Comparison of Navy and Private-Sector Construction Costs

DTIC Science & Technology

1997-09-01

contracts are comparable to private - sector construction costs. This report compares those costs. The report includes a description of the methodology...costs of complying with federal contracting requirements as compared with the costs of similar projects completed under typical private - sector contracts...The study found that the costs of facilities constructed under Navy contracts compare favorably to private - sector construction costs for similar

Expansion of environmental impact assessment for eco-efficiency evaluation of China's economic sectors: An economic input-output based frontier approach.

PubMed

Xing, Zhencheng; Wang, Jigan; Zhang, Jie

2018-09-01

Due to the increasing environmental burdens caused by dramatic economic expansion, eco-efficiency indicating how efficient the economic activity is with respect to its environmental impacts has become a topic of considerable interest in China. In this context, Economic Input-output Life Cycle Assessment (EIO-LCA) and Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) are combined to assess the environmental impacts and eco-efficiency of China's 26 economic sectors. The EIO-LCA results indicate that Electricity Production and Supply sector is the largest net exporter in energy usage, CO 2 emission and exhaust emission categories, while Construction sector is the largest net importer for five impact categories except for water withdrawal. Moreover, Construction sector is found to be the destination of the largest sector-to-sector environmental impact flows for the five impact categories and make the most contributions to the total environmental impacts. Another key finding is that Agriculture sector is both the largest net exporter and the greatest contributor for water withdrawal category. DEA results indicate that seven sectors are eco-efficient while over 70% of China's economic sectors are inefficient and require significant improvements. The average target improvements range between 23.30% and 35.06% depending on the impact category. Further sensitivity analysis reveals that the average sensitivity ratios vary from 7.7% to 15.7% among the six impact categories, which are found to be negatively correlated with their improvement potentials. Finally, several policy recommendations are made to mitigate environmental impacts of China's economic sectors and improve their eco-efficiency levels. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Investigating the effectiveness of response strategies for vulnerabilities to corruption in the chinese public construction sector.

PubMed

Shan, Ming; Chan, Albert P C; Le, Yun; Hu, Yi

2015-06-01

Response strategy is a key for preventing widespread corruption vulnerabilities in the public construction sector. Although several studies have been devoted to this area, the effectiveness of response strategies has seldom been evaluated in China. This study aims to fill this gap by investigating the effectiveness of response strategies for corruption vulnerabilities through a survey in the Chinese public construction sector. Survey data obtained from selected experts involved in the Chinese public construction sector were analyzed by factor analysis and partial least squares-structural equation modeling. Analysis results showed that four response strategies of leadership, rules and regulations, training, and sanctions, only achieved an acceptable level in preventing corruption vulnerabilities in the Chinese public construction sector. This study contributes to knowledge by improving the understanding of the effectiveness of response strategies for corruption vulnerabilities in the public construction sector of developing countries.

Evaluation of the mandatory construction induction training program in Western Australia: unanticipated consequences.

PubMed

Bahn, Susanne; Barratt-Pugh, Llandis

2012-08-01

Since January 1, 2007, Government legislation in Western Australia required all workers in construction to complete mandatory safety awareness training before they began work on site. During the implementation of this new legislation there was considerable resistance from the construction sector due to the mandatory nature of the training. The construction industry viewed this as an unnecessary impost as they considered that there was already sufficient safety training delivered through individual company and site inductions. In 2010, we evaluated the new Construction Induction Training (CIT) in the commercial construction sector in Western Australia to find that since 2007 there has been an unanticipated change in support for the mandatory training. The 2010 study shows a shift in the values of the safety culture for the commercial sector of the construction industry. In 2010, the industry not only supports the mandatory CIT, but is very vocal in its request to re-institute the refresher courses that were withdrawn in 2009. Indeed, 79% of respondents claimed there were measurable benefits to their business having their employees complete the CIT, while 96% claimed the CIT assisted in reducing accidents/incidents on their worksites. This 2010 study indicates that in this case, mandatory training has had a positive effect on safety culture change and gradually reduced work-related injury in the industry since 2007 to the present. The paper uses data from two studies conducted in 2006 and 2010 to highlight the unanticipated change in perception of the value of mandatory safety training in the WA construction industry to one which is positive and supportive. Crown Copyright © 2011. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

[Injury rates and severity during the construction of High Speed Train Track Torino-Novara: which are the expected risks?].

PubMed

Bena, Antonella; Debernardi, Maria Luisa; Pasqualini, O; Dalmasso, M; Quarta, D

2008-01-01

Construction of the Torino-Novara High Speed Train Track (TAV) provided a unique opportunity to describe the magnitude of accidents on a major construction project for which complete data were available for 123 companies with over 10,000 employees. To describe the rate and severity of accidents during the construction of TAV and to compare this with national indexes. The limits and critical points of the national surveillance system are discussed and solutions for responding to public occupational safety and health service needs are proposed. 1,691 injuries with more than 3 lost work days were recorded between 2003 and 2005 by the TAV Surveillance System (Orme-TAV). Accident rate and severity indexes (Orme indexes) by year and occupation, were compared with indexes for Piedmont and Italy for the period 2002-04 provided by INAIL (National Institute for Insurance against Occupational Accidents and Diseases) for the Construction sector and the Road and Railway Construction sub-sector. A comparison with the accident rate of the same 123 firms calculated for all construction yards in Italy in 2003-04 (national indexes) was also made. Accident rates decreased from 152 in 2003 to 72 in 2005 per 1,000 workers, but were higher than the national indexes (the Orme indexes/national indexes ratio was 1.75 in 2003 and 1.67 in 2004). Accident severity indexes were lower than the national figures. Complete reporting, facilitated by the existence of a Surveillance System, yielded accident rates that were more reliable than those previously reported. Data suggest that the discrepancy is due to both underreporting and exposed worker assessment difficulties. The burden of on-site work-related accidents in the construction sector appears to be higher and more costly than what has been desumed from national data.

Co-constructive development of a green chemistry-based model for the assessment of nanoparticles synthesis

EPA Science Inventory

Nanomaterials are extensively used in several industry sectors due to the improved properties they empower commercial products with. There is a pressing need to produce these materials more sustainably. This paper proposes a Multiple Criteria Decision Aiding (MCDA) approach to as...

Evaluation on the efficiency of the construction sector companies in Malaysia with data envelopment analysis model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Weng Hoe, Lam; Jinn, Lim Shun; Weng Siew, Lam; Hai, Tey Kim

2018-04-01

In Malaysia, construction sector is essential parts in driving the development of the Malaysian economy. Construction industry is an economic investment and its relationship with economic development is well posited. However, the evaluation on the efficiency of the construction sectors companies listed in Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange (KLSE) with Data Analysis Envelopment (DEA) model have not been actively studied by the past researchers. Hence the purpose of this study is to examine the financial performance the listed construction sectors companies in Malaysia in the year of 2015. The results of this study show that the efficiency of construction sectors companies can be obtained by using DEA model through ratio analysis which defined as the ratio of total outputs to total inputs. This study is significant because the inefficient companies are identified for potential improvement.

Structural Path Analysis of Fossil Fuel Based CO2 Emissions: A Case Study for China.

PubMed

Yang, Zhiyong; Dong, Wenjie; Xiu, Jinfeng; Dai, Rufeng; Chou, Jieming

2015-01-01

Environmentally extended input-output analysis (EEIOA) has long been used to quantify global and regional environmental impacts and to clarify emission transfers. Structural path analysis (SPA), a technique based on EEIOA, is especially useful for measuring significant flows in this environmental-economic system. This paper constructs an imports-adjusted single-region input-output (SRIO) model considering only domestic final use elements, and it uses the SPA technique to highlight crucial routes along the production chain in both final use and sectoral perspectives. The results indicate that future mitigation policies on household consumption should change direct energy use structures in rural areas, cut unreasonable demand for power and chemical products, and focus on urban areas due to their consistently higher magnitudes than rural areas in the structural routes. Impacts originating from government spending should be tackled by managing onsite energy use in 3 major service sectors and promoting cleaner fuels and energy-saving techniques in the transport sector. Policies on investment should concentrate on sectoral interrelationships along the production chain by setting up standards to regulate upstream industries, especially for the services, construction and equipment manufacturing sectors, which have high demand pulling effects. Apart from the similar methods above, mitigating policies in exports should also consider improving embodied technology and quality in manufactured products to achieve sustainable development. Additionally, detailed sectoral results in the coal extraction industry highlight the onsite energy use management in large domestic companies, emphasize energy structure rearrangement, and indicate resources and energy safety issues. Conclusions based on the construction and public administration sectors reveal that future mitigation in secondary and tertiary industries should be combined with upstream emission intensive industries in a systematic viewpoint to achieve sustainable development. Overall, SPA is a useful tool in empirical studies, and it can be used to analyze national environmental impacts and guide future mitigation policies.

Structural Path Analysis of Fossil Fuel Based CO2 Emissions: A Case Study for China

PubMed Central

Yang, Zhiyong; Dong, Wenjie; Xiu, Jinfeng; Dai, Rufeng; Chou, Jieming

2015-01-01

Environmentally extended input-output analysis (EEIOA) has long been used to quantify global and regional environmental impacts and to clarify emission transfers. Structural path analysis (SPA), a technique based on EEIOA, is especially useful for measuring significant flows in this environmental-economic system. This paper constructs an imports-adjusted single-region input-output (SRIO) model considering only domestic final use elements, and it uses the SPA technique to highlight crucial routes along the production chain in both final use and sectoral perspectives. The results indicate that future mitigation policies on household consumption should change direct energy use structures in rural areas, cut unreasonable demand for power and chemical products, and focus on urban areas due to their consistently higher magnitudes than rural areas in the structural routes. Impacts originating from government spending should be tackled by managing onsite energy use in 3 major service sectors and promoting cleaner fuels and energy-saving techniques in the transport sector. Policies on investment should concentrate on sectoral interrelationships along the production chain by setting up standards to regulate upstream industries, especially for the services, construction and equipment manufacturing sectors, which have high demand pulling effects. Apart from the similar methods above, mitigating policies in exports should also consider improving embodied technology and quality in manufactured products to achieve sustainable development. Additionally, detailed sectoral results in the coal extraction industry highlight the onsite energy use management in large domestic companies, emphasize energy structure rearrangement, and indicate resources and energy safety issues. Conclusions based on the construction and public administration sectors reveal that future mitigation in secondary and tertiary industries should be combined with upstream emission intensive industries in a systematic viewpoint to achieve sustainable development. Overall, SPA is a useful tool in empirical studies, and it can be used to analyze national environmental impacts and guide future mitigation policies. PMID:26332222

Fort Drum Preliminary Fiscal Impact Analysis: Technical Appendices,

DTIC Science & Technology

1986-01-01

the requirements for on-base construction with those for private sector construction. (Private sector construction demand accounts for construction...persons with key construction skills. There will be some phasing in and out of these jobs, which is accounted for in the FIA model. Service Sector The...a nonservice industry accounts for 5 percent of the total production in ,: the ROI and 10 percent of total production in the state, then half of the

Leasing instruments of high-rise construction financing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aleksandrova, Olga; Ivleva, Elena; Sukhacheva, Viktoria; Rumyantseva, Anna

2018-03-01

The leasing sector of the business economics is expanding. Leasing instruments for high-rise construction financing allow to determine the best business behaviour in the leasing economy sector, not only in the sphere of transactions with equipment and vehicles. Investments in high-rise construction have a multiplicative effect. It initiates an active search and leasing instruments use in the economic behaviour of construction organizations. The study of the high-rise construction sector in the structure of the leasing market participants significantly expands the leasing system framework. The scheme of internal and external leasing process factors influence on the result formation in the leasing sector of economy is offered.

On certain development aspects of an ipsas-based system-target approach to evaluation of net asset sustainability level projects in high-rise construction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kazaryan, Ruben

2018-03-01

Problems of accounting and reporting of net assets and the procedure of their formation taking into account the specifics of the economic and legal status of property of a non-commercial autonomous institution are some of the most controversial in the accounting for entities of the public sector. The study focuses on justification of accounting rules for net assets of public sector entities. The methods used in the study are as follows: comparison, synthesis, analysis, logical approach, and system approach. The article examines legal aspects and specifics of recognition of assets of public sector entities in accordance with IPSAS standards (International Public Sector Accounting Standards are a set of accounting standards issued by IPSASB (Council for International Financial Reporting Standards for Public Sector Organizations) used by state-owned enterprises worldwide in preparation of financial statements as of the 31st of August, 2015. The most crucial factor in the modeling of key performance indicators of the system-target approach to estimation of the sustainability level of net assets on the basis of IPSAS is a multicriterial evaluation of the basic management strategy for quality system elements used in operational and strategic planning projects operations in high-rise construction. We offer an alternative evaluation of assets due to be returned to the right holder (the state controller) in the event of liquidation of a public sector entity.

Environmental Criteria in the Spanish Public Works Procurement Process.

PubMed

Fuentes-Bargues, José Luis; González-Cruz, Mª Carmen; González-Gaya, Cristina

2017-02-18

Green Public Procurement (GPP) is defined as a process of contracting products, services, and works with the least possible damage to the environment during their life cycle. In order to improve the knowledge about GPP, a study of the use of environmental tendering criteria in the Spanish public construction sector has been performed. The results of this study show that the use of environmental criteria in Spanish public sector construction procurement is low in comparison to a certain group of countries, known as "Green 7", in the European Union. Environmental criteria is the fourth criterion in importance, but its weight in the global of the process is much lower than other criteria such as price, memory of the construction process and the delivery time. National administrations use environmental criteria more frequently because they have more resources and staff training about environmental issues. Environmental criteria are more used in the tendering of civil projects and works whose budget exceeds ten million euro due to the environmental impact of these kind and/or size of projects.

Digging into construction: social networks and their potential impact on knowledge transfer.

PubMed

Carlan, N A; Kramer, D M; Bigelow, P; Wells, R; Garritano, E; Vi, P

2012-01-01

A six-year study is exploring the most effective ways to disseminate ideas to reduce musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) in the construction sector. The sector was targeted because MSDs account for 35% of all lost time injuries. This paper reports on the organization of the construction sector, and maps potential pathways of communication, including social networks, to set the stage for future dissemination. The managers, health and safety specialists, union health and safety representatives, and 28 workers from small, medium and large construction companies participated. Over a three-year period, data were collected from 47 qualitative interviews. Questions were guided by the PARIHS (Promoting Action on Research Implementation in Health Services) knowledge-transfer conceptual framework and adapted for the construction sector. The construction sector is a complex and dynamic sector, with non-linear reporting relationships, and divided and diluted responsibilities. Four networks were identified that can potentially facilitate the dissemination of new knowledge: worksite-project networks; union networks; apprenticeship program networks; and networks established by the Construction Safety Association/Infrastructure Health and Safety Association. Flexible and multi-directional lines of communication must be used in this complex environment. This has implications for the future choice of knowledge transfer strategies.

78 FR 23837 - Cranes and Derricks in Construction: Underground Construction and Demolition

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-04-23

... report here the results for the entire heavy-and-civil engineering sector and the entire site... in this final rule because employers included in the heavy-and-civil engineering sector, or the site... final rule. This final rule affects two construction sectors: NAICS 237990 (Other Heavy and Civil...

Safety Training Evaluation: The Case of Construction Induction Training and the Impact on Work-Related Injuries in the Western Australian Construction Sector

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bahn, Susanne; Barratt-Pugh, Llandis

2014-01-01

This paper presents the findings of an evaluation of the mandatory Construction Induction Training initiative (CIT). The paper details a pilot study conducted in 2010 with the commercial construction sector and a subsequent study in 2011 of the housing and civil sectors conducting business in the metropolitan area of Perth and in regional Western…

Construction Sector (NAICS 23)

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Find environmental regulatory information for the construction sector, including the construction of buildings or engineering projects. This includes RCRA information for hazardous waste, refrigeration compliance, asbestos, effluent guidelines & lead laws

United States housing, second quarter 2013

Treesearch

Delton Alderman

2017-01-01

The U.S. housing market’s quarter two results were disap¬pointing compared with the first quarter. Although overall expected gains did not materialize, certain sectors improved slightly. Housing under construction, completions, and new and existing home sales exhibited slight increases. Overall permit data declined, and the decrease in starts was due primarily to a...

Global Warming Implications of the Use of By-Products and Recycled Materials in Western Australia’s Housing Sector

PubMed Central

Lawania, Krishna; Sarker, Prabir; Biswas, Wahidul

2015-01-01

Western Australia’s housing sector is growing rapidly and around half a million houses are expected to be built by 2030, which not only will result in increased energy and resources demand but will have socio-economic impacts. Majority of Western Australians live in detached houses made of energy intensive clay bricks, which have a high potential to generate construction and demolition (C&D) waste. Therefore, there is a need to look into the use of alternative materials and construction methods. Due to Western Australia’s temperate climate, concrete could not only offer a comfortable living space but an operational energy saving also can be achieved. This paper has assessed the global warming implications of cast in-situ concrete sandwich wall system as an alternative to clay brick walls (CBW) with partial replacement of cement in concrete with by-products such as fly ash (FA) and ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS), natural aggregate (NA) with recycled crushed aggregate (RCA), natural sand (NS) with manufactured sand (MS) and, polyethylene terephthalate (PET) foam core as a replacement to polystyrene core for construction of a typical 4 × 2 × 2 detached house in Perth. Life cycle management (LCM) approach has been used to determine global warming reduction benefits due to the use of available by-products and recycled materials in Western Australian houses.

Environmental Criteria in the Spanish Public Works Procurement Process

PubMed Central

Fuentes-Bargues, José Luis; González-Cruz, Mª Carmen; González-Gaya, Cristina

2017-01-01

Green Public Procurement (GPP) is defined as a process of contracting products, services, and works with the least possible damage to the environment during their life cycle. In order to improve the knowledge about GPP, a study of the use of environmental tendering criteria in the Spanish public construction sector has been performed. The results of this study show that the use of environmental criteria in Spanish public sector construction procurement is low in comparison to a certain group of countries, known as “Green 7”, in the European Union. Environmental criteria is the fourth criterion in importance, but its weight in the global of the process is much lower than other criteria such as price, memory of the construction process and the delivery time. National administrations use environmental criteria more frequently because they have more resources and staff training about environmental issues. Environmental criteria are more used in the tendering of civil projects and works whose budget exceeds ten million euro due to the environmental impact of these kind and/or size of projects. PMID:28218706

Organizational Commitment Mediating the Effects of Big Five Personality Compliance to Occupational Safety Standard Operating Procedure

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Prayitno, Hadi; Suwandi, Tjipto; Hamidah

2016-01-01

The incidence of work accidents in the construction industry particularly in Indonesia and generally internationally shows an increasingly worrying trend given that either quantitatively or qualitatively the number of work accidents is very large compared to that of other industrial sectors. The main causing factors are mostly due to the workers'…

The temporal variation of SO2 emissions embodied in Chinese supply chains, 2002-2012.

PubMed

Yang, Xue; Zhang, Wenzhong; Fan, Jie; Li, Jiaming; Meng, Jing

2018-05-24

Whilst attention is increasingly being focused on embodied pollutant emissions along supply chains in China, relatively little attention has been paid to dynamic changes in this process. This study utilized environmental extended input-output analysis (EEIOA) and structural path analysis (SPA) to investigate the dynamic variation of the SO 2 emissions embodied in 28 economic sectors in Chinese supply chains during 2002-2012. The main conclusions are summarized as follows: (1) The dominant SO 2 emission sectors differed under production and consumption perspectives. Electricity and heat production dominated SO 2 emissions from the point of view of production, while construction contributed most from the consumption perspective. (2) The embodied SO 2 emissions tended to change from the path (staring from consumption side to production side): "Services→Services→Power" in 2002 to the path: "Construction and Manufacturing→Metal and Nonmetal→Power" in 2012. (3) Metal-driven emissions raised dramatically from 15% in 2002 to 22% in 2012, due to increasing demand for metal products in construction and manufacturing activities. (4) Power generation was found to result in the greatest volume of production-based emissions, a burden it tended to transfer to upstream sectors in 2012. Controlling construction activities and cutting down end-of-pipe discharges in the process of power generation represent the most radical interventions in reducing Chinese SO 2 emissions. This study shed light on changes in SO 2 emissions in the supply chain, providing a range of policy implications from both production and consumption perspectives. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Determining residential energy consumption-based CO2 emissions and examining the factors affecting the variation in Ankara, Turkey

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kus, Melike; Akan, Perihan; Aydinalp Koksal, Merih; Gullu, Gulen

2017-11-01

Energy demand of Turkey has been showing a remarkable increase in the last two decades due to rapid increase in population and changes in consumption trends. In parallel to the increase in energy demand, the CO2 emissions in Turkey are also increasing dramatically due to high usage of fossil fuels. CO2 emissions from the residential sector covers almost one fourth of the total sectoral emissions. In this study, CO2 emissions from the residential sector are estimated, and the factors affecting the emission levels are determined for the residential sector in Ankara, Turkey. In this study, detailed surveys are conducted to more than 400 households in Ankara. Using the information gathered from the surveys, the CO2 emissions associated with energy consumption of the households are calculated using the methodology outlined at IPCC. The statistical analyses are carried out using household income, dwelling characteristics, and household economic and demographic data to determine the factors causing the variation in emission levels among the households. The results of the study present that the main factors impacting the amount of total energy consumption and associated CO2 emissions are household income, dwelling construction year, age, education level of the household, and net footage of the dwelling.

Determinants of Distribution Logistics in the Construction Industry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bukova, Bibiana; Brumercikova, Eva; Kondek, Pavol

2017-03-01

Global business is currently still influenced by the economic crisis and the economic development in each country of the EU. The construction sector is among the most affected sectors of the national economies. The production of building material is a part of the construction industry. Several companies of this sector in the European Union use business logistics effectively. The overall efficiency of the company is influenced by many various external and internal determinants, especially the distribution logistics.

Awareness of BIM adoption in Brunei

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rahman, Md Motiar

2017-09-01

Building Information Modelling (BIM) is getting increased attention day-by-day due to its many benefits, including clash detection, collaboration between contract parties, visualization future structure, optimized schedule and project control, waste control, design documentation, and harmonized facilities management. As such, many countries have already adopted BIM, and many other countries are exploring the potential of adopting it. However, it is still relatively new and unknown to some other countries like Brunei. This study was therefore undertaken to generate and/or gauge the awareness of Brunei construction industry participants, targeting adoption of BIM, through a structured questionnaire survey. Responses from 90 industry participants reveal that Brunei Construction industry is not well aware of BIM, lack the required technical knowledge and application in construction, and cost involvement. They are unsure about the potential benefits and barriers to implementing BIM. However, respondents are hopeful that BIM can bring the required changes in construction, willing to adopt BIM, expects cliental support with initial investment for its adoption, and believe that BIM is the future of construction project information management. On the whole, private sector was seen to be more aware on BIM than public sector. The study outcomes are expected to provide the policy makers a first-hand information on the industry awareness on BIM, which in turn help them for further exploration / examination and to design any action plan and guidelines for BIM adoption.

Preliminary study for understanding the moderating role of government regulations in telecom sector of Pakistan

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tariq, Beenish; Mat, Nik Kamariah Nik

2017-10-01

Telecommunication sector of Pakistan is a significant contributor toward the economic development of Pakistan. However, telecommunication sector of Pakistan underwent a lot of changes from regulatory and marketing perspective in 2015, resulting in decreased cellular penetration, dropped down the cellular subscribers and decreased telecommunication revenue. Hence, this research paper is designed to validate the constructs used in addressing the moderating role of government regulations based on Oliver's four-stage loyalty model in telecom sector of Pakistan. This preliminary study has mainly employed the quantitative method (i.e. survey questionnaire), consisting of a total of 72 items related to eight constructs under study and used 7 points Likert scale. The main analysis method used is the reliability test of the constructs. The results reveal that the Cronbach alpha readings were between 0.756 and 0.932, indicating internally consistent and reliable measures of the constructs used. This result enables the constructs to be included in the actual data collection without change.

Spatiotemporal Changes of Built-Up Land Expansion and Carbon Emissions Caused by the Chinese Construction Industry.

PubMed

Chuai, Xiaowei; Huang, Xianjin; Lu, Qinli; Zhang, Mei; Zhao, Rongqin; Lu, Junyu

2015-11-03

China is undergoing rapid urbanization, enlarging the construction industry, greatly expanding built-up land, and generating substantial carbon emissions. We calculated both the direct and indirect carbon emissions from energy consumption (anthropogenic emissions) in the construction sector and analyzed built-up land expansion and carbon storage losses from the terrestrial ecosystem. According to our study, the total anthropogenic carbon emissions from the construction sector increased from 3,905×10(4) to 103,721.17×10(4) t from 1995 to 2010, representing 27.87%-34.31% of the total carbon emissions from energy consumption in China. Indirect carbon emissions from other industrial sectors induced by the construction sector represented approximately 97% of the total anthropogenic carbon emissions of the sector. These emissions were mainly concentrated in seven upstream industry sectors. Based on our assumptions, built-up land expansion caused 3704.84×10(4) t of carbon storage loss from vegetation between 1995 and 2010. Cropland was the main built-up land expansion type across all regions. The study shows great regional differences. Coastal regions showed dramatic built-up land expansion, greater carbon storage losses from vegetation, and greater anthropogenic carbon emissions. These regional differences were the most obvious in East China followed by Midsouth China. These regions are under pressure for strong carbon emissions reduction.

An investigation and analysis of safety issues in Polish small construction plants.

PubMed

Dąbrowski, Andrzej

2015-01-01

The construction industry is a booming sector of the Polish economy; however, it is stigmatised by a lower classification due to high occupational risks and an unsatisfactory state of occupational safety. Safety on construction sites is compromised by small construction firms which dominate the market and have high accident rates. This article presents the results of studies (using a checklist) conducted in small Polish construction companies in terms of selected aspects of safety, such as co-operation with the general contractor, occupational health and safety documents, occupational risk assessment, organization of work, protective gear and general work equipment. The mentioned studies and analyses provided the grounds to establish the main directions of preventive measures decreasing occupational risk in small construction companies, e.g., an increase in engagement of investors and general contractors, improvement of occupational health and safety (OSH) documents, an increase in efficiency of construction site managers, better stability of employment and removal of opposing objectives between economic strategy and work safety.

An investigation and analysis of safety issues in Polish small construction plants

PubMed Central

Dąbrowski, Andrzej

2015-01-01

The construction industry is a booming sector of the Polish economy; however, it is stigmatised by a lower classification due to high occupational risks and an unsatisfactory state of occupational safety. Safety on construction sites is compromised by small construction firms which dominate the market and have high accident rates. This article presents the results of studies (using a checklist) conducted in small Polish construction companies in terms of selected aspects of safety, such as co-operation with the general contractor, occupational health and safety documents, occupational risk assessment, organization of work, protective gear and general work equipment. The mentioned studies and analyses provided the grounds to establish the main directions of preventive measures decreasing occupational risk in small construction companies, e.g., an increase in engagement of investors and general contractors, improvement of occupational health and safety (OSH) documents, an increase in efficiency of construction site managers, better stability of employment and removal of opposing objectives between economic strategy and work safety. PMID:26694002

Innovation and construction management in Brazil: Challenges of companies in times of quality and productivity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barbosa, A. A. R.; Vilnītis, M.

2017-10-01

Considering the efforts to optimize productivity and quality in the construction through the potential existing in the respective companies, this study presents an approach for identification, management and priorities of improvements actions at construction sites focusing status on productivity, added value and innovation in the socioeconomic context and scenario of construction industry in Brazil. Technological advances in recent years have made the Brazilian construction industry gradually incorporate technologies and forms of management, despite its traditionally conservative character. In current days, the innovations are pursued with the quest for greater quality, productivity, safety and customer satisfaction, which have been increasingly competitive and global. Construction in Brazil occupies an important role in the economy, directly contributing to GDP and acting on an extensive productive chain of suppliers, commercialization services and maintenance. The Brazilian construction sector has undergone major changes in recent years, facilitated by factors such as the resumption of public investments, the creation of laws that facilitate real estate, investments and funding of external resources, and the efforts of the Brazilian Quality and Productivity Program - PBQP H. However, the sector faces problems of a lack of skilled labour to meet the growth needs of the sector. There are still problems and challenges of quality and productivity that prevent full sector development. The aspects of nonconformity, low quality, high tax burden, outsourcing and informality of the workforce have not been adequately addressed and resolved. Through the use of indicators of productivity and growth, the challenges of the Brazilian construction industry are discussed and the possible paths for the sector that allow its full development and to reduce the distance between the Brazilian construction industry and that of the developed countries.

Monitoring the informational efficiency of European corporate bond markets with dynamical permutation min-entropy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zunino, Luciano; Bariviera, Aurelio F.; Guercio, M. Belén; Martinez, Lisana B.; Rosso, Osvaldo A.

2016-08-01

In this paper the permutation min-entropy has been implemented to unveil the presence of temporal structures in the daily values of European corporate bond indices from April 2001 to August 2015. More precisely, the informational efficiency evolution of the prices of fifteen sectorial indices has been carefully studied by estimating this information-theory-derived symbolic tool over a sliding time window. Such a dynamical analysis makes possible to obtain relevant conclusions about the effect that the 2008 credit crisis has had on the different European corporate bond sectors. It is found that the informational efficiency of some sectors, namely banks, financial services, insurance, and basic resources, has been strongly reduced due to the financial crisis whereas another set of sectors, integrated by chemicals, automobiles, media, energy, construction, industrial goods & services, technology, and telecommunications has only suffered a transitory loss of efficiency. Last but not least, the food & beverage, healthcare, and utilities sectors show a behavior close to a random walk practically along all the period of analysis, confirming a remarkable immunity against the 2008 financial crisis.

Investigating the Underlying Factors of Corruption in the Public Construction Sector: Evidence from China.

PubMed

Shan, Ming; Le, Yun; Yiu, Kenneth T W; Chan, Albert P C; Hu, Yi

2017-12-01

Over recent years, the issue of corruption in the public construction sector has attracted increasing attention from both practitioners and researchers worldwide. However, limited efforts are available for investigating the underlying factors of corruption in this sector. Thus, this study attempted to bridge this knowledge gap by exploring the underlying factors of corruption in the public construction sector of China. To achieve this goal, a total of 14 structured interviews were first carried out, and a questionnaire survey was then administered to 188 professionals in China. Two iterations of multivariate analysis approaches, namely, stepwise multiple regression analysis and partial least squares structural equation modeling were successively utilized to analyze the collected data. In addition, a case study was also conducted to triangulate the findings obtained from the statistical analysis. The results generated from these three research methods achieve the same conclusion: the most influential underlying factor leading to corruption was immorality, followed by opacity, unfairness, procedural violation, and contractual violation. This study has contributed to the body of knowledge by exploring the properties of corruption in the public construction sector. The findings from this study are also valuable to the construction authorities as they can assist in developing more effective anti-corruption strategies.

Development activities, challenges and prospects for the hydropower sector in Austria

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wagner, Beatrice; Hauer, Christoph; Habersack, Helmut

2017-04-01

This contribution intends to give an overview of hydropower development activities in Austria and deepen the knowledge on actual strategies and planning documents. Thereby, the focus is on a climate and energy policy based perspective, also analyzing economic trends at the hydropower sector due to energy market changes in the last years. This includes a comparison with other political strategies and programs dealing with hydropower exploitation based on selected countries. With respect to technology developments, a concise review on technological innovations, such as hydrokinetic energy conversion systems, and new constructive designs of conventional hydropower plants in Austria will be given. Moreover, potential impacts on environment and aquatic ecosystems are described. Finally, key challenges and prospects will be identified and discussed.

An application of the Pareto method in surveys to diagnose managers' and workers' perception of occupational safety and health on selected Polish construction sites.

PubMed

Obolewicz, Jerzy; Dąbrowski, Andrzej

2017-11-16

The construction industry is an important sector of the economy in Poland. According to the National Labour Inspectorate (PIP) data of 2014, the number of victims of fatal accidents in the construction sector amounted to 80 as compared with 187 injured in all other sectors of economy in Poland. This article presents the results of surveys on the impact of construction worker behaviour on the occupational safety and health outcomes. The surveys took into account the point of view of both construction site management (tactical level) and construction workers (operational level). For the analysis of results, the method of numerical taxonomy and Pareto charts was employed, which allowed the authors to identify the areas of occupational safety and health at both an operational and a tactical level, in which improvement actions needed to be proposed for workers employed in micro, small, medium and large construction enterprises.

An ANSERLIN array for mobile satellite applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Colomb, F. Y.; Kunkee, D. B.; Mayes, P. E.; Smith, D. W.; Jamnejad, V.

1990-01-01

Design, analysis, construction, and test of linear arrays of ANSERLIN (annular sector, radiating line) elements are reported and discussed. Due to feeding simplicity and easy construction as well as good CP performance, a planar array composed of a number of such linear arrays each producing a shaped beam tilted in elevation, is a good candidate as a vehicle-mounted mechanically steered antenna for mobile satellite applications. A single level construction technique was developed that makes this type of array very cost competitive with other low-profile arrays. An asymmetric 19.5 inch long four-element array was fabricated and tested with reasonable performance. A smaller five-element symmetric array (16 inch long) was also designed and tested capable of operating in either sense of circular polarization. Efforts were made to successfully reduce this effect.

Production patterns of packaging waste categories generated at typical Mediterranean residential building worksites

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

González Pericot, N., E-mail: natalia.gpericot@upm.es; Villoria Sáez, P., E-mail: paola.villoria@upm.es; Del Río Merino, M., E-mail: mercedes.delrio@upm.es

2014-11-15

Highlights: • On-site segregation level: 1.80%; training and motivation strategies were not effective. • 70% Cardboard waste: from switches and sockets during the building services stage. • 40% Plastic waste: generated during structures and partition works due to palletizing. • >50% Wood packaging waste, basically pallets, generated during the envelope works. - Abstract: The construction sector is responsible for around 28% of the total waste volume generated in Europe, which exceeds the amount of household waste. This has led to an increase of different research studies focusing on construction waste quantification. However, within the research studies made, packaging waste hasmore » been analyzed to a limited extent. This article focuses on the packaging waste stream generated in the construction sector. To this purpose current on-site waste packaging management has been assessed by monitoring ten Mediterranean residential building works. The findings of the experimental data collection revealed that the incentive measures implemented by the construction company to improve on-site waste sorting failed to achieve the intended purpose, showing low segregation ratios. Subsequently, through an analytical study the generation patterns for packaging waste are established, leading to the identification of the prevailing kinds of packaging and the products responsible for their generation. Results indicate that plastic waste generation maintains a constant trend throughout the whole construction process, while cardboard becomes predominant towards the end of the construction works with switches and sockets from the electricity stage. Understanding the production patterns of packaging waste will be beneficial for adapting waste management strategies to the identified patterns for the specific nature of packaging waste within the context of construction worksites.« less

Housing & woodworking: latest trends & impacts

Treesearch

Urs Buehlmann; Matt Bumgardner; Karen Koenig

2014-01-01

Trends in housing and other construction-related sectors continue to have a significant impact on the wood products industry, particularly cabinetry, furniture, millwork and components. This fifth annual survey assesses the market conditions for secondary woodworking manufacturers involved in construction-based sectors and includes information on their status and...

JPRS Report: East Asia Southeast Asia.

DTIC Science & Technology

1993-07-26

private sector companies and will be set up on a BOO basis. Speaking in Jakarta on 2 June, Habibie said : "Thus far several companies from the United...private sector the construction of the "Muria" generator on a BOO basis. He said : "Why should we turn over the nuclear powered electricity generator... said that the plan to offer this construction project to the private sector on a BOO basis is quite realistic. However, he quickly added that the

Factors Associated with Long-Term Sickness Absence Due to Mental Disorders: A Cohort Study of 7.112 Patients during the Spanish Economic Crisis.

PubMed

Real, Eva; Jover, Lluís; Verdaguer, Ricard; Griera, Antoni; Segalàs, Cinto; Alonso, Pino; Contreras, Fernando; Arteman, Antoni; Menchón, José M

2016-01-01

Mental health problems are very common and often lead to prolonged sickness absence, having serious economic repercussions for most European countries. Periods of economic crisis are important social phenomena that are assumed to increase sickness absence due to mental disorders, although research on this topic remains scarce. The aim of this study was to gather data on long-term sickness absence (and relapse) due to mental disorders in Spain during a period of considerable socio-economic crisis. Relationships were analyzed (using chi-squared tests and multivariate modelling via binary logistic regression) between clinical, social/employment-related and demographic factors associated and long-term sickness absence (>60 consecutive days) due to mental disorders in a cohort of 7112 Spanish patients during the period 2008-2012. Older age, severe mental disorders, being self-employed, having a non-permanent contract, and working in the real estate and construction sector were associated with an increased probability of long-term sickness absence (gender had a mediating role with respect to some of these variables). Relapses were associated with short-term sick leave (return to work due to 'improvement') and with working in the transport sector and public administration. Aside from medical factors, other social/employment-related and demographic factors have a significant influence on the duration of sickness absence due to mental disorders.

Gun bore flaw image matching based on improved SIFT descriptor

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zeng, Luan; Xiong, Wei; Zhai, You

2013-01-01

In order to increase the operation speed and matching ability of SIFT algorithm, the SIFT descriptor and matching strategy are improved. First, a method of constructing feature descriptor based on sector area is proposed. By computing the gradients histogram of location bins which are parted into 6 sector areas, a descriptor with 48 dimensions is constituted. It can reduce the dimension of feature vector and decrease the complexity of structuring descriptor. Second, it introduce a strategy that partitions the circular region into 6 identical sector areas starting from the dominate orientation. Consequently, the computational complexity is reduced due to cancellation of rotation operation for the area. The experimental results indicate that comparing with the OpenCV SIFT arithmetic, the average matching speed of the new method increase by about 55.86%. The matching veracity can be increased even under some variation of view point, illumination, rotation, scale and out of focus. The new method got satisfied results in gun bore flaw image matching. Keywords: Metrology, Flaw image matching, Gun bore, Feature descriptor

Procurement of construction services: a case study on bidding competition in Singapore public sector contracts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oo, B. L.; Yan, Y.

2018-04-01

There are many variables that public clients need to consider in their bidding procedure to enhance efficiency in their procurement for construction services. This paper focusses on the competitive bidding process for public sector procurement of construction services in Singapore. A distinctive feature of the Singapore government competitive bidding process is that full bidding feedback information is released to all competing bidders (and public). The specific objectives are: (i) to examine the degree of competition in the construction markets; and (ii) to examine the bidding performance of competing bidders. Based on a collection of bidding data for a 15-month period, the results show the market environment of the Singapore public sector construction contracting is highly competitive with long bidder lists. In selection of contractors, only 50% of the contracts were awarded to lowest bidders. The results also show that the competing contractors can be broadly classified into three groups based on their bidding performance in terms of number of bidding attempts, bidding success rate and bidding competitiveness. These results provide a useful insight into the bidding competition in the Singapore public sector construction contracting, especially to new market entrants and foreign contractors who want to bid for jobs in Singapore.

Safe commuting factors from existing guidelines in Malaysia: a review for the construction sector

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sukor, E. S. A.; Suratkon, A.; Mohammad, H.; Yaman, S. K.

2018-04-01

The construction industry is a very active and dynamic industry, which proceeding as one of the significant industry that contributing to the country’s economy. Unfortunately, the construction industry has also earned the reputation of being the riskiest industry because of the higher rates of accidents and fatalities. Nevertheless, overwhelming focus by many on the accident in the workplace has shaded the alarming issue of the construction-related commuting accident. As reported by the Malaysia’s Social Security Organisation (SOCSO) in 2016, the number of commuting accidents and the compensations paid is increasing each year, and it is including the construction sector. Aware of the importance of safe commuting, several Malaysian agencies have developed their guidelines specifically for the improvement of such issue. Regrettably, the number of guidelines published does not exemplify the improvement of such issue when the number of commuting accidents is on the rise, especially for the construction sector. Therefore, this preliminary research was conducted to identify the safe commuting factors from the existing guidelines through manual document analysis. The finding shows that there are four (4) major categories namely; (1) driver/human factor, (2) vehicle factor, (3) environment factor, and (4) others. Hence, the research posits for subsequent exploration to ensure strategic implementation of those factors that will benefit the Malaysia’s construction sector.

Is health care infected by Baumol's cost disease? Test of a new model.

PubMed

Atanda, Akinwande; Menclova, Andrea Kutinova; Reed, W Robert

2018-05-01

Rising health care costs are a policy concern across the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, and relatively little consensus exists concerning their causes. One explanation that has received revived attention is Baumol's cost disease (BCD). However, developing a theoretically appropriate test of BCD has been a challenge. In this paper, we construct a 2-sector model firmly based on Baumol's axioms. We then derive several testable propositions. In particular, the model predicts that (a) the share of total labor employed in the health care sector and (b) the relative price index of the health and non-health care sectors should both be positively related to economy-wide productivity. The model also predicts that (c) the share of labor in the health sector will be negatively related and (d) the ratio of prices in the health and non-health sectors unrelated, to the demand for non-health services. Using annual data from 28 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries over the years 1995-2016 and from 14 U.S. industry groups over the years 1947-2015, we find little evidence to support the predictions of BCD once we address spurious correlation due to coincident trending and other econometric issues. Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Construction and demolition waste indicators.

PubMed

Mália, Miguel; de Brito, Jorge; Pinheiro, Manuel Duarte; Bravo, Miguel

2013-03-01

The construction industry is one of the biggest and most active sectors of the European Union (EU), consuming more raw materials and energy than any other economic activity. Furthermore, construction waste is the commonest waste produced in the EU. Current EU legislation sets out to implement construction and demolition waste (CDW) prevention and recycling measures. However it lacks tools to accelerate the development of a sector as bound by tradition as the building industry. The main objective of the present study was to determine indicators to estimate the amount of CDW generated on site both globally and by waste stream. CDW generation was estimated for six specific sectors: new residential construction, new non-residential construction, residential demolition, non-residential demolition, residential refurbishment, and non-residential refurbishment. The data needed to develop the indicators was collected through an exhaustive survey of previous international studies. The indicators determined suggest that the average composition of waste generated on site is mostly concrete and ceramic materials. Specifically for new residential and new non-residential construction the production of concrete waste in buildings with a reinforced concrete structure lies between 17.8 and 32.9 kg m(-2) and between 18.3 and 40.1 kg m(-2), respectively. For the residential and non-residential demolition sectors the production of this waste stream in buildings with a reinforced concrete structure varies from 492 to 840 kg m(-2) and from 401 to 768 kg/m(-2), respectively. For the residential and non-residential refurbishment sectors the production of concrete waste in buildings lies between 18.9 and 45.9 kg/m(-2) and between 18.9 and 191.2 kg/m(-2), respectively.

Critical analysis of procurement techniques in construction management sectors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tiwari, Suman Tiwari Suresh; Chan, Shiau Wei; Faraz Mubarak, Muhammad

2018-04-01

Over the last three decades, numerous procurement techniques have been one of the highlights of the Construction Management (CM) for ventures, administration contracting, venture management as well as design and construct. Due to the development and utilization of those techniques, various researchers have explored the criteria for their choice and their execution in terms of time, cost and quality. Nevertheless, there is a lack of giving an account on the relationship between the procurement techniques and the progressed related issues, for example, supply chain, sustainability, innovation and technology development, lean construction, constructability, value management, Building Information Modelling (BIM) as well as e-procurement. Through chosen papers from the reputable CM-related academic journals, the specified scopes of these issues are methodically assessed with the objective to explore the status and trend in procurement related research. The result of this paper contributes theoretically as well as practically to the researchers and industrialist in order to be aware and appreciate the development of procurement techniques.

Final Environmental Assessment Nellis Air Force Base School Initiative, Nellis Air Force Base, Clark County, Nevada

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-04-01

Analysis [BEA] 2012). The relatively high unemployment rate, as well as the predominance of the Accommodation and Food Services industry, a sector that...I for future mission-specific development. The intent is to lease base property to a private sector charter school company to design and construct...allow Nellis AFB to lease bas~ property to a private sector charter school company to develop, construct, and op~rate a new charter school centrally

Evaluating construct validity of the second version of the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire through analysis of differential item functioning and differential item effect.

PubMed

Bjorner, Jakob Bue; Pejtersen, Jan Hyld

2010-02-01

To evaluate the construct validity of the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire II (COPSOQ II) by means of tests for differential item functioning (DIF) and differential item effect (DIE). We used a Danish general population postal survey (n = 4,732 with 3,517 wage earners) with a one-year register based follow up for long-term sickness absence. DIF was evaluated against age, gender, education, social class, public/private sector employment, and job type using ordinal logistic regression. DIE was evaluated against job satisfaction and self-rated health (using ordinal logistic regression), against depressive symptoms, burnout, and stress (using multiple linear regression), and against long-term sick leave (using a proportional hazards model). We used a cross-validation approach to counter the risk of significant results due to multiple testing. Out of 1,052 tests, we found 599 significant instances of DIF/DIE, 69 of which showed both practical and statistical significance across two independent samples. Most DIF occurred for job type (in 20 cases), while we found little DIF for age, gender, education, social class and sector. DIE seemed to pertain to particular items, which showed DIE in the same direction for several outcome variables. The results allowed a preliminary identification of items that have a positive impact on construct validity and items that have negative impact on construct validity. These results can be used to develop better shortform measures and to improve the conceptual framework, items and scales of the COPSOQ II. We conclude that tests of DIF and DIE are useful for evaluating construct validity.

Trends in Worker Hearing Loss by Industry Sector, 1981–2010

PubMed Central

Masterson, Elizabeth A.; Deddens, James A.; Themann, Christa L.; Bertke, Stephen; Calvert, Geoffrey M.

2015-01-01

Background The purpose of this study was to estimate the incidence and prevalence of hearing loss for noise-exposed U.S. workers by industry sector and 5-year time period, covering 30 years. Methods Audiograms for 1.8 million workers from 1981–2010 were examined. Incidence and prevalence were estimated by industry sector and time period. The adjusted risk of incident hearing loss within each time period and industry sector as compared with a reference time period was also estimated. Results The adjusted risk for incident hearing loss decreased over time when all industry sectors were combined. However, the risk remained high for workers in Healthcare and Social Assistance, and the prevalence was consistently high for Mining and Construction workers. Conclusions While progress has been made in reducing the risk of incident hearing loss within most industry sectors, additional efforts are needed within Mining, Construction and Healthcare and Social Assistance. PMID:25690583

Trends in worker hearing loss by industry sector, 1981-2010.

PubMed

Masterson, Elizabeth A; Deddens, James A; Themann, Christa L; Bertke, Stephen; Calvert, Geoffrey M

2015-04-01

The purpose of this study was to estimate the incidence and prevalence of hearing loss for noise-exposed U.S. workers by industry sector and 5-year time period, covering 30 years. Audiograms for 1.8 million workers from 1981-2010 were examined. Incidence and prevalence were estimated by industry sector and time period. The adjusted risk of incident hearing loss within each time period and industry sector as compared with a reference time period was also estimated. The adjusted risk for incident hearing loss decreased over time when all industry sectors were combined. However, the risk remained high for workers in Healthcare and Social Assistance, and the prevalence was consistently high for Mining and Construction workers. While progress has been made in reducing the risk of incident hearing loss within most industry sectors, additional efforts are needed within Mining, Construction and Healthcare and Social Assistance. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Fatal occupational injuries in the construction sector in Kocaeli, Turkey, 1990--2001.

PubMed

Colak, Basar; Etiler, Nilay; Bicer, Umit

2004-10-01

In Turkey, the construction sector is responsible for the largest number of work-related fatalities among all industries. This study's objective is to determine the characteristics of the fatalities in the construction sector in Kocaeli Province. The study was carried out retrospectively by investigating the records of occupational deaths between 1990 and 2001 in the Kocaeli District of Turkey. Fatal occupational injuries in the construction sector were investigated in detail by evaluating the records. The analysis was based on data from 153 deaths. The incidence of occupational injuries was found overall to be 4.5% in Kocaeli, while the annual mortality rate was 60.4 in Kocaeli and 79.0 in Turkey per 100,000 workers over the entire time period. On the other hand, the fatality rate of occupational injuries was found to be 12.0 per 1,000 in Turkey and 6.4 per 1,000 in Kocaeli. The evaluation of the type of injuries in construction sector has revealed that in 69 of cases (45.1%) fell down from high altitude, in 22 cases (14.4%) vehicle accident, and in 22 (14.4%) electrocution were the cause of death. The leading causes of death have been found to be blunt-force trauma (37.9%) and head trauma (25.5%). Fourty one percent of those who had occupational accidents have had less than one year work experience. Only in 7.8% of deaths, the cause was determined through an autopsy.

Network analysis of Chinese provincial economies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sun, Xiaoqi; An, Haizhong; Liu, Xiaojia

2018-02-01

Global economic system is a huge network formed by national subnetworks that contains the provincial networks. As the second largest world economy, China has "too big to fail" impact on the interconnected global economy. Detecting the critical sectors and vital linkages inside Chinese economic network is meaningful for understanding the origin of this Chinese impact. Different from tradition network research at national level, this paper focuses on the provincial networks and inter-provincial network. Using Chinese inter-regional input-output table to construct 30 provincial input-output networks and one inter-provincial input-output network, we identify central sectors and vital linkages, as well as analyze economic structure similarity. Results show that (1) Communication Devices sector in Guangdong and that in Jiangsu, Transportation and Storage sector in Shanghai play critical roles in Chinese economy. (2) Advanced manufactures and services industry occupy the central positions in eastern provincial economies, while Construction sector, Heavy industry, and Wholesale and Retail Trades sector are influential in middle and western provinces. (3) The critical monetary flow paths in Chinese economy are Communication Devices sector to Communication Devices sector in Guangdong, Metals Mining sector to Iron and Steel Smelting sector in Henan, Communication Devices sector to Communication Devices sector in Jiangsu, as well as Petroleum Mining sector in Heilongjiang to Petroleum Processing sector in Liaoning. (4) Collective influence results suggest that Finance sector, Transportation and Storage sector, Production of Electricity and Heat sector, and Rubber and Plastics sector in Hainan are strategic influencers, despite being weakly connected. These sectors and input-output relations are worthy of close attention for monitoring Chinese economy.

[Occupational mortality in Italy during 1992, assessed through record-linkage between pension records and death certificates].

PubMed

d'Errico, A; Filippi, M; Demaria, M; Picanza, Grazia; Crialesi, Roberta; Costa, G; Campo, G; Passerini, M

2005-01-01

The creation of a surveillance system of occupational mortality in Italy is limited by the low quality of information on occupation in death certificates, since the information is often incomplete or lacking and because only the occupation at the time of death is registered. To evaluate the possible use of INPS (National Institute of Social Security) records for the purpose of surveillance of occupational mortality, in terms of feasibility of setting up a system and of validity of the results obtained. Death records of 218,510 subjects aged 18-74, deceased in the 12 months following the 1991 census, were obtained from ISTAT (Central Statistics Institute). These were combined through record-linkage with the INPS social security archives, which contain the employment records by economic sector going back to 1974, in order to assign these deaths the sector in which they had worked the longest. Mortality by specific causes was evaluated by industry by means of a proportional mortality analysis stratified by sex and occupational status, and adjusted for age, education, marital status, geographical area of birth, drawing a disability pension, employment status at the time of death and work instability. Record-linkage allowed attribution of the longest held job to 70% of the deaths recorded. Results are presented and discussed only on mortality in men due to asbestosis and silicosis, and causes of death with a substantial proportion attributable to occupation: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD); cancers of the bladder, nasal cavity, larynx, lung and pleura; leukaemia and lymphoma; accidental causes. Among the economic sectors with a significant excess mortality, the following are well documented in the literature: mortality due to COPD in the coal and peat-bog sectors; due to leukaemia among farmers; due to sino-nasal tumours in wood-working and furniture production; due to cancer of the larynx, lung, and pleura in occupations where there was probable exposure to asbestos (fishing and maritime transport, non-metal mining, building industry, and naval, train and aircraft construction); due to silicosis in industries with potential exposure to crystalline silica; due to accidental causes in the building industry and farming. Other mortality excesses and deficits, especially those due to bladder and lympho-haemopoietic cancers, appear to be only partly consistent with those described by other authors. The feasibility of developing a surveillance system of occupational mortality based on the INPS source was found to be good, and, at least among males, for 75% of the deceased subjects historical information existed concerning the economic sectors registered in the INPS records. The results obtained would appear to indicate that the system is capable of highlighting risk excesses due to widespread exposure in the industries examined, regarding diseases for which there is a strong association with exposure. On the other hand, due to the inherent limits of the study's design (lack of a complete work history and of precise information on the jobs held) its use is not recommended in the surveillance of diseases with a low proportion attributable to a risk factor, or with wide exposure variability in a given sector among the various jobs.

Non-smoking worksites in the residential construction sector: using an online forum to study perspectives and practices.

PubMed

Bondy, Susan J; Bercovitz, Kim L

2011-05-01

Blue-collar workers are a recognised priority for tobacco control. Construction workers have very high smoking rates and are difficult to study and reach with interventions promoting smoke-free workplaces and cessation. The objectives of this study were to explore the smoking-related social climate in the North American residential construction sector and to identify potential barriers and facilitators to creating smoke-free worksites. The data source used was a popular internet forum on home building. Participants included a broad and unselected population of employers, employees and freelance tradespersons working in residential construction. The forum archive contained 10 years of discourse on the subjects of smoking, workplace secondhand smoke and smoking restrictions on construction sites. Qualitative data analysis methods were used to describe major and minor discussion themes relevant to workplace smoking culture and policies in this sector. Participants described considerable tension between smoking and non-smoking tradespersons, but there was also much interpersonal support for cessation and support for non-smokers' rights. Employers and employees described efforts to make construction sites smoke free, and a movement towards preferential hiring of non-smoking tradespersons was discussed. Board participants wanted detailed scientific evidence on secondhand smoke exposure levels and risk thresholds, particularly in open-air workplaces. Experience with success of smoking bans in other challenging workplaces can be applied to the construction sector. Potential movement of smokers out of the workforce represents a challenge for public health systems to ensure equitable access to cessation supports and services.

Psychosocial sources of stress and burnout in the construction sector: a structural equation model.

PubMed

Meliá, Josep L; Becerril, Marta

2007-11-01

This study develops and tests a structural equation model of social stress factors in the construction industry. Leadership behaviours, role conflict and mobbing behaviours are considered exogenous sources of stress; the experience of tension and burnout are considered mediator variables; and psychological well-being, propensity to quit and perceived quality are the final dependent variables. A sample of Spanish construction workers participated voluntarily and anonymously in the study. After considering the indices of modification, leadership showed direct effects on the propensity to quit and perceived quality. The overall fit of the model is adequate (chi2 (13)= 10.69, p = .637, GFI= .975, AGFI= .93, RMR= .230, NFI= .969, TLI= 1.016, CFI= 1.000, RMSEA= .329). Construction has been considered a sector characterized more by high physical risks than socially-related risks. In this context, these findings about the effects of social sources of stress in construction raise new questions about the organizational characteristics of the sector and their psychosocial risks.

Searching for needles in a haystack: identifying innovations to prevent MSDs in the construction sector.

PubMed

Kramer, Desre M; Bigelow, Philip L; Carlan, Niki; Wells, Richard P; Garritano, Enzo; Vi, Peter; Plawinski, Marek

2010-07-01

This study identified innovations that could potentially reduce the risk of MSDs in the construction sector. The action research approach was based on a collaborative model of researchers working with workplace representatives. We searched for innovations being used by construction companies. From a potential database of 125 innovations, the study focused on 20 innovations that varied in their penetration into worksites in the geographical area, represented a variety of trades, and were a cross-section of tools and work organizational processes. It examined the attributes of the innovations, and the barriers to their adoption. The analysis was based on observations of workers, surveys of workers and construction-safety consultants, and company interviews. The study found that innovations were adopted by companies for multiple advantages including productivity and quality, but not necessarily ability to reduce MSD risks, their non-complexity, and cost. The major barriers for adoption were the traditional culture of the construction sector rather than financial ones. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Design for Occupational Safety and Health of Workers in Construction in Developing Countries: A Study of Architects in Nigeria.

PubMed

Manu, Patrick; Poghosyan, Anush; Mshelia, Ibrahim Mark; Iwo, Samuel Tekena; Mahamadu, Abdul-Majeed; Dziekonski, Krzysztof

2018-06-14

Design for safety (DfS) of workers is amongst the prominent ways of tackling poor occupational safety and health (OSH) performance in construction. However, in developing countries there is an extremely limited research on DfS. This study thus makes an important contribution to the subject of DfS in developing countries by specifically examining the awareness and practice of DfS amongst architects within the construction sector of Nigeria. A survey of architects, yielding 161 valid responses, was conducted. While there is a high awareness of the concept of DfS, the actual practice is low. Additionally, although there is high interest in DfS training, the engagement in DfS training is low. Significantly, awareness of DfS, training and education related to DfS, and membership of a design professional body have very limited bearing on the practice of DfS by architects. The findings are thus symptomatic of the prevalence of influential DfS implementation barriers within the construction sector. Industry stakeholders should seek to raise the profile of DfS practice within the sector. Furthermore, similar empirical studies in the construction sector of other developing countries would be useful in shedding light on the status of DfS in these countries.

[Some considerations about aesthetic medicine].

