 264 workers of the hotel compartment. The sample is divided on the base of the working turn in the following groups: porter (both to the plans and in the kitchen); waiters to the plans; services (gardeners and workers). The duties have been valued according to the method NIOSH. The presence of muscle-skeletal pathologies has been verified on the base to the accused symptomology, and on the presence of clinical objectivity and to the reports of checks. The data has been compared to a control group. The application of the NIOSH method has showed for each working profile an elevated synthetic index, > 3, and for porter the index is 5. The clinical data has shown an elevated incidence of pathologies of the spine, especially lumbar spine, with a high prevalence in the group of male porters. In conclusion we believe that the manual handling represents a particularly remarkable risk for the workers in the hotel compartment.

Evaluation of Legionella pneumophila contamination in Italian hotel water systems by quantitative real-time PCR and culture methods.

PubMed

Bonetta, Sa; Bonetta, Si; Ferretti, E; Balocco, F; Carraro, E

2010-05-01

This study was designed to define the extent of water contamination by Legionella pneumophila of certain Italian hotels and to compare quantitative real-time PCR with the conventional culture method. Nineteen Italian hotels of different sizes were investigated. In each hotel three hot water samples (boiler, room showers, recycling) and one cold water sample (inlet) were collected. Physico-chemical parameters were also analysed. Legionella pneumophila was detected in 42% and 74% of the hotels investigated by the culture method and by real-time PCR, respectively. In 21% of samples analysed by the culture method, a concentration of >10(4) CFU l(-1) was found, and Leg. pneumophila serogroup 1 was isolated from 10.5% of the hotels. The presence of Leg. pneumophila was significantly influenced by water sample temperature, while no association with water hardness or residual-free chlorine was found. This study showed a high percentage of buildings colonized by Leg. pneumophila. Moreover, real-time PCR proved to be sensitive enough to detect lower levels of contamination than the culture method. This study indicates that the Italian hotels represent a possible source of risk for Legionnaires' disease and confirms the sensitivity of the molecular method. To our knowledge, this is the first report to demonstrate Legionella contamination in Italian hotels using real-time PCR and culture methods.

[Duration of sick-leave and the moment of recovery in the hotel industry].

PubMed

Folgerø, I S; Larsen, S

1991-09-10

The paper addresses the problem of sick leave in the hotel industry. It was hypothesized that there would be a tendency for granted sick leaves to include weekends, thus imposing an additional financial burden on the hotel in question. A total of 401 medical certificates from a large city hotel were reviewed. According to these certificates one third of the patients regained their health between Sunday and Monday. Of the patients with "short" sick leaves (less than a fortnight), 40% recovered between Sunday and Monday. The average duration of the sick leave for this group was 1.3 days longer than that of the patients whose sick leaves ended on other days of the week. The results are discussed in terms of the ambiguous position of the medical practitioner.

A fuzzy MCDM model with objective and subjective weights for evaluating service quality in hotel industries

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zoraghi, Nima; Amiri, Maghsoud; Talebi, Golnaz; Zowghi, Mahdi

2013-12-01

This paper presents a fuzzy multi-criteria decision-making (FMCDM) model by integrating both subjective and objective weights for ranking and evaluating the service quality in hotels. The objective method selects weights of criteria through mathematical calculation, while the subjective method uses judgments of decision makers. In this paper, we use a combination of weights obtained by both approaches in evaluating service quality in hotel industries. A real case study that considered ranking five hotels is illustrated. Examples are shown to indicate capabilities of the proposed method.

Feasibility Study for Hotel/Motel Career Program for Harper College. Volume XIX, No. 1.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lucas, John A.; And Others

In spring 1990, a study was conducted at William Rainey Harper College (WRHC) to determine the feasibility of adding a career program in Hotel/Motel Management (HMM) to the current Food Service Program. Surveys were sent to 53 hotels and motels in the WRHC service area to determine employment demands that would affect the hiring of graduates of…

Women in the Hotel and Catering Industry.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hotel and Catering Training Board, Wembley (England).

A study of the employment of women in the hotel and catering industry indicated that the industry employs nearly 17 percent of the entire paid female work force in the United Kingdom. Women constitute 75 percent of the industry's work force, and 47 percent of its managers are women. Women's position in the industry is characterized by their…

Hotel water consumption at a seasonal mass tourist destination. The case of the island of Mallorca.

PubMed

Deyà Tortella, Bartolomé; Tirado, Dolores

2011-10-01

While it is true that tourism is one of the main driving forces behind economic growth in several world regions, it is also true that tourism can have serious negative environmental impacts, especially with regard to water resources. The tourist water demand can generate big problems of sustainability, mainly in those regions where water is scarce, as occurs in most coastal and small island destinations where a large part of world tourism is concentrated. Given the shortage of literature on the subject, further research into the tourist water demand is required, with particular attention to the hotel sector, since hotels are the most popular option for tourists, displaying higher levels of water consumption. The main purpose of this study is to develop a model to analyse hotel water consumption at a mature sun and sand destination with a strong seasonal pattern and scarcity of water; characteristics shared by some of the world's main tourist destinations. Our model includes a set of different hotel variables associated with physical, seasonal and management-related factors and it improves on the capacity to explain water consumption at such destinations. Following a hierarchical regression methodology, the model is empirically tested through a survey distributed to managers of a representative sample of hotels on the island of Mallorca. From the obtained results, interesting recommendations can be made for both hotel managers and policy makers. Among these, it should be highlighted that the strategic move contemplated by many mature destinations towards a higher quality, low-season model could have significant negative effects in terms of the sustainability of water resources. Our results also conclude that managerial decisions, like the system of accommodation that is offered (i.e. the proliferation of the "all-inclusive" formula, both at mature and new destinations), could give rise to the same negative effect. Development of water saving initiatives (usually

Brazilian adaptation of the Hotel Task: A tool for the ecological assessment of executive functions.

PubMed

Cardoso, Caroline de Oliveira; Zimmermann, Nicolle; Paraná, Camila Borges; Gindri, Gigiane; de Pereira, Ana Paula Almeida; Fonseca, Rochele Paz

2015-01-01

Over recent years, neuropsychological research has been increasingly concerned with the need to develop more ecologically valid instruments for the assessment of executive functions. The Hotel Task is one of the most widely used ecological measures of executive functioning, and provides an assessment of planning, organization, self-monitoring and cognitive flexibility. The goal of this study was to adapt the Hotel Task for use in the Brazilian population. The sample comprised 27 participants (three translators, six expert judges, seven healthy adults, ten patients with traumatic brain injuries and one hotel manager). The adaptation process consisted of five steps, which were repeated until a satisfactory version of the task was produced. The steps were as follows:(1) Translation;(2) Development of new stimuli and brainstorming among the authors;(3) Analysis by expert judges;(4) Pilot studies;(5) Assessment by an expert in business administration and hotel management. The adapted version proved adequate and valid for the assessment of executive functions. However, further research must be conducted to obtain evidence of the reliability, as well as the construct and criterion validity, sensitivity and specificity, of the Hotel Task. Many neurological and/or psychiatric populations may benefit from the adapted task, since it may make significant contributions to the assessment of dysexecutive syndromes and their impact on patient functioning.

Brazilian adaptation of the Hotel Task: A tool for the ecological assessment of executive functions

PubMed Central

Cardoso, Caroline de Oliveira; Zimmermann, Nicolle; Paraná, Camila Borges; Gindri, Gigiane; de Pereira, Ana Paula Almeida; Fonseca, Rochele Paz

2015-01-01

Over recent years, neuropsychological research has been increasingly concerned with the need to develop more ecologically valid instruments for the assessment of executive functions. The Hotel Task is one of the most widely used ecological measures of executive functioning, and provides an assessment of planning, organization, self-monitoring and cognitive flexibility. Objective The goal of this study was to adapt the Hotel Task for use in the Brazilian population. Methods The sample comprised 27 participants (three translators, six expert judges, seven healthy adults, ten patients with traumatic brain injuries and one hotel manager). The adaptation process consisted of five steps, which were repeated until a satisfactory version of the task was produced. The steps were as follows: (1) Translation; (2) Development of new stimuli and brainstorming among the authors; (3) Analysis by expert judges; (4) Pilot studies; (5) Assessment by an expert in business administration and hotel management. Results The adapted version proved adequate and valid for the assessment of executive functions. However, further research must be conducted to obtain evidence of the reliability, as well as the construct and criterion validity, sensitivity and specificity, of the Hotel Task. Conclusion Many neurological and/or psychiatric populations may benefit from the adapted task, since it may make significant contributions to the assessment of dysexecutive syndromes and their impact on patient functioning. PMID:29213957

Monitoring Processes in Visual Search Enhanced by Professional Experience: The Case of Orange Quality-Control Workers

PubMed Central

Visalli, Antonino; Vallesi, Antonino

2018-01-01

Visual search tasks have often been used to investigate how cognitive processes change with expertise. Several studies have shown visual experts' advantages in detecting objects related to their expertise. Here, we tried to extend these findings by investigating whether professional search experience could boost top-down monitoring processes involved in visual search, independently of advantages specific to objects of expertise. To this aim, we recruited a group of quality-control workers employed in citrus farms. Given the specific features of this type of job, we expected that the extensive employment of monitoring mechanisms during orange selection could enhance these mechanisms even in search situations in which orange-related expertise is not suitable. To test this hypothesis, we compared performance of our experimental group and of a well-matched control group on a computerized visual search task. In one block the target was an orange (expertise target) while in the other block the target was a Smurfette doll (neutral target). The a priori hypothesis was to find an advantage for quality-controllers in those situations in which monitoring was especially involved, that is, when deciding the presence/absence of the target required a more extensive inspection of the search array. Results were consistent with our hypothesis. Quality-controllers were faster in those conditions that extensively required monitoring processes, specifically, the Smurfette-present and both target-absent conditions. No differences emerged in the orange-present condition, which resulted to mainly rely on bottom-up processes. These results suggest that top-down processes in visual search can be enhanced through immersive real-life experience beyond visual expertise advantages. PMID:29497392

Are Physical Activity and Nutrition Indicators of the Checklist of Health Promotion Environments at Worksites (CHEW) Associated with Employee Obesity among Hotel Workers?

PubMed Central

Nigg, Claudio R.; Albright, Cheryl; Williams, Rebecca; Nichols, Carol; Renda, Gloria; Stevens, Victor J.; Vogt, Thomas M.

2010-01-01

Objective Worksites provide opportunities to reach more than 60% of adults in the United States, including populations diverse in race, ethnicity, gender, age, occupation, income, and health status. Employers that provide worksite weight management interventions have the potential to reduce sick leave, healthcare costs, and workers compensation costs, and increase employee morale and worker efficiency. Hotels specifically, represent a broad cross-section of job categories, and most hotels are staffed and operated similarly around the world. However, from our literature review, there have been no investigations of the association between the hotel environment and employees’ obesity. Methods For this study, we tested the relationship between environmental factors in hotels and employees’ body mass index (BMI). Results Overall no substantial correlations were found on any environmental variable. However, hotel size affected some relationships. Higher BMI was related to greater number of stairs, stair facilitation, and the healthy eating facilitation variables (excluding nutrition signs or posters) in medium sized hotels. Lower BMI was found with greater stair facilitation in small hotels; and with greater number of PA signs, lunchroom nutrition signs, and hotel nutrition signsin large hotels. Unionized status affected only two environmental variables. For unionized hotels, BMI was negatively correlated with PA signs and positively correlated with the healthy eating facilitation. Conclusions No logical pattern of association was found between workplace environmental factors and hotel employee BMI levels. Further research should investigate the interaction of the size and structure of the workplace with the impact of environmental efforts to reduce overweight and obesity. PMID:20061886

Are physical activity and nutrition indicators of the checklist of health promotion environments at worksites (CHEW) associated with employee obesity among hotel workers?

PubMed

Nigg, Claudio R; Albright, Cheryl; Williams, Rebecca; Nichols, Carol; Renda, Gloria; Stevens, Victor J; Vogt, Thomas M

2010-01-01

Worksites provide opportunities to reach more than 60% of adults in the United States, including populations diverse in race, ethnicity, gender, age, occupation, income, and health status. Employers that provide worksite weight management interventions have the potential to reduce sick leave, health care costs, and workers compensation costs, and increase employee morale and worker efficiency. Hotels specifically, represent a broad cross-section of job categories, and most hotels are staffed and operated similarly around the world. However, from our literature review, there have been no investigations of the association between the hotel environment and employees' obesity. For this study, we tested the relationship between environmental factors in hotels and employees' body mass index (BMI). Overall no substantial correlations were found on any environmental variable. However, hotel size affected some relationships. Higher BMI was related to greater number of stairs, stair facilitation, and the healthy eating facilitation variables (excluding nutrition signs or posters) in medium sized hotels. Lower BMI was found with greater stair facilitation in small hotels; and with greater number of physical activity (PA) signs, lunch room nutrition signs, and hotel nutrition signs in large hotels. Unionized status affected only two environmental variables. For unionized hotels, BMI was negatively correlated with PA signs and positively correlated with the healthy eating facilitation. No logical pattern of association was found between workplace environmental factors and hotel employee BMI levels. Further research should investigate the interaction of the size and structure of the workplace with the impact of environmental efforts to reduce overweight and obesity.

Does Embedding Social Media Channels in Hotel Websites Influence Travelers' Satisfaction and Purchase Intentions?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aluri, Ajay Kumar

2012-01-01

In the Internet world today, social media channels have emerged as a top share of Internet usage, and more travelers have started using them to make their hotel plans and purchases. Because of the recommendations of researchers and practitioners, hotel organizations have already embraced social media and have embedded their links on their host…

[Recurrent epidemics of gastroenteritis caused by norovirus GI.3 in a small hotel].

PubMed

Soini, Jani; Hemminki, Kaisa; Pirnes, Aija; Roivainen, Merja; Al-Hello, Haider; Maunula, Leena; Kauppinen, Ari; Miettinen, Likka; Smit, Pieter W; Huusko, Sari; Toikkanen, Salla; Rimhanen-Finne, Ruska

2016-01-01

Recurrent cases of gastroenteritis occurred in a small hotel. The causative agent of disease could not be detected. The cause and the source of the disease were established through epidemiological investigations and laboratory diagnosis. The causative agent of the disease was norovirus GI.3. Norovirus GI was detected in the water from the well and on surfaces at the hotel. Both epidemiological investigations and laboratory diagnostics are needed in resolving epidemics. Continuous development of laboratory methods is important.

Inventory analysis and carbon footprint of coastland-hotel services: A Spanish case study.

PubMed

Puig, Rita; Kiliç, Eylem; Navarro, Alejandra; Albertí, Jaume; Chacón, Lorenzo; Fullana-I-Palmer, Pere

2017-10-01

Tourism is a key industry in the Spanish economy. Spain was in the World top three ranking by international tourist arrivals and by income in 2015. The development of the tourism industry is essential to maintain the established economic system. However, if the environmental requirements were not taken into account, the country would face a negative effect on depletion of local environmental resources from which tourism depends. This case study evaluates, through a life cycle perspective, the average carbon footprint of an overnight stay in a Spanish coastland hotel by analyzing 14 two-to-five-stars hotels. Inventory and impact data are analyzed and presented both for resource use and greenhouse gases emissions, with the intention of helping in the environmental decision-making process. The main identified potential hotspots are electricity and fuels consumption (6 to 30kWh/overnight stay and 24 to 127MJ/overnight stay respectively), which are proportional to the number of stars and unoccupancy rate and they produce more than 75% of the impact. It is also revealed that voluntary implementation of environmental monitoring systems (like EMAS regulation) promotes collection of more detailed and accurate data, which helps in a more efficient use of resources. A literature review on LCA and tourism is also discussed. Spanish hotels inventory data presented here for the first time will be useful for tourism related managers (destination managers, policy makers and hotel managers among others) to calculate sustainability key indicators, which can lead to achieve real sustainable-tourism goals. Further data collection will be needed in future projects to gather representative data from more hotels, other accommodation facilities and also other products/services offered by tourist sector in Spain (like transport of tourists, food and beverage, culture-sports & recreation and others). Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

BOSS: context-enhanced search for biomedical objects

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background There exist many academic search solutions and most of them can be put on either ends of spectrum: general-purpose search and domain-specific "deep" search systems. The general-purpose search systems, such as PubMed, offer flexible query interface, but churn out a list of matching documents that users have to go through the results in order to find the answers to their queries. On the other hand, the "deep" search systems, such as PPI Finder and iHOP, return the precompiled results in a structured way. Their results, however, are often found only within some predefined contexts. In order to alleviate these problems, we introduce a new search engine, BOSS, Biomedical Object Search System. Methods Unlike the conventional search systems, BOSS indexes segments, rather than documents. A segment refers to a Maximal Coherent Semantic Unit (MCSU) such as phrase, clause or sentence that is semantically coherent in the given context (e.g., biomedical objects or their relations). For a user query, BOSS finds all matching segments, identifies the objects appearing in those segments, and aggregates the segments for each object. Finally, it returns the ranked list of the objects along with their matching segments. Results The working prototype of BOSS is available at http://boss.korea.ac.kr. The current version of BOSS has indexed abstracts of more than 20 million articles published during last 16 years from 1996 to 2011 across all science disciplines. Conclusion BOSS fills the gap between either ends of the spectrum by allowing users to pose context-free queries and by returning a structured set of results. Furthermore, BOSS exhibits the characteristic of good scalability, just as with conventional document search engines, because it is designed to use a standard document-indexing model with minimal modifications. Considering the features, BOSS notches up the technological level of traditional solutions for search on biomedical information. PMID:22595092

Tourists' attitudes towards ban on smoking in air-conditioned hotel lobbies in Thailand.

PubMed

Viriyachaiyo, V; Lim, A

2009-06-01

Thailand is internationally renowned for its stringent tobacco control measures. In Thailand, a regulation banning smoking in air-conditioned hotel lobbies was issued in late 2006, causing substantial apprehension within the hospitality industry. A survey of tourists' attitudes toward the ban was conducted. A cross-sectional survey of 5550 travellers staying in various hotels in Bangkok, Surat Thani, Phuket, Krabi and Songkhla provinces, October 2005 to December 2006. Travellers aged 15 years or older with a check-in duration of at least one day and willing to complete the questionnaire were requested by hotel staff to fill in the 5-minute questionnaire at check-in or later at their convenience. Secondhand cigarette smoke was recognised as harmful to health by 89.7% of respondents. 47.8% of travellers were aware of the Thai regulation banning smoking in air-conditioned restaurants. 80.9% of the respondents agreed with the ban, particularly female non-smokers. 38.6% of survey respondents indicated that they would be more likely to visit Thailand again because of the regulation, 53.4% that the regulation would not affect their decision and 7.9% that they would be less likely to visit Thailand again. Banning smoking in air-conditioned hotel lobbies in Thailand is widely supported by tourists. Enforcement of the regulation is more likely to attract tourists than dissuade them from holidaying in Thailand.

Is Reading Impairment Associated with Enhanced Holistic Processing in Comparative Visual Search?

PubMed

Wang, Jiahui; Schneps, Matthew H; Antonenko, Pavlo D; Chen, Chen; Pomplun, Marc

2016-11-01

This study explores a proposition that individuals with dyslexia develop enhanced peripheral vision to process visual-spatial information holistically. Participants included 18 individuals diagnosed with dyslexia and 18 who were not. The experiment used a comparative visual search design consisting of two blocks of 72 trials. Each trial presented two halves of the display each comprising three kinds of shapes in three colours to be compared side-by-side. Participants performed a conjunctive search to ascertain whether the two halves were identical. In the first block, participants were provided no instruction regarding the visual-spatial processing strategy they were to employ. In the second block, participants were instructed to use a holistic processing strategy-to defocus their attention and perform the comparison by examining the whole screen at once. The results did not support the hypothesis associating dyslexia with talents for holistic visual processing. Using holistic processing strategy, both groups scored lower in accuracy and reacted faster, compared to the first block. Impaired readers consistently reacted more slowly and did not exhibit enhanced accuracy. Given the extant evidence of strengths for holistic visual processing in impaired readers, these findings are important because they suggest such strengths may be task dependent. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

US acculturation, food intake, and obesity among Asian-Pacific hotel workers.

PubMed

Novotny, Rachel; Williams, Andrew E; Vinoya, Aleli C; Oshiro, Caryn E S; Vogt, Thomas M

2009-10-01

Both obesity and immigration continue to increase in the United States. Studies suggest that a transition in lifestyle patterns, such as food intake, may mediate the relationship between immigration and obesity. We examine obesity among hotel workers in relation to age, sex, race/ethnicity, and indicators of food intake, immigration, and acculturation. Four thousand five hundred thirty hotel workers in 30 hotels were studied from the first year of the Work, Weight and Wellness program, before intervention (during 2005-2006). Weight and height were measured, whereas race/ethnicity, language, education, immigration, acculturation, and food intake variables were assessed by questionnaire. The study included 43% male and 57% female hotel workers (mean age 44.4+/-11.3 years; 42% Filipino, 32% other Asian, 13% Pacific Islander, 9% white, 1% black/African American, and 3% other race/ethnicity). On average (mean value), 55% of participants were born outside the United States; 57% were overweight or obese (body mass index [BMI] >25). The BMI of those born in the United States was 1.3 higher than that of those born in another country, adjusting for sex and race/ethnicity. Intake of sweet drinks and meat was positively associated with BMI while intake of fruit was negatively associated with BMI. Age at arrival in United States ("generation") was negatively associated with BMI, whereas greater acculturation was positively associated with BMI. Food intake behaviors are probably related to place of birth, generation of migration to the United States, and acculturation. Direct measures of food intake added explanatory power to models, suggesting the importance of food intake to obesity. Further study of the influence of immigration, acculturation, and food intake on obesity using longitudinal study designs is warranted.

5. FOURTH FLOOR, HOTEL SOAP LINES TO NORTHWEST: PRESS (LEFT ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

5. FOURTH FLOOR, HOTEL SOAP LINES TO NORTHWEST: PRESS (LEFT CENTER), MANUAL CUTTERS (CENTER, RIGHT CENTER) - Colgate & Company Jersey City Plant, Building No. B-15, 90-96 Greene Street, Jersey City, Hudson County, NJ

Optimized MBR for greywater reuse systems in hotel facilities.

PubMed

Atanasova, Natasa; Dalmau, Montserrat; Comas, Joaquim; Poch, Manel; Rodriguez-Roda, Ignasi; Buttiglieri, Gianluigi

2017-05-15

Greywater is an important alternative water source, particularly in semi-arid, touristic areas, where the biggest water demand is usually in the dry period. By using this source wisely, tourist facilities can substantially reduce the pressure to scarce water resources. In densely urbanized touristic areas, where space has high value, compact solutions such as MBR based greywater reuse systems appear very appropriate. This research focuses on technical and economical evaluation of such solution by implementing a pilot MBR to a hotel with separated grey water. The pilot was operated for 6 months, with thorough characterisation of the GW performed, its operation was monitored and its energy consumption was optimized by applying a control system for the air scour. Based on the pilot operation a design and economic model was set to estimate the feasibility (CAPEX, OPEX, payback period of investment) of appropriate scales of MBR based GW systems, including separation of GW, MBR technology, clean water storage and disinfection. The model takes into account water and energy prices in Spain and a planning period of 20 years. The results demonstrated an excellent performance in terms of effluent quality, while the energy demand for air-scour was reduced by up to 35.2%, compared to the manufacturer recommendations. Economical evaluation of the entire MBR based GW reuse system shows its feasibility for sizes already at 5 m 3 /day (60 PE). The payback period of the investment for hotels like the demonstration hotel, treating 30 m 3 /day is 3 years. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Occupational injury disparities in the US hotel industry.

PubMed

Buchanan, Susan; Vossenas, Pamela; Krause, Niklas; Moriarty, Joan; Frumin, Eric; Shimek, Jo Anna M; Mirer, Franklin; Orris, Peter; Punnett, Laura

2010-02-01

Hotel employees have higher rates of occupational injury and sustain more severe injuries than most other service workers. OSHA log incidents from five unionized hotel companies for a three-year period were analyzed to estimate injury rates by job, company, and demographic characteristics. Room cleaning work, known to be physically hazardous, was of particular concern. A total of 2,865 injuries were reported during 55,327 worker-years of observation. The overall injury rate was 5.2 injuries per 100 worker-years. The rate was highest for housekeepers (7.9), Hispanic housekeepers (10.6), and about double in three companies versus two others. Acute trauma rates were highest in kitchen workers (4.0/100) and housekeepers (3.9/100); housekeepers also had the highest rate of musculoskeletal disorders (3.2/100). Age, being female or Hispanic, job title, and company were all independently associated with injury risk. Sex- and ethnicity-based disparities in injury rates were only partially due to the type of job held and the company in which the work was performed. Copyright 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Tourists’ attitudes towards ban on smoking in air-conditioned hotel lobbies in Thailand

PubMed Central

Viriyachaiyo, V; Lim, A

2009-01-01

Background: Thailand is internationally renowned for its stringent tobacco control measures. In Thailand, a regulation banning smoking in air-conditioned hotel lobbies was issued in late 2006, causing substantial apprehension within the hospitality industry. A survey of tourists’ attitudes toward the ban was conducted. Methods: A cross-sectional survey of 5550 travellers staying in various hotels in Bangkok, Surat Thani, Phuket, Krabi and Songkhla provinces, October 2005 to December 2006. Travellers aged 15 years or older with a check-in duration of at least one day and willing to complete the questionnaire were requested by hotel staff to fill in the 5-minute questionnaire at check-in or later at their convenience. Results: Secondhand cigarette smoke was recognised as harmful to health by 89.7% of respondents. 47.8% of travellers were aware of the Thai regulation banning smoking in air-conditioned restaurants. 80.9% of the respondents agreed with the ban, particularly female non-smokers. 38.6% of survey respondents indicated that they would be more likely to visit Thailand again because of the regulation, 53.4% that the regulation would not affect their decision and 7.9% that they would be less likely to visit Thailand again. Conclusion: Banning smoking in air-conditioned hotel lobbies in Thailand is widely supported by tourists. Enforcement of the regulation is more likely to attract tourists than dissuade them from holidaying in Thailand. PMID:19364754

7. FOURTH FLOOR, DETAIL OF HOTEL SOAP LINE TO WEST: ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

7. FOURTH FLOOR, DETAIL OF HOTEL SOAP LINE TO WEST: FERGUSON & HAAS AUTOMATIC WRAPPING MACHINE INSTALLED BY 1929 - Colgate & Company Jersey City Plant, Building No. B-15, 90-96 Greene Street, Jersey City, Hudson County, NJ

Post natal use of analgesics: comparisons between conventional postnatal wards and a maternity hotel.

PubMed

Nordeng, Hedvig; Eskild, Anne; Nesheim, Britt-Ingjerd

2010-04-01

To investigate factors related to analgesic use after delivery, and especially whether rates of analgesic use were different in a midwife-managed maternity hotel as compared to conventional postnatal wards. One maternity hotel and two conventional postnatal wards at Ullevål University Hospital in Oslo, Norway. Data were obtained from hospital records for 804 women with vaginal deliveries. Postnatal analgesic use. Overall, approximately half the women used analgesics after vaginal delivery in both conventional postnatal wards and maternity hotel. The factors that were significantly associated with use of analgesics postnatally in multivariate analysis were multiparity, having a non-Western ethnicity, smoking in pregnancy, younger age, instrumental delivery, analgesic use during labour, maternal complications post partum, and duration of postnatal stay 4 days or more. The use of analgesics is determined by socio-demographic and obstetric factors rather than the organisation of the ward.

A room with a viewpoint revisited: descriptive norms and hotel guests' towel reuse behavior.

PubMed

Bohner, Gerd; Schlüter, Lena E

2014-01-01

Field experiments on descriptive norms as a means to increase hotel guests' towel reuse [1] were replicated and extended. In two hotels in Germany (Study 1: N = 724; Study 2: N = 204), descriptive norm messages suggesting that 75% of guests had reused their towels, or a standard message appealing to environmental concerns, were placed in guests' bathrooms. Descriptive norm messages varied in terms of proximity of the reference group ("hotel guests" vs. "guests in this room") and temporal proximity (currently vs. two years previous). Reuse of towels was unobtrusively recorded. Results showed that reuse rates were high overall and that both standard and descriptive norm messages increased reuse rates compared to a no-message baseline. However, descriptive norm messages were not more effective than the standard message, and effects of proximity were inconsistent across studies. Discussion addresses cultural and conceptual issues in comparing the present findings with previous ones.

Exposure to organophosphate flame retardants of hotel room attendants in Wuhan City, China.

PubMed

Tao, Yun; Shang, Yinzhu; Li, Jing; Feng, Jingwen; He, Zhenyu; Covaci, Adrian; Wang, Peng; Luo, Jing; Mao, Xiang; Shi, Bin; Hu, Liqin; Luo, Dan; Mei, Surong

2018-05-01

Indoor environments provide sources of exposure to organophosphate flame retardants (PFRs), which are artificially synthesized fire-protecting agents used as additives in interior products. As public spaces, hotels are required to meet stricter fire-precaution criteria. As such, room attendants may be exposed to higher levels of PFRs. Our goal was to characterize the exposure of hotel room attendants to PFRs by measuring metabolites in their urine and the corresponding parent PFRs in dust and hand-wipes collected from 27 hotels located in Wuhan City, China. The exposure of the attendants was found to be omnipresent: urinary metabolites of PFRs, such as DPHP (diphenyl phosphate), BDCIPP (bis(1,3-dichloro-2-propyl) phosphate), and DoCP (di-o-cresyl phosphate) & DpCP (di-p-cresyl phosphate) were detected with high frequency (87%, 79% and 87%, respectively). We observed that metabolites in post-shift urine were consistently present at higher levels than those in the first morning voids (p < 0.05 for BDCIPP and DPHP). Regarding external exposure, 10 PFRs were determined in both dust samples and hand-wipes, with TCIPP (tris(2-chloroisopropyl) phosphate) being the most abundant compound in both matrices. The levels of PFRs in hand-wipes and dust samples were not correlated. PFRs in dust and their corresponding urinary metabolites were not significantly correlated, while a moderate significant correlation of TDCIPP (tris(1,3-dichloro-2-propyl) phosphate) in hand-wipes and its urinary metabolite, BDCIPP, was observed in both morning void samples (p = 0.01) and post-shift urine (p = 0.002). Moreover, we found that participants from high-rise buildings (defined as > 7 stories) had significantly higher BDCIPP and DPHP concentrations than those from low-rise buildings. A possible reason is that high-rise buildings may use high-grade fireproof building materials to meet stricter fire restrictions. Overall, these results indicate that PFRs exposure in hotels is a

Key facilitators and best practices of hotel-style room service in hospitals.

PubMed

Sheehan-Smith, Lisa

2006-04-01

This qualitative study sought to identify the features, advantages, and disadvantages of hotel-style room service; the barriers to, and facilitators for, implementing the process; and "best practices." The study took place in four heterogeneous hospitals. Participants included hospital administrators, managers, and room-service employees. Data-collection methods included semi-structured interviews, observations, and document analysis. Common features of hotel-style room service were meal delivery within 30 to 45 minutes, a restaurant-style menu, procedures to feed ineligible patients, tray assembly on demand, scripting, and waitstaff uniforms for room-service employees. The major barrier to implementing room service was obtaining nursing support. The key facilitators were the hospital's service-oriented culture, using a multidisciplinary planning team, engaging nursing departments early in the planning stages, and intense customer-service training of room-service employees. The overwhelming advantage was patients' control over their food choices. The main disadvantage was cost. Initial best practices in hotel-style room service include: (a) taking a multidisciplinary team approach for developing and implementing the process, (b) customer-service training, (c) using a customer-driven menu, (d) wearing waitstaff uniforms, and (e) using carts with airpots for dispensing hot beverages.

OPUS - Outer Planets Unified Search with Enhanced Surface Geometry Parameters - Not Just for Rings

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gordon, Mitchell; Showalter, Mark Robert; Ballard, Lisa; Tiscareno, Matthew S.; Heather, Neil

2016-10-01

In recent years, with the massive influx of data into the PDS from a wide array of missions and instruments, finding the precise data you need has been an ongoing challenge. For remote sensing data obtained from Jupiter to Pluto, that challenge is being addressed by the Outer Planets Unified Search, more commonly known as OPUS.OPUS is a powerful search tool available at the PDS Ring-Moon Systems Node (RMS) - formerly the PDS Rings Node. While OPUS was originally designed with ring data in mind, its capabilities have been extended to include all of the targets within an instrument's field of view. OPUS provides preview images of search results, and produces a zip file for easy download of selected products, including a table of user specified metadata. For Cassini ISS and Voyager ISS we have generated and include calibrated versions of every image.Currently OPUS supports data returned by Cassini ISS, UVIS, VIMS, and CIRS (Saturn data through June 2010), New Horizons Jupiter LORRI, Galileo SSI, Voyager ISS and IRIS, and Hubble (ACS, WFC3 and WFPC2).At the RMS Node, we have developed and incorporated into OPUS detailed geometric metadata, based on the most recent SPICE kernels, for all of the bodies in the Cassini Saturn observations. This extensive set of geometric metadata is unique to the RMS Node and enables search constraints such as latitudes and longitudes (Saturn, Titan, and icy satellites), viewing and illumination geometry (phase, incidence and emission angles), and distances and resolution.Our near term plans include adding the full set of Cassini CIRS Saturn data (with enhanced geometry), New Horizons MVIC Jupiter encounter images, New Horizons LORRI and MVIC Pluto data, HST STIS observations, and Cassini and Voyager ring occultations. We also plan to develop enhanced geometric metadata for the New Horizons LORRI and MVIC instruments for both the Jupiter and the Pluto encounters.OPUS: http://pds-rings.seti.org/search/

The effect of the water tariff structures on the water consumption in Mallorcan hotels

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Deyà-Tortella, Bartolomé; Garcia, Celso; Nilsson, William; Tirado, Dolores

2016-08-01

Tourism increases water demand, especially in coastal areas and on islands, and can also cause water shortages during the dry season and the degradation of the water supply. The aim of this study is to evaluate the impact of water price structures on hotel water consumption on the island of Mallorca (Spain). All tourist municipalities on the island use different pricing structures, such as flat or block rates, and different tariffs. This exogenous variation is used to evaluate the effect of prices on water consumption for a sample of 134 hotels. The discontinuity of the water tariff structure and the fixed rate, which depends on the number of hotel beds, generate endogeneity problems. We propose an econometric model, an instrumental variable quantile regression for within artificial blocks transformed data, to solve both problems. The coefficients corresponding to the price variables are not found to be significantly different from zero. The sign of the effect is negative, but the magnitude is negligible: a 1% increase in all prices would reduce consumption by an average of only 0.024%. This result is probably due to the small share of water costs with respect to the total hotel operational costs (around 4%). Our regression model concludes that the introduction of water-saving initiatives constitutes an effective way to reduce consumption.

ESL for Hotel/Hospitality Industry. Level: Advanced Beginner/Intermediate.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Western Suffolk County Board of Cooperative Educational Services, Northport, NY.

This document contains 16 lesson plans for an advanced beginning and intermediate course in work-related English for non-English- or limited-English-speaking entry-level employees in the hotel and hospitality industry. Course objectives are as follows: helping participants understand and use job-specific vocabulary; receive and understand…

Competency Needs in Irish Hotels: Employer and Graduate Perspectives

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nolan, Ciara; Conway, Edel; Farrell, Tara; Monks, Kathy

2010-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate hotel industry employers' expectations of, and satisfaction with, graduate competencies in comparison with graduate perceptions of what is required for their roles and their satisfaction with how well their education experience prepared them. Design/methodology/approach: The research involved a…

Analytical approximations to the Hotelling trace for digital x-ray detectors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Clarkson, Eric; Pineda, Angel R.; Barrett, Harrison H.

2001-06-01

The Hotelling trace is the signal-to-noise ratio for the ideal linear observer in a detection task. We provide an analytical approximation for this figure of merit when the signal is known exactly and the background is generated by a stationary random process, and the imaging system is an ideal digital x-ray detector. This approximation is based on assuming that the detector is infinite in extent. We test this approximation for finite-size detectors by comparing it to exact calculations using matrix inversion of the data covariance matrix. After verifying the validity of the approximation under a variety of circumstances, we use it to generate plots of the Hotelling trace as a function of pairs of parameters of the system, the signal and the background.

A study to enhance clinical end-user MEDLINE search skills: design and baseline findings.

PubMed

McKibbon, K A; Haynes, R B; Johnston, M E; Walker, C J

1991-01-01

their precision and recall are less than a trained librarian at baseline. Search skills enhancements are needed and the effect of feedback and preceptors is being tested. U.S. National Library of Medicine and Ontario Ministry of Health.

A large common-source outbreak of norovirus gastroenteritis in a hotel in Singapore, 2012.

PubMed

Raj, P; Tay, J; Ang, L W; Tien, W S; Thu, M; Lee, P; Pang, Q Y; Tang, Y L; Lee, K Y; Maurer-Stroh, S; Gunalan, V; Cutter, J; Goh, K T

2017-02-01

An outbreak of gastroenteritis affected 453 attendees (attack rate 28·5%) of six separate events held at a hotel in Singapore. Active case detection, case-control studies, hygiene inspections and microbial analysis of food, environmental and stool samples were conducted to determine the aetiology of the outbreak and the modes of transmission. The only commonality was the food, crockery and cutlery provided and/or handled by the hotel's Chinese banquet kitchen. Stool specimens from 34 cases and 15 food handlers were positive for norovirus genogroup II. The putative index case was one of eight norovirus-positive food handlers who had worked while they were symptomatic. Several food samples and remnants tested positive for Escherichia coli or high faecal coliforms, aerobic plate counts and/or total coliforms, indicating poor food hygiene. This large common-source outbreak of norovirus gastroenteritis was caused by the consumption of contaminated food and/or contact with contaminated crockery or cutlery provided or handled by the hotel's Chinese banquet kitchen.

A Room with a Viewpoint Revisited: Descriptive Norms and Hotel Guests' Towel Reuse Behavior

PubMed Central

Bohner, Gerd; Schlüter, Lena E.

2014-01-01

Field experiments on descriptive norms as a means to increase hotel guests' towel reuse [1] were replicated and extended. In two hotels in Germany (Study 1: N = 724; Study 2: N = 204), descriptive norm messages suggesting that 75% of guests had reused their towels, or a standard message appealing to environmental concerns, were placed in guests' bathrooms. Descriptive norm messages varied in terms of proximity of the reference group (“hotel guests” vs. “guests in this room”) and temporal proximity (currently vs. two years previous). Reuse of towels was unobtrusively recorded. Results showed that reuse rates were high overall and that both standard and descriptive norm messages increased reuse rates compared to a no-message baseline. However, descriptive norm messages were not more effective than the standard message, and effects of proximity were inconsistent across studies. Discussion addresses cultural and conceptual issues in comparing the present findings with previous ones. PMID:25084348

12. DETAIL OF REMOVED PLODDER (UPPER HALF) FROM HOTEL SOAP ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

12. DETAIL OF REMOVED PLODDER (UPPER HALF) FROM HOTEL SOAP LINE No. 6 STORED IN G BLOCK (HAER No. NJ-71-NN) - Colgate & Company Jersey City Plant, Building No. B-14, 54-58 Grand Street, Jersey City, Hudson County, NJ

13. DETAIL OF REMOVED PLODDER (LOWER HALF) FROM HOTEL SOAP ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

13. DETAIL OF REMOVED PLODDER (LOWER HALF) FROM HOTEL SOAP LINE No. 6 STORED IN G BLOCK (HAER No. NJ-71-NN) - Colgate & Company Jersey City Plant, Building No. B-14, 54-58 Grand Street, Jersey City, Hudson County, NJ

Occurrence and parameters of frequency of Legionella in warm water systems of hospitals and hotels in Lower Saxony.

PubMed

Habicht, W; Müller, H E

1988-03-01

A total of 1241 water samples was investigated from 103 hospitals and 62 hotels in Lower Saxony 1985-87. 331 of 949 samples from hospitals and 26 of 292 samples from hotels were Legionella positive. All together 70% of the hospitals and 18% of the hotels investigated were Legionella positive, and 836 strains of Legionella were isolated (Table 1). As they could be diagnosed they belong to L. pneumophila SG1 306 strains, SG2 36 strains, SG3 127 strains, SG4 45 strain, SG5 29 strain, SG6 106 strains, SG9 13 strains and SG10 13 strains. Further 134 strains belonging to L. pneumophila but not to SG1-SG12 show cross reactions with serogroups 5, 8, and 10. Finally, 16 strains belong to L. dumoffii and 1 strain to L. anisa (Table 2). The following parameters of water samples were studied, too: temperature, pH value, conductivity, concentration of iron, of organic matter, of other bacteria, occurrence of amoebas, and the materials of water plumbing systems. Most samples contained concentrations of Legionella in the range of 10(1)-10(3) CFU/ml, highest concentrations were 10(5) CFU/ml (Fig. 1). Most frequently, Legionella were isolated within the range of temperature of 35-45 degrees C. However, a few of the water samples were positive for Legionella even up to 66 degrees C (Fig. 3). The conductivity has no and the pH value (Fig. 2) has only little influence on the occurrence of Legionella. There is a positive correlation between concentration of iron and frequency of Legionella (Fig. 4). Also organic matter (Fig. 6) and amoebas (Table 3) seem to enhance the occurrence of Legionella. Plumbing systems consisting of copper showed an inhibitory effect on Legionella during the first five years, whereas no effect could be detected in older systems (Fig. 5).

