Sample records for quantitative safety goals

  1. Methods and strategies for future reactor safety goals

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Arndt, Steven Andrew

    There have been significant discussions over the past few years by the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS), and others as to the adequacy of the NRC safety goals for use with the next generation of nuclear power reactors to be built in the United States. The NRC, in its safety goals policy statement, has provided general qualitative safety goals and basic quantitative health objectives (QHOs) for nuclear reactors in the United States. Risk metrics such as core damage frequency (CDF) and large early release frequency (LERF) have been used as surrogates for the QHOs. In its review of the new plant licensing policy the ACRS has looked at the safety goals, as has the NRC. A number of issues have been raised including what the Commission had in mind when it drafted the safety goals and QHOs, how risk from multiple reactors at a site should be combined for evaluation, how the combination of a new and old reactor at the same site should be evaluated, what the criteria for evaluating new reactors should be, and whether new reactors should be required to be safer than current generation reactors. As part of the development and application of the NRC safety goal policy statement the Commissioners laid out the expectations for the safety of a nuclear power plant but did not address the risk associated with current multi-unit sites, potential modular reactor sites, and hybrid sites that could contain current generation reactors, new passive reactors, and/or modular reactors. The NRC safety goals and the QHOs refer to a "nuclear power plant," but do not discuss whether a "plant" refers to only a single unit or all of the units on a site. There has been much discussion on this issue recently due to the development of modular reactors. Additionally, the risk of multiple reactor accidents on the same site has been largely ignored in the probabilistic risk assessments (PRAs) done to date, and in most risk

  2. A RE-LOOK AT THE US NRC SAFETY GOALS

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

    mubayi v.

    2013-09-22

    Since they were adopted in 1986, the US NRC’s Safety Goals have played a valuable role as a de facto risk acceptance criterion against which the predicted performance of a commercial nuclear power reactor can be evaluated and assessed. The current safety goals are cast in terms of risk metrics called quantitative health objectives (QHOs), limiting numerical values of the risks of the early and latent health effects of accidental releases of radioactivity to the offsite population. However, while demonstrating compliance with current safety goals has been an important step in assessing the acceptance of the risk posed by LWRs,more » new or somewhat different goals may be needed that go beyond the current early fatality and latent cancer fatality QHOs in assessing reactor risk. Natural phenomena such as hurricanes seem to be suitable candidates for establishing a background rate to derive a risk goal as their order of magnitude cost of damages is similar to those estimated in severe accident Level 3 PRAs done for nuclear power plants. This paper obtains a risk goal that could have a wider applicability, compared to the current QHOs, as a technology-neutral goal applicable to future reactors and multi-unit sites.« less

  3. Priming patient safety: A middle-range theory of safety goal priming via safety culture communication.

    PubMed

    Groves, Patricia S; Bunch, Jacinda L

    2018-05-18

    The aim of this paper is discussion of a new middle-range theory of patient safety goal priming via safety culture communication. Bedside nurses are key to safe care, but there is little theory about how organizations can influence nursing behavior through safety culture to improve patient safety outcomes. We theorize patient safety goal priming via safety culture communication may support organizations in this endeavor. According to this theory, hospital safety culture communication activates a previously held patient safety goal and increases the perceived value of actions nurses can take to achieve that goal. Nurses subsequently prioritize and are motivated to perform tasks and risk assessment related to achieving patient safety. These efforts continue until nurses mitigate or ameliorate identified risks and hazards during the patient care encounter. Critically, this process requires nurses to have a previously held safety goal associated with a repertoire of appropriate actions. This theory suggests undergraduate educators should foster an outcomes focus emphasizing the connections between nursing interventions and safety outcomes, hospitals should strategically structure patient safety primes into communicative activities, and organizations should support professional development including new skills and the latest evidence supporting nursing practice for patient safety. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  4. Teaching quantitative biology: goals, assessments, and resources

    PubMed Central

    Aikens, Melissa L.; Dolan, Erin L.

    2014-01-01

    More than a decade has passed since the publication of BIO2010, calling for an increased emphasis on quantitative skills in the undergraduate biology curriculum. In that time, relatively few papers have been published that describe educational innovations in quantitative biology or provide evidence of their effects on students. Using a “backward design” framework, we lay out quantitative skill and attitude goals, assessment strategies, and teaching resources to help biologists teach more quantitatively. Collaborations between quantitative biologists and education researchers are necessary to develop a broader and more appropriate suite of assessment tools, and to provide much-needed evidence on how particular teaching strategies affect biology students' quantitative skill development and attitudes toward quantitative work. PMID:25368425

  5. Safer Systems: A NextGen Aviation Safety Strategic Goal

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Darr, Stephen T.; Ricks, Wendell R.; Lemos, Katherine A.

    2008-01-01

    The Joint Planning and Development Office (JPDO), is charged by Congress with developing the concepts and plans for the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen). The National Aviation Safety Strategic Plan (NASSP), developed by the Safety Working Group of the JPDO, focuses on establishing the goals, objectives, and strategies needed to realize the safety objectives of the NextGen Integrated Plan. The three goal areas of the NASSP are Safer Practices, Safer Systems, and Safer Worldwide. Safer Practices emphasizes an integrated, systematic approach to safety risk management through implementation of formalized Safety Management Systems (SMS) that incorporate safety data analysis processes, and the enhancement of methods for ensuring safety is an inherent characteristic of NextGen. Safer Systems emphasizes implementation of safety-enhancing technologies, which will improve safety for human-centered interfaces and enhance the safety of airborne and ground-based systems. Safer Worldwide encourages coordinating the adoption of the safer practices and safer systems technologies, policies and procedures worldwide, such that the maximum level of safety is achieved across air transportation system boundaries. This paper introduces the NASSP and its development, and focuses on the Safer Systems elements of the NASSP, which incorporates three objectives for NextGen systems: 1) provide risk reducing system interfaces, 2) provide safety enhancements for airborne systems, and 3) provide safety enhancements for ground-based systems. The goal of this paper is to expose avionics and air traffic management system developers to NASSP objectives and Safer Systems strategies.

  6. Administrative goals and safety standards for hazard control on forested recreation sites

    Treesearch

    Lee A. Paine

    1973-01-01

    For efficient control of tree hazard on recreation sites, a specific administrative goal must be selected. A safety standard designed to achieve the selected goal and a uniform hazard-rating procedure will then promote a consistent level of safety at an acceptable cost. Safety standards can be established with the aid of data for past years, and dollar evaluations are...

  7. Food-safety educational goals for dietetics and hospitality students.

    PubMed

    Scheule, B

    2000-08-01

    To identify food-safety educational goals for dietetics and hospitality management students. Written questionnaires were used to identify educational goals and the most important food safety competencies for entry-level dietitians and foodservice managers. The sample included all directors of didactic programs in dietetics approved by the American Dietetic Association and baccalaureate-degree hospitality programs with membership in the Council on Hotel, Restaurant, and Institutional Education. Fifty-one percent of the directors responded. Descriptive statistics were calculated. chi 2 analysis and independent t tests were used to compare educators' responses for discrete and continuous variables, respectively. Exploratory factor analysis grouped statements about food safety competence. Internal consistency of factors was measured using Cronbach alpha. Thirty-four percent of dietetics programs and 70% of hospitality programs required or offered food safety certification. Dietetics educators reported multiple courses with food safety information, whereas hospitality educators identified 1 or 2 courses. In general, the educators rated food-safety competencies as very important or essential. Concepts related to Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HAACP), irradiation, and pasteurization were rated less highly, compared with other items. Competencies related to reasons for outbreaks of foodborne illness were rated as most important. Food safety certification of dietitians and an increased emphasis on HAACP at the undergraduate level or during the practice component are suggested. Research is recommended to assess the level of food-safety competence expected by employers of entry-level dietitians and foodservice managers.

  8. The role of quantitative safety evaluation in regulatory decision making of drugs.

    PubMed

    Chakravarty, Aloka G; Izem, Rima; Keeton, Stephine; Kim, Clara Y; Levenson, Mark S; Soukup, Mat

    2016-01-01

    Evaluation of safety is a critical component of drug review at the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Statisticians are playing an increasingly visible role in quantitative safety evaluation and regulatory decision-making. This article reviews the history and the recent events relating to quantitative drug safety evaluation at the FDA. The article then focuses on five active areas of quantitative drug safety evaluation and the role Division of Biometrics VII (DBVII) plays in these areas, namely meta-analysis for safety evaluation, large safety outcome trials, post-marketing requirements (PMRs), the Sentinel Initiative, and the evaluation of risk from extended/long-acting opioids. This article will focus chiefly on developments related to quantitative drug safety evaluation and not on the many additional developments in drug safety in general.

  9. Patient safety goals for the proposed Federal Health Information Technology Safety Center.

    PubMed

    Sittig, Dean F; Classen, David C; Singh, Hardeep

    2015-03-01

    The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology is expected to oversee creation of a Health Information Technology (HIT) Safety Center. While its functions are still being defined, the center is envisioned as a public-private entity focusing on promotion of HIT related patient safety. We propose that the HIT Safety Center leverages its unique position to work with key administrative and policy stakeholders, healthcare organizations (HCOs), and HIT vendors to achieve four goals: (1) facilitate creation of a nationwide 'post-marketing' surveillance system to monitor HIT related safety events; (2) develop methods and governance structures to support investigation of major HIT related safety events; (3) create the infrastructure and methods needed to carry out random assessments of HIT related safety in complex HCOs; and (4) advocate for HIT safety with government and private entities. The convening ability of a federally supported HIT Safety Center could be critically important to our transformation to a safe and effective HIT enabled healthcare system. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Medical Informatics Association. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  10. Development of an Updated Societal-Risk Goal for Nuclear Power Safety

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

    Vicki Bier; Michael Corradini; Robert Youngblood

    2014-07-01

    This report briefly summarizes work done in FY 2013 on the subject LDRD. The working hypothesis is that societal disruption should be addressed in a safety goal. This is motivated by the point that the Fukushima disaster resulted in very little public dose, but enormous societal disruption; a goal that addressed societal disruption would fill a perceived gap in the US NRC safety goal structure. This year's work entailed analyzing the consequences of postulated accidents at various reactor sites in the US, specifically with a view to quantifying the number of people relocated and the duration of their relocation, tomore » see whether this makes sense as a measure of societal disruption.« less

  11. Specific features of goal setting in road traffic safety

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kolesov, V. I.; Danilov, O. F.; Petrov, A. I.

    2017-10-01

    Road traffic safety (RTS) management is inherently a branch of cybernetics and therefore requires clear formalization of the task. The paper aims at identification of the specific features of goal setting in RTS management under the system approach. The paper presents the results of cybernetic modeling of the cause-to-effect mechanism of a road traffic accident (RTA); in here, the mechanism itself is viewed as a complex system. A designed management goal function is focused on minimizing the difficulty in achieving the target goal. Optimization of the target goal has been performed using the Lagrange principle. The created working algorithms have passed the soft testing. The key role of the obtained solution in the tactical and strategic RTS management is considered. The dynamics of the management effectiveness indicator has been analyzed based on the ten-year statistics for Russia.

  12. Qualitatively and quantitatively evaluating harm-reduction goal setting among chronically homeless individuals with alcohol dependence

    PubMed Central

    Collins, Susan E.; Grazioli, Véronique S.; Torres, Nicole I.; Taylor, Emily M.; Jones, Connor B.; Hoffman, Gail E.; Haelsig, Laura; Zhu, Mengdan D.; Hatsukami, Alyssa S.; Koker, Molly J.; Herndon, Patrick; Greenleaf, Shawna M.; Dean, Parker E.

