Reference Documentation Research Articles

Asynchronous Validation and Documentation of Sterile Compounding in a Hospital Pharmacy

The US Pharmacopeial Convention published the USP Guidebook to Pharmaceutical Compounding— Sterile Preparations in 2008. This publication, which is based on the USP Revised General Chapter , sets practice standards to help ensure that compounded sterile preparations are of high quality. Although these guidelines have not yet been enforced by the Quebec regulatory authority, they will be the basis of revised guidelines to be published in 2011 by l’Ordre des pharmaciens du Quebec. The release of the USP Revised General Chapter is prompting pharmacists and technicians to substantially revise their practice to reduce potential contamination, to limit access to the sterile zone whenever possible, and to appropriately document all steps of the compounding process. In our institution, pharmacy technicians prepare sterile products several times a day. Each of these products must be verified by a pharmacist, which entails the pharmacists entering and exiting the clean room repeatedly, in addition to carrying out their other duties. This time-consuming practice increases the risk of microbiological and particulate contamination. Furthermore, each visual inspection performed in the clean room interrupts the workflow of both the pharmacist and the technician. Interruptions and distractions are a documented cause of medication errors in pharmacies. Traditionally, telepharmacy has been defined as the use of various telecommunications systems to provide pharmaceutical services and care to remote or rural areas or to provide such services during times when pharmacists are not readily available on site (e.g., at night). When the photographic system described in the current article was being developed, there were no published reports on the use of cameras as an aid during sterile compounding. We analyzed our procedures and set the following objectives: (1) to develop an asynchronous workflow that would reduce interruptions (and thereby reduce the risk of medication errors) and (2) to develop a technological solution that would enable pharmacy technicians to capture images of the various steps in preparing medications, which would in turn allow the pharmacist to asynchronously verify the accuracy of the pharmaceutical ingredients, materials, and quantities and would serve as documentation for subsequent reference. This article describes the development, implementation, and use of a photographic system that allows pharmacists to supervise and document the activities of pharmacy technicians according to a time-delayed approach.

Benchmark exercise on risk assessment methods applied to a virtual hydrogen refuelling station

A benchmarking exercise on quantitative risk assessment (QRA) methodologies for hydrogen safety has been conducted within the project HyQRA, under the framework of the European Network of Excellence (NoE), HySafe. The aim of the exercise was twofold: (i) to identify the differences and similarities in approaches in a QRA and their results for a hydrogen installation and (ii) to identify knowledge gaps in the various steps and parameters underlying the risk quantification of hydrogen safety.First, a reference case was defined for the benchmark: a virtual hydrogen refuelling station (HRS) in virtual surroundings comprising housing, school, shops and other vulnerable objects. For the study, a two phase approach was followed.In phase 1, all nine partners were requested to conduct a QRA according to their usual approach and experience. Basically, participants were free to define representative release cases, to apply models and frequency assessments according their own methodology, and to present risk according to their usual format. To enable inter-comparison, a required set of results data was prescribed, like distances to specific thermal radiation levels from fires and distances to specific overpressure levels. Moreover, complete documentation of assumptions, base data and references was to be reported.It was not surprising that a wide range of results was obtained, both in the applied approaches as well as in the quantitative outcomes and conclusions. This made it difficult to identify exactly which assumptions and parameters were responsible for the differences in results.These results provided the basis for a more guided QRA, the second phase. This phase 2 was defined in which the QRA was determined by a more limited number of release cases (scenarios). The partners in the project agreed to assess specific scenarios in order to identify the differences in consequence assessment approaches. The results of this phase provide a better understanding of the influence of modelling assumptions and limitations on the eventual conclusions with regard to risk to on-site people and to the off-site public.