PubMed

Ferreira, Francisco Romão

2010-01-01

In this article, we will discuss some aspects of the construction of the meanings concerning the body from the scientific speech which was modeled based on modern thinking and became the hegemonic thinking of some sectors of the medical field. Meanings attributed to the body bring questions that come from other areas of the social life and those questions will build the aesthetic parameters which will be part of the identity construction, in the relation with the body itself, subjectivity and healthcare. We will describe some moments of the construction of the modern scientific thought and how this thought became hegemonic, influences the common sense, naturalizes identity construction and how dealing with the body, interferes in the healthcare, show a division among some sectors of the biomedicine, reinforce an specific type of medical rationality and makes an epistemic base and principle (theoretical and discursive) to some sectors connected to aesthetic medicine and aesthetic surgeries.

An Examination of Three Forms of Private Sector Financing of Military Facilities

DTIC Science & Technology

1988-09-01

The purpose of this study was to introduce the concept of Private Sector Financing (PSF) of military facilities instead of acquiring facilities via... Private sector financing; Military construction; Leasing; Contracting out; Outleasing; Military family housing. Theses.

Factors Associated with Long-Term Sickness Absence Due to Mental Disorders: A Cohort Study of 7.112 Patients during the Spanish Economic Crisis

PubMed Central

Real, Eva; Jover, Lluís; Verdaguer, Ricard; Griera, Antoni; Segalàs, Cinto; Alonso, Pino; Contreras, Fernando; Arteman, Antoni; Menchón, José M.

2016-01-01

Background Mental health problems are very common and often lead to prolonged sickness absence, having serious economic repercussions for most European countries. Periods of economic crisis are important social phenomena that are assumed to increase sickness absence due to mental disorders, although research on this topic remains scarce. The aim of this study was to gather data on long-term sickness absence (and relapse) due to mental disorders in Spain during a period of considerable socio-economic crisis. Methods Relationships were analyzed (using chi-squared tests and multivariate modelling via binary logistic regression) between clinical, social/employment-related and demographic factors associated and long-term sickness absence (>60 consecutive days) due to mental disorders in a cohort of 7112 Spanish patients during the period 2008–2012. Results Older age, severe mental disorders, being self-employed, having a non-permanent contract, and working in the real estate and construction sector were associated with an increased probability of long-term sickness absence (gender had a mediating role with respect to some of these variables). Relapses were associated with short-term sick leave (return to work due to ‘improvement’) and with working in the transport sector and public administration. Conclusions Aside from medical factors, other social/employment-related and demographic factors have a significant influence on the duration of sickness absence due to mental disorders. PMID:26730603

Data warehouse for detection of occupational diseases in OHS data.

PubMed

Godderis, L; Mylle, G; Coene, M; Verbeek, C; Viaene, B; Bulterys, S; Schouteden, M

2015-11-01

Occupational health and safety (OHS) services collect a wide range of data during health surveillance. To build a 'data warehouse' to make OHS data available for research and to investigate sector-specific health problems. Medical data were extracted, transformed and loaded into the data warehouse. After validation, data on lifestyle, categorized medication use, ICD-9-CM encoded sickness absences and health complaints, collected between 2010 and 2014, were analysed with logistic regression to compare proportions between employment sectors, taking into account age, gender, body mass index (BMI) and year of examination. The data set comprised 585000 employees. Average age and employment seniority were 39 ± 12 and 8 ± 9 years, respectively. BMI was 26 ± 5 kg/m(2). Health complaints, medication use and sickness absence significantly increased with BMI and age. The proportion of employees with health problems was highest in health care (64%), government (61%) and manufacturing (60%) and lowest in the service sector. In all sectors, 10% of workers reported locomotor health problems, apart from the service sector (8%) with similar results for medication consumption. Neuropsychological drugs were more frequently used by health care workers (8%). The transport sector contained the highest proportion of cardiological medication users (12%). Finally, 30-59% of employees reported at least one sickness absence episode. Sickness absence due to locomotor issues was highest in manufacturing (11%) and health care (10%), followed by government (9%) and construction (9%). Significant differences in indices of workers' health were observed between sectors. This information is now being used in the implementation of a sector-oriented health surveillance programme. © 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.

Sectoral combustor for burning low-BTU fuel gas

DOEpatents

Vogt, Robert L.

1980-01-01

A high-temperature combustor for burning low-BTU coal gas in a gas turbine is disclosed. The combustor includes several separately removable combustion chambers each having an annular sectoral cross section and a double-walled construction permitting separation of stresses due to pressure forces and stresses due to thermal effects. Arrangements are described for air-cooling each combustion chamber using countercurrent convective cooling flow between an outer shell wall and an inner liner wall and using film cooling flow through liner panel grooves and along the inner liner wall surface, and for admitting all coolant flow to the gas path within the inner liner wall. Also described are systems for supplying coal gas, combustion air, and dilution air to the combustion zone, and a liquid fuel nozzle for use during low-load operation. The disclosed combustor is fully air-cooled, requires no transition section to interface with a turbine nozzle, and is operable at firing temperatures of up to 3000.degree. F. or within approximately 300.degree. F. of the adiabatic stoichiometric limit of the coal gas used as fuel.

Vibration behaviour of foamed concrete floor with polypropylene and rise husk ash fibre

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Azaman, N. A. Mohd; Ghafar, N. H. Abd; Ayub, N.; Ibrahim, M. Z.

2017-11-01

In the history of the construction industry, lightweight concrete or foamed concrete is a special concrete which can very useful in the construction sector because it is very lightweight and it can compact by itself at each angle of foamwork. Foamed concrete is one of lightweight concrete which widely used for floor construction due to its light weight and economic. The significant challenges in the floor design process are considering the vibration that needs improvements for the poor dynamic behaviour insulation. An alternative material to replace sand with certain amount of rice husk ash (RHA) and polypropylene was introduced. Research was determine the dynamic behavior of foam-polypropylene and foam-RHA concrete by using impact hammer test. The natural frequency for normal foamed concrete, 0.5 % of Polypropylene and 15% of RHA is 29.8 Hz, 29.3 Hz and 29.5 Hz respectively.

Possibilities of Use of UAVS for Technical Inspection of Buildings and Constructions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Banaszek, Anna; Banaszek, Sebastian; Cellmer, Anna

2017-12-01

In recent years, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have been used in various sectors of the economy. This is due to the development of new technologies for acquiring and processing geospatial data. The paper presents the results of experiments using UAV, equipped with a high resolution digital camera, for a visual assessment of the technical condition of the building roof and for the inventory of energy infrastructure and its surroundings. The usefulness of digital images obtained from the UAV deck is presented in concrete examples. The use of UAV offers new opportunities in the area of technical inspection due to the detail and accuracy of the data, low operating costs and fast data acquisition.

Non-smoking worksites in the residential construction sector: using an online forum to study perspectives and practices

PubMed Central

Bercovitz, Kim L

2010-01-01

Objectives Blue-collar workers are a recognised priority for tobacco control. Construction workers have very high smoking rates and are difficult to study and reach with interventions promoting smoke-free workplaces and cessation. The objectives of this study were to explore the smoking-related social climate in the North American residential construction sector and to identify potential barriers and facilitators to creating smokefree worksites. Methods The data source used was a popular internet forum on home building. Participants included a broad and unselected population of employers, employees and freelance tradespersons working in residential construction. The forum archive contained 10 years of discourse on the subjects of smoking, workplace secondhand smoke and smoking restrictions on construction sites. Qualitative data analysis methods were used to describe major and minor discussion themes relevant to workplace smoking culture and policies in this sector. Results Participants described considerable tension between smoking and non-smoking tradespersons, but there was also much interpersonal support for cessation and support for non-smokers' rights. Employers and employees described efforts to make construction sites smoke free, and a movement towards preferential hiring of non-smoking tradespersons was discussed. Board participants wanted detailed scientific evidence on secondhand smoke exposure levels and risk thresholds, particularly in open-air workplaces. Conclusions Experience with success of smoking bans in other challenging workplaces can be applied to the construction sector. Potential movement of smokers out of the workforce represents a challenge for public health systems to ensure equitable access to cessation supports and services. PMID:21118847

Electric power and the global economy: Advances in database construction and sector representation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Peters, Jeffrey C.

The electricity sector plays a crucial role in the global economy. The sector is a major consumer of fossil fuel resources, producer of greenhouse gas emissions, and an important indicator and correlate of economic development. As such, the sector is a primary target for policy-makers seeking to address these issues. The sector is also experiencing rapid technological change in generation (e.g. renewables), primary inputs (e.g. horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing), and end-use efficiency. This dissertation seeks to further our understanding of the role of the electricity sector as part of the dynamic global energy-economy, which requires significant research advances in both database construction and modeling techniques. Chapter 2 identifies useful engineering-level data and presents a novel matrix balancing method for integrating these data in global economic databases. Chapter 3 demonstrates the relationship between matrix balancing method and modeling results, and Chapter 4 presents the full construction methodology for GTAP-Power, the foremost, publicly-available global computable general equilibrium database. Chapter 5 presents an electricity-detailed computational equilibrium model that explicitly and endogenously captures capacity utilization, capacity expansion, and their interdependency - important aspects of technological substitution in the electricity sector. The individual, but interrelated, research contributions to database construction and electricity modeling in computational equilibrium are placed in the context of analyzing the US EPA Clean Power Plan (CPP) CO 2 target of 32 percent reduction of CO2 emissions in the US electricity sector from a 2005 baseline by 2030. Assuming current fuel prices, the model predicts an almost 28 percent CO2 reduction without further policy intervention. Next, a carbon tax and investment subsidies for renewable technologies to meet the CPP full targets are imposed and compared (Chapter 6). The carbon tax achieves the target via both utilization and expansion, while the renewable investment subsidies lead to over-expansion and compromises some of the possibilities via utilization. In doing so, this dissertation furthers our understanding of the role of the electricity sector as part of the dynamic global energy-economy.

The long-run effects of economic, demographic, and political indices on actual and potential CO2 emissions.

PubMed

Adom, Philip Kofi; Kwakwa, Paul Adjei; Amankwaa, Afua

2018-07-15

This study examines the long-run drivers of potential and actual CO 2 emissions in Ghana, a sub-Saharan Africa country. The use of the former helps address the reverse causality problem and capture the true long-run effects. The Stock-Watson dynamic OLS is used with data from 1970 to 2014. The result shows that potential CO 2 emissions improve model efficiency. Income (except in "other sector") and financial development (except in manufacturing and construction sector) have compelling positive and negative effects on actual and potential CO 2 emissions, respectively. A higher price (oil and electricity) reduces actual and potential CO 2 emissions, but electricity price is more vital in residential, buildings and commercial and public services sector, while oil price is crucial in the transport sector. Democracy lowers actual and potential CO 2 emissions in the aggregate (insignificant) and transport sectors but raises it in the manufacturing and construction sector. The effect is, however, inconsistent for the remaining sectors. Urbanization raises aggregate actual and potential CO 2 emissions, but the effect is inconsistent for the transport sector. The findings have important implications for policy formulation. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Carcinogens in the construction industry.

PubMed

Järvholm, Bengt

2006-09-01

The construction industry is a complex work environment. The work sites are temporary and rapidly changing. Asbestos has been widely used in construction industry, but the risks were primarily detected in specialized trades, such as insulation workers and plumbers. Today, the majority of cases related to asbestos exposure will occur in other occupational groups in the construction industry. In a large cohort of Swedish construction workers, insulators and plumbers constituted 37% of all cases of pleural mesothelioma between 1975 and 1984 while they constituted 21% of the cases between 1998 and 2002. It is estimated that 25-40% of all male cases of pleural mesothelioma in Sweden are caused by asbestos exposure in the construction trades. There are many other known carcinogens occurring in the construction industry, including PAHs, diesel exhausts, silica, asphalt fumes, solvents, etc., but it is difficult to estimate exposures and thus the size of the risk. The risk of cancer is less easy to detect with traditional epidemiological methods in the construction industry than in other industrial sectors. It is not sufficient to rely upon broad epidemiological data to estimate the risk of cancer due chemicals in the construction industry. Thus, a strategy to decrease exposure, e.g., to dust, seems a feasible way to reduce the risk.

Recent high-resolution Antarctic ice velocity maps reveal increased mass loss in Wilkes Land, East Antarctica.

PubMed

Shen, Qiang; Wang, Hansheng; Shum, C K; Jiang, Liming; Hsu, Hou Tse; Dong, Jinglong

2018-03-14

We constructed Antarctic ice velocity maps from Landsat 8 images for the years 2014 and 2015 at a high spatial resolution (100 m). These maps were assembled from 10,690 scenes of displacement vectors inferred from more than 10,000 optical images acquired from December 2013 through March 2016. We estimated the mass discharge of the Antarctic ice sheet in 2008, 2014, and 2015 using the Landsat ice velocity maps, interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR)-derived ice velocity maps (~2008) available from prior studies, and ice thickness data. An increased mass discharge (53 ± 14 Gt yr -1 ) was found in the East Indian Ocean sector since 2008 due to unexpected widespread glacial acceleration in Wilkes Land, East Antarctica, while the other five oceanic sectors did not exhibit significant changes. However, present-day increased mass loss was found by previous studies predominantly in west Antarctica and the Antarctic Peninsula. The newly discovered increased mass loss in Wilkes Land suggests that the ocean heat flux may already be influencing ice dynamics in the marine-based sector of the East Antarctic ice sheet (EAIS). The marine-based sector could be adversely impacted by ongoing warming in the Southern Ocean, and this process may be conducive to destabilization.

76 FR 64353 - Buy Quiet Workshop

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-10-18

... Workshop. The Workshop is a National Occupational Research Agenda (NORA) activity jointly organized by the NORA Construction Sector and Manufacturing Sector Programs, and the NIOSH Hearing Loss Prevention Cross...

Industry 4.0 Concept Introduction into Construction SMEs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nowotarski, Piotr; Paslawski, Jerzy

2017-10-01

The article presents a general idea of Industry 4.0 concept with the introduction presenting descriptions of the most important aspects in terms of production and construction industry development. The importance of the SME sector is stressed showing that this group of companies plays significant role in the European economy. The main objective of the article is to define and show possible research areas connected with the introduction of Industry 4.0 concept into SMEs with the main focus on the construction sector. For this purpose, an analysis was made, based on the most recent literature, to point out actual needs in the SMEs sector in terms of its evolution into 4.0 level. What is more, the analysis was performed based on the most popular articles published in journals available in Thomson Reuters Web of Science Core Collection database regarding Industry 4.0 concept in the last decade showing the actual change of interest in this filed, taking into account possibility of usage of this concept in the construction and production sector. Authors tried to describe current knowledge regarding Industry 4.0 introduction for SMEs. Performed analysis showed that there is a wide spectrum of disciplines that are affected by the Industry 4.0 that needs to be examined considering introduction into SMEs. Study also showed that multidiscipline approach was not investigated so far to create special rules, procedures and methods and know-how designed for introduction of main principles of Industry 4.0 in the SME sector. Authors came to the conclusions that there should be more stress put into research in this field especially taking into account the huge potential which lies in SME sector in terms of global economic strength.

A new method for overhead drilling.

PubMed

Rempel, David; Star, Demetra; Barr, Alan; Gibbons, Billy; Janowitz, Ira

2009-12-01

In the construction sector, overhead drilling into concrete or metal ceilings is a strenuous task associated with shoulder, neck and back musculoskeletal disorders due to the large applied forces and awkward arm postures. Two intervention devices, an inverted drill press and a foot lever design, were developed then compared to the usual method by construction workers performing their normal overhead drilling activities (n = 14). While the intervention devices were rated as less fatiguing than the usual method, their ratings on usability measures were worse than the usual method. The study demonstrates that the intervention devices can reduce fatigue; however, additional modifications are necessary in order to improve usability and productivity. Devices designed to improve workplace safety may need to undergo several rounds of field testing and modification prior to implementation.

Occupational health and safety in the Moroccan construction sites: preliminary diagnosis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tarik, Bakeli; Adil, Hafidi Alaoui

2018-05-01

Managing occupational health and safety on Moroccan construction sector represents the first step for projects' success. In fact, by avoiding accidents, all the related direct and indirect costs and delays can be prevented. That leads to an important question always asked by any project manager: what are the factors responsible for accidents? How can they be avoided? Through this research, the aim is to go through these questions, to contribute in occupational health and safety principles understanding, to identify construction accidentology and risk management opportunities and to approach the case of Moroccan construction sites by an accurate diagnosis. The approach is to make researchers, managers, stakeholders and deciders aware about the criticality of construction sites health and safety situation. And, to do the first step for a scientific research project in relation with health and safety in the Moroccan construction sector. For this, the paper will study the related state of art namely about construction sites accidents causation, and will focus on Reason's `Swiss cheese' model and its utilization for Moroccan construction sites health and safety diagnosis. The research will end with an estimation of an accidents fatality rate in the Moroccan construction sector and a benchmarking with the international rates. Finally, conclusions will be presented about the necessity of Occupational Health and Safety Management System (OHSMS) implementation, which shall cover all risk levels, and insure, at the same time, that the necessary defenses against accidents are on place.

EFO-LCI: A New Life Cycle Inventory Database of Forestry Operations in Europe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cardellini, Giuseppe; Valada, Tatiana; Cornillier, Claire; Vial, Estelle; Dragoi, Marian; Goudiaby, Venceslas; Mues, Volker; Lasserre, Bruno; Gruchala, Arkadiusz; Rørstad, Per Kristian; Neumann, Mathias; Svoboda, Miroslav; Sirgmets, Risto; Näsärö, Olli-Pekka; Mohren, Frits; Achten, Wouter M. J.; Vranken, Liesbet; Muys, Bart

2018-06-01

Life cycle assessment (LCA) has become a common methodology to analyze environmental impacts of forestry systems. Although LCA has been widely applied to forestry since the 90s, the LCAs are still often based on generic Life Cycle Inventory (LCI). With the purpose of improving LCA practices in the forestry sector, we developed a European Life Cycle Inventory of Forestry Operations (EFO-LCI) and analyzed the available information to check if within the European forestry sector national differences really exist. We classified the European forests on the basis of "Forest Units" (combinations of tree species and silvicultural practices). For each Forest Unit, we constructed the LCI of their forest management practices on the basis of a questionnaire filled out by national silvicultural experts. We analyzed the data reported to evaluate how they vary over Europe and how they affect LCA results and made freely available the inventory data collected for future use. The study shows important variability in rotation length, type of regeneration, amount and assortments of wood products harvested, and machinery used due to the differences in management practices. The existing variability on these activities sensibly affect LCA results of forestry practices and raw wood production. Although it is practically unfeasible to collect site-specific data for all the LCAs involving forest-based products, the use of less generic LCI data of forestry practice is desirable to improve the reliability of the studies. With the release of EFO-LCI we made a step toward the construction of regionalized LCI for the European forestry sector.

EFO-LCI: A New Life Cycle Inventory Database of Forestry Operations in Europe.

PubMed

Cardellini, Giuseppe; Valada, Tatiana; Cornillier, Claire; Vial, Estelle; Dragoi, Marian; Goudiaby, Venceslas; Mues, Volker; Lasserre, Bruno; Gruchala, Arkadiusz; Rørstad, Per Kristian; Neumann, Mathias; Svoboda, Miroslav; Sirgmets, Risto; Näsärö, Olli-Pekka; Mohren, Frits; Achten, Wouter M J; Vranken, Liesbet; Muys, Bart

2018-06-01

Life cycle assessment (LCA) has become a common methodology to analyze environmental impacts of forestry systems. Although LCA has been widely applied to forestry since the 90s, the LCAs are still often based on generic Life Cycle Inventory (LCI). With the purpose of improving LCA practices in the forestry sector, we developed a European Life Cycle Inventory of Forestry Operations (EFO-LCI) and analyzed the available information to check if within the European forestry sector national differences really exist. We classified the European forests on the basis of "Forest Units" (combinations of tree species and silvicultural practices). For each Forest Unit, we constructed the LCI of their forest management practices on the basis of a questionnaire filled out by national silvicultural experts. We analyzed the data reported to evaluate how they vary over Europe and how they affect LCA results and made freely available the inventory data collected for future use. The study shows important variability in rotation length, type of regeneration, amount and assortments of wood products harvested, and machinery used due to the differences in management practices. The existing variability on these activities sensibly affect LCA results of forestry practices and raw wood production. Although it is practically unfeasible to collect site-specific data for all the LCAs involving forest-based products, the use of less generic LCI data of forestry practice is desirable to improve the reliability of the studies. With the release of EFO-LCI we made a step toward the construction of regionalized LCI for the European forestry sector.

[Has application of the decree banning the use of cement with a high chromium VI content led to a reduction in occupational cement dermatitis in salaried workers in the construction industries?].

PubMed

Halioua, Bruno; Bensefa-Colas, Lynda; Crepy, Marie-Noëlle; Bouquiaux, Barbara; Assier, Haudrey; Billon, Stéphane; Chosidow, Olivier

2013-03-01

Active employees in the construction industry are particularly exposed to occupational cement eczema (OCE) which affects the hands in 80 to 90% of cases. The importance of OCE in France and the impact of the application of decree n(o). 2005-577 on 26 May 2005 were estimated from data collected by the Occupational risks division of the French national health insurance fund for salaried workers (CNAMTS). This decree prohibits the placing on the market and use of cement (and preparations containing it) with a chromium VI content above 0.0002% in order to reduce its hazardousness. All cases of OCE reported to and recognized by the CNAMTS between 1 January 2004 and 31 December 2008 among construction workers were selected. The following parameters were noted in each case: age, gender, industrial sector concerned, local French National health insurance agency, causal agent and the number of working days lost. The incidence per 100,000 salaried workers could be determined from the total number of salaried workers followed up by occupational medicine as well as those working in the construction industry. For the five years studied, 3698 cases of occupational eczema (OE) were reported in construction workers and this was 17.1% of the total number of cases of OE for all salaried employees (n=12.689). Cement was the causal agent most frequently involved in the construction sector (57.8%, 2139/3698). The annual incidence of OCE decreased from 37.8 to 21.1 new cases per 100,000 employees in the construction industry per year between 2004 and 2008. The total number of days lost from work due to OCE decreased by 39% during the study period. This descriptive study highlights the importance and socio-economic impact of OCE in the construction industry. Application of decree n(o). 2005-577 on 26 May 2005 may explain a reduction in OCE. Copyright © 2012. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS.

Access to Vocational Training in Three Sectors of the European Economy. Comparative Analysis. 2nd Edition. CEDEFOP Panorama.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lassibille, Gerard; Paul, Jean-Jacques

This report presents findings of a study of the theoretical and practical methods of access to continuing vocational training. It summarizes six reports that compare the following: the construction sector in Spain, France, Italy, and Luxembourg; the banking, insurance, commerce, and administration sectors in Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, and…

Mix design and mechanical performance of geopolymer binder for sustainable construction and building material

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Saeli, Manfredi; Novais, Rui M.; Seabra, Maria Paula; Labrincha, João A.

2017-11-01

Sustainability in construction is a major concern worldwide, due to the huge volume of materials and energy consumed by this sector. Associated supplementing industries (e.g. Portland cement production) constitute a significant source of CO2 emissions and global warming. Valorisation and reuse of industrial wastes and by-products make geopolymers a solid and sustainable via to be followed as a valid alternative to Portland cement. In this work the mix design of a green fly ash-based geopolymer is evaluated as an environmentally friendly construction material. In the pursuit of sustainability, wastes from a regional kraft pulp industry are exploited for the material processing. Furthermore, a simple, reproducible, and low-cost manufacture is used. The mix design is hence optimised in order to improve the desirable mechanical performance of the material intended for structural applications in construction. Tests indicate that geopolymers may efficiently substitute the ordinary Portland cement as a mortar/concrete binder. Furthermore, valorisation and reuse of wastes in geopolymers is a suboptimal way of gaining financial surplus for the involved industrial players, while contributes for the implementation of a desirable circular economy.

Implementation of GPS controlled highway construction equipment.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2007-04-01

dozers, motor graders, and excavators is quickly becoming common place in private sector construction because it speeds project delivery and cuts costs. Use of this technology is expanding quickly into other construction equipment areas such as paver...

Comparative life cycle assessment (LCA) of construction and demolition (C&D) derived biomass and U.S. northeast forest residuals gasification for electricity production.

PubMed

Nuss, Philip; Gardner, Kevin H; Jambeck, Jenna R

2013-04-02

With the goal to move society toward less reliance on fossil fuels and the mitigation of climate change, there is increasing interest and investment in the bioenergy sector. However, current bioenergy growth patterns may, in the long term, only be met through an expansion of global arable land at the expense of natural ecosystems and in competition with the food sector. Increasing thermal energy recovery from solid waste reduces dependence on fossil- and biobased energy production while enhancing landfill diversion. Using inventory data from pilot processes, this work assesses the cradle-to-gate environmental burdens of plasma gasification as a route capable of transforming construction and demolition (C&D) derived biomass (CDDB) and forest residues into electricity. Results indicate that the environmental burdens associated with CDDB and forest residue gasification may be similar to conventional electricity generation. Land occupation is lowest when CDDB is used. Environmental impacts are to a large extent due to coal cogasified, coke used as gasifier bed material, and fuel oil cocombusted in the steam boiler. However, uncertainties associated with preliminary system designs may be large, particularly the heat loss associated with pilot scale data resulting in overall low efficiencies of energy conversion to electricity; a sensitivity analysis assesses these uncertainties in further detail.

Social sector expenditure and child mortality in India: a state-level analysis from 1997 to 2009.

PubMed

Makela, Susanna M; Dandona, Rakhi; Dilip, T R; Dandona, Lalit

2013-01-01

India is unlikely to meet the Millennium Development Goal for child mortality. As public policy impacts child mortality, we assessed the association of social sector expenditure with child mortality in India. Mixed-effects regression models were used to assess the relationship of state-level overall social sector expenditure and its major components (health, health-related, education, and other) with mortality by sex among infants and children aged 1-4 years from 1997 to 2009, adjusting for potential confounders. Counterfactual models were constructed to estimate deaths averted due to overall social sector increases since 1997. Increases in per capita overall social sector expenditure were slightly higher in less developed than in more developed states from 1997 to 2009 (2.4-fold versus 2-fold), but the level of expenditure remained 36% lower in the former in 2009. Increase in public expenditure on health was not significantly associated with mortality reduction in infants or at ages 1-4 years, but a 10% increase in health-related public expenditure was associated with a 3.6% mortality reduction (95% confidence interval 0.2-6.9%) in 1-4 years old boys. A 10% increase in overall social sector expenditure was associated with a mortality reduction in both boys (6.8%, 3.5-10.0%) and girls (4.1%, 0.8-7.5%) aged 1-4 years. We estimated 119,807 (95% uncertainty interval 53,409-214,662) averted deaths in boys aged 1-4 years and 94,037 (14,725-206,684) in girls in India in 2009 that could be attributed to increases in overall social sector expenditure since 1997. Further reduction in child mortality in India would be facilitated if policymakers give high priority to the social sector as a whole for resource allocation in the country's 5-year plan for 2012-2017, as public expenditure on health alone has not had major impact on reducing child mortality.

Construct validity of the individual work performance questionnaire.

PubMed

Koopmans, Linda; Bernaards, Claire M; Hildebrandt, Vincent H; de Vet, Henrica C W; van der Beek, Allard J

2014-03-01

To examine the construct validity of the Individual Work Performance Questionnaire (IWPQ). A total of 1424 Dutch workers from three occupational sectors (blue, pink, and white collar) participated in the study. First, IWPQ scores were correlated with related constructs (convergent validity). Second, differences between known groups were tested (discriminative validity). First, IWPQ scores correlated weakly to moderately with absolute and relative presenteeism, and work engagement. Second, significant differences in IWPQ scores were observed for workers differing in job satisfaction, and workers differing in health. Overall, the results indicate acceptable construct validity of the IWPQ. Researchers are provided with a reliable and valid instrument to measure individual work performance comprehensively and generically, among workers from different occupational sectors, with and without health problems.

Safety concerns related to modular/prefabricated building construction.

PubMed

Fard, Maryam Mirhadi; Terouhid, Seyyed Amin; Kibert, Charles J; Hakim, Hamed

2017-03-01

The US construction industry annually experiences a relatively high rate of fatalities and injuries; therefore, improving safety practices should be considered a top priority for this industry. Modular/prefabricated building construction is a construction strategy that involves manufacturing of the whole building or some of its components off-site. This research focuses on the safety performance of the modular/prefabricated building construction sector during both manufacturing and on-site processes. This safety evaluation can serve as the starting point for improving the safety performance of this sector. Research was conducted based on Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigated accidents. The study found 125 accidents related to modular/prefabricated building construction. The details of each accident were closely examined to identify the types of injury and underlying causes. Out of 125 accidents, there were 48 fatalities (38.4%), 63 hospitalized injuries (50.4%), and 14 non-hospitalized injuries (11.2%). It was found that, the most common type of injury in modular/prefabricated construction was 'fracture', and the most common cause of accidents was 'fall'. The most frequent cause of cause (underlying and root cause) was 'unstable structure'. In this research, the accidents were also examined in terms of corresponding location, occupation, equipment as well as activities during which the accidents occurred. For improving safety records of the modular/prefabricated construction sector, this study recommends that future research be conducted on stabilizing structures during their lifting, storing, and permanent installation, securing fall protection systems during on-site assembly of components while working from heights, and developing training programmes and standards focused on modular/prefabricated construction.

Hindrances to Green Building Developments in Nigeria’s Built Environment: “The Project Professionals’ Perspectives”

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dalibi, S. G.; Feng, J. C.; Shuangqin, Liu; Sadiq, Abubakar; Bello, B. S.; Danja, I. I.

2017-05-01

Developing countries like Nigeria are faced with the growth of residential housing sector accompanied by huge power, water, and material consumptions etc., which were due to the population growth, increased households and the increased urbanization. The construction industry is guilty of many practices because its activities have adversely affected the environment negatively. It responded with new initiative called Eco / green / sustainable buildings to ensure environmental sustainability. Despite all these glaring challenges green building developments and sustainable practices are embraced very slowly and practiced at slow pace in the Nigeria’s construction industry. This is worrisome and is due to some factors hindering such pace. The aim of this paper is to identify, examine and assess the factors that are hindering green building developments based on the project professionals’ perceptions. Reviewed literatures were used to identify the various factors that hindered the adoption of green measures and practices within the Nigeria’s built environment. A questionnaire survey was conducted within the industry. The results showed the major factors hindering green building developments and practices in the Nigeria’s built environment.

A Unidimensional Instrument for Measuring Internal Marketing Concept in the Higher Education Sector: IM-11 Scale

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yildiz, Suleyman Murat; Kara, Ali

2017-01-01

Purpose: Although the existing internal marketing (IM) scales include various scale items to measure employee motivation, they fall short of incorporating the needs and expectations of service sector employees. Hence, the purpose of this study is to present a practical instrument designed to measure the IM construct in the higher education sector.…

Evaluation of public-private partnership contract types for roadway construction, maintenance, and rehabilitation.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2015-12-31

Public-private partnerships (PPPs) in transportation infrastructure projects refer to contractual agreements formed : between a public Agency and a private sector entity to allow for greater private sector participation in project : delivery. At the ...

Estimation of construction waste generation and management in Thailand.

PubMed

Kofoworola, Oyeshola Femi; Gheewala, Shabbir H

2009-02-01

This study examines construction waste generation and management in Thailand. It is estimated that between 2002 and 2005, an average of 1.1 million tons of construction waste was generated per year in Thailand. This constitutes about 7.7% of the total amount of waste disposed in both landfills and open dumpsites annually during the same period. Although construction waste constitutes a major source of waste in terms of volume and weight, its management and recycling are yet to be effectively practiced in Thailand. Recently, the management of construction waste is being given attention due to its rapidly increasing unregulated dumping in undesignated areas, and recycling is being promoted as a method of managing this waste. If effectively implemented, its potential economic and social benefits are immense. It was estimated that between 70 and 4,000 jobs would have been created between 2002 and 2005, if all construction wastes in Thailand had been recycled. Additionally it would have contributed an average savings of about 3.0 x 10(5) GJ per year in the final energy consumed by the construction sector of the nation within the same period based on the recycling scenario analyzed. The current national integrated waste management plan could enhance the effective recycling of construction and demolition waste in Thailand when enforced. It is recommended that an inventory of all construction waste generated in the country be carried out in order to assess the feasibility of large scale recycling of construction and demolition waste.

Constructions of Volunteerism in Third Sector Organisations: Some Comparisons.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kenny, Sue

2003-01-01

Volunteerism in third-sector charitable/volunteer organizations takes different forms and involves different practices depending on contexts. Four operating frameworks--charity, activist, welfare state, and market--facilitate, co-opt, or impede volunteer practices in different settings. (Contains 18 references.) (JOW)

State of offsite construction in India-Drivers and barriers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Arif, M.; Bendi, D.; Sawhney, A.; Iyer, K. C.

2012-05-01

The rapid growth of the construction industry in India has influenced key players in the industry to adopt alternative technologies addressing time, cost and quality. The rising demand in housing, infrastructure and other facilities have further highlighted the need for the construction industry to look at adopting alternate building technologies. Offsite construction has evolved as a panacea to dealing with the under-supply and poor quality in the current age construction industry. Several offsite techniques have been adopted by the construction sector. Although, different forms of offsite techniques have been around for a while but their uptake has been low in the Indian context. This paper presents the perceptions about offsite construction in India and highlights some of the barriers and drivers facing the Indian construction industry. The data was gathered through a survey of 17 high level managers from some of the largest stakeholder organizations of the construction sector in India. The influence of time and cost has been highlighted as a major factor fuelling the adoption of offsite construction. However, the influence of current planning systems and the need for a paradigm shift are some of the prominent barriers towards the adoption of offsite techniques.

VLF-HISS from electrons in the earth's magnetosphere

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Maeda, K.

1973-01-01

Intensities of auroral and magnetospheric hiss generated by the Cherenkov radiation process of electrons in the lower magnetosphere were calculated with respect to a realistic model of the earth's magnetosphere. In this calculation, the magnetic field was expressed by the Mead-Fairfield Model, and a static model of the iono-magnetospheric plasma distribution was constructed by accumulated data obtained by recent satellite observations. The energy range of hiss producing electrons and the frequency range of produced VLF in the computation are 100 eV to 200 keV, and 2 to 200 kHz, respectively. The maximum hiss intensity produced by soft electrons is more than one order higher than that of hard electron produced hiss. Higher rate of hiss occurrence in the daytime side, particularly in the soft electron precipitation zone in the morning sector, and less association of auroral hiss in nighttime sectors must be, therefore, due to the local time dependence of the energy spectra of precipitating electrons rather than the difference in the geomagnetic field and in the geoplasma distributions.

Bangkok as a magnet for rural labour: changing conditions, 1900-1970.

PubMed

Ouyyanont, P

1998-06-01

This article describes labor force shifts, in Thailand, from rural areas to Bangkok during 1900-1970 and is a revision of a chapter from a doctoral thesis. Urban growth of Bangkok occurred primarily after World War II. Pre-war wages in rural areas were higher than coolie wages in Bangkok. Opportunity costs of changing occupations were high. Chinese immigration was the key to development of non-farm occupations. The Chinese from Siam were drawn to higher wages in Bangkok than were possible in South China ports. After the war, the Lewis-Fei and Ranis migration model fits a pattern of migration that adjusts the disequilibrium between urban and rural markets. There are shifts from low productivity rural sectors to urban high productivity sectors. Capital investment in commerce and industry raised urban labor productivity. The wage data suggest a growing gap between urban and rural sectors postwar. Rail travel during the 1950s brought higher wages for the unskilled in railroad construction. There was high agricultural productivity relative to labor input due to availability of land. Underpopulation meant little unemployment. After 1950, conditions changed. The population growth rate increased. More in rural areas lived below the poverty line. Low rice productivity constrained rural wages and incomes during the 1950s and 1960s. The more favored commercial crops needed less labor. Chinese immigration declined, and demand for labor increased in urban areas. Low urban wages due to cheap labor stimulated profits and growth. Major roads connected Bangkok to the south and the north. Bangkok was viewed as a magical and desirable place.

Effect of nuclear power on CO₂ emission from power plant sector in Iran.

PubMed

Kargari, Nargess; Mastouri, Reza

2011-01-01

It is predicted that demand for electricity in Islamic Republic of Iran will continue to increase dramatically in the future due to the rapid pace of economic development leading to construction of new power plants. At the present time, most of electricity is generated by burning fossil fuels which result in emission of great deal of pollutants and greenhouse gases (GHG) such as SO₂, NOx, and CO₂. The power industry is the largest contributor to these emissions. Due to minimal emission of GHG by renewable and nuclear power plants, they are most suitable replacements for the fossil-fueled power plants. However, the nuclear power plants are more suitable than renewable power plants in providing baseload electricity. The Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant, the only nuclear power plant of Iran, is expected to start operation in 2010. This paper attempts to interpret the role of Bushehr nuclear power plant (BNPP) in CO₂ emission trend of power plant sector in Iran. In order to calculate CO₂ emissions from power plants, National CO₂ coefficients have been used. The National CO₂ emission coefficients are according to different fuels (natural gas, fuels gas, fuel oil). By operating Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant in 2010, nominal capacity of electricity generation in Iran will increase by about 1,000 MW, which increases the electricity generation by almost 7,000 MWh/year (it is calculated according to availability factor and nominal capacity of BNPP). Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant will decrease the CO₂ emission in Iran power sector, by about 3% in 2010.

Quantitative option analysis for implementation and management of landfills.

PubMed

Kerestecioğlu, Merih

2016-09-01

The selection of the most feasible strategy for implementation of landfills is a challenging step. Potential implementation options of landfills cover a wide range, from conventional construction contracts to the concessions. Montenegro, seeking to improve the efficiency of the public services while maintaining affordability, was considering privatisation as a way to reduce public spending on service provision. In this study, to determine the most feasible model for construction and operation of a regional landfill, a quantitative risk analysis was implemented with four steps: (i) development of a global risk matrix; (ii) assignment of qualitative probabilities of occurrences and magnitude of impacts; (iii) determination of the risks to be mitigated, monitored, controlled or ignored; (iv) reduction of the main risk elements; and (v) incorporation of quantitative estimates of probability of occurrence and expected impact for each risk element in the reduced risk matrix. The evaluated scenarios were: (i) construction and operation of the regional landfill by the public sector; (ii) construction and operation of the landfill by private sector and transfer of the ownership to the public sector after a pre-defined period; and (iii) operation of the landfill by the private sector, without ownership. The quantitative risk assessment concluded that introduction of a public private partnership is not the most feasible option, unlike the common belief in several public institutions in developing countries. A management contract for the first years of operation was advised to be implemented, after which, a long term operating contract may follow. © The Author(s) 2016.

Skin Problems in Construction

MedlinePlus

... credit: Contains public sector information published by the Health and Safety Executive and licensed under the Open Government Licence v1.0 materials you use at work. Find out more about construction hazards. To receive ...

Concentrated solar power in the built environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Montenon, Alaric C.; Fylaktos, Nestor; Montagnino, Fabio; Paredes, Filippo; Papanicolas, Costas N.

2017-06-01

Solar concentration systems are usually deployed in large open spaces for electricity generation; they are rarely used to address the pressing energy needs of the built environment sector. Fresnel technology offers interesting and challenging CSP energy pathways suitable for the built environment, due to its relatively light weight (<30 kg.m-2) and low windage. The Cyprus Institute (CyI) and Consorzio ARCA are cooperating in such a research program; we report here the construction and integration of a 71kW Fresnel CSP system into the HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning) system of a recently constructed office & laboratory building, the Novel Technologies Laboratory (NTL). The multi-generative system will support cooling, heating and hot water production feeding the system of the NTL building, as a demonstration project, part of the STS-MED program (Small Scale Thermal Solar District Units for Mediterranean Communities) financed by the European Commission under the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI), CBCMED program.

The UK waste input-output table: Linking waste generation to the UK economy.

PubMed

Salemdeeb, Ramy; Al-Tabbaa, Abir; Reynolds, Christian

2016-10-01

In order to achieve a circular economy, there must be a greater understanding of the links between economic activity and waste generation. This study introduces the first version of the UK waste input-output table that could be used to quantify both direct and indirect waste arisings across the supply chain. The proposed waste input-output table features 21 industrial sectors and 34 waste types and is for the 2010 time-period. Using the waste input-output table, the study results quantitatively confirm that sectors with a long supply chain (i.e. manufacturing and services sectors) have higher indirect waste generation rates compared with industrial primary sectors (e.g. mining and quarrying) and sectors with a shorter supply chain (e.g. construction). Results also reveal that the construction, mining and quarrying sectors have the highest waste generation rates, 742 and 694 tonne per £1m of final demand, respectively. Owing to the aggregated format of the first version of the waste input-output, the model does not address the relationship between waste generation and recycling activities. Therefore, an updated version of the waste input-output table is expected be developed considering this issue. Consequently, the expanded model would lead to a better understanding of waste and resource flows in the supply chain. © The Author(s) 2016.

Financial development and sectoral CO2 emissions in Malaysia.

PubMed

Maji, Ibrahim Kabiru; Habibullah, Muzafar Shah; Saari, Mohd Yusof

2017-03-01

The paper examines the impacts of financial development on sectoral carbon emissions (CO 2 ) for environmental quality in Malaysia. Since the financial sector is considered as one of the sectors that will contribute to Malaysian economy to become a developed country by 2020, we utilize a cointegration method to investigate how financial development affects sectoral CO 2 emissions. The long-run results reveal that financial development increases CO 2 emissions from the transportation and oil and gas sector and reduces CO 2 emissions from manufacturing and construction sectors. However, the elasticity of financial development is not significant in explaining CO 2 emissions from the agricultural sector. The results for short-run elasticities were also consistent with the long-run results. We conclude that generally, financial development increases CO 2 emissions and reduces environmental quality in Malaysia.

Safety and Health Topics: Lead

MedlinePlus

... A Spanish version is also available. Lead Battery Manufacturing eTool . OSHA. Management Guidelines for Blood Lead Levels ... exposure occurs in most industry sectors including construction, manufacturing, wholesale trade, transportation, remediation and even recreation. Construction ...

Constructions of Professional Identity in a Dynamic Higher Education Sector

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lewis, Kenton

2014-01-01

The expansion and specialisation of "non-academic" higher education roles, in response to increased regulation, monitoring and measurement of the sector, can be attributed to a rise in neoliberal manageralism and globalisation. Such changes have challenged the professional status of the academy, potentially…

Effort-reward imbalance as a risk factor for disability pension: the Finnish Public Sector Study.

PubMed

Juvani, Anne; Oksanen, Tuula; Salo, Paula; Virtanen, Marianna; Kivimäki, Mika; Pentti, Jaana; Vahtera, Jussi

2014-05-01

Job strain has previously been shown to predict disability pension, but it is unknown whether effort-reward imbalance (ERI), another major stress model, is also associated with disability pension. We examined ERI as a risk factor for diagnosis-specific disability pension in a cohort of 51 874 public-sector employees in Finland. To control for reporting bias, work unit-level scores of ERI (based on the survey responses of 35 260 employees in 2000-2002) were constructed and linked to all eligible employees. A sub-cohort of the respondents was analyzed also with individual-level ERI. Disability pension data were derived from national pension registers with no loss to follow-up. The outcomes were all-cause disability pension and disability pension due to depression, musculoskeletal diseases, and ischemic heart diseases (IHD). Multivariate Cox proportional hazard models (adjusted for sociodemographic factors, baseline health, and work-related characteristics) were used for analyses. During a mean 8.9 years of follow-up, 4542 participants were granted disability pension. An increased risk for disability pension due to depression was detected for both high work unit- and individual-level ERI [hazard ratio (HR) 1.63, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 1.31-2.04 and HR 1.90, 95% CI 1.51-2.40, respectively]. High individual-level ERI increased the risk of disability pension due to musculoskeletal diseases (HR 1.32, 95% CI 1.13-1.53), but no association was observed for work unit-level ERI (HR 1.02, 95% CI 0.88-1.19). ERI was not associated with disability pension due to IHD. The present study showed a consistent association between high ERI and an increased risk of disability pension due to depression.

Google matrix of the world network of economic activities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kandiah, Vivek; Escaith, Hubert; Shepelyansky, Dima L.

2015-07-01

Using the new data from the OECD-WTO world network of economic activities we construct the Google matrix G of this directed network and perform its detailed analysis. The network contains 58 countries and 37 activity sectors for years 1995 and 2008. The construction of G, based on Markov chain transitions, treats all countries on equal democratic grounds while the contribution of activity sectors is proportional to their exchange monetary volume. The Google matrix analysis allows to obtain reliable ranking of countries and activity sectors and to determine the sensitivity of CheiRank-PageRank commercial balance of countries in respect to price variations and labor cost in various countries. We demonstrate that the developed approach takes into account multiplicity of network links with economy interactions between countries and activity sectors thus being more efficient compared to the usual export-import analysis. The spectrum and eigenstates of G are also analyzed being related to specific activity communities of countries.

Efficient Project Delivery Using Lean Principles - An Indian Case Study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kovvuri, P. Ramachandra Reddy; Sawhney, Anil; Ahuja, Ritu; Sreekumar, Aiswarya

2016-03-01

Construction industry in India is growing at a rapid pace. Along with this growth, the industry is facing numerous challenges that are making delivery of projects inefficient. Experts believe that capacity constraints in the industry need to be addressed immediately. Government has recommended `introduction of efficient technologies and modern management techniques' to increase the productivity of the industry. In this context, lean principles can act as a lever to make project delivery more efficient and provide the much needed impetus to the Indian construction sector. Around the globe lean principles are showing positive results on the projects. Project teams are reporting improvements in construction time, cost and quality along with softer benefits of enhanced collaboration, coordination and trust in project teams. Can adoption of lean principles provide similar benefits in the Indian construction sector? This research was conducted to answer this question. Using an action research approach a key lean construction tool called Last Planner System (LPS) was tested on a large Indian construction project. The work described in this work investigates the improvements achieved in project delivery by adopting LPS in Indian construction sector. Comparison in pre- and post-implementation data demonstrates increase in the certainty of work-flow and improves schedule compliance. This is measured through a simple LPS metric called percent plan complete. Explicit improvements in schedule performance are seen during 8 week LPS implementation along with implicit improvements in coordination, collaboration and trust in the project team. This work reports the findings of LPS implementation on the case study project outlining the barriers and drivers to adoption, strategies needed to ensure successful implementation and roadmap for implementation. Based on the findings the authors envision that lean construction can make project delivery more efficient in India.

Evaluation of environmental management resources (ISO 14001) at civil engineering construction worksites: a case study of the community of Madrid.

PubMed

Rodríguez, Gracia; Alegre, Francisco Javier; Martínez, Germán

2011-07-01

In recent years, significant advances have been made in business organization and management. The growing demands of clients as well as the globalization of world markets are among the many factors that have led to the establishment of systems of quality control and environmental management as a competitive strategy for businesses. When compared to other professional sectors, the construction sector has been slower to respond to environmental problems and to adopt Environmental Management Systems (EMS). In the world today the ISO 14001 standard is currently the main frame of reference used by construction companies to implement this type of management system. This article presents the results of a general study regarding the evaluation of the application of the ISO 14001 standard at civil engineering construction worksites in the Community of Madrid (Spain), specifically pertaining to requirement 4.4.1, Resources, roles, responsibilities, and authority. According to requirement 4.4.1, company executives should appoint people responsible for implementing the EMS and also specify their responsibilities and functions. The personnel designated for supervising environmental work should also have sufficient authority to establish and maintain the EMS. The results obtained were the following: - EMS supervisors did not generally possess adequate training and solid experience in construction work and in the environment. Furthermore, supervisors were usually forced to combine their environmental work with other tasks, which made their job even more difficult. - Generally speaking, supervisors were not given sufficient authority and autonomy because productivity at the construction site had priority over environmental management. This was due to the fact that the company management did not have a respectful attitude toward the environment, nor was the management actively involved in the establishment of the EMS. - Insufficient resources were allocated to the Environmental Management Unit. As a result, the application of EMSs in construction projects often appeared to be more of a formality, which was merely a way of maintaining the certification of the Environmental Management System. It was more a means of meeting the requirements for submitting a tender to contracting organisms rather than an indicator of any real commitment to improving the environmental performance of construction companies. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Implementation and adaptation of a macro-scale methodology to calculate direct economic losses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Natho, Stephanie; Thieken, Annegret

2017-04-01

As one of the 195 member countries of the United Nations, Germany signed the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 (SFDRR). With this, though voluntary and non-binding, Germany agreed to report on achievements to reduce disaster impacts. Among other targets, the SFDRR aims at reducing direct economic losses in relation to the global gross domestic product by 2030 - but how to measure this without a standardized approach? The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) has hence proposed a methodology to estimate direct economic losses per event and country on the basis of the number of damaged or destroyed items in different sectors. The method bases on experiences from developing countries. However, its applicability in industrial countries has not been investigated so far. Therefore, this study presents the first implementation of this approach in Germany to test its applicability for the costliest natural hazards and suggests adaptations. The approach proposed by UNISDR considers assets in the sectors agriculture, industry, commerce, housing, and infrastructure by considering roads, medical and educational facilities. The asset values are estimated on the basis of sector and event specific number of affected items, sector specific mean sizes per item, their standardized construction costs per square meter and a loss ratio of 25%. The methodology was tested for the three costliest natural hazard types in Germany, i.e. floods, storms and hail storms, considering 13 case studies on the federal or state scale between 1984 and 2016. Not any complete calculation of all sectors necessary to describe the total direct economic loss was possible due to incomplete documentation. Therefore, the method was tested sector-wise. Three new modules were developed to better adapt this methodology to German conditions covering private transport (cars), forestry and paved roads. Unpaved roads in contrast were integrated into the agricultural and forestry sector. Furthermore overheads are proposed to include costs of housing content as well as the overall costs of public infrastructure, one of the most important damage sectors. All constants considering sector specific mean sizes or construction costs were adapted. Loss ratios were adapted for each event. Whereas the original UNISDR method over- und underestimates the losses of the tested events, the adapted method is able to calculate losses in good accordance for river floods, hail storms and storms. For example, for the 2013-flood economic losses of EUR 6.3 billion were calculated (UNISDR EUR 0.85 billion, documentation EUR 11 billion). For the hail storms in 2013 the calculated EUR 3.6 billion overestimate the documented losses of EUR 2.7 billion less than the original UNISDR approach with EUR 5.2 billion. Only for flash floods, where public infrastructure can account for more than 90% of total losses, the method is absolutely not applicable. The adapted methodology serves as a good starting point for macro-scale loss estimations by accounting for the most important damage sectors. By implementing this approach into damage and event documentation and reporting standards, a consistent monitoring according to the SFDRR could be achieved.

Sun safety in construction: a U.K. intervention study.

PubMed

Houdmont, J; Madgwick, P; Randall, R

2016-01-01

Interventions to promote sun safety in the U.K. construction sector are warranted given the high incidence of skin cancer attributable to sun exposure relative to other occupational groups. To evaluate change in sun safety knowledge and practices among construction workers in response to an educational intervention. A baseline questionnaire was administered, followed by a bespoke sector-specific DVD-based intervention. At 12-month follow-up, participants completed a further questionnaire. Analyses were conducted on a sample of 120 workers (intervention group, n = 70; comparison group, n = 50). At follow-up, the proportion of intervention group participants that reported correct sun safety knowledge was not significantly greater than at baseline. However, the intervention group demonstrated significant positive change on 9 out of 10 behavioural measures, the greatest change being use of a shade/cover when working in the sun followed by regularly checking skin for moles or unusual changes. Exposure to this intervention was linked to some specific positive changes in construction workers' self-reported sun safety practices. These findings highlight the potential for educational interventions to contribute to tackling skin cancer in the UK construction sector. The findings support the development of bespoke educational interventions for other high-risk outdoor worker groups. © 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.

Prevention through Design Adoption Readiness Model (PtD ARM): An integrated conceptual model.

PubMed

Weidman, Justin; Dickerson, Deborah E; Koebel, Charles T

2015-01-01

Prevention through Design (PtD), eliminating hazards at the design-stage of tools and systems, is the optimal method of mitigating occupational health and safety risks. A recent National Institute of Safety and Health initiative has established a goal to increase adoption of PtD innovation in industry. The construction industry has traditionally lagged behind other sectors in the adoption of innovation, in general; and of safety and health prevention innovation, in particular. Therefore, as a first step toward improving adoption trends in this sector, a conceptual model was developed to describe the parameters and causal relationships that influence and predict construction stakeholder "adoption readiness" for PtD technology innovation. This model was built upon three well-established theoretical frameworks: the Health Belief Model, the Diffusion of Innovation Model, and the Technology Acceptance Model. Earp and Ennett's model development methodology was employed to build a depiction of the key constructs and directionality and magnitude of relationships among them. Key constructs were identified from the literature associated with the three theoretical frameworks, with special emphasis given to studies related to construction or OHS technology adoption. A conceptual model is presented. Recommendations for future research are described and include confirmatory structural equation modeling of model parameters and relationships, additional descriptive investigation of barriers to adoption in some trade sectors, and design and evaluation of an intervention strategy.

Migrant workers in Italy: an analysis of injury risk taking into account occupational characteristics and job tenure.

PubMed

Giraudo, Massimiliano; Bena, Antonella; Costa, Giuseppe

2017-04-22

Migrants resident in Italy exceeded 5 million in 2015, representing 8.2% of the resident population. The study of the mechanisms that explain the differential health of migrant workers (as a whole and for specific nationalities) has been identified as a priority for research. The international literature has shown that migrant workers have a higher risk of total and fatal injury than natives, but some results are conflicting. The aim of this paper is to study the injury risk differentials between migrants, born in countries with strong migratory pressure (SMPC), and workers born in high income countries (HIC), taking into account individual and firm characteristics and job tenure. In addition to a comprehensive analysis of occupational safety among migrants, the study focuses on Moroccans, the largest community in Italy in the years of the analysis. Using the Work History Italian Panel-Salute integrated database, only contracts of employment in the private sector, starting in the period between 2000 and 2005 and held by men, were selected. The analysis focused on economic sectors with an important foreign component: engineering, construction, wholesale and retail trade, transportation and storage. Injury rates were calculated using a definition of serious occupational injuries based on the type of injury. Incidence rate ratios (IRR) were calculated using a Poisson distribution for panel data taking into account time-dependent variables. Injury rates among SMPC workers were higher than for HIC workers in engineering (15.61 ‰ py vs. 8.92 ‰ py), but there were no significant differences in construction (11.21 vs. 10.09), transportation and storage (7.82 vs. 7.23) and the wholesale and retail sectors (4.06 vs. 4.67). Injury rates for Moroccans were higher than for both HIC and total migrant workers in all economic sectors considered. The multivariate analysis revealed an interaction effect of job tenure among both SMPC and Moroccan workers in the construction sector, while in the wholesale and retail trade sector an interaction effect of job tenure was only observed among Moroccan workers. Migrant workers have higher occupational injury rates than Italians in the engineering and construction sectors, after two years of experience within the job. Generally the risk differentials vary depending on the nationality and economic sector considered. The analysis of injury risk among migrant workers should be restricted to serious injuries; furthermore, job tenure must be taken into account.

A multi-agent safety response model in the construction industry.

PubMed

Meliá, José L

2015-01-01

The construction industry is one of the sectors with the highest accident rates and the most serious accidents. A multi-agent safety response approach allows a useful diagnostic tool in order to understand factors affecting risk and accidents. The special features of the construction sector can influence the relationships among safety responses along the model of safety influences. The purpose of this paper is to test a model explaining risk and work-related accidents in the construction industry as a result of the safety responses of the organization, the supervisors, the co-workers and the worker. 374 construction employees belonging to 64 small Spanish construction companies working for two main companies participated in the study. Safety responses were measured using a 45-item Likert-type questionnaire. The structure of the measure was analyzed using factor analysis and the model of effects was tested using a structural equation model. Factor analysis clearly identifies the multi-agent safety dimensions hypothesized. The proposed safety response model of work-related accidents, involving construction specific results, showed a good fit. The multi-agent safety response approach to safety climate is a useful framework for the assessment of organizational and behavioral risks in construction.

Social Sector Expenditure and Child Mortality in India: A State-Level Analysis from 1997 to 2009

PubMed Central

Makela, Susanna M.; Dandona, Rakhi; Dilip, T. R.; Dandona, Lalit

2013-01-01

Background India is unlikely to meet the Millennium Development Goal for child mortality. As public policy impacts child mortality, we assessed the association of social sector expenditure with child mortality in India. Methods and Findings Mixed-effects regression models were used to assess the relationship of state-level overall social sector expenditure and its major components (health, health-related, education, and other) with mortality by sex among infants and children aged 1–4 years from 1997 to 2009, adjusting for potential confounders. Counterfactual models were constructed to estimate deaths averted due to overall social sector increases since 1997. Increases in per capita overall social sector expenditure were slightly higher in less developed than in more developed states from 1997 to 2009 (2.4-fold versus 2-fold), but the level of expenditure remained 36% lower in the former in 2009. Increase in public expenditure on health was not significantly associated with mortality reduction in infants or at ages 1–4 years, but a 10% increase in health-related public expenditure was associated with a 3.6% mortality reduction (95% confidence interval 0.2–6.9%) in 1–4 years old boys. A 10% increase in overall social sector expenditure was associated with a mortality reduction in both boys (6.8%, 3.5–10.0%) and girls (4.1%, 0.8–7.5%) aged 1–4 years. We estimated 119,807 (95% uncertainty interval 53,409 – 214,662) averted deaths in boys aged 1–4 years and 94,037 (14,725 – 206,684) in girls in India in 2009 that could be attributed to increases in overall social sector expenditure since 1997. Conclusions Further reduction in child mortality in India would be facilitated if policymakers give high priority to the social sector as a whole for resource allocation in the country’s 5-year plan for 2012–2017, as public expenditure on health alone has not had major impact on reducing child mortality. PMID:23409166

Constructing Pairing-Friendly Elliptic Curves under Embedding Degree 1 for Securing Critical Infrastructures.