    2015-01-01

    Most treatment programs for alcohol dependence have prioritized alcohol abstinence as the primary treatment goal. However, abstinence-based goals are not always considered desirable or attainable by more severely affected populations, such as chronically homeless people with alcohol dependence. Because these individuals comprise a multimorbid and high-utilizing population, they are in need of more focused research attention that elucidates their preferred treatment goals. The aim of this secondary study was therefore to qualitatively and quantitatively document participant-generated treatment goals. Participants were currently or formerly chronically homeless individuals (N=31) with alcohol dependence who participated in a pilot of extended-release naltrexone and harm-reduction counseling. Throughout the treatment period, study interventionists elicited participants’ goals and recorded them on an open-ended grid. In subsequent weeks, progress towards and achievement of goals was obtained via self-report and recorded by study interventionists. Conventional content analysis was performed to classify participant-generated treatment goals. Representation of the three top categories remained stable over the course of treatment. In the order of their frequency, they included drinking-related goals, quality-of-life goals and health-related goals. Within the category of drinking-related goals, participants consistently endorsed reducing drinking and alcohol-related consequences ahead of abstinence-based goals. Quantitative analyses indicated participants generated an increasing number of goals over the course of treatment. Proportions of goals achieved and progressed toward kept pace with this increase. Findings confirmed hypotheses that chronically homeless people with alcohol dependence can independently generate and achieve treatment goals toward alcohol harm reduction and quality-of-life improvement. PMID:25697724

  13. The influence of multiple goals on driving behavior: the case of safety, time saving, and fuel saving.

    PubMed

    Dogan, Ebru; Steg, Linda; Delhomme, Patricia

    2011-09-01

    Due to the innate complexity of the task drivers have to manage multiple goals while driving and the importance of certain goals may vary over time leading to priority being given to different goals depending on the circumstances. This study aimed to investigate drivers' behavioral regulation while managing multiple goals during driving. To do so participants drove on urban and rural roads in a driving simulator while trying to manage fuel saving and time saving goals, besides the safety goals that are always present during driving. A between-subjects design was used with one group of drivers managing two goals (safety and fuel saving) and another group managing three goals (safety, fuel saving, and time saving) while driving. Participants were provided continuous feedback on the fuel saving goal via a meter on the dashboard. The results indicate that even when a fuel saving or time saving goal is salient, safety goals are still given highest priority when interactions with other road users take place and when interacting with a traffic light. Additionally, performance on the fuel saving goal diminished for the group that had to manage fuel saving and time saving together. The theoretical implications for a goal hierarchy in driving tasks and practical implications for eco-driving are discussed. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  14. Patient-focused goal planning process and outcome after spinal cord injury rehabilitation: quantitative and qualitative audit.

    PubMed

    Byrnes, Michelle; Beilby, Janet; Ray, Patricia; McLennan, Renee; Ker, John; Schug, Stephan

    2012-12-01

    To evaluate the process and outcome of a multidisciplinary inpatient goal planning rehabilitation programme on physical, social and psychological functioning for patients with spinal cord injury. Clinical audit: quantitative and qualitative analyses. Specialist spinal injury unit, Perth, Australia. Consecutive series of 100 newly injured spinal cord injury inpatients. MAIN MEASURE(S): The Needs Assessment Checklist (NAC), patient-focused goal planning questionnaire and goal planning progress form. The clinical audit of 100 spinal cord injured patients revealed that 547 goal planning meetings were held with 8531 goals stipulated in total. Seventy-five per cent of the goals set at the first goal planning meeting were achieved by the second meeting and the rate of goal achievements at subsequent goal planning meetings dropped to 56%. Based on quantitative analysis of physical, social and psychological functioning, the 100 spinal cord injury patients improved significantly from baseline to discharge. Furthermore, qualitative analysis revealed benefits consistently reported by spinal cord injury patients of the goal planning rehabilitation programme in improvements to their physical, social and psychological adjustment to injury. The findings of this clinical audit underpin the need for patient-focused goal planning rehabilitation programmes which are tailored to the individual's needs and involve a comprehensive multidisciplinary team.

  15. Using Qualitative Hazard Analysis to Guide Quantitative Safety Analysis

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Shortle, J. F.; Allocco, M.

    2005-01-01

    Quantitative methods can be beneficial in many types of safety investigations. However, there are many difficulties in using quantitative m ethods. Far example, there may be little relevant data available. This paper proposes a framework for using quantitative hazard analysis to prioritize hazard scenarios most suitable for quantitative mziysis. The framework first categorizes hazard scenarios by severity and likelihood. We then propose another metric "modeling difficulty" that desc ribes the complexity in modeling a given hazard scenario quantitatively. The combined metrics of severity, likelihood, and modeling difficu lty help to prioritize hazard scenarios for which quantitative analys is should be applied. We have applied this methodology to proposed concepts of operations for reduced wake separation for airplane operatio ns at closely spaced parallel runways.

  16. Safety Verification of a Fault Tolerant Reconfigurable Autonomous Goal-Based Robotic Control System

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Braman, Julia M. B.; Murray, Richard M; Wagner, David A.

    2007-01-01

    Fault tolerance and safety verification of control systems are essential for the success of autonomous robotic systems. A control architecture called Mission Data System (MDS), developed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, takes a goal-based control approach. In this paper, a method for converting goal network control programs into linear hybrid systems is developed. The linear hybrid system can then be verified for safety in the presence of failures using existing symbolic model checkers. An example task is simulated in MDS and successfully verified using HyTech, a symbolic model checking software for linear hybrid systems.

  17. How can leaders foster team learning? Effects of leader-assigned mastery and performance goals and psychological safety.

    PubMed

    Ashauer, Shirley A; Macan, Therese

    2013-01-01

    Learning and adapting to change are imperative as teams today face unprecedented change. Yet, an important part of learning involves challenging assumptions and addressing differences of opinion openly within a group--the kind of behaviors that pose the potential for embarrassment or threat. How can leaders foster an environment in which team members feel it is safe to take interpersonal risks in order to learn? In a study of 71 teams, we found that psychological safety and learning behavior were higher for teams with mastery than performance goal instructions or no goal instructions. Team psychological safety mediated the relationship between mastery and performance goal instructions and learning behavior. Findings contribute to our understanding of how leader-assigned goals are related to psychological safety and learning behavior in a team context, and suggest approaches to foster such processes.

  18. Promoting the safety performance of industrial radiography using a quantitative assessment system.

    PubMed

    Kardan, M R; Mianji, F A; Rastkhah, N; Babakhani, A; Azad, S Borhan

    2006-12-01

    The increasing number of industrial radiographers and their considerable occupational exposure has been one of the main concerns of the Iran Nuclear Regulatory Authority (INRA) in recent years. In 2002, a quantitative system of evaluating the safety performance of licensees and a complementary enforcement system was introduced by the National Radiation Protection Department (NRPD). Each parameter of the practice is given a weighting factor according to its importance to safety. Assessment of the licensees is done quantitatively by summing up their scores using prepared tables. Implementing this system of evaluation showed a considerable decrease in deficiencies in the various centres. Tables are updated regularly as a result of findings during the inspections. This system is used in addition to enforcement to promote safety performance and to increase the culture of safety in industrial radiography.

  19. Flightdeck Automation Problems (FLAP) Model for Safety Technology Portfolio Assessment

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Ancel, Ersin; Shih, Ann T.

    2014-01-01

    NASA's Aviation Safety Program (AvSP) develops and advances methodologies and technologies to improve air transportation safety. The Safety Analysis and Integration Team (SAIT) conducts a safety technology portfolio assessment (PA) to analyze the program content, to examine the benefits and risks of products with respect to program goals, and to support programmatic decision making. The PA process includes systematic identification of current and future safety risks as well as tracking several quantitative and qualitative metrics to ensure the program goals are addressing prominent safety risks accurately and effectively. One of the metrics within the PA process involves using quantitative aviation safety models to gauge the impact of the safety products. This paper demonstrates the role of aviation safety modeling by providing model outputs and evaluating a sample of portfolio elements using the Flightdeck Automation Problems (FLAP) model. The model enables not only ranking of the quantitative relative risk reduction impact of all portfolio elements, but also highlighting the areas with high potential impact via sensitivity and gap analyses in support of the program office. Although the model outputs are preliminary and products are notional, the process shown in this paper is essential to a comprehensive PA of NASA's safety products in the current program and future programs/projects.

  20. The Occupational Safety and Health Act: Its Goals and Its Achievements. Evaluative Studies Series.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Smith, Robert Stewart

    The safety and health mandate of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 is examined in reference to its effectiveness in reducing injuries and its consistency with the goal of promoting general welfare. Chapter 1 describes the essential features of the act and its administration to date, and analyzes the mandate as revealed by legislative…

  1. Towards Measurement of Confidence in Safety Cases

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Denney, Ewen; Paim Ganesh J.; Habli, Ibrahim

    2011-01-01

    Arguments in safety cases are predominantly qualitative. This is partly attributed to the lack of sufficient design and operational data necessary to measure the achievement of high-dependability targets, particularly for safety-critical functions implemented in software. The subjective nature of many forms of evidence, such as expert judgment and process maturity, also contributes to the overwhelming dependence on qualitative arguments. However, where data for quantitative measurements is systematically collected, quantitative arguments provide far more benefits over qualitative arguments, in assessing confidence in the safety case. In this paper, we propose a basis for developing and evaluating integrated qualitative and quantitative safety arguments based on the Goal Structuring Notation (GSN) and Bayesian Networks (BN). The approach we propose identifies structures within GSN-based arguments where uncertainties can be quantified. BN are then used to provide a means to reason about confidence in a probabilistic way. We illustrate our approach using a fragment of a safety case for an unmanned aerial system and conclude with some preliminary observations

  2. Prescribing Warfarin Appropriately to Meet Patient Safety Goals

    PubMed Central

    Dharmarajan, Lekshmi; Dharmarajan, T.S.

    2008-01-01

    The anticoagulant warfarin is increasingly used in a variety of disorders associated with risk of thromboembolism. The drug is undoubtedly effective but is linked to numerous nutrient, disease, and drug interactions; safe use of warfarin therefore necessitates close patient monitoring, using the international normalized ratio. The predominant adverse effect is bleeding, and individuals respond to warfarin in different ways. Both high and subtherapeutic international normalized ratios warrant attention, whereas a high international normalized ratio, with or without bleeding, mandates prompt patient evaluation. The 2008 National Patient Safety Goals require medical institutions to develop processes to ensure the safe use and monitoring of anticoagulant use. Last August, the US Food and Drug Administration revised the prescribing information for warfarin to include genetic testing before initiating therapy, although this is still not covered by most health plans. PMID:25126243

  3. A methodology to quantitatively evaluate the safety of a glazing robot.

    PubMed

    Lee, Seungyeol; Yu, Seungnam; Choi, Junho; Han, Changsoo

    2011-03-01

    A new construction method using robots is spreading widely among construction sites in order to overcome labour shortages and frequent construction accidents. Along with economical efficiency, safety is a very important factor for evaluating the use of construction robots in construction sites. However, the quantitative evaluation of safety is difficult compared with that of economical efficiency. In this study, we suggested a safety evaluation methodology by defining the 'worker' and 'work conditions' as two risk factors, defining the 'worker' factor as posture load and the 'work conditions' factor as the work environment and the risk exposure time. The posture load evaluation reflects the risk of musculoskeletal disorders which can be caused by work posture and the risk of accidents which can be caused by reduced concentration. We evaluated the risk factors that may cause various accidents such as falling, colliding, capsizing, and squeezing in work environments, and evaluated the operational risk by considering worker exposure time to risky work environments. With the results of the evaluations for each factor, we calculated the general operational risk and deduced the improvement ratio in operational safety by introducing a construction robot. To verify these results, we compared the safety of the existing human manual labour and the proposed robotic labour construction methods for manipulating large glass panels. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd and The Ergonomics Society. All rights reserved.

  4. Quantitative systems toxicology

    PubMed Central

    Bloomingdale, Peter; Housand, Conrad; Apgar, Joshua F.; Millard, Bjorn L.; Mager, Donald E.; Burke, John M.; Shah, Dhaval K.

    2017-01-01

    The overarching goal of modern drug development is to optimize therapeutic benefits while minimizing adverse effects. However, inadequate efficacy and safety concerns remain to be the major causes of drug attrition in clinical development. For the past 80 years, toxicity testing has consisted of evaluating the adverse effects of drugs in animals to predict human health risks. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recognized the need to develop innovative toxicity testing strategies and asked the National Research Council to develop a long-range vision and strategy for toxicity testing in the 21st century. The vision aims to reduce the use of animals and drug development costs through the integration of computational modeling and in vitro experimental methods that evaluates the perturbation of toxicity-related pathways. Towards this vision, collaborative quantitative systems pharmacology and toxicology modeling endeavors (QSP/QST) have been initiated amongst numerous organizations worldwide. In this article, we discuss how quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR), network-based, and pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic modeling approaches can be integrated into the framework of QST models. Additionally, we review the application of QST models to predict cardiotoxicity and hepatotoxicity of drugs throughout their development. Cell and organ specific QST models are likely to become an essential component of modern toxicity testing, and provides a solid foundation towards determining individualized therapeutic windows to improve patient safety. PMID:29308440

  5. The interaction between dietary and life goals: using goal systems theory to explore healthy diet and life goals

    PubMed Central

    Turner-McGrievy, Gabrielle M.; Wright, Julie A.; Migneault, Jeffrey P.; Quintiliani, Lisa; Friedman, Robert H.

