Mobilising Creativity and Innovation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Mobilising Creativity and Innovation - Essay Example After passing my graduation, I have been working in an organization, which would be a positive aspect for the development of my professional life. More specifically, I always have that eagerness to learn few innovative things in my life. It will be worth mentioning that I have the capacity of quick learning as well as the ability to learn most difficult things in very short period. I also worked as a computer technician in small technical company. As per my perception, my strength is that I can cope up on the basis of the needs of a situation. In addition, I possessed the capabilities to be familiar with every situation. At the initial stage of my career, I fumbled a bit in performing my assigned tasks effectively. However, during such time, I used to be positive in nature, which provided me with a positive support for my career. It will be worth mentioning in this regard that during my career growth, I was little nervous in nature. Additionally, I have been able to overcome my difficulties with my strong will power as well as positive confidence. I always have the ambition to work in a technical working domain. My knowledge in the technical working domain is very weak, but I have that capability to ensure my superior about my flawless work. Accordingly, my intention is to perform my work with perfection. I have developed a perception towards performances that through continuous practices, people can be able to learn and gain knowledge for performing operations with perfection. In a similar context, I have also learnt about the process of rectifying a number of mistakes that can be a vital advantage for my own development process. It is more apparent that people should have the courage to learn how to rectify their mistakes for ensuring a better personal as well as professional future. Therefore, in my early phase, I started working as a computer technician in a small technology firm. During the initial

Research research literature to determine the population, sampling Paper

Literature to determine the population, sampling strategy, HIPAA concerns, informed consent procedures, and setting - Research Paper Example The caregivers and patients included in the research were also supposed to have sixth grade education at the minimum and be in a position to read and comprehend English. They should also attain a score of at least seven in the Short Portable Mental Status Questionnaire (SPMSQ) as well as at least 40 in the Palliative Performance Scale (PPS). Since the study concentrated on management of pain, constipation and dyspnea, the patients included in the research had to be experiencing two of them. A sample of 329 home care patients suffering from cancer and family caregivers were selected and randomly grouped into three categories. One control group comprised of 109 people received standard care, another group with the same number received standard care and friendly visits while the third group comprised of 111 people received standard care and COPE intervention. This method of sampling is known as cluster sampling in which case naturally occurring groups would be selected and be included in a sample. In this method, the population would be divided into groups or samples. In some cases, rather than collecting data from every group, a sub-sample would be used. Economical- expenditure is one of the major concerns in any sampling method. However, since the research will be carried out on clusters, the expenditure is tremendously reduced due to the fewer listing efforts incorporated (William, 2007). Feasibility- cluster sampling method is also more feasible when carrying out research on large populations (William, 2007). Given that the population in the large hospice is in excess of 300, carrying out comprehensive research may not be very feasible and therefore, clustering the samples would make it more feasible. In carrying out any form of research, the vulnerability of the variables used in the samples is taken into consideration (William, 2007). In essence, the patients and caregivers used in the research are quite vulnerable given the

Integer Programming Problem Formulation Essay Example for Free

Integer Programming Problem Formulation Essay This approach is advantageous compared to SVMs with Gaussian kernels in that it provides a natural construction of kernel matrices and it directly minimizes the number of basis functions. Traditional approaches for data classi? cation , that are based on partitioning the data sets into two groups, perform poorly for multi-class data classi? ca- tion problems. The proposed approach is based on the use of hyper-boxes for de? ning boundaries of the classes that include all or some of the points in that set. A mixed-integer programming model is developed  ¤Computer Scientist, Defence RD Org. , Min of Defence, Delhi-110054. email:[emailprotected] drdo. in, dhamija. [emailprotected] com, a k [emailprotected] com. Home- page:www. geocities. com/a k dhamija/ for representing existence of hyper-boxes and their boundaries. In addition, the relationships among the discrete decisions in the model are represented using propositional logic and then converted to their equivalent integer constraints using Boolean algebra. Image