Legionella spp. Risk Assessment in Recreational and Garden Areas of Hotels

PubMed Central

Chochlakis, Dimosthenis; Sandalakis, Vassilios; Keramarou, Maria; Tselentis, Yannis; Psaroulaki, Anna

2018-01-01

Several Travel-associated Legionnaires’ disease (TALD) cases occur annually in Europe. Except from the most obvious sites (cooling towers and hot water systems), infections can also be associated with recreational, water feature, and garden areas of hotels. This argument is of great interest to better comprehend the colonization and to calculate the risk to human health of these sites. From July 2000–November 2017, the public health authorities of the Island of Crete (Greece) inspected 119 hotels associated with TALD, as reported through the European Legionnaires’ Disease Surveillance Network. Five hundred and eighteen samples were collected from decorative fountain ponds, showers near pools and spas, swimming pools, spa pools, garden sprinklers, drip irrigation systems (reclaimed water) and soil. Of those, 67 (12.93%), originating from 43 (35.83%) hotels, tested positive for Legionella (Legionella pneumophila serogroups 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 13, 14, 15 and non-pneumophila species (L. anisa, L. erythra, L. taurinensis, L. birminghamensis, L. rubrilucens). A Relative Risk (R.R.) > 1 (p < 0.0001) was calculated for chlorine concentrations of less than 0.2 mg/L (R.R.: 54.78), star classification (<4) (R.R.: 4.75) and absence of Water Safety Plan implementation (R.R.: 3.96). High risk (≥104 CFU/L) was estimated for pool showers (16.42%), garden sprinklers (7.46%) and pool water (5.97%). PMID:29587446

Legionella spp. Risk Assessment in Recreational and Garden Areas of Hotels.

PubMed

Papadakis, Antonios; Chochlakis, Dimosthenis; Sandalakis, Vassilios; Keramarou, Maria; Tselentis, Yannis; Psaroulaki, Anna

2018-03-26

Several Travel-associated Legionnaires' disease (TALD) cases occur annually in Europe. Except from the most obvious sites (cooling towers and hot water systems), infections can also be associated with recreational, water feature, and garden areas of hotels. This argument is of great interest to better comprehend the colonization and to calculate the risk to human health of these sites. From July 2000-November 2017, the public health authorities of the Island of Crete (Greece) inspected 119 hotels associated with TALD, as reported through the European Legionnaires' Disease Surveillance Network. Five hundred and eighteen samples were collected from decorative fountain ponds, showers near pools and spas, swimming pools, spa pools, garden sprinklers, drip irrigation systems (reclaimed water) and soil. Of those, 67 (12.93%), originating from 43 (35.83%) hotels, tested positive for Legionella ( Legionella pneumophila serogroups 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 13, 14, 15 and non-pneumophila species ( L. anisa , L. erythra , L. taurinensis , L. birminghamensis , L. rubrilucens ). A Relative Risk (R.R.) > 1 ( p < 0.0001) was calculated for chlorine concentrations of less than 0.2 mg/L (R.R.: 54.78), star classification (<4) (R.R.: 4.75) and absence of Water Safety Plan implementation (R.R.: 3.96). High risk (≥10⁴ CFU/L) was estimated for pool showers (16.42%), garden sprinklers (7.46%) and pool water (5.97%).

Development and application of an integrated indoor air quality audit to an international hotel building in Taiwan.

PubMed

Kuo, Nae-Wen; Chiang, Hsin-Chen; Chiang, Che-Ming

2008-12-01

Indoor air quality (IAQ) has begun to surface as an important issue that affects the comfort and health of people; however, there is little research concerned about the IAQ monitoring of hotels up to now. Hotels are designed to provide comfortable spaces for guests. However, most complaints related to uncomfortable thermal environment and inadequate indoor air quality appear. In addition, microbial pollution can affect the health of tourists such as the Legionnaire's disease and SARS problems. This study is aimed to establish the comprehensive IAQ audit approach for hotel buildings with portable equipment, and one five-star international hotel in Taiwan was selected to exam this integrated approach. Finally, four major problems are identified after the comprehensive IAQ audit. They are: (1) low room temperature (21.8 degrees C), (2) insufficient air exchange rate (<1.5 h(-1)), (3) formaldehyde contamination (>0.02 ppm), and (4) the microbial pollution (total bacteria: 2,624-3,799 CFU/m(3)). The high level of formaldehyde may be due to the emission from the detergent and cleaning agents used for housekeeping.

Economic analysis of the water demand in the hotels and restaurants sector: Shadow prices and elasticities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Angulo, Ana; Atwi, Majed; Barberán, Ramón; Mur, Jesús

2014-08-01

Despite the growing economic importance of tourism, and its impact on relative water shortage, little is known about the role that water plays in the productive process of hotels and restaurants and, therefore, the possible implications of water demand management policy for this sector. This study aims to fill this gap. It is based on the microdata of 676 firms in the sector, operating in the city of Zaragoza (Spain) for a 12 year period. Based on the Translog cost function, we estimate the shadow price of water in the short run and, from a long-run perspective, its direct price elasticity, its cross elasticities relative to labor, capital, and supplies, and its elasticity with respect to the level of output. The results obtained show that water provides sector firms returns that are on average higher than its price, although in the case of hotels the margin is really narrow. This situation provides policy makers with a margin for applying price increases without affecting the sector's viability, with some caution in the case of hotels. Water demand elasticity equals -0.38 in the case of hotels, but it is not significant in the case of restaurants and bar-cafes; hence, only in hotels is there potential for influencing water use patterns, encouraging the resource's conservation through pricing policy. Moreover, capital is a substitutive factor of water, and the elasticity of water with respect to output is 0.40, all of which should also be considered by policy makers in water resource management.

Best practices to reduce the accident rate hotel

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

García Revilla, M. R.; Kahale Carrillo, D. T.

2014-10-01

Examining the available databases and existing tourism organizations can conclude that appear studies on accidents and their relationship with other variables. But in our case we want to assess this relationship in the performance of the hotel in relation to lower the accident rate. The Industrial Safety studies analyzing this accident causes (why they happen), their sources (committed activities), their agents (participants work means), its type (how the events occur or develop), all in order to develop prevention. In our case, as accidents happen because people commit wrongful acts or because the equipment, tools, machinery or workplaces are not in proper conditions, the preventive point of view we analyze through the incidence of workplace accidents hotel subsector. The crash occurs because there is a risk, so that adequate control of it would avoid despite individual factors. Absenteeism or absence from work was taken into account first by Dubois in 1977, as he realized the time lost in the nineteenth century due to the long working hours, which included the holidays. Motivation and job satisfaction were the elements that have been most important in the phenomenon of social psychology.

Individual- and Organization-Level Work-to-Family Spillover Are Uniquely Associated with Hotel Managers' Work Exhaustion and Satisfaction

PubMed Central

Lee, Soomi; Davis, Kelly D.; Neuendorf, Claudia; Grandey, Alicia; Lam, Chun Bun; Almeida, David M.

2016-01-01

Purpose: Building on the Conservation of Resources theory, this paper examined the unique and interactive associations of negative and positive work-to-family spillover (NWFS and PWFS, respectively) at the individual and organizational level with hotel managers' work exhaustion and satisfaction, beyond job demands and supervisors' leadership style. Design/Methodology/Approach: Guided by the levels of analysis framework, we first tested the unique associations of NWFS and PWFS with emotional exhaustion and job satisfaction at the individual level (571 hotel managers), beyond job demands supervisors' leadership style. Second, using multilevel modeling, we tested the climate effects of NWFS and PWFS on emotional exhaustion and job satisfaction aggregated at the organizational level (41 hotels). Third, we examined the role of the organizational climate of PWFS in the associations of individual-level NWFS with emotional exhaustion and job satisfaction. Findings: Beyond the effects of psychological job demands and supervisor's transformational leadership, at the individual level, hotel managers who experienced higher NWFS than other managers reported more exhaustion and lower job satisfaction, whereas those with higher PWFS reported less exhaustion and higher satisfaction. At the organizational level, working in hotels where the average level of NWFS was higher than other hotels was associated with feeling more exhaustion of the individual members; working in hotels with higher PWFS was associated with feeling less exhaustion. The negative link between individual-level NWFS and job satisfaction was buffered when organization-level PWFS was higher, compared to when it was lower. Originality/Value: This study moves beyond a focus on traditional job characteristics, toward considering individual and organizational experiences in the work-family interface as unique predictors of work exhaustion and satisfaction. Strengths of the study include illuminating organizational work

Individual- and Organization-Level Work-to-Family Spillover Are Uniquely Associated with Hotel Managers' Work Exhaustion and Satisfaction.

PubMed

Lee, Soomi; Davis, Kelly D; Neuendorf, Claudia; Grandey, Alicia; Lam, Chun Bun; Almeida, David M

2016-01-01

Building on the Conservation of Resources theory, this paper examined the unique and interactive associations of negative and positive work-to-family spillover (NWFS and PWFS, respectively) at the individual and organizational level with hotel managers' work exhaustion and satisfaction, beyond job demands and supervisors' leadership style. Guided by the levels of analysis framework, we first tested the unique associations of NWFS and PWFS with emotional exhaustion and job satisfaction at the individual level (571 hotel managers), beyond job demands supervisors' leadership style. Second, using multilevel modeling, we tested the climate effects of NWFS and PWFS on emotional exhaustion and job satisfaction aggregated at the organizational level (41 hotels). Third, we examined the role of the organizational climate of PWFS in the associations of individual-level NWFS with emotional exhaustion and job satisfaction. Beyond the effects of psychological job demands and supervisor's transformational leadership, at the individual level, hotel managers who experienced higher NWFS than other managers reported more exhaustion and lower job satisfaction, whereas those with higher PWFS reported less exhaustion and higher satisfaction. At the organizational level, working in hotels where the average level of NWFS was higher than other hotels was associated with feeling more exhaustion of the individual members; working in hotels with higher PWFS was associated with feeling less exhaustion. The negative link between individual-level NWFS and job satisfaction was buffered when organization-level PWFS was higher, compared to when it was lower. This study moves beyond a focus on traditional job characteristics, toward considering individual and organizational experiences in the work-family interface as unique predictors of work exhaustion and satisfaction. Strengths of the study include illuminating organizational work-family climate effects such that coworkers' shared experiences of

Residents' Coping Strategies in an Extended-Stay Hotel Home

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lewinson, Terri

2010-01-01

Some families live in extended-stay hotels as a solution after housing displacement. This temporary accommodation provides a furnished home environment with resources such as a kitchenette, bed, heating/air conditioning, and room services with one payment that can be made weekly or monthly without a credit check or rent deposit. Despite these…

The Impact of e-Customer Relationship Marketing in Hotel Industry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Samanta, Irene

The present research investigates the extent to which Greek hotels had developed the electronic customer relationship marketing (E-CRM). The study verifies the practices that frequently appear in relationship marketing process within online operations or whether their Internet presence mainly depends on the basic actions of "supplying information" and "reservations". Also, it investigates the effects of e-CRM system on customer loyalty and satisfaction as well as the impact of relationship marketing practices to customer retention and acquisition. They have understood the importance of using electronic channels instead of traditional ones to implement their marketing strategies. Thus, e-crm system has assisted hotel business to manage more effectively their reservations and serve their customers as fast and as effective as possible. They did not seem to apply many of the relationship marketing strategies to emphasize customer retention and continual satisfaction because of difficulties in staff training.

Respiratory and ocular symptoms among employees of a hotel indoor waterpark resort--Ohio, 2007.

PubMed

2009-02-06

During January--March 2007, the Warren County Combined Health District (WCCHD) received 665 reports of respiratory and eye irritation from patrons and lifeguards at a hotel indoor waterpark resort in Ohio. Tests revealed normal water chemistry and air chlorine concentrations, and exposure to airborne trichloramine in the waterpark was suspected as the cause of the symptoms. Because of the number of symptom reports and WCCHD's limited ability to measure trichloramine, the district requested an investigation by CDC's National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). This report describes the results of that investigation, which revealed that trichloramine concentrations in the waterpark ranged from below the limit of detection to 1.06 mg/m3, and some concentrations were at levels that have been reported to cause irritation symptoms (>/=0.5 mg/m3). Lifeguards reported significantly more work-related symptoms (e.g., cough, wheezing, shortness of breath, chest tightness, and eye irritation) than unexposed hotel employees. Lifeguards also reported significantly more eye irritation and cough on days when hotel occupancy was high versus low. Insufficient air movement and distribution likely led to accumulation of trichloramine and exacerbation of symptoms. Based on recommendations to increase air movement and distribution at pool deck level, hotel management modified the ventilation system extensively, and subsequently no new cases were reported to WCCHD. The results of this investigation emphasize the importance of appropriate design and monitoring of ventilation and water systems in preventing illness in indoor waterparks.

Enhanced Approximate Nearest Neighbor via Local Area Focused Search.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gonzales, Antonio; Blazier, Nicholas Paul

Approximate Nearest Neighbor (ANN) algorithms are increasingly important in machine learning, data mining, and image processing applications. There is a large family of space- partitioning ANN algorithms, such as randomized KD-Trees, that work well in practice but are limited by an exponential increase in similarity comparisons required to optimize recall. Additionally, they only support a small set of similarity metrics. We present Local Area Fo- cused Search (LAFS), a method that enhances the way queries are performed using an existing ANN index. Instead of a single query, LAFS performs a number of smaller (fewer similarity comparisons) queries and focuses onmore » a local neighborhood which is refined as candidates are identified. We show that our technique improves performance on several well known datasets and is easily extended to general similarity metrics using kernel projection techniques.« less

Economic Evaluation of a Worksite Obesity Prevention and Intervention Trial among Hotel Workers in Hawaii

PubMed Central

Meenan, Richard T.; Vogt, Thomas M.; Williams, Andrew E.; Stevens, Victor J.; Albright, Cheryl L.; Nigg, Claudio

2010-01-01

Objective Economic evaluation of Work, Weight, and Wellness (3W), a two-year randomized trial of a weight loss program delivered through Hawaii hotel worksites. Methods Business case analysis from hotel perspective. Program resources were micro-costed (2008 dollars). Program benefits were reduced medical costs, fewer absences, and higher productivity. Primary outcome was discounted 24-month net present value (NPV). Results Control program cost $222K to implement over 24 months ($61 per participant), intervention program cost $1.12M ($334). Including overweight participants (body mass index > 25), discounted control NPV was −$217K; −$1.1M for intervention program. Presenteeism improvement of 50% combined with baseline 10% productivity shortfall required to generate positive 24-month intervention NPV. Conclusions 3W’s positive clinical outcomes did not translate into immediate economic benefit for participating hotels, although modest cost savings were observed in the trial’s second year. PMID:20061889

WHITE HOUSE DEPARTMENT STORE (HOTEL McCOY), 127 PIONEER PLAZA, PERSPECTIVE ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

WHITE HOUSE DEPARTMENT STORE (HOTEL McCOY), 127 PIONEER PLAZA, PERSPECTIVE VIEW LOOKING NORTHWEST - South El Paso Street Historic District, South El Paso, South Oregon & South Santa Fe Streets, El Paso, El Paso County, TX

Human annoyance and reactions to hotel room specific noises

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Everhard, Ian L.

2004-05-01

A new formula is presented where multiple annoyance sources and transmission loss values of any partition are combined to produce a new single number rating of annoyance. The explanation of the formula is based on theoretical psychoacoustics and survey testing used to create variables used to weight the results. An imaginary hotel room is processed through the new formula and is rated based on theoretical survey results that would be taken by guests of the hotel. The new single number rating compares the multiple sources of annoyance to a single imaginary unbiased source where absolute level is the only factor in stimulating a linear rise in annoyance [Fidell et al., J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 66, 1427 (1979); D. M. Jones and D. E. Broadbent, ``Human performance and noise,'' in Handbook of Noise Control, 3rd ed., edited by C. M. Harris (ASA, New York, 1998), Chap. 24; J. P. Conroy and J. S. Roland, ``STC Field Testing and Results,'' in Sound and Vibration Magazine, Acoustical Publications, pp. 10-15 (July 2003)].

Dietary intakes differ between renal transplant recipients living in patient hotels versus home.

PubMed

Kahra, Terhi; Jenssen, Trond; Løvik, Astrid

2004-04-01

To compare dietary intake and health-related quality of life approximately 6 to 10 weeks after renal transplantation in patients living at home and at a patient hotel, and how the patients were following a heart-healthy diet according to the current American Heart Association guidelines. Cross-sectional observational study. Outpatient clinic at Rikshospitalet University Hospital, Norway. Forty renal transplant patients, 20 patients (14 men and 6 women) in both groups. There were 4 diabetic patients in each group. Dietary intake was assessed by 4-day dietary records. Health-related quality of life was investigated by the SF-36 questionnaire. The main outcome variables were daily energy intake and intakes of protein, total fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, fiber, and fruit and vegetables. The variables were tested by 2-sample t-tests, and significance was set at.05. There was no statistically significant difference in daily energy intake between the groups (P =.08), but there were significantly higher daily intakes of protein (P =.003), total fat (P =.03), monounsaturated fat (P =.02), cholesterol (P =.04), fiber (P =.02), calcium (P =.03), and fruit and vegetables (P =.03) in the group living at the patient hotel. The mean intake of saturated fat was 14.5% of total energy in the group living at home and 14.6% in the group living at the patient hotel. There were no significant differences in health-related quality of life between the groups. The results suggest that there are differences in dietary intake in renal transplant patients living at home compared with those at a patient hotel. It seems that neither of the groups follows current guidelines for reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease.

The locked psychiatric ward: hotel or detention camp for people with dual diagnosis.

PubMed

Terkelsen, Toril Borch; Larsen, Inger Beate

2013-10-01

The concepts of autonomy and liberty are established goals in mental health care; however, involuntary commitment is used towards people with mental health and substance abuse problems (dual diagnosis). To explore how patients and staff act in the context of involuntary commitment, how interactions are described and how they might be interpreted. Ethnographic methodology in a locked psychiatric ward in Norway. Two parallel images emerged: (a) The ward as a hotel. Several patients wanted a locked ward for rest and safety, even when admission was classified as involuntary. The staff was concerned about using the ward for real treatment of motivated people, rather than merely as a comfortable hotel for the unmotivated. (b) The ward as a detention camp. Other patients found involuntary commitment and restrictions in the ward as a kind of punishment, offending them as individuals. Contrary, the staff understood people with dual diagnoses more like a generalized group in need of their control and care. Patients and staff have different perceptions of involuntary commitment. Based on the patients' points of view, mental health care ought to be characterized by inclusion and recognition, treating patients as equal citizens comparable to guests in a hotel.

Meeting Competence Needs in the Hotel and Catering Industry Now and in the Future. Research Report 1992.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Walker, Anne, Ed.; Hayter, Roy, Ed.

The hotel and catering industry in the United Kingdom is estimated to have employed 2,392,000 people in 1990--about 9 percent of the total work force in employment in the country. These figures came from a major study into the skills needs of the hotel and catering industry in relation to the current provision of vocational education. Data are…

Lack of hygiene routines among patients and family members at patient hotels--a possible route for transmitting puerperal fever.

PubMed

Starlander, Gustaf; Lytsy, Birgitta; Melhus, Asa

2010-07-01

The use of patient hotels for ambulatory care of women with uncomplicated deliveries has become a routine in Sweden. This report describes a minor outbreak of a group A Streptococcus strain in 2 newly delivered mothers and their newborn babies at a patient hotel.

The R-process Alliance: First Release from the Southern Search for R-process-enhanced Stars in the Galactic Halo

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hansen, Terese T.; Holmbeck, Erika M.; Beers, Timothy C.; Placco, Vinicius M.; Roederer, Ian U.; Frebel, Anna; Sakari, Charli M.; Simon, Joshua D.; Thompson, Ian B.

2018-05-01

The recent detection of a binary neutron star merger and the clear evidence of the decay of radioactive material observed in this event have, after 60 years of effort, provided an astrophysical site for the rapid neutron-capture (r-) process which is responsible for the production of the heaviest elements in our universe. However, observations of metal-poor stars with highly enhanced r-process elements have revealed abundance patterns suggesting that multiple sites may be involved. To address this issue, and to advance our understanding of the r-process, we have initiated an extensive search for bright (V < 13.5), very metal-poor ([Fe/H] < ‑2) stars in the Milky Way halo exhibiting strongly enhanced r-process signatures. This paper presents the first sample collected in the southern hemisphere using the echelle spectrograph on du Pont 2.5 m telescope at Las Campanas Observatory. We have observed and analyzed 107 stars with ‑3.13 < [Fe/H] < ‑0.79. Of those, 12 stars are strongly enhanced in heavy r-process elements (r-II), 42 stars show moderate enhancements of heavy r-process material (r-I), and 20 stars exhibit low abundances of the heavy r-process elements and higher abundances of the light r-process elements relative to the heavy ones (limited-r). This search is more successful at finding r-process-enhanced stars compared to previous searches, primarily due to a refined target selection procedure that focuses on red giants. This paper includes data gathered with the 2.5 m du Pont telescope located at Las Campanas Observatory, Chile.

Paperwork Plus: Literacy Materials for the Service Industry. Hotel Edition.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bond, Judith; McGill, Teresa

The instructional materials are intended for use in teaching vocational English and English literacy to limited-English-speaking personnel in the hotel industry. They are designed for learners at three instructional levels, and address job-specific literacy tasks. An introductory section describes the materials and offers suggestions for…

6. FOURTH FLOOR, DETAIL OF HOTEL SOAP LINE TO NORTH: ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

6. FOURTH FLOOR, DETAIL OF HOTEL SOAP LINE TO NORTH: AMERICAN CAR & FOUNDRY COMPANY MANUAL SOAP CUTTER INSTALLED 1932 (FOREGROUND); CONVEYORS; AND R.A. JONES & COMPANY HORIZONTAL PRESS INSTALLED 1931 (BACKGROUND) - Colgate & Company Jersey City Plant, Building No. B-15, 90-96 Greene Street, Jersey City, Hudson County, NJ

Integrating wastewater reuse in water resources management for hotels in arid coastal regions - Case Study of Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.

PubMed

Lamei, A; van der Zaag, P; Imam, E

2009-01-01

Hotels in arid coastal areas use mainly desalinated water (using reverse osmosis) for their domestic water supply, and treated wastewater for irrigating green areas. Private water companies supply these hotels with their potable and non-potable water needs. There is normally a contractual agreement stating a minimum amount of water that has to be supplied by the water company and that the hotel management has to pay for regardless of its actual consumption ("contracted-for water supply"). Hotels have to carefully analyse their water requirements in order to determine which percentage of the hotel's peak water demand should be used in the contract in order to reduce water costs and avoid the risk of water shortage. This paper describes a model to optimise the contracted-for irrigation water supply with the objective function to minimise total water cost to hotels. It analyses what the contracted-for irrigation water supply of a given hotel should be, based on the size of the green irrigated area on one hand and the unit prices of the different types of water on the other hand. An example from an arid coastal tourism-dominated city is presented: Sharm El Sheikh (Sharm), Egypt. This paper presents costs of wastewater treatment using waste stabilisation ponds, which is the prevailing treatment mechanism in the case study area for centralised plants, as well as aerobic/anaerobic treatment used for decentralised wastewater treatment plants in the case study area. There is only one centralised wastewater treatment plant available in the city exerting monopoly and selling treated wastewater to hotels at a much higher price than the actual cost that a hotel would bear if it treated its own wastewater. Contracting for full peak irrigation demand is the highest total cost option. Contracting for a portion of the peak irrigation demand and complementing the rest from desalination water is a cheaper option. A better option still is to complement the excess irrigation demand

Checking into China's cow hotels: have policies following the milk scandal changed the structure of the dairy sector?

PubMed

Mo, D; Huang, J; Jia, X; Luan, H; Rozelle, S; Swinnen, J

2012-05-01

China's milk scandal is well known for causing the nation's largest food safety crisis and for its effect on thousands of children. Less, however, is known about the effect on the other victim: China's small dairy farmers. Although small backyard producers were not the ones that added melamine to the milk supply, the incomes of dairy farmers fell sharply after the crisis. In response, one of the actions taken by the government was to encourage small dairy producers to check into production complexes that were supposed to supply services, new technologies, and provide for easy/bulk procurement of the milk produced by the cows of the farmers. Because both farmers and their cows were living (and working) away from home, in the rest of the paper we call these complexes cow hotels. In this paper we examine the dynamics of China's dairy production structure before and after the milk scandal. In particular, we seek to gain a better understanding about how China's policies have been successful in encouraging farmers to move from the backyard into cow hotels. We also seek to find if larger or smaller farmers respond differently to these policy measures. Using data from a sample of farmers from dairy-producing villages in Greater Beijing, our empirical analysis finds that 1 yr after the milk scandal, the dairy production structure changed substantially. Approximately one quarter (26%) of the sample checked into cow hotels after the milk scandal, increasing from 2% before the crisis. Our results also demonstrate that the increase in cow hotel production can largely be attributed to China's dairy policies. Finally, our results suggest that the effects of government policy differ across farm sizes; China's dairy policies are more likely to persuade larger farms to join cow hotels. Apparently, larger farms benefit more when they join cow hotels. Overall, these results suggest that during the first year after the crisis, the government policies were effective in moving some of

Nutrition and health in hotel staff on different shift patterns.

PubMed

Seibt, R; Süße, T; Spitzer, S; Hunger, B; Rudolf, M

2015-08-01

Limited research is available that examines the nutritional behaviour and health of hotel staff working alternating and regular shifts. To analyse the nutritional behaviour and health of employees working in alternating and regular shifts. The study used an ex post facto cross-sectional analysis to compare the nutritional behaviour and health parameters of workers with alternating shifts and regular shift workers. Nutritional behaviour was assessed with the Food Frequency Questionnaire. Body dimensions (body mass index, waist hip ratio, fat mass and active cell mass), metabolic values (glucose, triglyceride, total cholesterol and low- and high-density lipoprotein), diseases and health complaints were included as health parameters. Participants worked in alternating (n = 53) and regular shifts (n = 97). The average age of subjects was 35 ± 10 years. There was no significant difference in nutritional behaviour, most surveyed body dimensions or metabolic values between the two groups. However, alternating shift workers had significantly lower fat mass and higher active cell mass but nevertheless reported more pronounced health complaints. Sex and age were also confirmed as influencing the surveyed parameters. Shift-dependent nutritional problems were not conspicuously apparent in this sample of hotel industry workers. Health parameters did not show significantly negative attributes for alternating shift workers. Conceivably, both groups could have the same level of knowledge on the health effects of nutrition and comparable opportunities to apply this. Further studies on nutritional and health behaviour in the hotel industry are necessary in order to create validated screening programmes. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Occupational Medicine. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Neurophysiological correlates of relatively enhanced local visual search in autistic adolescents.

PubMed

Manjaly, Zina M; Bruning, Nicole; Neufang, Susanne; Stephan, Klaas E; Brieber, Sarah; Marshall, John C; Kamp-Becker, Inge; Remschmidt, Helmut; Herpertz-Dahlmann, Beate; Konrad, Kerstin; Fink, Gereon R

2007-03-01

Previous studies found normal or even superior performance of autistic patients on visuospatial tasks requiring local search, like the Embedded Figures Task (EFT). A well-known interpretation of this is "weak central coherence", i.e. autistic patients may show a reduced general ability to process information in its context and may therefore have a tendency to favour local over global aspects of information processing. An alternative view is that the local processing advantage in the EFT may result from a relative amplification of early perceptual processes which boosts processing of local stimulus properties but does not affect processing of global context. This study used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in 12 autistic adolescents (9 Asperger and 3 high-functioning autistic patients) and 12 matched controls to help distinguish, on neurophysiological grounds, between these two accounts of EFT performance in autistic patients. Behaviourally, we found autistic individuals to be unimpaired during the EFT while they were significantly worse at performing a closely matched control task with minimal local search requirements. The fMRI results showed that activations specific for the local search aspects of the EFT were left-lateralised in parietal and premotor areas for the control group (as previously demonstrated for adults), whereas for the patients these activations were found in right primary visual cortex and bilateral extrastriate areas. These results suggest that enhanced local processing in early visual areas, as opposed to impaired processing of global context, is characteristic for performance of the EFT by autistic patients.

Neurophysiological correlates of relatively enhanced local visual search in autistic adolescents

PubMed Central

Manjaly, Zina M.; Bruning, Nicole; Neufang, Susanne; Stephan, Klaas E.; Brieber, Sarah; Marshall, John C.; Kamp-Becker, Inge; Remschmidt, Helmut; Herpertz-Dahlmann, Beate; Konrad, Kerstin; Fink, Gereon R.

2007-01-01

Previous studies found normal or even superior performance of autistic patients on visuospatial tasks requiring local search, like the Embedded Figures Task (EFT). A well-known interpretation of this is “weak central coherence”, i.e. autistic patients may show a reduced general ability to process information in its context and may therefore have a tendency to favour local over global aspects of information processing. An alternative view is that the local processing advantage in the EFT may result from a relative amplification of early perceptual processes which boosts processing of local stimulus properties but does not affect processing of global context. This study used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in 12 autistic adolescents (9 Asperger and 3 high-functioning autistic patients) and 12 matched controls to help distinguish, on neurophysiological grounds, between these two accounts of EFT performance in autistic patients. Behaviourally, we found autistic individuals to be unimpaired during the EFT while they were significantly worse at performing a closely matched control task with minimal local search requirements. The fMRI results showed that activations specific for the local search aspects of the EFT were left-lateralised in parietal and premotor areas for the control group (as previously demonstrated for adults), whereas for the patients these activations were found in right primary visual cortex and bilateral extrastriate areas. These results suggest that enhanced local processing in early visual areas, as opposed to impaired processing of global context, is characteristic for performance of the EFT by autistic patients. PMID:17240169

108. White House Department Store (Hotel McCoy),127 Pioneer Plaza, south ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

108. White House Department Store (Hotel McCoy),127 Pioneer Plaza, south facade - South El Paso Street Historic District, South El Paso, South Oregon & South Santa Fe Streets, El Paso, El Paso County, TX

Destructive managerial leadership and psychological well-being among employees in Swedish, Polish, and Italian hotels.

PubMed

Nyberg, Anna; Holmberg, Ingalill; Bernin, Peggy; Alderling, Magnus; Åkerblom, Staffan; Widerszal-Bazyl, Maria; Magrin, Maria Elena; Hasselhorn, Hans-Martin; Milczarek, Malgorzata; D'Angelo, Giuliana; Denk, Melanie; Westerlund, Hugo; Theorell, Töres

2011-01-01

The aim of this cross-sectional exploratory study was to investigate destructive managerial leadership in the hotel industry in Sweden, Poland, and Italy in relation to psychological well-being among employees. 554 questionnaires were collected from employees in all occupational groups within hotels. The Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire (COPSOQ) measured working conditions, particularly iso-strain or high work demands combined with low control and poor social support, and psychological well-being, defined in terms of mental health, vitality, and behavioural stress. Items adapted from the Global Leadership and Organisational Behaviour Effectiveness (GLOBE) research program questionnaire measured autocratic, malevolent, and self-centred leadership styles. Differences in ratings between countries were estimated, as well as the relationship between destructive managerial leadership on an organisation level and employee psychological well-being on an individual level. The relationship between destructive leadership and psychological well-being among employees was adjusted for employees' reported iso-strain. Autocratic and malevolent leadership were at the organisation level related to low vitality among employees and self-centred leadership was significantly associated with poormental health, low vitality, and high behavioural stress. Autocratic and malevolent leadership were more strongly related to iso-strain than was self-centred leadership. Variations in leadership practice between countries were seen in autocratic and malevolent leadership. This exploratory study suggests a significant association between destructive managerial leadership on the organisation level and poor psychological well-being among employees on an individual level. Interventions to decrease iso-strain and enhance psychological well-being among employees could be directed at an organisation level.

Effects of a work injury prevention program for housekeeping in the hotel industry.

PubMed

Landers, Merrill; Maguire, Lynn

2004-01-01

The aim of this retrospective study was to determine the effectiveness of a work injury prevention program in the housekeeping department of a hotel. Studies have validated the use of different injury prevention strategies to decrease the incidence of work-related injuries. Few studies, however, have reported the efficacy of an on-site work injury prevention program by a physical therapist. In 1995, implementation of a work injury prevention program by a physical therapist to 50 housekeeping supervisors, 60 house persons and 340 guest room attendants at a large hotel began. This program included a detailed work risk analysis of the work environment, development of job descriptions, identification of injury-related problematic work situations, and implementation of a job specific supervisor-training program. Supervisor, house person and guest room attendant training was also conducted at the end of 1995 and the beginning of 1997. Data of injury reports in 1995, 1996, and 1997 were analyzed to determine the results of the program. There was a reduction in total injury claims, total medical expenses, total lost work time and total restricted duty time. These results demonstrate the cost effectiveness of implementing a work injury prevention program for housekeeping guest room attendants in the hotel industry. Copyright 2004 IOS Press

109. White House Department Store (Hotel McCoy),127 Pioneer Plaza, perspective ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

109. White House Department Store (Hotel McCoy),127 Pioneer Plaza, perspective view looking northwest - South El Paso Street Historic District, South El Paso, South Oregon & South Santa Fe Streets, El Paso, El Paso County, TX

A Study of the Geographic Origin, Education, and Experience of Hotel General Managers. RHI 590 Individual Project

DTIC Science & Technology

1993-04-01

Chicago Hilton and Towers. Among the four-star properties are those of Ritz - Carlton , Nikko, Four Seasons, and other famous properties such as the famed...COVERED April 1993 THESIS/D O_ _ 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE 5. FUNDING NUMBERS A Study of the Geographic Origin, Education, and Experience of Hotel General...GEOGRAPHIC ORIGIN, EDUCATION, AND EXPERIENCE OF HOTEL GENERAL MANAGERS RHI 590 INDIVIDUAL PROJECT BY: Alan Christopher Gnann April 30, 1993 PURDUE UNIVERSITY

Supplementary search methods were more effective and offered better value than bibliographic database searching: A case study from public health and environmental enhancement.

PubMed

Cooper, Chris; Lovell, Rebecca; Husk, Kerryn; Booth, Andrew; Garside, Ruth

2018-06-01

We undertook a systematic review to evaluate the health benefits of environmental enhancement and conservation activities. We were concerned that a conventional process of study identification, focusing on exhaustive searches of bibliographic databases as the primary search method, would be ineffective, offering limited value. The focus of this study is comparing study identification methods. We compare (1) an approach led by searches of bibliographic databases with (2) an approach led by supplementary search methods. We retrospectively assessed the effectiveness and value of both approaches. Effectiveness was determined by comparing (1) the total number of studies identified and screened and (2) the number of includable studies uniquely identified by each approach. Value was determined by comparing included study quality and by using qualitative sensitivity analysis to explore the contribution of studies to the synthesis. The bibliographic databases approach identified 21 409 studies to screen and 2 included qualitative studies were uniquely identified. Study quality was moderate, and contribution to the synthesis was minimal. The supplementary search approach identified 453 studies to screen and 9 included studies were uniquely identified. Four quantitative studies were poor quality but made a substantive contribution to the synthesis; 5 studies were qualitative: 3 studies were good quality, one was moderate quality, and 1 study was excluded from the synthesis due to poor quality. All 4 included qualitative studies made significant contributions to the synthesis. This case study found value in aligning primary methods of study identification to maximise location of relevant evidence. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The Crystal Hotel: A Microfluidic Approach to Biomimetic Crystallization.

PubMed

Gong, Xiuqing; Wang, Yun-Wei; Ihli, Johannes; Kim, Yi-Yeoun; Li, Shunbo; Walshaw, Richard; Chen, Li; Meldrum, Fiona C

2015-12-02

A "crystal hotel" microfluidic device that allows crystal growth in confined volumes to be studied in situ is used to produce large calcite single crystals with predefined crystallographic orientation, microstructure, and shape by control of the detailed physical environment, flow, and surface chemistry. This general approach can be extended to form technologically important, nanopatterned single crystals. © 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Food and Beverage Industry ESL Workplace Literacy Curriculum for Hotels.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Van Duzer, Carol; And Others

The Workplace Literacy Curriculum for Food and Beverage was developed for English-as-a-Second-Language classes for workers in participating hotels in Arlington County, Virginia, through a national workplace literacy grant with the cooperation of the Arlington County Chamber of Commerce. It is based on an analysis of tasks and interactions at the…

Women's Path to Management in the Hotel and Catering Industry.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hotel and Catering Training Board, Wembley (England).

A study examined the employment patterns of women working in the United Kingdom's hotel and catering industry and the opportunities for vocational education that would lead to careers in management. Sixty-four women from different sectors of the industry were interviewed (including women in senior and middle management and some still looking to be…

Cuckoo search algorithm based satellite image contrast and brightness enhancement using DWT-SVD.

PubMed

Bhandari, A K; Soni, V; Kumar, A; Singh, G K

2014-07-01

This paper presents a new contrast enhancement approach which is based on Cuckoo Search (CS) algorithm and DWT-SVD for quality improvement of the low contrast satellite images. The input image is decomposed into the four frequency subbands through Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT), and CS algorithm used to optimize each subband of DWT and then obtains the singular value matrix of the low-low thresholded subband image and finally, it reconstructs the enhanced image by applying IDWT. The singular value matrix employed intensity information of the particular image, and any modification in the singular values changes the intensity of the given image. The experimental results show superiority of the proposed method performance in terms of PSNR, MSE, Mean and Standard Deviation over conventional and state-of-the-art techniques. Copyright © 2014 ISA. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Analysis of Sleep Parameters in Patients with Obstructive Sleep Apnea Studied in a Hospital vs. a Hotel-Based Sleep Center

PubMed Central

Hutchison, Kimberly N.; Song, Yanna; Wang, Lily; Malow, Beth A.

2008-01-01

Background: Polysomnography is associated with changes in sleep architecture called the first-night effect. This effect is believed to result from sleeping in an unusual environment and the technical equipment used to study sleep. Sleep experts hope to decrease this variable by providing a more familiar, comfortable atmosphere for sleep testing through hotel-based sleep centers. In this study, we compared the sleep parameters of patients studied in our hotel-based and hospital-based sleep laboratories. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed polysomnograms completed in our hotel-based and hospital-based sleep laboratories from August 2003 to July 2005. All patients were undergoing evaluation for obstructive sleep apnea. Hospital-based patients were matched for age and apnea-hypopnea index with hotel-based patients. We compared the sleep architecture changes associated with the first-night effect in the two groups. The associated conditions and symptoms listed on the polysomnography referral forms are also compared. Results: No significant differences were detected between the two groups in sleep onset latency, sleep efficiency, REM sleep latency, total amount of slow wave sleep (NREM stages 3 and 4), arousal index, and total stage 1 sleep. Conclusions: This pilot study failed to show a difference in sleep parameters associated with the first-night effect in patients undergoing sleep studies in our hotel and hospital-based sleep laboratories. Future studies need to compare the first-night effect in different sleep disorders, preferably in multi-night recordings. Citation: Hutchison KN; Song Y; Wang L; Malow BA. Analysis of sleep parameters in patients with obstructive sleep apnea studied in a hospital vs. A hotel-based sleep center. J Clin Sleep Med 2008;4(2):119–122. PMID:18468309

Evaluation of the Implementation of Good Handling Practices in Food and Beverage Areas of Hotels.

PubMed

Serafim, A L; Hecktheuer, L H R; Stangarlin-Fiori, L; Medeiros, L B; Martello, L; Machado, C E

2015-11-01

Because of the major international-level events that have recently been held in Brazil, concerns about the sensory and hygienic-sanitary conditions of food have increased. The objective of this study was to evaluate the implementation of good handling practices in food and beverage areas of hotels, with and without outsourced professional intervention. We evaluated 19 food and beverage areas in hotels in Porto Alegre, Rio do Sul, Brazil, using a checklist that was developed by a municipal surveillance team based on existing laws for good handling practices. The evaluation was done by a skilled professional in the food safety area on two occasions, at the beginning of the study (January to May 2013) and at the end (July to November 2014), and the establishments were classified as good, regular, or poor. After the baseline evaluation, an action plan listing the noncompliance found at each location was given to those responsible for the establishments, and a period of 1 year 6 months was stipulated for improvements to be made. In the repeat evaluation, those responsible for the establishments were asked whether they had hired an outsourced professional to assist them in the improvements. The hotels showed improvement during the repeat evaluation, but a significant increase in the percentage of overall adequacy was seen only in the food and beverages areas of the 12 hotels that used the intervention of an outsourced professional. The better percentage of adequacy in establishments with outsourced professional intervention underlines the importance of an external and impartial view of routine activities in the implementation of good handling practices.

Seasons, Searches, and Intentions: What The Internet Can Tell Us About The Bed Bug (Hemiptera: Cimicidae) Epidemic.