    2014-01-01

    Objective: To examine the types of life and dietary goals individuals report and how these goal domains interact as framed by goal systems theory. Methods: This work is a cross-sectional survey study. Measures included the incidence of common life and dietary goals and how these goals interact with and facilitate each other. Results: The results of a quantitative survey (n = 46 participants), which was informed by two focus groups (n = 17 participants), showed that participants are trying to achieve several different life (e.g. achieving financial success) and dietary goals (e.g. eating more fruits and vegetables, drinking more water, and losing weight) and that these two types of goals interact to both facilitate and conflict with each other. Having a life goal of exercising was significantly associated with healthy eating goals when compared with other life goals (p's < .05), suggesting these goals may be linked and help to facilitate one another. Being in the maintenance phase with the goal of healthy eating was associated with participants feeling like they were more successful in their other non-diet-related health goals (p < .05), suggesting maintenance of goals can facilitate success in achieving other goals. Conclusions: Life goals can have an impact on a person's ability to achieve and maintain dietary and other health goals. Health educators may help to facilitate long-term behavior change by examining a person's life goals as well as dietary goals. PMID:25750817

  6. The interaction between dietary and life goals: using goal systems theory to explore healthy diet and life goals.

    PubMed

    Turner-McGrievy, Gabrielle M; Wright, Julie A; Migneault, Jeffrey P; Quintiliani, Lisa; Friedman, Robert H

    2014-01-01

    Objective : To examine the types of life and dietary goals individuals report and how these goal domains interact as framed by goal systems theory. Methods : This work is a cross-sectional survey study. Measures included the incidence of common life and dietary goals and how these goals interact with and facilitate each other. Results : The results of a quantitative survey ( n  = 46 participants), which was informed by two focus groups ( n  = 17 participants), showed that participants are trying to achieve several different life (e.g. achieving financial success) and dietary goals (e.g. eating more fruits and vegetables, drinking more water, and losing weight) and that these two types of goals interact to both facilitate and conflict with each other. Having a life goal of exercising was significantly associated with healthy eating goals when compared with other life goals ( p 's < .05), suggesting these goals may be linked and help to facilitate one another. Being in the maintenance phase with the goal of healthy eating was associated with participants feeling like they were more successful in their other non-diet-related health goals ( p  < .05), suggesting maintenance of goals can facilitate success in achieving other goals. Conclusions : Life goals can have an impact on a person's ability to achieve and maintain dietary and other health goals. Health educators may help to facilitate long-term behavior change by examining a person's life goals as well as dietary goals.

  7. Applying Qualitative Hazard Analysis to Support Quantitative Safety Analysis for Proposed Reduced Wake Separation Conops

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Shortle, John F.; Allocco, Michael

    2005-01-01

    This paper describes a scenario-driven hazard analysis process to identify, eliminate, and control safety-related risks. Within this process, we develop selective criteria to determine the applicability of applying engineering modeling to hypothesized hazard scenarios. This provides a basis for evaluating and prioritizing the scenarios as candidates for further quantitative analysis. We have applied this methodology to proposed concepts of operations for reduced wake separation for closely spaced parallel runways. For arrivals, the process identified 43 core hazard scenarios. Of these, we classified 12 as appropriate for further quantitative modeling, 24 that should be mitigated through controls, recommendations, and / or procedures (that is, scenarios not appropriate for quantitative modeling), and 7 that have the lowest priority for further analysis.

  8. Comparative study of goal contents and goal characteristics between medical and business students.

    PubMed

    Park, Soowon; Kim, Ji Eun; Lee, Jun-Young; Shin, Jongho

    2016-03-01

    Medical and business are one of the most popular majors among students, and both fields require intensive training to reach certain level of expertise. During the development of professionalism, goal can become a crucial role in psychological impetus. The purpose of this study is to compare goal contents, goal characteristics, and effect of goal characteristics on student's major satisfaction between medical and business. A total of 193 undergraduate students (97 medical students, 96 business students) answered survey questions including goal contents, goal characteristics (goal autonomy, goal attainability, social value of goal) and satisfaction on their majors. Qualitative analysis of goal contents and quantitative analysis of goal characteristics, and their effects on student major satisfaction were performed. Goal content analysis showed percentage of social concern goal was higher in medical students (25.8%) than business students (6.3%), whereas percentage of wealth goal was higher business students (24.0%) than medical students (3.1%). Among goal characteristics, goal attainability and social value of goal were higher in medical students than business students. In both groups, social value of goal was significantly predict major satisfaction. Goal contents and goal characteristics are different between medical and business students. Curriculum and educational interventions that concerning students' goal and developing programs to enhance students' social value of goal is necessary.

  9. Quantitative safety assessment of air traffic control systems through system control capacity

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Guo, Jingjing

    Quantitative Safety Assessments (QSA) are essential to safety benefit verification and regulations of developmental changes in safety critical systems like the Air Traffic Control (ATC) systems. Effectiveness of the assessments is particularly desirable today in the safe implementations of revolutionary ATC overhauls like NextGen and SESAR. QSA of ATC systems are however challenged by system complexity and lack of accident data. Extending from the idea "safety is a control problem" in the literature, this research proposes to assess system safety from the control perspective, through quantifying a system's "control capacity". A system's safety performance correlates to this "control capacity" in the control of "safety critical processes". To examine this idea in QSA of the ATC systems, a Control-capacity Based Safety Assessment Framework (CBSAF) is developed which includes two control capacity metrics and a procedural method. The two metrics are Probabilistic System Control-capacity (PSC) and Temporal System Control-capacity (TSC); each addresses an aspect of a system's control capacity. And the procedural method consists three general stages: I) identification of safety critical processes, II) development of system control models and III) evaluation of system control capacity. The CBSAF was tested in two case studies. The first one assesses an en-route collision avoidance scenario and compares three hypothetical configurations. The CBSAF was able to capture the uncoordinated behavior between two means of control, as was observed in a historic midair collision accident. The second case study compares CBSAF with an existing risk based QSA method in assessing the safety benefits of introducing a runway incursion alert system. Similar conclusions are reached between the two methods, while the CBSAF has the advantage of simplicity and provides a new control-based perspective and interpretation to the assessments. The case studies are intended to investigate the

  10. Measuring global water security towards sustainable development goals

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gain, Animesh K.; Giupponi, Carlo; Wada, Yoshihide

    2016-12-01

    Water plays an important role in underpinning equitable, stable and productive societies and ecosystems. Hence, United Nations recognized ensuring water security as one (Goal 6) of the seventeen sustainable development goals (SDGs). Many international river basins are likely to experience ‘low water security’ over the coming decades. Water security is rooted not only in the physical availability of freshwater resources relative to water demand, but also on social and economic factors (e.g. sound water planning and management approaches, institutional capacity to provide water services, sustainable economic policies). Until recently, advanced tools and methods are available for the assessment of water scarcity. However, quantitative and integrated—physical and socio-economic—approaches for spatial analysis of water security at global level are not available yet. In this study, we present a spatial multi-criteria analysis framework to provide a global assessment of water security. The selected indicators are based on Goal 6 of SDGs. The term ‘security’ is conceptualized as a function of ‘availability’, ‘accessibility to services’, ‘safety and quality’, and ‘management’. The proposed global water security index (GWSI) is calculated by aggregating indicator values on a pixel-by-pixel basis, using the ordered weighted average method, which allows for the exploration of the sensitivity of final maps to different attitudes of hypothetical policy makers. Our assessment suggests that countries of Africa, South Asia and Middle East experience very low water security. Other areas of high water scarcity, such as some parts of United States, Australia and Southern Europe, show better GWSI values, due to good performance of management, safety and quality, and accessibility. The GWSI maps show the areas of the world in which integrated strategies are needed to achieve water related targets of the SDGs particularly in the African and Asian continents.

  11. Measuring Global Water Security Towards Sustainable Development Goals

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Gain, Animesh K.; Giupponi, Carlo; Wada, Yoshihide

    2016-01-01

    Water plays an important role in underpinning equitable, stable and productive societies and ecosystems. Hence, United Nations recognized ensuring water security as one (Goal 6) of the seventeen sustainable development goals (SDGs). Many international river basins are likely to experience 'low water security' over the coming decades. Water security is rooted not only in the physical availability of freshwater resources relative to water demand, but also on social and economic factors (e.g. sound water planning and management approaches, institutional capacity to provide water services, sustainable economic policies). Until recently, advanced tools and methods are available for the assessment of water scarcity. However, quantitative and integrated-physical and socio-economic-approaches for spatial analysis of water security at global level are not available yet. In this study, we present a spatial multi-criteria analysis framework to provide a global assessment of water security. The selected indicators are based on Goal 6 of SDGs. The term 'security' is conceptualized as a function of 'availability', 'accessibility to services', 'safety and quality', and 'management'. The proposed global water security index (GWSI) is calculated by aggregating indicator values on a pixel-by-pixel basis, using the ordered weighted average method, which allows for the exploration of the sensitivity of final maps to different attitudes of hypothetical policy makers. Our assessment suggests that countries of Africa, South Asia and Middle East experience very low water security. Other areas of high water scarcity, such as some parts of United States, Australia and Southern Europe, show better GWSI values, due to good performance of management, safety and quality, and accessibility. The GWSI maps show the areas of the world in which integrated strategies are needed to achieve water related targets of the SDGs particularly in the African and Asian continents.

  12. Comparative study of goal contents and goal characteristics between medical and business students

    PubMed Central

    Park, Soowon; Kim, Ji Eun; Lee, Jun-Young; Shin, Jongho

    2016-01-01

    Purpose: Medical and business are one of the most popular majors among students, and both fields require intensive training to reach certain level of expertise. During the development of professionalism, goal can become a crucial role in psychological impetus. The purpose of this study is to compare goal contents, goal characteristics, and effect of goal characteristics on student’s major satisfaction between medical and business. Methods: A total of 193 undergraduate students (97 medical students, 96 business students) answered survey questions including goal contents, goal characteristics (goal autonomy, goal attainability, social value of goal) and satisfaction on their majors. Qualitative analysis of goal contents and quantitative analysis of goal characteristics, and their effects on student major satisfaction were performed. Results: Goal content analysis showed percentage of social concern goal was higher in medical students (25.8%) than business students (6.3%), whereas percentage of wealth goal was higher business students (24.0%) than medical students (3.1%). Among goal characteristics, goal attainability and social value of goal were higher in medical students than business students. In both groups, social value of goal was significantly predict major satisfaction. Conclusion: Goal contents and goal characteristics are different between medical and business students. Curriculum and educational interventions that concerning students’ goal and developing programs to enhance students’ social value of goal is necessary. PMID:26838564

  13. Quantitative assessment of building fire risk to life safety.

    PubMed

    Guanquan, Chu; Jinhua, Sun

    2008-06-01

    This article presents a quantitative risk assessment framework for evaluating fire risk to life safety. Fire risk is divided into two parts: probability and corresponding consequence of every fire scenario. The time-dependent event tree technique is used to analyze probable fire scenarios based on the effect of fire protection systems on fire spread and smoke movement. To obtain the variation of occurrence probability with time, Markov chain is combined with a time-dependent event tree for stochastic analysis on the occurrence probability of fire scenarios. To obtain consequences of every fire scenario, some uncertainties are considered in the risk analysis process. When calculating the onset time to untenable conditions, a range of fires are designed based on different fire growth rates, after which uncertainty of onset time to untenable conditions can be characterized by probability distribution. When calculating occupant evacuation time, occupant premovement time is considered as a probability distribution. Consequences of a fire scenario can be evaluated according to probability distribution of evacuation time and onset time of untenable conditions. Then, fire risk to life safety can be evaluated based on occurrence probability and consequences of every fire scenario. To express the risk assessment method in detail, a commercial building is presented as a case study. A discussion compares the assessment result of the case study with fire statistics.

  14. Overarching goals: a strategy for improving healthcare quality and safety?

    PubMed

    Nanji, Karen C; Ferris, Timothy G; Torchiana, David F; Meyer, Gregg S

    2013-03-01

    The management literature reveals that many successful organisations have strategic plans that include a bold 'stretch-goal' to stimulate progress over a ten-to-thirty-year period. A stretch goal is clear, compelling and easily understood. It serves as a unifying focal point for organisational efforts. The ambitiousness of such goals has been emphasised with the phrase Big Hairy Audacious Goal ('BHAG'). President Kennedy's proclamation in 1961 that 'this Nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to earth' provides a famous example. This goal energised the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and it captured the attention of the American public and resulted in one of the largest accomplishments of any organisation. The goal set by Sony, a small, cash-strapped electronics company in the 1950s, to change the poor image of Japanese products around the world represents a classic BHAG. Few examples of quality goals that conform to the BHAG definition exist in the healthcare literature. However, the concept may provide a useful framework for organisations seeking to transform the quality of care they deliver. This review examines the merits and cautions of setting overarching quality goals to catalyse quality improvement efforts, and assists healthcare organisations with determining whether to adopt these goals.

  15. Comparative performance of two quantitative safety signalling methods: implications for use in a pharmacovigilance department.