Contrast Enhancement and Image Recon- struction are being used for extracting knowledge from satellite images of the battle? ld or other terrains. This method has already been described in LP problem formulation in I semester assignment. Keywords: Integer linear Programming ,Pattern Classi? cation ,Multi Class data classi? cation , Image Reconstruction ,radial basis function (RBF) classi? ers , sigmoid function , SVM , Kernel and propositional logic 1 Pattern Classification Via Integer linear Programming Given the space in which objects to be classi? ed are represented, a classi? er partitions the space into dis- joint regions and associates them with di ®erent classes. If the underlying distribution is known, an optimal artition of the space can be obtained according to the Bayes decision rule. In practice, however, the underlying distribution is rarely known, and a learning algorithm has to generate a partition that is close to the optimal partition from the training data. The RCE network (1) is a learning algorithm that constructs a set of regions, e. g. , spheres, to represent each pattern class. It is easy to see that, with only a few spheres, there is a great chance that the training error will be high. With an excessively large number of spheres, however, the training error can be reduced, but at the expense of over? ting the data and degrading the performance on future data. Similar problems also exist in the radial basis function (RBF) networks and multi-layer sigmoid function networks. Therefore, a good learning algorithm has to strike a delicate balance between the training error and the complexity of the model. Existing Methods Used Various existing methods like Simulated Annealing , Neural Networks , Genetic algorithms and other classi- ?cation methods of supervised as well as unsupervised learning are being used. 1. 2 Proposed Method : ILP Problem Formulation Given a set of training examples, the minimum sphere overing approach seeks to construct a minimum num- ber of spheres (3) to cover the training examples cor- rectly. Let us denote the set of training examples by D = f(x1; y1); :::; (xn; yn)g where xi 2 Rd and yi 2 f? 1; 1g: For notational simplicity, we only consider the binary classi? cation problem. The task is to ? nd a set of class-speci? c spheres S = S1; :::; Sm such that xi 2 [ y(Sj)=yi Sj and xi =2 [ y(Sj )6=yi Sj ; 8i = 1; :::; n (1) where each sphere Si is characterized by its center c(Si), its radius r(Si) and its class y(Si). An exam- ple xi is covered by a sphere Sj , i. e. , xi 2 Sj , if d(xi; c(Sj))  · r(Sj ). A set of spheres S that satis? es the conditions in Eqn. (1) is called a consistent sphere cover of the data D. A sphere cover is minimal if there exists no other consis- tent sphere cover with a smaller number of spheres. We restrict ourselves to constructing a consistent sphere cover with spheres that are centered on training ex- amples, although in general spheres do not have to be centered on the training examples. In order to mini- mize the number of spheres in the sphere cover S, each sphere in S should cover as many training examples as possible without covering a training example belonging to a di ®erent class.

The Ultimate Goal Of JIT

The Ultimate Goal Of JIT JIT is a Japanese concept. Also called the Toyota production system, it aims at producing the necessary parts in quantities needed, at the time they are required. The ultimate goal of JIT is to eliminate inventory, to have minimal work in process inventory monitored by reduction in working capital. JIT considers 7 types of wastes. Overproduction producing more than the customer needs Transportation Anywhere where goods are moved within a process Waiting where waiting time occurs, traditionally where one process waits for another to finish before it can start. Inventory typified by stock or materials that are not being used in the process or current activity. Motion Poor planning and organizational layout often cause motion waste Over processing where steps occur in the production process that do not add value to the end customer this is termed overproduction Defects The process results in an error or requires rework JIT divides all works into value adding and non-value adding activities and then eliminates all non value adding activities. Kanban is one means through which JIT is achieved. It is a scheduling system that tells you what to produce, when to produce it, and how much to produce Poka-yoke is a Japanese term that means fail-safing or mistake-proofing. Its purpose is to eliminate product defects by preventing, correcting, or drawing attention to human errors as they occur. Autonomation describes a feature of machine design to affect the principle of jidoka. At Toyota this usually means that if an abnormal situation arises the machine stops and the worker will stop the production line. Kaizen refers to the philosophy or practices that focus upon continuous improvement of processes in manufacturing, engineering, supporting business processes, and management. Literature review Weiters (1984) in one of the first literatures on this topic states that Financial justification of JIT in service industries is less likely but in service industries JIT offers intangible benefits in terms of improved service quality and customer satisfaction.