PubMed

Sentana-Lledo, Daniel; Barbu, Corentin M; Ngo, Michelle N; Wu, Yage; Sethuraman, Karthik; Levy, Michael Z

2016-01-01

The common bed bug (Cimex lectularius L.) is once again prevalent in the United States. We investigated temporal patterns in Google search queries for bed bugs and co-occurring terms, and conducted in-person surveys to explore the intentions behind searches that included those terms. Searches for "bed bugs" rose steadily through 2011 and then plateaued, suggesting that the epidemic has reached an equilibrium in the United States. However, queries including terms that survey respondents associated strongly with having bed bugs (e.g., "exterminator," "remedies") continued to climb, while terms more closely associated with informational searches (e.g., "hotels," "about") fell. Respondents' rankings of terms and nonseasonal trends in Google search volume as assessed by a cosinor model were significantly correlated (Kendall's Tau-b P = 0.015). We find no evidence from Google Trends that the bed bug epidemic in the United States has reached equilibrium. © The Authors 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Entomological Society of America. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Simultaneous tDCS-fMRI Identifies Resting State Networks Correlated with Visual Search Enhancement.

PubMed

Callan, Daniel E; Falcone, Brian; Wada, Atsushi; Parasuraman, Raja

2016-01-01

This study uses simultaneous transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) and functional MRI (fMRI) to investigate tDCS modulation of resting state activity and connectivity that underlies enhancement in behavioral performance. The experiment consisted of three sessions within the fMRI scanner in which participants conducted a visual search task: Session 1: Pre-training (no performance feedback), Session 2: Training (performance feedback given), Session 3: Post-training (no performance feedback). Resting state activity was recorded during the last 5 min of each session. During the 2nd session one group of participants underwent 1 mA tDCS stimulation and another underwent sham stimulation over the right posterior parietal cortex. Resting state spontaneous activity, as measured by fractional amplitude of low frequency fluctuations (fALFF), for session 2 showed significant differences between the tDCS stim and sham groups in the precuneus. Resting state functional connectivity from the precuneus to the substantia nigra, a subcortical dopaminergic region, was found to correlate with future improvement in visual search task performance for the stim over the sham group during active stimulation in session 2. The after-effect of stimulation on resting state functional connectivity was measured following a post-training experimental session (session 3). The left cerebellum Lobule VIIa Crus I showed performance related enhancement in resting state functional connectivity for the tDCS stim over the sham group. The ability to determine the relationship that the relative strength of resting state functional connectivity for an individual undergoing tDCS has on future enhancement in behavioral performance has wide ranging implications for neuroergonomic as well as therapeutic, and rehabilitative applications.

Training radial basis function networks for wind speed prediction using PSO enhanced differential search optimizer

PubMed Central

2018-01-01

This paper presents an integrated hybrid optimization algorithm for training the radial basis function neural network (RBF NN). Training of neural networks is still a challenging exercise in machine learning domain. Traditional training algorithms in general suffer and trap in local optima and lead to premature convergence, which makes them ineffective when applied for datasets with diverse features. Training algorithms based on evolutionary computations are becoming popular due to their robust nature in overcoming the drawbacks of the traditional algorithms. Accordingly, this paper proposes a hybrid training procedure with differential search (DS) algorithm functionally integrated with the particle swarm optimization (PSO). To surmount the local trapping of the search procedure, a new population initialization scheme is proposed using Logistic chaotic sequence, which enhances the population diversity and aid the search capability. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed RBF hybrid training algorithm, experimental analysis on publicly available 7 benchmark datasets are performed. Subsequently, experiments were conducted on a practical application case for wind speed prediction to expound the superiority of the proposed RBF training algorithm in terms of prediction accuracy. PMID:29768463

Training radial basis function networks for wind speed prediction using PSO enhanced differential search optimizer.

PubMed

Rani R, Hannah Jessie; Victoire T, Aruldoss Albert

2018-01-01

This paper presents an integrated hybrid optimization algorithm for training the radial basis function neural network (RBF NN). Training of neural networks is still a challenging exercise in machine learning domain. Traditional training algorithms in general suffer and trap in local optima and lead to premature convergence, which makes them ineffective when applied for datasets with diverse features. Training algorithms based on evolutionary computations are becoming popular due to their robust nature in overcoming the drawbacks of the traditional algorithms. Accordingly, this paper proposes a hybrid training procedure with differential search (DS) algorithm functionally integrated with the particle swarm optimization (PSO). To surmount the local trapping of the search procedure, a new population initialization scheme is proposed using Logistic chaotic sequence, which enhances the population diversity and aid the search capability. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed RBF hybrid training algorithm, experimental analysis on publicly available 7 benchmark datasets are performed. Subsequently, experiments were conducted on a practical application case for wind speed prediction to expound the superiority of the proposed RBF training algorithm in terms of prediction accuracy.

NPDES Permit for Rosebud Casino and Hotel Wastewater Treatment Facility in South Dakota

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Under NPDES permit SD-0034584, Rosebud Casino and Hotel, South Dakota, is authorized to discharge from its wastewater treatment facility in Todd County, South Dakota to an unnamed drainageway(s) tributary to Rock Creek.

GUIDE FOR COURSE OF STUDY FOR COOK (HOTEL AND RESTAURANT) (ENTRY).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

GUNN, VIRLAH

DESIGNED FOR TEACHER USE, THIS GUIDE FOR TRAINING COOKS IN HOTEL AND RESTAURANT OCCUPATIONS AIMS--(1) TO DEVELOP MANIPULATIVE SKILLS, (2) TO DEVELOP UNDERSTANDING OF THE BASIC PRINCIPLES OF SCIENCE, MATHEMATICS, AND RELATED KNOWLEDGE THAT CONDITION THESE SKILLS, (3) TO UNDERSTAND THE ADVANTAGES OF STEADY EMPLOYMENT, (4) TO DEVELOP HIGH STANDARDS…

Project EXCEL: Sheraton Palace Hotel, Laundry Department. A Beginning Laundry Curriculum.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Career Resources Development Center, Inc., San Francisco, CA.

Project EXCEL is a federally-funded workplace literacy program involving hotel enterprises in the San Francisco (California) Bay area. Its focus is on identification and instruction of literacy skills essential to job success for limited-English-proficient (LEP) workers. Training is intended to enable employees to understand written work orders,…

A Model for Sustainable Building Energy Efficiency Retrofit (BEER) Using Energy Performance Contracting (EPC) Mechanism for Hotel Buildings in China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Pengpeng

Hotel building is one of the high-energy-consuming building types, and retrofitting hotel buildings is an untapped solution to help cut carbon emissions contributing towards sustainable development. Energy Performance Contracting (EPC) has been promulgated as a market mechanism for the delivery of energy efficiency projects. EPC mechanism has been introduced into China relatively recently, and it has not been implemented successfully in building energy efficiency retrofit projects. The aim of this research is to develop a model for achieving the sustainability of Building Energy Efficiency Retrofit (BEER) in hotel buildings under the Energy Performance Contracting (EPC) mechanism. The objectives include: • To identify a set of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for measuring the sustainability of BEER in hotel buildings; • To identify Critical Success Factors (CSFs) under EPC mechanism that have a strong correlation with sustainable BEER project; • To develop a model explaining the relationships between the CSFs and the sustainability performance of BEER in hotel building. Literature reviews revealed the essence of sustainable BEER and EPC, which help to develop a conceptual framework for analyzing sustainable BEER under EPC mechanism in hotel buildings. 11 potential KPIs for sustainable BEER and 28 success factors of EPC were selected based on the developed framework. A questionnaire survey was conducted to ascertain the importance of selected performance indicators and success factors. Fuzzy set theory was adopted in identifying the KPIs. Six KPIs were identified from the 11 selected performance indicators. Through a questionnaire survey, out of the 28 success factors, 21 Critical Success Factors (CSFs) were also indentified. Using the factor analysis technique, the 21 identified CSFs in this study were grouped into six clusters to help explain project success of sustainable BEER. Finally, AHP/ANP approach was used in this research to develop a model to

Hotel-based ambulatory care for complex cancer patients: a review of the University College London Hospital experience.

PubMed

Sive, Jonathan; Ardeshna, Kirit M; Cheesman, Simon; le Grange, Franel; Morris, Stephen; Nicholas, Claire; Peggs, Karl; Statham, Paula; Goldstone, Anthony H

2012-12-01

Since 2005, University College London Hospital (UCLH) has operated a hotel-based Ambulatory Care Unit (ACU) for hematology and oncology patients requiring intensive chemotherapy regimens and hematopoietic stem cell transplants. Between January 2005 and 2011 there were 1443 patient episodes, totaling 9126 patient days, with increasing use over the 6-year period. These were predominantly for hematological malignancy (82%) and sarcoma (17%). Median length of stay was 5 days (range 1-42), varying according to treatment. Clinical review and treatment was provided in the ACU, with patients staying in a local hotel at the hospital's expense. Admission to the inpatient ward was arranged as required, and there was close liaison with the inpatient team to preempt emergency admissions. Of the 523 unscheduled admissions, 87% occurred during working hours. An ACU/hotel-based treatment model can be safely used for a wide variety of cancers and treatments, expanding hospital treatment capacity, and freeing up inpatient beds for those patients requiring them.

Microbiological and parasitological investigation among food handlers in hotels in the Dead Sea area, Jordan.

PubMed

Abdel-Dayem, Muna; Al Zou'bi, Renad; Hani, Rehan Bani; Amr, Zuhair Sami

2014-10-01

Intestinal parasitic and bacterial infections constitute a major health issue in developing countries. The present study investigates and assesses infection rates among food handlers with intestinal parasites and microbial agents in luxurious hotels in the Dead Sea area of Jordan. A total of 901 stool samples were collected from food handlers (35 females and 866 males) employed in four main hotels in the Dead Sea area. Fecal samples were examined microscopically for intestinal parasites. Standard culture and biochemical techniques were used for the isolation and identification of Salmonella and Shigella spp. in stool samples. Five species of protozoan (Blastocystis hominis, Giardia intestinalis, Entamoeba coli, Entamoeba histolytica, and Endolimax nana), one helminth (Hymenolepis nana), and one cylindrical worm (Enterobius vermicularis) were recovered with an overall infection rate of 3.7%. G. intestinalis was the most prevalent parasitic infection with infection rate of 2.44%. All samples were negative for both Salmonella and Shigella. Findings highlight the important role of food handlers in the transmission of intestinal parasites to high-class clients accommodated in luxury hotels, and stress the urgent need for regular health and parasitologic examination of food handlers. Copyright © 2013. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Structure-borne noise at hotels

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wilson, George Paul; Jue, Deborah A.

2002-11-01

Hotels present a challenging environment for building designers to provide suitable noise and vibration isolation between very incompatible uses. While many are familiar with ways to reduce traditional sources of airborne noise and vibration, structure-borne noise and vibration are often overlooked, often with costly repercussions. Structure-borne noise can be very difficult to pinpoint, and troubleshooting the sources of the vibration can be a tedious process. Therefore, the best approach is to avoid the problem altogether during design, with attention to the building construction, potential vibration sources, building uses and equipment locations. In this paper, the relationship between structure-borne vibration and noise are reviewed, typical vibration sources discussed (e.g., aerobic rooms, laundry rooms, mechanical equipment/building services, and subway rail transit), and key details and design guidance to minimize structure-borne noise provided.

Outbreaks of infectious intestinal disease associated with person to person spread in hotels and restaurants.

PubMed

McDonnell, R J; Wall, P G; Adak, G K; Evans, H S; Cowden, J M; Caul, E O

1995-09-15

Twenty-eight outbreaks of infectious intestinal disease, reported as being transmitted mainly by the person to person route, were identified in association with retail catering premises, such as hotels, restaurants, and public houses, in England and Wales between 1992 and 1994. Five thousand and forty-eight people were at risk in these outbreaks and 1234 were affected. Most of the outbreaks (over 90%) occurred in hotels. Small round structured viruses were the most commonly detected pathogens. Diarrhoea and vomiting were common symptoms and most of the outbreaks occurred in the summer months. Control measures to contain infectious individuals and improved hygiene measures are necessary to contain such outbreaks.

Analysis of sleep parameters in patients with obstructive sleep apnea studied in a hospital vs. a hotel-based sleep center.

PubMed

Hutchison, Kimberly N; Song, Yanna; Wang, Lily; Malow, Beth A

2008-04-15

Polysomnography is associated with changes in sleep architecture called the first-night effect. This effect is believed to result from sleeping in an unusual environment and the technical equipment used to study sleep. Sleep experts hope to decrease this variable by providing a more familiar, comfortable atmosphere for sleep testing through hotel-based sleep centers. In this study, we compared the sleep parameters of patients studied in our hotel-based and hospital-based sleep laboratories. We retrospectively reviewed polysomnograms completed in our hotel-based and hospital-based sleep laboratories from August 2003 to July 2005. All patients were undergoing evaluation for obstructive sleep apnea. Hospital-based patients were matched for age and apnea-hypopnea index with hotel-based patients. We compared the sleep architecture changes associated with the first-night effect in the two groups. The associated conditions and symptoms listed on the polysomnography referral forms are also compared. No significant differences were detected between the two groups in sleep onset latency, sleep efficiency, REM sleep latency, total amount of slow wave sleep (NREM stages 3 and 4), arousal index, and total stage 1 sleep. This pilot study failed to show a difference in sleep parameters associated with the first-night effect in patients undergoing sleep studies in our hotel and hospital-based sleep laboratories. Future studies need to compare the first-night effect in different sleep disorders, preferably in multi-night recordings.

Spatial partitions systematize visual search and enhance target memory.

PubMed

Solman, Grayden J F; Kingstone, Alan

2017-02-01

Humans are remarkably capable of finding desired objects in the world, despite the scale and complexity of naturalistic environments. Broadly, this ability is supported by an interplay between exploratory search and guidance from episodic memory for previously observed target locations. Here we examined how the environment itself may influence this interplay. In particular, we examined how partitions in the environment-like buildings, rooms, and furniture-can impact memory during repeated search. We report that the presence of partitions in a display, independent of item configuration, reliably improves episodic memory for item locations. Repeated search through partitioned displays was faster overall and was characterized by more rapid ballistic orienting in later repetitions. Explicit recall was also both faster and more accurate when displays were partitioned. Finally, we found that search paths were more regular and systematic when displays were partitioned. Given the ubiquity of partitions in real-world environments, these results provide important insights into the mechanisms of naturalistic search and its relation to memory.

11. 4TH FLOOR, HOTEL SOAP LINE No. 6 TO NORTHEAST, ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

11. 4TH FLOOR, HOTEL SOAP LINE No. 6 TO NORTHEAST, WITH WRAPPER (LEFT), PRESS (CENTER), AND CUTTER (RIGHT, BEHIND CHUTE); BUCKET CONVEYOR AT RIGHT MOVED WASTE FROM PRESS TO 5TH FLOOR FOR RE-MANUFACTURE - Colgate & Company Jersey City Plant, Building No. B-14, 54-58 Grand Street, Jersey City, Hudson County, NJ

41 CFR 301-74.14 - Are there any special requirements for sponsoring or funding a conference at a hotel, motel or...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 41 Public Contracts and Property Management 4 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Are there any special requirements for sponsoring or funding a conference at a hotel, motel or other place of public accommodation... Responsibilities § 301-74.14 Are there any special requirements for sponsoring or funding a conference at a hotel...

41 CFR 301-74.14 - Are there any special requirements for sponsoring or funding a conference at a hotel, motel or...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 41 Public Contracts and Property Management 4 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Are there any special requirements for sponsoring or funding a conference at a hotel, motel or other place of public accommodation... Responsibilities § 301-74.14 Are there any special requirements for sponsoring or funding a conference at a hotel...

Effort-Reward Imbalance and Work Productivity Among Hotel Housekeeping Employees: A Pilot Study.

PubMed

Rosemberg, Marie-Anne S; Li, Yang

2018-03-01

This study explored the relationship between effort-reward imbalance (ERI) at work and work productivity among hotel housekeepers. A community-based approach was used to recruit 23 hotel housekeepers who completed the ERI and Work Performance Questionnaires. Work productivity was determined by combining self-report absenteeism and presenteeism. More than 40% of the participants reported high ERI (ERI >1). Also, 59.1% reported low work productivity. Interestingly, despite the individualized high reports of ERI and low work productivity, correlation analysis showed that high ERI was correlated with high presenteeism and work productivity as a whole. This is the first study to explore work productivity among this worker group. Despite the small sample size and the cross-sectional nature of the study, this study points to the need for organization-based interventions to not only improve employee health but also their work productivity.

Space-Hotel Early Bird - An Educational and Public Outreach Approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Amekrane, R.; Holze, C.

2002-01-01

In April 2001 the German Aerospace Society DGLR e.V. in cooperation with the Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany initiated an interdisciplinary students contest, under the patronage of Mr. Joerg Feustel-Buechl, the Director of Manned Spaceflight and Microgravity, European Space Agency (ESA), for the summer term 2001. It was directed to graduated architecture students, who had to conceive and design a space-hotel with specific technical, economical and social requirements. The to be developed Space Hotel for a low earth orbit has to accommodate 220 guests. It was of utmost importance that this contest becomes an integral part of the student's tuition and that professors of the different academic and industrial institutions supported the project idea. During the summer term 2001 about fifty students occupied themselves with the topic, "design of an innovative space-hotel". The overall challenge was to create rooms used under microgravity environment, which means to overcome existing definitions and to find a new definition of living space. Because none of the students were able to experience such a room under microgravity they were forced to use the power of their imagination capability. The students attended moreover a number of lectures on different technical subjects focusing on space and went on several space-related excursions. Having specialists, as volunteers, in the field of space in charge meant that it could be ensured that the designs reflected a certain possibility of being able to be realized. Within the summer term seventeen major designs developed from the conceptual status to high sophisticated concepts and later on also to respective models. A competition combined with a public exhibition, that took place within the Annual German Aeronautics and Astronautics Congress, and intense media relations finalized this project. The project idea of "Early Bird - Visions of a Space Hotel" which was developed within six month is a remarkable example, how

[Studies on Legionella-contamination to the air-conditioning cooling towers in big hotels and on its seroprevalence in the related populations in Beijing].

PubMed

Peng, X; Pei, H; Li, X; He, X; Yang, A; Tang, Y; Cao, R

2000-08-01

To understand the situation of Legionella-contamination at cooling towers of big hotel and the level of Legionella-infection among related populations in Beijing. Thirty-eight cooling towers of hotels were chosen for detection of Legionella. Four hundred and fourteen staff members from the hotels were selected as exposure group, with another 414 from general population as controls, for the detection of Legionella antibodies. Sixteen strains of Legionella pneumophila (Lp) were isolated from 21 of the 38 cooling towers, and the predominant strain was Lp serum group 1 (50%, 8/16). The seroprevalence of Lp antibodies for the exposure group was 9.9% (41/414), comparing to 3.5% (14/414) from the control group. The difference was statistically significant (chi(2) = 14.2, P < 0.01). Legionella was discovered in air-conditioning cooling tower of the hotels, which threatened the health to the population exposed to it.

Workforce Education. Hotel and Motel Workers. A Section 353 Demonstration Project.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Polk County Public Schools, Bartow, FL.

This guide provides an overall view of a program designed to educate adult basic education (ABE) and English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) students in job-related, language-oriented skills vital to their positions in the hotel/motel industry. The program was designed for the employees of Grenelefe Resort and Conference Center in Haines City, Florida,…

The Matching Process in E-Mentoring: A Case Study in Luxury Hotels

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Simmonds, David; Lupi, Anne Marie Zammit

2010-01-01

Purpose: This paper seeks to examine the effectiveness of an innovative e-mentoring programme introduced in an international group of luxury hotels. Design/methodology/approach: The paper employs the survey method, with quantitative and qualitative data analysis. The research model was developed from a literature review. Findings: While mentoring…

Family Hotel Businesses: Strategic Planning and the Need for Education and Training

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Peters, Mike; Buhalis, Dimitrios

2004-01-01

Small businesses dominate the tourism and hospitality industry worldwide and are of critical importance for the competitiveness of destinations. Small family hotel businesses are characterised by a number of specific business processes which generate particular training and educational needs. It is increasingly clear that small businesses are not…

Genetic hotels for the standard genetic code: evolutionary analysis based upon novel three-dimensional algebraic models.

PubMed

José, Marco V; Morgado, Eberto R; Govezensky, Tzipe

2011-07-01

Herein, we rigorously develop novel 3-dimensional algebraic models called Genetic Hotels of the Standard Genetic Code (SGC). We start by considering the primeval RNA genetic code which consists of the 16 codons of type RNY (purine-any base-pyrimidine). Using simple algebraic operations, we show how the RNA code could have evolved toward the current SGC via two different intermediate evolutionary stages called Extended RNA code type I and II. By rotations or translations of the subset RNY, we arrive at the SGC via the former (type I) or via the latter (type II), respectively. Biologically, the Extended RNA code type I, consists of all codons of the type RNY plus codons obtained by considering the RNA code but in the second (NYR type) and third (YRN type) reading frames. The Extended RNA code type II, comprises all codons of the type RNY plus codons that arise from transversions of the RNA code in the first (YNY type) and third (RNR) nucleotide bases. Since the dimensions of remarkable subsets of the Genetic Hotels are not necessarily integer numbers, we also introduce the concept of algebraic fractal dimension. A general decoding function which maps each codon to its corresponding amino acid or the stop signals is also derived. The Phenotypic Hotel of amino acids is also illustrated. The proposed evolutionary paths are discussed in terms of the existing theories of the evolution of the SGC. The adoption of 3-dimensional models of the Genetic and Phenotypic Hotels will facilitate the understanding of the biological properties of the SGC.

Enhancing visual search abilities of people with intellectual disabilities.

PubMed

Li-Tsang, Cecilia W P; Wong, Jackson K K

2009-01-01

This study aimed to evaluate the effects of cueing in visual search paradigm for people with and without intellectual disabilities (ID). A total of 36 subjects (18 persons with ID and 18 persons with normal intelligence) were recruited using convenient sampling method. A series of experiments were conducted to compare guided cue strategies using either motion contrast or additional cue to basic search task. Repeated measure ANOVA and post hoc multiple comparison tests were used to compare each cue strategy. Results showed that the use of guided strategies was able to capture focal attention in an autonomic manner in the ID group (Pillai's Trace=5.99, p<0.0001). Both guided cue and guided motion search tasks demonstrated functionally similar effects that confirmed the non-specific character of salience. These findings suggested that the visual search efficiency of people with ID was greatly improved if the target was made salient using cueing effect when the complexity of the display increased (i.e. set size increased). This study could have an important implication for the design of the visual searching format of any computerized programs developed for people with ID in learning new tasks.

Fatigue and related factors among hotel workers: the effects of emotional labor and non-standard working hours.

PubMed

Lee, Ju Jong; Moon, Hyun Jey; Lee, Kyung-Jae; Kim, Joo Ja

2014-01-01

This study assessed fatigue and its association with emotional labor and non-standard working hours among hotel workers. A structured self-administered questionnaire was distributed to 1,320 employees of five hotels located in Seoul. The questionnaire survey included questions concerning the participants' sociodemographics, health-related behaviors, job-related factors, emotional labor, and fatigue. Fatigue was assessed using the Multidimensional Fatigue Scale (MFS). Multiple logistic regression modeling was used to determine the associations between fatigue and emotional labor. Among male workers, there was a significant association between fatigue and both emotional disharmony (OR=5.52, 95% CI=2.35-12.97) and emotional effort (OR=3.48, 95% CI=1.54-7.86). These same associations were seen among the female workers (emotional disharmony: OR=6.91, 95% CI=2.93-16.33; emotional effort: OR=2.28, 95% CI=1.00-5.16). These results indicate that fatigue is associated with emotional labor and, especially, emotional disharmony among hotel workers. Therefore, emotional disharmony management would prove helpful for the prevention of fatigue.

The Special Needs of Homeless Children: Early Intervention at a Welfare Hotel.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grant, Roy

1991-01-01

This case study of 72 homeless families and their 78 children in day care at a large welfare hotel in New York City evaluates the children's health status, separation and attachment, sleep patterns, eating patterns, emotional status, attention span, gross motor development, speech and language development, and cognitive development. (JDD)

Biometrics in Government, Post-9/11: Advancing Science, Enhancing Operations

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-08-01

responsibilities include advising the President in policy formulation and budget development on all questions in which S&T are important elements; articulating the...group of approximately 30 individuals from government, industry, and academia were in a hotel conference room in Orlando, Fla., at a Biometric...of a set of usability guidelines for biometric systems that enhance performance (throughput and quality), improve user satisfaction and acceptance

Identifying and assessing environmental awareness of hotel and restaurant employees' attitudes in the Amasra District of Bartin.

PubMed

Yucedag, Cengiz; Kaya, Latif Gurkan; Cetin, Mehmet

2018-01-05

Environmental damage occurring on individual, institutional, and societal levels is one of the major problems in the world and results from mostly unconscious human behavior. This damage poses serious threats to human health and other habitats. The aim of this study is to determine the level of environmental awareness of hotel and restaurant employees in the Amasra District of Bartin, Turkey. For this purpose, a descriptive survey method is used to measure 16 items with a 5-point Likert scale. Data are obtained from 200 employees in the hotels and restaurants as of 2015. The reliability coefficient is found to be 0.74. This data reveals that only 43% of hotels and 72% of restaurants in Amasra have recycling bins. Males and Bachelor's degree holders have more environmental awareness. Enterprises established after 2011 follow popular journals related to environment more than those before 2011. As a result, it is essential to organize educational meetings and seminars related to environmental awareness for hotel and restaurant employees in order to improve the tourism industry's environmental impact. The results show that the legislation has resulted in general environmental awareness and that the organizations are willing to change their business processes and environmental strategies. Nevertheless, despite their actions, there is little awareness of the benefits that can result from cost reductions resulting from environmentally friendly practices. Those affected by their suppliers act to reduce waste but do not deploy formal environmental management systems or use environmental messages to market their goods or services.

Reducing tourist carbon footprint through strategic mapping of the existing hotel stock - Attica

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pieri, Stella Panayiota; Stamos, Athanasios; Tzouvadakis, Ioannis

2016-09-01

The tourist carbon footprint (TCF) is the measure of the total amount of carbon dioxide (CO 2) tourists emit by travelling from origin to destination and by participating in tourism - and leisure - related activities considering all relevant sources, sinks and storage within the spatial boundary of the destination. This paper presents a method of assessing the part of TCF associated with tourist transport at the tourist destination and proposes iso-pollutant contours as the most effective method of mapping TFC in relation to hotel location by using the prefecture of Attica in Greece as an example. The paper demonstrates for the first time how important is hotel location as a determinant factor of TCF and also proposes measures to reduce CO 2 emissions through the implementation of policies that are environmentally friendly and are aiming to facilitate the transport of the tourists and promote the use of public transport.

Starting Up Your Own Business in the Hotel and Catering Industry. A Self-Help Guide from the Small Business Service of the Hotel and Catering Industry Training Board.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hotel and Catering Training Board, Wembley (England).

This guide is intended to assist the potential small business proprietor in successfully starting a business in the hotel and catering industry. It is divided into five sections. The first section discusses factors to be considered in making the initial decision of whether or not to seek self-employment in the industry (options, potential…

Effects of farmhouse hotel and paper mill effluents on bacterial community structures in sediment and surface water of Nanxi River, China.

PubMed

Lu, Xiao-Ming; Lu, Peng-Zhen

2014-11-01

The pyrosequencing technique was used to evaluate bacterial community structures in sediment and surface water samples taken from Nanxi River receiving effluents from a paper mill and a farmhouse hotel, respectively. For each sample, 4,610 effective bacterial sequences were selected and used to do the analysis of diversity and abundance, respectively. Bacterial phylotype richness in the sediment sample without effluent input was higher than the other samples, and the surface water sample with addition of effluent from the paper mill contained the least richness. Effluents from both the paper mill and farmhouse hotel have a potential to reduce the bacterial diversity and abundance in the sediment and surface water, especially it is more significant in the sediment. The effect of the paper mill effluent on the sediment and surface water bacterial communities was more serious than that of the farmhouse hotel effluent. Characterization of microbial community structures in the sediment and surface water from two tributaries of the downstream river indicated that various effluents from the paper mill and farmhouse hotel have the similar potential to decrease the natural variability in riverine microbial ecosystems.

Early Bird Visions and Telchnology for Space Hotel

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Amekrane, R.; Holze, C.

2002-01-01

The International Space Station was planed for research purposes. In 2001 the first private man, Denis Tito, visited the ISS and the second private man, Mark Shuttleworth is following him. Space pioneers as Wernher von Braun and Sir Arthur C. Clarke had the dream that one day a space station in earth orbit will host tourists. It is evident that the ISS is not designed to host tourists. Therefore the dream is still open. Asking the question "how should a space station should look like to host tourists?" the German Aerospace Society DGLR e.V. initiated in April 2001 a contest under the patronage of . Mr. Joerg Feustel-Buechl, the Director of Manned Spaceflight and Microgravity, European Space Agency (ESA). Because the definition and design of living space is the content of architecture the approach was to gather new ideas from young architects in cooperation with space experts. This contest was directed at students of architecture and the task set was to design a hotel for the earth orbit and to accommodate 220 guests. The contest got the name "Early Bird - Visions of a Space Hotel". The results and models of the student's work were shown in an exhibition in Hamburg/Germany, which was open to the public from September 19th till October 20th 2001. During the summer term 2001 fifty students from the university occupied themselves with the topic, "Design of a hotel for space". During this time seventeen designs were completed. Having specialists, as volunteers, in the field of space in charge meant that it could be ensured that the designs reflected a certain possibility of being able to be realized. Within this interdisciplinary project both parties learned from each other. The 17 different designs were focused on the expectations and needs of a future space tourist. The design are for sure not feasible today, but the designs are in that sense realistic that they could be built in future. This paper will present an overview of the 17 designs as a vision of a future

US acculturation is associated with health behaviors and obesity, but not their change, with a hotel-based intervention among Asian-Pacific Islanders

PubMed Central

Novotny, Rachel; Chen, Chuhe; Williams, Andrew E; Albright, Cheryl L; Nigg, Claudio R; Oshiro, Caryn ES; Stevens, Victor J

2012-01-01

Background Immigration to the United States has been associated with obesity, yet the relationship of acculturation with obesity and energy balance (i.e., physical activity/dietary intake) in adults is a complex issue. Limited longitudinal data is available on immigrant Asians and Pacific Islanders. Design Analyses were conducted on baseline data and change data from baseline to 24 months in the hotel-based cluster-randomized Work, Weight and Wellness (3W) trial involving 15 control and 15 intervention hotels on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. Sample Participants were adult employees of predominantly Asian and Pacific Islander ancestry who were assessed one or more times over the course of 24 months. The full sample consisted of 4236 hotel workers (about 40% of hotel workforce) at baseline, 3502 hotel workers at year one and 2963 hotel workers at the 24-month follow up. 1115 hotel workers had at least two measurements, and were included in the analysis. Intervention The 3W intervention was designed to promote weight loss via motivation and support for increases in physical activity and increased access to and consumption of healthy low fat/low calorie foods. The measure of acculturation consisted of a score that was a compilation of a participant’s age when he or she immigrated to the US/Hawaii, country of birth, language spoken at home, and years of education. Statistical Analyses We used mixed effect regression models for cross-sectional baseline models and longitudinal multilevel regression analysis of change in diet and physical activity behaviors and obesity over time using a fixed intercept. Estimates of the intervention effect are expressed as an annual rate of change for all study outcomes. Results At baseline acculturation was positively associated with body mass index, physical activity level; and fruit, meat, and sweetened drink intake level. In analyses of change over 24-months, acculturation did not significantly influence change in dietary intake or

A new model in achieving Green Accounting at hotels in Bali

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Astawa, I. P.; Ardina, C.; Yasa, I. M. S.; Parnata, I. K.

2018-01-01

The concept of green accounting becomes a debate in terms of its implementation in a company. The result of previous studies indicates that there are no standard model regarding its implementation to support performance. The research aims to create a different green accounting model to other models by using local cultural elements as the variables in building it. The research is conducted in two steps. The first step is designing the model based on theoretical studies by considering the main and supporting elements in building the concept of green accounting. The second step is conducting a model test at 60 five stars hotels started with data collection through questionnaire and followed by data processing using descriptive statistic. The result indicates that the hotels’ owner has implemented green accounting attributes and it supports previous studies. Another result, which is a new finding, shows that the presence of local culture, government regulation, and the awareness of hotels’ owner has important role in the development of green accounting concept. The results of the research give contribution to accounting science in terms of green reporting. The hotel management should adopt local culture in building the character of accountant hired in the accounting department.

Career Preparation for Hotel-Motel Management and Services. Grade 11, Phase I.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Montgomery County Public Schools, Rockville, MD.

Suggestions arising from a curriculum development workshop led to a curriculum in hotel-motel management and services for high school students which aims to provide them with an opportunity to explore careers in the lodging and hospitality industries. Students will spend half the time in school study of three required subjects and the other half…

HIV type 1 subtypes among bar and hotel workers in Moshi, Tanzania.

PubMed

Kiwelu, Ireen E; Renjifo, Boris; Chaplin, Beth; Sam, Noel; Nkya, Watoky M M M; Shao, John; Kapiga, Saidi; Essex, Max

2003-01-01

The HIV-1 prevalence among bar and hotel workers in Tanzania suggests they are a high-risk group for HIV-1 infection. We determined the HIV-1 subtype of 3'-p24/5'-p7 gag and C2-C5 env sequences from 40 individuals representing this population in Moshi. Genetic patterns composed of A(gag)-A(env), C(gag)-C(env), and D(gag)-D(env) were found in 19 (48.0%), 8 (20.0%), and 3 (8.0%) samples, respectively. The remaining 10 samples (25%) had different subtypes in gag and env, indicative of intersubtype recombinants. Among these recombinants, two contained sequences from HIV-1 subsubtype A2, a new genetic variant in Tanzania. Five bar and hotel workers may have been infected with viruses from a common source, based on phylogenetic analysis. The information obtained by surveillance of HIV-1 subtypes in a high-risk population should be useful in the design and evaluation of behavioral, therapeutic, and vaccine trial interventions aimed at reducing HIV-1 transmission.

Application of the Hotelling and ideal observers to detection and localization of exoplanets

PubMed Central

Caucci, Luca; Barrett, Harrison H.; Devaney, Nicholas; Rodríguez, Jeffrey J.

2008-01-01

The ideal linear discriminant or Hotelling observer is widely used for detection tasks and image-quality assessment in medical imaging, but it has had little application in other imaging fields. We apply it to detection of planets outside of our solar system with long-exposure images obtained from ground-based or space-based telescopes. The statistical limitations in this problem include Poisson noise arising mainly from the host star, electronic noise in the image detector, randomness or uncertainty in the point-spread function (PSF) of the telescope, and possibly a random background. PSF randomness is reduced but not eliminated by the use of adaptive optics. We concentrate here on the effects of Poisson and electronic noise, but we also show how to extend the calculation to include a random PSF. For the case where the PSF is known exactly, we compare the Hotelling observer to other observers commonly used for planet detection; comparison is based on receiver operating characteristic (ROC) and localization ROC (LROC) curves. PMID:18059905

Application of the Hotelling and ideal observers to detection and localization of exoplanets.

PubMed

Caucci, Luca; Barrett, Harrison H; Devaney, Nicholas; Rodríguez, Jeffrey J

2007-12-01

The ideal linear discriminant or Hotelling observer is widely used for detection tasks and image-quality assessment in medical imaging, but it has had little application in other imaging fields. We apply it to detection of planets outside of our solar system with long-exposure images obtained from ground-based or space-based telescopes. The statistical limitations in this problem include Poisson noise arising mainly from the host star, electronic noise in the image detector, randomness or uncertainty in the point-spread function (PSF) of the telescope, and possibly a random background. PSF randomness is reduced but not eliminated by the use of adaptive optics. We concentrate here on the effects of Poisson and electronic noise, but we also show how to extend the calculation to include a random PSF. For the case where the PSF is known exactly, we compare the Hotelling observer to other observers commonly used for planet detection; comparison is based on receiver operating characteristic (ROC) and localization ROC (LROC) curves.

Solar cooling system performance, Frenchman's Reef Hotel, Virgin Islands

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Harber, H.

1981-09-01

The operational and thermal performance of a variety of solar systems are described. The Solar Cooling System was installed in a hotel at St. Thomas, U. S. Virgin Islands. The system consists of the evacuated glass tube collectors, two 2500 gallon tanks, pumps, computerized controller, a large solar optimized industrial sized lithium bromide absorption chiller, and associated plumbing. Solar heated water is pumped through the system to the designed public areas such as lobby, lounges, restaurant and hallways. Auxiliary heat is provided by steam and a heat exchanger to supplement the solar heat.

Solar cooling system performance, Frenchman's Reef Hotel, Virgin Islands

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Harber, H.

1981-01-01

The operational and thermal performance of a variety of solar systems are described. The Solar Cooling System was installed in a hotel at St. Thomas, U. S. Virgin Islands. The system consists of the evacuated glass tube collectors, two 2500 gallon tanks, pumps, computerized controller, a large solar optimized industrial sized lithium bromide absorption chiller, and associated plumbing. Solar heated water is pumped through the system to the designed public areas such as lobby, lounges, restaurant and hallways. Auxiliary heat is provided by steam and a heat exchanger to supplement the solar heat.

Investigation of Swedish cases reveals an outbreak of cryptosporidiosis at a Norwegian hotel with possible links to in-house water systems.

PubMed

Hajdu, Agnes; Vold, Line; Østmo, Torild A; Helleve, Anna; Helgebostad, Sigrid R; Krogh, Truls; Robertson, Lucy; de Jong, Birgitta; Nygård, Karin

2008-11-01

In March 2007, the Norwegian Institute of Public Health was notified of Swedish individuals diagnosed with cryptosporidiosis after staying at a Norwegian hotel. In Norway, cryptosporidiosis is not reportable, and human infections are rarely diagnosed. A questionnaire on illness and exposure history was e-mailed to seven organised groups who had visited the hotel in March. Cases were defined as persons with diarrhoea for more than two days or laboratory-confirmed cryptosporidiosis during or within two weeks of the hotel visit. The risk factor analysis was restricted to two groups with the highest attack rates (AR) and same hotel stay period. Local food safety authorities conducted environmental investigations. In total, 25 diarrhoeal cases (10 laboratory-confirmed) were identified among 89 respondents. Although environmental samples were negative, epidemiological data suggest an association with in-house water consumption. In one group, the AR was higher amongst consumers of water from hotel dispenser (relative risk [RR] = 3.0; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.9-9.8), tap water (RR = 2.3; CI: 0.9-5.8), and lower amongst commercial bottled water drinkers (RR = 0.6; CI: 0.4-1.0). Consumption of ice cubes was a risk-factor (RR = 7.1; CI: 1.1-45.7) in the two groups combined. This outbreak would probably have remained undetected without the alert from Swedish health authorities, illustrating the difficulties in outbreak detection due to low health care seeking behaviour for diarrhoea and limited parasite diagnostics in Norway. Awareness of cryptosporidiosis should be raised amongst Norwegian medical personnel to improve case and outbreak detection, and possible risks related to in-house water systems should be assessed.

NPDES Permit for Dakota Magic Casino and Hotel Wastewater Treatment Facility in North Dakota

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Under NPDES permit ND0030813, the the Dakota Magic Casino and Hotel is authorized is authorized to discharge from its wastewater treatment facility in Richland County, North Dakota, to a roadside ditch flowing to an unnamed tributary to the Bois de Sioux.

BioSearch: a semantic search engine for Bio2RDF

PubMed Central

Qiu, Honglei; Huang, Jiacheng

2017-01-01

Abstract Biomedical data are growing at an incredible pace and require substantial expertise to organize data in a manner that makes them easily findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable. Massive effort has been devoted to using Semantic Web standards and technologies to create a network of Linked Data for the life sciences, among others. However, while these data are accessible through programmatic means, effective user interfaces for non-experts to SPARQL endpoints are few and far between. Contributing to user frustrations is that data are not necessarily described using common vocabularies, thereby making it difficult to aggregate results, especially when distributed across multiple SPARQL endpoints. We propose BioSearch — a semantic search engine that uses ontologies to enhance federated query construction and organize search results. BioSearch also features a simplified query interface that allows users to optionally filter their keywords according to classes, properties and datasets. User evaluation demonstrated that BioSearch is more effective and usable than two state of the art search and browsing solutions. Database URL: http://ws.nju.edu.cn/biosearch/ PMID:29220451

REEP Hotels/Chambers Federal Workplace Literacy Project. April 1, 1990-December 31, 1991.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Arlington County Public Schools, VA. REEP, Arlington Education and Employment Program.

In an expansion of an earlier National Workplace Literacy Program project, this document reports on a workplace literacy model operated by the Arlington Education and Employment Program (REEP) that includes the Alexandria and Arlington, Virginia Public Schools, the chambers of commerce of both cities, and 14 local hotels. The project provided…

10. 4TH FLOOR, HOTEL SOAP LINE No. 6 TO SOUTHWEST, ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

10. 4TH FLOOR, HOTEL SOAP LINE No. 6 TO SOUTHWEST, WITH AUTOMATIC CUTTER (LEFT), PRESS (CENTER), AND WRAPPER (RIGHT); LARGE CHUTE AT CENTER FROM 5TH FLOOR BINS TO 3RD FLOOR SOAP MILLS; OVERHEAD AND FLOOR (LOWER RIGHT) FINISHED GOODS CONVEYORS TO G BLOCK (HAER NO. NJ-71-NN) - Colgate & Company Jersey City Plant, Building No. B-14, 54-58 Grand Street, Jersey City, Hudson County, NJ

Earthdata Search Summer ESIP Usability Workshop

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Reese, Mark; Sirato, Jeff

2017-01-01

The Earthdata Search Client has undergone multiple rounds of usability testing during 2017 and the user feedback received has resulted in an enhanced user interface. This session will showcase the new Earthdata Search Client user interface and provide hands-on experience for participants to learn how to search, visualize and download data in the desired format.