    PubMed

    Almenoff, June S; LaCroix, Karol K; Yuen, Nancy A; Fram, David; DuMouchel, William

    2006-01-01

    There is increasing interest in using disproportionality-based signal detection methods to support postmarketing safety surveillance activities. Two commonly used methods, empirical Bayes multi-item gamma Poisson shrinker (MGPS) and proportional reporting ratio (PRR), perform differently with respect to the number and types of signals detected. The goal of this study was to compare and analyse the performance characteristics of these two methods, to understand why they differ and to consider the practical implications of these differences for a large, industry-based pharmacovigilance department. We compared the numbers and types of signals of disproportionate reporting (SDRs) obtained with MGPS and PRR using two postmarketing safety databases and a simulated database. We recorded signal counts and performed a qualitative comparison of the drug-event combinations signalled by the two methods as well as a sensitivity analysis to better understand how the thresholds commonly used for these methods impact their performance. PRR detected more SDRs than MGPS. We observed that MGPS is less subject to confounding by demographic factors because it employs stratification and is more stable than PRR when report counts are low. Simulation experiments performed using published empirical thresholds demonstrated that PRR detected false-positive signals at a rate of 1.1%, while MGPS did not detect any statistical false positives. In an attempt to separate the effect of choice of signal threshold from more fundamental methodological differences, we performed a series of experiments in which we modified the conventional threshold values for each method so that each method detected the same number of SDRs for the example drugs studied. This analysis, which provided quantitative examples of the relationship between the published thresholds for the two methods, demonstrates that the signalling criterion published for PRR has a higher signalling frequency than that published for MGPS

  16. Quantitative and Qualitative Analysis of Nutrition and Food Safety Information in School Science Textbooks of India

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Subba Rao, G. M.; Vijayapushapm, T.; Venkaiah, K.; Pavarala, V.

    2012-01-01

    Objective: To assess quantity and quality of nutrition and food safety information in science textbooks prescribed by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), India for grades I through X. Design: Content analysis. Methods: A coding scheme was developed for quantitative and qualitative analyses. Two investigators independently coded the…

  17. Safety First: A Quantitative Study on Teachers' Perceptions of School Climate in Rural Louisiana Schools

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Brumfield-Sanders, Tongia M.

    2017-01-01

    The purpose of this descriptive quantitative study was to explore the perceptions of school safety among middle and high school teachers in rural Louisiana. In order to achieve this objective, a specific research question was formulated pertaining to teacher perceptions. The Safe Communities Safe Schools (SCSS) survey was used to assess teachers'…

  18. Using a quantitative risk register to promote learning from a patient safety reporting system.

    PubMed

    Mansfield, James G; Caplan, Robert A; Campos, John S; Dreis, David F; Furman, Cathie

    2015-02-01

    Patient safety reporting systems are now used in most health care delivery organizations. These systems, such as the one in use at Virginia Mason (Seattle) since 2002, can provide valuable reports of risk and harm from the front lines of patient care. In response to the challenge of how to quantify and prioritize safety opportunities, a risk register system was developed and implemented. Basic risk register concepts were refined to provide a systematic way to understand risks reported by staff. The risk register uses a comprehensive taxonomy of patient risk and algorithmically assigns each patient safety report to 1 of 27 risk categories in three major domains (Evaluation, Treatment, and Critical Interactions). For each category, a composite score was calculated on the basis of event rate, harm, and cost. The composite scores were used to identify the "top five" risk categories, and patient safety reports in these categories were analyzed in greater depth to find recurrent patterns of risk and associated opportunities for improvement. The top five categories of risk were easy to identify and had distinctive "profiles" of rate, harm, and cost. The ability to categorize and rank risks across multiple dimensions yielded insights not previously available. These results were shared with leadership and served as input for planning quality and safety initiatives. This approach provided actionable input for the strategic planning process, while at the same time strengthening the Virginia Mason culture of safety. The quantitative patient safety risk register serves as one solution to the challenge of extracting valuable safety lessons from large numbers of incident reports and could profitably be adopted by other organizations.

  19. System safety education focused on flight safety

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Holt, E.

    1971-01-01

    The measures necessary for achieving higher levels of system safety are analyzed with an eye toward maintaining the combat capability of the Air Force. Several education courses were provided for personnel involved in safety management. Data include: (1) Flight Safety Officer Course, (2) Advanced Safety Program Management, (3) Fundamentals of System Safety, and (4) Quantitative Methods of Safety Analysis.

  20. Evaluation of a proposal to set a goal for the Virginia strategic highway safety plan of a forty percent reduction in traffic fatalities and injuries by 2010.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2006-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to determine whether a 40% reduction in traffic fatalities and injuries by 2010 is a reasonable goal to include in Virginia's state-level strategic highway safety plan or whether such a goal is overly optimistic. To achi...

  1. Power Goals for NASA's Exploration Program

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Jeevarajan, Judith A.

    2009-01-01

    Exciting Future Programs ahead for NASA. Power is needed for all Exploration vehicles and for the missions. For long term missions as in Lunar and Mars programs, safe, high energy/ultra high energy batteries are required. Safety is top priority for human-rated missions. Two-fault tolerance to catastrophic failures is required for human-rated safety To meet power safety goals -inherent cell safety may be required; it can lessen complexity of external protective electronics and prevents dependency on hardware that may also have limitations. Inherent cell safety will eliminate the need to carry out screening of all cells (X-rays, vibration, etc.)

  2. A comprehensive review of the Healthy People 2020 Occupational Safety And Health Objectives: Part 1. Tools for the occupational health nurse in goal attainment.

    PubMed

    Parks, Carol I; Chikotas, Noreen E; Olszewski, Kimberly

    2012-01-01

    This is the first part of a two-part series introducing Healthy People 2020 and the foundational categories that are linked to overarching goals and corresponding measures for progress within the Healthy People 2020 initiative. The two articles together will review the 10 objectives for occupational safety and health within the American workplace, provide a resource guide for occupational health nurses, and discuss MAP-IT, the suggested implementation format to reach the Healthy People 2020 goals. The articles are intended to inform occupational health nurses about the current agenda for safety and health of the U.S. work force as articulated in Healthy People 2020 and provide a foundation for better understanding the requirements of a safe work environment in 2020 and beyond. Copyright 2012, SLACK Incorporated.

  3. A comprehensive review of the healthy people 2020 occupational safety and health objectives: part 2. Tools for the occupational health nurse in goal attainment.

    PubMed

    Chikotas, Noreen E; Parks, Carol I; Olszewski, Kimberly

    2012-02-01

    This is the second part of a two-part series introducing Healthy People 2020 and the foundational categories that are linked to overarching goals and corresponding measures of progress within the Healthy People 2020 initiative. The two articles together review the 10 objectives for occupational safety and health within the American workplace, provide a resource guide for occupational health nurses, and discuss MAP-IT, the suggested implementation format to reach the Healthy People 2020 goals. The articles are intended to inform occupational health nurses about the current agenda for safety and health of the U.S. work force as articulated in Healthy People 2020 and provide a foundation for better understanding the requirements of a safe work environment in 2020 and beyond. Copyright 2012, SLACK Incorporated.

  4. An Examination of Achievement Goals in Learning: A Quasi-Quantitative Approach

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Phan, Huy P.

    2012-01-01

    Introduction: The achievement goals framework has been researched and used to explain and account for individuals' learning and academic achievements. Over the past three decades, progress has been made in the conceptualizations and research development of different possible theoretical models of achievement goals. Notably, in this study, we…

  5. How to quantitatively evaluate safety of driver behavior upon accident? A biomechanical methodology

    PubMed Central

    Zhang, Wen; Cao, Jieer

    2017-01-01

    How to evaluate driver spontaneous reactions in various collision patterns in a quantitative way is one of the most important topics in vehicle safety. Firstly, this paper constructs representative numerical crash scenarios described by impact velocity, impact angle and contact position based on finite element (FE) computation platform. Secondly, a driver cabin model is extracted and described in the well validated multi-rigid body (MB) model to compute the value of weighted injury criterion to quantitatively assess drivers’ overall injury under certain circumstances. Furthermore, based on the coupling of FE and MB, parametric studies on various crash scenarios are conducted. It is revealed that the WIC (Weighted Injury Criteria) value variation law under high impact velocities is quite distinct comparing with the one in low impact velocities. In addition, the coupling effect can be elucidated by the fact that the difference of WIC value among three impact velocities under smaller impact angles tends to be distinctly higher than that under larger impact angles. Meanwhile, high impact velocity also increases the sensitivity of WIC under different collision positions and impact angles. Results may provide a new methodology to quantitatively evaluate driving behaviors and serve as a significant guiding step towards collision avoidance for autonomous driving vehicles. PMID:29240789

  6. How to quantitatively evaluate safety of driver behavior upon accident? A biomechanical methodology.

    PubMed

    Zhang, Wen; Cao, Jieer; Xu, Jun

    2017-01-01

    How to evaluate driver spontaneous reactions in various collision patterns in a quantitative way is one of the most important topics in vehicle safety. Firstly, this paper constructs representative numerical crash scenarios described by impact velocity, impact angle and contact position based on finite element (FE) computation platform. Secondly, a driver cabin model is extracted and described in the well validated multi-rigid body (MB) model to compute the value of weighted injury criterion to quantitatively assess drivers' overall injury under certain circumstances. Furthermore, based on the coupling of FE and MB, parametric studies on various crash scenarios are conducted. It is revealed that the WIC (Weighted Injury Criteria) value variation law under high impact velocities is quite distinct comparing with the one in low impact velocities. In addition, the coupling effect can be elucidated by the fact that the difference of WIC value among three impact velocities under smaller impact angles tends to be distinctly higher than that under larger impact angles. Meanwhile, high impact velocity also increases the sensitivity of WIC under different collision positions and impact angles. Results may provide a new methodology to quantitatively evaluate driving behaviors and serve as a significant guiding step towards collision avoidance for autonomous driving vehicles.

  7. 2 CFR 200.76 - Performance goal.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... achievement can be compared, including a goal expressed as a quantitative standard, value, or rate. In some instances (e.g., discretionary research awards), this may be limited to the requirement to submit technical...

  8. A Unique Digital Electrocardiographic Repository for the Development of Quantitative Electrocardiography and Cardiac Safety: The Telemetric and Holter ECG Warehouse (THEW)

    PubMed Central

    Couderc, Jean-Philippe

    2010-01-01

    The sharing of scientific data reinforces open scientific inquiry; it encourages diversity of analysis and opinion while promoting new research and facilitating the education of next generations of scientists. In this article, we present an initiative for the development of a repository containing continuous electrocardiographic information and their associated clinical information. This information is shared with the worldwide scientific community in order to improve quantitative electrocardiology and cardiac safety. First, we present the objectives of the initiative and its mission. Then, we describe the resources available in this initiative following three components: data, expertise and tools. The Data available in the Telemetric and Holter ECG Warehouse (THEW) includes continuous ECG signals and associated clinical information. The initiative attracted various academic and private partners whom expertise covers a large list of research arenas related to quantitative electrocardiography; their contribution to the THEW promotes cross-fertilization of scientific knowledge, resources, and ideas that will advance the field of quantitative electrocardiography. Finally, the tools of the THEW include software and servers to access and review the data available in the repository. To conclude, the THEW is an initiative developed to benefit the scientific community and to advance the field of quantitative electrocardiography and cardiac safety. It is a new repository designed to complement the existing ones such as Physionet, the AHA-BIH Arrhythmia Database, and the CSE database. The THEW hosts unique datasets from clinical trials and drug safety studies that, so far, were not available to the worldwide scientific community. PMID:20863512

  9. Improving patient safety culture in general practice: an interview study

    PubMed Central

    Verbakel, Natasha J; de Bont, Antoinette A; Verheij, Theo JM; Wagner, Cordula; Zwart, Dorien LM

    2015-01-01

    Background When improving patient safety a positive safety culture is key. As little is known about improving patient safety culture in primary care, this study examined whether administering a culture questionnaire with or without a complementary workshop could be used as an intervention for improving safety culture. Aim To gain insight into how two interventions affected patient safety culture in everyday practice. Design and setting After conducting a randomised control trial of two interventions, this was a qualitative study conducted in 30 general practices to aid interpretation of the previous quantitative findings. Method Interviews were conducted at practice locations (n = 27) with 24 GPs and 24 practice nurses. The theory of communities of practice — in particular, its concepts of a domain, a community, and a practice — was used to interpret the findings by examining which elements were or were not present in the participating practices. Results Communal awareness of the problem was only raised after getting together and discussing patient safety. The combination of a questionnaire and workshop enhanced the interaction of team members and nourished team feelings. This shared experience also helped them to understand and develop tools and language for daily practice. Conclusion In order for patient safety culture to improve, the safety culture questionnaire was more successful when accompanied by a practice workshop. Initial discussion and negotiation of shared goals during the workshop fuelled feelings of coherence and belonging to a community wishing to learn about enhancing patient safety. Team meetings and day-to-day interactions enhanced further liaison and sharing, making patient safety a common and conscious goal. PMID:26622035

  10. Velocity, safety, or both? How do balance and strength of goal conflicts affect drivers' behaviour, feelings and physiological responses?