PubMed

Wang, Maocai; Dai, Guangming; Choo, Kim-Kwang Raymond; Jayaraman, Prem Prakash; Ranjan, Rajiv

2016-01-01

Information confidentiality is an essential requirement for cyber security in critical infrastructure. Identity-based cryptography, an increasingly popular branch of cryptography, is widely used to protect the information confidentiality in the critical infrastructure sector due to the ability to directly compute the user's public key based on the user's identity. However, computational requirements complicate the practical application of Identity-based cryptography. In order to improve the efficiency of identity-based cryptography, this paper presents an effective method to construct pairing-friendly elliptic curves with low hamming weight 4 under embedding degree 1. Based on the analysis of the Complex Multiplication(CM) method, the soundness of our method to calculate the characteristic of the finite field is proved. And then, three relative algorithms to construct pairing-friendly elliptic curve are put forward. 10 elliptic curves with low hamming weight 4 under 160 bits are presented to demonstrate the utility of our approach. Finally, the evaluation also indicates that it is more efficient to compute Tate pairing with our curves, than that of Bertoni et al.

Occupational safety and health in construction: a review of applications and trends

PubMed Central

SUÁREZ SÁNCHEZ, Fabián Alberto; CARVAJAL PELÁEZ, Gloria Isabel; CATALÁ ALÍS, Joaquín

2017-01-01

Due to the high number of accidents that occur in construction and the consequences this has for workers, organizations, society and countries, occupational safety and health (OSH) has become a very important issue for stakeholders to take care of the human resource. For this reason, and in order to know how OSH research in the construction sector has evolved over time, this article–in which articles published in English were studied–presents an analysis of research conducted from 1930 to 2016. The classification of documents was carried out following the Occupational Safety and Health Cycle which is composed of five steps: regulation, education and training, risk assessment, risk prevention, and accident analysis. With the help of tree diagrams we show that evolution takes place. In addition, risk assessment, risk prevention, and accident analysis were the research topics with the highest number of papers. The main objective of the study was to contribute to knowledge of the subject, showing trends through an exploratory study that may serve as a starting point for further research. PMID:28179610

Constructing Pairing-Friendly Elliptic Curves under Embedding Degree 1 for Securing Critical Infrastructures

PubMed Central

Dai, Guangming

2016-01-01

Information confidentiality is an essential requirement for cyber security in critical infrastructure. Identity-based cryptography, an increasingly popular branch of cryptography, is widely used to protect the information confidentiality in the critical infrastructure sector due to the ability to directly compute the user’s public key based on the user’s identity. However, computational requirements complicate the practical application of Identity-based cryptography. In order to improve the efficiency of identity-based cryptography, this paper presents an effective method to construct pairing-friendly elliptic curves with low hamming weight 4 under embedding degree 1. Based on the analysis of the Complex Multiplication(CM) method, the soundness of our method to calculate the characteristic of the finite field is proved. And then, three relative algorithms to construct pairing-friendly elliptic curve are put forward. 10 elliptic curves with low hamming weight 4 under 160 bits are presented to demonstrate the utility of our approach. Finally, the evaluation also indicates that it is more efficient to compute Tate pairing with our curves, than that of Bertoni et al. PMID:27564373

Occupational safety and health in construction: a review of applications and trends.

PubMed

Suárez Sánchez, Fabián Alberto; Carvajal Peláez, Gloria Isabel; Catalá Alís, Joaquín

2017-06-08

Due to the high number of accidents that occur in construction and the consequences this has for workers, organizations, society and countries, occupational safety and health (OSH) has become a very important issue for stakeholders to take care of the human resource. For this reason, and in order to know how OSH research in the construction sector has evolved over time, this article-in which articles published in English were studied-presents an analysis of research conducted from 1930 to 2016. The classification of documents was carried out following the Occupational Safety and Health Cycle which is composed of five steps: regulation, education and training, risk assessment, risk prevention, and accident analysis. With the help of tree diagrams we show that evolution takes place. In addition, risk assessment, risk prevention, and accident analysis were the research topics with the highest number of papers. The main objective of the study was to contribute to knowledge of the subject, showing trends through an exploratory study that may serve as a starting point for further research.

Carbon footprint hotspots of prefabricated sandwich panels for hostel construction in Perlis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Razali, Norashikin; Ayob, Afizah; Chandra, Muhammad Erwan Shah; Zaki, Mohd Faiz Mohammad; Ahmad, Abdul Ghapar

2017-10-01

Sustainable design and construction have gained increasing research interest, and reduction of carbon from building construction has become the main focus of environmental strategies in Malaysia. This study uses life cycle assessment and life cycle inventory analysis frameworks to estimate the amount of carbon footprint expressed in carbon dioxide equivalent tons (CO2e) produced by manufacturing prefabricated Industrialized Building System sandwich panels and its installation for a five-story hostel in Perlis, Malaysia. Results show that the carbon footprint hotspots were centered on boiler machine operation and cement with 4.52 and 369.04 tons CO2e, respectively. This finding is due to the extensive energy used for steam heating and high engine rating for the boiler. However, for cement, the carbon footprint hotspots are caused by the large quantity of cement applied in shotcrete mixture and its high extraction and production CO2 emission values. The overall onsite materials generated 96.36% of the total carbon footprint. These carbon footprint hotspot results constitute a necessary base for the Malaysian government in accomplishing an adequate dimensioning of carbon emissions in the building sector.

Family Study of Borderline Personality Disorder and Its Sectors of Psychopathology

PubMed Central

Gunderson, John G.; Zanarini, Mary C.; Choi-Kain, Lois W.; Mitchell, Karen S.; Jang, Kerry L.; Hudson, James I.

2011-01-01

Context The familiality of borderline personality disorder (BPD) and its sectors of psychopathology are incompletely understood. Objectives To assess the familial aggregation of BPD and its 4 major sectors (affective, interpersonal, behavioral, and cognitive) and test whether the relationship of the familial and nonfamilial associations among these sectors can be accounted for by a latent BPD construct. Design Family study, with direct interviews of probands and relatives. Setting A psychiatric hospital (McLean Hospital) and the Boston-area community. Participants A total of 368 probands (132 with BPD, 134 without BPD, and 102 with major depressive disorder) and 885 siblings and parents of probands. Main Assessments The Diagnostic Interview for DSM-IV Personality Disorders and the Revised Diagnostic Interview for Borderlines (DIB-R) were used to assess borderline psychopathology, and the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV was used to assess major depressive disorder. Results Borderline personality disorder meeting both DSM-IV and DIB-R criteria showed substantial familial aggregation for BPD in individuals with a family member with BPD vs those without a family member with BPD, using proband-relative pairs (risk ratio, 2.9; 95% confidence interval, 1.5–5.5) as well as using all pairs of family members (3.9; 1.7–9.0). All 4 sectors of BPD psychopathology aggregated significantly in families, using both DSM-IV and DIB-R definitions (correlation of traits among all pairs of family members ranged from 0.07 to 0.27), with the affective and interpersonal sectors showing the highest levels; however, the level of familial aggregation of BPD was higher than that of the individual sectors. The relationship among the sectors was best explained by a common pathway model in which the sectors represent manifestations of a latent BPD construct. Conclusions Familial factors contribute to BPD and its sectors of psychopathology. Borderline personality disorder may arise from a unitary liability that finds expression in its sectors of psychopathology. PMID:21727257

Family study of borderline personality disorder and its sectors of psychopathology.

PubMed

Gunderson, John G; Zanarini, Mary C; Choi-Kain, Lois W; Mitchell, Karen S; Jang, Kerry L; Hudson, James I

2011-07-01

The familiality of borderline personality disorder (BPD) and its sectors of psychopathology are incompletely understood. To assess the familial aggregation of BPD and its 4 major sectors (affective, interpersonal, behavioral, and cognitive) and test whether the relationship of the familial and nonfamilial associations among these sectors can be accounted for by a latent BPD construct. Family study, with direct interviews of probands and relatives. A psychiatric hospital (McLean Hospital) and the Boston-area community. A total of 368 probands (132 with BPD, 134 without BPD, and 102 with major depressive disorder) and 885 siblings and parents of probands. MAIN ASSESSMENTS: The Diagnostic Interview for DSM-IV Personality Disorders and the Revised Diagnostic Interview for Borderlines (DIB-R) were used to assess borderline psychopathology, and the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV was used to assess major depressive disorder. Borderline personality disorder meeting both DSM-IV and DIB-R criteria showed substantial familial aggregation for BPD in individuals with a family member with BPD vs those without a family member with BPD, using proband-relative pairs (risk ratio, 2.9; 95% confidence interval, 1.5-5.5) as well as using all pairs of family members (3.9; 1.7-9.0). All 4 sectors of BPD psychopathology aggregated significantly in families, using both DSM-IV and DIB-R definitions (correlation of traits among all pairs of family members ranged from 0.07 to 0.27), with the affective and interpersonal sectors showing the highest levels; however, the level of familial aggregation of BPD was higher than that of the individual sectors. The relationship among the sectors was best explained by a common pathway model in which the sectors represent manifestations of a latent BPD construct. Familial factors contribute to BPD and its sectors of psychopathology. Borderline personality disorder may arise from a unitary liability that finds expression in its sectors of psychopathology.

Symmetry Breaking, Unification, and Theories Beyond the Standard Model

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

Nomura, Yasunori

2009-07-31

A model was constructed in which the supersymmetric fine-tuning problem is solved without extending the Higgs sector at the weak scale. We have demonstrated that the model can avoid all the phenomenological constraints, while avoiding excessive fine-tuning. We have also studied implications of the model on dark matter physics and collider physics. I have proposed in an extremely simple construction for models of gauge mediation. We found that the {mu} problem can be simply and elegantly solved in a class of models where the Higgs fields couple directly to the supersymmetry breaking sector. We proposed a new way of addressingmore » the flavor problem of supersymmetric theories. We have proposed a new framework of constructing theories of grand unification. We constructed a simple and elegant model of dark matter which explains excess flux of electrons/positrons. We constructed a model of dark energy in which evolving quintessence-type dark energy is naturally obtained. We studied if we can find evidence of the multiverse.« less

The Australian Way: Competency-Based Training in the Corporate Sector.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kellie, Deborah

1999-01-01

Examples from road construction, mining, and other Australian industries show that the corporate sector has responded slowly to the introduction of a national framework for competency-based training. As industry bears more of the costs of training, it has yet to see returns in terms of productivity gains. (SK)

The effect of environmental regulation on firms' competitive performance: the case of the building & construction sector in some EU regions.

PubMed

Testa, Francesco; Iraldo, Fabio; Frey, Marco

2011-09-01

There is a considerable debate on the effects of environmental regulation on competitive performance. Based on survey data, this paper analyzes the two main research questions, derived from literature, on the links between environmental regulation and competitiveness, by focusing on firms operating in the building and construction sector, i.e.: 1) whether environmental policy stringency affects the competitive performance of firms in the building and construction sector 2) and how a specific form of environmental regulation (direct regulation, economic instruments and soft instruments) affects this performance? By applying a regression analysis, we find that a more stringent environmental regulation, measured by inspection frequency, provides a positive impulse for increasing investments in advanced technological equipment and innovative products and on business performance. Moreover, a well-designed "direct regulation" appears to be the most effective policy instrument for prompting the positive impact of environmental policies on innovation and intangible performance while economic instruments do negatively affect business performance. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Effect of Dynamic Sector Boundary Changes on Air Traffic Controllers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jung, Jaewoo; Lee, Paul; Kessell, Angela; Homola, Jeff; Zelinski, Shannon

2010-01-01

The effect of dynamic sector boundary changes on air traffic controller workload was investigated with data from a human-in-the-loop simulation. Multiple boundary changes were made during simulated operations, and controller rating of workload was recorded. Analysis of these data showed an increase of 16.9% in controller workload due to boundary changes. This increased workload was correlated with the number of aircraft handoffs and change in sector volume. There was also a 12.7% increase in average workload due to the changed sector design after boundary changes. This increase was correlated to traffic flow crossing points getting closer to sector boundaries and an increase in the number of flights with short dwell time in a sector. This study has identified some of the factors that affect controller workload when sector boundaries are changed, but more research is needed to better understand their relationships.

Conformal field algebras with quantum symmetry from the theory of superselection sectors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mack, Gerhard; Schomerus, Volker

1990-11-01

According to the theory of superselection sectors of Doplicher, Haag, and Roberts, field operators which make transitions between different superselection sectors—i.e. different irreducible representations of the observable algebra—are to be constructed by adjoining localized endomorphisms to the algebra of local observables. We find the relevant endomorphisms of the chiral algebra of observables in the minimal conformal model with central charge c=1/2 (Ising model). We show by explicit and elementary construction how they determine a representation of the braid group B ∞ which is associated with a Temperley-Lieb-Jones algebra. We recover fusion rules, and compute the quantum dimensions of the superselection sectors. We exhibit a field algebra which is quantum group covariant and acts in the Hilbert space of physical states. It obeys local braid relations in an appropriate weak sense.

Course Recommendation as a Construct in Student Evaluations: Will Students Recommend Your Course?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ang, Lawrence; Breyer, Yvonne Alexandra; Pitt, Joseph

2018-01-01

"Recommendation" is a highly credible and powerful construct in marketing. This article investigates the construct "intention to recommend" in the context of student evaluations of teaching. Motivated by changes in the sector, the study explores what factors drive course recommendation and their relationship with each other. A…

Drivers of Change in Construction Training: How Significant Is the Sustainability Agenda?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fien, John; Winfree, Tomi

2014-01-01

The construction industry is contributing to the sustainability agenda through numerous strategies to improve energy efficiency in the design, materials, and operating conditions of buildings. However, this is only one driver of change in the construction sector. This article, which takes Australia as a case study, shows that many other drivers…

Housing's impact on wood products sales

Treesearch

Matt Bumgardner; Urs Buehlmann; Karen Koenig

2017-01-01

What are the market conditions for woodworkers involved in construction-based sectors and what investments are planned to improve capabilities in the current business environment? For a fifth straight year, construction-based mar­kets continued their growth trends in 2016, as U.S. spending on single family housing, multi-family housing, and nonresidential construction...

Chinese Engagement in Africa: Drivers, Reactions, and Implications for U.S. Policy

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-01-01

downstream oil sectors in countries such as Sudan, Angola, and Nigeria . Africa also presents a huge untapped market for Chinese goods. Africa’s collective... Nigeria , and it’s oil, oil, nothing but oil. But the Chinese come and they are interested in every sector of our economy.”30 The dearth of Western...mining, engineering, and construction sectors .49 The Lekki Free Trade Zone (LFTZ) in Nigeria , a joint venture between Lekki Worldwide Investment Limited

A review on the occupational health and social security of unorganized workers in the construction industry.

PubMed

Tiwary, Guddi; Gangopadhyay, P K

2011-01-01

Construction is one of the important industries employing a large number of people on its workforce. A wide range of activities are involved in it. Due to the advent of industrialization and recent developments, this industry is taking a pivotal role for construction of buildings, roads, bridges, and so forth. The workers engaged in this industry are victims of different occupational disorders and psychosocial stresses. In India, they belong to the organized and unorganized sectors. However, data in respect to occupational health and psychosocial stress are scanty in our country. It is true that a sizable number of the workforce is from the unorganized sectors - the working hours are more than the stipulated hours of work - the work place is not proper - the working conditions are non-congenial in most of the cases and involve risk factors. Their wages are also not adequate, making it difficult for them to run their families. The hazards include handling of different materials required for construction, and exposure to harsh environmental conditions like sun, rain, and so on. On account of this, in adverse conditions, it results in accidents and adverse health conditions cause psychosocial strain and the like. They are victims of headache, backache, joint pains, skin diseases, lung disorders like silicosis, other muscular skeletal disorders, and so on. The repetitive nature of the work causes boredom and the disproportionate earning compared to the requirements puts them under psychological stress and strain and other abnormal behavioral disorders. The Government of India has realized the importance of this industry and has promulgated an Act in 1996. The state government are being asked to adhere to this, although only a few states have partially enforced it. In this article, attempts have been made to review some of the important available articles for giving a broad idea of the problem and for furtherance of research in this field.

A review on the occupational health and social security of unorganized workers in the construction industry

PubMed Central

Tiwary, Guddi; Gangopadhyay, P. K.

2011-01-01

Construction is one of the important industries employing a large number of people on its workforce. A wide range of activities are involved in it. Due to the advent of industrialization and recent developments, this industry is taking a pivotal role for construction of buildings, roads, bridges, and so forth. The workers engaged in this industry are victims of different occupational disorders and psychosocial stresses. In India, they belong to the organized and unorganized sectors. However, data in respect to occupational health and psychosocial stress are scanty in our country. It is true that a sizable number of the workforce is from the unorganized sectors — the working hours are more than the stipulated hours of work — the work place is not proper — the working conditions are non-congenial in most of the cases and involve risk factors. Their wages are also not adequate, making it difficult for them to run their families. The hazards include handling of different materials required for construction, and exposure to harsh environmental conditions like sun, rain, and so on. On account of this, in adverse conditions, it results in accidents and adverse health conditions cause psychosocial strain and the like. They are victims of headache, backache, joint pains, skin diseases, lung disorders like silicosis, other muscular skeletal disorders, and so on. The repetitive nature of the work causes boredom and the disproportionate earning compared to the requirements puts them under psychological stress and strain and other abnormal behavioral disorders. The Government of India has realized the importance of this industry and has promulgated an Act in 1996. The state government are being asked to adhere to this, although only a few states have partially enforced it. In this article, attempts have been made to review some of the important available articles for giving a broad idea of the problem and for furtherance of research in this field. PMID:21808496

The Volta Grande do Xingu: reconstruction of past environments and forecasting of future scenarios of a unique Amazonian fluvial landscape

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sawakuchi, A. O.; Hartmann, G. A.; Sawakuchi, H. O.; Pupim, F. N.; Bertassoli, D. J.; Parra, M.; Antinao, J. L.; Sousa, L. M.; Sabaj Pérez, M. H.; Oliveira, P. E.; Santos, R. A.; Savian, J. F.; Grohmann, C. H.; Medeiros, V. B.; McGlue, M. M.; Bicudo, D. C.; Faustino, S. B.

2015-12-01

The Xingu River is a large clearwater river in eastern Amazonia and its downstream sector, known as the Volta Grande do Xingu ("Xingu Great Bend"), is a unique fluvial landscape that plays an important role in the biodiversity, biogeochemistry and prehistoric and historic peopling of Amazonia. The sedimentary dynamics of the Xingu River in the Volta Grande and its downstream sector will be shifted in the next few years due to the construction of dams associated with the Belo Monte hydropower project. Impacts on river biodiversity and carbon cycling are anticipated, especially due to likely changes in sedimentation and riverbed characteristics. This research project aims to define the geological and climate factors responsible for the development of the Volta Grande landscape and to track its environmental changes during the Holocene, using the modern system as a reference. In this context, sediment cores, riverbed rock and sediment samples and greenhouse gas (GHG) samples were collected in the Volta Grande do Xingu and adjacent upstream and downstream sectors. The reconstruction of past conditions in the Volta Grande is necessary for forecasting future scenarios and defining biodiversity conservation strategies under the operation of Belo Monte dams. This paper describes the scientific questions of the project and the sampling surveys performed by an international team of Earth scientists and biologists during the dry seasons of 2013 and 2014. Preliminary results are presented and a future workshop is planned to integrate results, present data to the scientific community and discuss possibilities for deeper drilling in the Xingu ria to extend the sedimentary record of the Volta Grande do Xingu.

Improvement of system of criteria and indicators of assessment of construction and transport enterprises’ innovative capacity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Papelniuk, Oksana

2017-10-01

The author studies innovative activity of enterprises and carries out classification and systematization of criteria and indicators of construction enterprises’ innovative group assessment taking into account features of innovative activity of construction enterprises. The offered approach will allow construction enterprises to estimate the level of their innovative capacity and to define the directions of this development for achievement of a resource-saving in construction sector.

Mining the physical infrastructure: Opportunities, barriers and interventions in promoting structural components reuse.

PubMed

Iacovidou, Eleni; Purnell, Phil

2016-07-01

Construction is the most resource intensive sector in the world. It consumes more than half of the total global resources; it is responsible for more than a third of the total global energy use and associated emissions; and generates the greatest and most voluminous waste stream globally. Reuse is considered to be a material and carbon saving practice highly recommended in the construction sector as it can address both waste and carbon emission regulatory targets. This practice offers the possibility to conserve resources through the reclamation of structural components and the carbon embedded in them, as well as opportunities for the development of new business models and the creation of environmental, economic, technical and social value. This paper focuses on the identification and analysis of existing interventions that can promote the reuse of construction components, and outlines the barriers and opportunities arising from this practice as depicted from the global literature. The main conclusions that derive from this study are that the combination of incentives that promote reuse of construction components and recycling of the rest of the construction materials with the provision of specialised education, skills and training would transform the way construction sector currently operates and create opportunities for new business development. Moreover, a typology system developed based on the properties and lifetime of construction components is required in order to provide transparency and guidance in the way construction components are used and reused, in order to make them readily available to designers and contractors. Smart technologies carry the potential to aid the development and uptake of this system by enabling efficient tracking, storage and archiving, while providing information relevant to the environmental and economic savings that can be regained, enabling also better decision-making during construction and deconstruction works. However, further research is required in order to investigate the opportunities and constraints of the use of these technologies. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

How the Timing of Climate Change Policy Affects Infrastructure Turnover in the Electricity Sector: Engineering, Economic and Policy Considerations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Izard, Catherine Finlay

The electricity sector is responsible for producing 35% of US greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Estimates suggest that ideally, the electricity sector would be responsible for approximately 85% of emissions abatement associated with climate polices such as America's Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES). This is equivalent to ˜50% cumulative emissions reductions below projected cumulative business-as-usual (BAU) emissions. Achieving these levels of emissions reductions will require dramatic changes in the US electricity generating infrastructure: almost all of the fossil-generation fleet will need to be replaced with low-carbon sources and society is likely to have to maintain a high build rate of new capacity for decades. Unfortunately, the inertia in the electricity sector means that there may be physical constraints to the rate at which new electricity generating capacity can be built. Because the build rate of new electricity generating capacity may be limited, the timing of regulation is critical---the longer the U.S. waits to start reducing GHG emissions, the faster the turnover in the electricity sector must occur in order to meet the same target. There is a real, and thus far unexplored, possibility that the U.S. could delay climate change policy implementation for long enough that it becomes infeasible to attain the necessary rate of turnover in the electricity sector. This dissertation investigates the relationship between climate policy timing and infrastructure turnover in the electricity sector. The goal of the dissertation is to answer the question: How long can we wait before constraints on infrastructure turnover in the electricity sector make achieving our climate goals impossible? Using the Infrastructure Flow Assessment Model, which was developed in this work, this dissertation shows that delaying climate change policy increases average retirements rates by 200-400%, increases average construction rates by 25-85% and increases maximum construction rates by 50-300%. It also shows that delaying climate policy has little effect on the age of retired plants or the stranded costs associated with premature retirement. In order for the electricity sector to reduce emissions to a level required by ACES while limiting construction rates to within achievable levels, it is necessary to start immediately. Delaying the process of decarbonization means that more abatement will be necessary from other sectors or geoengineering. By not starting emissions abatement early, therefore, the US forfeits its most accessible abatement potential and increases the challenge of climate change mitigation unnecessarily.

Fatal occupational injuries in the Malaysian construction sector–causes and accidental agents

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ayob, A.; Shaari, A. A.; Zaki, M. F. M.; Munaaim, M. A. C.

2018-04-01

The construction sector is associated with various accidents and fatal injuries. These occupational accidents are caused by numerous factors, such as lack of supervision; lack of adherence to safe work technique; failure to wear personal protective equipment; and failure to comply with the safe use of tools, vehicles, and machines. Using 2013–2016 secondary data from the Department of Occupational Safety and Health and Social Security Organization, this study conducted a descriptive exploration survey to identify common fatal occupational injuries associated with the Malaysian construction sector, as well as their causes and accidental agents. Results indicated that construction, followed by manufacturing, agriculture, forestry, logging, and fishery, are the riskiest job sectors in Malaysia. The highest incidences of occupational casualties were reported in Sarawak, Johor, and Selangor. These states accounted for approximately 13.33% to 18.18% of all cases of fatal occupational accidents. In these states, the lack of safety and health regulations and poor execution of risk management increased the risk of occupational accidents. Falls from heights accounted for 46.28% of fatal occupational injuries. Furthermore, being crushed by objects, materials, or vehicles accounted for 9.09% to 17.36% of fatal occupational injuries. Substandard work environment and transportation and lifting equipment, such as scaffolds, are primary accidental agents. Results of this study could enhance the knowledge and awareness of construction workers and management of job-related injuries to decrease the incidence of fatal occupational accidents.

The Social Construction of Skills: A Hospitality Sector Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Baum, Tom

2008-01-01

This paper addresses the nature of skills in service work with specific reference to international tourism and its hospitality subsector. It explores the role of experiential factors (cultural, emotional and aesthetic) in equipping those entering work in the sector. The specific context of work in less developed countries and within migrant labour…

Piloting through the Recession: Continuing Higher Education in Europe and the United Kingdom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roffe, Ian

2009-01-01

In common with the United States, Europe is currently experiencing a serious economic recession. The crisis, which started in the financial sector, is now rippling out and affecting heavily other economic sectors: construction, property, retailing, manufacturing, etc. The arguable cause of the crisis was a failure of management in financial…

Building a Sustainable Higher Education Sector in the UAE

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jose, Saju; Chacko, Jacob

2017-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the relevant economic aspects that could affect the sustainability of the HE sector in the UAE. Design/methodology/approach: Data are collected mainly through secondary sources and based on the relevant information. Two constructs, namely, market factors and educational governance are identified…

Automobile, construction and entertainment business sector influences on sedentary lifestyles.

PubMed

Parra, Diana C; de Sá, Thiago H; Monteiro, Carlos A; Freudenberg, Nicholas

2018-04-01

Sedentary lifestyles contribute to premature death and health inequalities. Researchers have studied personal and community-level determinants of inactivity but few have analyzed corporate influences. To reframe the public health debate on inactivity and open new doors for public sector intervention, we conducted a scoping review of evidence from several disciplines to describe how the business and political practices of the automobile, construction, and entertainment sectors have encouraged sedentary lifestyles. In the last 50 years, these industries have found it profitable to produce motor vehicles, housing, and entertainment, which intentionally or unintentionally discourage physical activity. Ceding primary authority for policy decisions in these sectors to the market-based economy has enabled the growth of powerful lobbies that encourage and maintain sedentary lifestyles. To counteract these influences, public health and civil society need to confront more upstream economic and social determinants of sedentary lifestyles. Building on evidence from efforts to change harmful tobacco, alcohol and food industry practices, we propose the creation of research and policy agendas that contribute to public health practice that can modify corporate practices that contribute to physical, social and political environments that discourage physical activity.

Multidimensional supersymmetric quantum mechanics: spurious states for the tensor sector two Hamiltonian.

PubMed

Chou, Chia-Chun; Kouri, Donald J

2013-04-25

We show that there exist spurious states for the sector two tensor Hamiltonian in multidimensional supersymmetric quantum mechanics. For one-dimensional supersymmetric quantum mechanics on an infinite domain, the sector one and two Hamiltonians have identical spectra with the exception of the ground state of the sector one. For tensorial multidimensional supersymmetric quantum mechanics, there exist normalizable spurious states for the sector two Hamiltonian with energy equal to the ground state energy of the sector one. These spurious states are annihilated by the adjoint charge operator, and hence, they do not correspond to physical states for the original Hamiltonian. The Hermitian property of the sector two Hamiltonian implies the orthogonality between spurious and physical states. In addition, we develop a method for construction of a specific form of the spurious states for any quantum system and also generate several spurious states for a two-dimensional anharmonic oscillator system and for the hydrogen atom.

M-X Environmental Technical Report. Alternative Potential Operating Base Locations, Milford.

DTIC Science & Technology

1980-12-22

ordinances also give similar direction to subdivision developments , building construction, etc. Rural Land Use Oil/gas leases exist southwest of Milford...2.2.9 Effects on Mining and Geology 2-63 ii .A LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1.i.1-1 Total employment and percent share by major economic sectors for...selected counties in Utah, 1977 1-3 1.1.1-2 Employment growth by sector , selected counties in Utah, 1967-1977 1-4 1.1.1-3 Earnings by economi sector

Deployment Area Selection and Land Withdrawal/Acquisition. M-X/MPS (M-X/Multiple Protective Shelter) Environmental Technical Report. Economic Model.

DTIC Science & Technology

1981-10-02

Estimated non-residential building development . 176 D-I Correspondence between RIMS sectors and 1974 Census of Agriculture reporting categories. 185 D-2...deployment would be the development of new economic sectors . For example, building an M-X operating N.’ base or DDA facilities in a county would be likely...construction sectors . For the rural Nevada/Utah ROI counties, many of these location quotients are significantly less than one and in many cases zero because

Relevance of Partnering as an Alternative Approach to Management of Construction Projects in Ghana

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ansah, Samuel Kwame; Awere, Eric; Edu-Buandoh, Kobina Badu Micah

2016-01-01

Understandably, clients in both the public and the private sectors in Ghanaian construction industry have become increasingly dissatisfied. What they see is unpredictability and under-performance. What they receive is too often of poor quality, late and over-priced. More often contractors enter the construction project focusing on achieving their…

Organizational Citizenship Behaviors in American and Portuguese Public Schools: Measuring the Construct across Cultures

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

DiPaola, Michael F.; da Costa Neves, Paula Maria Mendes

2009-01-01

Purpose: Organizational citizenship behaviors (OCB) have been studied in both private and public sector organizations in countries around the globe. The purpose of this study is to compare the perceptions of the OCB construct between American and Portuguese public secondary school teachers and test an operational measure of the construct for…

Trade Up! Careers in Construction: What's in the Construction Industry for Me? Teacher Guide.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alberta Learning, Edmonton. Learning and Teaching Resources Branch.

This teacher guide is designed to help Alberta, Canada, youth discover, explore, and more fully understand careers and career paths in the four sectors of the construction industry--commercial, industrial, residential, and road building. An introduction discusses potential uses of the materials and explains why Alberta students need to know more…

United States housing, fourth quarter 2013

Treesearch

Delton Alderman

2017-01-01

In the beginning of 2013, the U.S. housing construction market indicated increases in all sectors; yet, by the fourth quarter’s end, only housing under construction improved. Moderation and declines are to be expected in the fourth quarter, as winter is setting in. Permits, starts, housing under construction, completions, and new and existing house sales all exceeded...

Self-dual Skyrmions on the spheres S2 N +1

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Amari, Y.; Ferreira, L. A.

2018-04-01

We construct self-dual sectors for scalar field theories on a (2 N +2 )-dimensional Minkowski space-time with the target space being the 2 N +1 -dimensional sphere S2 N +1. The construction of such self-dual sectors is made possible by the introduction of an extra functional in the action that renders the static energy and the self-duality equations conformally invariant on the (2 N +1 )-dimensional spatial submanifold. The conformal and target-space symmetries are used to build an ansatz that leads to an infinite number of exact self-dual solutions with arbitrary values of the topological charge. The five-dimensional case is discussed in detail, where it is shown that two types of theories admit self-dual sectors. Our work generalizes the known results in the three-dimensional case that lead to an infinite set of self-dual Skyrmion solutions.

Algorithmic universality in F-theory compactifications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Halverson, James; Long, Cody; Sung, Benjamin

2017-12-01

We study universality of geometric gauge sectors in the string landscape in the context of F-theory compactifications. A finite time construction algorithm is presented for 4/3 ×2.96 ×10755 F-theory geometries that are connected by a network of topological transitions in a connected moduli space. High probability geometric assumptions uncover universal structures in the ensemble without explicitly constructing it. For example, non-Higgsable clusters of seven-branes with intricate gauge sectors occur with a probability above 1 - 1.01 ×10-755 , and the geometric gauge group rank is above 160 with probability 0.999995. In the latter case there are at least 10 E8 factors, the structure of which fixes the gauge groups on certain nearby seven-branes. Visible sectors may arise from E6 or S U (3 ) seven-branes, which occur in certain random samples with probability ≃1 /200 .

Three Dimensional Sector Design with Optimal Number of Sectors

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Xue, Min

2010-01-01

In the national airspace system, sectors get overloaded due to high traffic demand and inefficient airspace designs. Overloads can be eliminated in some cases by redesigning sector boundaries. This paper extends the Voronoi-based sector design method by automatically selecting the number of sectors, allowing three-dimensional partitions, and enforcing traffic pattern conformance. The method was used to design sectors at Fort-Worth and Indianapolis centers for current traffic scenarios. Results show that new designs can eliminate overloaded sectors, although not in all cases, reduce the number of necessary sectors, and conform to major traffic patterns. Overall, the new methodology produces enhanced and efficient sector designs.

Spatial econometric model of natural disaster impacts on human migration in vulnerable regions of Mexico.

PubMed

Saldaña-Zorrilla, Sergio O; Sandberg, Krister

2009-10-01

Mexico's vast human and environmental diversity offers an initial framework for comprehending some of the prevailing great disparities between rich and poor. Its socio-economic constructed vulnerability to climatic events serves to expand this understanding. Based on a spatial econometric model, this paper tests the contribution of natural disasters to stimulating the emigration process in vulnerable regions of Mexico. Besides coping and adaptive capacity, it assesses the effects of economic losses due to disasters as well as the adverse production and trade conditions of the 1990s on emigration rates in 2000 at the municipality level. Weather-related disasters were responsible for approximately 80 per cent of economic losses in Mexico between 1980 and 2005, mostly in the agricultural sector, which continues to dominate many parts of the country. It is dramatic that this sector generates around only four per cent of gross domestic product but provides a livelihood to about one-quarter of the national population. It is no wonder, therefore, that most emigration from this country arises in vulnerable rural areas.

Integrated framework to capture the interdependencies between transportation and energy sectors due to policy decisions.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2014-05-01

Currently, transportation and energy sectors are developed, managed, and operated independently of : one another. Due to the non-renewable nature of fossil fuels, energy security has evolved into a : strategic goal for the United States. The transpor...

Long shadow of fear in an epidemic: fearonomic effects of Ebola on the private sector in Nigeria.

PubMed

Bali, Sulzhan; Stewart, Kearsley A; Pate, Muhammad Ali

2016-01-01

The already significant impact of the Ebola epidemic on Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, was worsened by a fear of contagion that aggravated the health crisis. However, in contrast to other Ebola-affected countries, Nigeria fared significantly better due to its swift containment of the disease. The objective of our study was to describe the impact of Ebola on the Nigerian private sector. This paper introduces and defines the term fearonomic effect as the direct and indirect economic effects of both misinformation as well as fear-induced aversion behaviour, exhibited by individuals, organisations or countries during an outbreak or an epidemic. This study was designed as a cross-sectional mixed-methods study that used semistructured in-depth interviews and a supporting survey to capture the impact of Ebola on the Nigerian private sector after the outbreak. Themes were generated from the interviews on the direct and indirect impact of Ebola on the private sector; the impact of misinformation and fear-based aversion behaviour in the private sector. Our findings reveal that the fearonomic effects of Ebola included health service outages and reduced healthcare usage as a result of misinformation and aversion behaviour by both patients and providers. Although certain sectors (eg, health sector, aviation sector, hospitality sector) in Nigeria were affected more than others, no business was immune to Ebola's fearonomic effects. We describe how sectors expected to prosper during the outbreak (eg, pharmaceuticals), actually suffered due to the changes in consumption patterns and demand shocks. In a high-stressor epidemic-like setting, altered consumption behaviour due to distorted disease perception, misinformation and fear can trigger short-term economic cascades that can disproportionately affect businesses and lead to financial insecurity of the poorest and the most vulnerable in a society.

Building new university hospital--what citizens know and policy makers should be aware of.

PubMed

Oresković, S; Letica, S; Mastilica, M; Babić-Bosanac, S; Civljak, M; Bozicević, I; Borovecki, A

2002-12-01

Survey of citizens' attitudes in the process of strategic decision making is one of the most important methods for determining health care priorities. We describe the results of a survey carried out in December 2001, with an aim to collect and analyze the attitudes of the citizens and health care professionals toward the possibilities and strategies of construction of the University Hospital in Blato, Zagreb. The first referendum on the construction of the new hospital was conducted among Zagreb citizens in 1982, when they agreed that the new University Hospital was much needed. Zagreb citizens confirmed once again their attitudes toward and opinions on the need to continue the construction of new hospital in the city outskirts. By 1992, when the construction of the hospital was halted due to insufficient financial means, Zagreb citizens had already invested over 150 epsilon million in the project. It is interesting that today, 89.4% of the citizens and 74.5% of physicians agree that the new hospital building should be completed. Also, 66.7% of the citizens and 88% of physicians think that this hospital should be a University hospital that could offer the most complex treatments and medical education. To finish the construction of the new hospital further 200 epsilon million needs to be invested. Survey showed that 71% of citizens and 82.2% of physicians think that funds should be raised from some form of credit or budget rather than by special local tax, additional tax or voluntary tax. This project will significantly determine the future of hospital and health care system in Croatia due to its capacities in terms of space, technology, and staff. Before the decision to continue with the new hospital construction be made, the expected future needs, demands, and supply of the health care services in hospital sector in Zagreb and Croatia should be provided using SWOT analysis for each of existing the facilities.

Potential implementation of light steel housing system for affordable housing project in Malaysia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Saikah, M.; Kasim, N.; Zainal, R.; Sarpin, N.; Rahim, M. H. I. A.

2017-11-01

An unparalleled number between housing demand and housing supply in Malaysia has increased the housing prices, which gives consequences to the homeownership issue. One way to reduce the housing price is by faster increase the number of affordable housing, but the construction sector faces difficulties in delivering as expected number by using conventional and current industrialised building system (IBS) due to the issue related high project cost, time and labour. Therefore, light steel housing (LSH) system as one of another type of IBS method can be utilised in housing construction project. This method can replace the conventional method that was currently used in the construction of affordable housing project. The objectives of this study are to identify the potential of LSH and influencing factors of system implementation. This is an initial stage to review the previous study related to LSH implementation in developed and developing countries. The previous study will be analysed regarding advantages and disadvantages of LSH and factors that influence the implementation of the system. Based on the literature review it is expected to define the potential and influencing factors of the LSH system. The findings are meaningful in framing and enhance construction housing method of an affordable housing project in Malaysia.

Assessing Construct Validity Using Multidimensional Item Response Theory.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ackerman, Terry A.

The concept of a user-specified validity sector is discussed. The idea of the validity sector combines the work of M. D. Reckase (1986) and R. Shealy and W. Stout (1991). Reckase developed a methodology to represent an item in a multidimensional latent space as a vector. Item vectors are computed using multidimensional item response theory item…

Life cycle study of different constructive solutions for building enclosures.

PubMed

Garcia-Ceballos, Luz; de Andres-Díaz, Jose Ramon; Contreras-Lopez, Miguel A

2018-06-01

The construction sector must advance in a more sustainable way and to achieve this goal, the application of global methodologies is needed. These methodologies should take into account all life stages of a building: planning, design, construction, use and demolition. The quantity and variety of the materials used in building construction condition the buildings' environmental and energy impacts. Life Cycle Assessment offers a standardized framework to evaluate the environmental loads of a product, process or activity. This work aims to demonstrate the feasibility of using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to select facilities in the construction sector, which minimize environmental and energy impacts. To facilitate the understanding of the proposed methodology, a comparative LCA is performed, to determine the type of thermal insulating material in a double sheet ceramic façade and its thickness, which allows reducing the environmental impacts associated to the enclosure. The three most used enclosure types used in the city of Malaga (Spain) have been selected for this study. The results show the adequacy of the procedure used. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Evidence for a nonplanar amplituhedron

DOE PAGES

Bern, Zvi; Herrmann, Enrico; Litsey, Sean; ...

2016-06-17

The scattering amplitudes of planar N = 4 super-Yang-Mills exhibit a number of remarkable analytic structures, including dual conformal symmetry and logarithmic singularities of integrands. The amplituhedron is a geometric construction of the integrand that incorporates these structures. This geometric construction further implies the amplitude is fully specified by constraining it to vanish on spurious residues. By writing the amplitude in a dlog basis, we provide nontrivial evidence that these analytic properties and “zero conditions” carry over into the nonplanar sector. Finally, this suggests that the concept of the amplituhedron can be extended to the nonplanar sector of N =more » 4 super-Yang-Mills theory.« less

The use of smart technologies in enabling construction components reuse: A viable method or a problem creating solution?

PubMed

Iacovidou, Eleni; Purnell, Phil; Lim, Ming K

2018-06-15

The exploitation of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) for tracking and archiving the properties of structural construction components could be a potentially innovative disruption for the construction sector. This is because RFID can stimulate the reuse of construction components and reduce their wastage, hence addressing sustainability issues in the construction sector. To test the plausibility of that idea, this study explores the potential pre-conditions for RFID to facilitate construction components reuse, and develops a guidance for promoting their redistribution back to the supply chain. It also looks at how integrating RFID with Building Information Modelling (BIM) can possibly be a valuable extension of its capabilities, providing the opportunity for tracked components to be incorporated into new structures in an informed, sound way. A preliminary assessment of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the RFID technology is presented in order to depict its current and future potential in promoting construction components' sustainable lifecycle management, while emphasis has been laid on capturing their technical, environmental, economic and social value. Findings suggest that the collection of the right amount of information at the design-construction-deconstruction-reuse-disposal stage is crucial for RFID to become a successful innovation in the construction sector. Although a number of limitations related to the technical operability and recycling of RFID tags seem to currently hinder its uptake for structural components' lifecycle management, future technological innovations could provide solutions that would enable it to become a mainstream practice. Taken together these proposals advocate that the use of RFID and its integration with BIM can create the right environment for the development of new business models focused on sustainable resource management. These models may then unlock multiple values that are otherwise dissipated in the system. If the rapid technological development of RFID capability can be allied to policy interventions that control and manage its uptake along the supply chain, the sustainable lifecycle management of construction components could be radically enhanced. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Mining Review

USGS Publications Warehouse

,

2013-01-01

Trends in other sectors of the domestic economy were similar to those in mineral production and consumption rates (Table 1). After continued decline following the 2008-2009 recession, the construction industry began to show signs of improvement late in 2011 and throughout 2012, with increased production and consumption of cement, construction sand and gravel, crushed stone and gypsum, mineral commodities that are used almost exclusively in construction.

Safety risk assessment for vertical concrete formwork activities in civil engineering construction.

PubMed

López-Arquillos, Antonio; Rubio-Romero, Juan Carlos; Gibb, Alistair G F; Gambatese, John A

2014-01-01

The construction sector has one of the worst occupational health and safety records in Europe. Of all construction tasks, formwork activities are associated with a high frequency of accidents and injuries. This paper presents an investigation of the activities and related safety risks present in vertical formwork for in-situ concrete construction in the civil engineering sector. Using the methodology of staticized groups, twelve activities and ten safety risks were identified and validated by experts. Every safety risk identified in this manner was quantified for each activity using binary methodology according to the frequency and severity scales developed in prior research. A panel of experts was selected according to the relevant literature on staticized groups. The results obtained show that the activities with the highest risk in vertical formwork tasks are: Plumbing and leveling of forms, cutting of material, handling materials with cranes, and climbing or descending ladders. The most dangerous health and safety risks detected were falls from height, cutting and overexertion. The research findings provide construction practitioners with further evidence of the hazardous activities associated with concrete formwork construction and a starting point for targeting worker health and safety programmes.

[Stress and work-related injuries].

PubMed

Tomei, G; Capozzella, A; Rosati, M V; Tomei, F; Rinaldi, G; Chighine, A; di Marzio, A; Sacco, C; Pimpinella, B; Suppi, A; Scala, B; Casale, T; Sancini, A

2015-01-01

The aim of this study was to evaluate in scientific literature the more frequent work injuries among the occupational categories examined (construction workers, healthcare workers, night workers and shift work, drivers) and to identify occupational stressors that increase the risk of injury. The research was conducted through review of the scientific literature between 1990 and 2014. Two hundred articles were found of which 42 selected in the following categories: construction workers, healthcare workers, shift workers, lorry drivers. The movement of machinery and working at height are due to injury for building sector and they were positively correlated with physical (r = 0,206) and mental (r = 0,254) stress. In health workers the injuries are more frequently bruises and sprains (50%). Studies showed a higher rate of injury in a group of shift workers compared to a control group on a rota basis (p <0.0001). Road accidents for drivers represent the most frequent cause of injury of which 13% comes from falling asleep, while 31% from distractions (OR = 3.16; CI = 1:22 to 8:24). Nurses have frequent injuries due to bruises, lumbago, punctures with needles and surgical wounds. Construction workers often suffer serious injury derived from falls at height, handling machinery. For workers on a rota basis, injuries are often related to lack of sleep. Road accidents in drivers are the most common injuries. A synergistic action finalized to promote health and safety organization, to ensure a work environment more secure, is advisable.

Contractor Past Performance Information (PPI) in Source Selection: A Comparison Study of Public and Private Sector

DTIC Science & Technology

2005-05-01

efficiencies similar to those in the private sector . However, along the way, Government and private sector industry have begun to disagree about how PPI is...double that of the private sector due to an evaluation process that is cumbersome, time-consuming, and lacking the efficiencies enjoyed by private

Network features of sector indexes spillover effects in China: A multi-scale view

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Feng, Sida; Huang, Shupei; Qi, Yabin; Liu, Xueyong; Sun, Qingru; Wen, Shaobo

2018-04-01

The spillover effects among sectors are of concern for distinct market participants, who are in distinct investment horizons and concerned with the information in different time scales. In order to uncover the hidden spillover information in multi-time scales in the rapidly changing stock market and thereby offer guidance to different investors concerning distinct time scales from a system perspective, this paper constructed directional spillover effect networks for the economic sectors in distinct time scales. The results are as follows: (1) The "2-4 days" scale is the most risky scale, and the "8-16 days" scale is the least risky one. (2) The most influential and sensitive sectors are distinct in different time scales. (3) Although two sectors in the same community may not have direct spillover relations, the volatility of one sector will have a relatively strong influence on the other through indirect relations.

Mirror instability and origin of morningside auroral structure

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chiu, Y. T.; Schulz, M.; Fennell, J. F.; Kishi, A. M.

1983-01-01

Auroral optical imagery shows marked differences between auroral features of the evening and morning sectors: the separation between diffuse and discrete auroras in the evening sector is not distinct in the morning sector, which is dominated by auroral patches and multiple banded structures aligned along some direction. Plasma distribution function signatures also show marked differences: downward electron beams and inverted-V signatures prefer the evening sector, while the electron spectra on the morning sector are similar to the diffuse aurora. A theory of morningside auroras consistent with these features was constructed. The theory is based on modulation of the growth rates of electron cyclotron waves by the mirror instability, which is in turn driven by inward-convected ions that have become anisotropic. This modulation produces alternating bands of enhanced and reduced electron precipitation which approximate the observed multiple auroral bands and patches of the morning sector.

Ergonomics and design in the Brazilian agricultural sector: a proposal to build matrix of contradictions.

PubMed

Tosetto, Thaís; Camarotto, João Alberto

2012-01-01

The paper presents a correlation between the parameters of classical TRIZ and variables of analysis of the EWA to construct a matrix of contradictions in ergonomics, with the objective of assisting the designing processes in the Brazilian agricultural sector. Given the representativeness of the sector in the economy, the boundary conditions in which the activities are developed and their impact on the health of workers, this proposal should contribute to the development of adaptable solutions and the promotion of Decent Work.

Community care: the independent sector.

PubMed Central

Barodawala, S.

1996-01-01

The independent sector, which consists of the voluntary and private sectors, is a vital element in supporting older people in the community. The voluntary sector, coordinated by the Council for Voluntary Service and the National Council for Voluntary Organisations, provides a variety of services, including practical help, reassurance and companionship, and advice, information, campaigning, and advocacy. The private sector owns all of the nursing homes and most of the residential homes and is gradually becoming more involved with the provision of services to help support older people in their own homes. With this increase in size and importance of the independent sector over recent years, there is now a real need for greater communication between the private, voluntary, and statutory agencies in any one region. In some areas, forums made up of representatives of these various sectors meet to discuss relevant issues and construct local policies, thus allowing a more coordinated approach to the delivery of services. Images p740-a p742-a PMID:8819449

Recession effects on the forests and forest products industries of the South.

Treesearch

Douglas Hodges; Andrew Hartsell; Consuelo Brandeis; Thomas Brandeis; James Bentley

2012-01-01

The economic recession affected southern forests and related industries substantially, particularly those sectors most closely related to home construction. Between 2005 and 2009, for example, the three primary forestry sectors – wood manufacturing, paper manufacturing, and forestry and logging – lost more than 110,000 jobs in the southern United States. This article...

Older Workers' Perspectives on Training and Retention of Older Workers: National Finance Sector Survey. Support Document

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lundberg, David; Marshallsay, Zaniah

2007-01-01

Older workers' perspectives are examined in a national survey of the finance sector and case studies of aged care and construction workers. The majority of older workers intend to work beyond retirement age, to achieve a better lifestyle. With training, older workers could mentor younger workers. This support document includes a national survey of…

Review of wood-based panel sector in United States and Canada

Treesearch

H. N. Spelter; D. B. McKeever; I. Durbak

1997-01-01

Structural and nonstructural panels have been the fastest growing sector among wood products for the past two decades. The recent spate of plant construction and drop in product prices indicate slower growth and consolidation in the next 2 years. Growth in demand is unlikely to catch up with projected capacities until the next century, unless attrition of some existing...

An analysis of the sectorial influence of CSI300 stocks within the directed network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mai, Yong; Chen, Huan; Meng, Lei

2014-02-01

This paper uses the Partial Correlation Planar maximally filtered Graph (PCPG) method to construct a directed network for the constituent stocks underlying the China Securities Index 300 (CSI300). We also analyse the impact of individual stocks. We find that the CSI300 market is a scale-free network with a relatively small power law exponent. The volatility of the stock prices has significant impact on other stocks. In the sectorial network, the industrial sector is the most influential one over other sectors, the financial sector only has a modest influence, while the telecommunication services sector’s influence is marginal. In addition, such inter-sector influence displays quarterly stability.

Wage Leadership in Construction.

DTIC Science & Technology

1981-01-01

LEADERSHIP IN CONSTRUCTION Wage leadership is the theory that wage increases in one sector lead to imitative increases elsewhere. In this paper we...test this theory in a large industry where wage leadership is supposed to be dominant- construction. Alternate theories of wage determination (excess...demand, real wage bargaining) are also tested, along with %he efficacy of the 1971-73 wagecotls BACKGROUND The theory of wage leadership is an important

The global economy and its influence on the Slovak construction sector

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jankovichová, E.

2010-03-01

For the construction industry, globalization is a trend that means two things: many opportunities and many threats. In the conditions of globalization many management approaches, such as organization structure, strategy forming, planning, motivation and control procedures, communication channels, risk management, etc., must transform. The aim of the paper is to analyze the influence of globalization on the construction industry in Slovakia and identify the impact of globalization on construction companies in this area.

Rethinking Apprenticeship Training in the British Construction Industry

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Abdel-Wahab, Mohamed

2012-01-01

The British government continued intervention to support apprenticeship training across the economy has been notable in recent years. The construction industry is the only sector to retain a levy/grant scheme (that supports training including apprenticeships) since 1964, yet it still faces the problem of skills shortages. This article thus reviews…

Stratification of Environmental Education and Education for Sustainable Development in Australia: An Analysis of Positions Vacant Advertisements

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hardy, Joy

2008-01-01

Positions vacant advertisements discursively construct employment sectors, employers and employees. This paper uses content analysis, systemic functional linguistics and critical discourse analysis to investigate the discursive construction of environmental education and education for sustainable development through positions vacant advertisements…

Analysis of required fleet size and private sector cost comparisons for the USCG inland construction tender fleet : final report

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1994-05-01

This report documents an analysis performed in support of the United States Coast Guard in managing its fleet of construction tenders (WLICs). The project was sponsored by the Coast Guard's Office of Navigation Safety and Waterway Services, Short Ran...

Prevalence of Injury in Occupation and Industry: Role of Obesity in the National Health Interview Survey 2004 to 2013.

PubMed

Gu, Ja K; Charles, Luenda E; Fekedulegn, Desta; Ma, Claudia C; Andrew, Michael E; Burchfiel, Cecil M

2016-04-01

The aim of this study was to estimate prevalence of injury by occupation and industry and obesity's role. Self-reported injuries were collected annually for US workers during 2004 to 2013. Prevalence ratios (PRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were obtained from fitted logistic regression models. Overall weighted injury prevalence during the previous three months was 77 per 10,000 workers. Age-adjusted injury prevalence was greatest for Construction and Extraction workers (169.7/10,000) followed by Production (160.6) among occupations, while workers in the Construction industry sector (147.9) had the highest injury prevalence followed by the Agriculture/Forestry/Fishing/Mining/Utilities sector (122.1). Overweight and obese workers were 26% to 45% more likely to experience injuries than normal-weight workers. The prevalence of injury, highest for Construction workers, gradually increased as body mass index levels increased in most occupational and industry groups.

[The accident at work and the occupational diseases in the construction industry: the experience of Inail].

PubMed

Clemente, M; Goggiamani, A

2012-01-01

The authors analyze the budget accident at work and occupational diseases in the construction industry through the data banks Inail. This analysis is carried out by comparing the data for this sector of economic activity (classification of economic activities ATECO 2002) with those general with particular attention to how an event, occurrence, mortality, by plotting the trends of this phenomenon than in previous years. It also analyzes the phenomenon of the complaints of occupational diseases with the comparison with the general data as well as with the analysis of the most frequent types of occupational diseases in this sector in the last two years.

Economic accounting of water: The Botswana experience

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Setlhogile, T.; Arntzen, J.; Pule, O. B.

2017-08-01

Water accounts aim to capture the value of water resources and their use within the economy. The accounts complement the National Accounts as the latter's main indicator (GDP) does not reflect changes in natural capital. Botswana developed water accounts for the period 2010/11-2014/15 using the UN's standard System of Environmental Economic Accounting for water (SEEA-water). The article focuses both on the construction of physical flow accounts as well as on the policy implications for development planning and water resource management through the use of policy indicators. It also shows long-term trends in water abstraction and water use efficiency linking the SEEA water accounts with results of earlier (non-SEEA) water accounting projects in Botswana. The water accounts results show that water abstraction and consumption have been largely stable since 2010/11 despite population (1.9% p.a.) and economic growth (around 5% p.a.) likely due to a combination of water sector reforms and drought conditions in south eastern Botswana; the latter led to the drying up of several dams and the imposition of severe water restrictions. While public attention focuses mostly on water service providers, self-providers (mines and the agricultural sector) account for more than 50% of total water abstracted from the environment of water, demonstrating the need to pay more attention to self-providers in IWRM implementation. Water consumption is highest for the agricultural sector (70.2 Mm3) followed by households and mines at 41.2 and 39 Mm3 respectively in 2014/15. In terms of water use efficiency, value added per m3 has increased in time, showing (some) decoupling of water consumption and economic growth. This positive trend needs to be enhanced in the pursuit of economic diversification, which should focus on growth of water-efficient economic sectors. Finally, per capita water consumption has decreased over time; while this may indicate that people conserve water, it may also point at delivery problems associated with water sector reforms. This requires further analysis.

Evaluation of workplace exposure to respirable crystalline silica in Italy

PubMed Central

Scarselli, Alberto; Corfiati, Marisa; Marzio, Davide Di; Iavicoli, Sergio

2014-01-01

Background: Crystalline silica is a human carcinogen and its use is widespread among construction, mining, foundries, and other manufacturing industries. Purpose: To evaluate occupational exposure to crystalline silica in Italy. Methods: Data were collected from exposure registries and descriptive statistics were calculated for exposure-related variables. The number of potentially exposed workers was estimated in a subset of industrial sectors. Linear mixed model analysis was performed to determine factors affecting the exposure level. Results: We found 1387 cases of crystalline silica exposure between 1996 and 2012. Exposure was most common in construction work (AM = 0.057 mg/m3, N = 505), and among miners and quarry workers (AM = 0.048 mg/m3, N = 238). We estimated that 41 643 workers were at risk of exposure in the selected industrial sectors during the same period. Conclusions: This study identified high-risk sectors for occupational exposure to crystalline silica, which can help guide targeted dust control interventions and health promotion campaigns in the workplace. PMID:25078346

Evaluation of workplace exposure to respirable crystalline silica in Italy.