US acculturation is associated with health behaviors and obesity, but not their change, with a hotel-based intervention among Asian-Pacific Islanders.

PubMed

Novotny, Rachel; Chen, Chuhe; Williams, Andrew E; Albright, Cheryl L; Nigg, Claudio R; Oshiro, Caryn E S; Stevens, Victor J

2012-05-01

Immigration to the United States has been associated with obesity, yet the relationship of acculturation to obesity and energy balance (ie, physical activity/dietary intake) in adults is a complex issue. Limited longitudinal data are available on immigrant Asians and Pacific Islanders. Analyses were conducted on baseline data and change data from baseline to 24 months in the hotel-based cluster-randomized Work, Weight and Wellness trial involving 15 control and 15 intervention hotels on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. Participants were adult employees of predominantly Asian and Pacific Islander ancestry who were assessed one or more times over the course of 24 months. The full sample consisted of 4,236 hotel workers (about 40% of hotel workforce) at baseline, 3,502 hotel workers at Year 1 and 2,963 hotel workers at the 24-month follow up. One thousand one hundred fifteen hotel workers had at least two measurements, and were included in the analysis. The Work, Weight, and Wellness trial was designed to promote weight loss via motivation and support for increases in physical activity and increased access to and consumption of healthy low-fat/low-energy foods. The measure of acculturation consisted of a score that was a compilation of a participant's age when he or she immigrated to the United States, country of birth, language spoken at home, and years of education. We used mixed effect regression models for cross-sectional baseline models and longitudinal multilevel regression analysis of change in diet and physical activity behaviors and obesity over time using a random intercept. Estimates of the intervention effect are expressed as an annual rate of change for all study outcomes. At baseline acculturation was positively associated with body mass index; physical activity level; and fruit, meat, and sweetened drink intake level. In analyses of change across 24 months, acculturation did not significantly influence change in dietary intake or indexes of obesity (ie, body

[Manual handling of loads in the hotel trade: the experience of the ASL (Local Health Unit) Milan].

PubMed

Fontani, S; Mercuri, Irene; Salicco, R; Veratti, Silvia; Sorrentino, L

2010-01-01

There are over 400 hotels in Milan with a guest capacity of about 62,000 and employing more than 10,000 workers. In 2008/09 the Occupational Health and Safety Service of A.S.L. Milano (Local Health Unit) carried out research into the hotel trade to ascertain the development of this commercial sector, also in view of EXPO 2015. The aim of the project was to improve hygiene and safety conditions and carry out preventive measures. A specific purpose was to study manual handling of loads and repetitive movements risk. The study covered 30 hotels and 7 temporary staff cooperatives. We acquired the Risk Evaluation Document, the Health Surveillance Programme and Registers of Labour Accidents to analyze manual handling of loads and repetitive movements. In the investigations and assessments on hotels we used currently available scientific tools--NIOSH Lifting Index, Push and Pulling Analysis, OC.R.A. Check-List--to study risks related to handling loads and upper limb mechanical overload, which revealed a specific occupational risk that requires a fresh approach to prevention and safety in the entire sector. Chambermaid: LI (Range): 0.57-2.75; Push and Pulling Actions: Fi 0.66-Fm 1.5 and Fi 0.76-Fm 1.33 respectively; OC.R.A. Check-List: 21. Porter: LI (Range): 0.77-3.75. Maintenance staff LI (Range): 0.57-2.75. The study highlighted the presence of risk due to manual handling of loads and repetitive movements in porters, maintenance personnel and particularly in chambermaids that up to now have been poorly assessed by safety experts. Analysis of the information contained in the registers of labour accidents suggests that a significant number of accidents can be related to muscular-skeletal disorders that affect especially cleaning, portering and kitchen staff

REEP/Hotel Workplace Literacy Project. Final Performance. October 1, 1988-March 31, 1990.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Arlington County Public Schools, VA.

A 1-year workplace literacy program was a joint effort of the Chamber of Commerce, public schools, and seven hotels in Arlington, Virginia. Participants were employees with limited English proficiency. The project resulted in the production of a manual, a video, curricula for housekeeping and food and beverage workers, curricula for more advanced…

Occupations in the Hotel Tourist Sector within the European Community. A Comparative Analysis.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Peroni, Giovanni; Guerra, Duccio

This report contains a directory of job profiles in the tourist/hotel sector that is based on seven national monographs. It provides an instrument for comparing factors that characterize practitioners working in the sector in Germany, Spain, France, Greece, Italy, Portugal, and the United Kingdom. A methodological note discusses study objectives,…

Basic Skills in the Hotel & Food Service Industries. Workforce & Workplace Literacy Series. Revised.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

BCEL Brief, 1993

1993-01-01

This report contains a list of 21 contacts and 9 references concerned with workplace literacy programs in the hotel and food service industries. Each listing includes addresses and telephone numbers, prices if applicable, and a brief description of the resource or materials. The materials listed are mostly reports of workplace literacy projects in…

Biogas from bio-waste-potential for an ecological waste and energy management in resort hotels

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Steinbach, D.; Schultheis, A.

1996-12-31

This paper gives an overview about waste management in holiday resorts. The objective is to determine the composition of waste and the specific waste quantities per guest. This data represents the basis for planning recycling measures and corresponding treatment facilities. The sorting analyses show the great potential of organic material suitable for biological treatment. Because of the characteristics (water content, structure) of these organic materials, composting is not as suitable as fermentation. Fermentation tests with hotel bio-waste turned out a much higher rate of biogas compared with communal bio-waste. Until now, biogas as a possibility of regenerative energy, has notmore » been taken into consideration for big hotels or holiday resorts. Using biogas as an additional source of energy and the fermentation products as fertilizer would be a further step to an ecologically beneficial tourism.« less

Investigation of Swedish cases reveals an outbreak of cryptosporidiosis at a Norwegian hotel with possible links to in-house water systems

PubMed Central

Hajdu, Agnes; Vold, Line; Østmo, Torild A; Helleve, Anna; Helgebostad, Sigrid R; Krogh, Truls; Robertson, Lucy; de Jong, Birgitta; Nygård, Karin

2008-01-01

Background In March 2007, the Norwegian Institute of Public Health was notified of Swedish individuals diagnosed with cryptosporidiosis after staying at a Norwegian hotel. In Norway, cryptosporidiosis is not reportable, and human infections are rarely diagnosed. Methods A questionnaire on illness and exposure history was e-mailed to seven organised groups who had visited the hotel in March. Cases were defined as persons with diarrhoea for more than two days or laboratory-confirmed cryptosporidiosis during or within two weeks of the hotel visit. The risk factor analysis was restricted to two groups with the highest attack rates (AR) and same hotel stay period. Local food safety authorities conducted environmental investigations. Results In total, 25 diarrhoeal cases (10 laboratory-confirmed) were identified among 89 respondents. Although environmental samples were negative, epidemiological data suggest an association with in-house water consumption. In one group, the AR was higher amongst consumers of water from hotel dispenser (relative risk [RR] = 3.0; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.9–9.8), tap water (RR = 2.3; CI: 0.9–5.8), and lower amongst commercial bottled water drinkers (RR = 0.6; CI: 0.4–1.0). Consumption of ice cubes was a risk-factor (RR = 7.1; CI: 1.1–45.7) in the two groups combined. Conclusion This outbreak would probably have remained undetected without the alert from Swedish health authorities, illustrating the difficulties in outbreak detection due to low health care seeking behaviour for diarrhoea and limited parasite diagnostics in Norway. Awareness of cryptosporidiosis should be raised amongst Norwegian medical personnel to improve case and outbreak detection, and possible risks related to in-house water systems should be assessed. PMID:18976495

76 FR 69753 - Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; Comment Request, Federal Hotel and...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-11-09

..., Federal Hotel and Motel Fire Safety Declaration Form AGENCY: Federal Emergency Management Agency, DHS....regulations.gov . FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Bruce Hensler, Fire Program Specialist, FEMA/U.S. Fire... accommodation meeting minimum requirements for protection of life from fire; the list is known as the National...

The service industry strategy-A case study of tourism hotel in Taiwan

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lu, Chunwei; Huang, Jui-Chan; Wen, Hao-Ming; Hairui, Ji

2017-06-01

Regarding to raising living standard in Taiwan, service industry had stand more than 65% GDP and manufacturing is around 35% recently. The data from Council for Economic Planning and Development of Taiwan, in 2015, the service industry stand more than 73% of GDP, and the tourism industry has played one of the most important rules. In service industry, recently, the policy of Taiwan government encourages overseas tourists come to Taiwan for resort and it made many new tourism hotels built, and they also had to do the overall reform to satisfy their customers of global, especially respecting on Eastern Asia. In this study, experts and scholars in the fields of industry academia were interviewed. Survey were issued to the object companies and a comparative case study was conducted to analyze the influencing factors and extent to which differences on the competitive edge and strategies of Taiwan tourism hotels and those which benefit most or least from business operation current situation that conducted with governments' support and internal management. By primary data and literature reviews, this study hope that an effective reference for improving industrial competitiveness and models of competitiveness could be available for the governments and the companies.

A Follow-Up Study of Junior College Hotel and Restaurant Education in Florida.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Almarode, Richard L.

This study examines hospitality programs from the enabling legislation in 1961, which provided for an advisory committee to the Hotel and Restaurant Commission on education. Its purpose was to employ a director of the programs and two field representatives or consultants to offer on-the-job assistance to managers and employees in the state's…

Devolving HRM and HRD to Line managers: The Case of Hilton International's UK Hotels

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Maxwell, Gillian; Watson, Sandra

2004-01-01

This paper explores line manager responsibility for human resource management (HRM) and human resource development (HRD) in an international hotel organisation. The results identify a strong support system for line managers in relation to training and good relations with HR specialists. However, less evident is senior management support coupled…

Modified harmony search

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mohamed, Najihah; Lutfi Amri Ramli, Ahmad; Majid, Ahmad Abd; Piah, Abd Rahni Mt

2017-09-01

A metaheuristic algorithm, called Harmony Search is quite highly applied in optimizing parameters in many areas. HS is a derivative-free real parameter optimization algorithm, and draws an inspiration from the musical improvisation process of searching for a perfect state of harmony. Propose in this paper Modified Harmony Search for solving optimization problems, which employs a concept from genetic algorithm method and particle swarm optimization for generating new solution vectors that enhances the performance of HS algorithm. The performances of MHS and HS are investigated on ten benchmark optimization problems in order to make a comparison to reflect the efficiency of the MHS in terms of final accuracy, convergence speed and robustness.

Job strain associated with increases in ambulatory blood and pulse pressure during and after work hours among female hotel room cleaners.

PubMed

Feaster, Matt; Krause, Niklas

2018-06-01

Previously documented elevated hypertension rates among Las Vegas hotel room cleaners are hypothesized to be associated with job strain. Job strain was assessed by questionnaire. Ambulatory blood pressure (ABP) was recorded among 419 female cleaners from five hotels during 18 waking hours. Multiple linear regression models assessed associations of job strain with ABP and pulse pressure for 18-h, work hours, and after work hours. Higher job strain was associated with increased 18-h systolic ABP, after work hours systolic ABP, and ambulatory pulse pressure. Dependents at home but not social support at work attenuated effects. Among hypertensive workers, job strain effects were partially buffered by anti-hypertensive medication. High job strain is positively associated with blood pressure among female hotel workers suggesting potential for primary prevention at work. Work organizational changes, stress management, and active ABP surveillance and hypertension management should be considered for integrated intervention programs. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Disability management practices in education, hotel/motel, and health care workplaces.

PubMed

Williams, Renee M; Westmorland, Muriel G; Shannon, Harry S; Rasheed, Farah; Amick, Benjamin C

2005-03-01

The high costs and the impact of work disability have become a growing concern for workplaces. As a result, workplace disability management approaches have been developed to lower disability costs, protect the employability of workers, and promote early return to work. A stratified random sample of 455 employers in education (n = 157), hotel/motel (n = 110), and health care (n = 188) sectors who completed a mailed Organizational Policies and Practices (OPP) questionnaire is reported. The OPP questionnaire asked questions about eight workplace disability management practices. The article examined the multi-dimensionality, internal consistency, and discriminant validity of the OPP and compares disability management practices across the three sectors. The OPP questionnaire showed good internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.95) and discriminant validity. A one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) for each of the eight subscales demonstrated that there were statistically significant differences between the sectors in ergonomic practices (F (2,452) = 15.8, P < 0.001), disability case management (F (2,452) = 4.6, P < 0.01), return to work (F (2,452) = 10.3, P < 0.001), and people-oriented culture (F (2,452) = 4.5, P < 0.01). On examining disability management practices in education, hotel/motel, and health care sectors, the OPP seems to be a promising instrument that can be used to assess and monitor how employers are managing disability.

Pathogenic Escherichia coli and food handlers in luxury hotels in Nairobi, Kenya.

PubMed

Onyango, Abel O; Kenya, Eucharia U; Mbithi, John J N; Ng'ayo, Musa O

2009-11-01

The epidemiology and virulence properties of pathogenic Escherichia coli among food handlers in tourist destination hotels in Kenya are largely uncharacterized. This cross-sectional study among consenting 885 food handlers working in nine luxurious tourist hotels in Nairobi, Kenya determined the epidemiology, virulence properties, antibiotics susceptibility profiles and conjugation abilities of pathogenic Escherichia coli. Pathogenic Escherichia coli was detected among 39 (4.4%) subjects, including 1.8% enteroaggregative Escherichia coli (EAEC) harboring aggR genes, 1.2% enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) expressing both LT and STp toxins, 1.1% enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) and 0.2% Shiga-like Escherichia coli (EHEC) both harboring eaeA and stx2 genes respectively. All the pathotypes had increased surface hydrophobicity. Using multivariate analyses, food handlers with loose stools were more likely to be infected with pathogenic Escherichia coli. Majority 53.8% of the pathotypes were resistant to tetracycline with 40.2% being multi-drug resistant. About 85.7% pathotypes trans-conjugated with Escherichia coli K12 F(-) NA(r) LA. The carriage of multi-drug resistant, toxin expressing pathogenic Escherichia coli by this population is of public health concern because exposure to low doses can result in infection. Screening food handlers and implementing public awareness programs is recommended as an intervention to control transmission of enteric pathogens.

How to improve your PubMed/MEDLINE searches: 3. advanced searching, MeSH and My NCBI.

PubMed

Fatehi, Farhad; Gray, Leonard C; Wootton, Richard

2014-03-01

Although the basic PubMed search is often helpful, the results may sometimes be non-specific. For more control over the search process you can use the Advanced Search Builder interface. This allows a targeted search in specific fields, with the convenience of being able to select the intended search field from a list. It also provides a history of your previous searches. The search history is useful to develop a complex search query by combining several previous searches using Boolean operators. For indexing the articles in MEDLINE, the NLM uses a controlled vocabulary system called MeSH. This standardised vocabulary solves the problem of authors, researchers and librarians who may use different terms for the same concept. To be efficient in a PubMed search, you should start by identifying the most appropriate MeSH terms and use them in your search where possible. My NCBI is a personal workspace facility available through PubMed and makes it possible to customise the PubMed interface. It provides various capabilities that can enhance your search performance.

Cost effective solar hot water system for econo-travel motor hotel located at Hampton, VA

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

1978-11-01

This paper gives the final report of a cost effective solar hot water heating system installed on the Econo-Travel Motor Hotel at 2708 Mercury Boulevard, Hampton, Virginia. The description of the system along with the final cost breakdown, performance data and payback time are given. The payback time for the installed system will be approximately four (4) years instead of the 6.65 years estimated for the proposal. The additional savings is due to the reduction in the peak demand charge since the electric hot water heaters are not required to operate at the same time each morning as the dryersmore » used for the laundry. As called for in the proposal to DOE, the success of the system will be determined by the reduction in the utility cost and reduced use of our fossil fuels. The results shown in the hotel's monthly electricity bills indicate that this goal has been accomplished.« less

Cost effective solar hot water system for Econo-Travel Motor Hotel, Chesapeake, Virginia. Final report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

1978-12-01

The final report of a cost effective solar hot water heating system installed on the Econo-Travel Motor Hotel at 4725 W. Military Highway, Chesapeake, Virginia, is presented. The description of the system along with the final breakdown performance data and payback time are given. The payback time for the installed system will be approximately four (4) years instead of the 6.65 years estimated for the proposal. The additional savings is due to the reduction in the peak demand charge since the electric hot water heaters are not required to operate at the same time each morning as the dryers usedmore » for the laundry. As called for in the proposal to DOE, the success of the system will be determined by the reduction in the utility cost and reduced use of our fossil fuels. The results shown in the hotel's monthly electricity bills indicate that this goal has been accomplished.« less

Medial temporal lobe-dependent repetition suppression and enhancement due to implicit vs. explicit processing of individual repeated search displays

PubMed Central

Geyer, Thomas; Baumgartner, Florian; Müller, Hermann J.; Pollmann, Stefan

2012-01-01

Using visual search, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and patient studies have demonstrated that medial temporal lobe (MTL) structures differentiate repeated from novel displays—even when observers are unaware of display repetitions. This suggests a role for MTL in both explicit and, importantly, implicit learning of repeated sensory information (Greene et al., 2007). However, recent behavioral studies suggest, by examining visual search and recognition performance concurrently, that observers have explicit knowledge of at least some of the repeated displays (Geyer et al., 2010). The aim of the present fMRI study was thus to contribute new evidence regarding the contribution of MTL structures to explicit vs. implicit learning in visual search. It was found that MTL activation was increased for explicit and, respectively, decreased for implicit relative to baseline displays. These activation differences were most pronounced in left anterior parahippocampal cortex (aPHC), especially when observers were highly trained on the repeated displays. The data are taken to suggest that explicit and implicit memory processes are linked within MTL structures, but expressed via functionally separable mechanisms (repetition-enhancement vs. -suppression). They further show that repetition effects in visual search would have to be investigated at the display level. PMID:23060776

Employee Relations. A Guide and Reference Book for Those Involved or Training to Be Involved in Employee Relations in the Hotel and Catering Industry. Seventh Edition.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Martin, Rodney; Hayter, Roy, Ed.

This guide and reference book is designed to help those involved or training to be involved in employee relations in the hotel and catering industry. Chapter 1 attempts to define employee relations. Chapter 2 describes the institutions and parties involved in employee relations in the hotel and catering industry. The focus of chapter 3 is on…

Building a University-Community Partnership to Explore Health Challenges among Residents at Extended-Stay Hotels

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lewinson, Terri

2014-01-01

Extended-stay hotels are housing solutions for some older adults on the fringe of street homelessness. Research indicates that these environments can produce negative health outcomes for older adults. Strategies for managing negative environmental conditions must be identified to help older adults manage health outcomes. This paper describes a…

Analyzing the Training and Internship Needs Assessment of Verbal Communication Skills amongst Hotel Practitioners

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rahim, Suzana Ab.; Tazijan, Farina

2011-01-01

There is a need to expose the learners in the hospitality industry to real workplace requirement in terms of communication skills. In view of its importance, human resource managers, researchers and educators in the field of hospitality management or the hotel practitioners have to pay more serious attention to it. Thus, it is pertinent that both…

French for "Hotellies": A Recently Instituted Course at the Cornell School of Hotel Administration.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grandjean-Levy, Andree

The Cornell School of Hotel Administration in collaboration with the Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics offers a course in French for a small group of students who have had the equivalent of at least two semesters of college French. The course emphasizes oral/aural French with very little class time spent on grammar study. Grammar…

A search for strongly Mg-enhanced stars from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Xiang; Zhao, Gang; Chen, Yu-Qin; Li, Hai-Ning

2014-11-01

Strongly Mg-enhanced stars with [Mg/Fe] > 1.0 show peculiar abundance patterns and hence are of great interest for our understanding of stellar formation and chemical evolution of the Galaxy. A systematic search for strongly Mg-enhanced stars based on low-resolution (R ≃ 2000) spectra from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) is carried out by finding the synthetic spectrum that best matches the observed one in the region of Mg I b lines around λ5170 Å via a profile matching method. The advantage of our method is that fitting parameters are refined by reproducing the [Mg/Fe] ratios of 47 stars from the very precise high-resolution spectroscopic (HRS) analysis by Nissen & Schuster; and these parameters are crucial to the precision and validity of the derived Mg abundances. As a further check of our method, Mg abundances are estimated with our method for member stars in four Galactic globular clusters (M92, M13, M3, M71) which coverthe same metallicity range as our sample, and the results are in good agreement with those of HRS analysis in the literature. The validation of our method is also demonstrated by the agreement of [Mg/Fe] between our values and those of HRS analysis by Aoki et al. Finally, 33 candidates of strongly Mg-enhanced stars with [Mg/Fe] > 1.0 are selected from 14 850 F and G stars. Follow-up observations will be carried out on these candidates with high-resolution spectroscopy by large telescopes in the near future, so as to check our selection procedure and to perform a precise and detailed abundance analysis and to explore the origins of these stars.

What is a health worker? How spa therapists in a Norwegian health hotel understand their work.

PubMed

Anderssen, Jorid

2016-01-01

In Norway, as in many other wealthy countries, the number of health-related services that are being offered outside of the health sector is increasing. The present paper is based on qualitative interviews that were conducted with providers of health-related services at a commercial health hotel in Norway. The hotel is marketed as a health hotel - that is, a place for people with health problems and for those who need relaxation and an escape from their stressful everyday lives. The paper discusses whether the providers of this kind of service consider it a health service or if they distinguish and distance themselves from the health system. The interviews showed that they consider themselves health workers and refer to themselves as therapists. Even though they use therapy in the health sector as a model, they distinguish themselves from therapists in the health sector. They do not want to treat what they call sick people. Most of their therapy is directed toward cultivating or improving people's bodies and souls. These service providers think that they contribute to improving their guests' health by teaching them how to take care of themselves; enjoying oneself (for instance, by receiving skin treatment or a massage) is an important aspect of good health. According to the therapists, modern-day women, in particular, are often worn-out, and they deserve, and are entitled, to enjoy themselves. In these ways, the therapists use health to legitimize their services, and they challenge the current understanding of health.

Visual Search with Image Modification in Age-Related Macular Degeneration

PubMed Central

Wiecek, Emily; Jackson, Mary Lou; Dakin, Steven C.; Bex, Peter

2012-01-01

Purpose. AMD results in loss of central vision and a dependence on low-resolution peripheral vision. While many image enhancement techniques have been proposed, there is a lack of quantitative comparison of the effectiveness of enhancement. We developed a natural visual search task that uses patients' eye movements as a quantitative and functional measure of the efficacy of image modification. Methods. Eye movements of 17 patients (mean age = 77 years) with AMD were recorded while they searched for target objects in natural images. Eight different image modification methods were implemented and included manipulations of local image or edge contrast, color, and crowding. In a subsequent task, patients ranked their preference of the image modifications. Results. Within individual participants, there was no significant difference in search duration or accuracy across eight different image manipulations. When data were collapsed across all image modifications, a multivariate model identified six significant predictors for normalized search duration including scotoma size and acuity, as well as interactions among scotoma size, age, acuity, and contrast (P < 0.05). Additionally, an analysis of image statistics showed no correlation with search performance across all image modifications. Rank ordering of enhancement methods based on participants' preference revealed a trend that participants preferred the least modified images (P < 0.05). Conclusions. There was no quantitative effect of image modification on search performance. A better understanding of low- and high-level components of visual search in natural scenes is necessary to improve future attempts at image enhancement for low vision patients. Different search tasks may require alternative image modifications to improve patient functioning and performance. PMID:22930725

[Hotels and sanatoria: the influence of tuberculosis on mass tourism architecture].

PubMed

Morales, Eduardo Jiménez; Díaz, Ingrid Carolina Vargas

2017-01-01

The aim of this article is to verify the influence of tuberculosis on mass tourism architecture. To achieve this, the paper analyses the typological evolution of the hotel since the middle of the nineteenth century, when the first sanatoria appeared in the alpine resorts. A study that creates links between the progress in architecture and the medical therapy advances. The goal is to highlight the hybridisation process between both architectural typologies. Although this overlapping is developed until the Second World War, the influence of its mixture is still present in contemporary mass tourism architecture.

Searching for periodic sources with LIGO. II. Hierarchical searches

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brady, Patrick R.; Creighton, Teviet

2000-04-01

same available computing power; incoherent methods are computationally efficient at exploring large parameter spaces. We also consider a two-stage hierarchical search in which candidate events from a search using short data segments are followed up in a search using longer data segments. This hierarchical strategy yields a further 20-60 % improvement in sensitivity in all-sky (or directed) searches for old (>=1000 yr) slow (<=200 Hz) pulsars, and for young (>=40 yr) fast (<=1000 Hz) pulsars. Assuming enhanced LIGO detectors (LIGO-II) and 1012 flops of effective computing power, we examine the sensitivity to sources in three specialized classes. A limited area search for pulsars in the Galactic core would detect objects with gravitational ellipticities of ɛ>~5×10-6 at 200 Hz; such limits provide information about the strength of the crust in neutron stars. Gravitational waves emitted by unstable r-modes of newborn neutron stars would be detected out to distances of ~8 Mpc, if the r-modes saturate at a dimensionless amplitude of order unity and an optical supernova provides the position of the source on the sky. In searches targeting low-mass x-ray binary systems (in which accretion-driven spin up is balanced by gravitational-wave spin down), it is important to use information from electromagnetic observations to determine the orbital parameters as accurately as possible. An estimate of the difficulty of these searches suggests that objects with x-ray fluxes exceeding 2×10-8 erg cm-2 s-1 would be detected using the enhanced interferometers in their broadband configuration. This puts Sco X-1 on the verge of detectability in a broadband search; the amplitude signal to noise would be increased by a factor of order ~5-10 by operating the interferometer in a signal-recycled, narrow-band configuration. Further work is needed to determine the optimal search strategy when limited information is available about the frequency evolution of a source in a targeted search.

Visual search and autism symptoms: What young children search for and co-occurring ADHD matter.

PubMed

Doherty, Brianna R; Charman, Tony; Johnson, Mark H; Scerif, Gaia; Gliga, Teodora

2018-05-03

Superior visual search is one of the most common findings in the autism spectrum disorder (ASD) literature. Here, we ascertain how generalizable these findings are across task and participant characteristics, in light of recent replication failures. We tested 106 3-year-old children at familial risk for ASD, a sample that presents high ASD and ADHD symptoms, and 25 control participants, in three multi-target search conditions: easy exemplar search (look for cats amongst artefacts), difficult exemplar search (look for dogs amongst chairs/tables perceptually similar to dogs), and categorical search (look for animals amongst artefacts). Performance was related to dimensional measures of ASD and ADHD, in agreement with current research domain criteria (RDoC). We found that ASD symptom severity did not associate with enhanced performance in search, but did associate with poorer categorical search in particular, consistent with literature describing impairments in categorical knowledge in ASD. Furthermore, ASD and ADHD symptoms were both associated with more disorganized search paths across all conditions. Thus, ASD traits do not always convey an advantage in visual search; on the contrary, ASD traits may be associated with difficulties in search depending upon the nature of the stimuli (e.g., exemplar vs. categorical search) and the presence of co-occurring symptoms. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Visualization of Pulsar Search Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Foster, R. S.; Wolszczan, A.

1993-05-01

The search for periodic signals from rotating neutron stars or pulsars has been a computationally taxing problem to astronomers for more than twenty-five years. Over this time interval, increases in computational capability have allowed ever more sensitive searches, covering a larger parameter space. The volume of input data and the general presence of radio frequency interference typically produce numerous spurious signals. Visualization of the search output and enhanced real-time processing of significant candidate events allow the pulsar searcher to optimally processes and search for new radio pulsars. The pulsar search algorithm and visualization system presented in this paper currently runs on serial RISC based workstations, a traditional vector based super computer, and a massively parallel computer. A description of the serial software algorithm and its modifications for massively parallel computing are describe. The results of four successive searches for millisecond period radio pulsars using the Arecibo telescope at 430 MHz have resulted in the successful detection of new long-period and millisecond period radio pulsars.

Microbiological levels of randomly selected food contact surfaces in hotels located in Spain during 2007-2009.

PubMed

Doménech-Sánchez, Antonio; Laso, Elena; Pérez, María José; Berrocal, Clara Isabel

2011-09-01

The aim of this study was to survey the microbial levels of food contact surfaces in hotels. Microbiological levels of 4611 surfaces (chopping machines, kitchenware, knives, worktops, and cutting boards) from 280 different facilities in Spain were determined in a 3-year period. The contact-plate technique was used throughout the survey. Overall, the mean of the log of total aerobic count cm(-2) was 0.62, better than those reported for child-care and assisted living facilities. Significant differences were detected among different types of surfaces, time of sampling, season, and year. The majority (74%) of food contact surfaces sampled in Spanish hotels was within the recommended standard of <1.3 log CFU cm(-2), and differences depend on several factors. Our results set a representative picture of the actual situation in our resorts and establish the basis for the development of educational programs to improve food handlers' knowledge of foodborne diseases and their transmission via food contact surfaces.

Visual-search model observer for assessing mass detection in CT

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Karbaschi, Zohreh; Gifford, Howard C.

2017-03-01

Our aim is to devise model observers (MOs) to evaluate acquisition protocols in medical imaging. To optimize protocols for human observers, an MO must reliably interpret images containing quantum and anatomical noise under aliasing conditions. In this study of sampling parameters for simulated lung CT, the lesion-detection performance of human observers was compared with that of visual-search (VS) observers, a channelized nonprewhitening (CNPW) observer, and a channelized Hoteling (CH) observer. Scans of a mathematical torso phantom modeled single-slice parallel-hole CT with varying numbers of detector pixels and angular projections. Circular lung lesions had a fixed radius. Twodimensional FBP reconstructions were performed. A localization ROC study was conducted with the VS, CNPW and human observers, while the CH observer was applied in a location-known ROC study. Changing the sampling parameters had negligible effect on the CNPW and CH observers, whereas several VS observers demonstrated a sensitivity to sampling artifacts that was in agreement with how the humans performed.

Salmonella Litchfield outbreak associated with a hotel restaurant--Atlantic City, New Jersey, 2007.

PubMed

2008-07-18

On July 10, 2007, the Pennsylvania Department of Health notified the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services (NJDHSS) of three culture-confirmed cases of Salmonella Litchfield infection with matching pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) patterns. Data from PulseNet, the national molecular subtyping network for foodborne disease surveillance, confirmed 11 cases (including the three from Pennsylvania) of this rarely identified Salmonella serotype in five states during a 5-week period; seven of the 11 patients had reported recent travel history to Atlantic City, New Jersey. This report describes the subsequent investigation led by NJDHSS and the Atlantic City Health Department (ACHD), which associated the outbreak with a hotel restaurant in Atlantic City. In all, 30 confirmed or probable cases of illness with S. Litchfield infection were identified among persons from eight states who had eaten at the hotel restaurant, including 10 restaurant food handlers. Investigators concluded that the outbreak most likely was associated with fruit salad, particularly the honeydew melon component, and that contamination likely resulted from an ill food handler. This investigation illustrates the potential for recurring food contamination by ill and asymptomatic food handlers and underscores the utility of PulseNet to link illnesses that might appear unrelated.

[Preventive health control of U. S. emigrants at the beginning of 20th century on the example of hotel "Emigrants" in Rijeka].

PubMed

Rotim Malvić, Jasna

2015-01-01

Rijeka inscribed herself on the list of great European emigration ports like Hamburg, Bremen, Liverpool in the end of the year 1903 when a ship of the British Cunard Line established a travel line from Rijeka to New York. Up to the year 1914, 317639 passengers - emigrants travelled to America from the port of Rijeka. The large flow of people caused problems for the city, for that reason, already in 1906 did the Hungarian ministry of home affairs started the construction of a grandiose building intended for the emigrants. When it was opened in 1908 it was named Hotel Emigrants and had a capacity of 2500 guests. The name Hotel was given to him because of the highest construction and sanitary standards applied during his construction, but also because of comfort provided for the emigrants, large bright dormitories, living rooms, one big and spacious terrace and a number of smaller ones indicated more to a touristic hotel than to a house for emigrants. Health surveillance of emigrants was performed by Dr. David Friedman, Dr. Arturo Jellouscheg and Dr. Emil Tauffer. They were in charge in front of the Maritime Gubernia in Rijeka, the U.S. consulate in Rijeka and the Adria Maritime Society. Although the city authorities and the Hungarian authorities boasted of the hotel and the rigid medical control over immigrants which was done there, American authorities have still often returned some emigrants, at the expense of the company, after inspection at Ellis Island revealing that before landing some individuals are sick.

Cost effective solar hot water system for Econo-Travel Motor Hotel located at Richmond, Virginia. Final report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

1979-09-01

The final report is presented of a cost effective solar hot water heating system installed on the Econo-Travel Motor Hotel at 5408 Williamsburg Road, Richmond, Virginia. The description of the system is given along with the final cost breakdown, expected performance data and expected payback time for the installed system is estimated to be approximately five (5) years instead of the 6.65 years estimated for the proposal. The additional savings is due to the reduction in the peak demand charge since the electric hot water heaters are not required to operate at the same time each morning as the dryersmore » used for the laundry. The success of the system will be determined by the reduction in the utility cost and reduced use of our fossil fuels. The results shown in the hotel's monthly electricity bills indicate that this goal has been accomplished.« less

Auroras Now! - Auroral nowcasting service for Hotels in Finnish Lapland and its performance during winter 2003-2004

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kauristie, K.; Mälkki, A.; Pulkkinen, A.; Nevanlinna, H.; Ketola, A.; Tulkki, V.; Raita, T.; Blanco, A.

2004-12-01

European Space Agency is currently supporting 17 Service Development Activities (SDA) within its Space Weather Pilot Project. Auroras Now!, one of the SDAs, has been operated during November 2003 - March 2004 as its pilot season. The service includes a public part freely accessible in Internet (http://aurora.fmi.fi) and a private part visible only to the customers of two hotels in the Finnish Lapland through the hotels' internal TV-systems. The nowcasting system is based on the magnetic recordings of two geophysical observatories, Sodankylä (SOD, MLAT ~64 N) and Nurmijärvi (NUR, MLAT ~57 N). The probability of auroral occurrence is continuously characterised with an empirically determined three-level scale. The index is updated once per hour and based on the magnetic field variations recorded at the observatories. During dark hours the near-real time auroral images acquired at SOD are displayed. The hotel service also includes cloudiness predictions for the coming night. During the pilot season the reliability of the three-level magnetic alarm system was weekly evaluated by comparing its prediction with auroral observations by the nearby all-sky camera. Successful hits and failures were scored according to predetermined rules. The highest credit points when it managed to spot auroras in a timely manner and predict their brightness correctly. Maximum penalty points were given when the alarm missed clear bright auroras lasting for more than one hour. In this presentation we analyse the results of the evaluation, present some ideas to further sharpen the procedure, and discuss more generally the correlation between local auroral and magnetic activity.

A Simulated Instructional Model for Educating Mentally Retarded Students for Employment in the Hotel-Motel Industry.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McCowan, Richard J.; Mongerson, M. Duane

Developed by the Campus Laboratory School of the State College at Buffalo, this program description proposes a simulated work environment which could be used to train educable and trainable retardates for hotel/motel aides more effectively and economically than on-the-job training or classroom lecture instruction. The proposed method of…

Towards Customer-Driven Management in Hospitality Education: A Case Study of the Higher Hotel Institute, Cyprus.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Varnavas, Andreas P.; Soteriou, Andreas C.

2002-01-01

Presents and discusses the approach used by the Higher Hotel Institute in Cyprus to incorporate total quality management through establishment of a customer-driven management culture in its hospitality education program. Discusses how it collects and uses service-quality related data from future employers, staff, and students in pursuing this…

Perceptions toward the Value of Higher Education for Hotel Professionals in Las Vegas: A Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Deel, Gary Lee

2015-01-01

This study concerns a qualitative investigation of the views toward higher education and its importance to hospitality career success among hotel professionals in the Las Vegas, Nevada area. Existing literature supported the premise that education may be important to professional career success in several different ways, and that values concerning…

The Relationship between Musculoskeletal Symptoms and Work-related Risk Factors in Hotel Workers.

PubMed

Lee, Jin Woo; Lee, Ju Jong; Mun, Hyeon Je; Lee, Kyung-Jae; Kim, Joo Ja

2013-10-11

To identify work-related musculoskeletal symptoms and any associated work-related risk factors, focusing on structural labor factors among hotel workers. A total of 1,016 hotel workers (620 men and 396 women) were analyzed. The questionnaire surveyed participants' socio-demographics, health-related behaviors, job-related factors, and work-related musculoskeletal symptoms. Work-related musculoskeletal symptoms were assessed using the Nordic musculoskeletal questionnaire. All analyses were stratified by gender, and multiple logistic regression modeling was used to determine associations between work-related musculoskeletal symptoms and work-related risk factors. The risk of developing work-related musculoskeletal symptoms was 1.9 times higher among male workers in the kitchen department than males in the room department (OR = 1.92, 95% CI = 1.03-3.79), and 2.5 times higher among male workers with lower sleep satisfaction than those with higher sleep satisfaction (OR = 2.52, 95% CI = 1.57-4.04). All of the aforementioned cases demonstrated a statistically significant association with work-related musculoskeletal symptoms. Moreover, the risk of developing work-related musculoskeletal symptoms was 3.3 times higher among female workers aged between 30 and 34 than those aged 24 or younger (OR = 3.32, 95% CI = 1.56-7.04); 0.3 times higher among females in the back office department than those in the room department (OR = 0.34, 95% CI = 0.12-0.91); 1.6 times higher among females on shift schedules than those who were not (OR = 1.60, 95% CI = 1.02-2.59); 1.8 times higher among females who performed more intensive work than those who performed less intensive work (OR = 1.88, 95% CI = 1.17-3.02), and; 2.1 times higher among females with lower sleep satisfaction than those with higher sleep satisfaction (OR = 2.17, 95% CI = 1.34-3.50). All of the aforementioned cases also displayed a statistically significant association with work-related musculoskeletal symptoms. This study

The Relationship between Musculoskeletal Symptoms and Work-related Risk Factors in Hotel Workers

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Objectives To identify work-related musculoskeletal symptoms and any associated work-related risk factors, focusing on structural labor factors among hotel workers. Methods A total of 1,016 hotel workers (620 men and 396 women) were analyzed. The questionnaire surveyed participants’ socio-demographics, health-related behaviors, job-related factors, and work-related musculoskeletal symptoms. Work-related musculoskeletal symptoms were assessed using the Nordic musculoskeletal questionnaire. All analyses were stratified by gender, and multiple logistic regression modeling was used to determine associations between work-related musculoskeletal symptoms and work-related risk factors. Results The risk of developing work-related musculoskeletal symptoms was 1.9 times higher among male workers in the kitchen department than males in the room department (OR = 1.92, 95% CI = 1.03-3.79), and 2.5 times higher among male workers with lower sleep satisfaction than those with higher sleep satisfaction (OR = 2.52, 95% CI = 1.57-4.04). All of the aforementioned cases demonstrated a statistically significant association with work-related musculoskeletal symptoms. Moreover, the risk of developing work-related musculoskeletal symptoms was 3.3 times higher among female workers aged between 30 and 34 than those aged 24 or younger (OR = 3.32, 95% CI = 1.56-7.04); 0.3 times higher among females in the back office department than those in the room department (OR = 0.34, 95% CI = 0.12-0.91); 1.6 times higher among females on shift schedules than those who were not (OR = 1.60, 95% CI = 1.02-2.59); 1.8 times higher among females who performed more intensive work than those who performed less intensive work (OR = 1.88, 95% CI = 1.17-3.02), and; 2.1 times higher among females with lower sleep satisfaction than those with higher sleep satisfaction (OR = 2.17, 95% CI = 1.34-3.50). All of the aforementioned cases also displayed a statistically significant association with work

Space-Hotel EARLY BIRD - A Visionary Prospect of a Space Station

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Amekrane, R.; Holze, C.

2002-01-01

rachid.amekrane@astrium-space.com/Fax: +49 421 539-24801, cholze@zarm.uni-bremen.de/Fax: The International Space Station was planed for research purposes. In 2001 the first private man, Denis Tito,visited the ISS and the second private man, Mark Shuttleworth is following him. Space pioneers as Wernher von Braun, Sir Arthur C. Clarke had the dream that one day a space station in earth orbit will host tourists. It is evident that the ISS is not designed to host tourists. Therefore this dream is still open. Asking the question "how should a space station should look like to host tourists?" the German Aerospace Society DGLR e.V. initiated in April 2001 a contest under the patronage of Mr. Joerg Feustel-Buechl, the Director of Manned Spaceflight and Microgravity, European Space Agency (ESA). Because the definition and design of living space is the content of architecture the approach was to gather new ideas from young architects in cooperation with space experts. This contest was directed at students of architecture and the task set was to design a hotel for the earth orbit and to accommodate 220 guests. The contest got the name "Early Bird - Visions of a Space Hotel". The results and models of the student's work were shown in an exhibition in Hamburg/Germany, which was open to the public from September 19th till October 20th 2001. During the summer term of 2001 seventeen designs were completed. Having specialists, as volunteers, in the field of space in charge meant that it could be ensured that the designs reflected a certain possibility of being able to be realized. Within this interdisciplinary project both parties learned from each other. The 17 different designs were focused on the expectations and needs of a future space tourist. The design are for sure not feasible today, but the designs are in that sense realistic that they could be built in future. This paper will present the overview of the 17 designs as visions of a future space hotel. The designs used

"Hot" Facilitation of "Cool" Processing: Emotional Distraction Can Enhance Priming of Visual Search

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kristjansson, Arni; Oladottir, Berglind; Most, Steven B.