CO 2 emissions from Polish cement industry

The cement industry is one of the most significant sources of anthropogenic emissions of CO 2. It is connected with the specific character of the production processes, during which great quantities of CO 2 are produced. Basic actions to reduce CO 2 emissions recommended by the European Union's, Reference Document on Best Available Techniques in the Cement and Lime Manufacturing Industries, include: reduction of fuel consumption, selection of raw materials with low content of organic compounds and fuels with low coal contribution to heating value. All actions connected with the improvement of energy conversion efficiency of the cement production process cause CO 2 emissions reduction. The use of at most acceptable by the valid standards amounts of waste as raw materials and additives for cement production, also brings about the reduction of significant part of CO 2 emissions. These measures have been and continue to be pursued by the cement factories in Poland. This article describes the evolution of the cement industry in Poland over the period 1998–2008 and the resulting changes in CO 2 emissions and explores the drivers for these changes. The sources of CO 2 emissions in cement industry have been presented in this article as well as a discussion of potential ways to reduce Polish cement industry emissions even further.

Der inszenierte Held: Schillers dramenpoetische Anthropologie. (Jenaer Germanistische Forschungen, Neue Folge, 26) by Nikolas Immer

MLR, 105.1, 2010 273 limited appeal to German philosophers, and his ideas were often assimilated to Wolffian rationalism. Two figures nevertheless continued to take him seriously, namely Wieland and Herder. He played a vital part inWieland's 'metamorphosis' in the early 1760s from ethereal religiosity to a combination of Platonic idealism and wry scepti cism, andWieland's fundamental concepts of 'moral grace', kalokagathia, and the 'virtuoso' are avowedly borrowed from Shaftesbury. In the frequent deflations, in Wieland's novels and poems, of obsessive idealists and Schwarmer, Shaftesbury's 'testof ridicule' is applied as a heuristic device to overcome delusion and restore the victim to normality. In short, from his 'metamorphosis' onwards, Wieland remained Shaftesbury's closest German adherent. For over a century, Shaftesbury's definition of the poet as 'a second Maker, a just Prometheus under Jove' has been described as a major inspiration of the Sturm und Drang cult of genius and ofGoethe's presentation of Prometheus as a rebel against divine authority. It has also been claimed that Shaftesbury was the main source of the nature pantheism ofHerder and Goethe in the 1780s (thereby providing an Aryan substitute for Spinoza as an ancestor ofWeimar classicism). But as Dehrmann convincingly demonstrates, the young Herder's image, subse quently adopted byGoethe, of the genius as a defiant Prometheus stealing fire from heaven is derived not from Shaftesbury, whom he had not yet encountered, but fromEdward Young's Conjectures on Original Composition. And although Herder's 'Hymn to Nature' ('Naturhymnus') of 1775 is based on its prose equivalent in Shaftesbury's 'Moralists', Shaftesbury's influencewas eclipsed by that of Spinoza in Herder's pantheistic speculations of the 1780s. This important book, based on prodigious research, performs twomajor func tions. By exhaustive documentation of references to Shaftesbury inGerman litera turebetween 1709 and 1781, itdemonstrates thathis influencewas greatest during the first half of the century. And by careful scrutiny of the aims, interests, and knowledge of each individual who cites him, it frees the study of Shaftesbury's reception from some long-lived and tendentious illusions. Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge H. B. Nisbet Der inszenierteHeld: Schillers dramenpoetische Anthropologie. ByNikolas Immer. (Jenaer Germanistische Forschungen, Neue Folge, 26) Heidelberg: Winter. 2008. 501pp. 59. ISBN 978-3-8253-5505-0. 'Schon wieder Schiller?' Thus commences Nikolas Immer's doctoral thesis,which was published, as luckwould have it,between two grand commemoration years: the bicentenary of Schiller's death in 2005, and the 250th anniversary of Schiller's birth in 2009. However, Immer's monograph attests to the fact that dealing with Schiller?once again?does not necessarily overload themarket. On the contrary: the topic that the study isdevoted to, Schillers anthropological conception of the dramatic hero and heroine, should make us prick up our ears as Immer inhis book 274 Reviews Versucht, einen neuen Sinnhorizont [zu Schillers Dramenfiguren] zu erschliefien' (p. 15). The object of investigation is indeed a captivating one. What Schiller aims at, Immer convincingly asserts, is a humanized heroism that corresponds to Schillers study of the psyche: 'Und menschlich handelt, menschlich fuhlt der Held', to bor row the phrase from Schillers poem 'AnGothe als er den Mahomet von Voltaire auf die Biihne brachte' (1800). Meanwhile, the notion of the hero has enjoyed great popularity among both cultural and literary scholars, and it is Immer's merit comprehensively to tie this surge of secondary literature together. The approach to the topic is as systematic as it is extensive: what one might refer to as preli minary observations amount to 150 pages?an 'introduction, as itwere, that is impressively erudite, ifat times only indirectly related to Schiller. However, '[es] verlagert sich das Interesse vom statisch-vorbildhaften Helden auf den dynamisch gegenbildlichen' (p. 13), and it is precisely this gradual humanization of the hero in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries that justifies a seemingly protracted treatment of thematter. Never did Schiller comprehensively reflect on the role of the dramatic hero or the heroine?a challenging fact ofwhich Immer is very much aware. It is to the advantage of the book that Immer himself acknowledges prospective reservations and objections with much care, with the result that his study avoids sliding into vagueness or improvident hypotheses. What...