PubMed

Scarselli, Alberto; Corfiati, Marisa; Marzio, Davide Di; Iavicoli, Sergio

2014-10-01

Crystalline silica is a human carcinogen and its use is widespread among construction, mining, foundries, and other manufacturing industries. To evaluate occupational exposure to crystalline silica in Italy. Data were collected from exposure registries and descriptive statistics were calculated for exposure-related variables. The number of potentially exposed workers was estimated in a subset of industrial sectors. Linear mixed model analysis was performed to determine factors affecting the exposure level. We found 1387 cases of crystalline silica exposure between 1996 and 2012. Exposure was most common in construction work (AM = 0·057 mg/m(3), N = 505), and among miners and quarry workers (AM = 0·048 mg/m(3), N = 238). We estimated that 41 643 workers were at risk of exposure in the selected industrial sectors during the same period. This study identified high-risk sectors for occupational exposure to crystalline silica, which can help guide targeted dust control interventions and health promotion campaigns in the workplace.

From upstream to downstream: Megatrends and latest developments in Latin America`s hydrocarbons sector

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

Wu, Kang; Pezeshki, S.; McMahon, J.

1995-08-01

In recent years, Latin America`s hydrocarbons sector has been characterized by reorganization, revitalization, regional cooperation, environmental awakening, and steady expansion. The pattern of these changes, which appear to be the megatrends of the region`s hydrocarbons sector development, will continue during the rest of the 1990s. To further study the current situation and future prospects of Latin America`s hydrocarbons sector, we critically summarize in this short article the key issues in the region`s oil and gas development. These megatrends in Latin America`s hydrocarbons sector development will impact not only the future energy demand and supply in the region, but also globalmore » oil flows in the North American market and across the Pacific Ocean. Each country is individually discussed; pipelines to be constructed are discussed also.« less

Occupational health scenario of Indian informal sector

PubMed Central

NAG, Anjali; VYAS, Heer; NAG, Pranab

2016-01-01

Workers in the Indian informal sector are engaged with different occupations. These occupations involve varied work related hazards. These occupational hazards are a consequent risk to health. The study aimed to determine occupational health scenario in the Indian Informal sector. One thousand eleven hundred twenty two workers from five different occupations namely weaving (handloom and power loom), construction, transportation, tobacco processing and fish processing were assessed by interviewer administered health questionnaire. Workers suffered from musculo-skeletal complaints, respiratory health hazards, eye problems and skin related complaints. There was a high prevalence of self-reported occupational health problems in the selected sectors. The study finds that workers have occupational exposures to multiple hazards. The absence of protective guards aggrevate their health condition. The study attempts to draws an immediate attention on the existing health scenario of the Indian Informal sector. PMID:26903262

Occupational health scenario of Indian informal sector.

PubMed

Nag, Anjali; Vyas, Heer; Nag, Pranab

2016-08-05

Workers in the Indian informal sector are engaged with different occupations. These occupations involve varied work related hazards. These occupational hazards are a consequent risk to health. The study aimed to determine occupational health scenario in the Indian Informal sector. One thousand eleven hundred twenty two workers from five different occupations namely weaving (handloom and power loom), construction, transportation, tobacco processing and fish processing were assessed by interviewer administered health questionnaire. Workers suffered from musculo-skeletal complaints, respiratory health hazards, eye problems and skin related complaints. There was a high prevalence of self-reported occupational health problems in the selected sectors. The study finds that workers have occupational exposures to multiple hazards. The absence of protective guards aggrevate their health condition. The study attempts to draws an immediate attention on the existing health scenario of the Indian Informal sector.

Long shadow of fear in an epidemic: fearonomic effects of Ebola on the private sector in Nigeria

PubMed Central

Bali, Sulzhan; Stewart, Kearsley A

2016-01-01

Background The already significant impact of the Ebola epidemic on Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, was worsened by a fear of contagion that aggravated the health crisis. However, in contrast to other Ebola-affected countries, Nigeria fared significantly better due to its swift containment of the disease. The objective of our study was to describe the impact of Ebola on the Nigerian private sector. This paper introduces and defines the term fearonomic effect as the direct and indirect economic effects of both misinformation as well as fear-induced aversion behaviour, exhibited by individuals, organisations or countries during an outbreak or an epidemic. Methods This study was designed as a cross-sectional mixed-methods study that used semistructured in-depth interviews and a supporting survey to capture the impact of Ebola on the Nigerian private sector after the outbreak. Themes were generated from the interviews on the direct and indirect impact of Ebola on the private sector; the impact of misinformation and fear-based aversion behaviour in the private sector. Results Our findings reveal that the fearonomic effects of Ebola included health service outages and reduced healthcare usage as a result of misinformation and aversion behaviour by both patients and providers. Although certain sectors (eg, health sector, aviation sector, hospitality sector) in Nigeria were affected more than others, no business was immune to Ebola's fearonomic effects. We describe how sectors expected to prosper during the outbreak (eg, pharmaceuticals), actually suffered due to the changes in consumption patterns and demand shocks. Conclusion In a high-stressor epidemic-like setting, altered consumption behaviour due to distorted disease perception, misinformation and fear can trigger short-term economic cascades that can disproportionately affect businesses and lead to financial insecurity of the poorest and the most vulnerable in a society. PMID:28588965

Economic Indicators of the Farm Sector. Farm Sector Review, 1985.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Economic Research Service (USDA), Washington, DC.

Farm production rose 6 percent in 1985 due to record high yields in corn, soybeans, cotton, and several other crops. While United States consumption increased slightly, exports of farm products fell 23 percent in value and 19 percent in volume. Net cash income increased 12 percent due to increased output, lower cash expenses, and unusually high…

Estimated United States Residential Energy Use in 2005

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

Smith, C A; Johnson, D M; Simon, A J

2011-12-12

A flow chart depicting energy flow in the residential sector of the United States economy in 2005 has been constructed from publicly available data and estimates of national energy use patterns. Approximately 11,000 trillion British Thermal Units (trBTUs) of electricity and fuels were used throughout the United States residential sector in lighting, electronics, air conditioning, space heating, water heating, washing appliances, cooking appliances, refrigerators, and other appliances. The residential sector is powered mainly by electricity and natural gas. Other fuels used include petroleum products (fuel oil, liquefied petroleum gas and kerosene), biomass (wood), and on-premises solar, wind, and geothermal energy.more » The flow patterns represent a comprehensive systems view of energy used within the residential sector.« less

Production patterns of packaging waste categories generated at typical Mediterranean residential building worksites.

PubMed

González Pericot, N; Villoria Sáez, P; Del Río Merino, M; Liébana Carrasco, O

2014-11-01

The construction sector is responsible for around 28% of the total waste volume generated in Europe, which exceeds the amount of household waste. This has led to an increase of different research studies focusing on construction waste quantification. However, within the research studies made, packaging waste has been analyzed to a limited extent. This article focuses on the packaging waste stream generated in the construction sector. To this purpose current on-site waste packaging management has been assessed by monitoring ten Mediterranean residential building works. The findings of the experimental data collection revealed that the incentive measures implemented by the construction company to improve on-site waste sorting failed to achieve the intended purpose, showing low segregation ratios. Subsequently, through an analytical study the generation patterns for packaging waste are established, leading to the identification of the prevailing kinds of packaging and the products responsible for their generation. Results indicate that plastic waste generation maintains a constant trend throughout the whole construction process, while cardboard becomes predominant towards the end of the construction works with switches and sockets from the electricity stage. Understanding the production patterns of packaging waste will be beneficial for adapting waste management strategies to the identified patterns for the specific nature of packaging waste within the context of construction worksites. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

76 FR 13981 - Proposed Information Collection; Comment Request; 2012 Economic Census Covering the Construction...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-03-15

... essential information for government, business and the general public. The 2012 Economic Census covering the... Economic Census Covering the Construction Sector AGENCY: U.S. Census Bureau. ACTION: Notice. SUMMARY: The... provider of timely, relevant and quality data about the people and economy of the United States. Economic...

Guidelines for the Administration and Accreditation of the Standardized Craft Training Process. Sixth Edition.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Center for Construction Education and Research, Gainesville, FL.

This document contains guidelines for the administration and accreditation of the standardized craft training process that was developed by the National Center for Construction Education and Research (NCCER) in partnership with various sectors of the construction and maintenance industries. The following are among the topics discussed in Chapters…

United States housing, third quarter 2013

Treesearch

Delton Alderman

2017-01-01

The U.S. housing construction market’s third quarter was subdued, as all sectors moderated or declined. Once again, consensus expectations were for aggregate housing market gains, and these expectations were not realized. Overall starts, housing under construction, and completion data indicated quarterly improvement. Viewed from a recent his¬torical context, all...

A review of Thailand`s strategies for global climate change

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

Boonchalermkit, S.

Thailand is greatly concerned about global climate change, which is caused primarily by the burning of fossil fuels, deforestation and the release of chlorofluorocarbons. The country itself is not currently a major contributor to global climate change. However, as Thailand`s economy expands and its burning of fossil fuels increases, the country`s contribution to global climate change could increase. Thailand`s use of primary energy supplies grew at an average rate of 13.4 percent per year in the period 1985 to 1990. The rapid, sustained growth was due to the overall pace of growth in the economy and the expansion of industrial,more » construction, and transportation activities. The primary energy demand was approximately 31,600 kilotons of oil equivalent (KTOE) in 1990. The transportation sector accounted for the largest proportion of energy demand at 30 percent. Within the next 15 years, the power sector is expected to overtake the transportation sector as the largest consumer of energy. Petroleum is currently the predominant source of energy in Thailand, accounting for 56 percent of the primary energy demand. Thailand recognizes that it has an important part to play in finding solutions to minimizing emissions of greenhouse gases and identifying viable response strategies. Thus, in this paper the authors will present several policy strategies relevant to climate change in Thailand and discuss how they have been implemented and enforced. Policies concerning forestry, energy, and environment are reviewed in detail in this paper.« less

Conic Sector Analysis of Hybrid Control Systems. Ph.D. Thesis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Thompson, P. M.

1982-01-01

A hybrid control system contains an analog plant and a hybrid (or sampled-data) compensator. In this thesis a new conic sector is determined which is constructive and can be used to: (1) determine closed loop stability, (2) analyze robustness with respect to modelling uncertainties, (3) analyze steady state response to commands, and (4) select the sample rate. The use of conic sectors allows the designer to treat hybrid control systems as though they were analog control systems. The center of the conic sector can be used as a rigorous linear time invariant approximation of the hybrid control system, and the radius places a bound on the errors of this approximation. The hybrid feedback system can be multivariable, and the sampler is assumed to be synchronous. Algorithms to compute the conic sector are presented. Several examples demonstrate how the conic sector analysis techniques are applied. Extensions to single loop multirate hybrid feedback systems are presented. Further extensions are proposed for multiloop multirate hybrid feedback system and for single rate systems with asynchronous sampling.

Sectoral roles in greenhouse gas emissions and policy implications for energy utilization and carbon emissions trading: a case study of Beijing, China.

PubMed

Ge, Jianping; Lei, Yalin; Xu, Qun; Wang, Xibo

2016-01-01

In this study, a decomposition and emissions matrix is developed to identify the roles (giver or taker) played by the sectors in the greenhouse gas emissions for the economy of Beijing in China. Our results indicate that services were the most important emitter if we consider the total (direct and indirect) emissions. In addition to Construction, Scientific studies and technical services and Finance sectors of services were the largest takers. They have a large role in boosting greenhouse gas emissions throughout the economy of Beijing. As the basis and supporter of production activities, the electricity production and the transportation sectors were the greatest givers. More emphasis should be placed on using clean energy and carbon capture and storage technologies to reduce emissions within these sectors. Based on the roles played by these sectors in greenhouse gas emissions, some policy implications were proposed for energy utilization and carbon emissions trading.

Gravitational sliding of the Mt. Etna massif along a sloping basement

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Murray, John B.; van Wyk de Vries, Benjamin; Pitty, Andy; Sargent, Phil; Wooller, Luke

2018-04-01

Geological field evidence and laboratory modelling indicate that volcanoes constructed on slopes slide downhill. If this happens on an active volcano, then the movement will distort deformation data and thus potentially compromise interpretation. Our recent GPS measurements demonstrate that the entire edifice of Mt. Etna is sliding to the ESE, the overall direction of slope of its complex, rough sedimentary basement. We report methods of discriminating the sliding vector from other deformation processes and of measuring its velocity, which averaged 14 mm year-1 during four intervals between 2001 and 2012. Though sliding of one sector of a volcano due to flank instability is widespread and well-known, this is the first time basement sliding of an entire active volcano has been directly observed. This is important because the geological record shows that such sliding volcanoes are prone to devastating sector collapse on the downslope side, and whole volcano migration should be taken into account when assessing future collapse hazard. It is also important in eruption forecasting, as the sliding vector needs to be allowed for when interpreting deformation events that take place above the sliding basement within the superstructure of the active volcano, as might occur with dyke intrusion or inflation/deflation episodes.

Double Higgs mechanisms, supermassive stable particles and the vacuum energy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Santillán, Osvaldo P.; Gabbanelli, Luciano

2016-07-01

In the present work, a hidden scenario which cast a long-lived superheavy particle A0 and simultaneously an extremely light particle a with mass ma ˜ 10-32-10-33 eV is presented. The potential energy V (a) of the particle a models the vacuum energy density of the universe ρc ≃ 10-47GeV4. On the other hand, the A0 particle may act as superheavy dark matter at present times and the products of its decay may be observed in high energy cosmic ray events. The hidden sector proposed here include light fermions with masses near the neutrino mass mν ˜ 10-2 eV and superheavy ones with masses of the order of the GUT scale, interacting through a hidden SU(2)L interaction which also affects the ordinary sector. The construction of such combined scenario is nontrivial since the presence of light particles may spoil the stability of the heavy particle A0. However, double Higgs mechanisms may be helpful for overcoming this problem. In this context, the stability of the superheavy particle A0 is ensured due to chiral symmetry arguments elaborated in the text.

Carbon profile of the managed forest sector in Canada in the 20th century: sink or source?

PubMed

Chen, Jiaxin; Colombo, Stephen J; Ter-Mikaelian, Michael T; Heath, Linda S

2014-08-19

Canada contains 10% of global forests and has been one of the world's largest harvested wood products (HWP) producers. Therefore, Canada's managed forest sector, the managed forest area and HWP, has the potential to significantly increase or reduce atmospheric greenhouse gases. Using the most comprehensive carbon balance analysis to date, this study shows Canada's managed forest area and resulting HWP were a sink of 7510 and 849 teragrams carbon (TgC), respectively, in the period 1901-2010, exceeding Canada's fossil fuel-based emissions over this period (7333 TgC). If Canadian HWP were not produced and used for residential construction, and instead more energy intensive materials were used, there would have been an additional 790 TgC fossil fuel-based emissions. Because the forest carbon increases in the 20th century were mainly due to younger growing forests that resulted from disturbances in the 19th century, and future increases in forest carbon stocks appear uncertain, in coming decades most of the mitigation contribution from Canadian forests will likely accrue from wood substitution that reduces fossil fuel-based emissions and stores carbon, so long as those forests are managed sustainably.

Psychosocial hearing disadvantage and associated factors among construction workers in Mato Grosso, Brazil.

PubMed

Santos, Andréia Cristina Munzlinger Dos; Silva, Ageo Mário Cândido da; Luccia, Gabriela Coelho Pereira de; Botelho, Clóvis; Riva, Delma Regina Della

2017-01-01

To estimate the prevalence and to analyze the factors associated with self-reported hearing handicap by construction workers in the state of Mato Grosso, Brazil. A cross-sectional study was conducted with 866 construction and heavy construction workers. Participants responded to an epidemiological survey subdivided in: identification data, sociodemographic data; lifestyle; work environment characteristics; occupational exposure factors; hearing protection measures; and hearing handicap inventory to quantify the psychosocial consequences of work-related hearing loss. The prevalence of hearing impairment among workers in the construction sector was 14.43% (n = 125). There were 311 emotional and social complaints related to hearing problems. Hearing handicap was associated with: 60 or over age group (PR = 1.94, 95%CI 1.01 - 3.71); alcohol consumption (PR = 1.94, 95%CI 1.38 - 2.73); direct exposure to noise (PR = 1.75; 95%CI 1.03 - 2.97); exposure to dust (PR = 1.59, 95%CI 1.13 - 2.24); non-use of earplugs (PR = 1.39, 95%CI 1.00 - 1.93); and non-use of neck flap cap (PR = 1.52, 95%CI 1.09 - 2.13). We observed a high prevalence of hearing impairment among workers in the construction sector associated with: individuals aged 60 years or older; alcoholism; exposure to noise and dust; non-use of earplugs; and non-use of neck flap cap. Therefore, it is necessary to implement policies aimed at preserving the hearing health of construction and heavy construction workers.

Examining air pollution in China using production- and consumption-based emissions accounting approaches.

PubMed

Huo, Hong; Zhang, Qiang; Guan, Dabo; Su, Xin; Zhao, Hongyan; He, Kebin

2014-12-16

Two important reasons for China's air pollution are the high emission factors (emission per unit of product) of pollution sources and the high emission intensity (emissions per unit of GDP) of the industrial structure. Therefore, a wide variety of policy measures, including both emission abatement technologies and economic adjustment, must be implemented. To support such measures, this study used the production- and consumption-based emissions accounting approaches to simulate the SO2, NOx, PM2.5, and VOC emissions flows among producers and consumers. This study analyzed the emissions and GDP performance of 36 production sectors. The results showed that the equipment, machinery, and devices manufacturing and construction sectors contributed more than 50% of air pollutant emissions, and most of their products were used for capital formation and export. The service sector had the lowest emission intensities, and its output was mainly consumed by households and the government. In China, the emission intensities of production activities triggered by capital formation and export were approximately twice that of the service sector triggered by final consumption expenditure. This study suggests that China should control air pollution using the following strategies: applying end-of-pipe abatement technologies and using cleaner fuels to further decrease the emission factors associated with rural cooking, electricity generation, and the transportation sector; continuing to limit highly emission-intensive but low value-added exports; developing a plan to reduce construction activities; and increasing the proportion of service GDP in the national economy.

The Impact of Individual Anthropogenic Emissions Sectors on the Global Burden of Human Mortality due to Ambient Air Pollution.

PubMed

Silva, Raquel A; Adelman, Zachariah; Fry, Meridith M; West, J Jason

2016-11-01

Exposure to ozone and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) can cause adverse health effects, including premature mortality due to cardiopulmonary diseases and lung cancer. Recent studies quantify global air pollution mortality but not the contribution of different emissions sectors, or they focus on a specific sector. We estimated the global mortality burden of anthropogenic ozone and PM2.5, and the impact of five emissions sectors, using a global chemical transport model at a finer horizontal resolution (0.67° × 0.5°) than previous studies. We performed simulations for 2005 using the Model for Ozone and Related Chemical Tracers, version 4 (MOZART-4), zeroing out all anthropogenic emissions and emissions from specific sectors (All Transportation, Land Transportation, Energy, Industry, and Residential and Commercial). We estimated premature mortality using a log-linear concentration-response function for ozone and an integrated exposure-response model for PM2.5. We estimated 2.23 (95% CI: 1.04, 3.33) million deaths/year related to anthropogenic PM2.5, with the highest mortality in East Asia (48%). The Residential and Commercial sector had the greatest impact globally-675 (95% CI: 428, 899) thousand deaths/year-and in most regions. Land Transportation dominated in North America (32% of total anthropogenic PM2.5 mortality), and it had nearly the same impact (24%) as Residential and Commercial (27%) in Europe. Anthropogenic ozone was associated with 493 (95% CI: 122, 989) thousand deaths/year, with the Land Transportation sector having the greatest impact globally (16%). The contributions of emissions sectors to ambient air pollution-related mortality differ among regions, suggesting region-specific air pollution control strategies. Global sector-specific actions targeting Land Transportation (ozone) and Residential and Commercial (PM2.5) sectors would particularly benefit human health. Citation: Silva RA, Adelman Z, Fry MM, West JJ. 2016. The impact of individual anthropogenic emissions sectors on the global burden of human mortality due to ambient air pollution. Environ Health Perspect 124:1776-1784; http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/EHP177.

The Impact of Individual Anthropogenic Emissions Sectors on the Global Burden of Human Mortality due to Ambient Air Pollution

PubMed Central

Silva, Raquel A.; Adelman, Zachariah; Fry, Meridith M.; West, J. Jason

2016-01-01

Background: Exposure to ozone and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) can cause adverse health effects, including premature mortality due to cardiopulmonary diseases and lung cancer. Recent studies quantify global air pollution mortality but not the contribution of different emissions sectors, or they focus on a specific sector. Objectives: We estimated the global mortality burden of anthropogenic ozone and PM2.5, and the impact of five emissions sectors, using a global chemical transport model at a finer horizontal resolution (0.67° × 0.5°) than previous studies. Methods: We performed simulations for 2005 using the Model for Ozone and Related Chemical Tracers, version 4 (MOZART-4), zeroing out all anthropogenic emissions and emissions from specific sectors (All Transportation, Land Transportation, Energy, Industry, and Residential and Commercial). We estimated premature mortality using a log-linear concentration–response function for ozone and an integrated exposure–response model for PM2.5. Results: We estimated 2.23 (95% CI: 1.04, 3.33) million deaths/year related to anthropogenic PM2.5, with the highest mortality in East Asia (48%). The Residential and Commercial sector had the greatest impact globally—675 (95% CI: 428, 899) thousand deaths/year—and in most regions. Land Transportation dominated in North America (32% of total anthropogenic PM2.5 mortality), and it had nearly the same impact (24%) as Residential and Commercial (27%) in Europe. Anthropogenic ozone was associated with 493 (95% CI: 122, 989) thousand deaths/year, with the Land Transportation sector having the greatest impact globally (16%). Conclusions: The contributions of emissions sectors to ambient air pollution–related mortality differ among regions, suggesting region-specific air pollution control strategies. Global sector-specific actions targeting Land Transportation (ozone) and Residential and Commercial (PM2.5) sectors would particularly benefit human health. Citation: Silva RA, Adelman Z, Fry MM, West JJ. 2016. The impact of individual anthropogenic emissions sectors on the global burden of human mortality due to ambient air pollution. Environ Health Perspect 124:1776–1784; http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/EHP177 PMID:27177206

Leaching behaviour of municipal solid waste incineration bottom ash: From granular material to monolithic concrete.

PubMed

Sorlini, Sabrina; Collivignarelli, Maria Cristina; Abbà, Alessandro

2017-09-01

The aim of this work was to assess the leaching behaviour of the bottom ash derived from municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI) used in concrete production. In particular, the release of pollutants was evaluated by the application of different leaching tests, both on granular materials and monolithic samples (concrete mixtures cast with bottom ash). The results confirmed that, according to Italian regulations, unwashed bottom ashes present critical issues for the use as alternative aggregates in the construction sector due to the excessive release of pollutants; instead, the leachate from washed bottom ashes was similar to natural aggregates. The concentration of pollutants in the leachate from concrete mixtures was lower than regulation limits for reuse. The crushing process significantly influenced the release of pollutants: this behaviour was due both to the increase in surface area and the release of contaminants from cement. Moreover, the increase in contact time (up to 64 days) involved more heavy metals to be released.

USSR and Eastern Europe Scientific Abstracts, Cybernetics, Computers and Automation Technology, Number 31

DTIC Science & Technology

1978-02-09

incorporation of subsystems and tasks into systems are specified by state and industrial- sector standards. However, such rigid requirements interfere...construction of the step-down substation, without which the new sector is inoperable. The question of who will build the substation is still unresolved... economico -mathematical evaluation). Among such applications, program decks completed by the "Soyuzsistemprom" are those for data integra- tion and

Investigating nurse practitioners in the private sector: a theoretically informed research protocol.

PubMed

Adams, Margaret; Gardner, Glenn; Yates, Patsy

2017-06-01

To report a study protocol and the theoretical framework normalisation process theory that informs this protocol for a case study investigation of private sector nurse practitioners. Most research evaluating nurse practitioner service is focused on public, mainly acute care environments where nurse practitioner service is well established with strong structures for governance and sustainability. Conversely, there is lack of clarity in governance for emerging models in the private sector. In a climate of healthcare reform, nurse practitioner service is extending beyond the familiar public health sector. Further research is required to inform knowledge of the practice, operational framework and governance of new nurse practitioner models. The proposed research will use a multiple exploratory case study design to examine private sector nurse practitioner service. Data collection includes interviews, surveys and audits. A sequential mixed method approach to analysis of each case will be conducted. Findings from within-case analysis will lead to a meta-synthesis across all four cases to gain a holistic understanding of the cases under study, private sector nurse practitioner service. Normalisation process theory will be used to guide the research process, specifically coding and analysis of data using theory constructs and the relevant components associated with those constructs. This article provides a blueprint for the research and describes a theoretical framework, normalisation process theory in terms of its flexibility as an analytical framework. Consistent with the goals of best research practice, this study protocol will inform the research community in the field of primary health care about emerging research in this field. Publishing a study protocol ensures researcher fidelity to the analysis plan and supports research collaboration across teams. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Commercial Buildings Partnerships - Overview of Higher education projects

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

Parrish, Kristen; Robinson, Alastair; Regnier, Cindy

2013-02-01

The Commercial Building Partnership (CBP), a public/private, cost-shared program sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), paired selected commercial building owners and operators with representatives of DOE, its national laboratories, and private-sector technical experts. These teams explored energy-saving measures across building systems – including some considered too costly or technologically challenging – and used advanced energy modeling to achieve peak whole-building performance. Modeling results were then included in new construction or retrofit designs to achieve significant energy reductions. CBP design goals aimed to achieve 50 percent energy savings compared to ANSI/ASHRAE/IES Standard 90.1-2004 for new construction, while retrofits aremore » designed to consume at least 30 percent less energy than either Standard 90.1-2004 or current consumption. After construction and commissioning of the project, laboratory staff continued to work with partners to collect and analyze data for verification of the actual energy reduction. CBP projects represent diverse building types in commercial real estate, including lodging, grocery, retail, higher education, office, and warehouse/storage facilities. Partners also commit to replicating low-energy technologies and strategies from their CBP projects throughout their building portfolios. As a result of CBP projects, five sector overviews (Lodging, Food Sales, General Merchandise, Higher Education, Offices) were created to capture successful strategies and recommended energy efficiency measures that could broadly be applied across these sectors. These overviews are supplemented with individual case studies providing specific details on the decision criteria, modeling results, and lessons learned on specific projects. Sector overviews and CBP case studies will also be updated to reflect verified data and replication strategies as they become available.« less

77 FR 67563 - Regulated Navigation Area-New Haven Harbor, Quinnipiac River, Mill River, New Haven, CT; Pearl...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-11-13

...; Pearl Harbor Memorial Bridge (Interstate 95) Construction AGENCY: Coast Guard, DHS. ACTION: Final rule... construction of the new Pearl Harbor Memorial Bridge, and which could be needed at other times as well. This..., call or email Petty Officer Joseph Graun, Prevention Department, U.S. Coast Guard Sector Long Island...

77 FR 47331 - Regulated Navigation Area-New Haven Harbor, Quinnipiac River, Mill River, New Haven, CT; Pearl...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-08-08

... Harbor Memorial Bridge (Interstate 95) Construction AGENCY: Coast Guard, DHS. ACTION: Notice of proposed... needed during construction of the new Pearl Harbor Memorial Bridge, and which could be needed at other... Department, U. S. Coast Guard Sector Long Island Sound, (203) 468-4544, [email protected] ; or...

Construction and validation of the national survey on recreation and the environment's lifestyles scale

Treesearch

Gary T. Green; H. Ken Cordell; Carter J. Betz; Christine DiStefano

2007-01-01

This study sought to construct and validate a lifestyle scale that would capture for leisure professionals a more holistic picture of people's interests. A broader profile of their customers would allow recreation professionals to tailor information of their services. Public sector recreation managers would provide better serviced by learning about how customers...

PERFORMANCE CRITERIA, A SYSTEM OF COMMUNICATION FOR MOBILIZING BUILDING INDUSTRY RESOURCES.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

JACQUES, RICHARD G.

A PROGRAM TO TEST AND DEMONSTRATE THE EFFICACY OF PERFORMANCE CRITERIA FOR UNIVERSITY BUILDING DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION IS UNDER WAY IN NEW YORK STATE UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE NEW YORK STATE UNIVERSITY CONSTRUCTION FUND. THE PROGRAM IS TO RESULT IN AN EXTENSIVE LIBRARY OF PERFORMANCE CRITERIA TO AID COMMUNICATION WITH ALL SECTORS OF THE BUILDING…

The impacts of final demand changes on total output of Indonesian ICT sectors: An analysis using input-output approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zuhdi, Ubaidillah

2014-06-01

The purpose of this study is to analyze the impacts of final demand changes on total output of Indonesian Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sectors. This study employs Input-Output (IO) analysis as a tool of analysis. More specifically, demand-pull IO quantity model is applied in order to achieve the objective. "Whole sector change" and "pure change" conditions are considered in this study. The results of calculation show that, in both conditions, the biggest positive impact to the total output of the sectors is given by the change of households consumption while the change of import has a negative impact. One of the recommendations suggested from this study is to construct import restriction policy for ICT products.

Noise in large cities in Brazil

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gerges, Samir N. Y.

2004-05-01

Large cities' noise is considered by the World Health Organization to be the third most hazardous pollution, preceded by air and water pollution. In urban centers, in general, and especially in developing countries such as Brazil, large populations are affected by excessive noise due mainly to traffic flow. The Brazilian Federal Government specifies noise limits, but each state can enforce its own set of noise limits, providing they are lower. The rapid economic growth, together with large migration of northern Brazilians to the developing southern urban areas in search of more lucrative jobs in construction and industrial sectors, resulted in a fast increase in activities such as vehicle and bus traffic, home construction, and development of all necessary infrastructures to support this growth. Urban noise in Brazil has been receiving the attention of national authorities only since 1990, when the Federal Government approved the first ``Program of Community Silence,'' based on ISO R 1996-1971. This paper highlights the noise situation in the five largest and most populated cities in Brazil: Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte, Porto Alegre and Curitiba [Zannin et al., Appl. Acoust. 63, 351-358 (2002)].

Recruiting and Retaining Cyberwarriors

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-02-07

Air Force due to the high public and private sector demand for people with IT and related engineering skills, the aging federal workforce, the lack...cyber domain. Recruiting and retaining this highly skilled workforce is a significant challenge for the Air Force due to the high public and...private sector demand for people with IT and related engineering skills and several other demographic and society factors. This recruitment and retention

A Guide to Discipline in the Public Sector.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Seidman, Joel

This monograph was prepared as an initial effort in development of a body of material for training public sector managers. It sets forth the basic principles of grievance arbitration covering discipline in the public sector. Major sections are devoted to the topics of just or proper cause for discipline, due process, the nature of discipline, and…

Life Cycle Assessment of Completely Recyclable Concrete.

PubMed

De Schepper, Mieke; Van den Heede, Philip; Van Driessche, Isabel; De Belie, Nele

2014-08-21

Since the construction sector uses 50% of the Earth's raw materials and produces 50% of its waste, the development of more durable and sustainable building materials is crucial. Today, Construction and Demolition Waste (CDW) is mainly used in low level applications, namely as unbound material for foundations, e.g., in road construction. Mineral demolition waste can be recycled as crushed aggregates for concrete, but these reduce the compressive strength and affect the workability due to higher values of water absorption. To advance the use of concrete rubble, Completely Recyclable Concrete (CRC) is designed for reincarnation within the cement production, following the Cradle-to-Cradle (C2C) principle. By the design, CRC becomes a resource for cement production because the chemical composition of CRC will be similar to that of cement raw materials. If CRC is used on a regular basis, a closed concrete-cement-concrete material cycle will arise, which is completely different from the current life cycle of traditional concrete. Within the research towards this CRC it is important to quantify the benefit for the environment and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) needs to be performed, of which the results are presented in a this paper. It was observed that CRC could significantly reduce the global warming potential of concrete.

Application of Jason-2/3 Altimetry for Virtual Gauging and Flood Forecasting in Mekong Basin

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, H.; Hossain, F.; Okeowo, M. A.; Nguyen, L. D.; Bui, D. D.; Chang, C. H.

2016-12-01

Vietnam suffers from both flood and drought during the rainy and dry seasons, respectively, due to its highly varying surface water resources. However, the National Center for Water Resources Planning and Investigation (NAWAPI) states that only 7 surface water monitoring stations have been constructed in Central and Highland Central regions with 100 station planned to be constructed by 2030 throughout Vietnam. For the Mekong Delta (MD), the Mekong River Commission (MRC) provides 7-day river level forecasting, but only at the two gauge stations located near the border between Cambodia and Vietnam (http://ffw.mrcmekong.org/south.htm). In order to help stakeholder agencies monitor upstream processes in the rivers and manage their impacts on the agricultural sector and densely populated delta cities, we, first of all, construct the so-called virtual stations throughout the entire Mekong River using the fully automated river level extraction tool with Jason-2/3 Geophysical Research Record (GDR) data. Then, we discuss the potentials and challenges of river level forecasting using Jason-2/3 Interim GDR (IGDR) data, which has 1 - 2 days of latency, over the Mekong River. Finally, based on our analyses, we propose a forecasting system for the Mekong River by drawing from our experience in operationalizing Jason-2 altimetry for Bangladesh flood forecasting.

Life Cycle Assessment of Completely Recyclable Concrete

PubMed Central

De Schepper, Mieke; Van den Heede, Philip; Van Driessche, Isabel; De Belie, Nele

2014-01-01

Since the construction sector uses 50% of the Earth’s raw materials and produces 50% of its waste, the development of more durable and sustainable building materials is crucial. Today, Construction and Demolition Waste (CDW) is mainly used in low level applications, namely as unbound material for foundations, e.g., in road construction. Mineral demolition waste can be recycled as crushed aggregates for concrete, but these reduce the compressive strength and affect the workability due to higher values of water absorption. To advance the use of concrete rubble, Completely Recyclable Concrete (CRC) is designed for reincarnation within the cement production, following the Cradle-to-Cradle (C2C) principle. By the design, CRC becomes a resource for cement production because the chemical composition of CRC will be similar to that of cement raw materials. If CRC is used on a regular basis, a closed concrete-cement-concrete material cycle will arise, which is completely different from the current life cycle of traditional concrete. Within the research towards this CRC it is important to quantify the benefit for the environment and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) needs to be performed, of which the results are presented in a this paper. It was observed that CRC could significantly reduce the global warming potential of concrete. PMID:28788174

Higgs boson from the metastable supersymmetric breaking sector

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bai, Yang; Fan, Jiji; Han, Zhenyu

2007-09-01

We construct a calculable model of electroweak symmetry breaking in which the Higgs doublet emerges from the metastable SUSY breaking sector as a pseudo Nambu-Goldstone boson. The Higgs boson mass is further protected by the little Higgs mechanism, and naturally suppressed by a two-loop factor from the SUSY breaking scale of 10 TeV. Gaugino and sfermion masses arise from standard gauge mediation, but the Higgsino obtains a tree-level mass at the SUSY breaking scale. At 1 TeV, aside from new gauge bosons and fermions similar to other little Higgs models and their superpartners, our model predicts additional electroweak triplets and doublets from the SUSY breaking sector.

Estimated United States Transportation Energy Use 2005

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

Smith, C A; Simon, A J; Belles, R D

A flow chart depicting energy flow in the transportation sector of the United States economy in 2005 has been constructed from publicly available data and estimates of national energy use patterns. Approximately 31,000 trillion British Thermal Units (trBTUs) of energy were used throughout the United States in transportation activities. Vehicles used in these activities include automobiles, motorcycles, trucks, buses, airplanes, rail, and ships. The transportation sector is powered primarily by petroleum-derived fuels (gasoline, diesel and jet fuel). Biomass-derived fuels, electricity and natural gas-derived fuels are also used. The flow patterns represent a comprehensive systems view of energy used within themore » transportation sector.« less

Prevalence of Injury in Occupation and Industry: Role of Obesity in the National Health Interview Survey 2004 to 2013

PubMed Central

Gu, Ja K.; Charles, Luenda E.; Fekedulegn, Desta; Ma, Claudia C.; Andrew, Michael E.; Burchfiel, Cecil M.

2016-01-01

Objectives The aim of this study was to estimate prevalence of injury by occupation and industry and obesity’s role. Methods Self-reported injuries were collected annually for US workers during 2004 to 2013. Prevalence ratios (PRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were obtained from fitted logistic regression models. Results Overall weighted injury prevalence during the previous three months was 77 per 10,000 workers. Age-adjusted injury prevalence was greatest for Construction and Extraction workers (169.7/10,000) followed by Production (160.6) among occupations, while workers in the Construction industry sector (147.9) had the highest injury prevalence followed by the Agriculture/Forestry/Fishing/Mining/Utilities sector (122.1). Overweight and obese workers were 26% to 45% more likely to experience injuries than normal-weight workers. Conclusion The prevalence of injury, highest for Construction workers, gradually increased as body mass index levels increased in most occupational and industry groups. PMID:27058472

A physiological exploration on operational stance and occupational musculoskeletal problem manifestations amongst construction labourers of West Bengal, India.

PubMed

Chatterjee, Arijit; Sahu, Subhashis

2018-03-29

A huge number of labourers engaged in construction industry in India both in organized and unorganized sectors. The construction labourers most often work for an extended period of time and they are compelled to uphold altered static and dynamic operational stance in awkward positions during the complete period of work which raises the demand on the musculoskeletal system and may lead to work related musculoskeletal disorders (WRMSDs). This study is intended to explore the operational stance and occupation related musculoskeletal manifestations amongst the construction labourers. One sixty four male labourers from different construction sites of West Bengal was randomly taken for this study. A modified Nordic questionnaire on MSD and the 12 item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ12) were administered on the construction labourers. Rapid Entire Body Assessment [REBA] and Ovako Work Analysis System [OWAS] methods were applied to analyze the operational stance. Finally, discomfort levels of the specific operational stance were calculated by the use of risk level and BPD scale. From the study it was revealed that most of the construction labourers habitually in awkward operational stance and were affected by altering musculoskeletal manifestations like pain in low back, neck, and wrist. It has been also found that there is a significant (p< 0.05) association between the intensity of pain feeling, age, year of working experience and risk level of the individual working postures of the labourers. Appropriate work-rest schedule, amendments of some working techniques and use of some ergonomically designed equipment may lessen the WRMSDs and improve the health eminence of construction labourers in unorganized sectors.

AgSTAR Accomplishments

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Showcases AgSTAR's accomplishments reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the agriculture sector. Through outreach, education, training, and other tools, AgSTAR continues to help evaluate, construct, and maintain anaerobic digesters on livestock farms.

Strategies to enhance waste minimization and energy conservation within organizations: a case study from the UK construction sector.

PubMed

Jones, Jo; Jackson, Janet; Tudor, Terry; Bates, Margaret

2012-09-01

Strategies for enhancing environmental management are a key focus for the government in the UK. Using a manufacturing company from the construction sector as a case study, this paper evaluates selected interventionist techniques, including environmental teams, awareness raising and staff training to improve environmental performance. The study employed a range of methods including questionnaire surveys and audits of energy consumption and generation of waste to examine the outcomes of the selected techniques. The results suggest that initially environmental management was not a focus for either the employees or the company. However, as a result of employing the techniques, the company was able to reduce energy consumption, increase recycling rates and achieve costs savings in excess of £132,000.

Vegetable Fibers for Composite Materials In Constructive Sector

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Giglio, Francesca; Savoja, Giulia

2017-08-01

The aim of the research is to study and to test bio-mixture for laminas to use in construction field components. Composite materials are becoming more common in different sectors, but their embodied energy is an environmental problem. For this, in recent years, the researchers investigate new mixtures for composites, in particular with vegetable fibers and bio-based epoxy resin. The research carried out different laboratory tests for material and mechanical characterization, starting from the analysis of vegetable fibers, and arriving to test different kind of laminas with sundry fabrics and bio-based epoxy resin. In the most general organization of the theme, the research has the overall objective to contribute to reduce composites environmental impacts, with the promotion of local production chains about innovative materials from renewable and sustainable sources.

Apparent relationship between solar-sector boundaries and 300-mb vorticity: Possible explanation in terms of upward propagation of planetary-scale waves

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Deland, R. J.

1974-01-01

The selection process for sector structure boundary crossings used in vorticity correlation studies is examined and the possible influence of ascending planetary scale waves is assessed. It is proposed that some of the observed correlations between geomagnetic and meteorological variations may be due to meteorological effects on the geometric variables, rather than due to common solar origin.

The New England Nonprofit Workforce: Still a Secondary Academic Priority

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Garvey, David

2010-01-01

The nonprofit sector employs more than 9% of the U.S. workforce, compared with 7% six years ago, when nonprofit executive Stephen Pratt and the author outlined the size and impact of the New England nonprofit sector. The sector's portion of America's employment is poised for growth into double digits in the next decade, especially due to the…

Older Workers' Perspectives on Training and Retention of Older Workers: South Australian Construction Industry Study. Support Document

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lundberg, David; Marshallsay, Zariah

2007-01-01

Older workers' perspectives are examined in a national survey of the finance sector and case studies of aged care and construction workers. The majority of older workers intend to work beyond retirement age, to achieve a better lifestyle. With training, older workers could mentor younger workers. This support document includes a national survey of…

Exploring the Contribution of Teaching and Learning Processes in the Construction of Students' Gender Identity in Early Year Classrooms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Baig, Amina

2014-01-01

The present study explores how gender identity construction takes place in a single gender classroom in early years. Qualitative research guided the study design which was conducted in two public sector single gender schools. The data were collected through observations of the teacher-student interaction, student-student interaction, focused group…

New Tax Law Boosts School Construction with Public-Private Partnerships. The Heritage Foundation Backgrounder No. 1463.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Utt, Ronald D.

This report describes a provision in a tax bill implemented in June 2001 that allows towns and cities to build public school facilities faster, better, and less expensively by forming public-private partnerships with qualified real estate investors and developers. Private sector investors can fund construction, then lease the facilities to public…

Environmental performance policy indicators for the public sector: the case of the defence sector.

PubMed

Ramos, Tomás B; Alves, Inês; Subtil, Rui; Joanaz de Melo, João

2007-03-01

The development of environmental performance policy indicators for public services, and in particular for the defence sector, is an emerging issue. Despite a number of recent initiatives there has been little work done in this area, since the other sectors usually focused on are agriculture, transport, industry, tourism and energy. This type of tool can be an important component for environmental performance evaluation at policy level, when integrated in the general performance assessment system of public missions and activities. The main objective of this research was to develop environmental performance policy indicators for the public sector, specifically applied to the defence sector. Previous research included an assessment of the environmental profile, through the evaluation of how environmental management practices have been adopted in this sector and an assessment of environmental aspects and impacts. This paper builds upon that previous research, developing an indicator framework--SEPI--supported by the selection and construction of environmental performance indicators. Another aim is to discuss how the current environmental indicator framework can be integrated into overall performance management. The Portuguese defence sector is presented and the usefulness of this methodology demonstrated. Feasibility and relevancy criteria are applied to evaluate the set of indicators proposed, allowing indicators to be scored and indicators for the policy level to be obtained.

Construction accidents: identification of the main associations between causes, mechanisms and stages of the construction process.

PubMed

Carrillo-Castrillo, Jesús A; Trillo-Cabello, Antonio F; Rubio-Romero, Juan C

2017-06-01

To identify the most frequent causes of accidents in the construction sector in order to help safety practitioners in the task of prioritizing preventive actions depending on the stage of construction. Official accident investigation reports are analysed. A causation pattern is identified with the proportion of causes in each of the different possible groups of causes. Significant associations of the types of causes with accident mechanisms and construction stages have been identified. Significant differences have been found in accident causation depending on the mechanism of the accident and the construction stage ongoing. These results should be used to prioritize preventive actions to combat the most likely causes for each accident mechanism and construction stage.

Cause-specific sickness absence trends by occupational class and industrial sector in the context of recent labour market changes: a Finnish panel data study

PubMed Central

Leinonen, Taina; Viikari-Juntura, Eira; Husgafvel-Pursiainen, Kirsti; Solovieva, Svetlana

2018-01-01

Objectives We aimed to provide previously unestablished information on population-based differences in cause-specific sickness absence trends between occupational classes and further between four large industrial sectors within the different occupational classes while controlling for other socioeconomic factors and employment patterns. We focused on the period 2005–2013, during which the labour market underwent large economic and structural changes in many countries. Design Register-based panel data study. Setting Large representative datasets on Finnish wage earners aged 25–59 years. Outcome measure Annual risk of sickness absence (>10 working days) based on repeated logistic regression. Results Between 2005 and 2013, the proportion of employees with sickness absence decreased. Occupational class differences in sickness absence trends varied by disease group. Overall, the decrease in absences was smallest among lower non-manual employees. Sickness absence levels were highest in the health and social work sector and in the manufacturing sector within the non-manual and manual classes, respectively. Absences due to musculoskeletal diseases decreased temporarily during the peak of the economic recession in 2009, particularly in the manufacturing sector within the manual class. The decrease in absences due to musculoskeletal diseases was smallest in the trade sector within the lower occupational classes. Overall, education, income and employment patterns partly explained the differences in the absence levels, but not in the trends. Conclusions We found a complex interplay between the associations of occupational class and industrial sector with sickness absence trends. During the economic recession, absences due to musculoskeletal diseases decreased temporarily in a segment of wage earners who were known to have been hit hard by the recession. However, the trend differences were not explained by the measured structural changes in the characteristics of the study population. Both occupational class and industrial sector should be taken into account when tackling problems of work disability. PMID:29627810

Infrastructural development factors of leasing entrepreneurship in real sector of economy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aleksandrova, Olga; Ivleva, Elena; Kirdyashkin, Alexey; Shashina, Nina

2017-10-01

Given paper is aimed at determining factors, which influence leasing infrastructure development. It also examines the possibilities of overcoming infrastructural growth restrictions and barriers to the development of enterprises of industry, and construction sector. The phenomenon of infrastructural changes has been poorly researched economically and institutionally. These are a kind of quantitative and qualitative growth potential for the economy, for short and long-term periods for transportation or energy company and real estate development company.

Illustrated study of the semiholographic nonperturbative framework

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Banerjee, Souvik; Gaddam, Nava; Mukhopadhyay, Ayan

2017-03-01

Semiholography has been proposed as an effective nonperturbative framework which can consistently combine perturbative and nonperturbative effects for theories like QCD. It is postulated that the strongly coupled nonperturbative sector has a holographic dual in the form of a classical gravity theory in the large N limit, and the perturbative fields determine the gravitational boundary conditions. In this work, we pursue a fundamental derivation of this framework particularly showing how perturbative physics by itself can determine the holographic dual of the infrared, and also the interactions between the perturbative and the holographic sectors. We firstly demonstrate that the interactions between the two sectors can be constrained through the existence of a conserved local energy-momentum tensor for the full system up to hard-soft coupling constants. As an illustration, we set up a biholographic toy theory where both the UV and IR sectors are strongly coupled and holographic with distinct classical gravity duals. In this construction, the requirement that an appropriate gluing can cure the singularities (geodetic incompleteness) of the respective geometries leads us to determine the parameters of the IR theory and the hard-soft couplings in terms of those of the UV theory. The high energy scale behavior of the hard-soft couplings is state-independent but their runnings turn out to be state-dependent. We discuss how our approach can be adapted to the construction of the semiholographic framework for QCD.

Assessment of public vs private MSW management: a case study.

PubMed

Massoud, M A; El-Fadel, M; Abdel Malak, A

2003-09-01

Public-private partnerships in urban environmental services have witnessed increased interest in recent years primarily to reform the weak performance of the public sector, reduce cost, improve efficiency, and ensure environmental protection. In this context, successful public-private partnerships require a thorough analysis of opportunities, a deliberate attention to process details, and a continuous examination of services to determine whether they are more effectively performed by the private sector. A comparative assessment of municipal solid waste collection services in the two largest cities in Lebanon where until recently municipal solid waste collection is private in one and public in the other is conducted. While quality of municipal solid waste collection improved, due to private sector participation, the corresponding cost did not, due to monopoly and an inadequate organizational plan defining a proper division of responsibilities between the private and the public sector.

FLP recombinase in transgenic plants: constitutive activity in stably transformed tobacco and generation of marked cell clones in Arabidopsis.

PubMed

Kilby, N J; Davies, G J; Snaith, M R

1995-11-01

FLP site-specific recombinase was expressed in stably transformed tobacco and Arabidopsis. FLP-expressing tobacco lines were crossed with other transformed tobacco lines that contained a stably integrated FLP recognition target construct(s). The target construct consisted of two directly-oriented FLP recognition targets (FRTs), flanking a hygromycin resistance cassette located between a GUS coding region and an upstream 35S CaMV promoter. Excision of the hygromycin resistance cassette by FLP-mediated recombination between FRTs brings the GUS coding region under the transcriptional control of the CaMV 35S promoter. In the absence of FLP-mediated recombination, the GUS gene is transcriptionally silent. GUS activity was observed in the progeny of all crosses made between FLP recombinase-expressing and target-containing tobacco lines, but not in the selfs of parents. The predicted recombination product remaining after excision was confirmed by PCR and Southern analysis. In Arabidopsis, inducible expression of FLP recombinase was achieved from the soybean Gmhsp 17.6L heat-shock promoter. Heat-shock induction of FLP expression in plants containing the target construct led to activation of constitutive GUS expression in a subset of cells, whose progeny, therefore, were GUS-positive. A variety of clonal sectors were produced in plants derived from seed that was heat-shocked during germination. The ability to control the timing of GUS activation was demonstrated by heat-shock of unopened flower heads which produced large sectors. It was concluded that heat-shock-induced expression of FLP recombinase provides a readily controllable method for generating marked clonal sectors in Arabidopsis, the size and distribution of which reflects the timing of applied heat-shock.

Sector strength and efficiency on developed and emerging financial markets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fiedor, Paweł

2014-11-01

In this paper we analyse the importance of sectors and market efficiency on developed and emerging financial markets. To perform this we analyse New York Stock Exchange between 2004 and 2013 and Warsaw Stock Exchange between 2000 and 2013. To find out the importance of sectors we construct minimal spanning trees for annual time series consisting of daily log returns and calculate centrality measures for all stocks, which we then aggregate by sectors. Such analysis is of interest to analysts for whom the knowledge of the influence of particular groups of stocks to the market behaviour is crucial. We also analyse the predictability of price changes on those two markets formally, using the information-theoretic concept of entropy rate, to find out the differences in market efficiency between a developed and an emerging market, and between sectors themselves. We postulate that such analysis is important to the study of financial markets as it can contribute to the profitability of investments, particularly in the case of algorithmic trading.

Development of innovative activity of the enterprises of construction branch in the direction of increase in resource-saving and energy efficiency

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Papelniuk, Oksana

2017-10-01

The author studies innovative activity of enterprises and carries out the classification of conditions and factors of construction enterprises’ innovative activity, and conducts systematization of specific features of this innovative activity. On the basis of statistical data on structure and dynamics of innovations the author carries out the research with the use of methods of economic-mathematical modelling in order to offer the approach which will allow construction enterprises to define the directions of innovative activity for achievement of a resource-saving and energy efficiency in construction sector.

Specific character of sustainable innovative development of transport construction in self-regulation conditions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gumba, Khuta; Belyaeva, Svetlana

2017-10-01

The providing of sustainable development is impossible without activating the innovative activity of backbone economical sectors, in particular of transport construction. The system of self-regulation of activities is a specific feature of the transport industry development. The authors carried out the correlation analysis of innovative activity of construction enterprises, which proved the necessity of improving the normative and technical documents. The authors proposed and calculated the index of the legislation stability in the industry. The article suggests recommendations on the activation of innovative development in construction industry basing on the results of the modeling.

Effects of the financial crisis on the wealth distribution of Korea's companies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lim, Kyuseong; Kim, Soo Yong; Swanson, Todd; Kim, Jooyun

2017-02-01

We investigated the distribution functions of Korea's top-rated companies during two financial crises. A power-law scaling for rank distribution, as well as cumulative probability distribution, was found and observed as a general pattern. Similar distributions can be shown in other studies of wealth and income distributions. In our study, the Pareto exponents designating the distribution differed before and after the crisis. The companies covered in this research are divided into two subgroups during a period when the subprime mortgage crisis occurred. Various industrial sectors of Korea's companies were found to respond differently during the two financial crises, especially the construction sector, financial sectors, and insurance groups.

An Algebraic Formulation of Level One Wess-Zumino Models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Böckenhauer, Jens

The highest weight modules of the chiral algebra of orthogonal WZW models at level one possess a realization in fermionic representation spaces; the Kac-Moody and Virasoro generators are represented as unbounded limits of even CAR algebras. It is shown that the representation theory of the underlying even CAR algebras reproduces precisely the sectors of the chiral algebra. This fact allows to develop a theory of local von Neumann algebras on the punctured circle, fitting nicely in the Doplicher-Haag-Roberts framework. The relevant localized endomorphisms which generate the charged sectors are explicitly constructed by means of Bogoliubov transformations. Using CAR theory, the fusion rules in terms of sector equivalence classes are proven.

National E-Learning Strategy to Enhance and Enrich the Iraqi Universities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Elameer, Amer Saleem; Idrus, Rozhan M.

2011-01-01

Nowadays, the HE (higher education) sector of Iraq has suffered severe disruption and mass destruction due to the war and, in general, only 10% of its remaining operational sectors are in the acceptable conditions. This research is an attempt to plan a PS (proposed strategy) for the Iraqi HE sector that can be executed easily in Iraq as a part of…

Energy finance data warehouse: Tracking revenues through the power sector

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

Claire, Zeng; Hendrickson, Stephen; Lee, Sangkeun

Reliable data is needed to understand financial relationships in the power sector. However, relevant data acquisition and visualization can be a challenge due to the fragmented nature of the power sector. The Energy Policy and Systems Analysis office of the U.S. Department of Energy led a team of data scientists at Oak Ridge National Lab to collect revenue information from a variety of sources.

Energy finance data warehouse: Tracking revenues through the power sector

DOE PAGES

Claire, Zeng; Hendrickson, Stephen; Lee, Sangkeun; ...

2017-03-24

Reliable data is needed to understand financial relationships in the power sector. However, relevant data acquisition and visualization can be a challenge due to the fragmented nature of the power sector. The Energy Policy and Systems Analysis office of the U.S. Department of Energy led a team of data scientists at Oak Ridge National Lab to collect revenue information from a variety of sources.

Fatal falls in the U.S. residential construction industry.

PubMed

Dong, Xiuwen Sue; Wang, Xuanwen; Largay, Julie A; Platner, James W; Stafford, Erich; Cain, Chris Trahan; Choi, Sang D

2014-09-01

Falls from heights remain the most common cause of workplace fatalities among residential construction workers in the United States. This paper examines patterns and trends of fall fatalities in U.S. residential construction between 2003 and 2010 by analyzing two large national datasets. Almost half of the fatalities in residential construction were from falls. In the residential roofing industry, 80% of fatalities were from falls. In addition, about one-third of fatal falls in residential construction were among self-employed workers. Workers who were older than 55 years, were Hispanic foreign-born, or employed in small establishments (1-10 employees) also had higher proportions of fatal falls in residential construction compared to those in nonresidential construction. The findings suggest that fall safety within the residential construction industry lags behind commercial construction and industrial settings. Fall prevention in residential construction should be enhanced to better protect construction workers in this sector. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The economic situation and construction-sector developments in the UNECE region, 2011-2012

Treesearch

Delton Alderman

2012-01-01

The US housing market continues to struggle from overbuilding, the housing crash, and the Great Recession. It is still in a correction that began in 2008, with new housing starts and sales at their lowest levels since modern records began being kept in 1963. Spending on housing construction is at record lows; however, the remodelling and multi-family subsectors'...

The Transatlantic Defense Industrial Base: Restructuring Scenarios and Their Implications

DTIC Science & Technology

2005-04-01

construction of a transatlantic defense sector are tangible, but significant obstacles may accelerate the formation of a bipolar industrial base. While market...electronics powerhouse. Four months later, this combined entity merged with Dasa to form European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS). Construcciones ...producers, and aircraft engine makers, there is little left to consolidate within Europe. Directions des Constructions Navales (DCN), the French shipmaker

Improved Estimates of Capital Formation in the National Health Expenditure Accounts

PubMed Central

Sensenig, Arthur L.; Donahoe, Gerald F.

2006-01-01

The National Health Expenditure Accounts (NHEA) were revised with the release of the 2004 estimates. The largest revision was the incorporation of a more comprehensive measure of investment in medical sector capital. The revision raised total health expenditures' share of gross domestic product (GDP) from 15.4 to 15.8 percent in 2003. The improved measure encompasses investment in moveable equipment and software, as well as expenditures for the construction of structures used by the medical sector. PMID:17290665

New Directions in School Furnishings.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roskos, Bob

2003-01-01

Describes trends in school furniture design, including emphasis on ergonomics, mobility, accommodation of technology, and the use of private sector providers to plan and implement the furniture, fixtures, and equipment portion of school construction budgets. (EV)

Cosmological attractor inflation from the RG-improved Higgs sector of finite gauge theory

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

Elizalde, Emilio; Odintsov, Sergei D.; Pozdeeva, Ekaterina O.