2013-01-01

Emotional stimuli often capture attention and disrupt effortful cognitive processing. However, cognitive processes vary in the degree to which they require effort. We investigated the impact of emotional pictures on visual search and on automatic priming of search. Observers performed visual search after task-irrelevant neutral or emotionally…

Precarious employment, working hours, work-life conflict and health in hotel work.

PubMed

McNamara, Maria; Bohle, Philip; Quinlan, Michael

2011-01-01

Precarious or temporary work is associated with adverse outcomes including low control over working hours, work-life conflict and stress. The rise in precarious employment is most marked in the service sector but little research has been done on its health effects in this sector. This study compares permanent and temporary workers in the hotel industry, where working hours are highly variable. Survey data from 150 workers from eight 3-Star hotels in urban and regional areas around Sydney were analyzed. Forty-five per cent were male and 52 per cent were female. Fifty four per cent were permanent full-time and 46 per cent were temporary workers. The effects of employment status on perceived job security, control over working hours, and work-life conflict are investigated using PLS-Graph 3.0. The effects of control over working hours, on work-life conflict and subsequent health outcomes are also explored. Temporary workers perceived themselves as less in control of their working hours, than permanent workers (β = .27). However, they also reported lower levels of work intensity (β = .25) and working hours (β = .38). The effects of low hours control (β = .20), work intensity (β = .29), and excessive hours (β = .39) on work-life conflict (r² = .50), and subsequent health effects (r² = .30), are illustrated in the final structural equation model. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd and The Ergonomics Society. All rights reserved.

Contribution of (222)Rn-bearing water to indoor radon and indoor air quality assessment in hot spring hotels of Guangdong, China.

PubMed

Song, Gang; Wang, Xinming; Chen, Diyun; Chen, Yongheng

2011-04-01

This study investigates the contribution of radon ((222)Rn)-bearing water to indoor (222)Rn in thermal baths. The (222)Rn concentrations in air were monitored in the bathroom and the bedroom. Particulate matter (PM, both PM(10) and PM(2.5)) and carbon dioxide (CO(2)) were also monitored with portable analyzers. The bathrooms were supplied with hot spring water containing 66-260 kBq m(-3) of (222)Rn. The results show that the spray of hot spring water from the bath spouts is the dominant mechanism by which (222)Rn is released into the air of the bathroom, and then it diffuses into the bedroom. Average (222)Rn level was 110-410% higher in the bedrooms and 510-1200% higher in the bathrooms compared to the corresponding average levels when there was no use of hot spring water. The indoor (222)Rn levels were influenced by the (222)Rn concentrations in the hot spring water and the bathing times. The average (222)Rn transfer coefficients from water to air were 6.2 × 10(-4)-4.1 × 10(-3). The 24-h average levels of CO(2) and PM(10) in the hotel rooms were 89% and 22% higher than the present Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) standard of China. The main particle pollutant in the hotel rooms was PM(2.5). Radon and PM(10) levels in some hotel rooms were at much higher concentrations than guideline levels, and thus the potential health risks to tourists and especially to the hotel workers should be of great concern, and measures should be taken to lower inhalation exposure to these air pollutants. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Cost effective solar hot water system for Econo-Travel Motor Hotel located at Woodbrdge, VA. Final report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

1978-11-01

The final report of a cost effective solar hot water heating system installed on the Econo-Travel Motor Hotel at 13317 Gordon Boulevard, Woodbridge, Virginia is given. The description of the system along with the final breakdown, performance data and payback time are given. The payback time for the installed system will be approximately four (4) years instead of the 7.2 years estimated for the proposal. The additional savings is due to the reduction in the peak demand charge since the electric hot water heaters are not required to operate at the same time each morning as the dryers used formore » the laundry. As called for in the proposal to DOE, the success of the system will be determined by the reduction in the utility cost and reduced use of our fossil fuels. The results shown in the hotel's monthly electricity bills indicate that this goal has been accomplished.« less

Factors affecting the quality of hospital hotel services from the patients and their companions' point of view: A national study in Iran.

PubMed

Shirzadi, Seyed Majid; Raeissi, Pouran; Nasiripour, Amir Ashkan; Tabibi, Seyed Jamaleddin

2016-01-01

The hospitality design of a hospital is a complex process that depends on careful planning, systematic thinking, and consideration of various factors. This study aimed to determine the viewpoints of patients and their relatives on factors affecting hospital hotel services in Iran in 2015. The results of this study can be used to design a suitable model for the assessment and improvement of hospitality service quality. In this cross-sectional descriptive study, 10 hospitals of Iran were included. The subjects of the study included 480 patients and their companions from different internal and surgical wards. Simple random sampling method was performed at the hospitals, where patients were selected through stratified sampling based on hospital wards, and in each ward, through systematic sampling based on the bed numbers. A researcher-made questionnaire was used as the study tool which was developed through reviewing the literature and opinions of experts. Its internal reliability was determined based on Cronbach's alpha coefficient (α =0.85). In reviewing the eleven aspects of hospital hotel services regarding the patients' and their companions' viewpoint, services related to all aspects, whether human, economic, operational, personnel identification, safety, health care services, physical, clinical welfare, cultural, patient guidance, or public welfare services, received mean scores of higher than three (out of five). The present study showed that in the patients' and their companions' viewpoint, factors affecting hospital hotel services in the country are very important. The tool used in this study can be a criterion for assessing the status of the hotel services of the country's major hospitals, so accordingly, the assessment and improvement of the existing conditions can be possible.

Factors affecting the quality of hospital hotel services from the patients and their companions’ point of view: A national study in Iran

PubMed Central

Shirzadi, Seyed Majid; Raeissi, Pouran; Nasiripour, Amir Ashkan; Tabibi, Seyed Jamaleddin

2016-01-01

Background: The hospitality design of a hospital is a complex process that depends on careful planning, systematic thinking, and consideration of various factors. This study aimed to determine the viewpoints of patients and their relatives on factors affecting hospital hotel services in Iran in 2015. The results of this study can be used to design a suitable model for the assessment and improvement of hospitality service quality. Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional descriptive study, 10 hospitals of Iran were included. The subjects of the study included 480 patients and their companions from different internal and surgical wards. Simple random sampling method was performed at the hospitals, where patients were selected through stratified sampling based on hospital wards, and in each ward, through systematic sampling based on the bed numbers. A researcher-made questionnaire was used as the study tool which was developed through reviewing the literature and opinions of experts. Its internal reliability was determined based on Cronbach's alpha coefficient (α =0.85). Results: In reviewing the eleven aspects of hospital hotel services regarding the patients’ and their companions’ viewpoint, services related to all aspects, whether human, economic, operational, personnel identification, safety, health care services, physical, clinical welfare, cultural, patient guidance, or public welfare services, received mean scores of higher than three (out of five). Conclusion: The present study showed that in the patients’ and their companions’ viewpoint, factors affecting hospital hotel services in the country are very important. The tool used in this study can be a criterion for assessing the status of the hotel services of the country's major hospitals, so accordingly, the assessment and improvement of the existing conditions can be possible. PMID:27904592

Identification of the infectious source of an unusual outbreak of histoplasmosis, in a hotel in Acapulco, state of Guerrero, Mexico.

PubMed

Taylor, Maria Lucia; Ruíz-Palacios, Guillermo M; del Rocío Reyes-Montes, María; Rodríguez-Arellanes, Gabriela; Carreto-Binaghi, Laura E; Duarte-Escalante, Esperanza; Hernández-Ramírez, Aurora; Pérez, Armando; Suárez-Alvarez, Roberto O; Roldán-Aragón, Yuri A; Romero-Martínez, Rafael; Sahaza-Cardona, Jorge H; Sifuentes-Osornio, José; Soto-Ramírez, Luis E; Peña-Sandoval, Gabriela R

2005-09-01

Three isolates of Histoplasma capsulatum were identified from mice lung, liver, and spleen inoculated with soil samples of the X hotel's ornamental potted plants that had been fertilized with organic material known as compost. The presence of H. capsulatum in the original compost was detected using the dot-enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Nested-PCR, using a specific protein Hcp100 coding gene sequence, confirmed the fungal identification associated with an unusual histoplasmosis outbreak in Acapulco. Although, diversity between the H. capsulatum isolate from the hotel and some clinical isolates from Guerrero (positive controls) was observed using random amplification of polymorphic DNA based-PCR, sequence analyses of H-anti and ole fragment genes revealed a high homology (92-99%) between them.

Cost effective solar hot water system for Econo-Travel Motor Hotel located at Bluefield, West Virginia. Final report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

1979-07-01

The final report of a cost effective solar hot water heating system installed on the Econo-Travel Motor Hotel at 3400 Cumberland Road, Bluefield, West Virginia. The description of the system along with the final breakdown performance data and payback time are given. The payback time for the installed system will be approximately five (5) years instead of the 7.73 years estimated for the proposal. The additional savings is due to the reduction in the peak demand charge since the electric hot water heaters are not required to operate at the same time each morning as the dryers used for themore » laundry. The success of the system will be determined by the reduction in the utility cost and reduced use of our fossil fuels. The results shown in the hotel's monthly electricity bills indicate that this goal has been accomplished.« less

Smart internet search engine through 6W

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goehler, Stephen; Cader, Masud; Szu, Harold

2006-04-01

Current Internet search engine technology is limited in its ability to display necessary relevant information to the user. Yahoo, Google and Microsoft use lookup tables or indexes which limits the ability of users to find their desired information. While these companies have improved their results over the years by enhancing their existing technology and algorithms with specialized heuristics such as PageRank, there is a need for a next generation smart search engine that can effectively interpret the relevance of user searches and provide the actual information requested. This paper explores whether a smarter Internet search engine can effectively fulfill a user's needs through the use of 6W representations.

Evaluating the Service Quality of the Hotel Establishments in Sports Tourism with Regard to the Athletes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Osmanoglu, Hasan; Üzüm, Hanifi

2018-01-01

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the service quality of the hotels which are provided sport tourism by athletes according to some variables. The research was conducted with cross-sectional research method as one of the general survey models and relational screening model. Target group of the study also constituted the sample group. This…

Gist in time: scene semantics and structure enhance recall of searched objects

PubMed Central

Wolfe, Jeremy M.; Võ, Melissa L.-H.

2016-01-01

Previous work has shown that recall of objects that are incidentally encountered as targets in visual search is better than recall of objects that have been intentionally memorized (Draschkow, Wolfe & Võ, 2014). However, this counter-intuitive result is not seen when these tasks are performed with non-scene stimuli. The goal of the current paper is to determine what features of search in a scene contribute to higher recall rates when compared to a memorization task. In each of four experiments, we compare the free recall rate for target objects following a search to the rate following a memorization task. Across the experiments, the stimuli include progressively more scene-related information. Experiment 1 provides the spatial relations between objects. Experiment 2 adds relative size and depth of objects. Experiments 3 and 4 include scene layout and semantic information. We find that search leads to better recall than explicit memorization in cases where scene layout and semantic information are present, as long as the participant has ample time (2500ms) to integrate this information with knowledge about the target object (Exp. 4). These results suggest that the integration of scene and target information not only leads to more efficient search, but can also contribute to stronger memory representations than intentional memorization. PMID:27270227

"You Want Your Guests to Be Happy in This Business": Hoteliers' Decisions to Adopt Voluntary Smoke-Free Guest-Room Policies.

PubMed

McDaniel, Patricia A; Malone, Ruth E

2018-01-01

To explore why some hotels have implemented 100% smoke-free policies voluntarily, the perceived consequences of doing so, and media responses. Qualitative study of hotel management and quantitative content analysis of media coverage of smoke-free hotels. Hotels and media based in the United States. Eleven representatives of 5 independent and 4 chain hotels. Other data included 265 news items about smoke-free hotels. We conducted 30-minute semi-structured interviews with hotel representatives and analyzed the data using qualitative content analysis. We also searched 3 online news databases for news items about hotels in our study, and collaboratively coded retrieved items; we analyzed the content and slant of news items. Business considerations, including guest requests, competitor action, and cost savings, were the primary motivations for implementing 100% smoke-free guest-room policies. Health concerns played a minimal role. Hotels received positive feedback from customers and employees. Media coverage was favorable, emphasizing positive aspects of going smoke-free; the overall slant of news items was positive or neutral. However, few hotels marketed the change. Since hotel customers and employees are likely to experience long periods of smoke exposure and smoke-free hotels appear to be so well received, it may be timely to pursue policies making all hotels smoke-free.

Visual search guidance is best after a short delay

PubMed Central

Schmidt, Joseph; Zelinsky, Gregory J.

2011-01-01

Search displays are typically presented immediately after a target cue, but in the real-world, delays often exist between target designation and search. Experiments 1 and 2 asked how search guidance changes with delay. Targets were cued using a picture or text label, each for 3000ms, followed by a delay up to 9000ms before the search display. Search stimuli were realistic objects, and guidance was quantified using multiple eye movement measures. Text-based cues showed a non-significant trend towards greater guidance following any delay relative to a no-delay condition. However, guidance from a pictorial cue increased sharply 300–600 msec after preview offset. Experiment 3 replicated this guidance enhancement using shorter preview durations while equating the time from cue onset to search onset, demonstrating that the guidance benefit is linked to preview offset rather than a more complete encoding of the target. Experiment 4 showed that enhanced guidance persists even with a mask flashed at preview offset, suggesting an explanation other than visual priming. We interpret our findings as evidence for the rapid consolidation of target information into a guiding representation, which attains its maximum effectiveness shortly after preview offset. PMID:21295053

[High time for a total ban on smoking in the hotel, restaurant and catering industry: the arguments are mounting].

PubMed

Hassink, R J; Franke, L J A

2007-02-24

Active and passive smoking are well-known causes of disease, including respiratory and cardiovascular disease and cancer. In 2004 the Dutch government introduced new legislation to regulate smoking in the workplace. However, smoking is still allowed in hotels, bars and restaurants, despite the fact that two-thirds of the Dutch population support a total ban on smoking in public places. Several other European countries and American states have banned smoking in public places. Studies performed in these regions show that the new smoking regulations have had no negative economic effects. Moreover, various studies have shown that smoking bans have a positive impact on public health, even in the short-term, including a significant decrease in respiratory and cardiovascular disease. There is therefore no reason to continue to exclude hotels, bars and restaurants from the smoking ban in all public places in The Netherlands.

Flexible patient information search and retrieval framework: pilot implementation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Erdal, Selnur; Catalyurek, Umit V.; Saltz, Joel; Kamal, Jyoti; Gurcan, Metin N.

2007-03-01

Medical centers collect and store significant amount of valuable data pertaining to patients' visit in the form of medical free-text. In addition, standardized diagnosis codes (International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification: ICD9-CM) related to those dictated reports are usually available. In this work, we have created a framework where image searches could be initiated through a combination of free-text reports as well as ICD9 codes. This framework enables more comprehensive search on existing large sets of patient data in a systematic way. The free text search is enriched by computer-aided inclusion of additional search terms enhanced by a thesaurus. This combination of enriched search allows users to access to a larger set of relevant results from a patient-centric PACS in a simpler way. Therefore, such framework is of particular use in tasks such as gathering images for desired patient populations, building disease models, and so on. As the motivating application of our framework, we implemented a search engine. This search engine processed two years of patient data from the OSU Medical Center's Information Warehouse and identified lung nodule location information using a combination of UMLS Meta-Thesaurus enhanced text report searches along with ICD9 code searches on patients that have been discharged. Five different queries with various ICD9 codes involving lung cancer were carried out on 172552 cases. Each search was completed under a minute on average per ICD9 code and the inclusion of UMLS thesaurus increased the number of relevant cases by 45% on average.

Gist in time: Scene semantics and structure enhance recall of searched objects.

PubMed

Josephs, Emilie L; Draschkow, Dejan; Wolfe, Jeremy M; Võ, Melissa L-H

2016-09-01

Previous work has shown that recall of objects that are incidentally encountered as targets in visual search is better than recall of objects that have been intentionally memorized (Draschkow, Wolfe, & Võ, 2014). However, this counter-intuitive result is not seen when these tasks are performed with non-scene stimuli. The goal of the current paper is to determine what features of search in a scene contribute to higher recall rates when compared to a memorization task. In each of four experiments, we compare the free recall rate for target objects following a search to the rate following a memorization task. Across the experiments, the stimuli include progressively more scene-related information. Experiment 1 provides the spatial relations between objects. Experiment 2 adds relative size and depth of objects. Experiments 3 and 4 include scene layout and semantic information. We find that search leads to better recall than explicit memorization in cases where scene layout and semantic information are present, as long as the participant has ample time (2500ms) to integrate this information with knowledge about the target object (Exp. 4). These results suggest that the integration of scene and target information not only leads to more efficient search, but can also contribute to stronger memory representations than intentional memorization. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Characteristic sounds facilitate visual search.

PubMed

Iordanescu, Lucica; Guzman-Martinez, Emmanuel; Grabowecky, Marcia; Suzuki, Satoru

2008-06-01

In a natural environment, objects that we look for often make characteristic sounds. A hiding cat may meow, or the keys in the cluttered drawer may jingle when moved. Using a visual search paradigm, we demonstrated that characteristic sounds facilitated visual localization of objects, even when the sounds carried no location information. For example, finding a cat was faster when participants heard a meow sound. In contrast, sounds had no effect when participants searched for names rather than pictures of objects. For example, hearing "meow" did not facilitate localization of the word cat. These results suggest that characteristic sounds cross-modally enhance visual (rather than conceptual) processing of the corresponding objects. Our behavioral demonstration of object-based cross-modal enhancement complements the extensive literature on space-based cross-modal interactions. When looking for your keys next time, you might want to play jingling sounds.

Characteristic sounds facilitate visual search

PubMed Central

Iordanescu, Lucica; Guzman-Martinez, Emmanuel; Grabowecky, Marcia; Suzuki, Satoru

2009-01-01

In a natural environment, objects that we look for often make characteristic sounds. A hiding cat may meow, or the keys in the cluttered drawer may jingle when moved. Using a visual search paradigm, we demonstrated that characteristic sounds facilitated visual localization of objects, even when the sounds carried no location information. For example, finding a cat was faster when participants heard a meow sound. In contrast, sounds had no effect when participants searched for names rather than pictures of objects. For example, hearing “meow” did not facilitate localization of the word cat. These results suggest that characteristic sounds cross-modally enhance visual (rather than conceptual) processing of the corresponding objects. Our behavioral demonstration of object-based cross-modal enhancement complements the extensive literature on space-based cross-modal interactions. When looking for your keys next time, you might want to play jingling sounds. PMID:18567253

Examining the themes of STD-related Internet searches to increase specificity of disease forecasting using Internet search terms.

PubMed

Johnson, Amy K; Mikati, Tarek; Mehta, Supriya D

2016-11-09

US surveillance of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) is often delayed and incomplete which creates missed opportunities to identify and respond to trends in disease. Internet search engine data has the potential to be an efficient, economical and representative enhancement to the established surveillance system. Google Trends allows the download of de-identified search engine data, which has been used to demonstrate the positive and statistically significant association between STD-related search terms and STD rates. In this study, search engine user content was identified by surveying specific exposure groups of individuals (STD clinic patients and university students) aged 18-35. Participants were asked to list the terms they use to search for STD-related information. Google Correlate was used to validate search term content. On average STD clinic participant queries were longer compared to student queries. STD clinic participants were more likely to report using search terms that were related to symptomatology such as describing symptoms of STDs, while students were more likely to report searching for general information. These differences in search terms by subpopulation have implications for STD surveillance in populations at most risk for disease acquisition.

Enhancing search efficiency by means of a search filter for finding all studies on animal experimentation in PubMed

PubMed Central

Hooijmans, Carlijn R; Tillema, Alice; Leenaars, Marlies; Ritskes-Hoitinga, Merel

2010-01-01

Collecting and analysing all available literature before starting an animal experiment is important and it is indispensable when writing a systematic review (SR) of animal research. Writing such review prevents unnecessary duplication of animal studies and thus unnecessary animal use (Reduction). One of the factors currently impeding the production of ‘high-quality’ SRs in laboratory animal science is the fact that searching for all available literature concerning animal experimentation is rather difficult. In order to diminish these difficulties, we developed a search filter for PubMed to detect all publications concerning animal studies. This filter was compared with the method most frequently used, the PubMed Limit: Animals, and validated further by performing two PubMed topic searches. Our filter performs much better than the PubMed limit: it retrieves, on average, 7% more records. Other important advantages of our filter are that it also finds the most recent records and that it is easy to use. All in all, by using our search filter in PubMed, all available literature concerning animal studies on a specific topic can easily be found and assessed, which will help in increasing the scientific quality and thereby the ethical validity of animal experiments. PMID:20551243

Enhancing search efficiency by means of a search filter for finding all studies on animal experimentation in PubMed.

PubMed

Hooijmans, Carlijn R; Tillema, Alice; Leenaars, Marlies; Ritskes-Hoitinga, Merel

2010-07-01

Collecting and analysing all available literature before starting an animal experiment is important and it is indispensable when writing a systematic review (SR) of animal research. Writing such review prevents unnecessary duplication of animal studies and thus unnecessary animal use (Reduction). One of the factors currently impeding the production of 'high-quality' SRs in laboratory animal science is the fact that searching for all available literature concerning animal experimentation is rather difficult. In order to diminish these difficulties, we developed a search filter for PubMed to detect all publications concerning animal studies. This filter was compared with the method most frequently used, the PubMed Limit: Animals, and validated further by performing two PubMed topic searches. Our filter performs much better than the PubMed limit: it retrieves, on average, 7% more records. Other important advantages of our filter are that it also finds the most recent records and that it is easy to use. All in all, by using our search filter in PubMed, all available literature concerning animal studies on a specific topic can easily be found and assessed, which will help in increasing the scientific quality and thereby the ethical validity of animal experiments.

A food-borne outbreak of cryptosporidiosis among guests and staff at a hotel restaurant in Stockholm county, Sweden, September 2008.

PubMed

Insulander, M; de Jong, B; Svenungsson, B

2008-12-18

In September 2008, 21 cases of cryptosporidiosis occurred among guests and staff at a wedding reception in a hotel restaurant in Stockholm county, Sweden. The most probable source of the outbreak was bearnaise sauce containing chopped fresh parsley.

Visual search guidance is best after a short delay.

PubMed

Schmidt, Joseph; Zelinsky, Gregory J

2011-03-25

Search displays are typically presented immediately after a target cue, but in the real-world, delays often exist between target designation and search. Experiments 1 and 2 asked how search guidance changes with delay. Targets were cued using a picture or text label, each for 3000ms, followed by a delay up to 9000ms before the search display. Search stimuli were realistic objects, and guidance was quantified using multiple eye movement measures. Text-based cues showed a non-significant trend towards greater guidance following any delay relative to a no-delay condition. However, guidance from a pictorial cue increased sharply 300-600ms after preview offset. Experiment 3 replicated this guidance enhancement using shorter preview durations while equating the time from cue onset to search onset, demonstrating that the guidance benefit is linked to preview offset rather than a more complete encoding of the target. Experiment 4 showed that enhanced guidance persists even with a mask flashed at preview offset, suggesting an explanation other than visual priming. We interpret our findings as evidence for the rapid consolidation of target information into a guiding representation, which attains its maximum effectiveness shortly after preview offset. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Enhancing Visual Search Abilities of People with Intellectual Disabilities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Li-Tsang, Cecilia W. P.; Wong, Jackson K. K.

2009-01-01

This study aimed to evaluate the effects of cueing in visual search paradigm for people with and without intellectual disabilities (ID). A total of 36 subjects (18 persons with ID and 18 persons with normal intelligence) were recruited using convenient sampling method. A series of experiments were conducted to compare guided cue strategies using…

A Dynamic Intrusion Detection System Based on Multivariate Hotelling's T2 Statistics Approach for Network Environments

PubMed Central

Avalappampatty Sivasamy, Aneetha; Sundan, Bose

2015-01-01

The ever expanding communication requirements in today's world demand extensive and efficient network systems with equally efficient and reliable security features integrated for safe, confident, and secured communication and data transfer. Providing effective security protocols for any network environment, therefore, assumes paramount importance. Attempts are made continuously for designing more efficient and dynamic network intrusion detection models. In this work, an approach based on Hotelling's T2 method, a multivariate statistical analysis technique, has been employed for intrusion detection, especially in network environments. Components such as preprocessing, multivariate statistical analysis, and attack detection have been incorporated in developing the multivariate Hotelling's T2 statistical model and necessary profiles have been generated based on the T-square distance metrics. With a threshold range obtained using the central limit theorem, observed traffic profiles have been classified either as normal or attack types. Performance of the model, as evaluated through validation and testing using KDD Cup'99 dataset, has shown very high detection rates for all classes with low false alarm rates. Accuracy of the model presented in this work, in comparison with the existing models, has been found to be much better. PMID:26357668

A Dynamic Intrusion Detection System Based on Multivariate Hotelling's T2 Statistics Approach for Network Environments.

PubMed

Sivasamy, Aneetha Avalappampatty; Sundan, Bose

2015-01-01

The ever expanding communication requirements in today's world demand extensive and efficient network systems with equally efficient and reliable security features integrated for safe, confident, and secured communication and data transfer. Providing effective security protocols for any network environment, therefore, assumes paramount importance. Attempts are made continuously for designing more efficient and dynamic network intrusion detection models. In this work, an approach based on Hotelling's T(2) method, a multivariate statistical analysis technique, has been employed for intrusion detection, especially in network environments. Components such as preprocessing, multivariate statistical analysis, and attack detection have been incorporated in developing the multivariate Hotelling's T(2) statistical model and necessary profiles have been generated based on the T-square distance metrics. With a threshold range obtained using the central limit theorem, observed traffic profiles have been classified either as normal or attack types. Performance of the model, as evaluated through validation and testing using KDD Cup'99 dataset, has shown very high detection rates for all classes with low false alarm rates. Accuracy of the model presented in this work, in comparison with the existing models, has been found to be much better.

The Lodging Industry's Image; How the Adults and Teenagers View Hotels and Motels as Employers and Overall.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Opinion Research Corp., Princeton, NJ.

The objective of this study was to obtain an overall evaluation of hotels and motels with specific emphasis on the industry's image as an employer among the general public. Findings are based on a personal interview research survey conducted among 994 men and women 18 years of age and over, and among 622 teenagers living in private households in…

When Gravity Fails: Local Search Topology

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Frank, Jeremy; Cheeseman, Peter; Stutz, John; Lau, Sonie (Technical Monitor)

1997-01-01

Local search algorithms for combinatorial search problems frequently encounter a sequence of states in which it is impossible to improve the value of the objective function; moves through these regions, called {\\em plateau moves), dominate the time spent in local search. We analyze and characterize {\\em plateaus) for three different classes of randomly generated Boolean Satisfiability problems. We identify several interesting features of plateaus that impact the performance of local search algorithms. We show that local minima tend to be small but occasionally may be very large. We also show that local minima can be escaped without unsatisfying a large number of clauses, but that systematically searching for an escape route may be computationally expensive if the local minimum is large. We show that plateaus with exits, called benches, tend to be much larger than minima, and that some benches have very few exit states which local search can use to escape. We show that the solutions (i.e. global minima) of randomly generated problem instances form clusters, which behave similarly to local minima. We revisit several enhancements of local search algorithms and explain their performance in light of our results. Finally we discuss strategies for creating the next generation of local search algorithms.

Landscape Encodings Enhance Optimization

PubMed Central

Klemm, Konstantin; Mehta, Anita; Stadler, Peter F.

2012-01-01

Hard combinatorial optimization problems deal with the search for the minimum cost solutions (ground states) of discrete systems under strong constraints. A transformation of state variables may enhance computational tractability. It has been argued that these state encodings are to be chosen invertible to retain the original size of the state space. Here we show how redundant non-invertible encodings enhance optimization by enriching the density of low-energy states. In addition, smooth landscapes may be established on encoded state spaces to guide local search dynamics towards the ground state. PMID:22496860

Why Is Visual Search Superior in Autism Spectrum Disorder?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Joseph, Robert M.; Keehn, Brandon; Connolly, Christine; Wolfe, Jeremy M.; Horowitz, Todd S.

2009-01-01

This study investigated the possibility that enhanced memory for rejected distractor locations underlies the superior visual search skills exhibited by individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). We compared the performance of 21 children with ASD and 21 age- and IQ-matched typically developing (TD) children in a standard static search task…

Utilization of a radiology-centric search engine.

PubMed

Sharpe, Richard E; Sharpe, Megan; Siegel, Eliot; Siddiqui, Khan

2010-04-01

Internet-based search engines have become a significant component of medical practice. Physicians increasingly rely on information available from search engines as a means to improve patient care, provide better education, and enhance research. Specialized search engines have emerged to more efficiently meet the needs of physicians. Details about the ways in which radiologists utilize search engines have not been documented. The authors categorized every 25th search query in a radiology-centric vertical search engine by radiologic subspecialty, imaging modality, geographic location of access, time of day, use of abbreviations, misspellings, and search language. Musculoskeletal and neurologic imagings were the most frequently searched subspecialties. The least frequently searched were breast imaging, pediatric imaging, and nuclear medicine. Magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography were the most frequently searched modalities. A majority of searches were initiated in North America, but all continents were represented. Searches occurred 24 h/day in converted local times, with a majority occurring during the normal business day. Misspellings and abbreviations were common. Almost all searches were performed in English. Search engine utilization trends are likely to mirror trends in diagnostic imaging in the region from which searches originate. Internet searching appears to function as a real-time clinical decision-making tool, a research tool, and an educational resource. A more thorough understanding of search utilization patterns can be obtained by analyzing phrases as actually entered as well as the geographic location and time of origination. This knowledge may contribute to the development of more efficient and personalized search engines.

Design and Empirical Evaluation of Search Software for Legal Professionals on the WWW.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dempsey, Bert J.; Vreeland, Robert C.; Sumner, Robert G., Jr.; Yang, Kiduk

2000-01-01

Discussion of effective search aids for legal researchers on the World Wide Web focuses on the design and evaluation of two software systems developed to explore models for browsing and searching across a user-selected set of Web sites. Describes crawler-enhanced search engines, filters, distributed full-text searching, and natural language…

Enhanced identification of eligibility for depression research using an electronic medical record search engine.

PubMed

Seyfried, Lisa; Hanauer, David A; Nease, Donald; Albeiruti, Rashad; Kavanagh, Janet; Kales, Helen C

2009-12-01

Electronic medical records (EMRs) have become part of daily practice for many physicians. Attempts have been made to apply electronic search engine technology to speed EMR review. This was a prospective, observational study to compare the speed and clinical accuracy of a medical record search engine vs. manual review of the EMR. Three raters reviewed 49 cases in the EMR to screen for eligibility in a depression study using the electronic medical record search engine (EMERSE). One week later raters received a scrambled set of the same patients including 9 distractor cases, and used manual EMR review to determine eligibility. For both methods, accuracy was assessed for the original 49 cases by comparison with a gold standard rater. Use of EMERSE resulted in considerable time savings; chart reviews using EMERSE were significantly faster than traditional manual review (p=0.03). The percent agreement of raters with the gold standard (e.g. concurrent validity) using either EMERSE or manual review was not significantly different. Using a search engine optimized for finding clinical information in the free-text sections of the EMR can provide significant time savings while preserving clinical accuracy. The major power of this search engine is not from a more advanced and sophisticated search algorithm, but rather from a user interface designed explicitly to help users search the entire medical record in a way that protects health information.

Enhanced Identification of Eligibility for Depression Research Using an Electronic Medical Record Search Engine

PubMed Central

Seyfried, Lisa; Hanauer, David; Nease, Donald; Albeiruti, Rashad; Kavanagh, Janet; Kales, Helen C.

2009-01-01

Purpose Electronic medical records (EMR) have become part of daily practice for many physicians. Attempts have been made to apply electronic search engine technology to speed EMR review. This was a prospective, observational study to compare the speed and accuracy of electronic search engine vs. manual review of the EMR. Methods Three raters reviewed 49 cases in the EMR to screen for eligibility in a depression study using the electronic search engine (EMERSE). One week later raters received a scrambled set of the same patients including 9 distractor cases, and used manual EMR review to determine eligibility. For both methods, accuracy was assessed for the original 49 cases by comparison with a gold standard rater. Results Use of EMERSE resulted in considerable time savings; chart reviews using EMERSE were significantly faster than traditional manual review (p=0.03). The percent agreement of raters with the gold standard (e.g. concurrent validity) using either EMERSE or manual review was not significantly different. Conclusions Using a search engine optimized for finding clinical information in the free-text sections of the EMR can provide significant time savings while preserving reliability. The major power of this search engine is not from a more advanced and sophisticated search algorithm, but rather from a user interface designed explicitly to help users search the entire medical record in a way that protects health information. PMID:19560962

Changes in search rate but not in the dynamics of exogenous attention in action videogame players.

PubMed

Hubert-Wallander, Bjorn; Green, C Shawn; Sugarman, Michael; Bavelier, Daphne

2011-11-01

Many previous studies have shown that the speed of processing in attentionally demanding tasks seems enhanced following habitual action videogame play. However, using one of the diagnostic tasks for efficiency of attentional processing, a visual search task, Castel and collaborators (Castel, Pratt, & Drummond, Acta Psychologica 119:217-230, 2005) reported no difference in visual search rates, instead proposing that action gaming may change response execution time rather than the efficiency of visual selective attention per se. Here we used two hard visual search tasks, one measuring reaction time and the other accuracy, to test whether visual search rate may be changed by action videogame play. We found greater search rates in the gamer group than in the nongamer controls, consistent with increased efficiency in visual selective attention. We then asked how general the change in attentional throughput noted so far in gamers might be by testing whether exogenous attentional cues would lead to a disproportional enhancement in throughput in gamers as compared to nongamers. Interestingly, exogenous cues were found to enhance throughput equivalently between gamers and nongamers, suggesting that not all mechanisms known to enhance throughput are similarly enhanced in action videogamers.

A Search for Nitrogen-enhanced Metal-poor Stars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Johnson, Jennifer A.; Herwig, Falk; Beers, Timothy C.; Christlieb, Norbert

2007-04-01

Theoretical models of very metal-poor intermediate-mass asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars predict a large overabundance of primary nitrogen. The very metal-poor, carbon-enhanced, s-process-rich stars, which are thought to be the polluted companions of now extinct AGB stars, provide direct tests of the predictions of these models. Recent studies of the carbon and nitrogen abundances in metal-poor stars have focused on the most carbon-rich stars, leading to a potential selection bias against stars that have been polluted by AGB stars that produced large amounts of nitrogen and hence have small [C/N] ratios. We call these stars nitrogen-enhanced metal-poor (NEMP) stars and define them as having [N/Fe]>+0.5 and [C/N]<-0.5. In this paper we report on the [C/N] abundances of a sample of 21 carbon-enhanced stars, all but three of which have [C/Fe]<+2.0. If NEMP stars were made as easily as carbon-enhanced metal-poor (CEMP) stars, then we expected to find between two and seven NEMP stars. Instead, we found no NEMP stars in our sample. Therefore, this observational bias is not an important contributor to the apparent dearth of N-rich stars. Our [C/N] values are in the same range as values reported previously in the literature (-0.5 to +2.0), and all stars are in disagreement with the predicted [C/N] ratios for both low- and high-mass AGB stars. We suggest that the decrease in [C/N] from the low-mass AGB models is due to enhanced extramixing, while the lack of NEMP stars may be caused by unfavorable mass ratios in binaries or the difficulty of mass transfer in binary systems with large mass ratios. Based on observations obtained at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory and Kitt Peak National Observatory, a division of the National Optical Astronomy Observatory, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation.

A hotel-based outbreak of Salmonella enterica subsp. Enterica serovar Enteritidis (Salmonella Enteritidis) in the United Kingdom, 2006.

PubMed

Calvert, N; Murphy, L; Smith, A; Copeland, D

2007-03-01

An outbreak of food-borne Salmonella Enteritidis PT4 occurred in Cumbria, in north-west England, in the summer of 2006. Fifteen people, all with positive stool samples, met the case definition; three of these were admitted to hospital, including one patient who died. Preliminary investigations suggested a link to a meal served at a local hotel. A case control study was implemented, together with microbiological and environmental investigations. Fifteen microbiologically confirmed cases and 27 unmatched controls were included in the study, controls being randomly selected from people who had eaten at the hotel on the same day. The epidemiological evidence indicated a very strong association between infection and consumption of tiramisu made with raw shell eggs, although none were available for microbiological investigation. These results are in line with other salmonellosis outbreaks that have been associated with the use of raw shell eggs in food manufacturing and production. This paper highlights the continuing need for a greater awareness by those who work in the food industry of the health risks associated with the consumption of raw shell eggs.

Visual performance-based image enhancement methodology: an investigation of contrast enhancement algorithms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Neriani, Kelly E.; Herbranson, Travis J.; Reis, George A.; Pinkus, Alan R.; Goodyear, Charles D.

2006-05-01

While vast numbers of image enhancing algorithms have already been developed, the majority of these algorithms have not been assessed in terms of their visual performance-enhancing effects using militarily relevant scenarios. The goal of this research was to apply a visual performance-based assessment methodology to evaluate six algorithms that were specifically designed to enhance the contrast of digital images. The image enhancing algorithms used in this study included three different histogram equalization algorithms, the Autolevels function, the Recursive Rational Filter technique described in Marsi, Ramponi, and Carrato1 and the multiscale Retinex algorithm described in Rahman, Jobson and Woodell2. The methodology used in the assessment has been developed to acquire objective human visual performance data as a means of evaluating the contrast enhancement algorithms. Objective performance metrics, response time and error rate, were used to compare algorithm enhanced images versus two baseline conditions, original non-enhanced images and contrast-degraded images. Observers completed a visual search task using a spatial-forcedchoice paradigm. Observers searched images for a target (a military vehicle) hidden among foliage and then indicated in which quadrant of the screen the target was located. Response time and percent correct were measured for each observer. Results of the study and future directions are discussed.

BIOMedical Search Engine Framework: Lightweight and customized implementation of domain-specific biomedical search engines.

PubMed

Jácome, Alberto G; Fdez-Riverola, Florentino; Lourenço, Anália

2016-07-01

Text mining and semantic analysis approaches can be applied to the construction of biomedical domain-specific search engines and provide an attractive alternative to create personalized and enhanced search experiences. Therefore, this work introduces the new open-source BIOMedical Search Engine Framework for the fast and lightweight development of domain-specific search engines. The rationale behind this framework is to incorporate core features typically available in search engine frameworks with flexible and extensible technologies to retrieve biomedical documents, annotate meaningful domain concepts, and develop highly customized Web search interfaces. The BIOMedical Search Engine Framework integrates taggers for major biomedical concepts, such as diseases, drugs, genes, proteins, compounds and organisms, and enables the use of domain-specific controlled vocabulary. Technologies from the Typesafe Reactive Platform, the AngularJS JavaScript framework and the Bootstrap HTML/CSS framework support the customization of the domain-oriented search application. Moreover, the RESTful API of the BIOMedical Search Engine Framework allows the integration of the search engine into existing systems or a complete web interface personalization. The construction of the Smart Drug Search is described as proof-of-concept of the BIOMedical Search Engine Framework. This public search engine catalogs scientific literature about antimicrobial resistance, microbial virulence and topics alike. The keyword-based queries of the users are transformed into concepts and search results are presented and ranked accordingly. The semantic graph view portraits all the concepts found in the results, and the researcher may look into the relevance of different concepts, the strength of direct relations, and non-trivial, indirect relations. The number of occurrences of the concept shows its importance to the query, and the frequency of concept co-occurrence is indicative of biological relations

Stochastic Leader Gravitational Search Algorithm for Enhanced Adaptive Beamforming Technique

PubMed Central

Darzi, Soodabeh; Islam, Mohammad Tariqul; Tiong, Sieh Kiong; Kibria, Salehin; Singh, Mandeep

2015-01-01

In this paper, stochastic leader gravitational search algorithm (SL-GSA) based on randomized k is proposed. Standard GSA (SGSA) utilizes the best agents without any randomization, thus it is more prone to converge at suboptimal results. Initially, the new approach randomly choses k agents from the set of all agents to improve the global search ability. Gradually, the set of agents is reduced by eliminating the agents with the poorest performances to allow rapid convergence. The performance of the SL-GSA was analyzed for six well-known benchmark functions, and the results are compared with SGSA and some of its variants. Furthermore, the SL-GSA is applied to minimum variance distortionless response (MVDR) beamforming technique to ensure compatibility with real world optimization problems. The proposed algorithm demonstrates superior convergence rate and quality of solution for both real world problems and benchmark functions compared to original algorithm and other recent variants of SGSA. PMID:26552032

Covariance approximation for fast and accurate computation of channelized Hotelling observer statistics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bonetto, P.; Qi, Jinyi; Leahy, R. M.