(cited by Inman and Mehra 1990) Benson (1986) was the first to point out Service operations are organised systems of production processes with the same potential of improvement through implementation of JIT precepts as manufacturing operations Cited by Duclos et. al. 1995 Berling and Geppi (1989) studied the supply chain of healthcare sector and offered JIT as an approach to hospitals in order to reduce inventory. They suggested closer relationships between hospitals and distributors. Billesbach and Schniederjans (1989) present a case study on JIT application in an administration setting. The case was on a big corporation and JIT programme was implemented in the headquarters of this corporation. Their approach was based on examining activities and the ones not contributing to result to be eliminated. Inman and Mehra (1990) had worked on FedEx. This package delivery company implements JIT to reduce their inventory of quasi-MRO goods (mainly packaging, labelling supplies).aimed at improving their service quality and competitiveness through implementation of JIT and anticipated that inventories would be reduced as a result. Lee (1990) presents a case study of a small bank. Study is focused on this banks loan approval process. Bank follows a two phase process and first evaluates the applications and makes the decision of lending in second phase. This process usually takes 12 days. Applying JIT approach whole process is redesigned and several tasks are unified. New approval process takes 4-5 days. Wasco et. al.( 1991) presents a case Kodaks quality assurance division. This division provides services to worldwide chain of Kodak. An MRP II system is implemented with JIT approach and conclusion of the study is JIT techniques enhance the potential of MRP application. One of the most radical case studies is presented by Barlow (2002). He investigates the applicability of JIT techniques to hotel industry. Weakness of this study is it concentrates on liquor stocks of these hotels and draws conclusions on if statements and these hotels actually do not adopt any JIT techniques. Ruiz (2003 pp.1) JIT focuses on the process, not product. Therefore it can be applied (in theory) to any group of processes, whether manufacturing or service. Ultimate goal of JIT is to produce a good and a service without waste Literature on the matter quite confidently states that JIT can be applied in services and through reported case studies evidence is provided. JIT applications in service industries are vague in some sense. There are no empirical studies and reported case usually resembles manufacturing setting. Service operations management evolution How to implement JIT in services? A philosophy of manufacturing excellence based on pursuit of the planned elimination of all waste and consistent improvement of productivity. It encompasses the successful execution of all manufacturing activities required to produce a final product from design engineering to delivery and including all stages from conversion of raw material onward (APICS, 1992). Total visibility of equipment, people, material and processes; Synchronization and balance of production to sales and supply to production; Respect for people Line operators is responsible for production, problem solving and improvement; Flexibility adapt production to customer needs; Continuous improvement never satisfied with the process; Responsibility for the operations environment those who design, manage and operate the processes are responsible for the outcome; Holistic approach companywide philosophy of elimination of waste; Each of these JIT themes may be applicable to service organizations; Synchronization and balance of information and work flow matching output with customer demand one of the important aspects of service operations often cannot inventory the output of their processes making balance even more vital Semantodontics, a direct marketing company selling nationwide by catalogue to dentists, also found JIT an appropriate approach for reducing the time to process paperwork (Conant, 1988) and, hence, the time required for a dentist to receive an order. The idea of making lot sizes as small as possible was implemented by decreasing the batch size in which telephone orders were aggregated. As a result, telephone orders were moved to the second stage of the process three times daily rather than once a day, as was the previous norm. Set-up time for entering new customer records was reduced by moving the process to the original telephone operation where the data were first gathered. The decrease in order batch size had a behavioural impact on employees as well. From the sense of satisfaction gained on completion of multiple small batches, employees tended to work faster and more efficiently. Atlantic Envelope Company uses kanban trays at its Atlanta facility to move documents within the order entry department. Order entry time fell to under a day from a previous uncertain number of days. Total visibility of all components of the process Northern Telecom Inc.s (NTI) Customer Service Centre borders the traditional manufacturing environment (Savage-Moore, 1988) and the implementation is a good example of providing visibility through the use of work cells. This unit of NTI has the labour-intensive responsibility of repairing printed circuit packs (PCPs). For an individual PCP, it is difficult to predefine the specific