Adoption of European Union's IPPC Directive to a textile mill: Analysis of water and energy consumption

The present study was undertaken as part of the first application and evaluation of the BREF (Best Available Techniques; BAT Reference Document) Textile Document within the context of the European Union's Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC) Directive to a large scale textile mill in Turkey. The BAT requirements for the denim manufacturing textile mill were selected in cooperation with the factory management. Detailed mass balance calculations were conducted to evaluate the overall effect of the selected BAT options. The initial findings indicated that the adoption of the selected BAT options resulted in considerable savings in water and energy consumption in the mill. Besides the installation of flow meters and use of semi-counter current rinsing in the most water-intensive processes, minimization of wash waters in the water softening plant, reuse of the concentrate stream from the reverse osmosis plant and compressor cooling waters provided a 29.5% reduction in the total specific water consumption of the mill, reaching the lower limits suggested by the BREF Textile Document. In terms of energy consumption, use of waste heat from finishing wastewater streams in heating up the wash waters, heat insulation and maintenance applications in addition to BAT measures taken for water minimization reduced specific energy consumption by 9% achieving the limits set by the BREF Textile Document.

Integrated pollution prevention and control in large industrial installations on the basis of best available techniques – The Sevilla Process

With respect to emissions from industry, the IPPC Directive is one of the key instruments of the environmental legislation of the European Union. The purpose of this Directive is to achieve integrated pollution prevention and control from large industrial installations. The conditions of required permits have to be based on Best Available Techniques (BAT). In 1997, the so-called Sevilla Process was established to develop these BAT. Since then, 33 Best Available Techniques REFerence Documents (BREFs) were drafted, adopted and published. This Sevilla Process with its actors is described. The BREFs are unique documents containing ambitious consumption and emission levels which cannot be found anywhere else.

Evaluation of the implementation of best available techniques in IPPC context: an environmental performance indicators approach

In this paper an integrated methodological approach is presented for the evaluation of the implementation of the Best Available Techniques (BAT) in facilities operated under Integrated Prevention Pollution and Control (IPPC) Directive, based on the development and application of a set of sub-indices. An aggregated form of sub-indices that could be used as a composite IPPC facility index is proposed. A sector specific index can be derived from facilities composite indices. This approach uses environmental performance data from European Polluting Emissions Register (EPER) reports, environmental permits and BAT Reference Documents, and gives a coherent and interesting picture of the degree of BAT implementation and an indication of IPPC obligations fulfilment. A specific application is demonstrated concerning the paper manufacturing sector in Greece. It is concluded for this sector that there is a measurable discrepancy from the BAT fulfilment obligations and that the most problematic sub-indices are the “Releases to Water” and “Releases to Air”.