2016-02-01

The possibility to construct an inflationary scenario for renormalization-group improved potentials corresponding to the Higgs sector of finite gauge models is investigated. Taking into account quantum corrections to the renormalization-group potential which sums all leading logs of perturbation theory is essential for a successful realization of the inflationary scenario, with very reasonable parameter values. The inflationary models thus obtained are seen to be in good agreement with the most recent and accurate observational data. More specifically, the values of the relevant inflationary parameters, n{sub s} and r, are close to the corresponding ones in the R{sup 2} and Higgs-driven inflationmore » scenarios. It is shown that the model here constructed and Higgs-driven inflation belong to the same class of cosmological attractors.« less

Using Green Building As A Model For Making Health Promotion Standard In The Built Environment.

PubMed

Trowbridge, Matthew J; Worden, Kelly; Pyke, Christopher

2016-11-01

The built environment-the constructed physical parts of the places where people live and work-is a powerful determinant of both individual and population health. Awareness of the link between place and health is growing within the public health sector and among built environment decision makers working in design, construction, policy, and both public and private finance. However, these decision makers lack the knowledge, tools, and capacity to ensure that health and well-being are routinely considered across all sectors of the built environment. The green building industry has successfully established environmental sustainability as a normative part of built environment practice, policy making, and investment. We explore the value of this industry's experience as a template for promoting health and well-being in the built environment. Project HOPE—The People-to-People Health Foundation, Inc.

Demystifying first-cost green building premiums in healthcare.

PubMed

Houghton, Adele; Vittori, Gail; Guenther, Robin

2009-01-01

This study assesses the extent of "first-cost green building construction premiums" in the healthcare sector based on data submitted by and interviews with 13 current LEED-certified and LEED-registered healthcare project teams, coupled with a literature survey of articles on the topics of actual and perceived first-cost premiums associated with green building strategies. This analysis covers both perceived and realized costs across a range of projects in this sector, leading to the following conclusions: Construction first-cost premiums may be lower than is generally perceived, and they appear to be independent of both building size and level of "green" achievement; projects are using financial incentives and philanthropy to drive higher levels of achievement; premiums are decreasing over time; and projects are benefiting from improvements in health and productivity which, although difficult to monetize, are universally valued.

Impact of Fishery Policy on Fishery Manufacture Output, Economy and Welfare in Indonesia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Firmansyah; Oktavilia, Shanty; Sugiyanto, F. X.; Hamzah, Ibnu N.

2018-02-01

The fisheries sector and fish manufacturing industry are the bright prospect sectors of Indonesia, due to its huge potency, which has not been worked out optimally. In facts, these sectors can generate a large amount of foreign exchange. The Government has paid significant attention to the development of these sectors. This study simulates the impact of fishery policies on the production of fish manufacturing industry, national economic and welfare in Indonesia. By employing the Input-Output Analysis approach, impacts of various government policy scenarios are developed, covering fisheries technical policy, as well as infrastructure development policies in the fisheries sector. This study indicates that the policies in the fisheries sector increase the output of fishery, the production of fish manufacturing industry, the sectoral and national outputs, as well as the level of national income.

Flavour physics and extra-dimensions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Iyer, Abhishek M.

2018-05-01

Randall-Sundrum (RS) model of warped extra-dimensions were originally proposed to explain the Planck-weak scale hierarchy. It was soon realised that modifications of the original setup, by introducing the fields in the bulk, has several interesting features. In particular it imbues a rich flavour structure to the fermionic sector thereby offering an understanding of the Yukawa hierarchy problem. This construction is also useful in explaining the recently observed deviations in the decay of the B mesons. We consider two scenarios to this effect : A) Right handed muon fields coupled more to NP that the corresponding muon doublets (unorthodox case). Non-universality exists in the right handed sector. B) Standard scenario with anomalies explained primarily by non-universal couplings to the lepton doublets. Further, we establish correlation with the parameter space consistent with the flavour anomalies in the neutral current sector and obtain predictions for rare K- decay which are likely to be another candle for NP with increased precision. The prediction for rare K- decays are different according to the scenario, thereby serving as a useful discriminatory tool. We also discussthe large flavour violation in the lepton sector and present an example with the implementation of bulk leptonic MFV which is essential to realize the model with low KK scales. Further we consider a radical solution, called GUT RS models, where the RS geometry can work as theory of flavour in the absence of flavour symmetries. In this case the low energy brane corresponds to the GUT scale as a result of which RS is no longer solution to the gauge hierarchy problem. The Kaluza Klein (KK) modes in this setup are naturally heavy due to which the low energy constraints can be easily avoided. We use this framework to discuss the supersymmetric version of the RS model and provide means to test this scenario by considering rare lepton decays like τ → μγ.

Benchmarking the quality of schizophrenia pharmacotherapy: a comparison of the Department of Veterans Affairs and the private sector.

PubMed

Leslie, Douglas L; Rosenheck, Robert A

2003-09-01

Comparing quality of care between large health care systems is important for health systems management. This study used measures of the quality of pharmacotherapy for patients with schizophrenia and compared these measures across a sample of patients from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the private sector. A random sample of all patients diagnosed with schizophrenia in the VA during fiscal year (FY) 2000 was identified using administrative data. In the private sector, a sample of patients diagnosed with schizophrenia in 2000 was identified using MEDSTAT's MarketScan database. For both groups, use of antipsychotic medications was studied and measures of the quality of pharmacotherapy were constructed, including whether patients were prescribed any antipsychotic medication, one of the newer atypical antipsychotics, and whether dosing adhered to established treatment recommendations. These measures were compared across the two groups using logistic regression models, controlling for age, gender, and comorbid diagnoses. Most patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia (82% in the VA and 73% in the private sector) received an antipsychotic medication, usually one of the newer atypical drugs. Patients in the VA were more likely to be dosed above treatment recommendations, and less likely to be dosed below treatment recommendations. Overall, differences in proportion schizophrenia patients dosed according to recommendations were not statistically different across the two systems (60% in the VA, 58% in the private sector). Differences between the two systems were mixed, with the VA outperforming the private sector with respect to some measures and doing worse on others. Although the VA and the private sector were comparable with respect to the quality measures used in this study, there is room for improvement in both systems. Treatment recommendations are based on the best available clinical evidence of effectiveness and safety. Quality of care might be improved with better adherence to these recommendations. Relatively low rates of adherence to treatment recommendations may be due to lack of awareness of these recommendations among prescribing physicians, or a belief that the recommendations are inadequate. To the extent that low rates of adherence to treatment recommendations are caused by a lack of awareness among physicians, policies should be developed to disseminate this information and encourage the appropriate use of these medications. Further research is needed to understand physician prescribing decisions for these medications. To the extent that physicians feel treatment recommendations for these drugs are inadequate, further research is needed to refine the recommendations.

Public health programs as surrogates for social action in Suriname, South America.

PubMed

Peplow, Daniel; Augustine, Sarah

2015-01-01

This paper addresses the merits of public health activism that advocates for social change in which health is the outcome of interest. We acknowledge that while efforts at the individual level are important, social network models consider the underlying mechanisms that lie outside the public health sector. This paper considers the inequitable health of Indigenous people who bear a disproportionate share of the negative health consequences due to economic development programs that follow an assimilation model. This paper discusses a combination of theoretical constructs to understand and solve the problems at hand. It concludes that while the attention paid to technological and behavioral solutions at the individual level yields important health outcomes, attention should also be paid to structural causes that address social, political and economic barriers to prevent disease, disability and premature death. © The Author(s) 2014.

Strategic and tactical aspect of the relations between the participants of ICP in high-rise construction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fedorov, Maksim; Matys, Elena; Kopytova, Anna

2018-03-01

Outlined the main trends in the development of the construction sector in the Russian Federation at the present stage of its development are identified problems and shortcomings of current investment in the construction industry. It is proved that to consider the investment and construction process should be in terms of the strategic and tactical aspects. It was established that, on the basis of the spirit and the participants of investment and construction process, the strategic aspect it should be focused primarily on the formation of financial resources (through various mechanisms) and to attract investors. A tactical aspect of the investment and construction process is focused on the choice of organizational form of the project and the rational use of resources generated by the investment in construction.

Democratic superstring field theory: gauge fixing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kroyter, Michael

2011-03-01

We show that a partial gauge fixing of the NS sector of the democratic-picture superstring field theory leads to the non-polynomial theory. Moreover, by partially gauge fixing the Ramond sector we obtain a non-polynomial fully RNS theory at pictures 0 and 1/2 . Within the democratic theory and in the partially gauge fixed theory the equations of motion of both sectors are derived from an action. We also discuss a representation of the non-polynomial theory analogous to a manifestly two-dimensional representation of WZW theory and the action of bosonic pure-gauge solutions. We further demonstrate that one can consistently gauge fix the NS sector of the democratic theory at picture number -1. The resulting theory is new. It is a {mathbb{Z}_2} dual of the modified cubic theory. We construct analytical solutions of this theory and show that they possess the desired properties.

Valuing inter-sectoral costs and benefits of interventions in the healthcare sector: methods for obtaining unit prices.

PubMed

Drost, Ruben M W A; Paulus, Aggie T G; Ruwaard, Dirk; Evers, Silvia M A A

2017-02-01

There is a lack of knowledge about methods for valuing health intervention-related costs and monetary benefits in the education and criminal justice sectors, also known as 'inter-sectoral costs and benefits' (ICBs). The objective of this study was to develop methods for obtaining unit prices for the valuation of ICBs. By conducting an exploratory literature study and expert interviews, several generic methods were developed. The methods' feasibility was assessed through application in the Netherlands. Results were validated in an expert meeting, which was attended by policy makers, public health experts, health economists and HTA-experts, and discussed at several international conferences and symposia. The study resulted in four methods, including the opportunity cost method (A) and valuation using available unit prices (B), self-constructed unit prices (C) or hourly labor costs (D). The methods developed can be used internationally and are valuable for the broad international field of HTA.

Joint Peru/United States report on Peru/United States cooperative energy assessment. Volume 3. Annexes 2-7

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

Not Available

1979-08-01

This report presents the results of a brief study of industral, mining, and agricultural sector energy demands in Peru. The study establishes current energy demands and sectoral activities, and projects future energy needs through the year 2000. With respect to energy demands, the subsectors covered are: mining and non-ferrous metals, iron and steel, cement, oil refining, petrochemicals, fertilizers, and agriculture (major crops). Total energy demands for these subsectors are developed for 1976, 1985, and 2000, assuming full-capacity operation for the majority of the plants. Potential options developed for reducing energy use in these sectors are: increased coal use, improved energymore » efficiency in the manufacturing sector, use of agricultural wastes as fuel, possible displacement of oil by hydroelectricity, use of geothermal energy, increased use of water materials for the cement and construction industries, and possible promotion of cogeneration systems (electricity/steam). (MCW)« less

Safety and health practice among laboratory staff in Malaysian education sector

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Husna Che Hassan, Nurul; Rasdan Ismail, Ahmad; Kamilah Makhtar, Nor; Azwadi Sulaiman, Muhammad; Syuhadah Subki, Noor; Adilah Hamzah, Noor

2017-10-01

Safety is the most important issue in industrial sector such as construction and manufacturing. Recently, the increasing number of accident cases reported involving school environment shows the important of safety issues in education sector. Safety awareness among staff in this sector is crucial in order to find out the method to prevent the accident occurred in future. This study was conducted to analyze the knowledge of laboratory staff in term of safety and health practice in laboratory. Survey questionnaires were distributing among 255 of staff laboratory from ten District Education Offices in Kelantan. Descriptive analysis shows that the understanding of safety and health practice are low while doing some job activities in laboratory. Furthermore, some of the staff also did not implemented safety practice that may contribute to unplanned event occur in laboratory. Suggestion that the staff at laboratory need to undergo on Occupational Safety and Health training to maintain and create safe environment in workplaces.

Investigating the Influence Relationship Models for Stocks in Indian Equity Market: A Weighted Network Modelling Study

PubMed Central

Acharjee, Animesh

2016-01-01

The socio-economic systems today possess high levels of both interconnectedness and interdependencies, and such system-level relationships behave very dynamically. In such situations, it is all around perceived that influence is a perplexing power that has an overseeing part in affecting the dynamics and behaviours of involved ones. As a result of the force & direction of influence, the transformative change of one entity has a cogent aftereffect on the other entities in the system. The current study employs directed weighted networks for investigating the influential relationship patterns existent in a typical equity market as an outcome of inter-stock interactions happening at the market level, the sectorial level and the industrial level. The study dataset is derived from 335 constituent stocks of ‘Standard & Poor Bombay Stock Exchange 500 index’ and study period is 1st June 2005 to 30th June 2015. The study identifies the set of most dynamically influential stocks & their respective temporal pattern at three hierarchical levels: the complete equity market, different sectors, and constituting industry segments of those sectors. A detailed influence relationship analysis is performed for the sectorial level network of the construction sector, and it was found that stocks belonging to the cement industry possessed high influence within this sector. Also, the detailed network analysis of construction sector revealed that it follows scale-free characteristics and power law distribution. In the industry specific influence relationship analysis for cement industry, methods based on threshold filtering and minimum spanning tree were employed to derive a set of sub-graphs having temporally stable high-correlation structure over this ten years period. PMID:27846251

Investigating the Influence Relationship Models for Stocks in Indian Equity Market: A Weighted Network Modelling Study.

PubMed

Bhattacharjee, Biplab; Shafi, Muhammad; Acharjee, Animesh

2016-01-01

The socio-economic systems today possess high levels of both interconnectedness and interdependencies, and such system-level relationships behave very dynamically. In such situations, it is all around perceived that influence is a perplexing power that has an overseeing part in affecting the dynamics and behaviours of involved ones. As a result of the force & direction of influence, the transformative change of one entity has a cogent aftereffect on the other entities in the system. The current study employs directed weighted networks for investigating the influential relationship patterns existent in a typical equity market as an outcome of inter-stock interactions happening at the market level, the sectorial level and the industrial level. The study dataset is derived from 335 constituent stocks of 'Standard & Poor Bombay Stock Exchange 500 index' and study period is 1st June 2005 to 30th June 2015. The study identifies the set of most dynamically influential stocks & their respective temporal pattern at three hierarchical levels: the complete equity market, different sectors, and constituting industry segments of those sectors. A detailed influence relationship analysis is performed for the sectorial level network of the construction sector, and it was found that stocks belonging to the cement industry possessed high influence within this sector. Also, the detailed network analysis of construction sector revealed that it follows scale-free characteristics and power law distribution. In the industry specific influence relationship analysis for cement industry, methods based on threshold filtering and minimum spanning tree were employed to derive a set of sub-graphs having temporally stable high-correlation structure over this ten years period.

Economic Influences on Re-Enlistment. The Draft Era.

DTIC Science & Technology

1982-10-01

for each individual in jobs covered by Social Security (over 90 percent of all private - sector jobs, plus military service and half of non-federal...disappeared as real military wages have increased significantly over cyclical swings in the private sector . Despite the Navy’s apparent success in...maintaining optimal retention rates in selective ratings is due to the wage pressures exerted in the private sector . Military wage increases must be

United States interests in South Asia

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-12-11

dramatically due to the government policy of opening the industry to the private sector . As of now there are mobile phone service providers including CDMA...of the transport sector in the country. They are vital for the movement of people and goods and play an important role in integrating the country...Telecommunications is the next infrastructural fact discussed in the analysis. Telecommunications is one sector that Sri Lanka has vastly improved during the

Socio-economic status of workers of building construction industry.

PubMed

Tiwary, Guddi; Gangopadhyay, P K; Biswas, S; Nayak, K; Chatterjee, M K; Chakraborty, D; Mukherjee, S

2012-05-01

Informal/unorganised sector covers 92% of the total work force in India. About 50% of the construction industrial workers belonged to informal/unorganised sector. The present study was undertaken to know the socio-economic status of construction worker and availing of the social security measures by this working group. The study covered 150 subjects with an average age of 32 years and mean duration of work was nine years. They were poorly paid with an average income of Rs. 4956/-per month. Though the literacy rate was high (79%) yet most of them were addicted to different habits like drinking alcohol, smoking bidi, tobacco chewing etc., Abusing the family members were noted in (30%) of the cases. Their regular intake of food, usually inadequate in quantity and was mainly consisted of rice, pulses, vegetables. Though most of the subjects (73%) were living in kacha houses yet the latrine facilities were available to 62% of total covered houses. Majority of them were unaware of the different social security schemes/measures. The details have been discussed here.

Severity of electrical accidents in the construction industry in Spain.

PubMed

Suárez-Cebador, Manuel; Rubio-Romero, Juan Carlos; López-Arquillos, Antonio

2014-02-01

This paper analyzes the severity of workplace accidents involving electricity in the Spanish construction sector comprising 2,776 accidents from 2003 to 2008. The investigation considered the impact of 13 variables, classified into 5 categories: Personal, Business, Temporal, Material, and Spatial. The findings showed that electrical accidents are almost five times more likely to have serious consequences than the average accident in the sector and it also showed how the variables of age, occupation, company size, length of service, preventive measures, time of day, days of absence, physical activity, material agent, type of injury, body part injured, accident location, and type of location are related to the severity of the electrical accidents under consideration. The present situation makes it clear that greater effort needs to be made in training, monitoring, and signage to guarantee a safe working environment in relation to electrical hazards. This research enables safety technicians, companies, and government officials to identify priorities and to design training strategies to minimize the serious consequences of electrical accidents for construction workers. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd and National Safety Council. All rights reserved.

Socio-economic status of workers of building construction industry

PubMed Central

Tiwary, Guddi; Gangopadhyay, P. K.; Biswas, S.; Nayak, K.; Chatterjee, M. K.; Chakraborty, D.; Mukherjee, S.

2012-01-01

Background: Informal/unorganised sector covers 92% of the total work force in India. About 50% of the construction industrial workers belonged to informal/unorganised sector. Material and Methods: The present study was undertaken to know the socio-economic status of construction worker and availing of the social security measures by this working group. Results and Conclusion: The study covered 150 subjects with an average age of 32 years and mean duration of work was nine years. They were poorly paid with an average income of Rs. 4956/-per month. Though the literacy rate was high (79%) yet most of them were addicted to different habits like drinking alcohol, smoking bidi, tobacco chewing etc., Abusing the family members were noted in (30%) of the cases. Their regular intake of food, usually inadequate in quantity and was mainly consisted of rice, pulses, vegetables. Though most of the subjects (73%) were living in kacha houses yet the latrine facilities were available to 62% of total covered houses. Majority of them were unaware of the different social security schemes/measures. The details have been discussed here. PMID:23580836

Professional training in the workplace: the role of achievement motivation and locus of control.

PubMed

Suárez-Álvarez, Javier; Campillo-Álvarez, Angela; Fonseca-Pedrero, Eduardo; García-Cueto, Eduardo; Muñiz, José

2013-01-01

The core objective of the present work is to explore the reasons why workers from different employment sectors join training courses to improve their job. To this end we assessed achievement motivation, locus of control and professional qualifications according to the participants' employment sector. The final sample consisted of 1460 active Spanish workers from four different employment sectors: services, catering, metal construction, and others. Of the sample, 40.1% were male and 59.9% female, with a mean age of 33.3 years (SD = 9.7). The results show that the new scale developed to assess achievement motivation, locus of control and workers' qualifications presents adequate psychometric characteristics. Statistically significant differences were found in relation to employment sector. The areas studied showed satisfactory levels of workers' effort and achievement motivation to perform their jobs, though their attitudes toward the training courses as a basis for improving their employability are varied. Workers in the catering sector had higher levels of external attribution and the lowest interest in training. Those in the service sector had higher levels of achievement motivation and effort at work. Future research should develop a joint program covering the public and private sectors for the modification of these beliefs, attitudes and attributions.

The construction and legitimation of workplace bullying in the public sector: insight into power dynamics and organisational failures in health and social care.

PubMed

Hutchinson, Marie; Jackson, Debra

2015-03-01

Health-care and public sector institutions are high-risk settings for workplace bullying. Despite growing acknowledgement of the scale and consequence of this pervasive problem, there has been little critical examination of the institutional power dynamics that enable bullying. In the aftermath of large-scale failures in care standards in public sector healthcare institutions, which were characterised by managerial bullying, attention to the nexus between bullying, power and institutional failures is warranted. In this study, employing Foucault's framework of power, we illuminate bullying as a feature of structures of power and knowledge in public sector institutions. Our analysis draws upon the experiences of a large sample (n = 3345) of workers in Australian public sector agencies - the type with which most nurses in the public setting will be familiar. In foregrounding these power dynamics, we provide further insight into how cultures that are antithetical to institutional missions can arise and seek to broaden the debate on the dynamics of care failures within public sector institutions. Understanding the practices of power in public sector institutions, particularly in the context of ongoing reform, has important implications for nursing. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Urban energy consumption and related carbon emission estimation: a study at the sector scale

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lu, Weiwei; Chen, Chen; Su, Meirong; Chen, Bin; Cai, Yanpeng; Xing, Tao

2013-12-01

With rapid economic development and energy consumption growth, China has become the largest energy consumer in the world. Impelled by extensive international concern, there is an urgent need to analyze the characteristics of energy consumption and related carbon emission, with the objective of saving energy, reducing carbon emission, and lessening environmental impact. Focusing on urban ecosystems, the biggest energy consumer, a method for estimating energy consumption and related carbon emission was established at the urban sector scale in this paper. Based on data for 1996-2010, the proposed method was applied to Beijing in a case study to analyze the consumption of different energy resources (i.e., coal, oil, gas, and electricity) and related carbon emission in different sectors (i.e., agriculture, industry, construction, transportation, household, and service sectors). The results showed that coal and oil contributed most to energy consumption and carbon emission among different energy resources during the study period, while the industrial sector consumed the most energy and emitted the most carbon among different sectors. Suggestions were put forward for energy conservation and emission reduction in Beijing. The analysis of energy consumption and related carbon emission at the sector scale is helpful for practical energy saving and emission reduction in urban ecosystems.

Factors Contributing to Maternal and Child Mortality Reductions in 146 Low- and Middle-Income Countries between 1990 and 2010.

PubMed

Bishai, David M; Cohen, Robert; Alfonso, Y Natalia; Adam, Taghreed; Kuruvilla, Shyama; Schweitzer, Julian

2016-01-01

From 1990-2010, worldwide child mortality declined by 43%, and maternal mortality declined by 40%. This paper compares two sources of progress: improvements in societal coverage of health determinants versus improvements in the impact of health determinants as a result of technical change. This paper decomposes the progress made by 146 low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) in lowering childhood and maternal mortality into one component due to better health determinants like literacy, income, and health coverage and a second component due to changes in the impact of these health determinants. Health determinants were selected from eight distinct health-impacting sectors. Health determinants were selected from eight distinct health-impacting sectors. Regression models are used to estimate impact size in 1990 and again in 2010. Changes in the levels of health determinants were measured using secondary data. The model shows that respectively 100% and 89% of the reductions in maternal and child mortality since 1990 were due to improvements in nationwide coverage of health determinants. The relative share of overall improvement attributable to any single determinant varies by country and by model specification. However, in aggregate, approximately 50% of the mortality reductions were due to improvements in the health sector, and the other 50% of the mortality reductions were due to gains outside the health sector. Overall, countries improved maternal and child health (MCH) from 1990 to 2010 mainly through improvements in the societal coverage of a broad array of health system, social, economic and environmental determinants of child health. These findings vindicate efforts by the global community to obtain such improvements, and align with the post-2015 development agenda that builds on the lessons from the MDGs and highlights the importance of promoting health and sustainable development in a more integrated manner across sectors.

Agent-based model with multi-level herding for complex financial systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Jun-Jie; Tan, Lei; Zheng, Bo

2015-02-01

In complex financial systems, the sector structure and volatility clustering are respectively important features of the spatial and temporal correlations. However, the microscopic generation mechanism of the sector structure is not yet understood. Especially, how to produce these two features in one model remains challenging. We introduce a novel interaction mechanism, i.e., the multi-level herding, in constructing an agent-based model to investigate the sector structure combined with volatility clustering. According to the previous market performance, agents trade in groups, and their herding behavior comprises the herding at stock, sector and market levels. Further, we propose methods to determine the key model parameters from historical market data, rather than from statistical fitting of the results. From the simulation, we obtain the sector structure and volatility clustering, as well as the eigenvalue distribution of the cross-correlation matrix, for the New York and Hong Kong stock exchanges. These properties are in agreement with the empirical ones. Our results quantitatively reveal that the multi-level herding is the microscopic generation mechanism of the sector structure, and provide new insight into the spatio-temporal interactions in financial systems at the microscopic level.

Agent-based model with multi-level herding for complex financial systems

PubMed Central

Chen, Jun-Jie; Tan, Lei; Zheng, Bo

2015-01-01

In complex financial systems, the sector structure and volatility clustering are respectively important features of the spatial and temporal correlations. However, the microscopic generation mechanism of the sector structure is not yet understood. Especially, how to produce these two features in one model remains challenging. We introduce a novel interaction mechanism, i.e., the multi-level herding, in constructing an agent-based model to investigate the sector structure combined with volatility clustering. According to the previous market performance, agents trade in groups, and their herding behavior comprises the herding at stock, sector and market levels. Further, we propose methods to determine the key model parameters from historical market data, rather than from statistical fitting of the results. From the simulation, we obtain the sector structure and volatility clustering, as well as the eigenvalue distribution of the cross-correlation matrix, for the New York and Hong Kong stock exchanges. These properties are in agreement with the empirical ones. Our results quantitatively reveal that the multi-level herding is the microscopic generation mechanism of the sector structure, and provide new insight into the spatio-temporal interactions in financial systems at the microscopic level. PMID:25669427

Analysis of administrative barriers in the industry of the high-rise construction in Russian Federation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zaychenko, Irina; Borremans, Alexandra; Gutman, Svetlana

2018-03-01

The article describes the concept and types of administrative barriers encountered in various areas of the enterprise. The particularities of the Russian high-rise construction industry are described and a comparative analysis of administrative barriers in this sector is performed. The main stages and administrative procedures when the developers implement investment and construction projects in the field of high-rise construction are determined. The regulatory and legal framework for the implementation of investment and project activities in the high-rise construction industry has been studied and conclusions have been drawn on its low level of precision in the issue of the formation of competitive and efficient high-rise construction markets. The average number of administrative procedures for the implementation of the investment and construction project in the field of high-rise construction is determined. The factors preventing the reduction of administrative barriers in the high-rise construction industry are revealed.

Fixed point and anomaly mediation in partial {\\boldsymbol{N}}=2 supersymmetric standard models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yin, Wen

2018-01-01

Motivated by the simple toroidal compactification of extra-dimensional SUSY theories, we investigate a partial N = 2 supersymmetric (SUSY) extension of the standard model which has an N = 2 SUSY sector and an N = 1 SUSY sector. We point out that below the scale of the partial breaking of N = 2 to N = 1, the ratio of Yukawa to gauge couplings embedded in the original N = 2 gauge interaction in the N = 2 sector becomes greater due to a fixed point. Since at the partial breaking scale the sfermion masses in the N = 2 sector are suppressed due to the N = 2 non-renormalization theorem, the anomaly mediation effect becomes important. If dominant, the anomaly-induced masses for the sfermions in the N = 2 sector are almost UV-insensitive due to the fixed point. Interestingly, these masses are always positive, i.e. there is no tachyonic slepton problem. From an example model, we show interesting phenomena differing from ordinary MSSM. In particular, the dark matter particle can be a sbino, i.e. the scalar component of the N = 2 vector multiplet of {{U}}{(1)}Y. To obtain the correct dark matter abundance, the mass of the sbino, as well as the MSSM sparticles in the N = 2 sector which have a typical mass pattern of anomaly mediation, is required to be small. Therefore, this scenario can be tested and confirmed in the LHC and may be further confirmed by the measurement of the N = 2 Yukawa couplings in future colliders. This model can explain dark matter, the muon g-2 anomaly, and gauge coupling unification, and relaxes some ordinary problems within the MSSM. It is also compatible with thermal leptogenesis.

Green related practices for construction procurement

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bidin, Z. A.; Bohari, A. A. M.; Rais, S. L. A.; Saferi, M. M.

2018-04-01

Environment degradation issue has been a worldwide problem and various efforts have been done to minimise the problem. Construction sectors are pointed as one of the major contributors to its construction activities. Green-oriented procurement [GP] is considered as an environmental strategy to integrate the environmental practices into the construction delivery. Thus, this paper reviews the concept of GP and the practices related to it. The outcome of this research findings provides a basis for understanding the concept of GP and the further development of GP. The listed GP practices identified from this paper can serve as guidelines for industry practitioners to design, implement, and benchmarking the green practices in their procurement delivery.

Bamboo leaf ash as the stabilizer for soft soil treatment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rahman, A. S. A.; Jais, I. B. M.; Sidek, N.; Ahmad, J.; Rosli, M. I. F.

2018-04-01

Soft soil is a type of soil that have the size of particle less than 0.063mm. The strength of the soft soil does not fulfil the requirement for construction. The present of soft soil at the construction site always give a lot of problems and issues to geotechnical sector. Soil settlement is one of the problems that related to soft soil. The determination of the soft soil physical characteristics will provide a detail description on its characteristic. Soft soil need to be treated in order to gain the standard strength for construction. One of the method to strengthen the soft soil is by using pozzolanic material as a treatment method for soft soil. Furthermore bamboo leaf ash is one of the newly founded materials that contain pozzolanic material. Any material that consist of Silicon Dioxide (SiO2) as the main component and followed by Aluminium Oxide (Al2O3) and Iron Oxide (Fe2O3) are consider as pozzolanic material. Bamboo leaf ash is mix with the cement as the treatment material. Bamboo leaf ash will react with the cement to produce additional cement binder. Thus, it will increase the soil strength and will ease the geotechnical sector to achieve high quality of construction product.

Understanding the Uncertainties in Consequences of Climate Change for the United States Power Sector Infrastructure when Considering a Realistic Mitigation Pace and Adaptation Needs.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Anderson, N. J.; Whiteford, E. J.; Jones, V.; Fritz, S. C.; Yang, H.; Appleby, P.; Bindler, R.

2014-12-01

In order to overcome the potential damages associated with climate change, a massive reduction in greenhouse gas emissions is necessary. Achieving these levels of emissions reductions will require dramatic changes in the U.S. electricity generating infrastructure: almost all of the fossil-generation fleet will need to be replaced with low-carbon sources and society would have to maintain a high build rate of new capacity for decades. Because the build rate of new electricity generating capacity may be limited, the timing of regulation is critical—the longer the U.S. waits to start reducing emissions, the faster the turnover in the electricity sector must occur in order to meet the same target. We investigate the relationship between climate policy timing and infrastructure turnover in the electricity sector. How long can we wait before constraints on infrastructure turnover in the electricity sector make achieving our climate goals impossible? We show that delaying climate change policy increases average construction rates by 25% to 85% and increases maximum construction rates by 50% to 300%. We also show that delaying climate policy has little effect on the age of retired plants or the stranded costs associated with premature retirement. We show that as we delay policy action, some goals won't be possible for attain. For example, unless we enable emissions reductions today, reducing cumulative emissions between now and 2040 by 50% when compared to a no-policy scenario is not possible.

Conceptualizing and assessing improvement capability: a review

PubMed Central

Boaden, Ruth; Walshe, Kieran

2017-01-01

Abstract Purpose The literature is reviewed to examine how ‘improvement capability’ is conceptualized and assessed and to identify future areas for research. Data sources An iterative and systematic search of the literature was carried out across all sectors including healthcare. The search was limited to literature written in English. Data extraction The study identifies and analyses 70 instruments and frameworks for assessing or measuring improvement capability. Information about the source of the instruments, the sectors in which they were developed or used, the measurement constructs or domains they employ, and how they were tested was extracted. Results of data synthesis The instruments and framework constructs are very heterogeneous, demonstrating the ambiguity of improvement capability as a concept, and the difficulties involved in its operationalisation. Two-thirds of the instruments and frameworks have been subject to tests of reliability and half to tests of validity. Many instruments have little apparent theoretical basis and do not seem to have been used widely. Conclusion The assessment and development of improvement capability needs clearer and more consistent conceptual and terminological definition, used consistently across disciplines and sectors. There is scope to learn from existing instruments and frameworks, and this study proposes a synthetic framework of eight dimensions of improvement capability. Future instruments need robust testing for reliability and validity. This study contributes to practice and research by presenting the first review of the literature on improvement capability across all sectors including healthcare. PMID:28992146

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

Schatz, Glenn

Higher education uses less energy per square foot than most commercial building sectors. However, higher education campuses house energy-intensive laboratories and data centers that may spend more than this average; laboratories, in particular, are disproportionately represented in the higher education sector. The Commercial Building Partnership (CBP), a public/private, cost-shared program sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), paired selected commercial building owners and operators with representatives of DOE, its national laboratories, and private-sector technical experts. These teams explored energy-saving measures across building systems–including some considered too costly or technologically challenging–and used advanced energy modeling to achieve peak whole-building performance.more » Modeling results were then included in new construction or retrofit designs to achieve significant energy reductions.« less

Estimating Power Outage Cost based on a Survey for Industrial Customers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yoshida, Yoshikuni; Matsuhashi, Ryuji

A survey was conducted on power outage cost for industrial customers. 5139 factories, which are designated energy management factories in Japan, answered their power consumption and the loss of production value due to the power outage in an hour in summer weekday. The median of unit cost of power outage of whole sectors is estimated as 672 yen/kWh. The sector of services for amusement and hobbies and the sector of manufacture of information and communication electronics equipment relatively have higher unit cost of power outage. Direct damage cost from power outage in whole sectors reaches 77 billion yen. Then utilizing input-output analysis, we estimated indirect damage cost that is caused by the repercussion of production halt. Indirect damage cost in whole sectors reaches 91 billion yen. The sector of wholesale and retail trade has the largest direct damage cost. The sector of manufacture of transportation equipment has the largest indirect damage cost.

Sharing the Knowledge: Government-Private Sector Partnerships to Enhance Information Security

DTIC Science & Technology

2000-05-01

private sector . However, substantial barriers threaten to block information exchanges between the government and private sector . These barriers include concerns over release of sensitive material under Freedom of Information Act requests, antitrust actions, protection of business confidential and other private material, possible liability due to shared information, disclosure of classified information, and burdens entailed with cooperating with law enforcement agencies. There is good cause to believe that the government and private

Characteristics of a Social Venture in Higher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

LoVetere, Crystal.

2012-01-01

Universities and colleges show increasing interest in internationalization due to accelerated interrelationships caused by the processes of globalization. With the business sector at the forefront of engagement in globalization, higher education institutions often mirror patterns found in the business sector rather than engaging in…

Cause-specific sickness absence trends by occupational class and industrial sector in the context of recent labour market changes: a Finnish panel data study.

PubMed

Leinonen, Taina; Viikari-Juntura, Eira; Husgafvel-Pursiainen, Kirsti; Solovieva, Svetlana

2018-04-07

We aimed to provide previously unestablished information on population-based differences in cause-specific sickness absence trends between occupational classes and further between four large industrial sectors within the different occupational classes while controlling for other socioeconomic factors and employment patterns. We focused on the period 2005-2013, during which the labour market underwent large economic and structural changes in many countries. Register-based panel data study. Large representative datasets on Finnish wage earners aged 25-59 years. Annual risk of sickness absence (>10 working days) based on repeated logistic regression. Between 2005 and 2013, the proportion of employees with sickness absence decreased. Occupational class differences in sickness absence trends varied by disease group. Overall, the decrease in absences was smallest among lower non-manual employees. Sickness absence levels were highest in the health and social work sector and in the manufacturing sector within the non-manual and manual classes, respectively. Absences due to musculoskeletal diseases decreased temporarily during the peak of the economic recession in 2009, particularly in the manufacturing sector within the manual class. The decrease in absences due to musculoskeletal diseases was smallest in the trade sector within the lower occupational classes. Overall, education, income and employment patterns partly explained the differences in the absence levels, but not in the trends. We found a complex interplay between the associations of occupational class and industrial sector with sickness absence trends. During the economic recession, absences due to musculoskeletal diseases decreased temporarily in a segment of wage earners who were known to have been hit hard by the recession. However, the trend differences were not explained by the measured structural changes in the characteristics of the study population. Both occupational class and industrial sector should be taken into account when tackling problems of work disability. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2018. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

Laboratory investigations into fracture propagation characteristics of rock material

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Prasad, B. N. V. Siva; Murthy, V. M. S. R.

2018-04-01

After Industrial Revolution, demand of materials for building up structures have increased enormously. Unfortunately, failures of such structures resulted in loss of life and property. Rock is anisotropic and discontinuous in nature with inherent flaws or so-called discontinuities in it. Rock is apparently used for construction in mining, civil, tunnelling, hydropower, geothermal and nuclear sectors [1]. Therefore, the strength of the structure built up considering rockmass as the construction material needs proper technical evaluation during designing stage itself to prevent and predict the scenarios of catastrophic failures due to these inherent fractures [2]. In this study, samples collected from nine different drilling sites have been investigated in laboratory for understanding the fracture propagation characteristics in rock. Rock material properties, ultrasonic velocities through pulse transmission technique and Mode I Fracture Toughness Testing of different variants of Dolomites and Graywackes are determined in laboratory and the resistance of the rock material to catastrophic crack extension or propagation has been determined. Based on the Fracture Toughness values and the rock properties, critical Energy Release Rates have been estimated. However further studies in this direction is to be carried out to understand the fracture propagation characteristics in three-dimensional space.

Health issues amongst call center employees, an emerging occupational group in India.

PubMed

Raja, Jeyapal Dinesh; Bhasin, Sanjiv Kumar

2014-07-01

Call center sector in India is a relatively new industry and one of the fastest growing sectors driving employment and growth in modern India today. While employment in the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector has meant that young adults are reaching their career milestones and financial goals much earlier than before, surveys and anecdotal evidence show that workers in the BPO sector experience high levels of stress and its related disorders, primarily due to its contemporary work settings. Safeguarding the health of youngsters employed in this new, growing economy becomes an occupational health challenge to public health specialists.

Global positioning systems for personal travel surveys : Lexington area travel data collection test

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1986-12-01

The urban transportation planning process is undergoing critical transformations. Of particular interest is the emergence of private sector involvement in the planning, management, financing, construction of transportation systems and provision of tr...

Education and the Private Finance Initiative

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Griggs, Clive

2010-01-01

This article reviews the development of Private Finance Initiative schemes in the United Kingdom, and reflects on how profitable opportunities for private financiers and construction companies were created at the expense of the public sector. (Contains 72 notes.)

Virtual Water Scarcity Risk to the Global Trade System.

PubMed

Qu, Shen; Liang, Sai; Konar, Megan; Zhu, Zeqi; Chiu, Anthony S F; Jia, Xiaoping; Xu, Ming

2018-01-16

Local water scarcity risk (LWSR, meaning potential economic output losses in water-using sectors due to physical water scarcity) can be transmitted to downstream economies through the globalized supply chains. To understand the vulnerability of the global economy to water scarcity, we examine the impacts of local water scarcity risk on the global trade system from 1995 to 2009. We observe increasingly intensified geographical separation between physical water scarcity and production losses due to water scarcity. We identify top nation-sectors in virtual water scarcity risk (VWSR) exports (indicating local water scarcity risk in each nation transmitted to foreign nations through its exports), including agriculture and utilities in major economies such as China, India, Spain, France, and Turkey. These nation-sectors are critical to the resilience of the global economy to water scarcity. We also identify top nation-sectors in virtual water scarcity risk imports (indicating each nation's vulnerability to foreign water scarcity risk through the global trade system), highlighting their vulnerability to distant water scarcity. Our findings reveal the need for nations to collaboratively manage and conserve water resources, and lay the foundation for firms in high VWSR-importing sectors to develop strategies to mitigate such risk.

Design, construction and performance of a portable handheld electrohydrodynamic multi-needle spray gun for biomedical applications.

PubMed

Sofokleous, Panagiotis; Stride, Eleanor; Bonfield, William; Edirisinghe, Mohan

2013-01-01

Electrohydrodynamic (EHD) processing has attracted substantial interest in the technological and pharmaceutical sectors in recent years. Given the complexity of the process, exploring new ideas for EHD electrospraying and electrospinning delivery is a challenge. In this article, the design, construction and testing of a portable handheld EHD multi-needle device are described to produce multifunctional particles and fibers. Solid and encapsulated polymer particles and fibers were generated in order to study the performance of the device. The intrinsic properties of the feed solution/suspension and the processing conditions were adjusted to ensure robustness of the process and give uniform and reproducible products, with diameters ranging from the sub-micrometer scale to a few micrometers. These products have a broad range of applications in many advanced industrial sectors e.g. drug delivery systems, wound dressing patches, low calorie food products and cosmetics. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Green Hospital and Climate Change: Their Interrelationship and the Way Forward

PubMed Central

Kaur, Dilpreet

2015-01-01

Climate change is a reality, and the modern healthcare sector not just contributes towards this grave phenomenon but is itself being affected by it. The present review was thus conducted to understand the meaning of ‘Green Hospital’, to identify the many ways in which health sector is contributing towards climate change, to explore possibilities for countering this grave trend and last of all to look for institutions that are pioneering change. Data for the review was extracted from multiple online sources using the Google search engine. It was found that hospitals, being resource intensive establishments, consume vast amounts of electricity, water, food and construction materials to provide high quality care. It was also found that certain healthcare institutions, by employing simple, smart and sustainable measures can greatly reduce their environmental footprint. But constructing Green Hospitals can be a challenge considering the local conditions and growing customer expectations. PMID:26814377

M-theory superstrata and the MSW string

DOE PAGES

Bena, Iosif; Martinec, Emil; Turton, David; ...

2017-06-26

The low-energy description of wrapped M5 branes in compactifications of M-theory on a Calabi-Yau threefold times a circle is given by a conformal field theory studied by Maldacena, Strominger and Witten and known as the MSW CFT. Taking the threefold to be T 6 or K3×T 2, we construct a map between a sub-sector of this CFT and a sub-sector of the D1-D5 CFT. We demonstrate this map by considering a set of D1-D5 CFT states that have smooth horizonless bulk duals, and explicitly constructing the supergravity solutions dual to the corresponding states of the MSW CFT. We thus obtainmore » the largest known class of solutions dual to MSW CFT microstates, and demonstrate that five-dimensional ungauged supergravity admits much larger families of smooth horizonless solutions than previously known.« less

Construction of the food and nutrition security policy in Brazil: strategies and challenges in the promotion of intersectorality at the federal government level.

PubMed

Burlandy, Luciene

2009-01-01

This article analyzes institutional strategies of the Brazilian federal government that aim at promoting intersectorality in the field of Food and Nutrition Security (FNS), based on bibliographic review and document analysis. It is assumed that, although formal institutionality in this government level is not enough to promote intersectorality, it is important in process induction. It follows that the combination of different institutional mechanisms favors intersectorality, such as: the existence and location of councils integrated by government sectors and civil society in the presidency; political support by the presidency and inclusion of the issue as being strategic in the governmental agenda; assembly of institutional spaces that articulate the highest government spheres and that integrate technical levels; programs that integrate food production, commercialization, and consumption. Challenges concern interrelation with economic policy and the construction of budget agreed among sectors, integrated to policy management and monitoring.

Financial fluctuations anchored to economic fundamentals: A mesoscopic network approach.

PubMed

Sharma, Kiran; Gopalakrishnan, Balagopal; Chakrabarti, Anindya S; Chakraborti, Anirban

2017-08-14

We demonstrate the existence of an empirical linkage between nominal financial networks and the underlying economic fundamentals, across countries. We construct the nominal return correlation networks from daily data to encapsulate sector-level dynamics and infer the relative importance of the sectors in the nominal network through measures of centrality and clustering algorithms. Eigenvector centrality robustly identifies the backbone of the minimum spanning tree defined on the return networks as well as the primary cluster in the multidimensional scaling map. We show that the sectors that are relatively large in size, defined with three metrics, viz., market capitalization, revenue and number of employees, constitute the core of the return networks, whereas the periphery is mostly populated by relatively smaller sectors. Therefore, sector-level nominal return dynamics are anchored to the real size effect, which ultimately shapes the optimal portfolios for risk management. Our results are reasonably robust across 27 countries of varying degrees of prosperity and across periods of market turbulence (2008-09) as well as periods of relative calmness (2012-13 and 2015-16).

Inter-Sectoral Bisphenol A (BPA) Flows in the 2012 Chinese Economy.

PubMed

Jiang, Daqian; Chen, Wei-Qiang; Liu, Wei; Chertow, Marian

2017-08-01

Bisphenol A (BPA), a widely used petrochemical compound, has become an emerging global environmental management challenge because its leakage is associated with potential environmental and human health impacts. Until now, available BPA statistics have been limited to the products that directly use BPA. In this study, we delineate direct and indirect BPA flows for the 2012 Chinese economy. We find that construction, production of educational and recreational products, and automobile manufacturing are the most BPA-intensive sectors in terms of total BPA flows (300, 157, and 130 Gg total BPA flows, respectively). The public management and health sectors, however, incur significant indirect BPA flows, defined as embedded and inter-sectoral BPA placed into use, even though direct BPA use by these sectors is limited. By revealing the currently overlooked indirect BPA flows, this study reveals data gaps that are highly relevant to improving the accuracy of estimated BPA flows and losses. The method used herein is transferrable to other emerging and environmentally relevant materials, thereby providing the holistic understanding needed for cities, regions, or nations to design effective policy interventions.

Assessing the Impact of Operational Constraints on the Near-Term Unmanned Aircraft System Traffic Management Supported Market

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Vascik, Parker D.; Jung, Jaewoo

2016-01-01

An economic impact market analysis was conducted for 16 leading sectors of commercial Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) applications predicted to be enabled by 2020 through the NASA UAS Traffic Management (UTM) program. Subject matter experts from seven industries were interviewed to validate concept of operations (ConOps) and market adoption assumptions for each sector. The market analysis was used to estimate direct economic impacts for each sector including serviceable addressable market, capital investment, revenue recovery potential, and operations cost savings. The resultant economic picture distinguishes the agricultural, pipeline and railroad inspection, construction, and maritime sectors of the nascent commercial UAS industry as providing the highest potential economic value in the United States. Sensitivity studies characterized the variability of select UAS sectors economic value to key regulatory or UTM ConOps requirements such as weight, altitude, and flight over populated area constraints. Takeaways from the analysis inform the validation of UTM requirements, technologies and timetables from a commercial market need and value viewpoint. This work concluded in August 2015 and reflects the state of the UAS industry and market projections at that time.

Radiative Forcing Due to Major Aerosol Emitting Sectors in China and India

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Streets, David G.; Shindell, Drew Todd; Lu, Zifeng; Faluvegi, Greg

2013-01-01

Understanding the radiative forcing caused by anthropogenic aerosol sources is essential for making effective emission control decisions to mitigate climate change. We examined the net direct plus indirect radiative forcing caused by carbonaceous aerosol and sulfur emissions in key sectors of China and India using the GISS-E2 chemistry-climate model. Diesel trucks and buses (67 mW/ sq. m) and residential biofuel combustion (52 mW/ sq. m) in India have the largest global mean, annual average forcings due mainly to the direct and indirect effects of BC. Emissions from these two sectors in China have near-zero net global forcings. Coal-fired power plants in both countries exert a negative forcing of about -30 mW/ sq. m from production of sulfate. Aerosol forcings are largest locally, with direct forcings due to residential biofuel combustion of 580 mW/ sq. m over India and 416 mW/ sq. m over China, but they extend as far as North America, Europe, and the Arctic

Hedging becomes popular in electricity sector

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

NONE

1997-07-01

Electricity price hedging is getting popular among many energy companies due to the onslaught of deregulation in the electricity sector. Price hedging most often is used to manage power supply costs or to engage in arbitrage opportunities and is becoming a major ingredient in companies` risk management strategies.

The global economic long-term potential of modern biomass in a climate-constrained world

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Klein, David; Humpenöder, Florian; Bauer, Nico; Dietrich, Jan Philipp; Popp, Alexander; Bodirsky, Benjamin Leon; Bonsch, Markus; Lotze-Campen, Hermann

2014-07-01

Low-stabilization scenarios consistent with the 2 °C target project large-scale deployment of purpose-grown lignocellulosic biomass. In case a GHG price regime integrates emissions from energy conversion and from land-use/land-use change, the strong demand for bioenergy and the pricing of terrestrial emissions are likely to coincide. We explore the global potential of purpose-grown lignocellulosic biomass and ask the question how the supply prices of biomass depend on prices for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the land-use sector. Using the spatially explicit global land-use optimization model MAgPIE, we construct bioenergy supply curves for ten world regions and a global aggregate in two scenarios, with and without a GHG tax. We find that the implementation of GHG taxes is crucial for the slope of the supply function and the GHG emissions from the land-use sector. Global supply prices start at 5 GJ-1 and increase almost linearly, doubling at 150 EJ (in 2055 and 2095). The GHG tax increases bioenergy prices by 5 GJ-1 in 2055 and by 10 GJ-1 in 2095, since it effectively stops deforestation and thus excludes large amounts of high-productivity land. Prices additionally increase due to costs for N2O emissions from fertilizer use. The GHG tax decreases global land-use change emissions by one-third. However, the carbon emissions due to bioenergy production increase by more than 50% from conversion of land that is not under emission control. Average yields required to produce 240 EJ in 2095 are roughly 600 GJ ha-1 yr-1 with and without tax.

Microinstallations Based on Renewable Energy Sources in the Construction Sector

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kurzak, Lucjan

2017-10-01

The focus of this paper is on the status and prognoses of the use of microinstallations based on renewable energy sources to supply heat and power. The technologies that have been important in Europe and Poland for microgeneration of electricity include photovoltaic systems, micro wind turbines and co-generation systems. Solar collectors, heat pumps and biomass have also been used to generate heat. Microinstallations for renewable energy sources represent the initial point and the foundation for the development of micro networks, intelligent networks and the whole prosumer energy sector.

Does an expansion in private sector contraceptive supply increase inequality in modern contraceptive use?

PubMed

Agha, Sohail; Do, Mai

2008-11-01

To determine whether an expansion in private sector contraceptive supply is associated with increased socio-economic inequality in the modern contraceptive prevalence rate (MCPR inequality). Multiple rounds of Demographic and Health Surveys data were analysed for five countries that experienced an increase in the private sector supply of contraceptives: Morocco, Indonesia, Kenya, Ghana and Bangladesh. Information on household assets and amenities was used to construct wealth quintiles. A concentration index, which calculates the degree of inequality in contraceptive use by wealth, was calculated for each survey round. Socio-economic inequality in the MCPR (MCPR inequality) declined in Morocco and Indonesia, where substantial expansion in private sector contraceptive supply occurred. In both countries, poor women continued to rely heavily on contraceptives supplied by the public sector even as they increased use of contraceptives obtained from the private sector. A marginally significant decline in MCPR inequality occurred in Bangladesh, where the increase in private sector supply was modest. There was no significant overall change in MCPR inequality in Kenya or Ghana. In Kenya, this lack of significant overall change disguised trends moving in opposite directions in urban and rural areas. In urban Kenya, MCPR inequality declined as low-income urban women increased use of contraceptives obtained primarily from the public sector. In rural Kenya, MCPR inequality increased. This increase was associated with a decline in the supply of contraceptives by the public sector and non-governmental organizations to the poorest, rural, women. The study found no support for the hypothesis that an increase in private sector contraceptive supply leads to higher MCPR inequality. The findings suggest that continued public sector supply of contraceptives to the poorest women protects against increased MCPR inequality. The study highlights the role of the public sector in building contraceptive markets for the private sector to exploit.

Solid wood timber products consumption in major end uses in the United States, 1950-2009 : a technical document supporting the Forest Service 2010 RPA assessment

Treesearch

David B. McKeever; James L. Howard

2011-01-01

Solid wood timber products provide important raw materials to the construction, manufacturing, and shipping sectors of the U.S. economy. Nearly all new single-family houses and low-rise multifamily residential structures are wood framed and sheathed. Large amounts of solid wood timber products are also used in the construction of new nonresidential buildings, and in...

Cost-efficiency of highway operations and maintenance of public-private partnerships.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2014-08-01

While the literature on public-private partnerships (PPPs) argues that the private sectors life-cycle : approach to design and construction results in operational cost efficiencies, empirical support is : missing. This study explored that issue by...

Residential neighborhood, geographic work environment, and work economic sector: associations with body fat measured by bioelectrical impedance in the RECORD Study.

PubMed

Lewin, Antoine; Pannier, Bruno; Méline, Julie; Karusisi, Noëlla; Thomas, Frédérique; Chaix, Basile

2014-03-01

Studies of associations between geographic environment and obesity have mostly examined body mass index and focused on residential neighborhoods. We investigated associations between residential neighborhoods, geographic work environments, and work economic sectors and the fat mass index (FMI) and percentage of fat mass (%FM). Data on 4331 participants from the French RECORD Study geolocated at their residence and workplace were analyzed. Body composition was assessed by bioelectrical impedance analyzers. Multilevel linear regression was used to investigate the determinants of FMI and %FM. After adjustment, among men, the FMI and %FM increased independently with decreasing density of population and educational level in the residential neighborhood. Among women, the residential educational level was related to the FMI and %FM. Among men, a higher FMI and %FM were observed among participants working in the construction and transportation/communication sectors than in the education sector. For women, the FMI was higher among participants working in the public administration and health/social work sectors than in the transport/communication sector. A long home-work distance was associated with a higher FMI among women. There was evidence that body mass index cannot fully capture work economic sector effects on fat mass. Public health interventions to reduce social/territorial disparities in obesity should also consider the different contexts to which the participants belong, such as residential environments and work economic sectors. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Assessing HIV risk in workplaces for prioritizing HIV preventive interventions in Karnataka State, India.

PubMed

Halli, Shiva S; Buzdugan, Raluca; Ramesh, B M; Gurnani, Vandana; Sharma, Vivek; Moses, Stephen; Blanchard, James F

2009-09-01

To develop a model for prioritizing economic sectors for HIV preventive intervention programs in the workplace. This study was undertaken in Karnataka state, India. A 3-stage survey process was undertaken. In the first stage, we reviewed secondary data available from various government departments, identified industries in the private sector with large workforces, and mapped their geographical distribution. In the second stage, an initial rapid risk assessment of industrial sectors was undertaken, using key-informant interviews conducted in relation to a number of enterprises, and in consultation with stakeholders. In the third stage, we used both quantitative (polling booth survey) and qualitative methods (key informant interviews, in-depth interviews, focus group discussions) to study high-risk sectors in-depth, and assessed the need and feasibility of HIV workplace intervention programs. The highest risk sectors were found to be mining, garment/textile, sugar, construction/infrastructure, and fishing industries. Workers in all sectors had at best partial knowledge about HIV/AIDS, coupled with common misconceptions about HIV transmission. There were intersector and intrasector variations in risk and vulnerability across different geographical locations and across different categories of workers. This has implications for the design and implementation of workplace intervention programs. There is tremendous scope for HIV preventive interventions in workplaces in India. Given the variation in HIV risk across economic sectors and limited available resources, there will be increased pressure to prioritize intervention efforts towards high-risk sectors. This study offers a model for rapidly assessing the risk level of economic sectors for HIV intervention programs.

The Impact of CO2 Emission Reduction on U.S. Electric Sector Water Use

EPA Science Inventory

The electric power sector is currently one of the largest water withdrawers and fastest growing water consumers in the U.S. Water supply in the United States is becoming increasingly stressed due to growth in population, per capita energy consumption and industrial water use. A...

The Impact of CO2 Emission Reductions on U.S. Electric Sector Water Use

EPA Science Inventory

The electric power sector is currently one of the largest water withdrawers and fastest growing water consumers in the U.S. Water supply in the United States is becoming increasingly stressed due to growth in population, per capita energy consumption and industrial water use. At ...

Shanghai: a study on the spatial growth of population and economy in a Chinese metropolitan area.

PubMed

Zhu, J

1995-01-01

In this study of the growth in population and industry in Shanghai, China, between the 1982 and 1990 censuses, data on administrative divisions was normalized through digitization and spatial analysis. Analysis focused on spatial units, intensity of growth, time period, distance, rate of growth, and direction of spatial growth. The trisection method divided the city into city proper, outskirts, and suburbs. The distance function method considered the distance from center city as a function: exponential, power, trigonometric, logarithmic, and polynomial. Population growth and employment in all sectors increased in the outskirts and suburbs and decreased in the city proper except tertiary sectors. Primary sector employment decreased in all three sections. Employment in the secondary increased faster in the outskirts and suburbs than the total rate of growth of population and employment. In the city secondary sector employment rates decreased faster than total population and employment rates. The tertiary sector had the highest rate of growth in all sections, and employment grew faster than secondary sector rates. Tertiary growth was highest in real estate, finance, and insurance. Industrial growth in the secondary sector was 160.2% in the suburbs, 156.6% in the outskirts, and 80.9% in the city. In the distance function analysis, industry expanded further out than the entire secondary sector. Commerce grew the fastest in areas 15.4 km from center city. Economic growth was faster after economic reforms in 1978. Growth was led by industry and followed by the secondary sector, the tertiary sector, and population. Industrial expansion resulted from inner pressure, political factors controlling size, the social and economic system, and the housing construction and distribution system. Initially sociopsychological factors affected urban concentration.

One-loop Pfaffians and large-field inflation in string theory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ruehle, Fabian; Wieck, Clemens

2017-06-01

We study the consistency of large-field inflation in low-energy effective field theories of string theory. In particular, we focus on the stability of Kähler moduli in the particularly interesting case where the non-perturbative superpotential of the Kähler sector explicitly depends on the inflaton field. This situation arises generically due to one-loop corrections to the instanton action. The field dependence of the modulus potential feeds back into the inflationary dynamics, potentially impairing slow roll. We distinguish between world-sheet instantons from Euclidean D-branes, which typically yield polynomial one-loop Pfaffians, and gaugino condensates, which can yield exponential or periodic corrections. In all scenarios successful slow-roll inflation imposes bounds on the magnitude of the one-loop correction, corresponding to constraints on possible compactifications. While we put a certain emphasis on Type IIB constructions with mobile D7-branes, our results seem to apply more generally.