    PubMed

    Schmidt-Daffy, Martin; Brandenburg, Stefan; Beliavski, Alina

    2013-06-01

    Motivational models of driving behaviour agree that choice of speed is modulated by drivers' goals. Whilst it is accepted that some goals favour fast driving and others favour safe driving, little is known about the interplay of these conflicting goals. In the present study, two aspects of this interplay are investigated: the balance of conflict and the strength of conflict. Thirty-two participants completed several simulated driving runs in which fast driving was rewarded with a monetary gain if the end of the track was reached. However, unpredictably, some runs ended with the appearance of a deer. In these runs, fast driving was punished with a monetary loss. The ratio between the magnitudes of gains and losses varied in order to manipulate the balance of conflict. The absolute magnitudes of both gains and losses altered the strength of conflict. Participants drove slower, reported an increase in anxiety-related feelings, and showed indications of physiological arousal if there was more money at stake. In contrast, only marginal effects of varying the ratio between gains and losses were observed. Results confirm that the strength of a safety-velocity conflict is an important determinant of drivers' behaviour, feelings, and physiological responses. The lack of evidence for the balance of conflict playing a role suggests that in each condition, participants subjectively weighted the loss higher than the gain (loss aversion). It is concluded that the interplay of the subjective values that drivers attribute to objective incentives for fast and safe driving is a promising field for future research. Incorporating this knowledge into motivational theories of driving behaviour might improve their contribution to the design of adequate road safety measures. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  11. Quantitative analysis of pedestrian safety at uncontrolled multi-lane mid-block crosswalks in China.

    PubMed

    Zhang, Cunbao; Zhou, Bin; Chen, Guojun; Chen, Feng

    2017-11-01

    A lot of pedestrian-vehicle crashes at mid-block crosswalks severely threaten pedestrian's safety around the world. The situations are even worse in China due to low yielding rate of vehicles at crosswalks. In order to quantitatively analyze pedestrian's safety at multi-lane mid-block crosswalks, the number of pedestrian-vehicle conflicts was utilized to evaluate pedestrian's accident risk. Five mid-block crosswalks (Wuhan, China) were videoed to collect data of traffic situation and pedestrian-vehicle conflicts, and the quantity and spatial distribution of pedestrian-vehicle conflicts at multi-lane mid-block crosswalk were analyzed according to lane-based post-encroachment time(LPET). Statistical results indicate that conflicts are mainly concentrated in lane3 and lane6. Percentage of conflict of each lane numbered from 1 to 6 respectively are 4.1%, 13.1%, 19.8%, 8.4%, 19.0%, 28.1%. Conflict rate under different crossing strategies are also counted. Moreover, an order probit (OP) model of pedestrian-vehicle conflict analysis (PVCA) was built to find out the contributions corresponding to those factors (such as traffic volume, vehicle speed, pedestrian crossing behavior, pedestrian refuge, etc.) to pedestrian-vehicle conflicts. The results show that: pedestrian refuge have positive effects on pedestrian safety; on the other hand, high vehicle speed, high traffic volume, rolling gap crossing pattern, and larger pedestrian platoon have negative effects on pedestrian safety. Based on our field observation and PVCA model, the number of conflicts will rise by 2% while the traffic volume increases 200 pcu/h; similarly, if the vehicle speed increases 5km/h, the number of conflicts will rise by 12% accordingly. The research results could be used to evaluate pedestrian safety at multi-lane mid-block crosswalks, and useful to improve pedestrian safety by means of pedestrian safety education, pedestrian refuge setting, vehicle speed limiting, and so on. Copyright © 2017

  12. Parental Involvement and Student Motivation: A Quantitative Study of the Relationship between Student Goal Orientation and Student Perceptions of Parental Involvement among 5th Grade Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mendoza, Christine Daryabigi

    2012-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to examine a possible relationship between student perceptions of parental involvement and student goal orientation for an ethnically diverse fifth grade elementary population from high-poverty schools. This study was quantitative in nature and employed the Patterns of Adaptive Learning Scales (PALS) to assess the…

  13. Quantitative evolutionary design

    PubMed Central

    Diamond, Jared

    2002-01-01

    The field of quantitative evolutionary design uses evolutionary reasoning (in terms of natural selection and ultimate causation) to understand the magnitudes of biological reserve capacities, i.e. excesses of capacities over natural loads. Ratios of capacities to loads, defined as safety factors, fall in the range 1.2-10 for most engineered and biological components, even though engineered safety factors are specified intentionally by humans while biological safety factors arise through natural selection. Familiar examples of engineered safety factors include those of buildings, bridges and elevators (lifts), while biological examples include factors of bones and other structural elements, of enzymes and transporters, and of organ metabolic performances. Safety factors serve to minimize the overlap zone (resulting in performance failure) between the low tail of capacity distributions and the high tail of load distributions. Safety factors increase with coefficients of variation of load and capacity, with capacity deterioration with time, and with cost of failure, and decrease with costs of initial construction, maintenance, operation, and opportunity. Adaptive regulation of many biological systems involves capacity increases with increasing load; several quantitative examples suggest sublinear increases, such that safety factors decrease towards 1.0. Unsolved questions include safety factors of series systems, parallel or branched pathways, elements with multiple functions, enzyme reaction chains, and equilibrium enzymes. The modest sizes of safety factors imply the existence of costs that penalize excess capacities. Those costs are likely to involve wasted energy or space for large or expensive components, but opportunity costs of wasted space at the molecular level for minor components. PMID:12122135

  14. A primer for highway safety professionals : advancing pedestrian and bicyclist safety.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2016-04-01

    Communities across the county are encouraging walking and biking to meet safety, health, livability, equity, and mobility goals. This primer is intended for highway safety professionals, including State Highway Safety Officials, as well as their part...

  15. Dynamic Safety Cases for Through-Life Safety Assurance

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Denney, Ewen; Pai, Ganesh; Habli, Ibrahim

    2015-01-01

    We describe dynamic safety cases, a novel operationalization of the concept of through-life safety assurance, whose goal is to enable proactive safety management. Using an example from the aviation systems domain, we motivate our approach, its underlying principles, and a lifecycle. We then identify the key elements required to move towards a formalization of the associated framework.

  16. Quantifying Safety Margin Using the Risk-Informed Safety Margin Characterization (RISMC)

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

    Grabaskas, David; Bucknor, Matthew; Brunett, Acacia

    2015-04-26

    The Risk-Informed Safety Margin Characterization (RISMC), developed by Idaho National Laboratory as part of the Light-Water Reactor Sustainability Project, utilizes a probabilistic safety margin comparison between a load and capacity distribution, rather than a deterministic comparison between two values, as is usually done in best-estimate plus uncertainty analyses. The goal is to determine the failure probability, or in other words, the probability of the system load equaling or exceeding the system capacity. While this method has been used in pilot studies, there has been little work conducted investigating the statistical significance of the resulting failure probability. In particular, it ismore » difficult to determine how many simulations are necessary to properly characterize the failure probability. This work uses classical (frequentist) statistics and confidence intervals to examine the impact in statistical accuracy when the number of simulations is varied. Two methods are proposed to establish confidence intervals related to the failure probability established using a RISMC analysis. The confidence interval provides information about the statistical accuracy of the method utilized to explore the uncertainty space, and offers a quantitative method to gauge the increase in statistical accuracy due to performing additional simulations.« less

  17. Understanding Student Goal Orientation Tendencies to Predict Student Performance: A 2x2 Achievement Goal Orientation

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Miller, Mark Alan

    2013-01-01

    The study tested the 2X2 model of the Achievement Goal Orientation (AGO) theory in a military technical training environment while using the Air Force Officers Qualifying Test's academic aptitude score to control for the differences in the students' academic aptitude. The study method was quantitative and the design was correlational.…

  18. Offshore safety case approach and formal safety assessment of ships.

    PubMed

    Wang, J

    2002-01-01

    Tragic marine and offshore accidents have caused serious consequences including loss of lives, loss of property, and damage of the environment. A proactive, risk-based "goal setting" regime is introduced to the marine and offshore industries to increase the level of safety. To maximize marine and offshore safety, risks need to be modeled and safety-based decisions need to be made in a logical and confident way. Risk modeling and decision-making tools need to be developed and applied in a practical environment. This paper describes both the offshore safety case approach and formal safety assessment of ships in detail with particular reference to the design aspects. The current practices and the latest development in safety assessment in both the marine and offshore industries are described. The relationship between the offshore safety case approach and formal ship safety assessment is described and discussed. Three examples are used to demonstrate both the offshore safety case approach and formal ship safety assessment. The study of risk criteria in marine and offshore safety assessment is carried out. The recommendations on further work required are given. This paper gives safety engineers in the marine and offshore industries an overview of the offshore safety case approach and formal ship safety assessment. The significance of moving toward a risk-based "goal setting" regime is given.

  19. Impact of online education on intern behaviour around joint commission national patient safety goals: a randomised trial.

    PubMed

    Shaw, Tim J; Pernar, Luise I; Peyre, Sarah E; Helfrick, John F; Vogelgesang, Kaitlin R; Graydon-Baker, Erin; Chretien, Yves; Brown, Elizabeth J; Nicholson, James C; Heit, Jeremy J; Co, John Patrick T; Gandhi, Tejal

    2012-10-01

    To compare the effectiveness of two types of online learning methodologies for improving the patient-safety behaviours mandated in the Joint Commission National Patient Safety Goals (NPSG). This randomised controlled trial was conducted in 2010 at Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) in Boston USA. Incoming interns were randomised to either receive an online Spaced Education (SE) programme consisting of cases and questions that reinforce over time, or a programme consisting of an online slide show followed by a quiz (SQ). The outcome measures included NPSG-knowledge improvement, NPSG-compliant behaviours in a simulation scenario, self-reported confidence in safety and quality, programme acceptability and programme relevance. Both online learning programmes improved knowledge retention. On four out of seven survey items measuring satisfaction and self-reported confidence, the proportion of SE interns responding positively was significantly higher (p<0.05) than the fraction of SQ interns. SE interns demonstrated a mean 4.79 (36.6%) NPSG-compliant behaviours (out of 13 total), while SQ interns completed a mean 4.17 (32.0%) (p=0.09). Among those in surgical fields, SE interns demonstrated a mean 5.67 (43.6%) NPSG-compliant behaviours, while SQ interns completed a mean 2.33 (17.9%) (p=0.015). Focus group data indicates that SE was more contextually relevant than SQ, and significantly more engaging. While both online methodologies improved knowledge surrounding the NPSG, SE was more contextually relevant to trainees and was engaging. SE impacted more significantly on both self-reported confidence and the behaviour of surgical residents in a simulated scenario.

  20. Roadway safety design workbook.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2009-07-01

    Highway safety is an ongoing concern to the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT). As part of its : proactive commitment to improving highway safety, TxDOT is moving toward including quantitative safety : analyses earlier in the project developm...

  1. Highway safety design workshops.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2010-11-01

    Highway safety is an ongoing concern for the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT). As part of its : proactive commitment to improving highway safety, TxDOT is moving toward including quantitative safety : analyses earlier in the project develop...

  2. Georgia Highway Safety 1997 fact book : a report on highway safety In Georgia

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1997-01-01

    The goal of this fact book is to present highway safety statistics and fact-based analysis that will increase public awareness on highway safety issues, and to provide information that will assist policy makers and highway safety advocates in making ...

  3. Impact of online education on intern behaviour around Joint Commission National Patient Safety Goals: A randomised trial

    PubMed Central

    TJ, Shaw; LIM, Pernar; SE, Peyre; JF, Helfrick; K, Vogelgesang; E, Graydon-Baker; Y, Chretien; EJ, Brown; J, Nicholson; JJ, Heit; JP, Co; TK, Gandhi

    2014-01-01

    Purpose To compare the effectiveness of 2 types of online learning methodologies for improving the patient-safety behaviours mandated in the Joint Commission National Patient Safety Goals (NPSG). Methods This randomized controlled trial was conducted in 2010 at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and Brigham & Women’s Hospital (BWH) in Boston USA. Incoming interns were randomised to either receive an online Spaced Education program (SE) consisting of cases and questions that reinforce over time, or a program consisting of an online slide show followed by a quiz (SQ). The outcome measures included NPSG-knowledge improvement, NPSG-compliant behaviors in a simulation scenario, self reported confidence in safety and quality, program acceptability and program relevance. Results Both online learning programs improved knowledge retention. On four out of seven survey items measuring satisfaction and self reported confidence, the proportion of SE interns responding positively was significantly higher (p<0.05) than the fraction of SQ interns. SE interns demonstrated a mean 4.79 (36.6%) NPSG-compliant behaviors (out of 13 total), while SQ interns completed a mean 4.17 (32.0%) (p=0.09). Among those in surgical fields, SE interns demonstrated a mean 5.67 (43.6%) NPSG-compliant behaviors, while SQ interns completed a mean 2.33 (17.9%) (p=0.015). Focus group data indicates that SE was more contextually relevant than SQ and significantly more engaging. Conclusion While both online methodologies improved knowledge surrounding the NPSG, SE was more contextually relevant to trainees and engaging. SE impacted more significantly on both self reported confidence and the behaviour of surgical residents in a simulated scenario. PMID:22706930

  4. Maternal Feeding Goals Described by Low-Income Mothers

    PubMed Central

    Goulding, Alison N.; Lumeng, Julie C.; Rosenblum, Katherine L.; Chen, Yu-Pu; Kaciroti, Niko; Miller, Alison L.