repair process required, not unlike a job shop environment. The work cell concept was applied to keep all work on a PCP performed within a single cell and by one team of employees. This provided all employees repairing a PCP with visibility as to the repair needs and processes used to repair the product. Additionally, employees were cross-trained to staff the cells and jobs were redefined to recognize employee training efforts. Over a two-year period, NTI saw customer service levels increase from 85 per cent to 100 per cent and quality levels significantly improved. Work-in-progress inventory was reduced b y 75 per cent and repair cycle times reduced from one week to less than 48 hours. Continuous improvement of the process The Manufacturing Quality Assurance Organization at Kodak in Rochester, New York provides specialized services in the form of sample testing of photographic film, chemical and environmental testing, equipment development and calibration control. JIT precepts were introduced to provide a framework for involving the entire organization in continuous improvement (Wasco et al., 1991). Fifty JIT cells were established to start the JIT delivery of products or services based on functional precepts. JIT activities were used to reduce work-handling steps and run times. Improvements through JIT techniques saved an average of $33,000 per month in 1990. Holistic approach to elimination of waste suppliers Few suppliers; Nearby suppliers; Repeat business with same suppliers; Active use of analysis to enable desirable suppliers to become/stay price-competitive; Clusters of remote suppliers, competitive bidding mostly limited to new part numbers; Buyer plant resists vertical integration and subsequent wipe-out of supplier business; Suppliers are encouraged to extend JIT buying to their suppliers; Quantities: Steady output rate (a desirable prerequisite); Frequent delivery in small quantities; Long-term contract agreements; Minimal release paperwork; Delivery quantities variable from release to release, but fixed for whole contract term; Little or no permissible overage or underage of receipts; Suppliers encouraged to package in exact quantities; Suppliers encouraged reducing their production lot sizes (or store unreleased material); Quality: Minimal product specifications imposed on supplier; Help suppliers to meet quality requirements; Close relationships between buyers and suppliers quality assurance people; Suppliers encouraged to use process control charts instead of lot sampling inspection; shipping: Scheduling of inbound freight; Gain control by use of company-owned or contract shipping, contract warehousing, and trailers for freight consolidation/storage where possible instead of using common carriers. Flexibility in the use of resources Bookbinder and Locke (1986) present a model to determine if JIT distribution methodology is a feasible alternative to traditional distribution methods. They investigated the behaviour of two different distribution models for JIT organizations. In the first, a factory-warehouse-retailer distribution system, the warehouse holds stock. In the second, stock moves from factory directly to retailers. The models were compared using statistical tests, and the second model was determined to be the superior distribution system because it furnished essentially the same service level to retailers while carrying one less echelon of stock. Another mathematical model is offered by Ramasesh (1990) for the implementation of JIT techniques in purchasing systems that have not yet advanced to the ultimate level of JIT purchasing (lot size of one). He treated the fixed costs associated with the adoption of JIT as investment, and justified it based on the savings generated using any of the techniques of investment analysis. He modified the traditional economic order quantity model to include explicitly the costs of small-lot shipments. He also provided guidelines and formulae for determining the order quantity and the optimal number of shipments. Case studies DHL- impact of JIT The founders began to personally ship papers by airline from San Francisco to Honolulu, beginning customs clearance of the ships cargo before the actual arrival of the ship and dramatically reducing waiting time in the harbour. With this concept, a new industry was born: international air express, the rapid delivery of documents and shipments by airplane. DHL network continued to grow at an incredible pace. The company expanded westward from Hawaii into the Far East and Pacific Rim, then the Middle East, Africa and Europe. By 1988, DHL was already present in 170 countries and had 16,000 employees. The different business units of the company are DHL Express DHL Freight DHL Global Forwarding DHL Exel Supply DHL Global Mail The process above mentioned was improved using JIT with following ways Inventory Management Concerning Services For instance, in the case of DHL, vehicles, bicycles and other assets that facilitate service delivery must be accounted for, serviced, ready and available to be used for work purpose. Quality Management Concerning Services Tangibles Reliability Responsiveness Competence Courtesy Access Supplier Relations Concerning Services Human Resource Management Concerning Services JIT in retail The key principles of JIT in any system are: No wastage, Total visibility, and