2000-08-01

Describes a method for computing linear observer statistics for maximum a posteriori (MAP) reconstructions of PET images. The method is based on a theoretical approximation for the mean and covariance of MAP reconstructions. In particular, the authors derive here a closed form for the channelized Hotelling observer (CHO) statistic applied to 2D MAP images. The theoretical analysis models both the Poission statistics of PET data and the inhomogeneity of tracer uptake. The authors show reasonably good correspondence between these theoretical results and Monte Carlo studies. The accuracy and low computational cost of the approximation allow the authors to analyze the observer performance over a wide range of operating conditions and parameter settings for the MAP reconstruction algorithm.

Optimizing event selection with the random grid search

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bhat, Pushpalatha C.; Prosper, Harrison B.; Sekmen, Sezen; Stewart, Chip

2018-07-01

The random grid search (RGS) is a simple, but efficient, stochastic algorithm to find optimal cuts that was developed in the context of the search for the top quark at Fermilab in the mid-1990s. The algorithm, and associated code, have been enhanced recently with the introduction of two new cut types, one of which has been successfully used in searches for supersymmetry at the Large Hadron Collider. The RGS optimization algorithm is described along with the recent developments, which are illustrated with two examples from particle physics. One explores the optimization of the selection of vector boson fusion events in the four-lepton decay mode of the Higgs boson and the other optimizes SUSY searches using boosted objects and the razor variables.

Tuberculosis screening among homeless persons with AIDS living in single-room-occupancy hotels.

PubMed

Layton, M C; Cantwell, M F; Dorsinville, G J; Valway, S E; Onorato, I M; Frieden, T R

1995-11-01

Congregate facilities for homeless persons with the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) are often endemic for tuberculosis. We evaluated tuberculosis screening methods at single-room-occupancy hotels housing persons with AIDS. Residents were screened by cross matching the New York City Tuberculosis Registry, interviewing for tuberculosis history, skin testing, and chest radiography. Cases were classified as either previously or newly diagnosed. Among the 106 participants, 16 (15%) previously diagnosed tuberculosis cases were identified. Participants' tuberculosis histories were identified by the questionnaire (100%) or by registry match (69%). Eight participants (50%) were noncompliant with therapy. These findings prompted the establishment of a directly observed therapy program on site.

Tuberculosis screening among homeless persons with AIDS living in single-room-occupancy hotels.

PubMed Central

Layton, M C; Cantwell, M F; Dorsinville, G J; Valway, S E; Onorato, I M; Frieden, T R

1995-01-01

Congregate facilities for homeless persons with the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) are often endemic for tuberculosis. We evaluated tuberculosis screening methods at single-room-occupancy hotels housing persons with AIDS. Residents were screened by cross matching the New York City Tuberculosis Registry, interviewing for tuberculosis history, skin testing, and chest radiography. Cases were classified as either previously or newly diagnosed. Among the 106 participants, 16 (15%) previously diagnosed tuberculosis cases were identified. Participants' tuberculosis histories were identified by the questionnaire (100%) or by registry match (69%). Eight participants (50%) were noncompliant with therapy. These findings prompted the establishment of a directly observed therapy program on site. PMID:7485672

Use of the Hotelling observer to optimize image reconstruction in digital breast tomosynthesis

PubMed Central

Sánchez, Adrian A.; Sidky, Emil Y.; Pan, Xiaochuan

2015-01-01

Abstract. We propose an implementation of the Hotelling observer that can be applied to the optimization of linear image reconstruction algorithms in digital breast tomosynthesis. The method is based on considering information within a specific region of interest, and it is applied to the optimization of algorithms for detectability of microcalcifications. Several linear algorithms are considered: simple back-projection, filtered back-projection, back-projection filtration, and Λ-tomography. The optimized algorithms are then evaluated through the reconstruction of phantom data. The method appears robust across algorithms and parameters and leads to the generation of algorithm implementations which subjectively appear optimized for the task of interest. PMID:26702408

Does conspicuity enhance distraction? Saliency and eye landing position when searching for objects.

PubMed

Foulsham, Tom; Underwood, Geoffrey

2009-06-01

While visual saliency may sometimes capture attention, the guidance of eye movements in search is often dominated by knowledge of the target. How is the search for an object influenced by the saliency of an adjacent distractor? Participants searched for a target amongst an array of objects, with distractor saliency having an effect on response time and on the speed at which targets were found. Saliency did not predict the order in which objects in target-absent trials were fixated. The within-target landing position was distributed around a modal position close to the centre of the object. Saliency did not affect this position, the latency of the initial saccade, or the likelihood of the distractor being fixated, suggesting that saliency affects the allocation of covert attention and not just eye movements.

Combinatorial Fusion Analysis for Meta Search Information Retrieval

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hsu, D. Frank; Taksa, Isak

Leading commercial search engines are built as single event systems. In response to a particular search query, the search engine returns a single list of ranked search results. To find more relevant results the user must frequently try several other search engines. A meta search engine was developed to enhance the process of multi-engine querying. The meta search engine queries several engines at the same time and fuses individual engine results into a single search results list. The fusion of multiple search results has been shown (mostly experimentally) to be highly effective. However, the question of why and how the fusion should be done still remains largely unanswered. In this chapter, we utilize the combinatorial fusion analysis proposed by Hsu et al. to analyze combination and fusion of multiple sources of information. A rank/score function is used in the design and analysis of our framework. The framework provides a better understanding of the fusion phenomenon in information retrieval. For example, to improve the performance of the combined multiple scoring systems, it is necessary that each of the individual scoring systems has relatively high performance and the individual scoring systems are diverse. Additionally, we illustrate various applications of the framework using two examples from the information retrieval domain.

Kernel Method Based Human Model for Enhancing Interactive Evolutionary Optimization

PubMed Central

Zhao, Qiangfu; Liu, Yong

2015-01-01

A fitness landscape presents the relationship between individual and its reproductive success in evolutionary computation (EC). However, discrete and approximate landscape in an original search space may not support enough and accurate information for EC search, especially in interactive EC (IEC). The fitness landscape of human subjective evaluation in IEC is very difficult and impossible to model, even with a hypothesis of what its definition might be. In this paper, we propose a method to establish a human model in projected high dimensional search space by kernel classification for enhancing IEC search. Because bivalent logic is a simplest perceptual paradigm, the human model is established by considering this paradigm principle. In feature space, we design a linear classifier as a human model to obtain user preference knowledge, which cannot be supported linearly in original discrete search space. The human model is established by this method for predicting potential perceptual knowledge of human. With the human model, we design an evolution control method to enhance IEC search. From experimental evaluation results with a pseudo-IEC user, our proposed model and method can enhance IEC search significantly. PMID:25879050

Optimizing event selection with the random grid search

DOE PAGES

Bhat, Pushpalatha C.; Prosper, Harrison B.; Sekmen, Sezen; ...

2018-02-27

In this paper, the random grid search (RGS) is a simple, but efficient, stochastic algorithm to find optimal cuts that was developed in the context of the search for the top quark at Fermilab in the mid-1990s. The algorithm, and associated code, have been enhanced recently with the introduction of two new cut types, one of which has been successfully used in searches for supersymmetry at the Large Hadron Collider. The RGS optimization algorithm is described along with the recent developments, which are illustrated with two examples from particle physics. One explores the optimization of the selection of vector bosonmore » fusion events in the four-lepton decay mode of the Higgs boson and the other optimizes SUSY searches using boosted objects and the razor variables.« less

Optimizing Event Selection with the Random Grid Search

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bhat, Pushpalatha C.; Prosper, Harrison B.; Sekmen, Sezen

2017-06-29

The random grid search (RGS) is a simple, but efficient, stochastic algorithm to find optimal cuts that was developed in the context of the search for the top quark at Fermilab in the mid-1990s. The algorithm, and associated code, have been enhanced recently with the introduction of two new cut types, one of which has been successfully used in searches for supersymmetry at the Large Hadron Collider. The RGS optimization algorithm is described along with the recent developments, which are illustrated with two examples from particle physics. One explores the optimization of the selection of vector boson fusion events inmore » the four-lepton decay mode of the Higgs boson and the other optimizes SUSY searches using boosted objects and the razor variables.« less

Optimizing event selection with the random grid search

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bhat, Pushpalatha C.; Prosper, Harrison B.; Sekmen, Sezen

In this paper, the random grid search (RGS) is a simple, but efficient, stochastic algorithm to find optimal cuts that was developed in the context of the search for the top quark at Fermilab in the mid-1990s. The algorithm, and associated code, have been enhanced recently with the introduction of two new cut types, one of which has been successfully used in searches for supersymmetry at the Large Hadron Collider. The RGS optimization algorithm is described along with the recent developments, which are illustrated with two examples from particle physics. One explores the optimization of the selection of vector bosonmore » fusion events in the four-lepton decay mode of the Higgs boson and the other optimizes SUSY searches using boosted objects and the razor variables.« less

Recent developments in MrBUMP: better search-model preparation, graphical interaction with search models, and solution improvement and assessment.

PubMed

Keegan, Ronan M; McNicholas, Stuart J; Thomas, Jens M H; Simpkin, Adam J; Simkovic, Felix; Uski, Ville; Ballard, Charles C; Winn, Martyn D; Wilson, Keith S; Rigden, Daniel J

2018-03-01

Increasing sophistication in molecular-replacement (MR) software and the rapid expansion of the PDB in recent years have allowed the technique to become the dominant method for determining the phases of a target structure in macromolecular X-ray crystallography. In addition, improvements in bioinformatic techniques for finding suitable homologous structures for use as MR search models, combined with developments in refinement and model-building techniques, have pushed the applicability of MR to lower sequence identities and made weak MR solutions more amenable to refinement and improvement. MrBUMP is a CCP4 pipeline which automates all stages of the MR procedure. Its scope covers everything from the sourcing and preparation of suitable search models right through to rebuilding of the positioned search model. Recent improvements to the pipeline include the adoption of more sensitive bioinformatic tools for sourcing search models, enhanced model-preparation techniques including better ensembling of homologues, and the use of phase improvement and model building on the resulting solution. The pipeline has also been deployed as an online service through CCP4 online, which allows its users to exploit large bioinformatic databases and coarse-grained parallelism to speed up the determination of a possible solution. Finally, the molecular-graphics application CCP4mg has been combined with MrBUMP to provide an interactive visual aid to the user during the process of selecting and manipulating search models for use in MR. Here, these developments in MrBUMP are described with a case study to explore how some of the enhancements to the pipeline and to CCP4mg can help to solve a difficult case.

Recent developments in MrBUMP: better search-model preparation, graphical interaction with search models, and solution improvement and assessment

PubMed Central

Keegan, Ronan M.; McNicholas, Stuart J.; Thomas, Jens M. H.; Simpkin, Adam J.; Uski, Ville; Ballard, Charles C.

2018-01-01

Increasing sophistication in molecular-replacement (MR) software and the rapid expansion of the PDB in recent years have allowed the technique to become the dominant method for determining the phases of a target structure in macromolecular X-ray crystallography. In addition, improvements in bioinformatic techniques for finding suitable homologous structures for use as MR search models, combined with developments in refinement and model-building techniques, have pushed the applicability of MR to lower sequence identities and made weak MR solutions more amenable to refinement and improvement. MrBUMP is a CCP4 pipeline which automates all stages of the MR procedure. Its scope covers everything from the sourcing and preparation of suitable search models right through to rebuilding of the positioned search model. Recent improvements to the pipeline include the adoption of more sensitive bioinformatic tools for sourcing search models, enhanced model-preparation techniques including better ensembling of homologues, and the use of phase improvement and model building on the resulting solution. The pipeline has also been deployed as an online service through CCP4 online, which allows its users to exploit large bioinformatic databases and coarse-grained parallelism to speed up the determination of a possible solution. Finally, the molecular-graphics application CCP4mg has been combined with MrBUMP to provide an interactive visual aid to the user during the process of selecting and manipulating search models for use in MR. Here, these developments in MrBUMP are described with a case study to explore how some of the enhancements to the pipeline and to CCP4mg can help to solve a difficult case. PMID:29533225

Age-related changes in conjunctive visual search in children with and without ASD.

PubMed

Iarocci, Grace; Armstrong, Kimberly

2014-04-01

Visual-spatial strengths observed among people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may be associated with increased efficiency of selective attention mechanisms such as visual search. In a series of studies, researchers examined the visual search of targets that share features with distractors in a visual array and concluded that people with ASD showed enhanced performance on visual search tasks. However, methodological limitations, the small sample sizes, and the lack of developmental analysis have tempered the interpretations of these results. In this study, we specifically addressed age-related changes in visual search. We examined conjunctive visual search in groups of children with (n = 34) and without ASD (n = 35) at 7-9 years of age when visual search performance is beginning to improve, and later, at 10-12 years, when performance has improved. The results were consistent with previous developmental findings; 10- to 12-year-old children were significantly faster visual searchers than their 7- to 9-year-old counterparts. However, we found no evidence of enhanced search performance among the children with ASD at either the younger or older ages. More research is needed to understand the development of visual search in both children with and without ASD. © 2014 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

An advanced search engine for patent analytics in medicinal chemistry.

PubMed

Pasche, Emilie; Gobeill, Julien; Teodoro, Douglas; Gaudinat, Arnaud; Vishnykova, Dina; Lovis, Christian; Ruch, Patrick

2012-01-01

Patent collections contain an important amount of medical-related knowledge, but existing tools were reported to lack of useful functionalities. We present here the development of TWINC, an advanced search engine dedicated to patent retrieval in the domain of health and life sciences. Our tool embeds two search modes: an ad hoc search to retrieve relevant patents given a short query and a related patent search to retrieve similar patents given a patent. Both search modes rely on tuning experiments performed during several patent retrieval competitions. Moreover, TWINC is enhanced with interactive modules, such as chemical query expansion, which is of prior importance to cope with various ways of naming biomedical entities. While the related patent search showed promising performances, the ad-hoc search resulted in fairly contrasted results. Nonetheless, TWINC performed well during the Chemathlon task of the PatOlympics competition and experts appreciated its usability.

Featural Guidance in Conjunction Search: The Contrast between Orientation and Color

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Anderson, Giles M.; Heinke, Dietmar; Humphreys, Glyn W.

2010-01-01

Four experiments examined the effects of precues on visual search for targets defined by a color-orientation conjunction. Experiment 1 showed that cueing the identity of targets enhanced the efficiency of search. Cueing effects were stronger with color than with orientation cues, but this advantage was additive across array size. Experiment 2…

Increasing Performance of the Two-Role Work Strategy: A Study of the International College Hotel and Training Center in Thailand

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dhevabanchachai, Nate-tra; Wattanacharoensil, Walanchalee

2013-01-01

This research paper aims to identify the factors that will increase the performance and professionalism of the associates by using the study of the Salaya Pavilion Hotel Training Center (SPH) in Thailand as a case sample. In the study, staffs with two roles, called associates, were assessed for their job performance and motivation. Employing…

Search prefilters to assist in library searching of infrared spectra of automotive clear coats.

PubMed

Lavine, Barry K; Fasasi, Ayuba; Mirjankar, Nikhil; White, Collin; Sandercock, Mark

2015-01-01

Clear coat searches of the infrared (IR) spectral library of the paint data query (PDQ) forensic database often generate an unusable number of hits that span multiple manufacturers, assembly plants, and years. To improve the accuracy of the hit list, pattern recognition methods have been used to develop search prefilters (i.e., principal component models) that differentiate between similar but non-identical IR spectra of clear coats on the basis of manufacturer (e.g., General Motors, Ford, Chrysler) or assembly plant. A two step procedure to develop these search prefilters was employed. First, the discrete wavelet transform was used to decompose each IR spectrum into wavelet coefficients to enhance subtle but significant features in the spectral data. Second, a genetic algorithm for IR spectral pattern recognition was employed to identify wavelet coefficients characteristic of the manufacturer or assembly plant of the vehicle. Even in challenging trials where the paint samples evaluated were all from the same manufacturer (General Motors) within a limited production year range (2000-2006), the respective assembly plant of the vehicle was correctly identified. Search prefilters to identify assembly plants were successfully validated using 10 blind samples provided by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) as part of a study to populate PDQ to current production years, whereas the search prefilter to discriminate among automobile manufacturers was successfully validated using IR spectra obtained directly from the PDQ database. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Exploring the Legionella pneumophila positivity rate in hotel water samples from Antalya, Turkey.

PubMed

Sepin Özen, Nevgün; Tuğlu Ataman, Şenay; Emek, Mestan

2017-05-01

The genus Legionella is a fastidious Gram-negative bacteria widely distributed in natural waters and man made water supply systems. Legionella pneumophila is the aetiological agent of approximately 90% of reported Legionellosis cases, and serogroup 1 is the most frequent cause of infections. Legionnaires' disease is often associated with travel and continues to be a public health concern at present. The correct water management quality practices and rapid methods for analyzing Legionella species in environmental water is a key point for the prevention of Legionnaires' disease outbreaks. This study aimed to evaluate the positivity rates and serotyping of Legionella species from water samples in the region of Antalya, Turkey, which is an important tourism center. During January-December 2010, a total of 1403 samples of water that were collected from various hotels (n = 56) located in Antalya were investigated for Legionella pneumophila. All samples were screened for L. pneumophila by culture method according to "ISO 11731-2" criteria. The culture positive Legionella strains were serologically identified by latex agglutination test. A total of 142 Legionella pneumophila isolates were recovered from 21 (37.5%) of 56 hotels. The total frequency of L. pneumophila isolation from water samples was found as 10.1%. Serological typing of 142 Legionella isolates by latex agglutination test revealed that strains belonging to L. pneumophila serogroups 2-14 predominated in the examined samples (85%), while strains of L. pneumophila serogroup 1 were less numerous (15%). According to our knowledge, our study with the greatest number of water samples from Turkey demonstrates that L. pneumophila serogroups 2-14 is the most common isolate. Rapid isolation of L. pneumophila from environmental water samples is essential for the investigation of travel related outbreaks and the possible resources. Further studies are needed to have epidemiological data and to determine the types of L

Analysis of electrical audit and energy efficiency in building Hotel BC, North Jakarta

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wahyudi Biantoro, Agung

2018-03-01

The Hotel BC is using power source from PLN with capacity of 4300 kVA which is divided into 3 units of 2000 kVA transformer. Transformers are used to supply the load of Mall tenants, and Utility loads, such as Chiller, pumps and others. Problems found in the field are complaints from the hotel regarding the safety of electrical installations and wasteful, inefficient electrical costs. The purpose of this study is to check the electrical installation in the building and determine the Energy Use Intensity (EUI) and the cost of payment according to usage based on historical data of the building then compare it with the EUI standard of Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources of Indonesia. The method used is survey measurement method and quantitative descriptive analysis by comparing in general condition of energy consumption of this building with standard issued by Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources of Indonesia. The EUI is average 645.58 kWh/m2/year, or 53.79 kWh/m2/month, this is inefficient category, because its EUI value is > 24 kWh / m2 / month. For Electrical audit on imaging thermal test at Panel Out Going of chiller pump, 200 ampere, the highest temperature is 97.3° C, at 200 ampere phase S termination, and this is included in the major category. The numbers of hot spots on the Capacitor bank panels are 10 major points and Chiller panel has 10 major. There are many major points and they are quite dangerous because they can cause fire hazard on the panel. The AC average temperature and humidity distribution did not meet the standard of SNI (Indonesia National Standard).

Inhibition of return in static but not necessarily in dynamic search.

PubMed

Wang, Zhiguo; Zhang, Kan; Klein, Raymond M

2010-01-01

If and when search involves the serial inspection of items by covert or overt attention, its efficiency would be enhanced by a mechanism that would discourage re-inspections of items or regions of the display that had already been examined. Klein (1988, 2000; Klein & Dukewich, 2006) proposed that inhibition of return (IOR) might be such a mechanism. The present experiments explored this proposal by combining a dynamic search task (Horowitz & Wolfe, 1998, 2003) with a probe-detection task. IOR was observed when search was most efficient (static and slower dynamic search). IOR was not observed when search performance was less efficient (fast dynamic search).These findings are consistent with the "foraging facilitator" proposal of IOR and are unpredicted by theories of search that assume parallel accumulation of information across the array (plus noise) as a general explanation for the effect of set size upon search performance.

Tabu Search enhances network robustness under targeted attacks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sun, Shi-wen; Ma, Yi-lin; Li, Rui-qi; Wang, Li; Xia, Cheng-yi

2016-03-01

We focus on the optimization of network robustness with respect to intentional attacks on high-degree nodes. Given an existing network, this problem can be considered as a typical single-objective combinatorial optimization problem. Based on the heuristic Tabu Search optimization algorithm, a link-rewiring method is applied to reconstruct the network while keeping the degree of every node unchanged. Through numerical simulations, BA scale-free network and two real-world networks are investigated to verify the effectiveness of the proposed optimization method. Meanwhile, we analyze how the optimization affects other topological properties of the networks, including natural connectivity, clustering coefficient and degree-degree correlation. The current results can help to improve the robustness of existing complex real-world systems, as well as to provide some insights into the design of robust networks.

Full-Text Searching on Major Supermarket Systems: Dialog, Data-Star, and Nexis.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tenopir, Carol; Berglund, Sharon

1993-01-01

Examines the similarities, differences, and full-text features of the three most-used online systems for full-text searching in general libraries: DIALOG, Data-Star, and NEXIS. Overlapping databases, unique sources, search features, proximity operators, set building, language enhancement and word equivalencies, and display features are discussed.…

Sexually transmitted infections and sexual behaviour among youth clients of hotel-based female sex workers in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

PubMed

Haseen, F; Chawdhury, F A H; Hossain, M E; Huq, M; Bhuiyan, M U; Imam, H; Rahman, D M M; Gazi, R; Khan, S I; Kelly, R; Ahmed, J; Rahman, M

2012-08-01

A cross-sectional study was conducted among youth clients of hotel-based female sex workers (YCHBFSWs) in nine randomly selected hotels in Bangladesh to examine sexual-risk behaviour, condom use and determinants of condom use in last sex, knowledge of HIV, sexually transmitted infection (STI) prevalence and STI care-seeking behaviour. A prestructured questionnaire was used to collect sociodemographic, behavioural, clinical information; urine specimens (before sex) and blood were collected for diagnosis of Neisseria gonorrhoeae, Chlamydia trachomatis, Trichomonas vaginalis, syphilis and herpes simplex virus 2 (HSV2) infection. One thousand and thirteen participants were enroled in the study. Approximately half of them reported visiting female sex workers (FSWs) at least once a month and 25% visited FSWs at least once a week. Only 12% of participants reported regular condom use. The prevalence of N. gonorrhoeae, C. trachomatis, T. vaginalis, syphilis and HSV2 was 2.2%, 3.9%, 7.2%, 2.6% and 12.9%, respectively. Only 15.3% of the YCHBFSW sought STI care in the past year. Negotiation of condom use with FSWs was the main determinant (odds ratio = 17.95) for condom use at last sex. Male clients of FSWs, including YCHBFSW, are an important bridge population for HIV transmission in Bangladesh and HIV interventions should be designed and implemented for them.

[Selected aspects of style behaviours among the hotel industry employees].

PubMed

Gacek, Maria

2012-01-01

The mode of nutrition, physical activity and the lifestyle are very important elements influencing on the health of employees. The subject of this study was to evaluate the selected aspects of lifestyle of a group of hotel employees. The questionnaire-based research was carried out in a group of 241 employees of the hotel industry (121 women and 120 men). The prevalent eating model in the group involved 3 meals daily, and was more frequent in men (62.9% vs. 47.9%; P < 0.05) who ate less regularly than women (28.6% vs. 55.5%; P < 0.001). Fast-food bars were more often frequented by men (a few times a week: 17.1% vs. 7%; P < 0.05). Fish were consumed a few times weekly by 21.1% of women and 30% of men, while vegetables a few times daily by 25.4% of women and 15.7% of men. Women more frequently consumed a few portions of fruit daily (25.4% vs. 8.6%; P < 0.01). As for alcohols, women more frequently opted for wine (49.3% vs. 18.6%; P < 0.001), while men chose beer (50% vs. 33.3%; P < 0.01) and hard liquors (31.4% vs. 17.4%; P < 0.01). The frequency of alcohol consumption was higher in men (P < 0.001). Recreational physical activity in leisure time was undertaken by 15.2% of women and 20.7% of men who simultaneously reported a higher range of physical activity than women (P < 0.01). Women more frequently opted for fitness exercises, while men for team games (P < 0.001). The role of physical activity in reducing emotional pressure was noticed by 18.7% of women and 29.8% of men (P < 0.05). It has also been demonstrated that the subjective rating of physical fitness dropped together with the increase of BMI (P < 0.05). Persons who perceived their fitness level as very good had a BMI of 22.1 kg/m2, while persons with a low rating of fitness had a BMI of 23.7 kg/m2. The studies have shown the prevalence of nutritional mistakes and a low level of recreational physical activity, as well as diversification of certain health behaviours depending on the sex.

[Prevalence and risk factors of urinary incontinence in female workers of hotels].

PubMed

Fontana, L; Falconi, G; Di Martino, T; Iavicoli, I

2007-01-01

The International Continence Society defines urinary incontinence (UI) as "a condition in which involuntary loss of urine is a social or hygienic problem and is objectively demonstrable". There are three different jorms of UI. stress urinary incontinence, urge urinary incontinence and mixed incontinence. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of UI in a group of female workers in the hotel sector. The International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire Urinary Incontinence short form (ICIQ-UI Short Form) was administered to all female workers and data were collected about age, body mass index, number of vaginal and Caesarean delivery. Results showed a prevalence of UI widely bigger in the plans waitress than in video display terminal workers and suggest the hypothesis that manual handling of loads representing a possible occupational risk for UI.

Workplace Flexibility and Daily Stress Processes in Hotel Employees and their Children

PubMed Central

Almeida, David M.; Davis, Kelly D.

2013-01-01

Our research aims to understand the consequences of inadequate workplace flexibility through the lens of daily stress processes. Using a sample of hourly hotel employees with children aged 10 to 18 who participated in a daily diary study, we compared workers with low and high flexibility on stressor exposure, reactivity, and transmission. Our findings showed a consistent pattern of hourly workers with low flexibility having greater exposure to work stressors in general and to work place arguments in particular. Workers with low flexibility were also more emotional and physically reactive to work stressors. There was some evidence of stressor transmission to children when parents had low flexibility. Increasing workplace flexibility could serve as a protective factor in exposure and reactivity to stressors that are experienced in daily life. PMID:23833321

Evaluation of increases in dissolved solids in ground water, Stovepipe Wells Hotel, Death Valley National Monument, California

USGS Publications Warehouse

Buono, Anthony; Packard, E.M.

1982-01-01

Increases in dissolved solids have been monitored in two observation wells near Stovepipe Wells Hotel, Death Valley National Monument, California. One of the hotel 's supply wells delivers water to a reverse-osmosis treatment plant that produces the area 's potable water supply. Should water with increased dissolved solids reach the supply well, the costs of production of potable water will increase. The reverse-osmosis plant supply well is located about 0.4 mile south of one of the wells where increases have been monitored, and 0.8 mile southwest of the well where the most significant increases have been monitored. The direction of local ground-water movement is eastward, which reduces the probability of the supply well being affected. Honey mesquite, a phreatophyte located about 1.5 miles downgradient from the well where the most significant increases have been monitored, might be adversely affected should water with increased dissolved solids extend that far. Available data and data collected during this investigation do not indicate the source of the dissolved-solids increases. Continued ground-water-quality monitoring of existing wells and the installation of additional wells for water-quality monitoring would be necessary before the area affected by the increases, and the source and direction of movement of the water with increased dissolved solids, can be determined. (USGS)

Evaluation of myocardial defect detection between parallel-hole and fan-beam SPECT using the Hotelling trace

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wollenweber, S. D.; Tsui, B. M. W.; Lalush, D. S.; Frey, E. C.; Gullberg, G. T.

1998-08-01

The objective of this study was to implement the Hotelling trace (HT) to evaluate the potential increase in defect detection in myocardial SPECT using high-resolution fan-beam (HRF) versus parallel-hole (HRP) collimation and compare results to a previously reported human observer study (G.K. Gregoriou et al., ibid., vol. 42, p. 1267-75, 1995). Projection data from the 3D MCAT torso phantom were simulated including the effects of attenuation, collimator-detector response blurring and scatter. Poisson noise fluctuations were then simulated. The HRP and HRF collimators had the same spatial resolution at 20 cm. The total counts in the projection data sets were proportional to the detection efficiencies of the collimators and on the order of that found in clinical Tc-99m studies. In six left-ventricular defect locations, the HT found for HRF was superior to that for HRP collimation. For HRF collimation, the HT was calculated for reconstructed images using 64/spl times/64, 128/spl times/128 and 192/spl times/192 grid sizes. The results demonstrate substantial improvement in myocardial defect detection when the grid size was increased from 64/spl times/64 to 128/spl times/128 and slight improvement from 128/spl times/128 to 192/spl times/192. Also, the performance of the Hotelling observer in terms of the HT at the different grid sizes correlates at better than 0.95 to that found in human observers in a previously reported observer experiment and ROC study.

Enhancing artificial bee colony algorithm with self-adaptive searching strategy and artificial immune network operators for global optimization.

PubMed

Chen, Tinggui; Xiao, Renbin

2014-01-01

Artificial bee colony (ABC) algorithm, inspired by the intelligent foraging behavior of honey bees, was proposed by Karaboga. It has been shown to be superior to some conventional intelligent algorithms such as genetic algorithm (GA), artificial colony optimization (ACO), and particle swarm optimization (PSO). However, the ABC still has some limitations. For example, ABC can easily get trapped in the local optimum when handing in functions that have a narrow curving valley, a high eccentric ellipse, or complex multimodal functions. As a result, we proposed an enhanced ABC algorithm called EABC by introducing self-adaptive searching strategy and artificial immune network operators to improve the exploitation and exploration. The simulation results tested on a suite of unimodal or multimodal benchmark functions illustrate that the EABC algorithm outperforms ACO, PSO, and the basic ABC in most of the experiments.

Enhancing Artificial Bee Colony Algorithm with Self-Adaptive Searching Strategy and Artificial Immune Network Operators for Global Optimization

PubMed Central

Chen, Tinggui; Xiao, Renbin

2014-01-01

Artificial bee colony (ABC) algorithm, inspired by the intelligent foraging behavior of honey bees, was proposed by Karaboga. It has been shown to be superior to some conventional intelligent algorithms such as genetic algorithm (GA), artificial colony optimization (ACO), and particle swarm optimization (PSO). However, the ABC still has some limitations. For example, ABC can easily get trapped in the local optimum when handing in functions that have a narrow curving valley, a high eccentric ellipse, or complex multimodal functions. As a result, we proposed an enhanced ABC algorithm called EABC by introducing self-adaptive searching strategy and artificial immune network operators to improve the exploitation and exploration. The simulation results tested on a suite of unimodal or multimodal benchmark functions illustrate that the EABC algorithm outperforms ACO, PSO, and the basic ABC in most of the experiments. PMID:24772023

Air Force Service Procurement. Approaches for Measurement and Management

DTIC Science & Technology

2005-01-01

2003, Ritz - Carlton Hotel , Arlington, Vir- ginia. 15 We used a variety of search terms for the business literature review, including purchased services... Carlton Hotel , Arlington, Va., June 5, 2003. Shirley, Chad, John Ausink, and Laura H. Baldwin, Measuring Changes in Service Costs to Meet the Requirements...Richter, Gene, "Ten Private Sector Best Practices," presentation at the Pro- curement Executive Roundtable sponsored by the SAS Institute, Ritz

76 FR 72047 - Enhanced-Use Lease (EUL) of Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Real Property for the Development...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-11-21

... Hotel and General Use Retail Space in Memphis, TN AGENCY: Department of Veterans Affairs. ACTION: Notice... professional medical office building, a hotel, and general use retail space. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT...

RNA motif search with data-driven element ordering.

PubMed

Rampášek, Ladislav; Jimenez, Randi M; Lupták, Andrej; Vinař, Tomáš; Brejová, Broňa

2016-05-18

In this paper, we study the problem of RNA motif search in long genomic sequences. This approach uses a combination of sequence and structure constraints to uncover new distant homologs of known functional RNAs. The problem is NP-hard and is traditionally solved by backtracking algorithms. We have designed a new algorithm for RNA motif search and implemented a new motif search tool RNArobo. The tool enhances the RNAbob descriptor language, allowing insertions in helices, which enables better characterization of ribozymes and aptamers. A typical RNA motif consists of multiple elements and the running time of the algorithm is highly dependent on their ordering. By approaching the element ordering problem in a principled way, we demonstrate more than 100-fold speedup of the search for complex motifs compared to previously published tools. We have developed a new method for RNA motif search that allows for a significant speedup of the search of complex motifs that include pseudoknots. Such speed improvements are crucial at a time when the rate of DNA sequencing outpaces growth in computing. RNArobo is available at http://compbio.fmph.uniba.sk/rnarobo .

VisSearch: A Collaborative Web Searching Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lee, Young-Jin

2005-01-01

VisSearch is a collaborative Web searching environment intended for sharing Web search results among people with similar interests, such as college students taking the same course. It facilitates students' Web searches by visualizing various Web searching processes. It also collects the visualized Web search results and applies an association rule…

Using Internet search behavior to assess public awareness of protected wetlands.

PubMed

Do, Yuno; Kim, Ji Yoon; Lineman, Maurice; Kim, Dong-Kyun; Joo, Gea-Jae

2015-02-01

Improving public awareness of protected wetlands facilitates sustainable wetland management, which depends on public participation. One way of gauging public interest is by tracking Internet search behavior (ISB). We assessed public awareness of issues related to protected wetland areas (PWAs) in South Korea by examining the frequencies of specific queries (PWAs, Ramsar, Upo wetland, Sunchon Bay, etc.) using relative search volumes (RSVs) obtained from an Internet search engine. RSV shows how many times a search term is used relative to a second search term during a specific period. Public awareness of PWAs changed from 2007 to 2013. Initially the majority of Internet searches were related to the most well-known tidal and inland wetlands Sunchon Bay and Upo wetlands, which are the largest existing wetlands in Korea with the greatest historical exposure. Public awareness, as reflected in RSVs, of wetlands increased significantly following PWA designation for the wetlands in 2008, which followed the Ramsar 10th Conference of Contracting Parties to the Convention on Wetlands (COP10) meeting. Public interest was strongly correlated to the number of news articles in the popular media, as evidenced by the increase in Internet searches for specific wetlands and words associated with specific wetlands. Correspondingly, the number of visitors to specific wetlands increased. To increase public interest in wetlands, wetland aspects that enhance wetland conservation should be promoted by the government and enhanced via public education. Our approach can be used to gauge public awareness and participation in a wide range of conservation efforts. © 2014 Society for Conservation Biology.

Expanding Midscale Solar: Examining the Economic Potential, Barriers, and Opportunities at Offices, Hotels, Warehouses, and Universities

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bird, Lori; Gagnon, Pieter; Heeter, Jenny

The midscale market for solar photovoltaics (PV), defined as behind-the-meter systems between 100 kW and 2 MW, has grown more slowly than other PV market segments in recent years. A number of key barriers have impeded growth, including tenant and landlord split incentives, contracting challenges, the mismatch in building lease and PV financing terms, and high transaction costs relative to project sizes. This report explores prospects for expansion of the midscale solar market, with a focus on four building segments: offices, hotels, warehouses, and universities.

Foveated model observers to predict human performance in 3D images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lago, Miguel A.; Abbey, Craig K.; Eckstein, Miguel P.

2017-03-01

We evaluate 3D search requires model observers that take into account the peripheral human visual processing (foveated models) to predict human observer performance. We show that two different 3D tasks, free search and location-known detection, influence the relative human visual detectability of two signals of different sizes in synthetic backgrounds mimicking the noise found in 3D digital breast tomosynthesis. One of the signals resembled a microcalcification (a small and bright sphere), while the other one was designed to look like a mass (a larger Gaussian blob). We evaluated current standard models observers (Hotelling; Channelized Hotelling; non-prewhitening matched filter with eye filter, NPWE; and non-prewhitening matched filter model, NPW) and showed that they incorrectly predict the relative detectability of the two signals in 3D search. We propose a new model observer (3D Foveated Channelized Hotelling Observer) that incorporates the properties of the visual system over a large visual field (fovea and periphery). We show that the foveated model observer can accurately predict the rank order of detectability of the signals in 3D images for each task. Together, these results motivate the use of a new generation of foveated model observers for predicting image quality for search tasks in 3D imaging modalities such as digital breast tomosynthesis or computed tomography.

Parameter estimation for chaotic systems using a hybrid adaptive cuckoo search with simulated annealing algorithm

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sheng, Zheng, E-mail: 19994035@sina.com; Wang, Jun; Zhou, Bihua

2014-03-15

This paper introduces a novel hybrid optimization algorithm to establish the parameters of chaotic systems. In order to deal with the weaknesses of the traditional cuckoo search algorithm, the proposed adaptive cuckoo search with simulated annealing algorithm is presented, which incorporates the adaptive parameters adjusting operation and the simulated annealing operation in the cuckoo search algorithm. Normally, the parameters of the cuckoo search algorithm are kept constant that may result in decreasing the efficiency of the algorithm. For the purpose of balancing and enhancing the accuracy and convergence rate of the cuckoo search algorithm, the adaptive operation is presented tomore » tune the parameters properly. Besides, the local search capability of cuckoo search algorithm is relatively weak that may decrease the quality of optimization. So the simulated annealing operation is merged into the cuckoo search algorithm to enhance the local search ability and improve the accuracy and reliability of the results. The functionality of the proposed hybrid algorithm is investigated through the Lorenz chaotic system under the noiseless and noise condition, respectively. The numerical results demonstrate that the method can estimate parameters efficiently and accurately in the noiseless and noise condition. Finally, the results are compared with the traditional cuckoo search algorithm, genetic algorithm, and particle swarm optimization algorithm. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness and superior performance of the proposed algorithm.« less

A feature-weighting account of priming in conjunction search.

PubMed

Becker, Stefanie I; Horstmann, Gernot

2009-02-01

Previous research on the priming effect in conjunction search has shown that repeating the target and distractor features across displays speeds mean response times but does not improve search efficiency: Repetitions do not reduce the set size effect-that is, the effect of the number of distractor items-but only modulate the intercept of the search function. In the present study, we investigated whether priming modulates search efficiency when a conjunctively defined target randomly changes between red and green. The results from an eyetracking experiment show that repeating the target across trials reduced the set size effect and, thus, did enhance search efficiency. Moreover, the probability of selecting the target as the first item in the display was higher when the target-distractor displays were repeated across trials than when they changed. Finally, red distractors were selected more frequently than green distractors when the previous target had been red (and vice versa). Taken together, these results indicate that priming in conjunction search modulates processes concerned with guiding attention to the target, by assigning more attentional weight to features sharing the previous target's color.

Assessing the Feasibility of Comprehensive Energy Efficiency Upgrades at Potawatomi Carter Casino Hotel

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Karman, Nathan A.

The Forest County Potawatomi Community, a federally-recognized Indian Tribe with a strong commitment to the natural environment, sought and obtained funding to investigate energy efficient improvements to its Potawatomi Carter Casino & Hotel and the adjacent Potawatomi Carter C-Store and Smoke Shop. The resulting energy studies recommended energy conservation measures that would collectively reduce energy use by more than 30% at the facilities and would save approximately $200,000 per year in energy costs. Consistent with its commitment to the natural environment, and to advance its goal of energy independence using Carbon free or Carbon neutral renewable resources, the Community hasmore » already begun implementing certain measures and continues to seek funding sources necessary to implement the remaining measures.« less

There's Waldo! A Normalization Model of Visual Search Predicts Single-Trial Human Fixations in an Object Search Task

PubMed Central

Miconi, Thomas; Groomes, Laura; Kreiman, Gabriel

2016-01-01

When searching for an object in a scene, how does the brain decide where to look next? Visual search theories suggest the existence of a global “priority map” that integrates bottom-up visual information with top-down, target-specific signals. We propose a mechanistic model of visual search that is consistent with recent neurophysiological evidence, can localize targets in cluttered images, and predicts single-trial behavior in a search task. This model posits that a high-level retinotopic area selective for shape features receives global, target-specific modulation and implements local normalization through divisive inhibition. The normalization step is critical to prevent highly salient bottom-up features from monopolizing attention. The resulting activity pattern constitues a priority map that tracks the correlation between local input and target features. The maximum of this priority map is selected as the locus of attention. The visual input is then spatially enhanced around the selected location, allowing object-selective visual areas to determine whether the target is present at this location. This model can localize objects both in array images and when objects are pasted in natural scenes. The model can also predict single-trial human fixations, including those in error and target-absent trials, in a search task involving complex objects. PMID:26092221

Nowcasting Unemployment Rates with Google Searches: Evidence from the Visegrad Group Countries

PubMed Central

Pavlicek, Jaroslav; Kristoufek, Ladislav

2015-01-01

The online activity of Internet users has repeatedly been shown to provide a rich information set for various research fields. We focus on job-related searches on Google and their possible usefulness in the region of the Visegrad Group - the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. Even for rather small economies, the online searches of inhabitants can be successfully utilized for macroeconomic predictions. Specifically, we study unemployment rates and their interconnection with job-related searches. We show that Google searches enhance nowcasting models of unemployment rates for the Czech Republic and Hungary whereas for Poland and Slovakia, the results are mixed. PMID:26001083

Nowcasting unemployment rates with Google searches: evidence from the Visegrad Group countries.