Informatics and computational method for inundation and land use study in Arctic Sea eastern Siberia, Russia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boori, Mukesh Singh; Choudhary, Komal; Kupriyanov, Alexander; Sugimoto, Atsuko

2016-11-01

Eastern Siberia, Russia is physically and socio-economically vulnerable to accelerated Arctic sea level rise due to low topography, high ecological value, harsh climatic conditions, erosion and flooding of coastal area and destruction of harbor constructions and natural coastal hazards. A 1 to 10m inundation land loss scenarios for surface water and sea level rise (SLR) were developed using digital elevation models of study site topography through remote sensing and GIS techniques by ASTER GDEM and Landsat OLI data. Results indicate that 10.82% (8072.70km2) and 29.73% (22181.19km2) of the area will be lost by flooding at minimum and maximum inundation levels, respectively. The most severely impacted sectors are expected to be the vegetation, wetland and the natural ecosystem. Improved understanding of the extent and response of SLR will help in preparing for mitigation and adaptation.

[New forms of medical profession--advertising].

PubMed

Wolter, Udo

2005-04-01

Particularly in the last two years, the legislation of Part V of the German Social Code has challenged the time-honoured system of the physician's own medical practice as the panel doctor's registered office. New forms of outpatient care, for example the health centres, "Heilkunde-GmbHs", and the recently-developed medical care centres, are intended to impact on patients' ambulatory healthcare. Due to the partial employee status of practice owners, and thus the relinquishing of the independent entrepreneurial structuring of their own practices, the construct of the traditional professional code of conduct for physicians is beginning to totter. It remains to be seen whether liberalisation of the model code of conduct will provide a remedy. The principle should, however, be adhered to that advertising in the physician sector must not be unethical, if we understand this to mean not strident, not confusing, and not comparative.

Axial vector Z‧ and anomaly cancellation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ismail, Ahmed; Keung, Wai-Yee; Tsao, Kuo-Hsing; Unwin, James

2017-05-01

Whilst the prospect of new Z‧ gauge bosons with only axial couplings to the Standard Model (SM) fermions is widely discussed, examples of anomaly-free renormalisable models are lacking in the literature. We look to remedy this by constructing several motivated examples. Specifically, we consider axial vectors which couple universally to all SM fermions, as well as those which are generation-specific, leptophilic, and leptophobic. Anomaly cancellation typically requires the presence of new coloured and charged chiral fermions, and we argue that in a large class of models masses of these new states are expected to be comparable to that of the axial vector. Finally, an axial vector mediator could provide a portal between SM and hidden sector states, and we also consider the possibility that the axial vector couples to dark matter. If the dark matter relic density is set due to freeze-out via the axial vector, this strongly constrains the parameter space.

Fast scanning probe for ophthalmic echography using an ultrasound motor.

PubMed

Carotenuto, Riccardo; Caliano, Giosuè; Caronti, Alessandro; Savoia, Alessandro; Pappalardo, Massimo

2005-11-01

High-frequency transducers, up to 35-50 MHz, are widely used in ophthalmic echography to image fine eye structures. Phased-array techniques are not practically applicable at such a high frequency, due to the too small size required for the single transducer element, and mechanical scanning is the only practical alternative. At present, all ophthalmic ultrasound systems use focused single-element, mechanically scanned probes. A good probe positioning and image evaluation feedback requires an image refresh-rate of about 15-30 frames per second, which is achieved in commercial mechanical scanning probes by using electromagnetic motors. In this work, we report the design, construction, and experimental characterization of the first mechanical scanning probe for ophthalmic echography based on a small piezoelectric ultrasound motor. The prototype probe reaches a scanning rate of 15 sectors per second, with very silent operation and little weight. The first high-frequency echographic images obtained with the prototype probe are presented.

Constructing a sustainable power sector in China: current and future emissions of coal-fired power plants from 2010 to 2030

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tong, D.; Zhang, Q.

2017-12-01

As the largest energy infrastructure in China, power sector consumed more coal than any other sector and threatened air quality and greenhouse gas (GHG) abatement target. In this work, we assessed the evolution of coal-fired power plants in China during 2010-2030 and the evolution of associated emissions for the same period by using a unit-based emission projection model which integrated the historical power plants information, turnover of the future power plant fleet, and the evolution of end-of-pipe control technologies. We found that, driven by the stringent environmental legislation, SO2, NOx, and PM2.5 emissions from China's coal-fired power plants decreased by 49%, 45%, and 24% respectively during 2010-2015, comparing to 14% increase of coal consumption and 15% increase in CO2 emissions. We estimated that under current national energy development planning, coal consumption and CO2 emissions from coal-fired power plants will continue to increase until 2030, in which against the China's Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) targets. Early retirement of old and low-efficient power plants will cumulatively reduce 2.2 Pg CO2 emissions from the baseline scenario during 2016-2030, but still could not curb CO2 emissions from the peak before 2030. Owing to the implementation of "near zero" emission control policy, we projected that emissions of air pollutants will significantly decrease during the same period under all scenarios, indicating the decoupling trends of air pollutants and CO2 emissions. Although with limited direct emission reduction benefits, increasing operating hours of power plants could avoid 236 GW of new power plants construction, which could indirectly reduce emissions embodied in the construction activity. Our results identified a more sustainable pathway for China's coal-fired power plants, which could reduce air pollutant emissions, improve the energy efficiency, and slow down the construction of new units. However, continuous construction of new coal-fired power plants driven by increased electricity demand would pose a potential threat to climate change mitigation and China's peak carbon pledge, and more aggressive CO2 emission reduction policy should be implemented in the future.

Field theories and fluids for an interacting dark sector

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carrillo González, Mariana; Trodden, Mark

2018-02-01

We consider the relationship between fluid models of an interacting dark sector and the field theoretical models that underlie such descriptions. This question is particularly important in light of suggestions that such interactions may help alleviate a number of current tensions between different cosmological datasets. We construct consistent field theory models for an interacting dark sector that behave exactly like the coupled fluid ones, even at the level of linear perturbations, and can be trusted deep in the nonlinear regime. As a specific example, we focus on the case of a Dirac, Born-Infeld (DBI) field conformally coupled to a quintessence field. We show that the fluid linear regime breaks before the field gradients become large; this means that the field theory is valid inside a large region of the fluid nonlinear regime.

Register-based data of psychosocial working conditions and occupational groups as predictors of disability pension due to musculoskeletal diagnoses: a prospective cohort study of 24 543 Swedish twins

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Occupations and psychosocial working conditions have rarely been investigated as predictors of disability pension in population-based samples. This study investigated how occupational groups and psychosocial working conditions are associated with future disability pension due to musculoskeletal diagnoses, accounting for familial factors in the associations. Methods A sample of 24 543 same-sex Swedish twin individuals was followed from 1993 to 2008 using nationwide registries. Baseline data on occupations were categorized into eight sector-defined occupational groups. These were further used to reflect psychosocial working conditions by applying the job strain scores of a Job Exposure Matrix. Cox proportional hazard ratios (HR) were estimated. Results During the 12-year (average) follow-up, 7% of the sample was granted disability pension due to musculoskeletal diagnoses. Workers in health care and social work; agriculture, forestry and fishing; transportation; production and mining; and the service and military work sectors were two to three times more likely to receive a disability pension than those in the administration and management sector. Each single unit decrease in job demands and each single unit increase in job control and social support significantly predicted disability pension. Individuals with high work strain or an active job had a lower hazard ratio of disability pension, whereas a passive job predicted a significantly higher hazard ratio. Accounting for familial confounding did not alter these results. Conclusion Occupational groups and psychosocial working conditions seem to be independent of familial confounding, and hence represent risk factors for disability pension due to musculoskeletal diagnoses. This means that preventive measures in these sector-defined occupational groups and specific psychosocial working conditions might prevent disability pension due to musculoskeletal diagnoses. PMID:24040914

Register-based data of psychosocial working conditions and occupational groups as predictors of disability pension due to musculoskeletal diagnoses: a prospective cohort study of 24,543 Swedish twins.

PubMed

Ropponen, Annina; Samuelsson, Åsa; Alexanderson, Kristina; Svedberg, Pia

2013-09-16

Occupations and psychosocial working conditions have rarely been investigated as predictors of disability pension in population-based samples. This study investigated how occupational groups and psychosocial working conditions are associated with future disability pension due to musculoskeletal diagnoses, accounting for familial factors in the associations. A sample of 24,543 same-sex Swedish twin individuals was followed from 1993 to 2008 using nationwide registries. Baseline data on occupations were categorized into eight sector-defined occupational groups. These were further used to reflect psychosocial working conditions by applying the job strain scores of a Job Exposure Matrix. Cox proportional hazard ratios (HR) were estimated. During the 12-year (average) follow-up, 7% of the sample was granted disability pension due to musculoskeletal diagnoses. Workers in health care and social work; agriculture, forestry and fishing; transportation; production and mining; and the service and military work sectors were two to three times more likely to receive a disability pension than those in the administration and management sector. Each single unit decrease in job demands and each single unit increase in job control and social support significantly predicted disability pension. Individuals with high work strain or an active job had a lower hazard ratio of disability pension, whereas a passive job predicted a significantly higher hazard ratio. Accounting for familial confounding did not alter these results. Occupational groups and psychosocial working conditions seem to be independent of familial confounding, and hence represent risk factors for disability pension due to musculoskeletal diagnoses. This means that preventive measures in these sector-defined occupational groups and specific psychosocial working conditions might prevent disability pension due to musculoskeletal diagnoses.

Are low back pain and low physical capacity risk indicators for dropout among recently qualified eldercare workers? A follow-up study.

PubMed

Faber, Anne; Giver, Hanne; Strøyer, Jesper; Hannerz, Harald

2010-12-01

A high job turnover and dropout among eldercare workers has led to a significant shortage of qualified manpower in the Danish eldercare sector. The predictive effect of some non-work-related causes for leaving the eldercare sector 2 years after qualification, physical capacity, duration, and severity of previous low back pain, was investigated. A 2-year prospective cohort study of all the Danish eldercare workers, who finished their education during 2004 (n = 6347). Questionnaire data from 2004 were followed up by register data on attachment to labour market, educational status, and association to trade from Statistics Denmark in 2006. Data on physical capacity, duration, and severity of low back pain the last 12 months among the female participants were analysed by multinomial logistic regression to estimate odds-ratios for being either in the eldercare sector, in other health- and welfare sectors, in all other sectors, under education, or outside labour market, 2 years after qualification. Disability due to and duration of low back pain were significant predictors for dropout from the eldercare sector 2 years after qualification. Low physical capacity was not. Data on duration of low back pain suggest a trend towards a dose-response relationship: The longer the duration of low back pain, the higher odds for dropout. Low back pain and disability due to low back pain during the last year of education were independent predictors for dropout from the eldercare sector 2 years after qualification. However, low self-rated physical capacity did not predict job dropout or turnover.

Description of Latvian Metal Production and Processing Enterprises' Air Emissions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pubule, Jelena; Zahare, Dace; Blumberga, Dagnija

2010-01-01

The metal production and processing sector in Latvia has acquired a stable position in the national economy. Smelting of ferrous and nonferrous metals, production of metalware, galvanisation, etc. are developed in Latvia. The metal production and processing sector has an impact on air quality due to polluting substances which are released in the air from metal treatment processes. Therefore it is necessary to determine the total volume of emissions produced by the metal production and processing sector in Latvia. This article deals with the air polluting emissions of the Latvian metal production and processing industry, and sets the optimum sector emission volumes using the emissions benchmark methodology.

Network simulation modeling of equine infectious anemia in the non-racehorse population in Japan.

PubMed

Hayama, Yoko; Kobayashi, Sota; Nishida, Takeshi; Muroga, Norihiko; Tsutsui, Toshiyuki

2012-01-01

An equine infectious anemia (EIA) transmission model was developed by constructing a network structure of horse movement patterns in a non-racehorse population. This model was then used to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of several EIA surveillance strategies. Because EIA had not been detected in Japan since 1993, it was appropriate to review the current surveillance strategy, which aims to eradicate EIA by intensive testing, and to consider alternative strategies suitable for the current EIA status in Japan. The non-racehorse population was divided into four sectors based on horse usage: the equestrian sector, private owner sector, exhibition sector, and fattening sector. To evaluate the risk of disease spread within and between sectors accompanied by horse movements, a stochastic individual-based network model was developed based on a previous survey of horse movement patterns. Surveillance parameters such as targeting sectors and frequency of testing were added into the model to compare surveillance strategies. The disease spread heterogeneously among sectors. Infection occurred mainly in the equestrian sector; the infection was less disseminated in other sectors. Therefore, we considered that the equestrian sector posed a higher risk of disease dissemination within and between sectors through horse movements. However, surveillance strategies targeting only the equestrian sector were not effective enough for early detection of the disease. Alternatively, targeting horses that moved permanently and those in the private owner sector in addition to the equestrian sector is recommended to achieve effectiveness equivalent to that of the current surveillance. In terms of surveillance efficacy, by increasing the testing interval (once yearly to once every 3 years), this testing scheme could reduce the number of tested horses to 44% of the current surveillance, while maintaining almost equivalent effectiveness. Intensive strategies targeting high-risk populations are considered to enhance effectiveness and efficiency of surveillance. The approach in this study may be helpful in the decision-making process that is involved in setting up strategies for risk-based surveillance. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The Building Bridges project: Linking disconnected service networks in acquired brain injury and criminal justice.

PubMed

Kelly, Glenn; Brown, Suzanne; Simpson, Grahame K

2018-06-08

People with acquired brain injury (ABI) are overrepresented in prison populations across many countries. An effective service response to reduce this trend requires collaboration between the ABI and criminal justice (CJ) sectors. The Building Bridges project piloted a novel professional development model designed to increase cross-sectoral knowledge and collaboration between the ABI and CJ sectors. A total of 178 service providers from Victoria, Australia, participated in six professional development forums that included content about ABI, policing, disability and legal supports, and correctional/post-release services. Participants came from the disability, criminal justice, and health and community service sectors. Using a pre-test-post-test design with 6-month follow-up, data were obtained via a project-specific questionnaire evaluating knowledge and behaviour change among participants. Statistically significant gains in knowledge were shown at post-test and maintained at follow-up. Work-related behaviours addressing ABI/CJ issues had increased significantly within both sectors at follow-up compared to the 6 months prior to the forum. Carefully constructed professional forums improved cross-silo collaboration in the ABI/CJ sectors. This pilot project illustrates effective use of existing service resources, and highlights training as an important part of a raft of initiatives needed to address the overrepresentation of people with ABI in the CJ system.

Singlet scalar top partners from accidental supersymmetry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cheng, Hsin-Chia; Li, Lingfeng; Salvioni, Ennio; Verhaaren, Christopher B.

2018-05-01

We present a model wherein the Higgs mass is protected from the quadratic one-loop top quark corrections by scalar particles that are complete singlets under the Standard Model (SM) gauge group. While bearing some similarity to Folded Supersymmetry, the construction is purely four dimensional and enjoys more parametric freedom, allowing electroweak symmetry breaking to occur easily. The cancelation of the top loop quadratic divergence is ensured by a Z 3 symmetry that relates the SM top sector and two hidden top sectors, each charged under its own hidden color group. In addition to the singlet scalars, the hidden sectors contain electroweak-charged supermultiplets below the TeV scale, which provide the main access to this model at colliders. The phenomenology presents both differences and similarities with respect to other realizations of neutral naturalness. Generally, the glueballs of hidden color have longer decay lengths. The production of hidden sector particles results in quirk or squirk bound states, which later annihilate. We survey the possible signatures and corresponding experimental constraints.

Psychosocial safety climate, emotional demands, burnout, and depression: a longitudinal multilevel study in the Malaysian private sector.

PubMed

Idris, Mohd Awang; Dollard, Maureen F; Yulita

2014-07-01

This multilevel longitudinal study investigates a newly identified climate construct, psychosocial safety climate (PSC), as a precursor to job characteristics (e.g., emotional demands), and psychological outcomes (i.e., emotional exhaustion and depression). We argued that PSC, as an organizational climate construct, has cross-level effects on individually perceived job design and psychological outcomes. We hypothesized a mediation process between PSC and emotional exhaustion particularly through emotional demands. In sequence, we predicted that emotional exhaustion would predict depression. At Time 1, data were collected from employees in 36 Malaysian private sector organizations (80% responses rate), n = 253 (56%), and at Time 2 from 27 organizations (60%) and n = 117 (46%). Using hierarchical linear modeling (HLM), we found that there were cross-level effects of PSC Time 1 on emotional demands Time 2 and emotional exhaustion Time 2, but not on depression Time 2, across a 3-month time lag. We found evidence for a lagged mediated effect; emotional demands mediated the relationship between PSC and emotional exhaustion. Emotional exhaustion did not predict depression. Finally, our results suggest that PSC is an important organizational climate construct, and acts to reduce employee psychological problems in the workplace, via working conditions.

A return on investment analysis of Virginia's interstate system.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1970-01-01

Major Findings: Construction of the Interstate System in Virginia has served as a catalyst to: 1. Create 22,705-more manufacturing jobs during the period 1961-1968. 2. Contribute 69,475 more employment opportunities-in the non-manufacturing sector. 3...

Changing Priorities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wimberly, Charles A.; Wynne, Lewis N.

1974-01-01

The future of many post-secondary institutions may rest with their ability to shift from a strict engineering format to one incorporating community service programs. Retraining competent unemployed technicians and engineers from aerospace and military sectors for construction, community service, and environmental protection can be an important…

Women as Managers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moore, Linda L.

1981-01-01

Discusses theories that socialization or "the system" cause women's problems in management, contending that both contribute. Analyzes women manager's problems in using and misusing power and coping with stress. Discusses public/private sector differences. Suggests that networking and constructive self-analysis can alleviate some problems. (AYC)

Constructed wetlands for saline wastewater treatment: A review

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Saline wastewater originating from sources such as agriculture, aquaculture, and many industrial sectors usually contains high levels of salts and other contaminants, which can adversely affect both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. Therefore, the treatment of saline wastewater (removal of both sa...

76 FR 67416 - Executive-led Business Development Mission to Kabul, Afghanistan, September 2011 (Dates Are...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-11-01

... DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE International Trade Administration Executive-led Business Development... Commerce's International Trade Administration is organizing a business development trade mission to Kabul... sectors include: construction (including engineering, architecture, transportation and logistics, and...

Chapter 15: Commercial New Construction Evaluation Protocol. The Uniform Methods Project: Methods for Determining Energy Efficiency Savings for Specific Measures

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

Kurnik, Charles W.; Keates, Steven

This protocol is intended to describe the recommended method when evaluating the whole-building performance of new construction projects in the commercial sector. The protocol focuses on energy conservation measures (ECMs) or packages of measures where evaluators can analyze impacts using building simulation. These ECMs typically require the use of calibrated building simulations under Option D of the International Performance Measurement and Verification Protocol (IPMVP).

Energy-dominated local carbon emissions in Beijing 2007: inventory and input-output analysis.

PubMed

Guo, Shan; Liu, J B; Shao, Ling; Li, J S; An, Y R

2012-01-01

For greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by Beijing economy 2007, a concrete emission inventory covering carbon dioxide (CO(2)), methane (CH(4)), and nitrous oxide (N(2)O) is presented and associated with an input-output analysis to reveal the local GHG embodiment in final demand and trade without regard to imported emissions. The total direct GHG emissions amount to 1.06E + 08 t CO(2)-eq, of which energy-related CO(2) emissions comprise 90.49%, non-energy-related CO(2) emissions 6.35%, CH(4) emissions 2.33%, and N(2)O emissions 0.83%, respectively. In terms of energy-related CO(2) emissions, the largest source is coal with a percentage of 53.08%, followed by coke with 10.75% and kerosene with 8.44%. Sector 26 (Construction Industry) holds the top local emissions embodied in final demand of 1.86E + 07 t CO(2)-eq due to its considerable capital, followed by energy-intensive Sectors 27 (Transport and Storage) and 14 (Smelting and Pressing of Ferrous and Nonferrous Metals). The GHG emissions embodied in Beijing's exports are 4.90E + 07 t CO(2)-eq, accounting for 46.01% of the total emissions embodied in final demand. The sound scientific database totally based on local emissions is an important basis to make effective environment and energy policies for local decision makers.

Energy-Dominated Local Carbon Emissions in Beijing 2007: Inventory and Input-Output Analysis

PubMed Central

Guo, Shan; Liu, J. B.; Shao, Ling; Li, J. S.; An, Y. R.

2012-01-01

For greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by Beijing economy 2007, a concrete emission inventory covering carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O) is presented and associated with an input-output analysis to reveal the local GHG embodiment in final demand and trade without regard to imported emissions. The total direct GHG emissions amount to 1.06E + 08 t CO2-eq, of which energy-related CO2 emissions comprise 90.49%, non-energy-related CO2 emissions 6.35%, CH4 emissions 2.33%, and N2O emissions 0.83%, respectively. In terms of energy-related CO2 emissions, the largest source is coal with a percentage of 53.08%, followed by coke with 10.75% and kerosene with 8.44%. Sector 26 (Construction Industry) holds the top local emissions embodied in final demand of 1.86E + 07 t CO2-eq due to its considerable capital, followed by energy-intensive Sectors 27 (Transport and Storage) and 14 (Smelting and Pressing of Ferrous and Nonferrous Metals). The GHG emissions embodied in Beijing's exports are 4.90E + 07 t CO2-eq, accounting for 46.01% of the total emissions embodied in final demand. The sound scientific database totally based on local emissions is an important basis to make effective environment and energy policies for local decision makers. PMID:23193385

Application of life-cycle assessment (LCA) methodology for valorization of building demolition materials and products

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sara, Balazs; Antonini, Ernesto; Tarantini, Mario

2001-02-01

The VAMP project (VAlorization of building demolition Materials and Products, LIFE 98/ENV/IT/33) aims to build an effective and innovative information system to support decision making in selective demolition activity and to manage the valorization (recovery-reuse-recycling) of waste flows produced by the construction and demolition (C&D) sector. The VAMP information system will be tested it in Italy in some case studies of selective demolition. In this paper the proposed demolition-valorization system will be compared to the traditional one in a life cycle perspective, applying LCA methodology to highlight the advantages of VAMP system from an eco-sustainability point of view. Within the system boundaries demolition processes, transport of demolition wastes and its recovery/treatment or disposal in landfill were included. Processes avoided due to reuse-recycling activities, such as extraction of natural resources and manufacture of building materials and components, were considered too. In this paper data collection procedure applied in inventory and impact assessment phases and a general overview about data availability for LCA studies in this sector are presented. Results of application of VAMP methodology to a case study are discussed and compared with a simulated traditional demolition of the same building. Environmental advantages of VAMP demolition-valorization system are demonstrated quantitatively emphasizing the special importance of reuse of building components with high demand of energy for manufacture.

Insurance of risks as the instrument of protection of investments into high-rise construction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vasilyeva, Elena; Okrepilov, Vladimir

2018-03-01

Insurance now is one of the important sectors for both world, and national financial systems. The mechanism of insurance of risks plays an essential role in the process of construction of high-rise buildings and as well as other unique objects. The author argues that insurance is categorically necessary because of the following reasons: huge scale and complexity of high-rise projects and great expenses, the use of unsafe sites for construction, great possible losses in case of the project, important role for the city infrastructure, numerous organizations, involved into the process of construction and maintenance, multypurpose use of the building. The features of insurance in the field of high-rise construction is also considered in the article. The prerequisites, confirming the loss occurrence are named.

Compliance with the workplace-smoking ban in the Netherlands.

PubMed

Verdonk-Kleinjan, Wendy M I; Rijswijk, Pieter C P; de Vries, Hein; Knibbe, Ronald A

2013-02-01

In 2004 the Dutch government instituted a workplace-smoking ban. This study focuses on differences in compliance over time and between occupational sectors, and describes the background variables. Telephone interviews were conducted with company employees across industry, public and service sectors in 2004 (n=705), 2006 (n=2201) and 2008 (n=2034). The questions concerned smoking policy, aspects of awareness and motivation to implement this ban. Compliance rates increased between 2006 (83%) and 2008 (96%) after an initial stagnation in the rate of compliance between 2004 and 2006. The increase in compliance was accompanied by a less negative attitude and an increase in confidence in one's ability to comply (self-efficacy). Differences in compliance between sectors with the highest compliance (public sector) and the lowest compliance (industry) decreased from about 20% to nearly 4%. Simultaneously, in the industry there was a stronger increase for risk perception of enforcement, social influence and self-efficacy. The initial stagnation in increase of compliance might be due to the lack of a (new) coherent package of policy measures to discourage smoking. Over the entire period there was a stronger increase in compliance in the industry sector, probably due to the intensification of enforcement activities and additional policy like legislation, which might increase awareness and social support. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Barriers of lean construction implementation in the Moroccan construction industry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bajjou, Mohamed Saad; Chafi, Anas

2018-04-01

Improving the production system performance has become a fundamental pillar that must be taken into consideration in the construction industry. Recent developments in the construction sector have led to renewed interest in new techniques of management. Lean Construction is a very effective approach that has gained a high popularity by its ability to eliminate waste and maximize the value for the customer. Although both developed and developing countries have gained large benefits by implementing Lean Construction approach, several experiences showed many barriers that are hindering its implementation especially in developing countries. This paper aims to assess the critical barriers to the successful implementation in the Moroccan construction industry. Based on a literature review, followed by an analysis of data collected from a questionnaire survey which targeted 330 practitioners in the Moroccan construction field, several barriers were identified as key barriers. The findings of this investigation revealed that there are significant barriers such as Lack of knowledge about Lean Construction concepts, Unskilled Human Resources, and insufficient financial resources.

Heteronomy in the arts field: state funding and British arts organizations.

PubMed

Alexander, Victoria D

2018-03-01

For Bourdieu, the field of cultural production is comprised of an autonomous and a heteronomous sector. A heteronomous sector is one that is interpenetrated by the commercial field. I discuss an arena that, until recently, was part of the relatively autonomous sector in the field of cultural production - the supported arts sector in the United Kingdom - and argue that it became more heteronomous, due to the penetration by the state. Heteronomy due to the commercial field is present but secondary to, and driven by, the actions of the state. Political parties' attempts to diffuse and legitimate a particular economic ideology have led to state demands that arts institutions adopt neoliberal business practices in exchange for funding. Government giving to the arts, previously at arm's length, proved to be a Faustian bargain that demanded significant repayment in the form of lost autonomy. Coercive pressures from the state, enacted over time, show how the domination of one field over another can occur, even when the domination is resisted. © London School of Economics and Political Science 2017.

Global trade, public health, and health services: stakeholders' constructions of the key issues.

PubMed

Waitzkin, Howard; Jasso-Aguilar, Rebeca; Landwehr, Angela; Mountain, Carolyn

2005-09-01

Focusing mainly on the United States and Latin America, we aimed to identify the constructions of social reality held by the major stakeholders participating in policy debates about global trade, public health, and health services. In a multi-method, qualitative design, we used three sources of data: research and archival literature, 1980-2004; interviews with key informants who represented major organizations participating in these debates, 2002-2004; and organizational reports, 1980-2004. We targeted several types of organizations: government agencies, international financial institutions (IFIs) and trade organizations, international health organizations, multinational corporations, and advocacy groups. Many governments in Latin America define health as a right and health services as a public good. Thus, the government bears responsibility for that right. In contrast, the US government's philosophy of free trade and promoting a market economy assumes that by expanding the private sector, improved economic conditions will improve overall health with a minimum government provision of health care. US government agencies also view promotion of global health as a means to serve US interests. IFIs have emphasized reforms that include reduction and privatization of public sector services. International health organizations have tended to adopt the policy perspectives of IFIs and trade organizations. Advocacy groups have emphasized the deleterious effects of international trade agreements on public health and health services. Organizational stakeholders hold widely divergent constructions of reality regarding trade, public health, and health services. Social constructions concerning trade and health reflect broad ideologies concerning the impacts of market processes. Such constructions manifest features of "creed," regarding the role of the market in advancing human purposes and meeting human needs. Differences in constructions of trade and health constrain policies to address the profound changes generated by global trade.

SAFRR Tsunami Scenario: Economic Impacts and Resilience

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wein, A. M.; Rose, A.; Sue Wing, I.; Wei, D.

2013-12-01

Business interruption (BI) losses for the SAFRR tsunami scenario are derived from the forecasted physical damages of about 100 million at the Ports of Los Angeles (LA) and Long Beach (LB), and 700 million in marina damages, and 2 billion in inundated property damages along the California coast. Economic impacts are measured by the reduction in California's gross domestic product (GDP). The analysis involves several steps. First, estimates are made of immediate business interruption losses due to physical damage to facilities or to disruption of production. Second, total economic impacts (consisting of both direct and indirect effects) are measured by a general equilibrium (quantity and price multiplier effects) of lost production in other sectors through ripple effects upstream and downstream along the supply chain. Third, many types of resilience are applied to demonstrate their potential reductions of the impacts. At the Ports of LA and LB, a two-day port shutdown, cargo losses, and additional terminal downtimes would expose 1.2 billion of trade (import and export) value associated with over 4 billion of BI losses. The sectors potentially most affected by trade disruptions are leather, metal, and motor vehicle manufacturing. Excess capacity, inventories, export conversion, and conservation could reduce the direct trade impacts by 85%. Production recapture alone (including clearing the backlog of waiting ships) could reduce BI losses by 85%. The Port of LA commercial fishing would be subject to damages to the fleet, perished fish that cannot be landed, and lost fishing days. Although BI losses are relatively small, the southern Californian fishing sector could incur a 4% drop in output. The impacts would depend on the speed at which boats are repaired and whether lost fishing days can be made up. Ship-building and repair could also be negatively affected, but these impacts would be offset somewhat by reconstruction. Effects on commercial fishing in other locations were not closely examined to assess the impacts. Extensive damages to marinas along the California coast could result in 30 million BI losses in terms of GDP. Interestingly, the service sectors including and relating to marinas (recreation, food services, and retail) indicate possible gains (of .02-1%) from price increases greater than the losses from quantity decreases. Sectors associated with development (residential construction, water and sewage, and health care) could suffer the most with losses of .03% or less. However, these sectors will likely also be bolstered by reconstruction. Economic hardships would be localized and the resilience of the marina sector would depend on alternative moorings and excess capacity elsewhere. Inundated coastal property damages could generate 1.7 billion of BI losses. Application of sector recapture factors (e.g., using overtime) alone could reduce these losses by 80%. For the overall set of loss categories, BI losses amount to 6 billion, and resilience strategies indicate the potential to reduce these economic impacts by 80-90%.

Industry Training: Causes and Consequences.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, Andrew; Freeland, Brett

Research on Australian organizations in five industry sectors--building and construction, food processing, electronics manufacturing, retailing, and finance and banking--has identified these three key drivers of enterprise training: workplace change, quality assurance, and new technology. Operation of the training drivers is moderated by a range…

77 FR 42482 - Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-07-19

... Public Works and Economic Development program, as well as its Economic Adjustment Assistance (EEA) program. Public Works and Economic Development Program investments help support the construction or rehabilitation of essential public infrastructure and facilities necessary to generate or retain private sector...

Exploring Market State and Stock Interactions on the Minute Timescale

PubMed Central

Tan, Lei; Chen, Jun-Jie; Zheng, Bo; Ouyang, Fang-Yan

2016-01-01

A stock market is a non-stationary complex system. The stock interactions are important for understanding the state of the market. However, our knowledge on the stock interactions on the minute timescale is limited. Here we apply the random matrix theory and methods in complex networks to study the stock interactions and sector interactions. Further, we construct a new kind of cross-correlation matrix to investigate the correlation between the stock interactions at different minutes within one trading day. Based on 50 million minute-to-minute price data in the Shanghai stock market, we discover that the market states in the morning and afternoon are significantly different. The differences mainly exist in three aspects, i.e. the co-movement of stock prices, interactions of sectors and correlation between the stock interactions at different minutes. In the afternoon, the component stocks of sectors are more robust and the structure of sectors is firmer. Therefore, the market state in the afternoon is more stable. Furthermore, we reveal that the information of the sector interactions can indicate the financial crisis in the market, and the indicator based on the empirical data in the afternoon is more effective. PMID:26900948

Exploring Market State and Stock Interactions on the Minute Timescale.

PubMed

Tan, Lei; Chen, Jun-Jie; Zheng, Bo; Ouyang, Fang-Yan

2016-01-01

A stock market is a non-stationary complex system. The stock interactions are important for understanding the state of the market. However, our knowledge on the stock interactions on the minute timescale is limited. Here we apply the random matrix theory and methods in complex networks to study the stock interactions and sector interactions. Further, we construct a new kind of cross-correlation matrix to investigate the correlation between the stock interactions at different minutes within one trading day. Based on 50 million minute-to-minute price data in the Shanghai stock market, we discover that the market states in the morning and afternoon are significantly different. The differences mainly exist in three aspects, i.e. the co-movement of stock prices, interactions of sectors and correlation between the stock interactions at different minutes. In the afternoon, the component stocks of sectors are more robust and the structure of sectors is firmer. Therefore, the market state in the afternoon is more stable. Furthermore, we reveal that the information of the sector interactions can indicate the financial crisis in the market, and the indicator based on the empirical data in the afternoon is more effective.

Persistence as the path from motivation to performance in the Papua New Guinea health sector.

PubMed

Elich, Luke

2009-01-01

This paper considers how the individual capacity states of motivation, confidence, skill and ability relate to performance, and identifies a crucial role for the discretionary behaviour of individuals: specifically, employee persistence and innovation. The study Understanding the people and performance link: unlocking the black box undertaken by Purcell and colleagues is relied upon in constructing a theoretical framework for the conceptual interrelationships between performance and the human-resource-mediating variables, which is then applied within the Papua New Guinea (PNG) health sector context. The study by Purcell and colleagues, which was informed by organizations with well-developed and functioning human resource policies and practices, is distinguished from the PNG health sector, where human resource frameworks are largely ineffective--yet it is determined that the importance of 'discretionary behaviour' relative to performance, whilst varied, is undiminished.

Demographic and occupational correlates of workaholism.

PubMed

Taris, Toon W; Van Beek, Ilona; Schaufeli, Wilmar B

2012-04-01

Drawing on a convenience sample of 9,160 Dutch employees, the present study examined whether commonly held ideas about the associations between demographic, professional, and occupational characteristics and workaholism would be observed. For example, it is sometimes assumed that managers are more likely to display workaholic tendencies than others. Analysis of variance was used to relate workaholism scores (measured as the combination of working excessively and working compulsively) to participant age, sex, employment status (self-employed or not), profession, and occupational sector. Relatively high average scores on workaholism were obtained by workers in the agriculture, construction, communication, consultancy, and commerce/trade sectors, as well as managers and higher professionals. Low scores were found for those in the public administration and services industry sectors, and for nurses, social workers, and paramedics. The other characteristics were not or only weakly related to workaholism.

Health Resources in a 200,000 Urban Indian Population Argues the Need for a Policy on Private Sector Health Services

PubMed Central

Furtado, Kheya Melo; Kar, Anita

2014-01-01

Background: There are limited primary data on the number of urban health care providers in private practice in developing countries like India. These data are needed to construct and test models that measure the efficacy of public stewardship of private sector health services. Objective: This study reports the number and characteristics of health resources in a 200 000 urban population in Pune. Materials and Methods: Data on health providers were collected by walking through the 15.46 sq km study area. Enumerated data were compared with existing data sources. Mapping was carried out using a Global Positioning System device. Metrics and characteristics of health resources were analyzed using ArcGIS 10.0 and Statistical Package for the Social Sciences, Version 16.0 software. Results: Private sector health facilities constituted the majority (424/426, 99.5%) of health care services. Official data sources were only 39% complete. Doctor to population ratios were 2.8 and 0.03 per 1000 persons respectively in the private and public sector, and the nurse to doctor ratio was 0.24 and 0.71, respectively. There was an uneven distribution of private sector health services across the area (2-118 clinics per square kilometre). Bed strength was forty-fold higher in the private sector. Conclusions: Mandatory registration of private sector health services needs to be implemented which will provide an opportunity for public health planners to utilize these health resources to achieve urban health goals. PMID:24963226

Health resources in a 200,000 urban Indian population argues the need for a policy on private sector health services.

PubMed

Furtado, Kheya Melo; Kar, Anita

2014-04-01

There are limited primary data on the number of urban health care providers in private practice in developing countries like India. These data are needed to construct and test models that measure the efficacy of public stewardship of private sector health services. This study reports the number and characteristics of health resources in a 200 000 urban population in Pune. Data on health providers were collected by walking through the 15.46 sq km study area. Enumerated data were compared with existing data sources. Mapping was carried out using a Global Positioning System device. Metrics and characteristics of health resources were analyzed using ArcGIS 10.0 and Statistical Package for the Social Sciences, Version 16.0 software. Private sector health facilities constituted the majority (424/426, 99.5%) of health care services. Official data sources were only 39% complete. Doctor to population ratios were 2.8 and 0.03 per 1000 persons respectively in the private and public sector, and the nurse to doctor ratio was 0.24 and 0.71, respectively. There was an uneven distribution of private sector health services across the area (2-118 clinics per square kilometre). Bed strength was forty-fold higher in the private sector. Mandatory registration of private sector health services needs to be implemented which will provide an opportunity for public health planners to utilize these health resources to achieve urban health goals.

Intermediate load-center photovoltaic application experiments

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

Burgess, E. L.

1980-01-01

A total of nine intermediate load-center photovoltaic systems were carried into the construction phase this year. These nine systems range in size from 20 to 225 kW/sub p/ electrical output and total almost 1 MW/sub p/. They are being installed in a diverse set of applications and locations and represent the bulk of the photovoltaic initial system evaluation experiments (ISEE) for the intermediate load-center sector. Each of these experiments are briefly described and the status of the construction phase is given for each project.

Work-related to musculoskeletal disorder amongst Malaysian construction trade workers: Bricklayers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lop, Nor Suzila; Kamar, Izatul Farrita Mohd; Aziz, Mohd Nasiruddin Abdul; Abdullah, Lizawati; Akhir, Norizan Mt

2017-10-01

Construction sector is one of the highest risk industries contributing to the development of work-related musculoskeletal disorders. In general construction activities involve the composition of various construction trades, such as painting, plastering, concreting, paving and bricklaying. Different construction trades workers are exposed to risk factors depending their job and task. There are risk factors associated with the construction trade workers activities such as concrete work, brickwork, piling work excavation works and etc. Thus, the aim of this research is to document the critical activities that affect the musculoskeletal disorders amongst Malaysian construction trade workers, in particular to the bricklayers. The objective of this research is to identify the critical activities that affect to the musculoskeletal disorder among the bricklayers. The data for this research was collected via observation to the construction workers for the specific trades which are bricklayers in Perak. Finding of this research is by identifying the critical activities involved that affect the musculoskeletal disorder suffering among bricklayers.

Sectoral networks and macroeconomic tail risks in an emerging economy.

PubMed

Romero, Pedro P; López, Ricardo; Jiménez, Carlos

2018-01-01

This paper aims to explain the macroeconomic volatility due to microeconomic shocks to one or several sectors, recognizing the non-symmetrical relation in the interaction among the Ecuadorian economic sectors. To grasp the economic structure of this emerging economy, a statistical analysis of network data is applied to the respective input-output matrix of Ecuador from 1975 until 2012. We find periods wherein the production of domestic inputs is concentrated in a few suppliers; for example, in 2010, the concentration significantly affects sectors and their downstream providers, thus influencing aggregate volatility. Compared to the US productive structure, this emerging economy presents fewer sectors and degree distributions with less extreme fat-tail behavior. In this simpler economy, we continue to find a link between microeconomic shocks and aggregate volatility. Two new theoretical propositions are introduced to formalize our results.

Sectoral networks and macroeconomic tail risks in an emerging economy

PubMed Central

López, Ricardo; Jiménez, Carlos

2018-01-01

This paper aims to explain the macroeconomic volatility due to microeconomic shocks to one or several sectors, recognizing the non-symmetrical relation in the interaction among the Ecuadorian economic sectors. To grasp the economic structure of this emerging economy, a statistical analysis of network data is applied to the respective input-output matrix of Ecuador from 1975 until 2012. We find periods wherein the production of domestic inputs is concentrated in a few suppliers; for example, in 2010, the concentration significantly affects sectors and their downstream providers, thus influencing aggregate volatility. Compared to the US productive structure, this emerging economy presents fewer sectors and degree distributions with less extreme fat-tail behavior. In this simpler economy, we continue to find a link between microeconomic shocks and aggregate volatility. Two new theoretical propositions are introduced to formalize our results. PMID:29293567

Life quality and living standards in big cities under conditions of high-rise construction development

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Avdeeva, Elena; Averina, Tatiana; Kochetova, Larisa

2018-03-01

Modern urbanization processes occurring on a global scale inevitably lead to an increase in population density in large cities. People assess the state of life quality and living standards of megalopolises under conditions of high-rise construction development ambiguously. Using SWOT analysis, the authors distinguished positive and negative aspects of high-rise construction, highlighted threats to its development and its opportunities. The article considers the model of development of the city's industry and infrastructure, which enables determining the optimal volume of production by sectors and branches of city economy in order to increase its innovative, production and economic potential and business activity.

76 FR 67404 - Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-11-01

.... Economic census statistics serve as part of the framework for the national accounts and provides essential... essential source of detailed, comprehensive economic information for use in policymaking and program....S. Census Bureau. Title: 2012 Economic Census Covering the Construction Sector. OMB Control Number...

United States housing brief, August 2017

Treesearch

Delton Alderman

2018-01-01

The bright spot in September was new single-family sales, but housing starts appear to have stalled on a monthly basis. Regionally, data were mixed across all sectors. New construction spending’s contribution to U.S. gross domestic product decreased on a quarterly basis.

United States housing brief, September 2017

Treesearch

Delton Alderman

2018-01-01

The bright spot in September was new single-family sales, but housing starts appear to have stalled on a monthly basis. Regionally, data were mixed across all sectors. New construction spending’s contribution to U.S. gross domestic product decreased on a quarterly basis.

Double cropping opportunities for biomass crops in the North Central USA

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Increased biomass crop production is essential for the development of sustainablae bioenergy and bio-product industries that will strengthen rural economies and increase employment in sectors ranging from farming to feedstock transportation to plant construction and operation. Double cropping, a far...

Sustainable Leadership and the Implication for the General Further Education College Sector

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lambert, Steve

2011-01-01

The purpose of this article is to review the models of sustainable leadership which are currently available in the compulsory sector to establish whether the models are appropriate for post-compulsory education, and in particular for general further education colleges. Due to the complexities of the environment in which further education colleges…

A New Classification Scheme for For-Profit Institutions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Institute for Higher Education Policy, 2012

2012-01-01

For-profit institutions are more visible today among policymakers, researchers, and investors, due in large part to the sharp rise in the number of students attending them over the last decade. From 2000 to 2009, enrollment in the for-profit sector tripled while enrollment in the public and not-for-profit sectors increased by less than 25 percent.…

Dues and Deep Pockets: Public-Sector Unions' Money Machine. Civic Report. No. 67

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

DiSalvo, Daniel

2012-01-01

At first glance, public-sector labor unions are just one of many types of organizations that participate in the political process. However, these unions differ significantly from other interest groups made up of individual citizens or non-labor organizations. Because their members' interests are tied to government policy, these unions are more…

Estimating the Effect of Leaders on Public Sector Productivity: The Case of School Principals. Working Paper 66

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Branch, Gregory F.; Hanushek, Eric A.; Rivkin, Steven G.

2012-01-01

Although much has been written about the importance of leadership in the determination of organizational success, there is little quantitative evidence due to the difficulty of separating the impact of leaders from other organizational components--particularly in the public sector. Schools provide an especially rich environment for studying the…

Educating and Training out of Poverty? Adult Provision and the Informal Sector in Fishing Communities, South Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Petersen, Carolyn

2007-01-01

This paper looks at access to adult education and vocational education and training (VET) provision in fishing communities in the Western Cape, South Africa. Fishing communities are being disadvantaged due to geographical and socio-political marginalisation, and the predominance of informal sector employment in the context of worldwide marine…

A Due Diligence Report on New Zealand's Educational Contribution to the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chapman, David; Flaws, Mary; Le Heron, Richard

2006-01-01

Rather than assuming New Zealand's educational sectors and institutions will be active and effective contributors to the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (UNDESD) the authors ask instead: "Are New Zealand's school and university sectors actually in a position to respond programmatically to the UN…

Practicing Research Ethics: Private-Sector Physicians & Pharmaceutical Clinical Trials

PubMed Central

2008-01-01

This paper focuses on constructions of research ethics by primary care physicians in the USA as they engage in contract research for the pharmaceutical industry. Drawing first upon historical studies of physicians as investigators and then upon 12 months of qualitative fieldwork in the South Western US, this paper analyzes the shifting, contextualized ethics that shape physicians’ relationships with patients/subjects and pharmaceutical companies. Just as physicians followed professional codes of ethics prior to the codification of acceptable research conduct in the 1980s, physicians today continue to develop tacit systems of research ethics. This paper argues that private-sector physicians primarily conceptualize their ethical conduct in relation to the pharmaceutical companies hiring them, not to human subjects they enroll in clinical trials. This is not to say that these physicians do not follow the formal U.S. regulation to protect human subjects, but rather that their financial relationships with the pharmaceutical industry have a greater influence on their identities as researchers and on their constructions of their ethical responsibilities. PMID:18353515

SO(N) restricted Schur polynomials

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

Kemp, Garreth, E-mail: garreth.kemp@students.wits.ac.za

2015-02-15

We focus on the 1/4-BPS sector of free super Yang-Mills theory with an SO(N) gauge group. This theory has an AdS/CFT (an equivalence between a conformal field theory in d-1 dimensions and type II string theory defined on an AdS space in d-dimensions) dual in the form of type IIB string theory with AdS{sub 5}×RP{sup 5} geometry. With the aim of studying excited giant graviton dynamics, we construct an orthogonal basis for this sector of the gauge theory in this work. First, we demonstrate that the counting of states, as given by the partition function, and the counting of restrictedmore » Schur polynomials match by restricting to a particular class of Young diagram labels. We then give an explicit construction of these gauge invariant operators and evaluate their two-point function exactly. This paves the way to studying the spectral problem of these operators and their D-brane duals.« less

Practicing research ethics: private-sector physicians & pharmaceutical clinical trials.

PubMed

Fisher, Jill A

2008-06-01

This paper focuses on constructions of research ethics by primary care physicians in the USA as they engage in contract research for the pharmaceutical industry. Drawing first on historical studies of physicians as investigators and then on 12 months of qualitative fieldwork in the Southwestern US, this paper analyzes the shifting, contextualized ethics that shape physicians' relationships with patients/subjects and pharmaceutical companies. Just as physicians followed professional codes of ethics prior to the codification of acceptable research conduct in the 1980s, physicians today continue to develop tacit systems of research ethics. This paper argues that private-sector physicians primarily conceptualize their ethical conduct in relation to the pharmaceutical companies hiring them, not to human subjects they enroll in clinical trials. This is not to say that these physicians do not follow the formal U.S. regulation to protect human subjects, but rather that their financial relationships with the pharmaceutical industry have a greater influence on their identities as researchers and on their constructions of their ethical responsibilities.

Effects of global financial crisis on network structure in a local stock market

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nobi, Ashadun; Maeng, Seong Eun; Ha, Gyeong Gyun; Lee, Jae Woo

2014-08-01

This study considers the effects of the 2008 global financial crisis on threshold networks of a local Korean financial market around the time of the crisis. Prices of individual stocks belonging to KOSPI 200 (Korea Composite Stock Price Index 200) are considered for three time periods, namely before, during, and after the crisis. Threshold networks are constructed from fully connected cross-correlation networks, and thresholds of cross-correlation coefficients are assigned to obtain threshold networks. At the high threshold, only one large cluster consisting of firms in the financial sector, heavy industry, and construction is observed during the crisis. However, before and after the crisis, there are several fragmented clusters belonging to various sectors. The power law of the degree distribution in threshold networks is observed within the limited range of thresholds. Threshold networks are fatter during the crisis than before or after the crisis. The clustering coefficient of the threshold network follows the power law in the scaling range.

The factors impacted to local contractor from Foreign Direct Investment in advancing economic hub development in Iskandar Malaysia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Syafiq Salim, Muhamad; Zakaria, Rozana; Aminuddin, Eeydzah; Hamid, Abdul Rahim Abdul; Abdullah, Redzuan; Shahzaib Khan, Jam

2018-04-01

Iskandar Malaysia is an advanced economic hub which is rapidly growing in the State of Johor. It has been an attractive place for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) to invest. Many sectors are affected by the presence of FDI including the construction sector. This paper highlights the investigation on the effects of FDI to the local contractor in the Iskandar Malaysia Development. In this study, a questionnaire survey was carried out to gain the information on problems from internal factors and external factors that caused the limitation on involvement in FDI project by local contractors. 73 numbers of local contractor registered under CIDB in class G5, G6 and G7 are the respondents. Frequency analysis and Average Index Analysis are used for the results. This study provides the factors that impacted local construction players in Iskandar Malaysia Development. This study has portrayed that FDI plays a vital and significant role in spearheading the active involvement of local contractors in an urban sustainable development.

Air Quality, Human Health and Climate Implications of China's Synthetic Natural Gas Development

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Qin, Y.; Mauzerall, D. L.; Wagner, F.; Smith, K. R.; Peng, W.; Yang, J.; Zhu, T.

2016-12-01

Facing severe air pollution and growing dependence on natural gas imports, the Chinese government is planning an enormous increase in synthetic natural gas (SNG) production. Although displacement of coal with SNG benefits air quality, it increases carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and thus worsens climate change. Primarily due to variation in air pollutant and CO2 emission factors as well as energy efficiencies across sectors and regions, the replacement of coal with SNG results in varying degrees of air quality and adverse climate impacts. Here we conduct an integrated assessment to estimate the air quality, human health, and adverse climate impacts of various sectoral and regional SNG substitution strategies for coal in China in 2020. We find that using all planned production of SNG in the residential sector results in an annual decrease of approximately 43,000 (22,000 to 63,000) outdoor-air-pollution-associated Chinese premature mortalities, with ranges determined by the low and high estimates of relative risks. If changes in indoor/household air pollution were also included the decrease would be larger. By comparison, this is a 10 and 60 times greater reduction in premature mortalities than obtained when the SNG displaces coal in the industrial or power sectors, respectively. Deploying SNG as a coal replacement in the industrial or power sectors also has a 4-5 times higher carbon penalty than utilization in the residential sector due to inefficiencies in current household coal use. If carbon capture and storage (CCS) is used in SNG production, substituting SNG for coal can provide both air quality and climate co-benefits in all scenarios. However, even with CCS, SNG emits 22-40% (depending on end-use) more CO2 than the same amount of conventional gas. For existing SNG projects, we find displacing coal with SNG in the residential sector provides the largest air quality and health benefits with the smallest carbon penalties of deployment in any sector.

Exploring Measures to Control Road Traffic Injuries in Iran: Key Informants Points of View.

PubMed

Salari, Hedayat; Motevalian, Seyed Abbas; Arab, Mohammad; Esfandiari, Atefeh; Akbari Sari, Ali

2017-05-01

Injuries and fatalities from road traffic Injuries are global public health concerns, and a major problem in the Iran. This study aimed to explore strategies to control road traffic Injuries (RTI) in Iran. We conducted a qualitative study to explore possible ways to reduce the occurrence of road traffic Injuries in Iran in 2016. Interviewees were purposively sampled from various sectors due to multidisciplinary nature of RTIs. Participants were mainly representatives from the police, Ministry of Road, Municipal, emergency services and Ministry of Health. Besides, public health authorities, researchers, and university professors were interviewed. We conducted in-depth interviews using generic guides. Data was analyzed using MAXQDA 10 software. Through content analysis, we interpreted core themes relevant to the accomplishment of our study objectives. Themes that emerged from our study include; road traffic management, governance, education, improving accident database, enforcement, driving license restrictions, and construction of pedestrian overpass. This study revealed key informants' views regarding available and affordable solutions to reduce RTIs in Iran. Many applicable strategies are identified in the control of RTIs in Iran. Although some solutions such as highway construction and/or expanding rail transportation have been suggested as effective measures for reducing accident, but they are costly and may not be fully applied in developing countries like Iran.

Meeting the psychological needs of community-living stroke patients and carers: a study of third sector provision.

PubMed

Morris, Reg

2016-01-01

To elucidate how community stroke staff in a major third sector organisation experienced their role and understood and responded to clients' psychological needs. In stage 1, three focus groups of 28 staff in total were recorded, transcribed and analysed using inductive thematic analysis. Themes were authenticated by new staff groups. In stage 2, these themes informed the construction of a questionnaire delivered through the organisation's intranet by "Survey Monkey". Five themes emerged from the focus groups: background and context; perceptions of clients' psychological issues; approaches to meeting psychological needs; the experience of working with psychological needs and sources of support; aspirations for future development. Four themes were used in constructing the questionnaire. Responses from 144 staff with diverse qualifications and experience were received; over half encountered 16 (of 35) psychological issues at least once per week. Stroke survivors' needs predominated over carers' needs. Skills used to address psychological problems were identified, also training and support needs and future aspirations. Support needs included information, training and access to specialist consultants. Psychological issues were central in the work of third sector community stroke staff; psychological skills were routinely used. Attention to means of supporting and developing these skills is required. Service leaders and commissioners should be aware that third sector community stroke staff frequently deal with a diverse range of psychological issues and perceive psychological care as central. Service leaders should consider providing training in assessment and management of mood and cognition, risk assessment and management and basic counselling. Staff should be provided with access to specialist consultation and better information about psychological aspects of referrals. There is uncertainty about key methods for supporting the delivery of psychological care (supervision, mentoring and peer support) which requires consideration.

Prevalence and Health Correlates of Work-Life Conflict among Blue- and White-Collar Workers from Different Economic Sectors

PubMed Central

Hämmig, Oliver

2014-01-01

The research on work-life conflict (WLC) is largely neglected in occupational medicine and public health and typically limited to white-collar workers and public servants. This study therefore aims to explore possible differences in the prevalence of WLC and its association with health outcomes between white- and blue-collar workers from different work environments in Switzerland. Cross-sectional survey data collected in 2007 in the service sector and in 2010 in the industrial sector were used for statistical analyses. A subsample of university graduates employed by large service companies (N = 1,170) from the first survey’s population was taken and compared with a subsample of low or unskilled industrial and construction workers with no or only compulsory education (N = 489) from the second survey’s population. The results show almost consistently, and particularly in women, a lower prevalence of time- and strain-based forms and both causal directions of WLC in blue-collar workers. However, associations between different WLC measures and general, physical and mental health outcomes were found to be equally strong or even stronger among blue-collar workers compared to white-collar workers. Low or unskilled industrial and construction workers are less frequently affected by higher degrees of WLC but are then at no lower risk of suffering poor self-rated health or severe backaches and sleep disorders than university graduates working in the service sector with comparable exposure to WLC. In conclusion, it can be stated that WLC turned out to be much less prevalent but equally or even more detrimental to health in blue-collar workers, who therefore need to be considered in future studies. PMID:25426483

Review of Sector and Regional Trends in U.S. Electricity Markets. Focus on Natural Gas. Natural Gas and the Evolving U.S. Power Sector Monograph Series. Number 1 of 3

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

Logan, Jeffrey; Medlock, III, Kenneth B.; Boyd, William C.

2015-10-15

This study explores dynamics related to natural gas use at the national, sectoral, and regional levels, with an emphasis on the power sector. It relies on a data set from SNL Financial to analyze recent trends in the U.S. power sector at the regional level. The research aims to provide decision and policy makers with objective and credible information, data, and analysis that informs their discussions of a rapidly changing energy system landscape. This study also summarizes regional changes in natural gas demand within the power sector. The transition from coal to natural gas is occurring rapidly along the entiremore » eastern portion of the country, but is relatively stagnant in the central and western regions. This uneven shift is occurring due to differences in fuel price costs, renewable energy targets, infrastructure constraints, historical approach to regulation, and other factors across states.« less

Use of engineered nanomaterials in the construction industry with specific emphasis on paints and their flows in construction and demolition waste in Switzerland.