Flexibility in the use of human and material resources In any environment these principles translate into three simple rules: dont start any work unless the demand signal indicates a need for more material; if the demand signal indicates a need, work to fill that need; and, never exceed the queue-size limit Automatic Replenishment Systems (ARS) is also an example of application of JIT in retail. JIT in Indian service industry A survey was done on the Indian service industry. The data was collected from the selected service industries and analyzed. The results of degree of importance are given in the table The most important element recognized by the Service industries was waste reduction (mean=0.8929). The least important element was JIDOKA (mean=0.5625). The elements of the study are mentioned in appendix table 1 JIT in hospitals Most research in the health care industry has been directed toward process and information system improvements. Generally, service environments such as health care are likely candidates for JIT if their operations are repetitive, have reasonably high volume, and deal with tangible items such as mail, checks, bills or letters. In hospitals, there is a vital department named CSSD (Centre for Sterilization Service department), the functions of which include materials management, instruments reception, washing, packing and sterilization, sterile store, instruments distribution As an illustration a previous supplier model can be analysed And compared with an improved model, which centralises and streamlines the supply chain JIT in administrative setting JIT practices and their effect on quality can be analysed Human elements of JIT Steps in implementation of JIT in service industry Eliminate disruptions in work of the employees and make the service system flexible and train the workers to handle more variety. reduce set-up time and eliminate waste including errors and duplicate work and minimise work-in process e.g. Packages waiting to be delivered, calls waiting to be answered, pending orders to be processed, trucks waiting to be loaded/unloaded Generally, service environment may benefit from jit system if the operations are repetitive, have high volume, and deal with tangible items e.g. Sandwiches, mail or bills services must involve manufacturing like operation Consistently high quality service employees can be taught the value of providing defect free services uniform facility loading reservation systems and differential pricing are ways to level the load on the facilities standardised work methods high efficiencies achieved by analysing work methods and standardising Close supplier ties volume services such as fast-food joints and mass merchandisers require close supplier contacts to ensure frequent short lead time and high quality shipment of supplies Flexible work force greater the customisation in the service, greater is the need for a multi-skilled workforce e.g. Electronic repair shops needing wider experienced workforce to diagnose the problems and repair the defects Line flow strategy mangers can recognise their employees and equipment to provide uniform flows through the system, and eliminate wasted employee time e.g. Banks use this system in their cheque processing operations Process improvement and problem solving can contribute to streamlining a system, resulting in increased customer satisfaction, and higher productivity e.g. Self service system including retail operations, ATM, vending machines, service stations etc which is the ability to provide services when required simplify the process, especially when customers are part of the system jit services , if achieved , can be a major competitive advantage for companies A Framework Appendix Table 1:

Development of Dendritic Spines :: Biology Essays Research Papers

Development of Dendritic Spines Neurons have the capability of forming spiny outgrowths on dendrites that are associated with neuroplasticity. Stimulation, especially during post-natal development can lead to activation in the brain, referred to as Long Term Potentiation (LTP), associated with the growth of spines. These dendritic spines, which can number thousands to a single neuron, can have synaptic heads. Greater than 90 percent of synapses in the brain occur on them (1) . Through experimentation it has been found that a spine's glutamate receptors, calcium concentrations, and actin can affect its shape, length, and even presence on a dendrite. In general terms, how do dendritic spines develop and what do they affect in the brain? When a neuron is first formed it does not yet have dendrites, and therefore also does not have dendritic spines. Dendritic filopodia are formed from the dendrites first and then convert into spines after being innervated by synaptic fibers. Spines on different types of neurons attain their peak actin density at different times. Fewer spines are present in adults than children and there is a peak growth time during post-natal development. Adult brains show up to 50% fewer spines than developing brains (2) . Brain disorders, such as strokes, epilepsy, and forms of mental retardation like Fragile X, have been connected to deformations of dendritic spines or the total absence of them on certain neurons. Spines are predominantly found at excitatory synapses where inputs from many areas of the brain arrive. Initially