    2015-01-01

    Objective To identify maternal feeding goals and examine associations of number and type of goals with mother and child characteristics. Design Qualitative interviews about child feeding and quantitative assessment of goal prevalence and associations with mother and child characteristics. Setting Southeastern Michigan. Participants 287 low-income mothers (31% Hispanic or non-white) and their 4- to 8-year-old children. Main Outcome Measure Maternal feeding goals. Analysis Themes were generated using constant comparative method, individual interviews were coded, and prevalence of feeding goals determined. Regression analyses examined associations of mother and child characteristics with number and type of feeding goals. Results Thirteen maternal feeding goals were identified. The most prevalent were to restrict junk food (60%), promote autonomy around eating (54%), prevent obesity (53%), and promote fruits or vegetables (52%). The child being female and heavier with an older, non-Hispanic white, more educated mother with less chaos in the home predicted more maternal feeding goals (all p’s <.05). Specific maternal and child characteristics were associated with individual feeding goals. Conclusions and Implications Depending on their current goals for child feeding, some mothers may benefit from interventions focused on goal development, whereas other mothers may benefit from interventions designed to facilitate goal implementation. PMID:26003749

  5. Prediction of Safety Margin and Optimization of Dosing Protocol for a Novel Antibiotic using Quantitative Systems Pharmacology Modeling.

    PubMed

    Woodhead, Jeffrey L; Paech, Franziska; Maurer, Martina; Engelhardt, Marc; Schmitt-Hoffmann, Anne H; Spickermann, Jochen; Messner, Simon; Wind, Mathias; Witschi, Anne-Therese; Krähenbühl, Stephan; Siler, Scott Q; Watkins, Paul B; Howell, Brett A

    2018-06-07

    Elevations of liver enzymes have been observed in clinical trials with BAL30072, a novel antibiotic. In vitro assays have identified potential mechanisms for the observed hepatotoxicity, including electron transport chain (ETC) inhibition and reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation. DILIsym, a quantitative systems pharmacology (QSP) model of drug-induced liver injury, has been used to predict the likelihood that each mechanism explains the observed toxicity. DILIsym was also used to predict the safety margin for a novel BAL30072 dosing scheme; it was predicted to be low. DILIsym was then used to recommend potential modifications to this dosing scheme; weight-adjusted dosing and a requirement to assay plasma alanine aminotransferase (ALT) daily and stop dosing as soon as ALT increases were observed improved the predicted safety margin of BAL30072 and decreased the predicted likelihood of severe injury. This research demonstrates a potential application for QSP modeling in improving the safety profile of candidate drugs. © 2018 The Authors. Clinical and Translational Science published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of American Society for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics.

  6. A Risk Assessment Model for Reduced Aircraft Separation: A Quantitative Method to Evaluate the Safety of Free Flight

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Cassell, Rick; Smith, Alex; Connors, Mary; Wojciech, Jack; Rosekind, Mark R. (Technical Monitor)

    1996-01-01

    As new technologies and procedures are introduced into the National Airspace System, whether they are intended to improve efficiency, capacity, or safety level, the quantification of potential changes in safety levels is of vital concern. Applications of technology can improve safety levels and allow the reduction of separation standards. An excellent example is the Precision Runway Monitor (PRM). By taking advantage of the surveillance and display advances of PRM, airports can run instrument parallel approaches to runways separated by 3400 feet with the same level of safety as parallel approaches to runways separated by 4300 feet using the standard technology. Despite a wealth of information from flight operations and testing programs, there is no readily quantifiable relationship between numerical safety levels and the separation standards that apply to aircraft on final approach. This paper presents a modeling approach to quantify the risk associated with reducing separation on final approach. Reducing aircraft separation, both laterally and longitudinally, has been the goal of several aviation R&D programs over the past several years. Many of these programs have focused on technological solutions to improve navigation accuracy, surveillance accuracy, aircraft situational awareness, controller situational awareness, and other technical and operational factors that are vital to maintaining flight safety. The risk assessment model relates different types of potential aircraft accidents and incidents and their contribution to overall accident risk. The framework links accident risks to a hierarchy of failsafe mechanisms characterized by procedures and interventions. The model will be used to assess the overall level of safety associated with reducing separation standards and the introduction of new technology and procedures, as envisaged under the Free Flight concept. The model framework can be applied to various aircraft scenarios, including parallel and in

  7. Patient Health Goals Elicited During Home Care Admission: A Categorization.

    PubMed

    Sockolow, Paulina; Radhakrishnan, Kavita; Chou, Edgar Y; Wojciechowicz, Christine

    2017-11-01

    Home care agencies are initiating "patient health goal elicitation" activities as part of home care admission planning. We categorized elicited goals and identified "clinically informative" goals at a home care agency. We examined patient goals that admitting clinicians documented in the point-of-care electronic health record; conducted content analysis on patient goal data to develop a coding scheme; grouped goal themes into codes; assigned codes to each goal; and identified goals that were in the patient voice. Of the 1,763 patient records, 16% lacked a goal; only 15 goals were in a patient's voice. Nurse and physician experts identified 12 of the 20 codes as clinically important accounting for 82% of goal occurrences. The most frequent goal documented was safety/falls (23%). Training and consistent communication of the intent and operationalization of patient goal elicitation may address the absence of patient voice and the less than universal recording of home care patients' goals.

  8. Extended Opportunity Programs and Services (EOPS): A Quantitative Study of Latino Students' Goal Completion

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Barraza, Bertha

    2012-01-01

    A problem exists with consistency in measuring and tracking students' academic goals in California Community Colleges [CCC]. Effective measurements in CCC that embody academic goals below the associate degree and four-year college articulation agreements, call for attention to determine student academic interests and completion rates. Specific…

  9. Goal direction and effectiveness, emotional maturity, and nuclear family functioning.

    PubMed

    Klever, Phillip

    2009-07-01

    Differentiation of self, a cornerstone concept in Bowen theory, has a profound influence over time on the functioning of the individual and his or her family unit. This 5-year longitudinal study tested this hypothesis with 50 developing nuclear families. The dimensions of differentiation of self that were examined were goal direction and effectiveness and emotional maturity. A qualitative analysis of participants' goals demonstrated that couples with higher functioning developing nuclear families, when compared with couples with lower functioning families, placed more emphasis on family goals, had more balance between family and personal goals, and pursued more goals over the 5 years. The quantitative analysis supported the hypothesis that goal effectiveness and emotional maturity influenced variation in nuclear family functioning. In addition, couple goal effectiveness and emotional maturity were associated with nuclear family functioning more strongly than individual goal effectiveness and emotional maturity were associated with individual functioning.

  10. The Achievement Goals Orientation of South African First Year University Physics Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ramnarain, Umesh Dewnarain; Ramaila, Sam

    2016-01-01

    This study investigated the achievement goals orientation of first year physics students at a South African university. The mixed methods design involved a quantitative survey of 291 students using an achievement goals questionnaire and individual interviews of selected participants. Results showed that the students perceived they have a stronger…

  11. Comparing Three Models of Achievement Goals: Goal Orientations, Goal Standards, and Goal Complexes

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Senko, Corwin; Tropiano, Katie L.

    2016-01-01

    Achievement goal theory (Dweck, 1986) initially characterized mastery goals and performance goals as opposites in a good-bad dualism of student motivation. A later revision (Harackiewicz, Barron, & Elliot, 1998) contended that both goals can provide benefits and be pursued together. Perhaps both frameworks are correct: Their contrasting views…

  12. MOTIVATION: Goals and Goal Setting

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Stratton, Richard K.

    2005-01-01

    Goal setting has great impact on a team's performance. Goals enable a team to synchronize their efforts to achieve success. In this article, the author talks about goals and goal setting. This articles complements Domain 5--Teaching and Communication (p.14) and discusses one of the benchmarks listed therein: "Teach the goal setting process and…

  13. Safety Goals at NASA: How Safe is Safe Enough and How to Get There

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Stamatelatos, Michael

    2010-01-01

    NASA is developing and implementing safety improvements in all its activities including mission design, mission operations, and occupational safety. Decisions regarding where and how improvements are implemented to optimally enhance safety are discussed.

  14. Educating for Safety.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rothe, J. Peter

    1991-01-01

    To enhance the chance for success in educating young drivers, there should be a balance between the content, structure, and goals of traffic safety programs and the normative rules governing young people's lives. Presents recommendations for safety education based on the notion of complementarity and using a multiperspective approach. (AF)

  15. Development of safety performance monitoring procedures.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2010-02-01

    Highway safety is an ongoing concern to the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT). As part of its : proactive commitment to improving highway safety, TxDOT is moving toward including quantitative safety : analyses earlier in the project developm...

  16. Preharvest food safety.

    PubMed

    Childers, A B; Walsh, B

    1996-07-23

    Preharvest food safety is essential for the protection of our food supply. The production and transport of livestock and poultry play an integral part in the safety of these food products. The goals of this safety assurance include freedom from pathogenic microorganisms, disease, and parasites, and from potentially harmful residues and physical hazards. Its functions should be based on hazard analysis and critical control points from producer to slaughter plant with emphasis on prevention of identifiable hazards rather than on removal of contaminated products. The production goal is to minimize infection and insure freedom from potentially harmful residues and physical hazards. The marketing goal is control of exposure to pathogens and stress. Both groups should have functional hazard analysis and critical control points management programs which include personnel training and certification of producers. These programs must cover production procedures, chemical usage, feeding, treatment practices, drug usage, assembly and transportation, and animal identification. Plans must use risk assessment principles, and the procedures must be defined. Other elements would include preslaughter certification, environmental protection, control of chemical hazards, live-animal drug-testing procedures, and identification of physical hazards.

  17. A reappraisal of the quantitative relationship between sugar intake and dental caries: the need for new criteria for developing goals for sugar intake.

    PubMed

    Sheiham, Aubrey; James, W Philip T

    2014-09-16

    There is a clear relation between sugars and caries. However, no analysis has yet been made of the lifetime burden of caries induced by sugar to see whether the WHO goal of 10% level is optimum and compatible with low levels of caries. The objective of this study was to re-examine the dose-response and quantitative relationship between sugar intake and the incidence of dental caries and to see whether the WHO goal for sugar intake of 10% of energy intake (E) is optimum for low levels of caries in children and adults. Analyses focused on countries where sugar intakes changed because of wartime restrictions or as part of the nutritional transition. A re-analysis of the dose-response relation between dietary sugar and caries incidence in teeth with different levels of susceptibility to dental caries in nationally representative samples of Japanese children. The impact of fluoride on levels of caries was also assessed. Meticulous Japanese data on caries incidence in two types of teeth show robust log-linear relationships to sugar intakes from 0%E to 10%E sugar with a 10 fold increase in caries if caries is assessed over several years' exposure to sugar rather than only for the first year after tooth eruption. Adults aged 65 years and older living in water fluoridated areas where high proportions of people used fluoridated toothpastes, had nearly half of all tooth surfaces affected by caries. This more extensive burden of disease in adults does not occur if sugar intakes are limited to <3% energy intake. There is a robust log-linear relationship of caries to sugar intakes from 0%E to 10%E sugar. A 10%E sugar intake induces a costly burden of caries. These findings imply that public health goals need to set sugar intakes ideally <3%E with <5%E as a pragmatic goal, even when fluoride is widely used. Adult as well as children's caries burdens should define the new criteria for developing goals for sugar intake.

  18. Risk management modeling and its application in maritime safety

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Qin, Ting-Rong; Chen, Wei-Jiong; Zeng, Xiang-Kun

    2008-12-01

    Quantified risk assessment (QRA) needs mathematicization of risk theory. However, attention has been paid almost exclusively to applications of assessment methods, which has led to neglect of research into fundamental theories, such as the relationships among risk, safety, danger, and so on. In order to solve this problem, as a first step, fundamental theoretical relationships about risk and risk management were analyzed for this paper in the light of mathematics, and then illustrated with some charts. Second, man-machine-environment-management (MMEM) theory was introduced into risk theory to analyze some properties of risk. On the basis of this, a three-dimensional model of risk management was established that includes: a goal dimension; a management dimension; an operation dimension. This goal management operation (GMO) model was explained and then emphasis was laid on the discussion of the risk flowchart (operation dimension), which lays the groundwork for further study of risk management and qualitative and quantitative assessment. Next, the relationship between Formal Safety Assessment (FSA) and Risk Management was researched. This revealed that the FSA method, which the international maritime organization (IMO) is actively spreading, comes from Risk Management theory. Finally, conclusion were made about how to apply this risk management method to concrete fields efficiently and conveniently, as well as areas where further research is required.