Efficient waste-to-energy system as a contribution to clean technologies

This paper deals with the problem of efficient energy utilization in the field of thermal processing of waste (waste-to-energy). An up-to-date incineration plant cannot be considered as only waste disposal facility. The waste combustion (incineration) processes are accompanied by release of large amount of energy, that shall be effectively utilized (e.g. steam production and its export to consumers, power generation, cogeneration). In addition to the main purpose of incineration, i.e. treating the specified amount of waste, waste-to-energy systems are able to some extent substitute conventional energy production plants fired by fossil fuel and thus to contribute to solving global environmental problems. For example, methodology presented in Reference Document on the Best Available Techniques for Waste Incineration (BREF) can be used for assessment of plant performance from the view of energy utilization. This approach is based on evaluation of criterion Plant Efficiency. An existing incineration plant has been evaluated and results are presented and discussed. In the future, it has been expected that evaluation like this will be obligatory for every plant. The arrival of more and more sweeping environmental limits represents a driving force for retrofit. At the same time maximum heat recovery and efficient energy utilization should be required. Influence of different operational modes (type of waste incinerated, combustion temperature, air-preheating etc.) and lay-out of heat recovery system (e.g. cogeneration) on plant performance has been investigated. A mathematical model based on combination of basic auxiliary operations and simple thermodynamic models of heat engines has been created with the aid of a specific computational tool. Its conception is based on both requirements and experience coming from industry. The most serious problem of effectively running incineration plants consists in economical utilization of energy produced. Examples of integration into existing energy systems are shown and discussed.

A chemical substitution study for a wet processing textile mill in Turkey

Wet processing textile industry has many different processing stages (dyeing, sizing, de-sizing, scouring, softening, etc.). Many chemicals currently used in the wet processing textile industry affect the amount and the type of waste produced and their influence on the aquatic life of the receiving stream. One of the critical steps in pollution prevention studies is auditing the use of chemicals and making the necessary chemical substitutions. This chemical substitution study was conducted on one of the major textile factories in Turkey with a capacity of 20,000 tons of denim fabric per year. During this study, chemical consumption level, receipts applied, environmentally problematic and alternative chemicals were examined. Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC) Reference Document on Best Available Techniques (BAT) for the Textiles Industry was accepted as main reference document and also related case studies were examined. According to the study, over 70% reduction in sulphide, which is very toxic to aquatic life, was achieved by replacing sulphur dyestuff with low sulphide content. By replacing an alternative complexing agent, the mill not only prevented the 3100 kg/month COD load to the wastewater treatment plant (WWTP), but also obtained more biodegradable wastewater generated during production. On the other hand, some of the chemical substitution options were on progress or dropped.

ISO 2789 and ISO 11620: Short Presentation of Standards as Reference Documents in an Assessment Process

The aim of this paper is to show how international standards dealing with library statistics and indicators (ISO 2789, ISO 11620 and others projects which are still under development) can be used as reference documents and strategic tools in a performance assessment process. The task is not an easy one, because it requires linking up somewhat complex entities such as the standardization work characteristics, the capacity of statistics to account for reality and, lastly, the variety and speed of libraries’ advancement. Nevertheless, ISO 2789 (International Library Statistics) and ISO 11620 (Performance indicators for libraries), which are based on an international consensus of experts, take into account, as much as possible, the recent evolutions in library structures and services. In addition, they are related to classical and shared assessment models. So, although their aim is not to draw up an assessment framework, they reveal themselves useful for basic operations in such a framework: to define objects and services, and to classify, count and build appropriate indicators. Moreover, as the issue of quantifying and promoting intangible assets becomes a concern in the public sector, these standards can be seen as a first attempt to define library resources and services as such intangible assets. Finally, the challenge of forthcoming evolutions of these standards is the ability to stay up-to-date in a very quickly evolving context. More precisely, the increase in the usability of these standards must be based on an ongoing search for more consistent data and relevant indicators. The question of improvement of the general design of the statistics and indicators standards family should also be addressed.