during spine formation N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) is the main growth and development regulator. NMDA is a glutamate receptor found at excitatory synapses in most neurons in the mammalian brain. It contains channels permeable to calcium ions. Ions can accumulate and initiate currents at the head of the spine where the calcium channels are located, separate from the shaft of the dendrite. Weak calcium-induced currents affect individual spines whereas stronger currents can summate to affect multiple spines as well as areas of the dendrite's shaft. LTP is a strengthening of the synaptic connections which occurs when spines are formed. There are several steps to achieve a current in a spine. Magnesium ions block the NMDA receptor sites, but are displaced when a stimulus, such as caffeine, depolarizes the receptor. Calcium ions are then able to pass through and collect within the spine. Once the amount of ions reaches a threshold level the LTP is generated.

small stage acting :: essays research papers

Topic - Small Stage Acting General Purpose - To Inform Specific Purpose - To explain the dos and don’ts of small stage acting Central Idea - By informing the listeners about what to do and what not to do on a small stage they can learn from my mistakes and avoid them if they ever want to do some acting. I. Introduction: â€Å"There is no business like show business like no business I know. Everything about it is appealing. Everything the traffic will allow. No where can you get that special feeling, only when you are stealing that extra bow.† A. You have to endure a lot being an actor or an actress. B. Stage acting is especially hard. 1. You have to project your voice. 2. Stand where everyone in the audience can see you. 3. There are no takes so you cannot miss a line. II. If you screw up, just go on: A. Opening night I slammed the door open so hard the props fell off the wall. 1. I covered and acted like I was supposed to do it. 2. The other girl on stage bent down behind the couch and laughed. B. If someone misses a line, go on with your line or try to jog their memory. C. I dropped my liquor glass in rehearsal and got yelled at because I did not pick it up. II. Props: A. It is important to use props that will not hinder your performance. 1. You are responsible for your props. a. Never leave them in the way or another actor will trip over them. b. I did not hold the wine glass the proper way. 1.) The director said I held the glass like a beer mug 2.) I was supposed to hold it like a lady: like my character. B. Always check to make sure your props are ready before you go on stage. 1. It would be awful to not be able to find your prop when you need it. 2. It is also not fun eating week old chex-mix. 3. Someone did not check the gun on opening night, so I had to yell â€Å"bang!† III. Eating and Drinking on Stage: A. Drinking on Stage 1. Never pour more in a glass than you will be able to drink before your exit. 2. I had to stand at the door and gulp my wine down before leaving (but it was in keeping with my alcoholic character). 3. Never gesture with your glass. B. Eating on Stage 1. Try to avoid salty foods on stage. small stage acting :: essays research papers Topic - Small Stage Acting General Purpose - To Inform Specific Purpose - To explain the dos and don’ts of small stage acting Central Idea - By informing the listeners about what to do and what not to do on a small stage they can learn from my mistakes and avoid them if they ever want to do some acting. I. Introduction: â€Å"There is no business like show business like no business I know. Everything about it is appealing. Everything the traffic will allow. No where can you get that special feeling, only when you are stealing that extra bow.† A. You have to endure a lot being an actor or an actress. B. Stage acting is especially hard. 1. You have to project your voice. 2. Stand where everyone in the audience can see you. 3. There are no takes so you cannot miss a line. II. If you screw up, just go on: A. Opening night I slammed the door open so hard the props fell off the wall. 1. I covered and acted like I was supposed to do it. 2. The other girl on stage bent down behind the couch and laughed. B. If someone misses a line, go on with your line or try to jog their memory. C. I dropped my liquor glass in rehearsal and got yelled at because I did not pick it up. II. Props: A. It is important to use props that will not hinder your performance. 1. You are responsible for your props. a. Never leave them in the way or another actor will trip over them. b. I did not hold the wine glass the proper way. 1.) The director said I held the glass like a beer mug 2.) I was supposed to hold it like a lady: like my character. B. Always check to make sure your props are ready before you go on stage. 1. It would be awful to not be able to find your prop when you need it. 2. It is also not fun eating week old chex-mix. 3. Someone did not check the gun on opening night, so I had to yell â€Å"bang!† III. Eating and Drinking on Stage: A. Drinking on Stage 1. Never pour more in a glass than you will be able to drink before your exit. 2. I had to stand at the door and gulp my wine down before leaving (but it was in keeping with my alcoholic character). 3. Never gesture with your glass. B. Eating on Stage 1. Try to avoid salty foods on stage.