  19. Goals of clinical ethics support: perceptions of Dutch healthcare institutions.

    PubMed

    Dauwerse, L; Abma, T A; Molewijk, B; Widdershoven, G

    2013-12-01

    In previous literature, ethicists mention several goals of Clinical Ethics Support (CES). It is unknown what key persons in healthcare institutions see as main--and sub-goals of CES. This article presents the goals of CES as perceived by board members and members of ethics support staff. This is part of a Dutch national research using a mixed methods design with questionnaires, focus groups and interviews. Quantitative and qualitative data were analyzed and combined in an iterative process. Four main clusters of goals were found: 1) encouraging an ethical climate, 2) fostering an accountable and transparent organization, 3) developing professionalism and a final goal, overarching the previous three, 4) good care. Most important sub-goals of CES were: attention for ethical issues, raising awareness of ethical issues, fostering ethical reflection and supporting employees. The article ends with a discussion on the desirability to further operationalize the general goal of good care, the context-boundedness of our findings and the need to relate goals of CES to the features of organizational cultures to further improve the integration of CES in healthcare institutions.

  20. Five major NASA health and safety issues

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gavert, Raymond B.

    2000-01-01

    The goal has been set to establish NASA as number one in safety in the nation. This includes Systems and Mission Safety as well as Occupational Safety for all NASA employees and contractors on and off the job. There are five major health and safety issues important in the pursuit of being number one and they are: (1) Radiation (2) Hearing (3) Habitability/Toxicology (4) Extravehicular Activity (EVA) (5) Stress. The issues have features of accumulated injury since NASA's future missions involve long time human presence in space i.e., International Space Station operations and Mars missions. The objective of this paper is to discuss these five issues in terms of controlling risks and enhancing health and safety. Safety metrics are discussed in terms of the overall goal of NASA to be number one in safety. .

  1. Quantitative Data Analysis--In the Graduate Curriculum

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Albers, Michael J.

    2017-01-01

    A quantitative research study collects numerical data that must be analyzed to help draw the study's conclusions. Teaching quantitative data analysis is not teaching number crunching, but teaching a way of critical thinking for how to analyze the data. The goal of data analysis is to reveal the underlying patterns, trends, and relationships of a…

  2. Making safety an integral part of 5S in healthcare.

    PubMed

    Ikuma, Laura H; Nahmens, Isabelina

    2014-01-01

    Healthcare faces major challenges with provider safety and rising costs, and many organizations are using Lean to instigate change. One Lean tool, 5S, is becoming popular for improving efficiency of physical work environments, and it can also improve safety. This paper demonstrates that safety is an integral part of 5S by examining five specific 5S events in acute care facilities. We provide two arguments for how safety is linked to 5S:1. Safety is affected by 5S events, regardless of whether safety is a specific goal and 2. Safety can and should permeate all five S's as part of a comprehensive plan for system improvement. Reports of 5S events from five departments in one health system were used to evaluate how changes made at each step of the 5S impacted safety. Safety was affected positively in each step of the 5S through initial safety goals and side effects of other changes. The case studies show that 5S can be a mechanism for improving safety. Practitioners may reap additional safety benefits by incorporating safety into 5S events through a safety analysis before the 5S, safety goals and considerations during the 5S, and follow-up safety analysis.

  3. Explore The NASA Safety Center

    NASA Image and Video Library

    2015-07-01

    The NASA Safety Center (NSC) reports to NASA’s Office of Safety and Mission Assurance and supports the Safety and Mission Assurance (SMA) requirements of NASA’s portfolio of programs and projects. The NSC focuses on development of the personnel, processes and tools needed for the safe and successful achievement of NASA’s strategic goals.

  4. An Analysis of Training Focused on Improving SMART Goal Setting for Specific Employee Groups

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Worden, Jeannie M.

    2014-01-01

    This quantitative study examined the proficiency of employee SMART goal setting following the intervention of employee SMART goal setting training. Current challenges in higher education substantiate the need for employees to align their performance with the mission, vision, and strategic directions of the organization. A performance management…

  5. A quantitative risk assessment for the safety of carcase storage systems for scrapie infected farms.

    PubMed

    Adkin, A; Jones, D L; Eckford, R L; Edwards-Jones, G; Williams, A P

    2014-10-01

    To determine the risk associated with the use of carcase storage vessels on a scrapie infected farm. A stochastic quantitative risk assessment was developed to determine the rate of accumulation and fate of scrapie in a novel low-input storage system. For an example farm infected with classical scrapie, a mean of 10(3·6) Ovine Oral ID50 s was estimated to accumulate annually. Research indicates that the degradation of any prions present may range from insignificant to a magnitude of one or two logs over several months of storage. For infected farms, the likely partitioning of remaining prion into the sludge phase would necessitate the safe operation and removal of resulting materials from these systems. If complete mixing could be assumed, on average, the concentrations of infectivity are estimated to be slightly lower than that measured in placenta from infected sheep at lambing. This is the first quantitative assessment of the scrapie risk associated with fallen stock on farm and provides guidance to policy makers on the safety of one type of storage system and the relative risk when compared to other materials present on an infected farm. © 2014 Crown Copyright. Journal of Applied Microbiology © 2014 Society for Applied Microbiology This article is published with the permission of the Controller of HMSO and the Queen's Printer for Scotland.

  6. Safety Policy and Procedure Manual (Electronic Version)

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1997-08-18

    The state Secretary of Transportation has set a goal of zero accidents for the : North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT). To guide the NCDOT towards : that goal, this safety manual sets for philosophy, goals, cardinal rules : (grounds for...

  7. Quantitative analyses and modelling to support achievement of the 2020 goals for nine neglected tropical diseases.

    PubMed

    Hollingsworth, T Déirdre; Adams, Emily R; Anderson, Roy M; Atkins, Katherine; Bartsch, Sarah; Basáñez, María-Gloria; Behrend, Matthew; Blok, David J; Chapman, Lloyd A C; Coffeng, Luc; Courtenay, Orin; Crump, Ron E; de Vlas, Sake J; Dobson, Andy; Dyson, Louise; Farkas, Hajnal; Galvani, Alison P; Gambhir, Manoj; Gurarie, David; Irvine, Michael A; Jervis, Sarah; Keeling, Matt J; Kelly-Hope, Louise; King, Charles; Lee, Bruce Y; Le Rutte, Epke A; Lietman, Thomas M; Ndeffo-Mbah, Martial; Medley, Graham F; Michael, Edwin; Pandey, Abhishek; Peterson, Jennifer K; Pinsent, Amy; Porco, Travis C; Richardus, Jan Hendrik; Reimer, Lisa; Rock, Kat S; Singh, Brajendra K; Stolk, Wilma; Swaminathan, Subramanian; Torr, Steve J; Townsend, Jeffrey; Truscott, James; Walker, Martin; Zoueva, Alexandra

    2015-12-09

    Quantitative analysis and mathematical models are useful tools in informing strategies to control or eliminate disease. Currently, there is an urgent need to develop these tools to inform policy to achieve the 2020 goals for neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). In this paper we give an overview of a collection of novel model-based analyses which aim to address key questions on the dynamics of transmission and control of nine NTDs: Chagas disease, visceral leishmaniasis, human African trypanosomiasis, leprosy, soil-transmitted helminths, schistosomiasis, lymphatic filariasis, onchocerciasis and trachoma. Several common themes resonate throughout these analyses, including: the importance of epidemiological setting on the success of interventions; targeting groups who are at highest risk of infection or re-infection; and reaching populations who are not accessing interventions and may act as a reservoir for infection,. The results also highlight the challenge of maintaining elimination 'as a public health problem' when true elimination is not reached. The models elucidate the factors that may be contributing most to persistence of disease and discuss the requirements for eventually achieving true elimination, if that is possible. Overall this collection presents new analyses to inform current control initiatives. These papers form a base from which further development of the models and more rigorous validation against a variety of datasets can help to give more detailed advice. At the moment, the models' predictions are being considered as the world prepares for a final push towards control or elimination of neglected tropical diseases by 2020.

  8. "Evidence" Under a Magnifying Glass: Thoughts on Safety Argument Epistemology

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Graydon, P. J.; Holloway, C. M.

    2015-01-01

    Common definitions of "safety case" emphasize that evidence is the basis of a safety argument, yet few widely referenced works explicitly define "evidence". Their examples suggest that similar things can be regarded as evidence. But the category evidence seems to contain (1) processes for finding things out, (2) information resulting from such processes, and (3) relevant documents. Moreover, any item of evidence could be replaced by further argument. Normative models of informal argumentation do not offer clear guidance on when a safety argument should cite evidence rather than appeal to a more detailed argument. Disciplines such as the law address the problem with a practical, domain-specific epistemology. In this paper, we explore these problems associated with evidence citations in safety arguments, identify goals for a theory of safety argument evidence and a practical safety argument epistemology, propose a model of safety evidence citation that advances the identified goals, and present a related extension to the Goal Structuring Notation (GSN).

  9. Safety awareness, pilot education, and incident reporting programs

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Enders, J.

    1984-01-01

    Education in safety awareness, pilot training, and accident reporting is discussed. Safety awareness and risk management are examined. Both quantitative and qualitive risk management are explored. Information dissemination on safety is considered.

  10. Motor vehicle safety : comprehensive state programs offer best opportunity for increasing use of safety belts

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1996-01-01

    This report describes the nation's progress in achieving goals for the use of safety belts in motor vehicles, assesses the strategies used most successfully by some states to increase the use of safety belts, and identifies federal strategies that co...

  11. Safety Panel Resources

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Stewart, Christine E.

    2008-01-01

    The goal of this paper is to explore what resources are potentially available to safety panels and to provide some guidance on how to utilize those resources. While the examples used in this paper will concentrate on the Flight Equipment and Reliability Review Panel (FESRRP) and Extravehicular Activity (EVA) hardware that have come through that panel, as well as resources at Johnson Space Center, the paper will address how this applies to safety panels in general, and where possible cite examples for other safety panels.

  12. Stories from the Sharp End: Case Studies in Safety Improvement

    PubMed Central

    McCarthy, Douglas; Blumenthal, David

    2006-01-01

    Motivated by pressure and a wish to improve, health care organizations are implementing programs to improve patient safety. This article describes six natural experiments in health care safety that show where the safety field is heading and opportunities for and barriers to improvement. All these programs identified organizational culture change as critical to making patients safer, differing chiefly in their methods of creating a patient safety culture. Their goal is a safety culture that promotes continuing innovation and improvement, transcending whatever particular safety methodology is used. Policymakers could help stimulate a culture of safety by linking regulatory goals to safety culture expectations, sponsoring voluntary learning collaborations, rewarding safety improvements, better using publicly reported data, encouraging consumer involvement, and supporting research and education. PMID:16529572

  13. Real Patient and its Virtual Twin: Application of Quantitative Systems Toxicology Modelling in the Cardiac Safety Assessment of Citalopram.

    PubMed

    Patel, Nikunjkumar; Wiśniowska, Barbara; Jamei, Masoud; Polak, Sebastian

    2017-11-27

    A quantitative systems toxicology (QST) model for citalopram was established to simulate, in silico, a 'virtual twin' of a real patient to predict the occurrence of cardiotoxic events previously reported in patients under various clinical conditions. The QST model considers the effects of citalopram and its most notable electrophysiologically active primary (desmethylcitalopram) and secondary (didesmethylcitalopram) metabolites, on cardiac electrophysiology. The in vitro cardiac ion channel current inhibition data was coupled with the biophysically detailed model of human cardiac electrophysiology to investigate the impact of (i) the inhibition of multiple ion currents (I Kr , I Ks , I CaL ); (ii) the inclusion of metabolites in the QST model; and (iii) unbound or total plasma as the operating drug concentration, in predicting clinically observed QT prolongation. The inclusion of multiple ion channel current inhibition and metabolites in the simulation with unbound plasma citalopram concentration provided the lowest prediction error. The predictive performance of the model was verified with three additional therapeutic and supra-therapeutic drug exposure clinical cases. The results indicate that considering only the hERG ion channel inhibition of only the parent drug is potentially misleading, and the inclusion of active metabolite data and the influence of other ion channel currents should be considered to improve the prediction of potential cardiac toxicity. Mechanistic modelling can help bridge the gaps existing in the quantitative translation from preclinical cardiac safety assessment to clinical toxicology. Moreover, this study shows that the QST models, in combination with appropriate drug and systems parameters, can pave the way towards personalised safety assessment.