PubMed

Hincapié, Ingrid; Caballero-Guzman, Alejandro; Hiltbrunner, David; Nowack, Bernd

2015-09-01

One sector where the use of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) is supposed to offer novel or improved functionalities is the construction industry. During the renovation or demolition of buildings, ENMs contained in former construction materials will enter recycling systems or become construction waste. Currently, information about ENM flows in these processes is insufficient. The potential for the release of ENMs from this waste into the environment is unknown, as are the environmental impacts. To evaluate whether there is currently any nano-relevant construction and demolition waste (C&DW) originating from buildings, we evaluated the sources and flows of ENMs in C&DW and identified their potential exposure pathways. A survey of business representatives of Swiss companies in this sector found that ENMs are mainly used in paints and cement. The most frequently used ENMs in the Swiss housing construction industry are nano-TiO2, nano-SiO2, nano-ZnO, and nano-Ag. Using a bottom-up, semi-quantitative approach, we estimated the flows of ENMs contained in paints along the product's life cycle from buildings to recycling and landfill. The flows of ENMs are determined by their associated flows of building materials. We estimated an annual amount of ENMs used in paints of 14t of TiO2, 12t of SiO2, 5t of ZnO, and 0.2t of Ag. The majority of ENMs contained in paints in Switzerland enter recycling systems (23t/y), a smaller amount is disposed directly in landfills (7t/y), and a tiny fraction of ENM waste is incinerated (0.01t/y). Our results allow a qualitative determination of the potential release of ENMs into technical or environmental compartments, with the highest potential release expected during recycling. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

N =1 supergravitational heterotic galileons

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Deen, Rehan; Ovrut, Burt

2017-11-01

Heterotic M -theory consists of a five-dimensional manifold of the form S 1 / Z 2 × M 4. It has been shown that one of the two orbifold planes, the "observable" sector, can have a low energy particle spectrum which is precisely the N = 1 super-symmetric standard model with three right-handed neutrino chiral supermultiplets. The other orbifold plane constitutes a "hidden" sector which, since its communication with the observable sector is suppressed, will be ignored in this paper. However, the finite fifth-dimension allows for the existence of three-brane solitons which, in order to render the vacuum anomaly free, must appear. That is, heterotic M -theory provides a natural framework for brane-world cosmological scenarios coupled to realistic particle physics. The complete worldvolume action of such three-branes is unknown. Here, treating these solitons as probe branes, we construct their scalar worldvolume Lagrangian as a derivative expansion of the heterotic DBI action. In analogy with similar calculations in the M 5 and AdS 5 context, this leads to the construction of "heterotic Galileons". However, realistic vacua of heterotic M -theory are necessarily N = 1 supersymmetric in four dimensions. Hence, we proceed to supersymmetrize the three-brane worldvolume action, first in flat superspace and then extend the results to N = 1 supergravity. Such a worldvolume action may lead to interesting cosmology, such as "bouncing" universe models, by allowing for the violation of the Null Energy Condition (NEC).

The Use of Citation Counting to Identify Research Trends

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rothman, Harry; Woodhead, Michael

1971-01-01

The analysis and application of manpower statistics to identify some long-term international research trends in economic entomology and pest conrol are described. Movements in research interests, particularly towards biological methods of control, correlations between these sectors, and the difficulties encountered in the construction of a…

75 FR 82075 - Notice of Quarterly Report (July 1, 2010-September 30, 2010)

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-12-29

... Project. transportation to annual daily traffic)-- increase tourism Efate: Ring Road. and business Traffic... tourism pottery workshops. and artisan Construction and sectors. rehabilitation of Fez Medina Sites... through investments in the road network. Rural Land Governance Project.... $59,934,615 Increase investment...

Developing improved opportunities for the recycle and reuse of materials in road, bridge and construction projects : [summary].

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2014-01-01

Reducing waste and reusing materials is now : a part of the everyday fabric of life. Recycling : glass, paper, and plastic is an activity in many : households and businesses. Similarly, the : transportation sector generates huge quantities : of concr...

Potential of Progressive Construction Systems in Slovakia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kozlovska, Maria; Spisakova, Marcela; Mackova, Daniela

2017-10-01

Construction industry is a sector with rapid development. Progressive technologies of construction and new construction materials also called modern methods of construction (MMC) are developed constantly. MMC represent the adoption of construction industrialisation and the use of prefabrication of components in building construction. One of these modern methods is also system Varianthaus, which is based on, insulated concrete forms principle and provides complete production plant for wall, ceiling and roof elements for a high thermal insulation house construction. Another progressive construction system is EcoB, which represents an insulated precast concrete panel based on combination of two layers, insulation and concrete, produced in a factory as a whole. Both modern methods of construction are not yet known and wide-spread in the Slovak construction market. The aim of this paper is focused on demonstration of MMC using potential in Slovakia. MMC potential is proved based on comparison of the selected parameters of construction process - construction costs and construction time. The subject of this study is family house modelled in three material variants - masonry construction (as a representative of traditional methods of construction), Varianthaus and EcoB (as the representatives of modern methods of construction). The results of this study provide the useful information in decision-making process for potential investors of construction.

Development of energy consumption and energy efficiency potential in the Brazilian industrial sector according to the Integrated Energy Planning Model (IEPM)

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

Tolmasquim, M.T.; Szklo, A.S.; Cohen, C.

This paper presents the development of energy consumption in the Brazilian industrial sector and energy efficiency potential based on the analysis undertaken through a model developed in the Energy Planning Program at COPPE/UFRJ, known as the Integrated Energy Planning Model (IEPM). The study starts by presenting the IEPM, which is a technical and economic parameter-based model designed to forecast energy supplies and consumption for all economic sectors in Brazil, within three scenarios. Outlines of all three scenarios are presented, as they were constructed according to certain specific assumptions. The industrial sector was broken down into eleven sub-sectors: food and beverages,more » ceramics, cement, iron and steel, mining and pelletizing, ferroalloys, non-ferrous metals and others (metallurgy), chemicals, pulp and paper, textiles and other industries (MME, 1998). All these sub-sectors will also be presented as well as the results of the scenario forecasts. Results deriving from these forecasts come from very specific studies that analyze all process steps in each sub-sector in order to propose energy replacements, efficiency improvements of structural production alterations that result in major potential energy consumption reductions. Last but not least, this paper gives the development forecasts deriving from the three scenarios over ten years, with their contributions to energy efficiency in the Brazilian industrial sector, showing that the authors can reduce energy consumption in the Brazilian industrial sector by: substituting less efficient processes by more efficient ones, through the conversion of final energy into usable energy, basically, in the cement and aluminum industries; replacing equipment and energy sources; modifying product mix of several industries (pulp and paper), assigning top priority to producing goods with higher added value that are less energy intensive, and, finally, reducing the share held by some energy intensive sectors in the industrial output.« less

Benefits Assessment of Algorithmically Combining Generic High Altitude Airspace Sectors

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bloem, Michael; Gupta, Pramod; Lai, Chok Fung; Kopardekar, Parimal

2009-01-01

In today's air traffic control operations, sectors that have traffic demand below capacity are combined so that fewer controller teams are required to manage air traffic. Controllers in current operations are certified to control a group of six to eight sectors, known as an area of specialization. Sector combinations are restricted to occur within areas of specialization. Since there are few sector combination possibilities in each area of specialization, human supervisors can effectively make sector combination decisions. In the future, automation and procedures will allow any appropriately trained controller to control any of a large set of generic sectors. The primary benefit of this will be increased controller staffing flexibility. Generic sectors will also allow more options for combining sectors, making sector combination decisions difficult for human supervisors. A sector-combining algorithm can assist supervisors as they make generic sector combination decisions. A heuristic algorithm for combining under-utilized air space sectors to conserve air traffic control resources has been described and analyzed. Analysis of the algorithm and comparisons with operational sector combinations indicate that this algorithm could more efficiently utilize air traffic control resources than current sector combinations. This paper investigates the benefits of using the sector-combining algorithm proposed in previous research to combine high altitude generic airspace sectors. Simulations are conducted in which all the high altitude sectors in a center are allowed to combine, as will be possible in generic high altitude airspace. Furthermore, the algorithm is adjusted to use a version of the simplified dynamic density (SDD) workload metric that has been modified to account for workload reductions due to automatic handoffs and Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast (ADS-B). This modified metric is referred to here as future simplified dynamic density (FSDD). Finally, traffic demand sets with increased air traffic demand are used in the simulations to capture the expected growth in air traffic demand by the mid-term.

Air quality, health, and climate implications of China’s synthetic natural gas development

PubMed Central

Qin, Yue; Wagner, Fabian; Scovronick, Noah; Yang, Junnan; Zhu, Tong; Mauzerall, Denise L.

2017-01-01

Facing severe air pollution and growing dependence on natural gas imports, the Chinese government plans to increase coal-based synthetic natural gas (SNG) production. Although displacement of coal with SNG benefits air quality, it increases CO2 emissions. Due to variations in air pollutant and CO2 emission factors and energy efficiencies across sectors, coal replacement with SNG results in varying degrees of air quality benefits and climate penalties. We estimate air quality, human health, and climate impacts of SNG substitution strategies in 2020. Using all production of SNG in the residential sector results in an annual decrease of ∼32,000 (20,000 to 41,000) outdoor-air-pollution-associated premature deaths, with ranges determined by the low and high estimates of the health risks. If changes in indoor/household air pollution were also included, the decrease would be far larger. SNG deployment in the residential sector results in nearly 10 and 60 times greater reduction in premature mortality than if it is deployed in the industrial or power sectors, respectively. Due to inefficiencies in current household coal use, utilization of SNG in the residential sector results in only 20 to 30% of the carbon penalty compared with using it in the industrial or power sectors. Even if carbon capture and storage is used in SNG production with today’s technology, SNG emits 22 to 40% more CO2 than the same amount of conventional gas. Among the SNG deployment strategies we evaluate, allocating currently planned SNG to households provides the largest air quality and health benefits with the smallest carbon penalties. PMID:28438993

Air quality, health, and climate implications of China's synthetic natural gas development.

PubMed

Qin, Yue; Wagner, Fabian; Scovronick, Noah; Peng, Wei; Yang, Junnan; Zhu, Tong; Smith, Kirk R; Mauzerall, Denise L

2017-05-09

Facing severe air pollution and growing dependence on natural gas imports, the Chinese government plans to increase coal-based synthetic natural gas (SNG) production. Although displacement of coal with SNG benefits air quality, it increases CO 2 emissions. Due to variations in air pollutant and CO 2 emission factors and energy efficiencies across sectors, coal replacement with SNG results in varying degrees of air quality benefits and climate penalties. We estimate air quality, human health, and climate impacts of SNG substitution strategies in 2020. Using all production of SNG in the residential sector results in an annual decrease of ∼32,000 (20,000 to 41,000) outdoor-air-pollution-associated premature deaths, with ranges determined by the low and high estimates of the health risks. If changes in indoor/household air pollution were also included, the decrease would be far larger. SNG deployment in the residential sector results in nearly 10 and 60 times greater reduction in premature mortality than if it is deployed in the industrial or power sectors, respectively. Due to inefficiencies in current household coal use, utilization of SNG in the residential sector results in only 20 to 30% of the carbon penalty compared with using it in the industrial or power sectors. Even if carbon capture and storage is used in SNG production with today's technology, SNG emits 22 to 40% more CO 2 than the same amount of conventional gas. Among the SNG deployment strategies we evaluate, allocating currently planned SNG to households provides the largest air quality and health benefits with the smallest carbon penalties.

Effects of occupational illness on labor productivity: A socioeconomic aspect of informal sector workers in urban Bangladesh

PubMed Central

Sarker, Abdur Razzaque; Sultana, Marufa; Mahumud, Rashidul Alam; Ahmed, Sayem; Ahmed, Mohammad Wahid; Hoque, Mohammad Enamul; Islam, Ziaul; Gazi, Rukhsana; Khan, Jahangir A.M.

2016-01-01

Objectives: The informal sector is the dominant area of employment and the economy for any developing country including Bangladesh. The cost of productivity loss due to absence from work or presenteeism with illness has rarely been examined in the Bangladesh context. This current study, therefore, attempted to examine the impact of ill health of informal sector workers on labor productivity, future earning, and healthcare-related expenditure. Methodology: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among three occupational groups of informal workers (rickshaw pullers, shopkeepers and restaurant workers) that were generally found in all urban areas in Bangladesh. A total of 557 informal workers were surveyed for this study. Results: Most of the respondents (57%) reported that they had been affected by some type of illness for the last six months. The overall average healthcare expenditure of informal workers was US$48.34, while restaurant workers expended more (US$53.61). Self reported sickness absenteeism was highest (50.37days) in the case of shop keepers, followed by rickshaw pullers (49.31 days), in the last six months. Considering the income loss due to illness in the past six months, the rickshaw pullers were exposed to the highest income loss (US$197.15), followed by the shop keepers (US$151.39). Conclusions: Although the informal sector contributes the most to the economy of Bangladesh, the workers in this sector have hardly any financial protection. This study provides critical clues to providing financial and social protection to informal sector workers in Bangladesh. PMID:27010089

Air quality, health, and climate implications of China's synthetic natural gas development

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Qin, Yue; Wagner, Fabian; Scovronick, Noah; Peng, Wei; Yang, Junnan; Zhu, Tong; Smith, Kirk R.; Mauzerall, Denise L.

2017-05-01

Facing severe air pollution and growing dependence on natural gas imports, the Chinese government plans to increase coal-based synthetic natural gas (SNG) production. Although displacement of coal with SNG benefits air quality, it increases CO2 emissions. Due to variations in air pollutant and CO2 emission factors and energy efficiencies across sectors, coal replacement with SNG results in varying degrees of air quality benefits and climate penalties. We estimate air quality, human health, and climate impacts of SNG substitution strategies in 2020. Using all production of SNG in the residential sector results in an annual decrease of ˜32,000 (20,000 to 41,000) outdoor-air-pollution-associated premature deaths, with ranges determined by the low and high estimates of the health risks. If changes in indoor/household air pollution were also included, the decrease would be far larger. SNG deployment in the residential sector results in nearly 10 and 60 times greater reduction in premature mortality than if it is deployed in the industrial or power sectors, respectively. Due to inefficiencies in current household coal use, utilization of SNG in the residential sector results in only 20 to 30% of the carbon penalty compared with using it in the industrial or power sectors. Even if carbon capture and storage is used in SNG production with today’s technology, SNG emits 22 to 40% more CO2 than the same amount of conventional gas. Among the SNG deployment strategies we evaluate, allocating currently planned SNG to households provides the largest air quality and health benefits with the smallest carbon penalties.

Effects of occupational illness on labor productivity: A socioeconomic aspect of informal sector workers in urban Bangladesh.

PubMed

Sarker, Abdur Razzaque; Sultana, Marufa; Mahumud, Rashidul Alam; Ahmed, Sayem; Ahmed, Mohammad Wahid; Hoque, Mohammad Enamul; Islam, Ziaul; Gazi, Rukhsana; Khan, Jahangir A M

2016-05-25

The informal sector is the dominant area of employment and the economy for any developing country including Bangladesh. The cost of productivity loss due to absence from work or presenteeism with illness has rarely been examined in the Bangladesh context. This current study, therefore, attempted to examine the impact of ill health of informal sector workers on labor productivity, future earning, and healthcare-related expenditure. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among three occupational groups of informal workers (rickshaw pullers, shopkeepers and restaurant workers) that were generally found in all urban areas in Bangladesh. A total of 557 informal workers were surveyed for this study. Most of the respondents (57%) reported that they had been affected by some type of illness for the last six months. The overall average healthcare expenditure of informal workers was US$48.34, while restaurant workers expended more (US$53.61). Self reported sickness absenteeism was highest (50.37days) in the case of shop keepers, followed by rickshaw pullers (49.31 days), in the last six months. Considering the income loss due to illness in the past six months, the rickshaw pullers were exposed to the highest income loss (US$197.15), followed by the shop keepers (US$151.39). Although the informal sector contributes the most to the economy of Bangladesh, the workers in this sector have hardly any financial protection. This study provides critical clues to providing financial and social protection to informal sector workers in Bangladesh.

Cost of hospitalization for childbirth in India: how equitable it is in the post-NRHM era?

PubMed

Tripathy, Jaya Prasad; Shewade, Hemant D; Mishra, Sanskruti; Kumar, A M V; Harries, A D

2017-08-15

Information on out-of-pocket (OOP) expenditure during childbirth in public and private health facilities in India is needed to make rational decisions for improving affordability to maternal care services. We undertook this study to evaluate the OOP expenditure due to hospitalization from childbirth and its impact on households. This is a secondary data analysis of a nationwide household survey by the National Sample Survey Organization in 2014. The survey reported health service utilization and health care related expenditure by income quintiles and type of health facility. The recall period for hospitalization expenditure was 365 days. OOP expenditure amounting to more than 10% of annual consumption expenditure was termed as catastrophic. Median expenditure per episode of hospitalisation due to childbirth was US$54. The expenditure incurred was about six times higher among the richest quintile compared to the poorest quintile. Median private sector OOP hospitalization expenditure was nearly nine times higher than in the public sector. Hospitalization in a private sector facility leads to a significantly higher prevalence of catastrophic expenditure than hospitalization in a public sector (60% vs. 7%). Indirect cost (43%) constituted the largest share in the total expenditure in public sector hospitalizations. Urban residence, poor wealth quintile, residing in eastern and southern regions of India and delivery in private hospital were significantly associated with catastrophic expenditure. We strongly recommend cash transfer schemes with effective pro-poor targeting to reduce the impact of catastrophic expenditure. Strengthening of public health facilities is required along with private sector regulation.

Challenges in the Implementation of Green Home Development in Malaysia: Perspective of Developers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nordin, Rumaizah Mohd; Halim, Ahmad Hafizi Abd; Yunus, Julitta

2017-12-01

The construction industry is the main contributor to Malaysian economic growth. One of the main sectors to be highlighted by the Government is housing sector. The population in Malaysia is increasing year by year, thus the demand for houses also rises significantly. However, the fulfilment of basic needs for people normally gives the adverse impacts to the environment. Green home concept is introduced with a purpose to create an acceptable standard of living as well as to preserve nature from destruction, whilst to promote efficiency of energy, water and other natural resources. The study aims to identify current level of awareness and understanding regarding the Green Home concept, together with identifying the challenges that contribute to lack of initiatives in implementation of green home development. This study utilizes the qualitative methodology utilising interviews with housing developers operating in Klang Valley. 20 respondents were interviewed with a semi-structured interview. This study found that level of awareness and understanding on green home concept among construction players and public is low to moderate level. However, it shows improvement in terms of its implementation with all respondents agreed that cost factor is greatest challenge to its implementation. Other challenges identified from the study are low awareness and understanding among construction players and public, low demand for green home, and lack of Government enforcement and initiatives. The study is eventually intended to enhance and improve the sustainable practice in Malaysian’s construction industry.

Patients as healthcare consumers in the public and private sectors: a qualitative study of acupuncture in the UK.

PubMed

Bishop, Felicity L; Barlow, Fiona; Coghlan, Beverly; Lee, Philippa; Lewith, George T

2011-05-27

The aim of this study was to compare patients' experiences of public and private sector healthcare, using acupuncture as an example. In the UK, acupuncture is popular with patients, is recommended in official guidelines for low back pain, and is available in both the private sector and the public sector (NHS). Consumerism was used as a theoretical framework to explore patients' experiences. Semi-structured face-to-face interviews were conducted in 2007-8 with a purposive sample of 27 patients who had recently used acupuncture for painful conditions in the private sector and/or in the NHS. Inductive thematic analysis was used to develop themes that summarised the bulk of the data and provided insights into consumerism in NHS- and private practice-based acupuncture. Five main themes were identified: value for money and willingness to pay; free and fair access; individualised holistic care: feeling cared for; consequences of choice: empowerment and vulnerability; and "just added extras": physical environment. Patients who had received acupuncture in the private sector constructed detailed accounts of the benefits of private care. Patients who had not received acupuncture in the private sector expected minimal differences from NHS care, and those differences were seen as not integral to treatment. The private sector facilitated consumerist behaviour to a greater extent than did the NHS, but private consumers appeared to base their decisions on unreliable and incomplete information. Patients used and experienced acupuncture differently in the NHS compared to the private sector. Eight different faces of consumerist behaviour were identified, but six were dominant: consumer as chooser, consumer as pragmatist, consumer as patient, consumer as earnest explorer, consumer as victim, and consumer as citizen. The decision to use acupuncture in either the private sector or the NHS was rarely well-informed: NHS and private patients both had misconceptions about acupuncture in the other sector. Future research should evaluate whether the differences we identified in patients' experiences across private and public healthcare are common, whether they translate into significant differences in clinical outcomes, and whether similar faces of consumerism characterise patients' experiences of other interventions in the private and public sectors.

Patients as healthcare consumers in the public and private sectors: a qualitative study of acupuncture in the UK

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background The aim of this study was to compare patients' experiences of public and private sector healthcare, using acupuncture as an example. In the UK, acupuncture is popular with patients, is recommended in official guidelines for low back pain, and is available in both the private sector and the public sector (NHS). Consumerism was used as a theoretical framework to explore patients' experiences. Methods Semi-structured face-to-face interviews were conducted in 2007-8 with a purposive sample of 27 patients who had recently used acupuncture for painful conditions in the private sector and/or in the NHS. Inductive thematic analysis was used to develop themes that summarised the bulk of the data and provided insights into consumerism in NHS- and private practice-based acupuncture. Results Five main themes were identified: value for money and willingness to pay; free and fair access; individualised holistic care: feeling cared for; consequences of choice: empowerment and vulnerability; and "just added extras": physical environment. Patients who had received acupuncture in the private sector constructed detailed accounts of the benefits of private care. Patients who had not received acupuncture in the private sector expected minimal differences from NHS care, and those differences were seen as not integral to treatment. The private sector facilitated consumerist behaviour to a greater extent than did the NHS, but private consumers appeared to base their decisions on unreliable and incomplete information. Conclusions Patients used and experienced acupuncture differently in the NHS compared to the private sector. Eight different faces of consumerist behaviour were identified, but six were dominant: consumer as chooser, consumer as pragmatist, consumer as patient, consumer as earnest explorer, consumer as victim, and consumer as citizen. The decision to use acupuncture in either the private sector or the NHS was rarely well-informed: NHS and private patients both had misconceptions about acupuncture in the other sector. Future research should evaluate whether the differences we identified in patients' experiences across private and public healthcare are common, whether they translate into significant differences in clinical outcomes, and whether similar faces of consumerism characterise patients' experiences of other interventions in the private and public sectors. PMID:21619572

Environmental policy in the north-eastern sector of the Black sea coast

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kosyan, Ruben; Godin, Evgenii; Kosyan, Alisa

2015-04-01

Active economic development of the Black Sea East coastal zone has started in the beginning of 20-th century. Those days the pebble taken from beaches was used for construction of buildings, rail and motor roads. Active consumption of pebble from the beaches and river banks had caused a sharp increase of sea shores abrasion and washout rate, number of landslides had also increased. Contemporary Caucasian shores of Black Sea are being developed under increasing man-caused load. Favorable natural conditions, their variety and uniqueness determine the exceptional role of these shores as very important recreational zone of Russian South. Waste urbanized areas, agricultural territories and National Parks are located in immediate neighborhood with the sea. Important industrial facilities and federal and international communi- cations, including major seaports are located in the shore zone. At present time major gas and oil transportation facilities are commissioned and being constructed in the area. Due to the change of geopolitical situation the Russian shoreline had significantly reduced in comparison with Soviet period, especially in most developed regions. Large resort complexes in Georgia, Crimea and Baltic area were lost. Russia had also lost many major seaports that, under conditions of structural change of economy and export growth, had caused the necessity of building new industrial facilities in the Black Sea coastal zone, and, consequently, had stimulated active human invasion into natural coastal processes. At the time being, a major part (three hundred nine kilometers) of Black Sea coast within Russian sector is subject to abrasion and landslide processes. Abrasion process and beaches wash-out, landslides cause destruction of industrial and transport facilities, living and public buildings, resort complexes and valuable agricultural areas. In this light, the challenge of estimation of effective methods of shores protection against wave-induced erosion becomes crucial. For a long period of time the coast protective activity was concentrated on elimination of localized zones of washout, without consideration of lithodynamic system in which the protected area is located, that led to disturbance of sediments flows, and, consequently, to acceleration of abrasion on the related parts of the shore. Main technical solutions regarding coast protection constructions for creation of artificial beaches, are borrowed from the experience of coast protection (construction of bunas, breakwaters and wave walls) at Caucasus and Crimean shores of the Black Sea. Application of bunas and breakwaters is formally divided by the steepness of the underwater slope equal to 0.03. However, this division did not and does not have any physical grounds and is not confirmed by materials of study of surf zone's hydro- and lithodynamics. Types of constructions and their composition in the coastal protective complexes were assigned subjectively. Because of general deficit of the sediments, the free beaches with big length were difficult to create. It was neces- sary to build the sediment retaining constructions like bunas, on the landslide sections - underwater breakwaters. Thus, the beaches in the coast protective complexes were having a primary role, and the constructions - secondary.

Raising Public Awareness: The Role of the Household Sector in Mitigating Climate Change

PubMed Central

Lin, Shis-Ping

2015-01-01

In addition to greenhouse gas emissions from the industrial, transportation and commercial sectors, emissions from the household sector also contribute to global warming. By examining residents of Taiwan (N = 236), this study aims to reveal the factors that influence households’ intention to purchase energy-efficient appliances. The assessment in this study is based on the theory of planned behavior (TPB), and perceived benefit or cost (BOC) is introduced as an independent variable in the proposed efficiency action toward climate change (ECC) model. According to structural equation modeling, most of the indicators presented a good fit to the corresponding ECC model constructs. The analysis indicated that BOC is a good complementary variable to the TPB, as the ECC model explained 61.9% of the variation in intention to purchase energy-efficient appliances, which was higher than that explained by the TPB (58.4%). This result indicates that the ECC model is superior to the TPB. Thus, the strategy of promoting energy-efficient appliances in the household sector should emphasize global warming and include the concept of BOC. PMID:26492262

Raising Public Awareness: The Role of the Household Sector in Mitigating Climate Change.

PubMed

Lin, Shis-Ping

2015-10-20

In addition to greenhouse gas emissions from the industrial, transportation and commercial sectors, emissions from the household sector also contribute to global warming. By examining residents of Taiwan (N = 236), this study aims to reveal the factors that influence households' intention to purchase energy-efficient appliances. The assessment in this study is based on the theory of planned behavior (TPB), and perceived benefit or cost (BOC) is introduced as an independent variable in the proposed efficiency action toward climate change (ECC) model. According to structural equation modeling, most of the indicators presented a good fit to the corresponding ECC model constructs. The analysis indicated that BOC is a good complementary variable to the TPB, as the ECC model explained 61.9% of the variation in intention to purchase energy-efficient appliances, which was higher than that explained by the TPB (58.4%). This result indicates that the ECC model is superior to the TPB. Thus, the strategy of promoting energy-efficient appliances in the household sector should emphasize global warming and include the concept of BOC.

Role of Nigeria in the Development of Higher Education in Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sunday, Akinwumi Femi

2010-01-01

In most countries of the world, higher education is highly subsidized by the public sector. The subsidy is a result of the role of higher education sector on the economy and good governance of the nations. Enrolment into higher institutions of learning is quite low in Africa compare to other continents of the world due to the continent's low and…

NetEnquiry--A Competitive Mobile Learning Approach for the Banking Sector

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Beutner, Marc; Teine, Matthias; Gebbe, Marcel; Fortmann, Lara Melissa

2016-01-01

Initial and further education in the banking sector is becoming more and more important due to the fact that the regulations and the complexity in world of work and an international banking scene is increasing. In this article we provide the structures of and information on NetEnquiry, an innovative mobile learning environment in this field,…

A New Classification Scheme for For-Profit Institutions. Fact Sheet

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Institute for Higher Education Policy, 2012

2012-01-01

For-profit institutions are more visible today among policymakers, researchers, and investors, due in large part to the sharp rise in the number of students attending them over the last decade. From 2000 to 2009, enrollment in the for-profit sector tripled while enrollment in the public and not-for-profit sectors increased by less than 25 percent.…

Scientific-Theoretical Background the Organization of Geobotany Employees of the Micro Enterprises Sport and Recreation Sector

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Andruhina, Tatyana V.; Dorozhkin, Evgenij M.; Zaitseva, Ekaterina V.; Komleva, Svetlana V.; Sosnin, Alexander S.; Savinova, Valentina A.

2016-01-01

The relevance of the research problem due to the needs of the labor market, terms of developing economy of micro-entrepreneurship in sport and recreation sector and the demands of the subject of labour activity to professional training without discontinuing work. The purpose of the article is to understand the current issues aspects of pedagogical…

Estimating the Effect of Leaders on Public Sector Productivity: The Case of School Principals. NBER Working Paper No. 17803

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Branch, Gregory F.; Hanushek, Eric A.; Rivkin, Steven G.

2012-01-01

Although much has been written about the importance of leadership in the determination of organizational success, there is little quantitative evidence due to the difficulty of separating the impact of leaders from other organizational components--particularly in the public sector. Schools provide an especially rich environment for studying the…

The incidence of public sector hospitalisations due to dog bites in Australia 2001-2013.

PubMed

Rajshekar, Mithun; Blizzard, Leigh; Julian, Roberta; Williams, Anne-Marie; Tennant, Marc; Forrest, Alex; Walsh, Laurence J; Wilson, Gary

2017-08-01

To estimate the incidence of dog bite-related injuries requiring public sector hospitalisation in Australia during the period 2001-13. Summary data on public sector hospitalisations due to dog bite-related injuries with an ICD 10-AM W54.0 coding were sourced from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare for the study period 2001-2013. In Australia, on average, 2,061 persons were hospitalised each year for treatment for dog bite injuries at an annual rate of 12.39 (95%CI 12.25-12.53) per 100,000 during 2001-13. The highest annual rates of 25.95 (95%CI 25.16-26.72) and 18.42 (95%CI 17.75-19.07) per 100,000 were for age groups 0-4 and 5-9 years respectively. Rates of recorded events increased over the study period and reached 16.15 (95%CI 15.78-16.52) per 100,000 during 2011-13. Dog bites are a largely unrecognised and growing public health problem in Australia. Implications for public health: There is an increasing public sector burden of hospitalisations for injuries from dog bites in Australia. © 2017 Menzies Institute for Medical Research.

Environmental damage costs from airborne pollution of industrial activities in the greater Athens, Greece area and the resulting benefits from the introduction of BAT

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

Mirasgedis, S.; Hontou, V.; Georgopoulou, E.

2008-01-15

Attributing costs to the environmental impacts associated with industrial activities can greatly assist in protecting human health and the natural environment as monetary values are capable of directly influencing technological and policy decisions without changing the rules of the market. This paper attempts to estimate the external cost attributable to the atmospheric pollution from 'medium and high environmental burden' industrial activities located in the greater Athens area and the benefits from Best Available Techniques (BAT) introduction. To this end a number of typical installations were defined to be used in conjunction with the Impact Pathway Approach developed in the contextmore » of the ExternE project to model all industrial sectors/sub-sectors located in the area of interest. Total environmental externalities due to air pollutants emitted by these industrial activities were found to reach 211 M Euro per year, associated mainly with human mortality and morbidity due to PM{sub 10} emissions, as well as with climate change impacts due to CO{sub 2} emissions for which non-metallic minerals and oil processing industries are the main sources. The results obtained can be used as the basis for an integrated evaluation of potential BAT, taking into account not only private costs and benefits but also the environmental externalities, thus leading to policy decisions that maximize social welfare in each industrial sector/sub-sector.« less

A simple model of low-scale direct gauge mediation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Csáki, Csaba; Shirman, Yuri; Terning, John

2007-05-01

We construct a calculable model of low-energy direct gauge mediation making use of the metastable supersymmetry breaking vacua recently discovered by Intriligator, Seiberg and Shih. The standard model gauge group is a subgroup of the global symmetries of the SUSY breaking sector and messengers play an essential role in dynamical SUSY breaking: they are composites of a confining gauge theory, and the holomorphic scalar messenger mass appears as a consequence of the confining dynamics. The SUSY breaking scale is around 100 TeV nevertheless the model is calculable. The minimal non-renormalizable coupling of the Higgs to the DSB sector leads in a simple way to a μ-term, while the B-term arises at two-loop order resulting in a moderately large tan β. A novel feature of this class of models is that some particles from the dynamical SUSY breaking sector may be accessible at the LHC.

Transforming State-of-the-Art into Best Practice: A Guide for High-Performance Energy Efficient Buildings in India

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

Singh, Reshma; Ravache, Baptiste; Sartor, Dale

India launched the Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC) in 2007, and a revised version in 2017 as ambitious first steps towards promoting energy efficiency in the building sector. Pioneering early adopters—building owners, A&E firms, and energy consultants—have taken the lead to design customized solutions for their energy-efficient buildings. This Guide offers a synthesizing framework, critical lessons, and guidance to meet and exceed ECBC. Its whole-building lifecycle assurance framework provides a user-friendly methodology to achieve high performance in terms of energy, environmental, and societal impact. Class A offices are selected as a target typology, being a high-growth sector, with significant opportunitiesmore » for energy savings. The practices may be extrapolated to other commercial building sectors, as well as extended to other regions with similar cultural, climatic, construction, and developmental contexts« less

Measuring the impact of final demand on global production system based on Markov process

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xing, Lizhi; Guan, Jun; Wu, Shan

2018-07-01

Input-output table is a comprehensive and detailed in describing the national economic systems, consisting of supply and demand information among various industrial sectors. The complex network, a theory and method for measuring the structure of complex system, can depict the structural properties of social and economic systems, and reveal the complicated relationships between the inner hierarchies and the external macroeconomic functions. This paper tried to measure the globalization degree of industrial sectors on the global value chain. Firstly, it constructed inter-country input-output network models to reproduce the topological structure of global economic system. Secondly, it regarded the propagation of intermediate goods on the global value chain as Markov process and introduced counting first passage betweenness to quantify the added processing amount when globally final demand stimulates this production system. Thirdly, it analyzed the features of globalization at both global and country-sector level

Report of the In Situ Resources Utilization Workshop

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fairchild, Kyle (Editor); Mendell, Wendell W. (Editor)

1988-01-01

The results of a workshop of 50 representatives from the public and private sector which investigated the potential joint development of the key technologies and mechanisms that will enable the permanent habitation of space are presented. The workshop is an initial step to develop a joint public/private assessment of new technology requirements of future space options, to share knowledge on required technologies that may exist in the private sector, and to investigate potential joint technology development opportunities. The majority of the material was produced in 5 working groups: (1) Construction, Assembly, Automation and Robotics; (2) Prospecting, Mining, and Surface Transportation; (3) Biosystems and Life Support; (4) Materials Processing; and (5) Innovative Ventures. In addition to the results of the working groups, preliminary technology development recommendations to assist in near-term development priority decisions are presented. Finally, steps are outlined for potential new future activities and relationships among the public, private, and academic sectors.

Adventures in heterotic string phenomenology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dundee, George Benjamin

In this Dissertation, we consider three topics in the study of effective field theories derived from orbifold compactifications of the heterotic string. In Chapter 2 we provide a primer for those interested in building models based on orbifold compactifications of the heterotic string. In Chapter 3, we analyze gauge coupling unification in the context of heterotic strings on anisotropic orbifolds. This construction is very much analogous to effective five dimensional orbifold GUT field theories. Our analysis assumes three fundamental scales, the string scale, M S, a compactification scale, MC, and a mass scale for some of the vector-like exotics, MEX; the other exotics are assumed to get mass at MS. In the particular models analyzed, we show that gauge coupling unification is not possible with MEX = M C and in fact we require MEX << MC ˜ 3 x 1016 GeV. We find that about 10% of the parameter space has a proton lifetime (from dimension six gauge exchange) 1033 yr ≲ tau(p → pi0e+) ≲ 1036 yr, which is potentially observable by the next generation of proton decay experiments. 80% of the parameter space gives proton lifetimes below Super-K bounds. In Chapter 4, we examine the relationship between the string coupling constant, gSTRING, and the grand unified gauge coupling constant, alphaGUT, in the models of Chapter 3. We find that the requirement that the theory be perturbative provides a non-trivial constraint on these models. Interestingly, there is a correlation between the proton decay rate (due to dimension six operators) and the string coupling constant in this class of models. Finally, we make some comments concerning the extension of these models to the six (and higher) dimensional case. In Chapter 5, we discuss the issues of supersymmetry breaking and moduli stabilization within the context of E8 ⊗ E8 heterotic orbifold constructions and, in particular, we focus on the class of "mini-landscape" models. These theories contain a non-Abelian hidden gauge sector which generates a non-perturbative superpotential leading to supersymmetry breaking and moduli stabilization. We demonstrate this effect in a simple model which contains many of the features of the more general construction. In addition, we argue that once supersymmetry is broken in a restricted sector of the theory, then all moduli are stabilized by supergravity effects. Finally, we obtain the low energy superparticle spectrum resulting from this simple model.

Heuristic economic assessment of the Afghanistan construction materials sector: cement and dimension stone production

USGS Publications Warehouse

Mossotti, Victor G.

2014-01-01

Over the past decade, the U.S. Government has invested more than $106 billion for physical, societal, and governmental reconstruction assistance to Afghanistan (Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, 2012a). This funding, along with private investment, has stimulated a growing demand for particular industrial minerals and construction materials. In support of this effort, the U.S. Geological Survey released a preliminary mineral assessment in 2007 on selected Afghan nonfuel minerals (Peters and others, 2007). More recently, the 2007 mineral assessment was updated with the inclusion of a more extensive array of Afghan nonfuel minerals (Peters and others, 2011). As a follow-up on the 2011 assessment, this report provides an analysis of the current use and prospects of the following Afghan industrial minerals required to manufacture construction materials: clays of various types, bauxite, gypsum, cement-grade limestone, aggregate (sand and gravel), and dimension stone (sandstone, quartzite, granite, slate, limestone, travertine, marble). The intention of this paper is to assess the: Use of Afghan industrial minerals to manufacture construction materials, Prospects for growth in domestic construction materials production sectors, Factors controlling the competitiveness of domestic production relative to foreign imports of construction materials, and Feasibility of using natural gas as the prime source of thermal energy and for generating electrical energy for cement production. The discussion here is based on classical principles of supply and demand. Imbedded in these principles is an understanding that the attributes of supply and demand are highly variable. For construction materials, demand for a given product may depend on seasons of the year, location of construction sites, product delivery time, political factors, governmental regulations, cultural issues, price, and how essential a given product might be to the buyer. Moreover, failure on the supply side to mirror such attributes can be deal-breakers in a transaction. For qualitative interpretation of the findings in this report, the value chain was used to conceptualize the relation between supply and demand. Although quantitative data on the Afghan construction materials sector have been hard to come by, the premise herein was that qualitative aspects of supply and demand are revealed by following the flow of funding through projects of varying sizes. It was found that the spectrum of attributes on the demand side of large multimillion dollar reconstruction projects is generally high dimensional, distributed over a broad line of construction materials at diverse locations, and in varying quantities. As interpreted herein, project funds dispensed at the higher hierarchical levels of a project are often concentrated on procurement of construction materials and services at the upper end of the value chain. In contrast, project funds dispensed at the lower hierarchical levels are disseminated across a multiplicity of subprojects, thus restricting project acquisitions to the lower end of the value chain. Evidence suggests that under the current conditions in Afghanistan producers of construction materials at the lower end of the value chain (adobe brick, aggregate, low-end marble products) can successfully compete in local markets and turn a profit. In contrast, producers of energy-intensive products such as cement will continue to face intense competition from imports, at least in the near-term. In the long-term, as infrastructure issues are resolved, and as business conditions in Afghanistan improve, domestic producers will have a locational advantage in establishing a solid niche in their respective home markets. In the process of tendering properties for cement production, the pivotal issues of abundant, reliable, and cost-effective thermal and electrical energy sources for cement production have become prominent. Over the past 50 years, powdered coal and natural gas have been proven to be excellent fuels for firing kilns at cement plants, and both fuels are used as energy sources for electricity generation. After reviewing the main aspects of the coal and natural gas sectors, it is concluded here that the issues for plant design are not that of energy source feasibility but rather that of optimization of energy technologies for a given plant at a particular time and place, based on a diverse mix of energy and transport technologies.

5D Lovelock gravity: New exact solutions with torsion

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cvetković, B.; Simić, D.

2016-10-01

Five-dimensional Lovelock gravity is investigated in the first order formalism. A new class of exact solutions is constructed: the Bañados, Teitelboim, Zanelli black rings with and without torsion. We show that our solution with torsion exists in a different sector of the Lovelock gravity, as compared to the Lovelock Chern-Simons sector or the one investigated by Canfora et al. The conserved charges of the solutions are found using Nester's formula, and the results are confirmed by the canonical method. We show that the theory linearized around the background with torsion possesses two additional degrees of freedom with respect to general relativity.

Axionic black branes in the k -essence sector of the Horndeski model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cisterna, Adolfo; Hassaine, Mokhtar; Oliva, Julio; Rinaldi, Massimiliano

2017-12-01

We construct new black brane solutions in the context of Horndeski gravity, in particular, in its K-essence sector. These models are supported by axion scalar fields that depend only on the horizon coordinates. The dynamics of these fields is determined by a K-essence term that includes the standard kinetic term X and a correction of the form Xk. We find both neutral and charged exact and analytic solutions in D -dimensions, which are asymptotically anti-de Sitter. Then, we describe in detail the thermodynamical properties of the four-dimensional solutions and we compute the dual holographic DC conductivity.

Development of Non-Proprietary Ultra-High Performance Concrete for Use in the Highway Bridge Sector : TechBrief

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2013-10-01

The long-term goals of this study are to facilitate the use of ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC) among U.S. suppliers and contractors, accelerate its application in U.S. construction, and promote a more resilient and sustainable future U.S. infr...

Designing Dreams or Constructing Contradictions? European Union Multifunctional Policies and the Polish Organic Farm Sector

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

De Master, Kathryn

2012-01-01

Analysts have heralded the principle of "multifunctionality" undergirding the European Union's Common Agricultural Policy "Second Pillar" support mechanisms as a "new...and strong paradigm" for agriculture (van der Ploeg and Roep 2003), with the potential to re-embed social, environmental, and ethical concerns into…

Some Problems of Extremes in Geometry and Construction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yanovsky, Levi

2008-01-01

Two original problems in geometry are presented with solutions utilizing to differential calculus: (a) rectangle inscribed in a sector; (b) point on the ray of the angle. The possibility of applying mathematics in general and differential calculus in particular for solution of practical problems is discussed. (Contains 8 figures.)

The Construction of Academic Time: Sub/Contracting Academic Labour in Research.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hey, Valerie

2001-01-01

Offers a poststructuralist analysis of the UK higher education sector's academic division of labor, exploring some new contradictions from a contract researcher's standpoint. Raises political, social, and methodological questions about these divisions by exploring their class and gender dimensions. Too many academics remain silent about adverse…

First-Principle Construction of U(1) Symmetric Matrix Product States

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rakov, Mykhailo V.

2018-07-01

The algorithm to calculate the sets of symmetry sectors for virtual indices of U(1) symmetric matrix product states (MPS) is described. The principal differences between open (OBC) and periodic (PBC) boundary conditions are stressed, and the extension of PBC MPS algorithm to projected entangled pair states is outlined.

Gendering Occupational Identities and IT in the Retail Sector.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McLaughlin, Janice

1999-01-01

Investigates the influence of gendered occupational identities in the social construction of skill and technology in a retail company introducing an information-technology system. Focuses on female shop floor supervisors and considers the impact that femininity had on definitions and role during a period of change. (JOW)

76 FR 19131 - Notice of Quarterly Report (October 1, 2010-December 31, 2010)

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-04-06

...: Ring tourism and Road. business Traffic Volume development. (average annual daily traffic)--Santo: East...,083,742 Average revenue of SME added to tourism pottery workshops. and artisan sectors. Construction... road network. Rural Land Governance Project.. $59,934,615 Increase $6,348,245 TBD. investment in land...

75 FR 56580 - Notice of Quarterly Report (April 1, 2010-June 30, 2010)

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-09-16

... annual daily traffic)-- increase tourism Efate: Ring Road. and business Traffic Volume (average... Average revenue of SME added to tourism pottery workshops. and artisan Construction and sectors... in the road network. Rural Land Governance Project... 60,392,771 Increase investment 2,185,845 TBD...

Constructing Identities: Female Head Teachers' Perceptions and Experiences in the Primary Sector

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jones, Deborah

2017-01-01

This article presents research undertaken with female headteachers in UK primary schools and explores several influential discourses in relation to female headteachers' identities. It considers themes inherent in women's narratives as they reflect upon their professional lives and discusses various identities inhabited by female leaders which…

The Effects of Passage of Time on Alumni Recall of "Student Experience"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Koenig-Lewis, Nicole; Asaad, Yousra; Palmer, Adrian; Petersone, Elina

2016-01-01

"Student experience" has become a popular term with higher education managers but is theoretically under-developed. This paper conceptualises student experience as a construction from memory and advances previous discussion within the higher education sector by distinguishing between recalled academic and social experience. The results…

Construction Program Saved! Partnership Revitalizes School of Applied Technology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

LaPlaca, Joseph

2010-01-01

The Edison School of Applied Technology, a comprehensive public high school, has long had a reputation for producing top-notch crafts workers, tradespeople, project managers, estimators, and industry leaders. The school's graduates helped build the city and many currently have successful, productive careers in the public and private sectors. But…

75 FR 78213 - Proposed Information Collection; Comment Request; 2012 Economic Census Classification Report for...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-12-15

... Economic Census Classification Report for the Construction, Manufacturing, and Mining Sectors and Selected... quality data describing the people and economy of the United States. Economic data are the Census Bureau's..., business, and the general public. The Economic Census Classification Report (NC-99026) collects data on...

Argentina's transport privatization and re-regulation : ups and downs of a daring decade-long experience

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1999-11-01

When Argentina initiated the reforms of its transport sector in 1989, it was constructing its own path-breaking way. It was the first in Latin America to privatize its inter-city railroad, the first to organize intra-port competition explicitly, the ...

Michigan School Privatization Survey 2016. A Mackinac Center Report

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hohman, James M.; Cammenga, Janelle

2016-01-01

Public school districts are government entities, but they rely on the private sector to support their function of delivering educational services to students. Private contractors, for example, construct district buildings, write textbooks and manufacture the supplies necessary to keep the district operational, among other things. And over the past…

GPS & GLONASS Observations of Large-Scale Traveling Ionospheric Disturbances during the 2015 St. Patrick's Day Storm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zakharenkova, I.; Astafyeva, E.; Cherniak, I.

2016-12-01

We investigate signatures of the large-scale travelling ionospheric disturbances (LSTIDs) that they leave in the ground-based total electron content (TEC) during the 2015 St. Patrick's Day Storm. We take advantage of a large number of the ground-based GPS/GNSS receivers to analyze simultaneous LSTIDs propagation in different sectors from very dense and multipoint observations. The region of interest includes the both Northern and Southern American sectors, as well as the whole European sector. We use measurements derived from more than 5000 GPS/GNSS receivers of numerous global and regional GNSS networks. We considerably increase number of available observations by processing signals from not only GPS but also from GLONASS. We retrieve a perturbation component of the resulted TEC maps constructed with high spatial and temporal resolution. LSTIDs originating in the auroral oval and propagating equatorward were clearly identified in both hemispheres. In this report we discuss features of the observed LSTIDs, in particular, 1) similarities and differences of their simultaneous propagation over American and European sectors ; 2) interhemispheric LSTIDs propagation in the American sector; 3) dependence of the LSTIDs characteristic parameters (velocity, wavelength) on the intensification of the auroral activity during the main phase of this storm.

Modeling Nutrient Release in the Tai Lake Basin of China: Source Identification and Policy Implications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Beibei; Liu, Heng; Zhang, Bing; Bi, Jun

2013-03-01

Because nutrient enrichment has become increasingly severe in the Tai Lake Basin of China, identifying sources and loads is crucial for watershed nutrient management. This paper develops an empirical framework to estimate nutrient release from five major sectors, which requires fewer input parameters and produces acceptable accuracy. Sectors included are industrial manufacturing, livestock breeding (industrial and family scale), crop agriculture, household consumption (urban and rural), and atmospheric deposition. Results show that in the basin (only the five sectors above), total nutrient loads of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) into aquatic systems in 2008 were 33043.2 tons N a-1 and 5254.4 tons P a-1, and annual area-specific nutrient loads were 1.94 tons N km-2 and 0.31 tons P km-2. Household consumption was the major sector having the greatest impact (46 % in N load, 47 % in P load), whereas atmospheric deposition (18 %) and crop agriculture (15 %) sectors represented other significant proportions of N load. The load estimates also indicate that 32 % of total P came from the livestock breeding sector, making it the second largest phosphorus contributor. According to the nutrient pollution sectors, six best management practices are selected for cost-effectiveness analysis, and feasible options are recommended. Overall, biogas digester construction on industrial-scale farms is proven the most cost-effective, whereas the building of rural decentralized facilities is the best alternative under extreme financial constraint. However, the reduction potential, average monetary cost, and other factors such as risk tolerance of policy makers should all be considered in the actual decision-making process.

Diurnal, seasonal, and annual trends in tropospheric CO in Southwest London during 2000-2015: Wind sector analysis and comparisons with urban and remote sites

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hernández-Paniagua, Iván Y.; Lowry, David; Clemitshaw, Kevin C.; Palmer, Paul I.; Fisher, Rebecca E.; France, James L.; Mendoza, Alberto; O'Doherty, Simon; Forster, Grant; Lanoisellé, M.; Nisbet, Euan G.

2018-03-01

Ambient carbon monoxide (CO) and meteorological parameters measured at the Egham (EGH) semi-rural site in SW London during 2000-2015 have permitted wind sector analysis of diurnal and seasonal cycles, and interpretation of long-term trends. CO daily amplitudes are used as a proxy for anthropogenic emissions. At EGH, morning and evening peaks in CO arise from the dominant contribution of road transport sources. Smaller amplitudes are observed during weekends than weekdays due to lower combustion emissions, and for mornings compared to evenings due to the timing of the development and break-up of the nocturnal inversion layer or planetary boundary layer (PBL). A wavelet transform revealed that the dominant mode of CO variability is the annual cycle, with apparent winter maxima likely due to increased CO emissions from domestic heating with summer minima ascribed to enhanced dispersion and dilution during the annual maximum of PBL mixing heights. Over the last two decades, both mitigation measures to reduce CO emissions and also a major switch to diesel cars, have accompanied a change at EGH from the dominance of local diurnal sources to a site measuring close to Atlantic background levels in summer months. CO observed in the S and SW wind sectors has declined by 4.7 and 5.9 ppb yr-1 respectively. The EGH CO record shows the highest levels in the early 2000s, with levels in E and calm winds comparable to those recorded at background stations in Greater London. However, since 2012, levels in S-SW sector have become more comparable with Mace Head background except during rush-hour periods. Marked declines in CO are observed during 2000-2008 for the NE, E, SE (London) and calm wind sectors, with the smallest declines observed for the S, SW and W (background) sectors. For the majority of wind sectors, the decline in CO is less noticeable since 2008, with an apparent stabilisation for NE, E and SE after 2009. The EGH CO data record exhibits a similar but slower exponential decay, but from a much lower starting concentration, than do CO data recorded at selected monitoring sites in urban areas in SE England. CO/CO2 residuals determined using hourly averaged datain the diurnal cycle demonstrate a clear decline in CO from 2000 to 2015 during daily periods of increased vehicle traffic, which is consistent with a sustained reduction in CO emissions from the road transport sector.

A decade of occupational accidents due to direct or indirect electrical contact in the primary, secondary and tertiary sectors in Spain (2003-2012).

PubMed

Castillo-Rosa, Juan; Suárez-Cebador, Manuel; Rubio-Romero, Juan Carlos; Aguado, Jose Antonio

2017-03-01

Occupational accidents caused by electrical contact are a major concern worldwide due to their severe consequences. The study conducted is based on an analysis of the evolution of incidence rates and dependence between variables for 14,022 electrical accidents occurring in Spain between 2003 and 2012. The results show that electrical accidents as a whole are 3.6 times more likely to have severe consequences than the rest of the accidents in the country. This proportion is even nine times greater in the case of fatal accidents. They also confirm a significant relationship between the severity of this type of accidents and the economic sector in which they occur. On the other hand, there is a positive trend in the reduction of the incidence rate, especially in relation to direct contact, although unexpectedly the rate of accidents due to indirect contact is on the rise. Thus, preventing electrical occupational accidents requires efforts to guarantee adequate training adapted to the needs of workers in the various economic sectors. Furthermore, those responsible for safety should work to implement mechanisms to monitor and control compliance with efficient protective measures against electrical contact.

Medical doctors profile in Ethiopia: production, attrition and retention. In memory of 100-years Ethiopian modern medicine & the new Ethiopian millennium.

PubMed

Berhan, Yifru

2008-01-01

Although the practice of western medicine in Ethiopia dates back to the time of King Libne Dengel (1520-1535), organized and sustainable modern medical practice started after the battle of Adwa (1896). To review hospitals construction, medical doctors production and attrition, and to suggest alternative medical doctors retention mechanisms in the public sector and production scale up options. In this article, 100 years Ethiopian modern medical history is revised from old and recent medical chronicles. Until December 2006 primary data was collected from 87 public hospitals. Much emphasis is given to medical doctors profile (1906-2006), hospitals profile (1906-2005), medical doctors to population and hospitals ratio (1965-2006), Ethiopian public medical schools 42 years attainment (1964-2006), annual attrition rate (1984-2006), organizational structure of medical faculties & university hospitals, medical doctors remuneration by the Ministry of Health (MOH), Ministry of Education (MOE), NGOs and private health institutions. This article also addresses the way forward from physician training and retention perspectives, multiple alternate mechanisms to increase physicians' motivation to work in government institutions and reveres the loss. Medical doctors production scale up option is also given much emphasis. Most data are presented using line and bar graphs. Literature review showed that the first three hospitals were constructed in 1896 (Russian hospital), 1903 (Harar Ras Mekonnen hospital) and 1906 (Menelik II hospital). In 2005, 139 hospitals (87 public and 52 others) were reported. Remarkable hospital construction was done between 1935 and 1948, and recently between 1995 and 2005; however, in the latter case, private hospitals construction took the lions share. By the time MOH was established (1948), 110 Ethiopian and expatriate medical doctors were working, mainly in the capital, and 46 hospitals constructed. Physician number increment was very slow till 1980 at which time it started to get doubled every five years and reached peak (1658 medical doctors of all type) in 1989 in the public sector. As there was sharp increment in physician number, on the contrary, there was sharp decline in the last 15 years (1990-2006) to nadir 638 doctors in 2006 in the public sector. The last 25 years of Ethiopian modern medical history, in reference to physician number, forms a triangle with the lower and upper base 1980 and 2006, respectively. Since MOH of Ethiopia started registering health professionals with qualifications in 1987, 5743 (76.5% Ethiopian and 23.5% expatriate) medical doctors were registered for the first time. Out of these, 3717 were general practitioners. The three prestigious medical schools (Addis Ababa, Gondar, Jimma) were established in 1964, 1978 and 1984, respectively. Since establishment till 2006, about 3728 medical doctors were graduated with MD degree from the three medical schools. Addis Ababa university medical faculty alone graduated 1890 general practitioners (1964-2006) and 862 clinical specialists (1979-2006). In the 23 years period (1984-2006), the highest and lowest physician to population ratios in the public sector were found to be in 1989 (1:28,000) and 2006 (1:118,000), respectively. In 2006, the physician to population ratio in Amhara, Oromia and SNNPR regional states was computed to be 1:280,000, 1:220,000, and 1:230,000, respectively. The physician deficit analysis in the last 23 years in relation to the WHO standard for developing countries (1:10,000) revealed the lowest record at the national and regional states in the last 12-years. Average physician to hospital ratio in five regional states in December 2006 was 3.6 (Tigray), 4.3 (Amhara), 6.1 (Oromia) and 5.3 (SNNPR). As the December 2006 direct interview with 76 public hospitals outside Addis Ababa showed, there was no specialist in 36 hospitals and no doctor at all in 3 hospitals. Seven public hospitals located in big regional states' town took the lions share of medical doctors. In short, in December 2006, 80.3% of regional hospitals were equipped with 0-2 specialists of one kind, and in 48.7% there were 0-3 General practitioners. Highest medical doctors annual attrition rates (20%-54.3%) were found in 1991-1992, 1998, 2002-2006. In general, in 20 years period (1987-2006), 73.2% of Ethiopian medical doctors left the public sector mainly due to attractive remuneration in overseas countries and local NGOs/private sectors. The number of postgraduate programme in Addis Ababa, Jimma and Gondar medical schools in December 2006 was 22, 12 and 3, respectively. The total number of fully employed academic staff of the medical schools in declining order was Addis Ababa 181, Gondar 118, Jimma 71, Hawassa 63 and Mekele 52: those with second degree and above being 97.2%, 35.6%, 90.1%, 55.6% and 15.4%, respectively. Currently (2006), there are about 416 clinical residents in 3 medical schools. High annual attrition rate, fast population growth, governmental and nongovernmental health institution expansion, low production and increased postgraduate enrollment in the last 3-4 years contributed for extremely low physician-to-population ratio in Ethiopia. Although the Ethiopian government and private sector worked and achieved much on health infrastructure construction and midlevel health professionals training, it does not appear that medical doctors retention mechanisms are sorted out so far. As a result, even despite salary equivalent top up payments in some regions, more than 80% of public hospitals outside Addis Ababa were found ill-equipped with the most important human element--physicians. This implies that the push factors may not invariably correlate with remuneration. It is high time that the government discusses the possible solutions among health professional associations/societies and other health stakeholders, and apply concrete medical doctors retention mechanisms before the public medical schools and hospitals dry off doctors. Among actions to be undertaken from the current Ethiopian perspective: providing land plot for physicians for residential house construction, giving priority to physicians in providing low cost houses, low interest or interest free loan for residential house construction and automobile procurement, allowing duty free automobile procurement, improving the fully employed academic staff taxation system, approving the different remuneration options proposed, adopting the other countries experience of dual employment to academic staff working in teaching hospitals, modifying the academic rank promotion based on year of training, for university hospitals either establishing hospital organizational structure in the Ministry of Education or letting them be under MOH, establishing joint appointment (mutual beneficiary) agreement between medical schools and local hospitals, directing donors and stakeholders to work on the line of reducing internal and external medical doctors brain drain, making independent MOH and higher institutions from Civil Service Agency are proposed as short term solutions. Retention as a strategy & production as a programme, medical doctors production scale up options are proposed as a long term solution to achieve physician to population ratio of 1:15,000. and 1:8,000 by the year 2015 and 2020, respectively.