Nurses’ Practice Environments Essay

Purpose: Medication errors remain a threat to patient safety. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine the relationships among characteristics of the nursing practice environment, nurse staffing levels, nurses’ error interception practices, and rates of non-intercepted medication errors in acute care hospitals. Summary: LTICs are used in patients of various ages, but are most frequently seen in older adults. LTICs are placed in patients due to a number of reasons such as urinary retention, incontinence, immobility and spinal cord injury. The body’s natural and main defense mechanism against UTIs occurs when voiding, and in the bladder’s wall where antibacterial activity arises. However, when an LTICs are present, the risk for UTIs increase due to reasons such as: exasperation due to catheter parts, pressure caused by the inflated balloon, residual urine in the bladder from the placement of the balloon, and the â€Å"ischemic damage to the bladder mu cosa caused by bladder distention† (Muzzi-Bjornson & Macera, 2011). Essentially, the body’s natural defense is altered, and thus this irritation increases the risk for UTIs. In addition, biofilm formation on the LTIC, also poses a risk for CAUTIs. Biofilm formation on a urinary catheter is a layer of microorganisms on the catheter surface. Ultimately, the longer duration (days) catheters remain in place, the risk of CAUTIs increases. A major problem associated with LTICs and urinary catheters in general, are their tendencies to block and possibly damage the urethra, resulting in an inflamed urinary mucosa. Thus, it is critical to take preventative measures to decrease the risk for CAUTIs for those using LTICs. For instance, these measures include: basic nursing care  especially keeping a sterile environment, intake of cranberry juice or extract, use of appropriate catheter, antibiotics, and oral drug with deactivated/killed bacteria. Nursing Implications: 1. Despite the setting, whether the patient is at home or in the hospital, sterile conditions are vital. Perform hand hygiene and use aseptic technique upon insertion of indwelling catheter. 2. Assess catheters regularly to reduce infection. Keep in mind that catheters should be removed as soon as possible. Remember that the longer the catheters are in place, the greater risk of infections. Also, be aware of patient’s symptoms of CAUTI. 3. Ensure that the catheter is a closed drainage system, and secure the device in place. This will aid in reduction of bladder wall and lining irritation, reduce the patient’s pain, and promote good urine drainage into the collection bag. 4. Obtain urine sample with culture for patients on drug therapy, and monitor/maintain patient’s fluid intake. 5. If not contraindicated, follow orders and give patient cranberry juice and/or extract. Cranberry juice has been speculated to lower urinary pH levels, which impedes bacterial growth. 6. Strictly monitor patient if on prophylactic antibiotics; be aware of dangers/adverse effects. Reference Flynn, L. , Liang, Y. , Dickson, G. , Xie, M. , & Suh, D. (2012). Nurses’ practice environments, error interception practices, and inpatient medication errors. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 44(2), 180-186.