PubMed

Pavlicek, Jaroslav; Kristoufek, Ladislav

2015-01-01

The online activity of Internet users has repeatedly been shown to provide a rich information set for various research fields. We focus on job-related searches on Google and their possible usefulness in the region of the Visegrad Group--the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. Even for rather small economies, the online searches of inhabitants can be successfully utilized for macroeconomic predictions. Specifically, we study unemployment rates and their interconnection with job-related searches. We show that Google searches enhance nowcasting models of unemployment rates for the Czech Republic and Hungary whereas for Poland and Slovakia, the results are mixed.

Solving search problems by strongly simulating quantum circuits

PubMed Central

Johnson, T. H.; Biamonte, J. D.; Clark, S. R.; Jaksch, D.

2013-01-01

Simulating quantum circuits using classical computers lets us analyse the inner workings of quantum algorithms. The most complete type of simulation, strong simulation, is believed to be generally inefficient. Nevertheless, several efficient strong simulation techniques are known for restricted families of quantum circuits and we develop an additional technique in this article. Further, we show that strong simulation algorithms perform another fundamental task: solving search problems. Efficient strong simulation techniques allow solutions to a class of search problems to be counted and found efficiently. This enhances the utility of strong simulation methods, known or yet to be discovered, and extends the class of search problems known to be efficiently simulable. Relating strong simulation to search problems also bounds the computational power of efficiently strongly simulable circuits; if they could solve all problems in P this would imply that all problems in NP and #P could be solved in polynomial time. PMID:23390585

Effectiveness of job search interventions: a meta-analytic review.

PubMed

Liu, Songqi; Huang, Jason L; Wang, Mo

2014-07-01

The current meta-analytic review examined the effectiveness of job search interventions in facilitating job search success (i.e., obtaining employment). Major theoretical perspectives on job search interventions, including behavioral learning theory, theory of planned behavior, social cognitive theory, and coping theory, were reviewed and integrated to derive a taxonomy of critical job search intervention components. Summarizing the data from 47 experimentally or quasi-experimentally evaluated job search interventions, we found that the odds of obtaining employment were 2.67 times higher for job seekers participating in job search interventions compared to job seekers in the control group, who did not participate in such intervention programs. Our moderator analysis also suggested that job search interventions that contained certain components, including teaching job search skills, improving self-presentation, boosting self-efficacy, encouraging proactivity, promoting goal setting, and enlisting social support, were more effective than interventions that did not include such components. More important, job search interventions effectively promoted employment only when both skill development and motivation enhancement were included. In addition, we found that job search interventions were more effective in helping younger and older (vs. middle-aged) job seekers, short-term (vs. long-term) unemployed job seekers, and job seekers with special needs and conditions (vs. job seekers in general) to find employment. Furthermore, meta-analytic path analysis revealed that increased job search skills, job search self-efficacy, and job search behaviors partially mediated the positive effect of job search interventions on obtaining employment. Theoretical and practical implications and future research directions are discussed. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved.

Using Advanced Tabu Search Approaches to Perform Enhanced Air Mobility Command Operational Airlift Analyses

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-02-28

2, No. 2, 2007, pp. 156-172. 21. Lambert, G.,J.W. Barnes, and D. Van Veldhuizen ,, "A Tabu Search Approach to the Strategic Airlift Problem...Industrial Engineering, accepted, to appear 2009, pp 1 -86, published by Taylor and Francis/CRC Press. 27. Roesener, A., J. W. Barnes, J. Moore, D. Van ... Veldhuizen , "An Advanced Tabu Search Approach To The Static Airlift Loading Problem," Military Operations Research, 2007, (in second review). 28. Burks

Live from the Mars Hotel - Space Locations and the Film Industry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sivier, D.

Space exploration is the subject of intense media interest in a way unparalleled in any other branch of science. It is the subject of countless films and television programmes, both fact and fiction, many using original footage from space. Astronauts have broadcast live from the Moon, and TV journalists have travelled to Mir, similar to the use of exotic terrestrial locations for filming by professional film crews. Although prohibitively expensive at the moment, the next generation of spacecraft may lower launch costs to an affordable level, so that space locations become competitive against computer graphics and model work. The construction of orbital hotels will create the demand for human interest stories similar to those set in holiday locations like the south of France and Italy made just after the Second World War, at a time when mass tourism on foreign holidays was just beginning, aided by the development of large transport aircraft able to cater to the demand for mass flight.

Identifying contributors of two-person DNA mixtures by familial database search.

PubMed

Chung, Yuk-Ka; Fung, Wing K

2013-01-01

The role of familial database search as a crime-solving tool has been increasingly recognized by forensic scientists. As an enhancement to the existing familial search approach on single source cases, this article presents our current progress in exploring the potential use of familial search to mixture cases. A novel method was established to predict the outcome of the search, from which a simple strategy for determining an appropriate scale of investigation by the police force is developed. Illustrated by an example using Swedish data, our approach is shown to have the potential for assisting the police force to decide on the scale of investigation, thereby achieving desirable crime-solving rate with reasonable cost.

Fast radio burst search: cross spectrum vs. auto spectrum method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Lei; Zheng, Weimin; Yan, Zhen; Zhang, Juan

2018-06-01

The search for fast radio bursts (FRBs) is a hot topic in current radio astronomy studies. In this work, we carry out a single pulse search with a very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) pulsar observation data set using both auto spectrum and cross spectrum search methods. The cross spectrum method, first proposed in Liu et al., maximizes the signal power by fully utilizing the fringe phase information of the baseline cross spectrum. The auto spectrum search method is based on the popular pulsar software package PRESTO, which extracts single pulses from the auto spectrum of each station. According to our comparison, the cross spectrum method is able to enhance the signal power and therefore extract single pulses from data contaminated by high levels of radio frequency interference (RFI), which makes it possible to carry out a search for FRBs in regular VLBI observations when RFI is present.

In Search of Speedier Searches.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Peterson, Ivars

1984-01-01

Methods to make computer searching as simple and efficient as possible have led to the development of various data structures. Data structures specify the items involved in searching and what can be done to them. The nature and advantages of using "self-adjusting" data structures (self-adjusting binary search trees) are discussed. (JN)

Exploring What's Missing: What Do Target Absent Trials Reveal about Autism Search Superiority?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Keehn, Brandon; Joseph, Robert M.

2016-01-01

We used eye-tracking to investigate the roles of enhanced discrimination and peripheral selection in superior visual search in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Children with ASD were faster at visual search than their typically developing peers. However, group differences in performance and eye-movements did not vary with the level of difficulty of…

Short-term perceptual learning in visual conjunction search.

PubMed

Su, Yuling; Lai, Yunpeng; Huang, Wanyi; Tan, Wei; Qu, Zhe; Ding, Yulong

2014-08-01

Although some studies showed that training can improve the ability of cross-dimension conjunction search, less is known about the underlying mechanism. Specifically, it remains unclear whether training of visual conjunction search can successfully bind different features of separated dimensions into a new function unit at early stages of visual processing. In the present study, we utilized stimulus specificity and generalization to provide a new approach to investigate the mechanisms underlying perceptual learning (PL) in visual conjunction search. Five experiments consistently showed that after 40 to 50 min of training of color-shape/orientation conjunction search, the ability to search for a certain conjunction target improved significantly and the learning effects did not transfer to a new target that differed from the trained target in both color and shape/orientation features. However, the learning effects were not strictly specific. In color-shape conjunction search, although the learning effect could not transfer to a same-shape different-color target, it almost completely transferred to a same-color different-shape target. In color-orientation conjunction search, the learning effect partly transferred to a new target that shared same color or same orientation with the trained target. Moreover, the sum of transfer effects for the same color target and the same orientation target in color-orientation conjunction search was algebraically equivalent to the learning effect for trained target, showing an additive transfer effect. The different transfer patterns in color-shape and color-orientation conjunction search learning might reflect the different complexity and discriminability between feature dimensions. These results suggested a feature-based attention enhancement mechanism rather than a unitization mechanism underlying the short-term PL of color-shape/orientation conjunction search.

Priming and the guidance by visual and categorical templates in visual search.

PubMed

Wilschut, Anna; Theeuwes, Jan; Olivers, Christian N L

2014-01-01

Visual search is thought to be guided by top-down templates that are held in visual working memory. Previous studies have shown that a search-guiding template can be rapidly and strongly implemented from a visual cue, whereas templates are less effective when based on categorical cues. Direct visual priming from cue to target may underlie this difference. In two experiments we first asked observers to remember two possible target colors. A postcue then indicated which of the two would be the relevant color. The task was to locate a briefly presented and masked target of the cued color among irrelevant distractor items. Experiment 1 showed that overall search accuracy improved more rapidly on the basis of a direct visual postcue that carried the target color, compared to a neutral postcue that pointed to the memorized color. However, selectivity toward the target feature, i.e., the extent to which observers searched selectively among items of the cued vs. uncued color, was found to be relatively unaffected by the presence of the visual signal. In Experiment 2 we compared search that was based on either visual or categorical information, but now controlled for direct visual priming. This resulted in no differences in overall performance nor selectivity. Altogether the results suggest that perceptual processing of visual search targets is facilitated by priming from visual cues, whereas attentional selectivity is enhanced by a working memory template that can formed from both visual and categorical input. Furthermore, if the priming is controlled for, categorical- and visual-based templates similarly enhance search guidance.

Forecasting Training Needs in the Hotel, Catering and Tourism Sector: A Comparative Analysis of Results from Regional Studies in Three European Countries.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Giffard, Andre; Guegnard, Christine; Strietska-Ilina, Olga

2001-01-01

A pilot study on the hotel, catering, and tourism sector was conducted in the Burgundy region of France, Northwest region of the Czech Republic, and Podravje region of Slovenia. Three main kinds of factors of change were brought out. The first, evoked in Slovenia and the Czech Republic, concerned the opening of borders. Typical trends were…

Special report. Hospitals that are becoming 'hotel friendly' to guests ... and the role played by security officers.

PubMed

1996-01-01

Faced with increasing competition, hospitals in New York City are developing programs to become more user friendly and, like hotels, to treat patients more as "guests" than as "customers." These programs, which have particular applications for security personnel, are also seeking to improve communications and relationships among the hospital's medical staff and other employees. In this report, we'll describe some of these efforts in which hospitals are turning to hoteliers, consultants, and others for advice in the area of customer service, and the role seen for hospital security.

Knowledge of Deaths in Hotel Rooms Diminishes Perceived Value and Elicits Guest Aversion.

PubMed

Bering, Jesse M; Curtin, Emma R; Jong, Jonathan

2017-01-01

Guest deaths are an inevitable aspect of the hospitality industry. In Study 1, participants read a vignette in which the previous guest died of natural causes, suicide, or homicide. Those who learned of a death (a) saw the room as less valuable, (b) opted to stay in a more basic room in which no death occurred, despite both rooms being offered for free, and (c) anticipated feeling uneasy when imagining an overnight stay. In Study 2, we investigated the persistence of this bias. Perceived room value and anticipatory well-being can be expected to return to baseline levels only many years after the death event. Similar to "stigmatized properties" in real estate, these data confirm an irrational and recalcitrant cognitive bias surrounding consumers' views of death-affected hotel rooms.

Sachem: a chemical cartridge for high-performance substructure search.

PubMed

Kratochvíl, Miroslav; Vondrášek, Jiří; Galgonek, Jakub

2018-05-23

Structure search is one of the valuable capabilities of small-molecule databases. Fingerprint-based screening methods are usually employed to enhance the search performance by reducing the number of calls to the verification procedure. In substructure search, fingerprints are designed to capture important structural aspects of the molecule to aid the decision about whether the molecule contains a given substructure. Currently available cartridges typically provide acceptable search performance for processing user queries, but do not scale satisfactorily with dataset size. We present Sachem, a new open-source chemical cartridge that implements two substructure search methods: The first is a performance-oriented reimplementation of substructure indexing based on the OrChem fingerprint, and the second is a novel method that employs newly designed fingerprints stored in inverted indices. We assessed the performance of both methods on small, medium, and large datasets containing 1, 10, and 94 million compounds, respectively. Comparison of Sachem with other freely available cartridges revealed improvements in overall performance, scaling potential and screen-out efficiency. The Sachem cartridge allows efficient substructure searches in databases of all sizes. The sublinear performance scaling of the second method and the ability to efficiently query large amounts of pre-extracted information may together open the door to new applications for substructure searches.

Technology and Teaching: Searching under Cups for Clues about Memory--An Online Demonstration

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kahan, Todd A.; Mathis, Katherine M.

2007-01-01

An online demonstration, designed to enhance comprehension of Sternberg's (1966) short-term memory scanning task, involved rapidly searching under virtual cups for a ball. We randomly assigned students to 1 of 3 groups, all of whom read the same textbook description of Sternberg's work: A demonstration group used 3 search methods to look for balls…

External validation of the simple clinical score and the HOTEL score, two scores for predicting short-term mortality after admission to an acute medical unit.

PubMed

Stræde, Mia; Brabrand, Mikkel

2014-01-01

Clinical scores can be of aid to predict early mortality after admission to a medical admission unit. A developed scoring system needs to be externally validated to minimise the risk of the discriminatory power and calibration to be falsely elevated. We performed the present study with the objective of validating the Simple Clinical Score (SCS) and the HOTEL score, two existing risk stratification systems that predict mortality for medical patients based solely on clinical information, but not only vital signs. Pre-planned prospective observational cohort study. Danish 460-bed regional teaching hospital. We included 3046 consecutive patients from 2 October 2008 until 19 February 2009. 26 (0.9%) died within one calendar day and 196 (6.4%) died within 30 days. We calculated SCS for 1080 patients. We found an AUROC of 0.960 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.932 to 0.988) for 24-hours mortality and 0.826 (95% CI, 0.774-0.879) for 30-day mortality, and goodness-of-fit test, χ(2) = 2.68 (10 degrees of freedom), P = 0.998 and χ(2) = 4.00, P = 0.947, respectively. We included 1470 patients when calculating the HOTEL score. Discriminatory power (AUROC) was 0.931 (95% CI, 0.901-0.962) for 24-hours mortality and goodness-of-fit test, χ(2) = 5.56 (10 degrees of freedom), P = 0.234. We find that both the SCS and HOTEL scores showed an excellent to outstanding ability in identifying patients at high risk of dying with good or acceptable precision.

Efficient search of multiple types of targets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wosniack, M. E.; Raposo, E. P.; Viswanathan, G. M.; da Luz, M. G. E.

2015-12-01

Random searches often take place in fragmented landscapes. Also, in many instances like animal foraging, significant benefits to the searcher arise from visits to a large diversity of patches with a well-balanced distribution of targets found. Up to date, such aspects have been widely ignored in the usual single-objective analysis of search efficiency, in which one seeks to maximize just the number of targets found per distance traversed. Here we address the problem of determining the best strategies for the random search when these multiple-objective factors play a key role in the process. We consider a figure of merit (efficiency function), which properly "scores" the mentioned tasks. By considering random walk searchers with a power-law asymptotic Lévy distribution of step lengths, p (ℓ ) ˜ℓ-μ , with 1 <μ ≤3 , we show that the standard optimal strategy with μopt≈2 no longer holds universally. Instead, optimal searches with enhanced superdiffusivity emerge, including values as low as μopt≈1.3 (i.e., tending to the ballistic limit). For the general theory of random search optimization, our findings emphasize the necessity to correctly characterize the multitude of aims in any concrete metric to compare among possible candidates to efficient strategies. In the context of animal foraging, our results might explain some empirical data pointing to stronger superdiffusion (μ <2 ) in the search behavior of different animal species, conceivably associated to multiple goals to be achieved in fragmented landscapes.

Raising the IQ in full-text searching via intelligent querying

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kero, R.; Russell, L.; Swietlik, C.

1994-11-01

Current Information Retrieval (IR) technologies allow for efficient access to relevant information, provided that user selected query terms coincide with the specific linguistical choices made by the authors whose works constitute the text-base. Therefore, the challenge is to enhance the limited searching capability of state-of-the-practice IR. This can be done either with augmented clients that overcome current server searching deficiencies, or with added capabilities that can augment searching algorithms on the servers. The technology being investigated is that of deductive databases, with a set of new techniques called cooperative answering. This technology utilizes semantic networks to allow for navigation betweenmore » possible query search term alternatives. The augmented search terms are passed to an IR engine and the results can be compared. The project utilizes the OSTI Environment, Safety and Health Thesaurus to populate the domain specific semantic network and the text base of ES&H related documents from the Facility Profile Information Management System as the domain specific search space.« less

A novel cooperative localization algorithm using enhanced particle filter technique in maritime search and rescue wireless sensor network.

PubMed

Wu, Huafeng; Mei, Xiaojun; Chen, Xinqiang; Li, Junjun; Wang, Jun; Mohapatra, Prasant

2018-07-01

Maritime search and rescue (MSR) play a significant role in Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS). However, it suffers from scenarios that the measurement information is inaccurate due to wave shadow effect when utilizing wireless Sensor Network (WSN) technology in MSR. In this paper, we develop a Novel Cooperative Localization Algorithm (NCLA) in MSR by using an enhanced particle filter method to reduce measurement errors on observation model caused by wave shadow effect. First, we take into account the mobility of nodes at sea to develop a motion model-Lagrangian model. Furthermore, we introduce both state model and observation model to constitute a system model for particle filter (PF). To address the impact of the wave shadow effect on the observation model, we develop an optimal parameter derived by Kullback-Leibler divergence (KLD) to mitigate the error. After the optimal parameter is acquired, an improved likelihood function is presented. Finally, the estimated position is acquired. Copyright © 2017 ISA. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Prevention and control of sexually transmissible infections among hotel-based female sex workers in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

PubMed

McCormick, Duncan F; Rahman, Motiur; Zadrozny, Sabrina; Alam, Anadil; Ashraf, Lutfa; Neilsen, Graham A; Kelly, Robert; Menezes, Prema; Miller, William C; Hoffman, Irving F

2013-12-01

Hotel-based sex workers in Bangladesh have high rates of sexually transmissible infections (STIs), high client turnover and low condom use. Two monthly clinic-based strategies were compared: periodic presumptive treatment (PPT) and enhanced syndromic management (ESM) - one round of presumptive treatment followed by treatment based on assessment and laboratory tests. A randomised controlled trial compared PPT and ESM by prevalence and incidence, behaviour, retention, cost and STI incidence and prevalence. Demographic, behavioural and clinical data were collected from women at two clinics in Dhaka. All women received presumptive treatment and were randomised to receive PPT or ESM at nine monthly visits. In total, 549 women (median age: <20 years) were enrolled. At baseline, the prevalence of chlamydia (Chlamydia trachomatis) and gonorrhoea (Neisseria gonorrhoeae) was 41% (ESM: 41%; PPT: 42%). After 9 months, chlamydia and gonorrhoea decreased to 7% overall, (ESM: 7.4%; PPT: 6.8%). At each visit, 98% of women receiving ESM met the therapy criteria and were treated. Retention was low (50%). Total costs were 50% lower per visit for each woman for PPT (ESM: $11.62 v. PPT: $5.80). The number of sex work sessions was reduced from 3.3 to 2.5 (P<0.001), but income did not change. Coercion was reduced but condom use at last sex did not change significantly. Monthly PPT and ESM were effective approaches for STI control. PPT offered a feasible, low-cost alternative to ESM. Educational aspects led to a reduction in coercion and fewer sessions. Implementation studies are needed to improve condom use and retention.

Interrupted Visual Searches Reveal Volatile Search Memory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shen, Y. Jeremy; Jiang, Yuhong V.

2006-01-01

This study investigated memory from interrupted visual searches. Participants conducted a change detection search task on polygons overlaid on scenes. Search was interrupted by various disruptions, including unfilled delay, passive viewing of other scenes, and additional search on new displays. Results showed that performance was unaffected by…

GGRNA: an ultrafast, transcript-oriented search engine for genes and transcripts

PubMed Central

Naito, Yuki; Bono, Hidemasa

2012-01-01

GGRNA (http://GGRNA.dbcls.jp/) is a Google-like, ultrafast search engine for genes and transcripts. The web server accepts arbitrary words and phrases, such as gene names, IDs, gene descriptions, annotations of gene and even nucleotide/amino acid sequences through one simple search box, and quickly returns relevant RefSeq transcripts. A typical search takes just a few seconds, which dramatically enhances the usability of routine searching. In particular, GGRNA can search sequences as short as 10 nt or 4 amino acids, which cannot be handled easily by popular sequence analysis tools. Nucleotide sequences can be searched allowing up to three mismatches, or the query sequences may contain degenerate nucleotide codes (e.g. N, R, Y, S). Furthermore, Gene Ontology annotations, Enzyme Commission numbers and probe sequences of catalog microarrays are also incorporated into GGRNA, which may help users to conduct searches by various types of keywords. GGRNA web server will provide a simple and powerful interface for finding genes and transcripts for a wide range of users. All services at GGRNA are provided free of charge to all users. PMID:22641850

GGRNA: an ultrafast, transcript-oriented search engine for genes and transcripts.

PubMed

Naito, Yuki; Bono, Hidemasa

2012-07-01

GGRNA (http://GGRNA.dbcls.jp/) is a Google-like, ultrafast search engine for genes and transcripts. The web server accepts arbitrary words and phrases, such as gene names, IDs, gene descriptions, annotations of gene and even nucleotide/amino acid sequences through one simple search box, and quickly returns relevant RefSeq transcripts. A typical search takes just a few seconds, which dramatically enhances the usability of routine searching. In particular, GGRNA can search sequences as short as 10 nt or 4 amino acids, which cannot be handled easily by popular sequence analysis tools. Nucleotide sequences can be searched allowing up to three mismatches, or the query sequences may contain degenerate nucleotide codes (e.g. N, R, Y, S). Furthermore, Gene Ontology annotations, Enzyme Commission numbers and probe sequences of catalog microarrays are also incorporated into GGRNA, which may help users to conduct searches by various types of keywords. GGRNA web server will provide a simple and powerful interface for finding genes and transcripts for a wide range of users. All services at GGRNA are provided free of charge to all users.

Collinear integration affects visual search at V1.

PubMed

Chow, Hiu Mei; Jingling, Li; Tseng, Chia-huei

2013-08-29

Perceptual grouping plays an indispensable role in figure-ground segregation and attention distribution. For example, a column pops out if it contains element bars orthogonal to uniformly oriented element bars. Jingling and Tseng (2013) have reported that contextual grouping in a column matters to visual search behavior: When a column is grouped into a collinear (snakelike) structure, a target positioned on it became harder to detect than on other noncollinear (ladderlike) columns. How and where perceptual grouping interferes with selective attention is still largely unknown. This article contributes to this little-studied area by asking whether collinear contour integration interacts with visual search before or after binocular fusion. We first identified that the previously mentioned search impairment occurs with a distractor of five or nine elements but not one element in a 9 × 9 search display. To pinpoint the site of this effect, we presented the search display with a short collinear bar (one element) to one eye and the extending collinear bars to the other eye, such that when properly fused, the combined binocular collinear length (nine elements) exceeded the critical length. No collinear search impairment was observed, implying that collinear information before binocular fusion shaped participants' search behavior, although contour extension from the other eye after binocular fusion enhanced the effect of collinearity on attention. Our results suggest that attention interacts with perceptual grouping as early as V1.

An Evaluation of Manpower Training Needs in the Hotel-Restaurant Industry on Kauai, 1968, with Recommendations on Programs, Sources of Students, Instructors, and Funds.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lloyd, Robert W.

This report, requested and funded by a committee of community leaders, investigates the recruiting, training and employment of cooks, waitresses, maids, and small business managers needed on the island of Kauai through the year 1973. Projected increases in tourism and hotel construction indicate substantial need for well trained personnel. Courses…

The Search for Life in the Universe: The Past Through the Future

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lebofsky, L. A.; Lebofsky, A.; Lebofsky, M.; Lebofsky, N. R.

2003-05-01

``Are we alone?" This is a question that has been asked by humans for thousands of years. More than any other topic in science, the search for life in the Universe has captured everyone's imagination. Now, for the first time in history, we are on the verge of answering this question. The search for life beyond the Earth can be seen as far back as the 16th century writings of J. Kepler, Bishops F. Godwin and J. Wilkins, and S. Cyrano de Bergerac to the early 20th century's H. G. Wells. From a scientific perspective, this search led to the formulation of the Drake Equation which in turn has led to a number of projects that are searching for signs of intelligent life beyond the Earth, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intellegence. SETI@home reaches millions of users, including thousands of K-12 teachers across the nation. We are developing a project that will enhance the SETI@home web site located at UC Berkeley. The project unites the resources of the SETI@home distributed computing community web site , university settings, and informal science learning centers. It will reach approximately 100,000 learners. The goal is to increase public understanding of math and science and to create and strengthen the connections between informal and formal learning communities. We will present a variety of ways that the Drake Equation and SETI@home can enhance the public and student understanding of the search for life in the Universe, from its roots in literature, to the development (and evolution) of the Drake Equation, to the actual search for life with SETI.

The Search for Life in the Universe: The Past Through the Future

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lebofsky, L. A.; Lebofsky, A.; Lebofsky, M.; Lebofsky, N. R.

2003-05-01

``Are we alone?'' This is a question that has been asked by humans for thousands of years. More than any other topic in science, the search for life in the Universe has captured the imagination. Now, for the first time in history, we are on the verge of answering this question. The search for life beyond the Earth can be seen as far back as the 17th century writings of Bishops F. Godwin and J. Wilkins and S. Cyrano de Bergerac to the early 20th century's H. G. Wells. From a scientific perspective, this search led to the formulation of the Drake Equation which in turn has led to a number of projects that are searching for signs of intelligent life beyond the Earth, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. SETI@home reaches millions of users, including thousands of K-12 teachers across the nation. We are developing a project that will enhance the SETI@home web site located at UC Berkeley. The project unites the resources of the SETI@home distributed computing community web site, university settings, and informal science learning centers. It will reach approximately 100,000 learners. The goal is to increase public understanding of math and science and to create and strengthen the connections between informal and formal learning communities. We will present a variety of ways that the Drake Equation and SETI@home can enhance the public and student understanding of the search for life in the Universe, from its roots in literature, to the development (and evolution) of the Drake Equation, to the actual search for life with SETI.

[The application of Delphi method in improving the score table for the hygienic quantifying and classification of hotels].

PubMed

Wang, Zi-yun; Liu, Yong-quan; Wang, Hong-bo; Zheng, Yang; Wu, Qi; Yang, Xia; Wu, Yong-wei; Zhao, Yi-ming

2009-04-01

By means of Delphi method and expert panel consultations, to choose suitable indicators and improve the score table for classifying the hygienic condition of hotels so that it can be widely used at nationwide. A two-round Delphi consultation was held to choose suitable indicators among 78 experts from 18 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions. The suitable indicators were selected according to the importance recognized by experts. The average length of service in public health of the experts was (21.08 +/- 5.78) years and the average coefficient of experts' authorities C(r) was 0.89 +/- 0.07. The response rates of the two-round consultation were 98.72% (77/78) and 100.00% (77/77). The average feedback time were (8.49 +/- 4.48) d, (5.86 +/- 2.28) d, and the difference between two rounds was statistically significant (t = 4.60, P < 0.01). Kendall's coefficient were 0.26 (chi(2) = 723.63, P < 0.01), 0.32 (chi(2) = 635.65, P < 0.01) and opinions among experts became consistent. The score table for the hygienic quantifying and classification of hotels was composed of three first-class indicators (hygienic management, hygienic facilities and hygienic practices) and 36 second-class indicators. The weight coefficients of the three first-class indicators were 0.35, 0.34, 0.31. Delphi method might be used in a large-scale consultation among experts and be propitious to improve the score table for the hygienic quantifying and classification.

The isolation of low frequency impact sounds in hotel construction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

LoVerde, John J.; Dong, David W.

2002-11-01

One of the design challenges in the acoustical design of hotels is reducing low frequency sounds from footfalls occurring on both carpeted and hard-surfaced floors. Research on low frequency impact noise [W. Blazier and R. DuPree, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 96, 1521-1532 (1994)] resulted in a conclusion that in wood construction low frequency impact sounds were clearly audible and that feasible control methods were not available. The results of numerous FIIC (Field Impact Insulation Class) measurements performed in accordance with ASTM E1007 indicate the lack of correlation between FIIC ratings and the reaction of occupants in the room below. The measurements presented include FIIC ratings and sound pressure level measurements below the ASTM E1007 low frequency limit of 100 Hertz, and reveal that excessive sound levels in the frequency range of 63 to 100 Hertz correlate with occupant complaints. Based upon this history, a tentative criterion for maximum impact sound level in the low frequency range is presented. The results presented of modifying existing constructions to reduce the transmission of impact sounds at low frequencies indicate that there may be practical solutions to this longstanding problem.

Professional Development for Technology-Enhanced Inquiry Science

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gerard, Libby F.; Varma, Keisha; Corliss, Stephanie B.; Linn, Marcia C.

2011-01-01

The knowledge integration framework is used to analyze studies on professional development in technology-enhanced science involving more than 2,350 teachers and 138,0000 students. The question of how professional development enhances teachers' support for students' inquiry science learning is the focus of the work. A literature search using the…

Wheelchairmanship Project. A Program to Educate Personnel in the Transportation, Hotel and Restaurant, and Entertainment Industries in Improved Techniques for Serving Disabled People. Final Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, Anita P.; And Others

In a project designed to train customer service personnel in improved methods of assisting the physically disabled, audio-visual training materials were developed and presented during 2-week courses involving 1,058 employees at transportation, hotel/restaurant, and entertainment centers in 25 cities. The participants judged the training program…

The wisdom of crowds for visual search

PubMed Central

Juni, Mordechai Z.; Eckstein, Miguel P.

2017-01-01

Decision-making accuracy typically increases through collective integration of people’s judgments into group decisions, a phenomenon known as the wisdom of crowds. For simple perceptual laboratory tasks, classic signal detection theory specifies the upper limit for collective integration benefits obtained by weighted averaging of people’s confidences, and simple majority voting can often approximate that limit. Life-critical perceptual decisions often involve searching large image data (e.g., medical, security, and aerial imagery), but the expected benefits and merits of using different pooling algorithms are unknown for such tasks. Here, we show that expected pooling benefits are significantly greater for visual search than for single-location perceptual tasks and the prediction given by classic signal detection theory. In addition, we show that simple majority voting obtains inferior accuracy benefits for visual search relative to averaging and weighted averaging of observers’ confidences. Analysis of gaze behavior across observers suggests that the greater collective integration benefits for visual search arise from an interaction between the foveated properties of the human visual system (high foveal acuity and low peripheral acuity) and observers’ nonexhaustive search patterns, and can be predicted by an extended signal detection theory framework with trial to trial sampling from a varying mixture of high and low target detectabilities across observers (SDT-MIX). These findings advance our theoretical understanding of how to predict and enhance the wisdom of crowds for real world search tasks and could apply more generally to any decision-making task for which the minority of group members with high expertise varies from decision to decision. PMID:28490500

Efficient protein structure search using indexing methods

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Understanding functions of proteins is one of the most important challenges in many studies of biological processes. The function of a protein can be predicted by analyzing the functions of structurally similar proteins, thus finding structurally similar proteins accurately and efficiently from a large set of proteins is crucial. A protein structure can be represented as a vector by 3D-Zernike Descriptor (3DZD) which compactly represents the surface shape of the protein tertiary structure. This simplified representation accelerates the searching process. However, computing the similarity of two protein structures is still computationally expensive, thus it is hard to efficiently process many simultaneous requests of structurally similar protein search. This paper proposes indexing techniques which substantially reduce the search time to find structurally similar proteins. In particular, we first exploit two indexing techniques, i.e., iDistance and iKernel, on the 3DZDs. After that, we extend the techniques to further improve the search speed for protein structures. The extended indexing techniques build and utilize an reduced index constructed from the first few attributes of 3DZDs of protein structures. To retrieve top-k similar structures, top-10 × k similar structures are first found using the reduced index, and top-k structures are selected among them. We also modify the indexing techniques to support θ-based nearest neighbor search, which returns data points less than θ to the query point. The results show that both iDistance and iKernel significantly enhance the searching speed. In top-k nearest neighbor search, the searching time is reduced 69.6%, 77%, 77.4% and 87.9%, respectively using iDistance, iKernel, the extended iDistance, and the extended iKernel. In θ-based nearest neighbor serach, the searching time is reduced 80%, 81%, 95.6% and 95.6% using iDistance, iKernel, the extended iDistance, and the extended iKernel, respectively. PMID:23691543

Efficient protein structure search using indexing methods.

PubMed

Kim, Sungchul; Sael, Lee; Yu, Hwanjo

2013-01-01

Understanding functions of proteins is one of the most important challenges in many studies of biological processes. The function of a protein can be predicted by analyzing the functions of structurally similar proteins, thus finding structurally similar proteins accurately and efficiently from a large set of proteins is crucial. A protein structure can be represented as a vector by 3D-Zernike Descriptor (3DZD) which compactly represents the surface shape of the protein tertiary structure. This simplified representation accelerates the searching process. However, computing the similarity of two protein structures is still computationally expensive, thus it is hard to efficiently process many simultaneous requests of structurally similar protein search. This paper proposes indexing techniques which substantially reduce the search time to find structurally similar proteins. In particular, we first exploit two indexing techniques, i.e., iDistance and iKernel, on the 3DZDs. After that, we extend the techniques to further improve the search speed for protein structures. The extended indexing techniques build and utilize an reduced index constructed from the first few attributes of 3DZDs of protein structures. To retrieve top-k similar structures, top-10 × k similar structures are first found using the reduced index, and top-k structures are selected among them. We also modify the indexing techniques to support θ-based nearest neighbor search, which returns data points less than θ to the query point. The results show that both iDistance and iKernel significantly enhance the searching speed. In top-k nearest neighbor search, the searching time is reduced 69.6%, 77%, 77.4% and 87.9%, respectively using iDistance, iKernel, the extended iDistance, and the extended iKernel. In θ-based nearest neighbor serach, the searching time is reduced 80%, 81%, 95.6% and 95.6% using iDistance, iKernel, the extended iDistance, and the extended iKernel, respectively.

Dynamics of the job search process: developing and testing a mediated moderation model.

PubMed

Sun, Shuhua; Song, Zhaoli; Lim, Vivien K G

2013-09-01

Taking a self-regulatory perspective, we develop a mediated moderation model explaining how within-person changes in job search efficacy and chronic regulatory focus interactively affect the number of job interview offers and whether job search effort mediates the cross-level interactive effects. A sample of 184 graduating college students provided monthly reports of their job search activities over a period of 8 months. Findings supported the hypothesized relationships. Specifically, at the within-person level, job search efficacy was positively related with the number of interview offers for job seekers with strong prevention focus and negatively related with the number of interview offers for job seekers with strong promotion focus. Results show that job search effort mediated the moderated relationships. Findings enhance understandings of the complex self-regulatory processes underlying job search. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved

External Validation of the Simple Clinical Score and the HOTEL Score, Two Scores for Predicting Short-Term Mortality after Admission to an Acute Medical Unit

PubMed Central

Stræde, Mia; Brabrand, Mikkel

2014-01-01

Background Clinical scores can be of aid to predict early mortality after admission to a medical admission unit. A developed scoring system needs to be externally validated to minimise the risk of the discriminatory power and calibration to be falsely elevated. We performed the present study with the objective of validating the Simple Clinical Score (SCS) and the HOTEL score, two existing risk stratification systems that predict mortality for medical patients based solely on clinical information, but not only vital signs. Methods Pre-planned prospective observational cohort study. Setting Danish 460-bed regional teaching hospital. Findings We included 3046 consecutive patients from 2 October 2008 until 19 February 2009. 26 (0.9%) died within one calendar day and 196 (6.4%) died within 30 days. We calculated SCS for 1080 patients. We found an AUROC of 0.960 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.932 to 0.988) for 24-hours mortality and 0.826 (95% CI, 0.774–0.879) for 30-day mortality, and goodness-of-fit test, χ2 = 2.68 (10 degrees of freedom), P = 0.998 and χ2 = 4.00, P = 0.947, respectively. We included 1470 patients when calculating the HOTEL score. Discriminatory power (AUROC) was 0.931 (95% CI, 0.901–0.962) for 24-hours mortality and goodness-of-fit test, χ2 = 5.56 (10 degrees of freedom), P = 0.234. Conclusion We find that both the SCS and HOTEL scores showed an excellent to outstanding ability in identifying patients at high risk of dying with good or acceptable precision. PMID:25144186

Branching Search

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Eliazar, Iddo

2017-12-01

Search processes play key roles in various scientific fields. A widespread and effective search-process scheme, which we term Restart Search, is based on the following restart algorithm: i) set a timer and initiate a search task; ii) if the task was completed before the timer expired, then stop; iii) if the timer expired before the task was completed, then go back to the first step and restart the search process anew. In this paper a branching feature is added to the restart algorithm: at every transition from the algorithm's third step to its first step branching takes place, thus multiplying the search effort. This branching feature yields a search-process scheme which we term Branching Search. The running time of Branching Search is analyzed, closed-form results are established, and these results are compared to the coresponding running-time results of Restart Search.

Modulation of neuronal responses during covert search for visual feature conjunctions

PubMed Central

Buracas, Giedrius T.; Albright, Thomas D.

2009-01-01

While searching for an object in a visual scene, an observer's attentional focus and eye movements are often guided by information about object features and spatial locations. Both spatial and feature-specific attention are known to modulate neuronal responses in visual cortex, but little is known of the dynamics and interplay of these mechanisms as visual search progresses. To address this issue, we recorded from directionally selective cells in visual area MT of monkeys trained to covertly search for targets defined by a unique conjunction of color and motion features and to signal target detection with an eye movement to the putative target. Two patterns of response modulation were observed. One pattern consisted of enhanced responses to targets presented in the receptive field (RF). These modulations occurred at the end-stage of search and were more potent during correct target identification than during erroneous saccades to a distractor in RF, thus suggesting that this modulation is not a mere presaccadic enhancement. A second pattern of modulation was observed when RF stimuli were nontargets that shared a feature with the target. The latter effect was observed during early stages of search and is consistent with a global feature-specific mechanism. This effect often terminated before target identification, thus suggesting that it interacts with spatial attention. This modulation was exhibited not only for motion but also for color cue, although MT neurons are known to be insensitive to color. Such cue-invariant attentional effects may contribute to a feature binding mechanism acting across visual dimensions. PMID:19805385

Modulation of neuronal responses during covert search for visual feature conjunctions.

PubMed

Buracas, Giedrius T; Albright, Thomas D

2009-09-29

While searching for an object in a visual scene, an observer's attentional focus and eye movements are often guided by information about object features and spatial locations. Both spatial and feature-specific attention are known to modulate neuronal responses in visual cortex, but little is known of the dynamics and interplay of these mechanisms as visual search progresses. To address this issue, we recorded from directionally selective cells in visual area MT of monkeys trained to covertly search for targets defined by a unique conjunction of color and motion features and to signal target detection with an eye movement to the putative target. Two patterns of response modulation were observed. One pattern consisted of enhanced responses to targets presented in the receptive field (RF). These modulations occurred at the end-stage of search and were more potent during correct target identification than during erroneous saccades to a distractor in RF, thus suggesting that this modulation is not a mere presaccadic enhancement. A second pattern of modulation was observed when RF stimuli were nontargets that shared a feature with the target. The latter effect was observed during early stages of search and is consistent with a global feature-specific mechanism. This effect often terminated before target identification, thus suggesting that it interacts with spatial attention. This modulation was exhibited not only for motion but also for color cue, although MT neurons are known to be insensitive to color. Such cue-invariant attentional effects may contribute to a feature binding mechanism acting across visual dimensions.

Facilitated Protein Association via Engineered Target Search Pathways Visualized by Paramagnetic NMR Spectroscopy.

PubMed

An, So Young; Kim, Eun-Hee; Suh, Jeong-Yong

2018-06-05

Proteins assemble to form functional complexes via the progressive evolution of nonspecific complexes formed by transient encounters. This target search process generally involves multiple routes that lead the initial encounters to the final complex. In this study, we have employed NMR paramagnetic relaxation enhancement to visualize the encounter complexes between histidine-containing phosphocarrier protein and the N-terminal domain of enzyme I and demonstrate that protein association can be significantly enhanced by engineering on-pathways. Specifically, mutations in surface charges away from the binding interface can elicit new on-pathway encounter complexes, increasing their binding affinity by an order of magnitude. The structure of these encounter complexes indicates that such on-pathways extend the built-in target search process of the native protein complex. Furthermore, blocking on-pathways by countering mutations reverts their binding affinity. Our study thus illustrates that protein interactions can be engineered by rewiring the target search process. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Development of desiccant based air conditioning for hotels and motels. Final report, phase 1

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Banks, N.J.