Fuzzy Logic Model for the performance benchmarking of sugar plants by considering best available techniques

This paper deals with the problem of performance benchmarking of traditional beet sugar plants, by considering Best Available Techniques (BAT) for beet sugar production, as determined by the Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC) Directive. A Fuzzy Logic Model, based on fuzzy set theory, was constructed for this purpose, in order to compare the performances of sugar plants within the sector's best standards, as expressed in the Reference Document on BAT. The effectiveness of the model was tested in the case study, in which three sugar plants were benchmarked against the BAT regarding the consumption of energy, water, raw materials and the production of wastes, wastewater, by-products and the main product. The model was recognized as helpful for the benchmarking needs of sugar plants. In addition, by integrating BAT Reference Document analysis into the model, it provides IPPC permitting authorities with an objective method and uniform BAT benchmarks to manage permitting process.

Information Retrieval for short documents

The major problem of the most current approaches of information models lies in that individual words provide unreliable evidence about the content of the texts. When the document is short, e.g. only the abstract is available, the word-use variability problem will have substantial impact on the Information Retrieval (IR) performance. To solve the problem, a new technology to short document retrieval named Reference Document Model (RDM) is put forward in this letter. RDM gets the statistical semantic of the query/document by pseudo feedback both for the query and document from reference documents. The contributions of this model are three-fold: (1) Pseudo feedback both for the query and the document; (2) Building the query model and the document model from reference documents; (3) Flexible indexing units, which can be any linguistic elements such as documents, paragraphs, sentences, n-grams, term or character. For short document retrieval, RDM achieves significant improvements over the classical probabilistic models on the task of ad hoc retrieval on Text REtrieval Conference (TREC) test sets. Results also show that the shorter the document, the better the RDM performance.

Effects of the integrated prevention and pollution control on environmental protection

The Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control Directive (IPPC) published in the EU in 1996 is presented within an approach based on source-targeted measures. The Directive implementation is based on the granting of permits and it introduces new concepts like Best Available Technique (BAT), Best Reference Document (BREF) and Level Playing Field (LPF). The consequences for the EU steel industry are discussed.

Planning for the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS)

Abstract The Group on Earth Observations was established to promote comprehensive, coordinated, and sustained Earth observations. Its mandate is to implement the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) in accord with the GEOSS 10-Year Implementation Plan and Reference Document. During the months over which the GEOSS Implementation Plan was developed, many issues surfaced and were addressed. This article discusses several of the more interesting or challenging of those issues—e.g. fitting in with existing organizations and securing stable funding—some of which have yet to be resolved fully as of this writing. Despite the relatively short period over which the Implementation Plan had to be developed, there is a good chance that the work undertaken will be influential for decades to come.

DESIGN LEVEL HYPOTHESIS TESTING THROUGH REVERSE ENGINEERING OF OBJECT-ORIENTED SOFTWARE

Comprehension of an object-oriented (OO) system, its design and use of OO features such as aggregation, generalisation and other forms of association is a difficult task to undertake without the original design documentation for reference. In this paper, we describe the collection of high-level class metrics from the UML design documentation of five industrial-sized C++ systems. Two of the systems studied were libraries of reusable classes. Three hypotheses were tested between these high-level features and the low-level class features of a number of class methods and attributes in each of the five systems. A further two conjectures were then investigated to determine features of key classes in a system and to investigate any differences between library-based systems and the other systems studied in terms of coupling. Results indicated that, for the three application-based systems, no clear patterns emerged for hypotheses relating to generalisation. There was, however, a clear (positive) statistical significance for all three systems studied between aggregation, other types of association and the number of methods and attributes in a class. Key classes in the three application-based systems tended to contain large numbers of methods, attributes, and associations, significant amounts of aggregation but little inheritance. No consistent, identifiable key features could be found in the two library-based systems; both showed a distinct lack of any form of coupling (including inheritance) other than through the C++ friend facility.