Innovative leasing engineering as tool for synchronization of innovative, leasing and buying cycles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yaskova, Natalia; Alekseeva, Tatyana

2017-10-01

This article suggests a new principle of cyclic synchronization of innovative, leasing and buying cycles in construction “innovative leasing engineering” which facilitates the accelerated transition of the national economy to the innovative way of development. Cyclical nature of economic phenomena is not only their immanent property, but also the subject of economic analysis. Modern format of decision making management requires analysis of the many cycles which fill any kind of activity. Accounting and reconciliation of construction, design, investment, buying, reproduction, leasing and other cycles is important for investment and construction sphere from the point of view of necessity for synchronization and position of determining the nature of trends in sectoral development.

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

Baguet, A.; Pope, Christopher N.; Samtleben, H.

We prove an old conjecture by Duff, Nilsson, Pope and Warner asserting that the NSNS sector of supergravity (and more general the bosonic string) allows for a consistent Pauli reduction on any d-dimensional group manifold G, keeping the full set of gauge bosons of the G×G isometry group of the bi-invariant metric on G. The main tool of the construction is a particular generalised Scherk–Schwarz reduction ansatz in double field theory which we explicitly construct in terms of the group's Killing vectors. Examples include the consistent reduction from ten dimensions on S3×S3 and on similar product spaces. The construction ismore » another example of globally geometric non-toroidal compactifications inducing non-geometric fluxes.« less

The Influence of the Enhanced Vector Meson Sector on the Properties of the Matter of Neutron Stars

PubMed Central

Bednarek, Ilona; Manka, Ryszard; Pienkos, Monika

2014-01-01

This paper gives an overview of the model of a neutron star with non-zero strangeness constructed within the framework of the nonlinear realization of the chiral symmetry. The emphasis is put on the physical properties of the matter of a neutron star as well as on its internal structure. The obtained solution is particularly aimed at the problem of the construction of a theoretical model of a neutron star matter with hyperons that will give high value of the maximum mass. PMID:25188304

Establishment of a National Accelerator Facility: Design and construction phase

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

1981-06-01

The main components of an accelerator facility for nuclear physics, isotope production, and radiotherapy in South Africa are in 8-MeV solid pole injector cyclotron and a separated sector cyclotron with a k-value of 200 MeV. Progress made in the development of the light ion injector and in the design of the control and beam transport systems is described. Mechanical and engineering tasks associated with component manufacture are discussed as well as the construction of the building to house the facility and the installation of necessary services.

Sector-wise midpoint characterization factors for impact assessment of regional consumptive and degradative water use.

PubMed

Lin, Chia-Chun; Lin, Jia-Yu; Lee, Mengshan; Chiueh, Pei-Te

2017-12-31

Water availability, resulting from either a lack of water or poor water quality is a key factor contributing to regional water stress. This study proposes a set of sector-wise characterization factors (CFs), namely consumptive and degradative water stresses, to assess the impact of water withdrawals with a life cycle assessment approach. These CFs consider water availability, water quality, and competition for water between domestic, agricultural and industrial sectors and ecosystem at the watershed level. CFs were applied to a case study of regional water management of industrial water withdrawals in Taiwan to show that both regional or seasonal decrease in water availability contributes to a high consumptive water stress, whereas water scarcity due to degraded water quality not meeting sector standards has little influence on increased degradative water stress. Degradative water stress was observed more in the agricultural sector than in the industrial sector, which implies that the agriculture sector may have water quality concerns. Reducing water intensity and alleviating regional scale water stresses of watersheds are suggested as approaches to decrease the impact of both consumptive and degradative water use. The results from this study may enable a more detailed sector-wise analysis of water stress and influence water resource management policies. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Knowledge translation in tri-sectoral collaborations: An exploration of perceptions of academia, industry and healthcare collaborations in innovation adoption.

PubMed

Ii, Suzanne Sayuri; Fitzgerald, Louise; Morys-Carter, Megan M; Davie, Natasha L; Barker, Richard

2018-02-01

With the aging population and increase in chronic disease conditions, innovation to transform treatment pathways and service delivery will be necessary. The innovation adoption process however, can take 15 years before widespread adoption occurs in most healthcare systems. Current UK government policies to increase the facilitation of innovation adoption are under way. The aim of this study is to explore perceptions of tri-sectoral collaborations in the healthcare sector. The data in the study are drawn from a cross-sectional survey conducted in 2015 of professionals in academia, industry and the healthcare sectors in England, focusing on Diabetes care. Academia and healthcare respondents had the least work experience outside of their sectors compared to the industry respondents. Healthcare and academia respondents rated the industry sector less trustworthy, unethical, having different goals and less understanding of the other sectors. Industry respondents had a more positive perspective towards potential collaborators. The results from the study demonstrate greater potential challenges to tri-sectoral collaborations and the government's knowledge translation policy, due to pre-conceived notions and lack of understanding of other sectors. The purely structural approach of establishing government mandated translational networks may be insufficient without active attempts to improve collaborative relationships. Mechanisms to facilitate trust building and collaboration are proposed. Crown Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Worksite element as causes of occupational accidents and illnesses in Malaysian residential construction industry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hafiidz, J. Mohd; Arifin, K.; Aiyub, K.; Razman, M. R.; Samsurijan, M. S.; Syakir, M. I.

2017-09-01

Construction industry is an important sector that contributes to the development of economy and socioeconomy in Malaysia. It is a vital component in achieving the developed country status. However, fatalities in the Malaysian construction industry are a critical problem. Number of fatalities in this industry is the highest compared to other industries registered in Malaysia under the investigation of Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH). Worksite element (worksite conditions, poor site management, construction tasks, and equipment & materials) was identified as one category of causes of occupational accidents and illnesses in Malaysian construction industry. The main objective of this study is to understand the perception of local construction personnel in terms of worksite element as causes of occupational accidents and illnesses in Malaysian residential construction industry. 13 housing projects that were registered with Ministry of Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government and being permitted to perform construction work in 2012 were selected in Pulau Pinang to be studied using questionnaire survey. Worksite condition and poor site management was perceived as the most significant with the mean values of 3.68 and 3.61 respectively.

Workers' medication as occupational risk at construction site with formworks.

PubMed

López-Arquillos, Antonio; Rubio-Romero, Juan Carlos; López-Arquillos, Concepción

2017-01-01

Accidents in the construction sector are a cause for concern. The influence of many different factors in construction accidents have been studied (age, company size, length of service, deviation, drugs or alcohol consumption, etc.) but the influence of medicinal substances in specific construction activities has not been evaluated until now. The aim of the research presented here is to identify the effect of different medicinal substances on the occupational risk levels of construction activities with formworks. An expert panel was selected in order to quantify the individual risk of each medication for each individual construction activity. Results showed that narcotics, antipsychotics, and hypnotics had the highest risk values, and the use of cranes and cutting materials were considered the most dangerous activities for a medicated worker. Data obtained in this research can help reduce the negative effects of the substances studied on the occupational safety of construction workers. A better knowledge of the risk levels according to the current capabilities of workers under the effects of medication is a powerful tool in planning safer construction activities.

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

Kumasaka, Y.

The author analyzed the slowdown in productivity growth since the first oil crisis for about ten industrial sectors in both Japan and the USA and also compared the similarities and differences of their economic performances from the two oil crises. It is assumed that the increase in energy prices was the main cause of the slowdown in productivity growth. The productivity experiences from the two oil crises through the shift of factor price frontier, which was obtained from the cost function, was analyzed. The two oil crises had much responsibility for the slowdown in productivity growth since 1973. However, themore » effects of the oil crises on production were quite different not only among industrial sectors but also between Japan and the USA. The mining sector suffered from the two oil crises most severely in both countries. The Japanese transportation and communication sector and the US communication sector suffered from them least severely. Also studied was the learning effect from the first oil crisis for the Japanese manufacturing and the US commercial sectors. The reason why most of Japanese industrial sectors managed the second oil crisis relatively well was due to the downward flexibility of their real wages during the second oil crisis.« less

Nature of air pollution, emission sources, and management in the Indian cities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guttikunda, Sarath K.; Goel, Rahul; Pant, Pallavi

2014-10-01

The global burden of disease study estimated 695,000 premature deaths in 2010 due to continued exposure to outdoor particulate matter and ozone pollution for India. By 2030, the expected growth in many of the sectors (industries, residential, transportation, power generation, and construction) will result in an increase in pollution related health impacts for most cities. The available information on urban air pollution, their sources, and the potential of various interventions to control pollution, should help us propose a cleaner path to 2030. In this paper, we present an overview of the emission sources and control options for better air quality in Indian cities, with a particular focus on interventions like urban public transportation facilities; travel demand management; emission regulations for power plants; clean technology for brick kilns; management of road dust; and waste management to control open waste burning. Also included is a broader discussion on key institutional measures, like public awareness and scientific studies, necessary for building an effective air quality management plan in Indian cities.

Scalar field quantum cosmology: A Schrödinger picture

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vakili, Babak

2012-11-01

We study the classical and quantum models of a scalar field Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (FRW) cosmology with an eye to the issue of time problem in quantum cosmology. We introduce a canonical transformation on the scalar field sector of the action such that the momentum conjugate to the new canonical variable appears linearly in the transformed Hamiltonian. Using this canonical transformation, we show that, it may lead to the identification of a time parameter for the corresponding dynamical system. In the cases of flat, closed and open FRW universes the classical cosmological solutions are obtained in terms of the introduced time parameter. Moreover, this formalism gives rise to a Schrödinger-Wheeler-DeWitt equation for the quantum-mechanical description of the model under consideration, the eigenfunctions of which can be used to construct the wave function of the universe. We use the resulting wave functions in order to investigate the possible corrections to the classical cosmologies due to quantum effects by means of the many-worlds and ontological interpretation of quantum cosmology.

Developing the medicinal plants sector in northern India: challenges and opportunities

PubMed Central

Kala, Chandra Prakash; Dhyani, Pitamber Prasad; Sajwan, Bikram Singh

2006-01-01

The medicinal properties of plant species have made an outstanding contribution in the origin and evolution of many traditional herbal therapies. These traditional knowledge systems have started to disappear with the passage of time due to scarcity of written documents and relatively low income in these traditions. Over the past few years, however, the medicinal plants have regained a wide recognition due to an escalating faith in herbal medicine in view of its lesser side effects compared to allopathic medicine in addition the necessity of meeting the requirements of medicine for an increasing human population. Through the realization of the continuous erosion of traditional knowledge of plants used for medicine in the past and the renewed interest at the present time, a need existed to review this valuable knowledge of medicinal plants with the purpose of developing medicinal plants sectors across the different states in India. Our major objectives therefore were to explore the potential in medicinal plants resources, to understand the challenges and opportunities with the medicinal plants sector, and also to suggest recommendations based upon the present state of knowledge for the establishment and smooth functioning of the medicinal plants sector along with improving the living standards of the underprivileged communities. The review reveals that northern India harbors a rich diversity of valuable medicinal plants, and attempts are being made at different levels for sustainable utilization of this resource in order to develop the medicinal plants sector.

Galactic center γ-ray excess in hidden sector DM models with dark gauge symmetries: local Z{sub 3} symmetry as an example

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

Ko, P.; Tang, Yong

We show that hidden sector dark matter (DM) models with local dark gauge symmetries make a natural playground for the possible γ-ray excess from the galactic center (GC). We first discuss in detail the GC γ-ray excess in a scalar dark matter (DM) model with local Z{sub 3} symmetry which was recently proposed by the present authors. Within this model, scalar DM with mass 30–70 GeV is allowed due to the newly-opened (semi-)annihilation channels of a DM pair into dark Higgs ϕ and/or dark photon Z′ pair, and the γ-ray spectrum from the GC can be fit within this model.more » Then we argue that the GC gamma ray excess can be easily accommodated within hidden sector dark matter models where DM is stabilized by local gauge symmetries, due to the presence of dark Higgs (and also dark photon for Abelian dark gauge symmetry)« less

Understanding the relationship between safety culture dimensions and safety performance of construction projects through partial least square method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Latief, Yusuf; Machfudiyanto, Rossy A.; Arifuddin, Rosmariani; Yogiswara, Yoko

2017-03-01

Based on the data, 32% of accidental cases in Indonesia occurs on constructional sectors. It is supported by the data from Public Work and Housing Department that 27.43% of the implementation level of Safety Management System policy at construction companies in Indonesia remains unsafe categories. Moreover, there are dimensions of occupational safety culture formed including leadership, behavior, strategy, policy, process, people, safety cost, value and contract system. The aim of this study is to determine the model of an effective safety culture and know the relationship between dimensions in construction industry. The method used in this research was questionnaire survey which was distributed to the sample of construction companies either in a national private one in Indonesia. The result of this research is supposed to be able to illustrate the development of the relationship among occupational safety culture dimensions which have influences to the performances of constructional companies in Indonesia.

Last century seabed morphodynamics of the Magra River estuary (Western Mediterranean Sea)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pratellesi, Marta; Ivaldi, Roberta; Ciavola, Paolo; Sinapi, Luigi

2016-04-01

The estimation of morphological and volumetric changes of the delta system at the mouth of the Magra River is presented in this paper using bathymetric and sedimentological data. The data series were collected during several hydro-oceanographic surveys carried out from 1882 to 2014, processed following the hydrographic international standards and stored in the Italian Navy Hydrographic Institute database. In particular, bathymetric data characterized by the same standard and accuracy were collected using different devices such as sounding lines, single-beam and multi-beam acoustic system. This research compares Digital Terrain Models (DTMs), derived from highly accurate bathymetric data and covering different time scales (secular, half-century and decade) in order to assess and quantify the seabed morphodynamics in relation with the river sedimentary budget. The methodology and data exploitation consist mainly in the production of DTMs to study the elevation change, two-dimensional and three dimensional maps, cross-sections of the seabed, difference surfaces and computation of net volumes as well as an historical sedimentological map. These products are also an useful contribution to the aim of EU RISC-KIT Project. The results of the analysis highlight changes in the geometry of the Magra River mouth, of the coastal profile and bottom features primarily due to variations of the sedimentary budget and secondarily to wave dynamics. This behaviour is characterized by evident river mouth and coastal retreat, beach erosion and sediment bars decay and net accretion under periods of high river sediment discharge and elongate bar formation during relatively fair conditions. In the last century the main change is constituted by the disappearance of the typical constructive seabed delta morphology and the transformation into the current small estuary, with microtidal condition. This small estuary has an upper sector where river processes, sediments and bedforms dominate, a lower sector near the mouth, where wave and tidal processes and marine sediments dominate, and a middle sector, where tidal currents dominate and both river and marine sediments are present.

PRIVATE SECTOR IN HEALTH CARE DELIVERY: A REALITY AND A CHALLENGE IN PAKISTAN.

PubMed

Shaikh, Babar Tasneem

2015-01-01

Under performance of the public sector health care system in Pakistan has created a room for private sector to grow and become popular in health service delivery, despite its questionable quality, high cost and dubious ethics of medical practice. Private sector is no doubt a reality; and is functioning to plug many weaknesses and gaps in health care delivery to the poor people of Pakistan. Yet, it is largely unregulated and unchecked due to the absence of writ of the state. In spite of its inherent trait of profit making, the private sector has played a significant and innovative role both in preventive and curative service provision. Private sector has demonstrated great deal of responsiveness, hence creating a relation of trust with the consumers of health in Pakistan, majority of who spend out of their pocket to buy 'health'. There is definitely a potential to engage and involve private and non-state entities in the health care system building their capacities and instituting regulatory frameworks, to protect the poor's access to health care system.

Stickney Crater on Phobos and some other outstanding planetary depressions as features of crustal wave interference origin

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kochemasov, G. G.

2011-10-01

Some not fully understood (enigmatic) large planetary depressions and geoid minima on planets and satellites are better understood as regular wave woven features, not random large impacts [1]. A main reason for this is their similar tectonic position in a regular sectoral network produced by interfering crossing standing waves warping any celestial body. These waves arise in the bodies due to their movements in keplerian elliptical orbits with changing accelerations. The fundamental wave1 produces universal tectonic dichotomy, its first overtone wave2 superposes on it sectoring - a regular network of risen and fallen blocks [2, 3]. Thus, deeply subsided sectoral blocks are formed on uplifted highland segments -hemispheres [1]. Examples of this pattern are shown in Fig. 1 to 8 on various globes and irregular bodies. The Moon - the SPA basin, Earth - Indian geoid min imum, Phobos - Stickney Crater, Miranda - an ovoid, Phoebe - a sector, Mars - Hellas Planitia, Lutetia - a deep sector indentation. Fig. 9 - a geometrical model of dichotomy and sectors format ion by wave interference.

The sex and sex determination in Pyropia haitanensis (Bangiales, Rhodophyta).

PubMed

Zhang, Yuan; Yan, Xing-hong; Aruga, Yusho

2013-01-01

Pyropia haitanensis has a biphasic life cycle with macroscopic gametophytic blade (n) and microscopic filamentous conchocelis (2n) phase. Its gametophytic blades have long been believed to be mainly dioecious. However, when crossing the red mutant (R, ♀) with the wild type (W, ♂), the parental colors were segregated in F1 blades, of which 96.1% were linearly sectored with 2-4 color sectors. When color sectors were excised from the color-sectored blades and cultured singly, 99.7% of the color sectors appeared to be unisexual with an equal sex ratio. Although the sex of color sector did not genetically link with its color, the boundaries of both sex and color sectors coincided precisely. About 87.9% of the examined color-sectored blades were monoecious and the percentage increased with the number of color sectors of a blade. The gametophytic blades from each conchocelis strain produced by parthenogenesis of the excised color sectors were unisexual and unicolor, showing the same sex and color as their original sectors. These results indicate that most of the sexually reproduced Py. haitanensis blades are monoecious, and their sex is controlled by segregation of a pair of alleles during meiosis of conchospore, forming a sex-sectored tetrad. During the subsequent development of blades, one or two lower cell(s) of the tetrad contribute mainly to rhizoid formation, and rarely show their sexual phenotype, leading to reduced frequency of full sex phenotype of the meiotic blades. Moreover, the aberrant segregations of sex genes or color genes in a few of F1 blades were probably due to gene conversions, but there was no sex transfer in Py. haitanensis.

The Sex and Sex Determination in Pyropia haitanensis (Bangiales, Rhodophyta)

PubMed Central

Zhang, Yuan; Yan, Xing-hong; Aruga, Yusho

2013-01-01

Pyropia haitanensis has a biphasic life cycle with macroscopic gametophytic blade (n) and microscopic filamentous conchocelis (2n) phase. Its gametophytic blades have long been believed to be mainly dioecious. However, when crossing the red mutant (R, ♀) with the wild type (W, ♂), the parental colors were segregated in F1 blades, of which 96.1% were linearly sectored with 2–4 color sectors. When color sectors were excised from the color-sectored blades and cultured singly, 99.7% of the color sectors appeared to be unisexual with an equal sex ratio. Although the sex of color sector did not genetically link with its color, the boundaries of both sex and color sectors coincided precisely. About 87.9% of the examined color-sectored blades were monoecious and the percentage increased with the number of color sectors of a blade. The gametophytic blades from each conchocelis strain produced by parthenogenesis of the excised color sectors were unisexual and unicolor, showing the same sex and color as their original sectors. These results indicate that most of the sexually reproduced Py. haitanensis blades are monoecious, and their sex is controlled by segregation of a pair of alleles during meiosis of conchospore, forming a sex-sectored tetrad. During the subsequent development of blades, one or two lower cell(s) of the tetrad contribute mainly to rhizoid formation, and rarely show their sexual phenotype, leading to reduced frequency of full sex phenotype of the meiotic blades. Moreover, the aberrant segregations of sex genes or color genes in a few of F1 blades were probably due to gene conversions, but there was no sex transfer in Py. haitanensis. PMID:23991194

Development of a road transport emission inventory for Greece and the Greater Athens Area: effects of important parameters.

PubMed

Fameli, K M; Assimakopoulos, V D

2015-02-01

Traffic is considered one of the major polluting sectors and as a consequence a significant cause for the measured exceedances of ambient air quality limit values mainly in urban areas. The Greater Athens Area (located in Attica), the most populated area in Greece, faces severe air pollution problems due to the combination of high road traffic emissions, complex topography and local meteorological conditions. Even though several efforts were made to construct traffic emission inventories for Greece and Attica, still there is not a spatially and temporally resolved one, based on data from relevant authorities and organisations. The present work aims to estimate road emissions in Greece and Attica based on the top down approach. The programme COPERT 4 was used to calculate the annual total emissions from the road transport sector for the period 2006-2010 and an emission inventory for Greece and Attica was developed with high spatial (6 × 6 km(2) for Greece and 2 × 2 km(2) for Attica) and temporal (1-hour) resolutions. The results revealed that about 40% of national CO₂, CO, VOC and NMVOC values and 30% of NOx and particles are emitted in Attica. The fuel consumption and the subsequent reduction of annual mileage driven in combination with the import of new engine anti-pollution technologies affected CO₂, CO, VOC and NMVOC emissions. The major part of CO (56.53%) and CO₂ (66.15%) emissions was due to passenger cars (2010), while heavy duty vehicles (HDVs) were connected with NOx, PM₂.₅ and PM₁₀ emissions with 51.27%, 43.97% and 38.13% respectively (2010). The fleet composition, the penetration of diesel fuelled cars, the increase of urban average speed and the fleet renewal are among the most effective parameters towards the emission reduction strategies. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

When FE Lecturers Go the Extra Mile: The Rhetoric and the Reality

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lobb, Rhonda

2017-01-01

This paper explores the concept of "going the extra mile" from the perceptions of 30 lecturers and six middle managers working within the further education (FE) sector. Until now, the phenomena of discretionary behaviour has only been researched using a scientific, positivist approach adopting the construct of organisational citizenship…

A Comparative Analysis of Public and Private Sector Graduate Programs in Public Policy

DTIC Science & Technology

1989-12-01

Wilson Approved by: 7" ’it: (’’ Nancq CXRobert Tesis Advisor ’R.ichard . ister, ecofd Reader David R. i * ’ rmanDepartment of Administra e enceqes ii...1864 - Medical Construction Liaison -18U _Piochi istry 1811 Toxicology -1815 Microbiology Iblb Lpidemiology -1817 Imunology 1819 Parasitology "�

Curriculum Online? Exploring the Political and Commercial Construction of the UK Digital Learning Marketplace

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Selwyn, Neil

2007-01-01

Government support for the production and consumption of educational software is now a key element of New Labour's education technology drive. At present much attention is being directed towards marketing "digital learning" to an educational sector traditionally wary of technological innovation. In an effort to understand the social…

United States housing brief, November 2017

Treesearch

Delton Alderman

2018-01-01

November’s new single-family (SF) sales and SF housing starts were remarkable. Other housing data appear to have stalled on a monthly basis. Regionally, data were mixed across all sectors. New SF construction and remodeling spending remain relatively strong. Existing house sales improved on a month-over-month and year-over-year basis.

United States housing brief, December 2017

Treesearch

Delton Alderman

2018-01-01

Although the aggregate U.S. housing market was mixed in December, both new single-family (SF) sales and starts were revised substantially downward. Other housing data appear to have flat-lined on a month-over-month basis. Regionally, data were mixed across all sectors. New SF construction and remodeling spending remain positive, increasing at an incremental pace.

Leadership, New Public Management and the Re-Modelling and Regulation of Teacher Identities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hall, David; Gunter, Helen; Bragg, Joanna

2013-01-01

This article examines the rapidly shifting relationship between teachers and the state and efforts to re-model teacher identities within the wider context of public sector modernization and the New Public Management. The construction and development of officially authorized and normative discursive practices relating to leadership and the…

The Perception of Women Engineers in the Construction Industry in Palestine

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Enshassi, A.; Ihsen, S.; Al Hallaq, K.

2008-01-01

The industrial and occupational distribution of women is such that women are concentrated predominately in a few occupations, mostly in the service sector, such as banking, finance, insurance, public administration, hotel, and catering. Men and women are equal in their capabilities in almost every respect, provided that women are given the same…

Setting Whole-Building Absolute Energy Use Targets for the K-12 School, Retail, and Healthcare Sectors: Preprint

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

Leach, M.; Bonnema, E.; Pless, S.

2012-08-01

This paper helps owners' efficiency representatives to inform executive management, contract development, and project management staff as to how specifying and applying whole-building absolute energy use targets for new construction or renovation projects can improve the operational energy performance of commercial buildings.

From 2002-2017, to What Extent has Turkish Security Policy Been Effective

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-04-13

and equal to those of the Foreign, Energy, and Culture and Tourism ministries combined.77 Turkey’s use of overseas aid, export of its version of...with about 57 percent of its natural gas. Economic ties also extended to nuclear power, construction, tourism , and other sectors as well.114

Students' Perceptions of BIM Education in the Higher Education Sector: A UK and US Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shelbourn, M.; Macdonald, J.; McCuen, T.; Lee, S.

2017-01-01

The use of building information modelling (BIM) has increased in the global architecture, engineering, construction and owner-operated (AECO) industries. This increased use has contributed to a recognition by project stakeholders of its importance across the building life cycle, leading higher education institutions to rethink their AECO…

Potential economic benefits of public-private partnership (P3s) on reclaimed mine sites in the construction of the I-73/74 NHS corridor.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2012-02-01

A public private partnership (PPP or P3), according to the FHWA, is a contractual agreement : between a public agency and a private entity for private sector participation in the delivery of : transportation projects. One of the most innovat...

The Impact of New Information Technology on Bureaucratic Organizational Culture

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Givens, Mark A.

2011-01-01

Virtual work environments (VWEs) have been used in the private sector for more than a decade, but the United States Marine Corps (USMC), as a whole, has not yet taken advantage of associated benefits. The USMC construct parallels the bureaucratic organizational culture and uses an antiquated information technology (IT) infrastructure. During an…

Toward a Mediation Model of Employability Enhancement: A Study of Employee-Supervisor Pairs in the Building Sector

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

van der Heijden, Beatrice I. J. M.; Bakker, Arnold B.

2011-01-01

This study examines whether jobs that enable competence development and a constructive leadership style enhance workers' employability or career potential through their assumed positive relationship with work-related flow (absorption, work enjoyment, and intrinsic work motivation). The authors conducted an explorative study with 303 pairs of…

Constructing the "Ideal" Family for Family-Centred Practice: Challenges for Delivery

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dodd, Jenny; Saggers, Sherry; Wildy, Helen

2009-01-01

Family-centred practice positions families as the key decision-makers, central to and experts in the wants and needs of their child. This paper discusses how families interviewed for a Western Australian study describe their relationships with a range of allied health professionals in the paediatric disability sector. The allied health…

The Relationship Between Emissions and Economic Growth for SO2, CO2, and BC

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ru, M.; Shindell, D. T.; Tao, S.; Zhong, Q.; Seltzer, K.

2017-12-01

We characterize the relationship between per person emissions of SO2, CO2, and black carbon (BC) and income using a global country-level emission inventory. Pollutant emissions of SO2 and BC from the power, industry, and transportation sectors largely follow an Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) pattern with peak emissions at income levels between 10,000 and 100,000 USD per capita. However, for CO2, any estimated turnover income is extremely high and unlikely to be reached in the near future in power, industry, and transportation. Residential emissions show a negatively sloped linear relationship for BC, a small positive slope for CO2, and a fairly flat trajectory for SO2. For the EKC-like trajectories, "turning point" incomes for each sector and pollutant are related to technological advances and the effectiveness of emission controls. These results suggest that policy targeting technological advances and emission controls could change future pathways by affecting the "turning point" incomes. For the linear trajectories in the residential sector, we show that transitions from biomass fuel to coal in low-income countries and from coal to natural gas in middle and high-income countries, in concert with electrification levels, are the main factors governing slopes. Thus, the three pollutants show different income-emission trajectories based on the sum of the four major sectors, and the residential sector in particular has a unique relationship with income growth. As one of the first studies to analyze historical emission trajectories of BC, we find that BC differs from SO2 and CO2 because of its significantly earlier turnover in the power and industry sectors due to control policies. Total BC emissions trajectories follow a unique shape due to the combination of linearly decreasing residential emissions with EKC-like patterns in industry and transportation. We compare these trajectories to those in three Integrated Assessment Models (IAMs), GCAM, AIM, and MESSAGE, finding large differences for residential sector trajectories and earlier estimations of turnover incomes in the IAMs. Users of IAMs should consider the assumptions underlying projected emissions in light of this historical analysis, especially the apparently optimistic turnover incomes and residential sector emissions.

[Work-related diseases and health-related compensation claims, Northeastern Brazil, 2000].

PubMed

Souza, Norma Suely Souto; Santana, Vilma Sousa; Albuquerque-Oliveira, Paulo Rogério; Barbosa-Branco, Anadergh

2008-08-01

To estimate the contribution of work-related diseases to sick leaves due to general and occupational health problems. Sociodemographic, occupational and health data from 29,658 records of temporary disability benefits, granted on account of health problems by the Instituto Nacional do Seguro Social (National Institute of Social Security) in the state of Bahia (Northeastern Brazil), were analyzed. All constant ICD-10 clinical diagnoses were taken into consideration, except for those referring to external causes and factors that influence contact with health services. The link between diagnosis and occupation was based on the ICD-10 code and whether the type of compensation was due to a "work-related accident/disease" or not. From all the benefits, 3.1% were granted due to work-related diseases: 70% were musculoskeletal system and connective tissue diseases, while 14.5% were related to the nervous system. In general, benefits granted at more than two times the expected frequency were as follows: tenosynovitis in the manufacturing sector (Proportion Ratio-PR=2.70), carpal tunnel syndrome in the financial intermediation sector (PR=2.43), and lumbar disc degeneration in the transportation, postal service and telecommunications sectors (PR=2.17). However, no causal connection could be established for these diseases, in these activity sectors, in a significant percentage of benefits. Results suggest the existence of possible occupational risk factors for diseases in these fields of activity, as well as the underreporting of the link between diseases and work, thus disguising the responsibility of companies and the perspective of prevention through work reorganization.

The peculiarities of process-based approach realization in transport sector company management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khripko, Elena; Sidorov, Gennadiy

2017-10-01

In the present article we study the phenomena of multiple meaning in understanding process-based management method in construction of transport infrastructure facilities. The idea of multiple meaning is in distortions which appear during reception of the management process paradigm in organizational environment of transport sector. The cause of distortion in process management is organizational resistance. The distortions of management processes are discovered at the level of diffusion among spheres of responsibility, collision in forms of functional, project and process interaction between the owner of the process and its participants. The level of distortion is affected by the attitude towards the result of work which means that process understanding of the result is replaced by the functional one in practice of management. This transfiguration is the consequence of regressive defensive mechanisms of the organizational environment. On the base of experience of forming process management in construction of transport infrastructure facilities company of the issues of diagnostics of various forms of organizational resistance and ways of reducing the destructive influence on managing processes are reviewed.

Modelling of wildlife migrations and its economic impacts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Myšková, Kateřina; Žák, Jaroslav

2013-10-01

Natural wildlife migrations are often disrupted by the construction of line structures, especially freeways. Various overpasses and underpasses (migration objects) are being designed to enable species to pass through line structures. The newly developed original procedure for the quantification of the utility of migration objects (migration potentials) and sections of line structures retrieves the deficiencies of the previous ones. The procedure has been developed under bulk information obtained by monitoring migrations using camera system and spy games. The log-normal distribution functions are used. The procedure for the evaluation of the probability of the permeability of the line structures sectors is also presented. The above mentioned procedures and algorithms can be used while planning, preparing, constructing or verifying the measures to assure the permeability of line structures for selected feral species. Using the procedures can significantly reduce financial costs and improve the permeability. When the migration potentials are correctly determined and the whole sector is taken into account for the migrations, some originally designed objects may be found to be redundant and not building them will bring financial savings.

Dominating clasp of the financial sector revealed by partial correlation analysis of the stock market.

PubMed

Kenett, Dror Y; Tumminello, Michele; Madi, Asaf; Gur-Gershgoren, Gitit; Mantegna, Rosario N; Ben-Jacob, Eshel

2010-12-20

What are the dominant stocks which drive the correlations present among stocks traded in a stock market? Can a correlation analysis provide an answer to this question? In the past, correlation based networks have been proposed as a tool to uncover the underlying backbone of the market. Correlation based networks represent the stocks and their relationships, which are then investigated using different network theory methodologies. Here we introduce a new concept to tackle the above question--the partial correlation network. Partial correlation is a measure of how the correlation between two variables, e.g., stock returns, is affected by a third variable. By using it we define a proxy of stock influence, which is then used to construct partial correlation networks. The empirical part of this study is performed on a specific financial system, namely the set of 300 highly capitalized stocks traded at the New York Stock Exchange, in the time period 2001-2003. By constructing the partial correlation network, unlike the case of standard correlation based networks, we find that stocks belonging to the financial sector and, in particular, to the investment services sub-sector, are the most influential stocks affecting the correlation profile of the system. Using a moving window analysis, we find that the strong influence of the financial stocks is conserved across time for the investigated trading period. Our findings shed a new light on the underlying mechanisms and driving forces controlling the correlation profile observed in a financial market.

Uncertainty in temperature response of current consumption-based emissions estimates

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Karstensen, J.; Peters, G. P.; Andrew, R. M.

2014-09-01

Several studies have connected emissions of greenhouse gases to economic and trade data to quantify the causal chain from consumption to emissions and climate change. These studies usually combine data and models originating from different sources, making it difficult to estimate uncertainties in the end results. We estimate uncertainties in economic data, multi-pollutant emission statistics and metric parameters, and use Monte Carlo analysis to quantify contributions to uncertainty and to determine how uncertainty propagates to estimates of global temperature change from regional and sectoral territorial- and consumption-based emissions for the year 2007. We find that the uncertainties are sensitive to the emission allocations, mix of pollutants included, the metric and its time horizon, and the level of aggregation of the results. Uncertainties in the final results are largely dominated by the climate sensitivity and the parameters associated with the warming effects of CO2. The economic data have a relatively small impact on uncertainty at the global and national level, while much higher uncertainties are found at the sectoral level. Our results suggest that consumption-based national emissions are not significantly more uncertain than the corresponding production based emissions, since the largest uncertainties are due to metric and emissions which affect both perspectives equally. The two perspectives exhibit different sectoral uncertainties, due to changes of pollutant compositions. We find global sectoral consumption uncertainties in the range of ±9-±27% using the global temperature potential with a 50 year time horizon, with metric uncertainties dominating. National level uncertainties are similar in both perspectives due to the dominance of CO2 over other pollutants. The consumption emissions of the top 10 emitting regions have a broad uncertainty range of ±9-±25%, with metric and emissions uncertainties contributing similarly. The Absolute global temperature potential with a 50 year time horizon has much higher uncertainties, with considerable uncertainty overlap for regions and sectors, indicating that the ranking of countries is uncertain.

Is there a crisis in nursing retention in New South Wales?

PubMed Central

Doiron, Denise; Hall, Jane; Jones, Glenn

2008-01-01

Background There is a severe shortage of nurses in Australia. Policy makers and researchers are especially concerned that retention levels of nurses in the health workforce have worsened over the last decade. There are also concerns that rapidly growing private sector hospitals are attracting qualified nurses away from the public sector. To date no systematic analysis of trends in nursing retention rates over time has been conducted due to the lack of consistent panel data. Results A 1.4 percentage point improvement in retention has led to a 10% increase in the overall supply of nurses in NSW. There has also been a substantial aging of the workforce, due to greater retention and an increase in mature age entrants. The improvement in retention is found in all types of premises and is largest in nursing homes. There is a substantial amount of year to year movement in and out of the workforce and across premises. The shortage of nurses in public hospitals is due to a slowdown in entry rather than competition from the rapidly growing private sector hospitals. Policy Implications The finding of an improvement (rather than a worsening) in retention suggests that additional improvements may be difficult to achieve as further retention must involve individuals more and more dissatisfied with nursing relative to other opportunities. Hence policies targeting entry such as increased places in nursing programs and additional subsidies for training costs may be more effective in dealing with the workforce shortage. This is also the case for shortages in public sector hospitals as retention in nursing is found to be relatively high in this sector. However, the large amount of year to year movements across nursing jobs, especially among the younger nurses, also suggests that policies aimed at reducing job switches and increasing the number who return to nursing should also be pursued. More research is needed in understanding the relative importance of detailed working conditions and the problems associated with combining family responsibilities and nursing jobs. PMID:18681970

Comparing Diverse Southeast Asian Reactions to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-09-01

The ambitious TPP comes with its own set of challenges. Especially in the agricultural sector and in the area of intellectual property, domestic...favor of high-quality comprehensive FTAs, save for stalled negotiations in provisions on the agricultural sector due to the domestic political...strength and influence of the Ministry of Agriculture , Forestry and Fisheries.16 Capling and Ravenhill note that although the United States succeeded in

Climate Change and Water Infrastructure in Central Asia: adaptation capacities and institutional challenges

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abdullaev, Iskandar; Rakhmatullaev, Shavkat

2014-05-01

The paper discusses vulnerability areas of water sector in arid Central Asia due to climate change projections with particular focus on adaptation to sustainable operation of physical infrastructure capacities (from legal, institutional and technical aspects). Two types of technical installations are the main focus of this paper, i.e., electrical lift irrigation systems and water reservoirs. The first set of electrical lift infrastructure is strategic for delivering water to water users via pumps, diversion structures, vertical drainage facilities and groundwater boreholes; on the other hand, the primarily task of second set of structures is to accumulate the water resources for sectors of economy. In Central Asia, approximately, 20-50% of irrigation water is lifted, yet major of lift structures are in very poor technical conditions coupled with ever increasing of electricity tariffs. Furthermore, useful volumes capacities of water reservoirs are being severely diminished due to bio-physical geomorphologic processes, improper operational regimes and chronic financing for special in-house sedimentation surveys. Most importantly, the key argument is that irrigation sector should internalize its adaptation efforts, i.e., integrate renewable energy technologies, energy audit programs and lastly design comprehensive investment prioritization processes and programs. Otherwise, water sector will be at great risk for continued provision of fundamental services to the public, food security and industry

Ultra-weak sector, Higgs boson mass, and the dilaton

DOE PAGES

Allison, Kyle; Hill, Christopher T.; Ross, Graham G.

2014-09-26

The Higgs boson mass may arise from a portal coupling to a singlet fieldmore » $$\\sigma$$ which has a very large VEV $$f \\gg m_\\text{Higgs}$$. This requires a sector of "ultra-weak" couplings $$\\zeta_i$$, where $$\\zeta_i \\lesssim m_\\text{Higgs}^2 / f^2$$. Ultra-weak couplings are technically naturally small due to a custodial shift symmetry of $$\\sigma$$ in the $$\\zeta_i \\rightarrow 0$$ limit. The singlet field $$\\sigma$$ has properties similar to a pseudo-dilaton. We engineer explicit breaking of scale invariance in the ultra-weak sector via a Coleman-Weinberg potential, which requires hierarchies amongst the ultra-weak couplings.« less

PPP insights in South Africa.

PubMed

du Toit, Japie

2003-01-01

After functioning for some time in an increasingly regulated and structured environment in dealing with the private sector in South Africa, it was important to Government, to carefully review the terminology used in this evolving playing field. As the definitions and mechanisms impacting on this form of interaction became clear, it was essential to find a broader definition to encompass all forms of commercial intervention between the two sectors. In preparation for the first South African National Health Summit during 2001, the term public private interaction became a general term used in this context. In the South African healthcare sectors this term is used specifically to indicate that all forms of interaction between the two sectors should be considered, rather than merely focussing on specific Public Private Partnerships (PPPs), that have a much more narrow definition. Recent health policy documents in South Africa all stress four key goals--equity, coherence, quality of care and efficiency--which provide a useful basis for decision-making about PPIs. The range of public-private interactions that may support or constrain the South African health system's development are set within the overall public/private mix of the country. In developing an equitable, efficient, coherent and high quality health system in South Africa, there is considerable potential for constructive engagement (collaboration and co-operation) between the public and the private health care sectors. Both sectors should embrace this opportunity and therefore it is useful to propose some basic guidelines for engagement based on the vision and goals of the national health system. In deciding whether or not to pursue any new PPI within the health sector, or in evaluating whether an existing PPI should continue or be revised, it is necessary to assess its merits in relation to the achievement of health system goals.

Exploring harmonization between integrated assessment and capacity expansion models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Iyer, G.; Brown, M.; Cohen, S.; Macknick, J.; Patel, P.; Wise, M. A.; Horing, J.

2017-12-01

Forward-looking quantitative models of the electric sector are extensively used to provide science-based strategic decision support to national, international and private-sector entities. Given that these models are used to inform a wide-range of stakeholders and influence policy decisions, it is vital to examine how the models' underlying data and structure influence their outcomes. We conduct several experiments harmonizing key model characteristics between ReEDS—an electric sector only model, and GCAM—an integrated assessment model—to understand how different degrees of harmonization impact model outcomes. ReEDS has high spatial, temporal, and process detail but lacks electricity demand elasticity and endogenous representations of other economic sectors, while GCAM has internally consistent representations of energy (including the electric sector), agriculture, and land-use systems but relatively aggregate representations of the factors influencing electric sector investments . We vary the degree of harmonization in electricity demand, fuel prices, technology costs and performance, and variable renewable energy resource characteristics. We then identify the prominent sources of divergence in key outputs (electricity capacity, generation, and price) across the models and study how the convergence between models can be improved with permutations of harmonized characteristics. The remaining inconsistencies help to establish how differences in the models' underlying data, construction, perspective, and methodology play into each model's outcome. There are three broad contributions of this work. First, our study provides a framework to link models with similar scope but different resolutions. Second, our work provides insight into how the harmonization of assumptions contributes to a unified and robust portrayal of the US electricity sector under various potential futures. Finally, our study enhances the understanding of the influence of structural uncertainty on consistency of outcomes.

Modeling nutrient release in the Tai Lake basin of China: source identification and policy implications.

PubMed

Liu, Beibei; Liu, Heng; Zhang, Bing; Bi, Jun

2013-03-01

Because nutrient enrichment has become increasingly severe in the Tai Lake Basin of China, identifying sources and loads is crucial for watershed nutrient management. This paper develops an empirical framework to estimate nutrient release from five major sectors, which requires fewer input parameters and produces acceptable accuracy. Sectors included are industrial manufacturing, livestock breeding (industrial and family scale), crop agriculture, household consumption (urban and rural), and atmospheric deposition. Results show that in the basin (only the five sectors above), total nutrient loads of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) into aquatic systems in 2008 were 33043.2 tons N a(-1) and 5254.4 tons P a(-1), and annual area-specific nutrient loads were 1.94 tons N km(-2) and 0.31 tons P km(-2). Household consumption was the major sector having the greatest impact (46 % in N load, 47 % in P load), whereas atmospheric deposition (18 %) and crop agriculture (15 %) sectors represented other significant proportions of N load. The load estimates also indicate that 32 % of total P came from the livestock breeding sector, making it the second largest phosphorus contributor. According to the nutrient pollution sectors, six best management practices are selected for cost-effectiveness analysis, and feasible options are recommended. Overall, biogas digester construction on industrial-scale farms is proven the most cost-effective, whereas the building of rural decentralized facilities is the best alternative under extreme financial constraint. However, the reduction potential, average monetary cost, and other factors such as risk tolerance of policy makers should all be considered in the actual decision-making process.

'Going private': a qualitative comparison of medical specialists' job satisfaction in the public and private sectors of South Africa.

PubMed

Ashmore, John

2013-01-03

There is a highly inequitable distribution of health workers between public and private sectors in South Africa, partly due to within-country migration trends. This article elaborates what South African medical specialists find satisfying about working in the public and private sectors, at present, and how to better incentivize retention in the public sector. Seventy-four qualitative interviews were conducted - among specialists and key informants - based in one public and one private urban hospital in South Africa. Interviews were coded to determine common job satisfaction factors, both financial and non-financial in nature. This served as background to a broader study on the impacts of specialist 'dual practice', that is, moonlighting. All qualitative specialist respondents were engaged in dual practice, generally working in both public and private sectors. Respondents were thus able to compare what was satisfying about these sectors, having experience of both. Results demonstrate that although there are strong financial incentives for specialists to migrate from the public to the private sector, public work can be attractive in some ways. For example, the public hospital sector generally provides more of a team environment, more academic opportunities, and greater opportunities to feel 'needed' and 'relevant'. However, public specialists suffer under poor resource availability, lack of trust for the Department of Health, and poor perceived career opportunities. These non-financial issues of public sector dissatisfaction appeared just as important, if not more important, than wage disparities. The results are useful for understanding both what brings specialists to migrate to the private sector, and what keeps some working in the public sector. Policy recommendations center around boosting public sector resources and building trust of the public sector through including health workers more in decision-making, inter alia. These interventions may be more cost-effective for retention than wage increases, and imply that it is not necessarily just a matter of putting more money into the public sector to increase retention.

MWPC prototyping and performance test for the STAR inner TPC upgrade

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shen, Fuwang; Wang, Shuai; Kong, Fangang; Bai, Shiwei; Li, Changyu; Videbæk, Flemming; Xu, Zhangbu; Zhu, Chengguang; Xu, Qinghua; Yang, Chi

2018-07-01

A new prototype of STAR inner Time Projection Chamber (iTPC) MWPC sector has been fabricated and tested in an X-ray test system. The wire chamber built at Shandong University has a wire tension precision better than 6% and wire pitch precision better than 10 μm. The gas gain uniformity and energy resolution are measured to be better than 1% (RMS) and 20% (FWHM), respectively, using an 55Fe X-ray source. The iTPC upgrade project is to replace all 24 STAR TPC inner sectors as a crucial detector upgrade for the RHIC beam energy scan phase II program. The test results show that the constructed iTPC prototype meets all project requirements.

Radiation bounce from the Lee-Wick construction?

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

Karouby, Johanna; Brandenberger, Robert

2010-09-15

It was recently realized that matter modeled by the scalar field sector of the Lee-Wick standard model yields, in the context of a homogeneous and isotropic cosmological background, a bouncing cosmology. However, bouncing cosmologies induced by pressureless matter are in general unstable to the addition of relativistic matter (i.e. radiation). Here we study the possibility of obtaining a bouncing cosmology if we add not only radiation, but also its Lee-Wick partner, to the matter sector. We find that, in general, no bounce occurs. The only way to obtain a bounce is to choose initial conditions with very special phases ofmore » the radiation field and its Lee-Wick partner.« less

Mimicking dark matter in Horndeski gravity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rinaldi, Massimiliano

2017-06-01

Since the rediscovery of Horndeski gravity, a lot of work has been devoted to the exploration of its properties, especially in the context of dark energy. However, one sector of this theory, namely the one containing the coupling of the Einstein tensor to the kinetic term of the scalar field, shows some surprising features in the construction of black holes and neutron stars. Motivated by these new results, I explore the possibility that this sector of Horndeski gravity can mimic cold dark matter at cosmological level and also explain the flattening of galactic rotation curves. I will show that, in principle, it is possible to achieve both goals with at least two scalar fields and a minimal set of assumptions.

Selected Alberta science and research success stories. Volume 2

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

NONE

1996-12-31

This publication provides a sampling of the value of science and research to Albertans, to the Alberta economy, and to the global community as revealed in stories of successful science and research activities in the province. Each story includes name of developer, inventor, company, and/or supporter; names of co-operating agencies, if any; contact name and address for further information; and a list of expected or realized benefits. The stories are organized under subject areas relating to agriculture and agri-food, arts and culture, biotechnology, construction, education, energy, environment, forest sector, health and medicine, human and community development, information and communications, manufacturing,more » mineral sector, tourism, and transportation.« less

Analysis of the workload imposed on the workers of the imprint and cutting/welding sectors of a flexible packaging manufacturer.

PubMed

de M Guimarães, L B; Pessa, S L R; Biguelini, C

2012-01-01

This article presents a study on the evaluation of the workload imposed to workers of two sectors of a flexible packaging manufacturer that operates in three shifts. The workers are allocated in one of the shifts (morning, evening and night shifts) without evaluation of their chronotype and/or social needs. The Imprint sector has a more dynamic work, which is done only by man due to the effort demanded by handling loads. The work in the Cutting/Welding sector is static, done mainly by women. The results showed that the overall workload was the same in the Imprint and Cutting/Welding sectors, because physical effort for load handling is higher in the former but the latter involves high static load. The levels of urinary catecholamines and salivary cortisol were consistent with the workers biological clock showing that none of the workers changed his/her biological cycle to accommodate to the time of the shift schedule.

The effect of public or private structures in wastewater treatment on the conditions for the design, construction and operation of wastewater treatment plants.

PubMed

Grünebaum, T; Bode, H

2004-01-01

Organised in public or private structures, wastewater services have to cope with different framework conditions as regards planning, construction, financing and operation. This leads quite often to different modes of management. In recent years there has been a push for privatisation on the water sector in general, the reasons for which are manifold, ranging from access to external know-how and capital to synergistic effects through integration of wastewater treatment into other tasks of similar or equal nature. Discussed are various models of public/private partnership (PPP) in wastewater treatment, encompassing for example the delegation of partial tasks or even the proportional or entire transfer of ownership of treatment facilities to private third parties. Decisive for high performance and efficiency is not the legal or organisational form, but rather the clear and unmistakable definition of tasks which are to be assigned to the different parties, customers and all other partners involved, as well as of clear-cut interfaces. On account of the (of course legitimate) profit-oriented perspective of the private sector, some decision-making processes in relation to project implementation (design and construction) and to operational aspects will differ from those typically found on the public sector. This does apply to decisions on investments, financing and on technical solutions too. On the other hand, core competencies in wastewater treatment should not be outsourced, but remain the public bodies' responsibility, even with 'far-reaching' privatisation models. Such core competencies are all efforts geared to sustainable wastewater treatment as life-supporting provision for the future or as contribution to the protection of health and the environment and to the development of infrastructure. Major areas of wastewater treatment and other related tasks are reviewed. The paper concludes with a list of questions on the issue of outsourcing.

The global contribution of energy consumption by product exports from China.

PubMed

Tang, Erzi; Peng, Chong

2017-06-01

This paper presents a model to analyze the mechanism of the global contribution of energy usage by product exports. The theoretical analysis is based on the perspective that contribution estimates should be in relatively smaller sectors in which the production characteristics could be considered, such as the productivity distribution for each sector. Then, we constructed a method to measure the global contribution of energy usage. The simple method to estimate the global contribution is the percentage of goods export volume compared to the GDP as a multiple of total energy consumption, but this method underestimates the global contribution because it ignores the structure of energy consumption and product export in China. According to our measurement method and based on the theoretical analysis, we calculated the global contribution of energy consumption only by industrial manufactured product exports in a smaller sector per industry or manufacturing sector. The results indicated that approximately 42% of the total energy usage in the whole economy for China in 2013 was contributed to foreign regions. Along with the primary products and service export in China, the global contribution of energy consumption for China in 2013 by export was larger than 42% of the total energy usage.

The role of the public sector in the provision of housing supply in Turkey, 1950–2009.

PubMed

Özdemir, Dilek

2011-01-01

This study examines the changing role of the public sector in Turkey with regard to housing provision since 1950, and particularly since 2000, and seeks to clarify how public intervention has affected housing provision and urban development dynamics in major cities. Three periods may be identified, with central government acting as a regulator in a first period characterized by a ‘housing boom’. During the second period, from 1980 to 2000, a new mass housing law spurred construction activity, although the main beneficiaries of the housing fund tended to be the middle classes. After 2000, contrary to emerging trends in both Northern and Southern European countries, the public sector in Turkey became actively involved in housing provision. During this process, new housing estates were created on greenfield sites on the outskirts of cities, instead of efforts being made to rehabilitate, restore or renew existing housing stock in the cities. Meanwhile, the concept of ‘urban regeneration’ has been opportunistically incorporated into the planning agenda of the public sector, and — under the pretext of regenerating squatter housing areas — existing residents have been moved out, while channels for community participation have been bypassed.

A review on thermal and catalytic pyrolysis of plastic solid waste (PSW).

PubMed

Al-Salem, S M; Antelava, A; Constantinou, A; Manos, G; Dutta, A

2017-07-15

Plastic plays an important role in our daily lives due to its versatility, light weight and low production cost. Plastics became essential in many sectors such as construction, medical, engineering applications, automotive, aerospace, etc. In addition, economic growth and development also increased our demand and dependency on plastics which leads to its accumulation in landfills imposing risk on human health, animals and cause environmental pollution problems such as ground water contamination, sanitary related issues, etc. Hence, a sustainable and an efficient plastic waste treatment is essential to avoid such issues. Pyrolysis is a thermo-chemical plastic waste treatment technique which can solve such pollution problems, as well as, recover valuable energy and products such as oil and gas. Pyrolysis of plastic solid waste (PSW) has gained importance due to having better advantages towards environmental pollution and reduction of carbon footprint of plastic products by minimizing the emissions of carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide compared to combustion and gasification. This paper presents the existing techniques of pyrolysis, the parameters which affect the products yield and selectivity and identify major research gaps in this technology. The influence of different catalysts on the process as well as review and comparative assessment of pyrolysis with other thermal and catalytic plastic treatment methods, is also presented. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Consistent Pauli reduction on group manifolds

DOE PAGES

Baguet, A.; Pope, Christopher N.; Samtleben, H.

2016-01-01

We prove an old conjecture by Duff, Nilsson, Pope and Warner asserting that the NSNS sector of supergravity (and more general the bosonic string) allows for a consistent Pauli reduction on any d-dimensional group manifold G, keeping the full set of gauge bosons of the G×G isometry group of the bi-invariant metric on G. The main tool of the construction is a particular generalised Scherk–Schwarz reduction ansatz in double field theory which we explicitly construct in terms of the group's Killing vectors. Examples include the consistent reduction from ten dimensions on S3×S3 and on similar product spaces. The construction ismore » another example of globally geometric non-toroidal compactifications inducing non-geometric fluxes.« less

Attributable risk of carpal tunnel syndrome according to industry and occupation in a general population.

PubMed

Roquelaure, Yves; Ha, Catherine; Nicolas, Guillaume; Pélier-Cady, Marie-Christine; Mariot, Camille; Descatha, Alexis; Leclerc, Annette; Raimbeau, Guy; Goldberg, Marcel; Imbernon, Ellen

2008-09-15

An epidemiologic surveillance network for carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) was set up in the general population of a French region to assess the proportion of CTS cases attributable to work in high-risk industries and occupations. Cases of CTS occurring among patients ages 20-59 years living in the Maine and Loire region were included prospectively from 2002 to 2004. Medical and occupation history was gathered by mailed questionnaire for 815 women and 320 men. Age-adjusted relative risks of CTS and the attributable risk fractions of CTS among exposed persons (AFEs) were computed in relation to industry sectors and occupation categories. Twenty-one industry sectors and 8 occupational categories for women and 10 sectors and 6 occupational categories for men were characterized by a significant excess risk of CTS. High AFE values were observed in the manufacturing (42-93% for both sexes), construction (66% for men), and personal service industries (66% for women) and in the trade and commerce sectors (49% for women). High AFE values were observed in lower-grade white-collar occupations for women (43-67%) and blue-collar occupations for men (60-74%) and women (48-88%). The attributable proportions of CTS cases among workers employed in industry sectors and occupation categories identified at high risk of CTS varied between 36% and 93%.

Attributable risk of carpal tunnel syndrome according to industry and occupation in a general population

PubMed Central

Roquelaure, Yves; Ha, Catherine; Nicolas, Guillaume; Pélier-Cady, Marie-Christine; Mariot, Camille; Descatha, Alexis; Leclerc, Annette; Raimbeau, Guy; Goldberg, Marcel; Imbernon, Ellen

2008-01-01

Objectives An epidemiological surveillance network for carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) was set up in the general population of a French region to assess the attributable fraction of CTS according to work in high risk industries and occupations. Methods Cases of CTS occurring among patients aged 20 to 59 living in the Maine and Loire region were included prospectively from 2002 to 2004. Medical and occupation history was gathered by mailed questionnaire for 815 women and 20 men. Age-adjusted relative risks of CTS and the attributable fractions of CTS to work among exposed persons (AFE) were computed in relation to industry sectors and occupation categories. Results Twenty-one industry sectors and eight occupational categories for women, and ten sectors and six occupational categories for men were characterized by a significant excess risk of CTS. High values of AFE were observed in the manufacturing (from 42 to 93% for both genders), construction (66 for men) and personal service industries (66 for women), and trade and commerce (49% for women) sectors. High values of AFE were observed in female lower grade white-collar occupations (from 43 to 67%), and male (from 60 to 74%) and female (from 48 to 88%) blue-collar occupations. Conclusion The attributable fractions of CTS among workers employed in industry sectors and occupation categories identified at high risk of CTS varied between 36 and 93% PMID:18759264