1994-10-01

This report contains final reports from two phases of field tests: Phase I at the Marriott Courtyard in West Palm Beach, completed in October 1991, and Phase II at the Walt Disney World Swan Hotel in Orlando, completed in August 1993. The goal was to measure the performance and reliability of the desiccant units. The successfull program proved the value of the gas-fired desiccant technology to the hospitality industry. The desiccant units reduced moisture by 15 to 20% relative humidity. Measurements of temperature, humidity, and wallboard moisture content showed a dramatic reduction in the humidity levels experienced prior to installationmore » of the units and in the control areas without desiccants. Moisture damage was kept in check and remodelling due to it was eliminated.« less

Optimized blind gamma-ray pulsar searches at fixed computing budget

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Pletsch, Holger J.; Clark, Colin J., E-mail: holger.pletsch@aei.mpg.de

The sensitivity of blind gamma-ray pulsar searches in multiple years worth of photon data, as from the Fermi LAT, is primarily limited by the finite computational resources available. Addressing this 'needle in a haystack' problem, here we present methods for optimizing blind searches to achieve the highest sensitivity at fixed computing cost. For both coherent and semicoherent methods, we consider their statistical properties and study their search sensitivity under computational constraints. The results validate a multistage strategy, where the first stage scans the entire parameter space using an efficient semicoherent method and promising candidates are then refined through a fullymore » coherent analysis. We also find that for the first stage of a blind search incoherent harmonic summing of powers is not worthwhile at fixed computing cost for typical gamma-ray pulsars. Further enhancing sensitivity, we present efficiency-improved interpolation techniques for the semicoherent search stage. Via realistic simulations we demonstrate that overall these optimizations can significantly lower the minimum detectable pulsed fraction by almost 50% at the same computational expense.« less

Aquifer-test evaluation and potential effects of increased ground-water pumpage at the Stovepipe Wells Hotel area, Death Valley National Monument, California

USGS Publications Warehouse

Woolfenden, L.R.; Martin, Peter; Baharie, Brian

1988-01-01

Ground-water use in the Stovepipe Wells Hotel area in Death Valley National Monument is expected to increase significantly if the nonpotable, as well as potable, water supply is treated by reverse osmosis. During the peak tourist season, October through March, ground-water pumpage could increase by 37,500 gallons per day, or 76%. The effects of this additional pumpage on water levels in the area, particularly near a strand of phreatophytes about 10,000 feet east of the well field, are of concern. In order to evaluate the effects of increased pumpage on water levels in the Stovepipe Wells Hotel area well field, two aquifer tests were performed at the well field to determine the transmissivity and storage coefficients of the aquifer. Analysis of the aquifer test determined that a transmissivity of 1,360 feet squared per day was representative of the aquifer. The estimated value of transmissivity and the storage-coefficient values that are representative of confined (1.2 x .0004) and unconfined (0.25) conditions were used in the Theis equation to calculate the additional drawdown that might occur after 1, 10, and 50 years of increased pumpage. The drawdown calculated by using the lower storage-coefficient value represents the maximum additional drawdown that might be expected from the assumed increase in pumpage; the drawdown calculated by using the higher storage-coefficient value represents the minimum additional drawdown. Calculated additional drawdowns after 50 years of pumping range from 7.8 feet near the pumped well to 2.4 feet at the phreatophyte stand assuming confined conditions, and from 5.7 feet near the pumped well to 0.3 foot at the phreatophyte stand assuming unconfined conditions. Actual drawdowns probably will be somewhere between these values. Drawdowns measured in observation wells during 1973-85, in response to an average pumpage of 34,200 gallons per day at the Stovepipe Wells Hotel well field, are similar to the drawdowns calculated by the Theis

Search Algorithms as a Framework for the Optimization of Drug Combinations

PubMed Central

Coquin, Laurence; Schofield, Jennifer; Feala, Jacob D.; Reed, John C.; McCulloch, Andrew D.; Paternostro, Giovanni

2008-01-01

Combination therapies are often needed for effective clinical outcomes in the management of complex diseases, but presently they are generally based on empirical clinical experience. Here we suggest a novel application of search algorithms—originally developed for digital communication—modified to optimize combinations of therapeutic interventions. In biological experiments measuring the restoration of the decline with age in heart function and exercise capacity in Drosophila melanogaster, we found that search algorithms correctly identified optimal combinations of four drugs using only one-third of the tests performed in a fully factorial search. In experiments identifying combinations of three doses of up to six drugs for selective killing of human cancer cells, search algorithms resulted in a highly significant enrichment of selective combinations compared with random searches. In simulations using a network model of cell death, we found that the search algorithms identified the optimal combinations of 6–9 interventions in 80–90% of tests, compared with 15–30% for an equivalent random search. These findings suggest that modified search algorithms from information theory have the potential to enhance the discovery of novel therapeutic drug combinations. This report also helps to frame a biomedical problem that will benefit from an interdisciplinary effort and suggests a general strategy for its solution. PMID:19112483

41. DISCOVERY, SEARCH, AND COMMUNICATION OF TEXTUAL KNOWLEDGE RESOURCES IN DISTRIBUTED SYSTEMS a. Discovering and Utilizing Knowledge Sources for Metasearch Knowledge Systems

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zamora, Antonio

Advanced Natural Language Processing Tools for Web Information Retrieval, Content Analysis, and Synthesis. The goal of this SBIR was to implement and evaluate several advanced Natural Language Processing (NLP) tools and techniques to enhance the precision and relevance of search results by analyzing and augmenting search queries and by helping to organize the search output obtained from heterogeneous databases and web pages containing textual information of interest to DOE and the scientific-technical user communities in general. The SBIR investigated 1) the incorporation of spelling checkers in search applications, 2) identification of significant phrases and concepts using a combination of linguisticmore » and statistical techniques, and 3) enhancement of the query interface and search retrieval results through the use of semantic resources, such as thesauri. A search program with a flexible query interface was developed to search reference databases with the objective of enhancing search results from web queries or queries of specialized search systems such as DOE's Information Bridge. The DOE ETDE/INIS Joint Thesaurus was processed to create a searchable database. Term frequencies and term co-occurrences were used to enhance the web information retrieval by providing algorithmically-derived objective criteria to organize relevant documents into clusters containing significant terms. A thesaurus provides an authoritative overview and classification of a field of knowledge. By organizing the results of a search using the thesaurus terminology, the output is more meaningful than when the results are just organized based on the terms that co-occur in the retrieved documents, some of which may not be significant. An attempt was made to take advantage of the hierarchy provided by broader and narrower terms, as well as other field-specific information in the thesauri. The search program uses linguistic morphological routines to find relevant entries regardless of

A SYSTEMATIC SEARCH FOR THE SPECTRA WITH FEATURES OF CRYSTALLINE SILICATES IN THE SPITZER IRS ENHANCED PRODUCTS

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Chen, Rui; Luo, Ali; Liu, Jiaming

2016-06-01

The crystalline silicate features are mainly reflected in infrared bands. The Spitzer Infrared Spectrograph (IRS) collected numerous spectra of various objects and provided a big database to investigate crystalline silicates in a wide range of astronomical environments. We apply the manifold ranking algorithm to perform a systematic search for the spectra with crystalline silicate features in the Spitzer IRS Enhanced Products available. In total, 868 spectra of 790 sources are found to show the features of crystalline silicates. These objects are cross-matched with the SIMBAD database as well as with the Large Sky Area Multi-object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST)/DR2. Themore » average spectrum of young stellar objects shows a variety of features dominated either by forsterite or enstatite or neither, while the average spectrum of evolved objects consistently present dominant features of forsterite in AGB, OH/IR, post-AGB, and planetary nebulae. They are identified optically as early-type stars, evolved stars, galaxies and so on. In addition, the strength of spectral features in typical silicate complexes is calculated. The results are available through CDS for the astronomical community to further study crystalline silicates.« less

Measurements of the Stiffness and Thickness of the Pavement Asphalt Layer Using the Enhanced Resonance Search Method

PubMed Central

Zakaria, Nur Mustakiza; Yusoff, Nur Izzi Md.; Hardwiyono, Sentot; Mohd Nayan, Khairul Anuar

2014-01-01

Enhanced resonance search (ERS) is a nondestructive testing method that has been created to evaluate the quality of a pavement by means of a special instrument called the pavement integrity scanner (PiScanner). This technique can be used to assess the thickness of the road pavement structure and the profile of shear wave velocity by using the principle of surface wave and body wave propagation. In this study, the ERS technique was used to determine the actual thickness of the asphaltic pavement surface layer, while the shear wave velocities obtained were used to determine its dynamic elastic modulus. A total of fifteen locations were identified and the results were then compared with the specifications of the Malaysian PWD, MDD UKM, and IKRAM. It was found that the value of the elastic modulus of materials is between 3929 MPa and 17726 MPa. A comparison of the average thickness of the samples with the design thickness of MDD UKM showed a difference of 20 to 60%. Thickness of the asphalt surface layer followed the specifications of Malaysian PWD and MDD UKM, while some of the values of stiffness obtained are higher than the standard. PMID:25276854

Measurements of the stiffness and thickness of the pavement asphalt layer using the enhanced resonance search method.

PubMed

Zakaria, Nur Mustakiza; Yusoff, Nur Izzi Md; Hardwiyono, Sentot; Nayan, Khairul Anuar Mohd; El-Shafie, Ahmed

2014-01-01

Enhanced resonance search (ERS) is a nondestructive testing method that has been created to evaluate the quality of a pavement by means of a special instrument called the pavement integrity scanner (PiScanner). This technique can be used to assess the thickness of the road pavement structure and the profile of shear wave velocity by using the principle of surface wave and body wave propagation. In this study, the ERS technique was used to determine the actual thickness of the asphaltic pavement surface layer, while the shear wave velocities obtained were used to determine its dynamic elastic modulus. A total of fifteen locations were identified and the results were then compared with the specifications of the Malaysian PWD, MDD UKM, and IKRAM. It was found that the value of the elastic modulus of materials is between 3929 MPa and 17726 MPa. A comparison of the average thickness of the samples with the design thickness of MDD UKM showed a difference of 20 to 60%. Thickness of the asphalt surface layer followed the specifications of Malaysian PWD and MDD UKM, while some of the values of stiffness obtained are higher than the standard.

Trends in workers compensation costs in a hotel-operating company over a six-year period.

PubMed

Kelley, C R; Mark, C R

1995-03-01

A large Honolulu-based hotel-operating company reviewed its workers compensation costs over the last 6 years. Data retrieved from the company's computerized data base is used to describe trends in injury incidence rate, average cost per claim, average medical cost per claim, and medical expenses as a percentage of total costs. Factors that might have influenced these parameters include company reorganization, employee training and safety programs, changes in the economy, company morale, aggressive case management, and the quality of the adjusting services hired. Cause-and-effect relationships, although suggested, cannot be proven. The data is presented, in this year of imminent workers compensation legislative reform, to increase the available factual data base on which rational and efficacious reform proposals can be developed.

Real-time sound speed correction using golden section search to enhance ultrasound imaging quality

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yoon, Chong Ook; Yoon, Changhan; Yoo, Yangmo; Song, Tai-Kyong; Chang, Jin Ho

2013-03-01

In medical ultrasound imaging, high-performance beamforming is important to enhance spatial and contrast resolutions. A modern receive dynamic beamfomer uses a constant sound speed that is typically assumed to 1540 m/s in generating receive focusing delays [1], [2]. However, this assumption leads to degradation of spatial and contrast resolutions particularly when imaging obese patients or breast since the sound speed is significantly lower than the assumed sound speed [3]; the true sound speed in the fatty tissue is around 1450 m/s. In our previous study, it was demonstrated that the modified nonlinear anisotropic diffusion is capable of determining an optimal sound speed and the proposed method is a useful tool to improve ultrasound image quality [4], [5]. In the previous study, however, we utilized at least 21 iterations to find an optimal sound speed, which may not be viable for real-time applications. In this paper, we demonstrates that the number of iterations can be dramatically reduced using the GSS(golden section search) method with a minimal error. To evaluate performances of the proposed method, in vitro experiments were conducted with a tissue mimicking phantom. To emulate a heterogeneous medium, the phantom was immersed in the water. From the experiments, the number of iterations was reduced from 21 to 7 with GSS method and the maximum error of the lateral resolution between direct and GSS was less than 1%. These results indicate that the proposed method can be implemented in real time to improve the image quality in the medical ultrasound imaging.

Real-time Author Co-citation Mapping for Online Searching.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lin, Xia; White, Howard D.; Buzydlowski, Jan

2003-01-01

Describes the design and implementation of a prototype visualization system, AuthorLink, to enhance author searching. AuthorLink is based on author co-citation analysis and visualization mapping algorithms. AuthorLink produces interactive author maps in real time from a database of 1.26 million records supplied by the Institute for Scientific…

The State of Western Research on Soviet Military Strategy and Policy.

DTIC Science & Technology

1984-10-01

34 Ritz - Carlton theory," which speculates about the sort of caricature untutored Soviet analysts 41 might form of the American "threat" were they to be...was that offered some years ago by the late Senator Henry Jackson, who likened the USSR to a hotel thief prowling the hallways in search of unlocked...when it took me over an hour to pay my hotel bill--to people who wanted my money! 2 ’After the event, Brezhnev recounted that one major concern among the

Metadata Creation, Management and Search System for your Scientific Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Devarakonda, R.; Palanisamy, G.

2012-12-01

Mercury Search Systems is a set of tools for creating, searching, and retrieving of biogeochemical metadata. Mercury toolset provides orders of magnitude improvements in search speed, support for any metadata format, integration with Google Maps for spatial queries, multi-facetted type search, search suggestions, support for RSS (Really Simple Syndication) delivery of search results, and enhanced customization to meet the needs of the multiple projects that use Mercury. Mercury's metadata editor provides a easy way for creating metadata and Mercury's search interface provides a single portal to search for data and information contained in disparate data management systems, each of which may use any metadata format including FGDC, ISO-19115, Dublin-Core, Darwin-Core, DIF, ECHO, and EML. Mercury harvests metadata and key data from contributing project servers distributed around the world and builds a centralized index. The search interfaces then allow the users to perform a variety of fielded, spatial, and temporal searches across these metadata sources. This centralized repository of metadata with distributed data sources provides extremely fast search results to the user, while allowing data providers to advertise the availability of their data and maintain complete control and ownership of that data. Mercury is being used more than 14 different projects across 4 federal agencies. It was originally developed for NASA, with continuing development funded by NASA, USGS, and DOE for a consortium of projects. Mercury search won the NASA's Earth Science Data Systems Software Reuse Award in 2008. References: R. Devarakonda, G. Palanisamy, B.E. Wilson, and J.M. Green, "Mercury: reusable metadata management data discovery and access system", Earth Science Informatics, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 87-94, May 2010. R. Devarakonda, G. Palanisamy, J.M. Green, B.E. Wilson, "Data sharing and retrieval using OAI-PMH", Earth Science Informatics DOI: 10.1007/s12145-010-0073-0, (2010);

Different predictors of multiple-target search accuracy between nonprofessional and professional visual searchers.

PubMed

Biggs, Adam T; Mitroff, Stephen R

2014-01-01

Visual search, locating target items among distractors, underlies daily activities ranging from critical tasks (e.g., looking for dangerous objects during security screening) to commonplace ones (e.g., finding your friends in a crowded bar). Both professional and nonprofessional individuals conduct visual searches, and the present investigation is aimed at understanding how they perform similarly and differently. We administered a multiple-target visual search task to both professional (airport security officers) and nonprofessional participants (members of the Duke University community) to determine how search abilities differ between these populations and what factors might predict accuracy. There were minimal overall accuracy differences, although the professionals were generally slower to respond. However, the factors that predicted accuracy varied drastically between groups; variability in search consistency-how similarly an individual searched from trial to trial in terms of speed-best explained accuracy for professional searchers (more consistent professionals were more accurate), whereas search speed-how long an individual took to complete a search when no targets were present-best explained accuracy for nonprofessional searchers (slower nonprofessionals were more accurate). These findings suggest that professional searchers may utilize different search strategies from those of nonprofessionals, and that search consistency, in particular, may provide a valuable tool for enhancing professional search accuracy.

Conceptual search in electronic patient record.

PubMed

Baud, R H; Lovis, C; Ruch, P; Rassinoux, A M

2001-01-01

Search by content in a large corpus of free texts in the medical domain is, today, only partially solved. The so-called GREP approach (Get Regular Expression and Print), based on highly efficient string matching techniques, is subject to inherent limitations, especially its inability to recognize domain specific knowledge. Such methods oblige the user to formulate his or her query in a logical Boolean style; if this constraint is not fulfilled, the results are poor. The authors present an enhancement to string matching search by the addition of a light conceptual model behind the word lexicon. The new system accepts any sentence as a query and radically improves the quality of results. Efficiency regarding execution time is obtained at the expense of implementing advanced indexing algorithms in a pre-processing phase. The method is described and commented and a brief account of the results illustrates this paper.

Searching for Axionlike Particles with Ultraperipheral Heavy-Ion Collisions.

PubMed

Knapen, Simon; Lin, Tongyan; Lou, Hou Keong; Melia, Tom

2017-04-28

We show that ultraperipheral heavy-ion collisions at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) can be used to search for axionlike particles with mass below 100 GeV. The Z^{4} enhanced photon-photon luminosity from the ions provides a large exclusive production rate, with a signature of a resonant pair of back-to-back photons and no other activity in the detector. In addition, we present both new and updated limits from recasting multiphoton searches at LEP II and the LHC, which are more stringent than those currently in the literature for the mass range 100 MeV to 100 GeV.

A flexible scintillation light apparatus for rare events searches

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gironi, L.; Baldazzi, G.; Bonvicini, V.; Campana, R.; Capelli, S.; Evangelista, Y.; Fasoli, M.; Feroci, M.; Fuschino, F.; Labanti, C.; Marisaldi, M.; Previtali, E.; Riganese, L.; Rashevsky, A.; Sisti, M.; Vacchi, A.; Vedda, A.; Zampa, G.; Zampa, N.; Zuffa, M.

2016-05-01

FLARES (a Flexible scintillation Light Apparatus for Rare Event Searches) is a project for an innovative detector technology to be applied to rare event searches, and in particular to neutrinoless double beta decay experiments. Its novelty is the enhancement and optimization of the collection of the scintillation light emitted by ultra-pure crystals through the use of arrays of high performance silicon photodetectors cooled to 120 K. This would provide scintillation detectors with ~1% level energy resolution, with the advantages of a technology offering relatively simple low cost mass scalability and powerful background reduction handles, as requested by future neutrinoless double beta decay experimental programs.

End-user search behaviors and their relationship to search effectiveness.

PubMed Central

Wildemuth, B M; Moore, M E

1995-01-01

One hundred sixty-one MEDLINE searches conducted by third-year medical students were analyzed and evaluated to determine which search moves were used, whether those individual moves were effective, and whether there was a relationship between specific search behaviors and the effectiveness of the search strategy as a whole. The typical search included fourteen search statements, used seven terms or "limit" commands, and resulted in the display of eleven citations. The most common moves were selection of a database, entering single-word terms and free-text term phrases, and combining sets of terms. Syntactic errors were also common. Overall, librarians judged the searches to be adequate, and students were quite satisfied with their own searches. However, librarians also identified many missed opportunities in the search strategies, including underutilization of the controlled vocabulary, subheadings, and synonyms for search concepts. No strong relationships were found between specific search behaviors and search effectiveness (as measured by the librarians' or students' evaluations). Implications of these findings for system design and user education are discussed. PMID:7581185

The Gaze of the Perfect Search Engine: Google as an Infrastructure of Dataveillance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zimmer, M.

Web search engines have emerged as a ubiquitous and vital tool for the successful navigation of the growing online informational sphere. The goal of the world's largest search engine, Google, is to "organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful" and to create the "perfect search engine" that provides only intuitive, personalized, and relevant results. While intended to enhance intellectual mobility in the online sphere, this chapter reveals that the quest for the perfect search engine requires the widespread monitoring and aggregation of a users' online personal and intellectual activities, threatening the values the perfect search engines were designed to sustain. It argues that these search-based infrastructures of dataveillance contribute to a rapidly emerging "soft cage" of everyday digital surveillance, where they, like other dataveillance technologies before them, contribute to the curtailing of individual freedom, affect users' sense of self, and present issues of deep discrimination and social justice.

Peer teaching and information retrieval: the role of the NICE Evidence search student champion scheme in enhancing students' confidence.

PubMed

Sbaffi, Laura; Hallsworth, Elaine; Weist, Anne

2018-03-01

This research reports on the NICE Evidence search (ES) student champion scheme (SCS) first five years of activity (2011-2016) in terms of its impact on health care undergraduate students' information search skills and search confidence. A review of students' evaluation of the scheme was carried out to chart the changes in attitude towards NICE Evidence search as an online health care information source and to monitor students' approach to information seeking. This study is based on the results of questionnaires distributed to students before and after attending a training session on NICE Evidence search delivered by their own peers. The exercise was implemented in health related universities in England over a period of five consecutive academic years. (i) Students' search confidence improved considerably after the training; (ii) ES was perceived as being an increasingly useful resource of evidence based information for their studies; (iii) the training helped students develop discerning search skills and use evidence based information sources more consistently and critically. The NICE SCS improves confidence in approaching information tasks amongst health care undergraduate students. Future developments could involve offering the training at the onset of a course of study and adopting online delivery formats to expand its geographical reach. © 2018 Health Libraries Group.

Collection of Medical Original Data with Search Engine for Decision Support.

PubMed

Orthuber, Wolfgang

2016-01-01

Medicine is becoming more and more complex and humans can capture total medical knowledge only partially. For specific access a high resolution search engine is demonstrated, which allows besides conventional text search also search of precise quantitative data of medical findings, therapies and results. Users can define metric spaces ("Domain Spaces", DSs) with all searchable quantitative data ("Domain Vectors", DSs). An implementation of the search engine is online in http://numericsearch.com. In future medicine the doctor could make first a rough diagnosis and check which fine diagnostics (quantitative data) colleagues had collected in such a case. Then the doctor decides about fine diagnostics and results are sent (half automatically) to the search engine which filters a group of patients which best fits to these data. In this specific group variable therapies can be checked with associated therapeutic results, like in an individual scientific study for the current patient. The statistical (anonymous) results could be used for specific decision support. Reversely the therapeutic decision (in the best case with later results) could be used to enhance the collection of precise pseudonymous medical original data which is used for better and better statistical (anonymous) search results.

Improvement in visual search with practice: mapping learning-related changes in neurocognitive stages of processing.

PubMed

Clark, Kait; Appelbaum, L Gregory; van den Berg, Berry; Mitroff, Stephen R; Woldorff, Marty G

2015-04-01

Practice can improve performance on visual search tasks; the neural mechanisms underlying such improvements, however, are not clear. Response time typically shortens with practice, but which components of the stimulus-response processing chain facilitate this behavioral change? Improved search performance could result from enhancements in various cognitive processing stages, including (1) sensory processing, (2) attentional allocation, (3) target discrimination, (4) motor-response preparation, and/or (5) response execution. We measured event-related potentials (ERPs) as human participants completed a five-day visual-search protocol in which they reported the orientation of a color popout target within an array of ellipses. We assessed changes in behavioral performance and in ERP components associated with various stages of processing. After practice, response time decreased in all participants (while accuracy remained consistent), and electrophysiological measures revealed modulation of several ERP components. First, amplitudes of the early sensory-evoked N1 component at 150 ms increased bilaterally, indicating enhanced visual sensory processing of the array. Second, the negative-polarity posterior-contralateral component (N2pc, 170-250 ms) was earlier and larger, demonstrating enhanced attentional orienting. Third, the amplitude of the sustained posterior contralateral negativity component (SPCN, 300-400 ms) decreased, indicating facilitated target discrimination. Finally, faster motor-response preparation and execution were observed after practice, as indicated by latency changes in both the stimulus-locked and response-locked lateralized readiness potentials (LRPs). These electrophysiological results delineate the functional plasticity in key mechanisms underlying visual search with high temporal resolution and illustrate how practice influences various cognitive and neural processing stages leading to enhanced behavioral performance. Copyright © 2015 the

The application of hospitality elements in hospitals.

PubMed

Wu, Ziqi; Robson, Stephani; Hollis, Brooke

2013-01-01

In the last decade, many hospital designs have taken inspiration from hotels, spurred by factors such as increased patient and family expectations and regulatory or financial incentives. Increasingly, research evidence suggests the value of enhancing the physical environment to foster healing and drive consumer decisions and perceptions of service quality. Although interest is increasing in the broader applicability of numerous hospitality concepts to the healthcare field, the focus of this article is design innovations, and the services that such innovations support, from the hospitality industry. To identify physical hotel design elements and associated operational features that have been used in the healthcare arena, a series of interviews with hospital and hotel design experts were conducted. Current examples and suggestions for future hospitality elements were also sought from the experts, academic journals, and news articles. Hospitality elements applied in existing hospitals that are addressed in this article include hotel-like rooms and decor; actual hotels incorporated into medical centers; hotel-quality food, room service, and dining facilities for families; welcoming lobbies and common spaces; hospitality-oriented customer service training; enhanced service offerings, including concierges; spas or therapy centers; hotel-style signage and way-finding tools; and entertainment features. Selected elements that have potential for future incorporation include executive lounges and/or communal lobbies with complimentary wireless Internet and refreshments, centralized controls for patients, and flexible furniture. Although the findings from this study underscore the need for more hospitality-like environments in hospitals, the investment decisions made by healthcare executives must be balanced with cost-effectiveness and the assurance that clinical excellence remains the top priority.

Display format, highlight validity, and highlight method: Their effects on search performance

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Donner, Kimberly A.; Mckay, Tim D.; Obrien, Kevin M.; Rudisill, Marianne

1991-01-01

Display format and highlight validity were shown to affect visual display search performance; however, these studies were conducted on small, artificial displays of alphanumeric stimuli. A study manipulating these variables was conducted using realistic, complex Space Shuttle information displays. A 2x2x3 within-subjects analysis of variance found that search times were faster for items in reformatted displays than for current displays. Responses to valid applications of highlight were significantly faster than responses to non or invalidly highlighted applications. The significant format by highlight validity interaction showed that there was little difference in response time to both current and reformatted displays when the highlight validity was applied; however, under the non or invalid highlight conditions, search times were faster with reformatted displays. A separate within-subject analysis of variance of display format, highlight validity, and several highlight methods did not reveal a main effect of highlight method. In addition, observed display search times were compared to search time predicted by Tullis' Display Analysis Program. Benefits of highlighting and reformatting displays to enhance search and the necessity to consider highlight validity and format characteristics in tandem for predicting search performance are discussed.

[Advanced online search techniques and dedicated search engines for physicians].

PubMed

Nahum, Yoav

2008-02-01

In recent years search engines have become an essential tool in the work of physicians. This article will review advanced search techniques from the world of information specialists, as well as some advanced search engine operators that may help physicians improve their online search capabilities, and maximize the yield of their searches. This article also reviews popular dedicated scientific and biomedical literature search engines.

High activity and Levy searches: jellyfish can search the water column like fish.

PubMed

Hays, Graeme C; Bastian, Thomas; Doyle, Thomas K; Fossette, Sabrina; Gleiss, Adrian C; Gravenor, Michael B; Hobson, Victoria J; Humphries, Nicolas E; Lilley, Martin K S; Pade, Nicolas G; Sims, David W

2012-02-07

Over-fishing may lead to a decrease in fish abundance and a proliferation of jellyfish. Active movements and prey search might be thought to provide a competitive advantage for fish, but here we use data-loggers to show that the frequently occurring coastal jellyfish (Rhizostoma octopus) does not simply passively drift to encounter prey. Jellyfish (327 days of data from 25 jellyfish with depth collected every 1 min) showed very dynamic vertical movements, with their integrated vertical movement averaging 619.2 m d(-1), more than 60 times the water depth where they were tagged. The majority of movement patterns were best approximated by exponential models describing normal random walks. However, jellyfish also showed switching behaviour from exponential patterns to patterns best fitted by a truncated Lévy distribution with exponents (mean μ=1.96, range 1.2-2.9) close to the theoretical optimum for searching for sparse prey (μopt≈2.0). Complex movements in these 'simple' animals may help jellyfish to compete effectively with fish for plankton prey, which may enhance their ability to increase in dominance in perturbed ocean systems.

Efficient bibliographic searches on allergy using ISI databases.

PubMed

Sáez Gómez, J M; Annan, J W; Negro Alvarez, J M; Guillen-Grima, F; Bozzola, C M; Ivancevich, J C; Aguinaga Ontoso, E

2008-01-01

The aim of this article is to provide an introduction to using databases from the Thomson ISI Web of Knowledge, with special reference to Citation Indexes as an analysis tool for publications, and also to explain the meaning of the well-known Impact Factor. We present the partially modified new Consultation Interface to enhance information search routines of these databases. It introduces distinctive methods in search bibliography, including the correct application of analysis tools, paying particular attention to Journal Citation Reports and Impact Factor. We finish this article with comment on the consequences of using the Impact Factor as a quality indicator for the assessment of journals and publications, and how to ensure measures for indexing in the Thomson ISI Databases.

Individual treatment of hotel and restaurant waste water in rural areas.

PubMed

Van Hulle, S W H; Ghyselbrecht, N; Vermeiren, T J L; Depuydt, V; Boeckaert, C

2012-01-01

About 25 hotels, restaurants and pubs in the rural community Heuvelland are situated in the area designated for individual water treatment. In order to meet the legislation by the end of 2015, each business needs to install an individual waste water treatment system (IWTS). To study this situation, three catering businesses were selected for further research. The aim of the study was to quantify the effluent quality and to assess IWTS performance for these catering businesses. First of all, the influence of discharging untreated waste water on the receiving surface water was examined. The results showed a decrease in water quality after the discharge point at every business. With the collected data, simulations with the software WEST were performed. With this software two types of IWTSs with different (buffer) volumes were modelled and tested for each catering business. The first type is a completely mixed activated sludge reactor and the second type is a submerged aerobic fixed-bed reactor. The results of these simulations demonstrate that purification with an IWTS is possible if the capacity is large enough and if an adequate buffer volume is installed and if regular maintenance is performed.

Evidence for airborne transmission of Norwalk-like virus (NLV) in a hotel restaurant.

PubMed Central

Marks, P. J.; Vipond, I. B.; Carlisle, D.; Deakin, D.; Fey, R. E.; Caul, E. O.

2000-01-01

An outbreak of gastroenteritis followed a meal in a large hotel during which one of the diners vomited. The clinical features of the illness suggested Norwalk-like virus (NLV, small round structured virus) infection, and this was confirmed by electron microscopy and reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) of stool samples. Further characterization of the virus by nucleotide sequence analysis of the PCR amplicons revealed identical strains in all the affected individuals. The foods served at the meal could not be demonstrated to be the cause of the outbreak. Analysis of attack rates by dining table showed an inverse relationship with the distance from the person who vomited. No one eating in a separate restaurant reported illness. Transmission from person-to-person or direct contamination of food seems unlikely in this outbreak. However, the findings are consistent with airborne spread of NLV with infection by inhalation with subsequent ingestion of virus particles. PMID:10982072

Evidence for airborne transmission of Norwalk-like virus (NLV) in a hotel restaurant.

PubMed

Marks, P J; Vipond, I B; Carlisle, D; Deakin, D; Fey, R E; Caul, E O

2000-06-01

An outbreak of gastroenteritis followed a meal in a large hotel during which one of the diners vomited. The clinical features of the illness suggested Norwalk-like virus (NLV, small round structured virus) infection, and this was confirmed by electron microscopy and reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) of stool samples. Further characterization of the virus by nucleotide sequence analysis of the PCR amplicons revealed identical strains in all the affected individuals. The foods served at the meal could not be demonstrated to be the cause of the outbreak. Analysis of attack rates by dining table showed an inverse relationship with the distance from the person who vomited. No one eating in a separate restaurant reported illness. Transmission from person-to-person or direct contamination of food seems unlikely in this outbreak. However, the findings are consistent with airborne spread of NLV with infection by inhalation with subsequent ingestion of virus particles.

Currently used organophosphate flame retardants determined in the settled dust of masjids and hotels of Saudi Arabia, a new insight into human health implications of dust exposure.

PubMed

Ali, Nadeem; Ibrahim Ismail, Iqbal Mohammad; Kadi, Mohammad W; Salem Ali Albar, Hussain Mohammed

2018-05-23

Indoor settled dust particles are considered as an important source of human exposure to chemicals such as organophosphate flame retardants (PFRs). In recent decades the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) has experienced tremendous growth in population, as a result the number of masjids has also increased significantly to provide sufficient space for the public to offer prayers. The hospitality industry in KSA is also expanding to cater for the ever-increasing number of pilgrims visiting the two holy cities of the kingdom. However, limited data are available on the indoor pollution of masjids and hotels. In this study, PFRs were analyzed in the settled dust collected from various hotels and masjids of Jeddah, KSA. Tris(1,3-dichloro-2-propyl) phosphate (TDCPP) and tris(1-chloro-2-propyl) phosphate (TCPP) were the major PFRs in masjid (median = 2490 and 2055 ngg-1) and hotel (median = 2360 and 3315 ngg-1) dust, respectively. A public health risk assessment was carried out by determining the incremental lifetime cancer risk (ILCR), and daily exposure via dust ingestion, inhalation, and dermal contact of PFRs. The calculated daily exposure via dust ingestion was well below the reference dose (RfD) values, and also the calculated hazardous quotient (HQ) and carcinogenic risk were well below the risk mark. However, the ILCR for PFRs was below the reference values of USEPA, which suggested that long-term exposure to these chemicals has a limited cause for concern. The study showed that the general public is exposed to PFRs in the studied microenvironments and the major exposure routes are dermal contact and ingestion.

Children's Search Engines from an Information Search Process Perspective.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Broch, Elana

2000-01-01

Describes cognitive and affective characteristics of children and teenagers that may affect their Web searching behavior. Reviews literature on children's searching in online public access catalogs (OPACs) and using digital libraries. Profiles two Web search engines. Discusses some of the difficulties children have searching the Web, in the…

How Users Search the Library from a Single Search Box

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lown, Cory; Sierra, Tito; Boyer, Josh

2013-01-01

Academic libraries are turning increasingly to unified search solutions to simplify search and discovery of library resources. Unfortunately, very little research has been published on library user search behavior in single search box environments. This study examines how users search a large public university library using a prominent, single…

Earthdata Search Usability Study Process

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Reese, Mark

2016-01-01

User experience (UX) design is the process of enhancing user satisfaction by improving various aspects of the user's interaction with an application or website. One aspect of UX design is usability, or the extent to which an application can be used to to accomplish tasks efficiently, effectively, and with satisfaction. NASA's Earthdata Search Client recently underwent a focused usability testing project to measure usability and gain valuable user feedback and insights to increase usability for its end-users. This presentation focuses on the process by which the usability tests were administered and the lessons learned throughout the process.

MSblender: A probabilistic approach for integrating peptide identifications from multiple database search engines.

PubMed

Kwon, Taejoon; Choi, Hyungwon; Vogel, Christine; Nesvizhskii, Alexey I; Marcotte, Edward M

2011-07-01

Shotgun proteomics using mass spectrometry is a powerful method for protein identification but suffers limited sensitivity in complex samples. Integrating peptide identifications from multiple database search engines is a promising strategy to increase the number of peptide identifications and reduce the volume of unassigned tandem mass spectra. Existing methods pool statistical significance scores such as p-values or posterior probabilities of peptide-spectrum matches (PSMs) from multiple search engines after high scoring peptides have been assigned to spectra, but these methods lack reliable control of identification error rates as data are integrated from different search engines. We developed a statistically coherent method for integrative analysis, termed MSblender. MSblender converts raw search scores from search engines into a probability score for every possible PSM and properly accounts for the correlation between search scores. The method reliably estimates false discovery rates and identifies more PSMs than any single search engine at the same false discovery rate. Increased identifications increment spectral counts for most proteins and allow quantification of proteins that would not have been quantified by individual search engines. We also demonstrate that enhanced quantification contributes to improve sensitivity in differential expression analyses.

MSblender: a probabilistic approach for integrating peptide identifications from multiple database search engines

PubMed Central

Kwon, Taejoon; Choi, Hyungwon; Vogel, Christine; Nesvizhskii, Alexey I.; Marcotte, Edward M.

2011-01-01

Shotgun proteomics using mass spectrometry is a powerful method for protein identification but suffers limited sensitivity in complex samples. Integrating peptide identifications from multiple database search engines is a promising strategy to increase the number of peptide identifications and reduce the volume of unassigned tandem mass spectra. Existing methods pool statistical significance scores such as p-values or posterior probabilities of peptide-spectrum matches (PSMs) from multiple search engines after high scoring peptides have been assigned to spectra, but these methods lack reliable control of identification error rates as data are integrated from different search engines. We developed a statistically coherent method for integrative analysis, termed MSblender. MSblender converts raw search scores from search engines into a probability score for all possible PSMs and properly accounts for the correlation between search scores. The method reliably estimates false discovery rates and identifies more PSMs than any single search engine at the same false discovery rate. Increased identifications increment spectral counts for all detected proteins and allow quantification of proteins that would not have been quantified by individual search engines. We also demonstrate that enhanced quantification contributes to improve sensitivity in differential expression analyses. PMID:21488652

Evolutionary-inspired probabilistic search for enhancing sampling of local minima in the protein energy surface

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background Despite computational challenges, elucidating conformations that a protein system assumes under physiologic conditions for the purpose of biological activity is a central problem in computational structural biology. While these conformations are associated with low energies in the energy surface that underlies the protein conformational space, few existing conformational search algorithms focus on explicitly sampling low-energy local minima in the protein energy surface. Methods This work proposes a novel probabilistic search framework, PLOW, that explicitly samples low-energy local minima in the protein energy surface. The framework combines algorithmic ingredients from evolutionary computation and computational structural biology to effectively explore the subspace of local minima. A greedy local search maps a conformation sampled in conformational space to a nearby local minimum. A perturbation move jumps out of a local minimum to obtain a new starting conformation for the greedy local search. The process repeats in an iterative fashion, resulting in a trajectory-based exploration of the subspace of local minima. Results and conclusions The analysis of PLOW's performance shows that, by navigating only the subspace of local minima, PLOW is able to sample conformations near a protein's native structure, either more effectively or as well as state-of-the-art methods that focus on reproducing the native structure for a protein system. Analysis of the actual subspace of local minima shows that PLOW samples this subspace more effectively that a naive sampling approach. Additional theoretical analysis reveals that the perturbation function employed by PLOW is key to its ability to sample a diverse set of low-energy conformations. This analysis also suggests directions for further research and novel applications for the proposed framework. PMID:22759582

How Adolescents Search for and Appraise Online Health Information: A Systematic Review.

PubMed

Freeman, Jaimie L; Caldwell, Patrina H Y; Bennett, Patricia A; Scott, Karen M

2018-04-01

To conduct a systematic review of the evidence concerning whether and how adolescents search for online health information and the extent to which they appraise the credibility of information they retrieve. A systematic search of online databases (MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, ERIC) was performed. Reference lists of included papers were searched manually for additional articles. Included were studies on whether and how adolescents searched for and appraised online health information, where adolescent participants were aged 13-18 years. Thematic analysis was used to synthesize the findings. Thirty-four studies met the inclusion criteria. In line with the research questions, 2 key concepts were identified within the papers: whether and how adolescents search for online health information, and the extent to which adolescents appraise online health information. Four themes were identified regarding whether and how adolescents search for online health information: use of search engines, difficulties in selecting appropriate search strings, barriers to searching, and absence of searching. Four themes emerged concerning the extent to which adolescents appraise the credibility of online health information: evaluation based on Web site name and reputation, evaluation based on first impression of Web site, evaluation of Web site content, and absence of a sophisticated appraisal strategy. Adolescents are aware of the varying quality of online health information. Strategies used by individuals for searching and appraising online health information differ in their sophistication. It is important to develop resources to enhance search and appraisal skills and to collaborate with adolescents to ensure that such resources are appropriate for them. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Protein structure database search and evolutionary classification.

PubMed

Yang, Jinn-Moon; Tung, Chi-Hua

2006-01-01

As more protein structures become available and structural genomics efforts provide structural models in a genome-wide strategy, there is a growing need for fast and accurate methods for discovering homologous proteins and evolutionary classifications of newly determined structures. We have developed 3D-BLAST, in part, to address these issues. 3D-BLAST is as fast as BLAST and calculates the statistical significance (E-value) of an alignment to indicate the reliability of the prediction. Using this method, we first identified 23 states of the structural alphabet that represent pattern profiles of the backbone fragments and then used them to represent protein structure databases as structural alphabet sequence databases (SADB). Our method enhanced BLAST as a search method, using a new structural alphabet substitution matrix (SASM) to find the longest common substructures with high-scoring structured segment pairs from an SADB database. Using personal computers with Intel Pentium4 (2.8 GHz) processors, our method searched more than 10 000 protein structures in 1.3 s and achieved a good agreement with search results from detailed structure alignment methods. [3D-BLAST is available at http://3d-blast.life.nctu.edu.tw].

Investigation of sudden death from Mycobacterium tuberculosis in a foreign-born worker at a resort hotel.

PubMed

Grabau, John C; Hughes, Stephen E; Rodriguez, Edwin M; Sommer, Jamie N; Troy, Eleanor T

2004-01-01

A 60 year-old man born in Central America died suddenly in the hallway of his residence on the grounds of a resort hotel where he worked as a dishwasher. The dishwashing station was in a large, poorly ventilated area where a substantial number of food service workers (cooks, wait staff, bus persons, dishwashers, supervisors, etc.) shared air space with the index patient. Several social contacts of the patient reported that he had been coughing for many months before his death. The County Department Of Health conducted a contact investigation, which identified 171 individuals in need of follow-up. Thirty-six percent of those tested in the first round were tuberculin skin test-positive; a second round of testing yielded a 15% (8 of 52) conversion rate.

Thermal disinfection of hotels, hospitals, and athletic venues hot water distribution systems contaminated by Legionella species.