Cooperation in a Multi-Faceted Reference Department: Blending Resources, Personnel, and Services of Reference, Instruction, Interlibrary Loan, and Government Documents

SUMMARY Cooperative reference is a valuable approach to serving patrons as well as a means of expanding one's professional knowledge. Members of the reference unit actively participate in cooperative reference for answering patrons' tougher queries, bibliographic instruction, and reference collection development. The cooperative efforts of our unit have expanded our ability to find better information faster. Cooperative reference extends to all librarians within the University Library as each librarian serves in a rotation to staff the reference desk on nights and weekends. Some of the benefits of practicing cooperative reference are the following: providing a balanced and sometimes more complete answer to a reference question; increasing the knowledge of the reference staff by sharing experiences; and increasing morale and support for the reference staff. All of this is accomplished by doing what librarians do best: sharing. Successful cooperative reference relies upon good communication within the department, respect for colleagues, flexibility, and commitment to serving our patrons.

Guidance for Integrated Care Pathways: A Reference Document for an Acute NHS Trust

A Commission for Health Improvement (CHI) review highlighted the need for integrated care pathways (ICPs) within our Trust and a working party was formed to guide their development. From a survey of current awareness and activity the committee identified several priorities: • creating awareness and interest • initiating learning programmes for interested staff • developing support structure for enthusiasts • defining the process of ratification • formulating Trust style. Leaflets were circulated to all departments to stimulate interest and a seminar programme was introduced with staff from key areas being targeted. An intranet site was authored with lists of support staff, details of in-house resources and links to external agencies. This was backed up with a paper resource folder in central and departmental libraries. A degree of harmonisation of style was seen as being potentially advantageous by facilitating the use of ICPs across directorates. A Trust pro forma style was produced to guide and ease this process. It was suggested that a document that explained the nature of ICPs, detailed Trust policy and provided tips for authorship would be a useful reference for those new to creating ICPs. Guidance for Integrated Care Pathways was written with these aims in mind. It was co-authored by three members of the committee and circulated for comments. After ratification by the Trust board it was posted on the intranet site and included in the resource folder. It is a working document that is reviewed regularly, and is intended to facilitate the process and not to be overly prescriptive. Comments and suggestions from throughout the Trust are welcomed.

Designing electronic reference documentation for software component libraries

Contemporary software development is based on global sharing of software component libraries. As a result, programmers spend much time reading reference documentation rather than writing code, making library reference documentation a central programming tool. Traditionally, reference documentation is designed for textbooks even though it may be distributed online. However, the computer provides new dimensions of change, evolution, and adaptation that can be utilized to support efficiency and quality in software development. What is difficult to determine is how the electronic text dimensions best can be utilized in library reference documentation. This article presents a study of the design of electronic reference documentation for software component libraries. Results are drawn from a study in an industrial environment based on the use of an experimental electronic reference documentation (called Dynamic Javadoc or DJavadoc) used in a real-work situation for 4 months. The results from interviews with programmers indicate that the electronic library reference documentation does not require adaptation or evolution on an individual level. More importantly, reference documentation should facilitate the transfer of code from documentation to source files and also support the integration of multiple documentation sources.

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Fundamentals, methods and future trends of environmental microwave sample preparation

Microwave (MW) sample preparation has nowadays become a standard analytical tool. A large section of MW systems, such as open vessel and low to high pressure closed vessel device, are used. Theoretical and practical considerations in the development as well as implementation of MW sample preparation are presented, including methods for total implementation of MW sample preparation are presented, including methods for total decomposition and leaching of trace elements in common environmental samples, such as soil, sludge, sediments, oils, biological materials, water and waste water. In particular, the US Environmental Protection Agency Office of Solid Waste methods 3050B, 3051, 3052 are discussed. Supporting reference data and documentation are presented to demonstrate specific alternative capabilities. As a natural extension of this technique, MW-based devices were more recently used to heat solvents and sample matrices as a preparation tool for extraction of organic compounds. Since 1986 analysts have been using MW heating to extract various compounds from a variety of sample matrices. Information is provided about the development of an integrated MW solvent extraction technique and its capabilities, as well as perspective for extraction applications. The ASTM method D5765-95 on solvent extraction of TPH from soils and sediment as well as the draft of a new US EPA for Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) and Semi-Volatile Organic Compounds (SVOCs) from environmental samples are presented. The potential benefits are analogous to those achieved by sample decomposition, i.e. reduced reaction/extraction time, improved efficiency, reduced solvent consumption and better working environment.