  14. The NASA Aviation Safety Program: Overview

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Shin, Jaiwon

    2000-01-01

    In 1997, the United States set a national goal to reduce the fatal accident rate for aviation by 80% within ten years based on the recommendations by the Presidential Commission on Aviation Safety and Security. Achieving this goal will require the combined efforts of government, industry, and academia in the areas of technology research and development, implementation, and operations. To respond to the national goal, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has developed a program that will focus resources over a five year period on performing research and developing technologies that will enable improvements in many areas of aviation safety. The NASA Aviation Safety Program (AvSP) is organized into six research areas: Aviation System Modeling and Monitoring, System Wide Accident Prevention, Single Aircraft Accident Prevention, Weather Accident Prevention, Accident Mitigation, and Synthetic Vision. Specific project areas include Turbulence Detection and Mitigation, Aviation Weather Information, Weather Information Communications, Propulsion Systems Health Management, Control Upset Management, Human Error Modeling, Maintenance Human Factors, Fire Prevention, and Synthetic Vision Systems for Commercial, Business, and General Aviation aircraft. Research will be performed at all four NASA aeronautics centers and will be closely coordinated with Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and other government agencies, industry, academia, as well as the aviation user community. This paper provides an overview of the NASA Aviation Safety Program goals, structure, and integration with the rest of the aviation community.

  15. Lift truck safety review

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

    Cadwallader, L.C.

    1997-03-01

    This report presents safety information about powered industrial trucks. The basic lift truck, the counterbalanced sit down rider truck, is the primary focus of the report. Lift truck engineering is briefly described, then a hazard analysis is performed on the lift truck. Case histories and accident statistics are also given. Rules and regulations about lift trucks, such as the US Occupational Safety an Health Administration laws and the Underwriter`s Laboratories standards, are discussed. Safety issues with lift trucks are reviewed, and lift truck safety and reliability are discussed. Some quantitative reliability values are given.

  16. NASA Aviation Safety Program Systems Analysis/Program Assessment Metrics Review

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Louis, Garrick E.; Anderson, Katherine; Ahmad, Tisan; Bouabid, Ali; Siriwardana, Maya; Guilbaud, Patrick

    2003-01-01

    The goal of this project is to evaluate the metrics and processes used by NASA's Aviation Safety Program in assessing technologies that contribute to NASA's aviation safety goals. There were three objectives for reaching this goal. First, NASA's main objectives for aviation safety were documented and their consistency was checked against the main objectives of the Aviation Safety Program. Next, the metrics used for technology investment by the Program Assessment function of AvSP were evaluated. Finally, other metrics that could be used by the Program Assessment Team (PAT) were identified and evaluated. This investigation revealed that the objectives are in fact consistent across organizational levels at NASA and with the FAA. Some of the major issues discussed in this study which should be further investigated, are the removal of the Cost and Return-on-Investment metrics, the lack of the metrics to measure the balance of investment and technology, the interdependencies between some of the metric risk driver categories, and the conflict between 'fatal accident rate' and 'accident rate' in the language of the Aviation Safety goal as stated in different sources.

  17. Self-Reflection, Growth Goals, and Academic Outcomes: A Qualitative Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Martin, Andrew; Travers, Cheryl J.; Morisano, Dominique; Locke, Edwin A.

    2015-01-01

    Background: Goal-setting theory continues to be among the most popular and influential theories of motivation and performance, although there have been limited academic applications relative to applications in other domains, such as organizational psychology. Aims: This paper summarizes existing quantitative research and then employs a qualitative…

  18. A Quantitative Analysis of Nursing Students' Perceptions of Patient Safety Competencies

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Steighner, Tammy Rose

    2017-01-01

    The purpose of the study was to determine nursing students' perceptions of patient safety competencies as it related to Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN) competencies and the Safety Competencies Framework developed by The Canadian Patient Safety Institute. The study determined if nursing students knew how to provide safe patient care…

  19. Obtaining Valid Safety Data for Software Safety Measurement and Process Improvement

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Basili, Victor r.; Zelkowitz, Marvin V.; Layman, Lucas; Dangle, Kathleen; Diep, Madeline

    2010-01-01

    We report on a preliminary case study to examine software safety risk in the early design phase of the NASA Constellation spaceflight program. Our goal is to provide NASA quality assurance managers with information regarding the ongoing state of software safety across the program. We examined 154 hazard reports created during the preliminary design phase of three major flight hardware systems within the Constellation program. Our purpose was two-fold: 1) to quantify the relative importance of software with respect to system safety; and 2) to identify potential risks due to incorrect application of the safety process, deficiencies in the safety process, or the lack of a defined process. One early outcome of this work was to show that there are structural deficiencies in collecting valid safety data that make software safety different from hardware safety. In our conclusions we present some of these deficiencies.

  20. Safety and feasibility of achieving lower systolic blood pressure goals in persons with type 2 diabetes: the SANDS trial.

    PubMed

    Weir, Matthew R; Yeh, Fawn; Silverman, Angela; Devereux, Richard B; Galloway, James M; Henderson, Jeffrey A; Howard, William J; Russell, Marie; Wilson, Charlton; Ratner, Robert; Sorkin, John; Umans, Jason G; Fleg, Jerome L; Stylianou, Mario; Lee, Elisa; Howard, Barbara V

    2009-10-01

    The Stop Atherosclerosis in Native Diabetics Study (SANDS) was a randomized open-label clinical trial in type 2 diabetics designed to examine the effects of intensive reduction of blood pressure, aggressive vs standard goals (< or =115/75 mm Hg vs < or =130/80 mm Hg), and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol on the composite outcome of change in carotid intimal-medial thickness and cardiovascular events. The study demonstrated that in conjunction with a lower LDL cholesterol target of 70 mg/dL, aggressive systolic blood pressure-lowering resulted in a reduction in carotid intimal-medial thickness and left ventricular mass without measurable differences in cardiovascular events. The blood pressure treatment algorithm included renin-angiotensin system blockade, with other agents added if necessary. The authors conclude that both standard and more aggressive systolic blood pressure reduction can be achieved with excellent safety and good tolerability in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.

  1. Goal Development Practices of Physical Therapists Working in Educational Environments.

    PubMed

    Wynarczuk, Kimberly D; Chiarello, Lisa A; Gohrband, Catherine L

    2017-11-01

    The aims of this study were to (1) describe the practices that school-based physical therapists use in developing student goals, and (2) identify facilitators and barriers to development of goals that are specific to participation in the context of the school setting. 46 school-based physical therapists who participated in a previous study on school-based physical therapy practice (PT COUNTS) completed a questionnaire on goal development. Frequencies and cross tabulations were generated for quantitative data. Open-ended questions were analyzed using an iterative qualitative analysis process. A majority of therapists reported that they frequently develop goals collaboratively with other educational team members. Input from teachers, related services personnel, and parents has the most influence on goal development. Qualitative analysis identified five themes that influence development of participation-based goals: (1) school-based philosophy and practice; (2) the educational environment, settings, and routines; (3) student strengths, needs, and personal characteristics; (4) support from and collaboration with members of the educational team; and (5) therapist practice and motivation. Goal development is a complex process that involves multiple members of the educational team and is influenced by many different aspects of practice, the school environment, and student characteristics.

  2. A Safety Index and Method for Flightdeck Evaluation

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Latorella, Kara A.

    2000-01-01

    If our goal is to improve safety through machine, interface, and training design, then we must define a metric of flightdeck safety that is usable in the design process. Current measures associated with our notions of "good" pilot performance and ultimate safety of flightdeck performance fail to provide an adequate index of safe flightdeck performance for design evaluation purposes. The goal of this research effort is to devise a safety index and method that allows us to evaluate flightdeck performance holistically and in a naturalistic experiment. This paper uses Reason's model of accident causation (1990) as a basis for measuring safety, and proposes a relational database system and method for 1) defining a safety index of flightdeck performance, and 2) evaluating the "safety" afforded by flightdeck performance for the purpose of design iteration. Methodological considerations, limitations, and benefits are discussed as well as extensions to this work.

  3. Patient safety culture and associated factors: A quantitative and qualitative study of healthcare workers' view in Jimma zone Hospitals, Southwest Ethiopia.

    PubMed

    Wami, Sintayehu Daba; Demssie, Amsalu Feleke; Wassie, Molla Mesele; Ahmed, Ansha Nega

    2016-09-20

    Patient safety culture is an important aspect for quality healthcare delivery and is an issue of high concern globally. In Ethiopia health system little is known and information is limited in scope about patient safety culture. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the level of patient safety culture and associated factors in Jimma zone Hospitals, southwest Ethiopia. Facility based cross sectional quantitative study triangulated with qualitative approaches was employed from March to April 30/2015. Stratified sampling technique was used to select 637 study participants among 4 hospitals. The standardized tool which measures 12 patient safety culture composites was used for data collection. Bivariate and multivariate linear regression analyses were performed using SPSS version 20. Significance level was obtained at 95 % CI and p-value < 0.05. Semi structured guide in depth interview was used to collect the qualitative data. Content analysis of the interview was performed. The overall level of patient safety culture was 46.7 % (95 % CI: 43.0, 51.2). Hours worked per week (β =-0.06, 95 % CI:-0.12,-0.001), reporting adverse event (β = 3.34, 95 % CI: 2.12, 4.57), good communication (β = 2.78, 95 % CI: 2.29, 3.28), teamwork within hospital (β = 1.91, 95 % CI: 1.37, 2.46), level of staffing (β = 1.32, 95 % CI: 0.89, 1.75), exchange of feedback about error (β = 1.37, 95 % CI: 0.91, 1.83) and participation in patient safety program (β = 1.3, 95 % CI: 0.57, 2.03) were factors significantly associated with the patient safety culture. The in depth interview indicated incident reporting, resources, healthcare worker attitude and patient involvement as important factors that influence patient safety culture. The overall level of patient safety culture was low. Working hours, level of staffing, teamwork, communications openness, reporting an event and exchange of feedback about error were associated with patient safety

  4. Shuttle Safety Improvements

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Henderson, Edward

    2001-01-01

    The Space Shuttle has been flying for over 20 years and based on the Orbiter design life of 100 missions it should be capable of flying at least 20 years more if we take care of it. The Space Shuttle Development Office established in 1997 has identified those upgrades needed to keep the Shuttle flying safely and efficiently until a new reusable launch vehicle (RLV) is available to meet the agency commitments and goals for human access to space. The upgrade requirements shown in figure 1 are to meet the program goals, support HEDS and next generation space transportation goals while protecting the country 's investment in the Space Shuttle. A major review of the shuttle hardware and processes was conducted in 1999 which identified key shuttle safety improvement priorities, as well as other system upgrades needed to reliably continue to support the shuttle miss ions well into the second decade of this century. The high priority safety upgrades selected for development and study will be addressed in this paper.

  5. Exhaust-System Leak Test : Quantitative Procedure

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1974-01-01

    A quantitative, periodic motor vehicle safety-inspection test for determining the leakage rate of engine exhaust from an automotive exhaust system was investigated. Two technical approaches were evaluated, and the better one was selected for developm...

  6. Implementing Patient Safety Initiatives in Rural Hospitals

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Klingner, Jill; Moscovice, Ira; Tupper, Judith; Coburn, Andrew; Wakefield, Mary

    2009-01-01

    Implementation of patient safety initiatives can be costly in time and energy. Because of small volumes and limited resources, rural hospitals often are not included in nationally driven patient safety initiatives. This article describes the Tennessee Rural Hospital Patient Safety Demonstration project, whose goal was to strengthen capacity for…

  7. Development of year 2020 goals for the National HIV/AIDS Strategy for the United States.

    PubMed

    Holtgrave, David R

    2014-04-01

    In July, 2010, President Barack Obama released the National HIV/AIDS Strategy (NHAS). The NHAS set forth ambitious goals for the year 2015. These goals were potentially achievable had the appropriate level of resources been invested; however, investment at the necessary scale has not been made and the 2015 goals now may well be out of reach. Therefore, we propose that an updated NHAS be developed with goals for the year 2020 clearly articulated. For the purposes of fostering discussion on this important topic, we propose bold yet achievable quantitative 2020 goals based on previously published economic and mathematical modeling analyses.

  8. Selecting Cases for Intensive Analysis: A Diversity of Goals and Methods

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gerring, John; Cojocaru, Lee

    2016-01-01

    This study revisits the task of case selection in case study research, proposing a new typology of strategies that is explicit, disaggregated, and relatively comprehensive. A secondary goal is to explore the prospects for case selection by "algorithm," aka "ex ante," "automatic," "quantitative,"…

  9. Safety assessment tool for construction zone work phasing plans

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2016-05-01

    The Highway Safety Manual (HSM) is the compilation of national safety research that provides quantitative methods for : analyzing highway safety. The HSM presents crash modification functions related to freeway work zone characteristics such as : wor...

  10. Semi-quantitative prediction of a multiple API solid dosage form with a combination of vibrational spectroscopy methods.

    PubMed

    Hertrampf, A; Sousa, R M; Menezes, J C; Herdling, T

    2016-05-30

    Quality control (QC) in the pharmaceutical industry is a key activity in ensuring medicines have the required quality, safety and efficacy for their intended use. QC departments at pharmaceutical companies are responsible for all release testing of final products but also all incoming raw materials. Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) and Raman spectroscopy are important techniques for fast and accurate identification and qualification of pharmaceutical samples. Tablets containing two different active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) [bisoprolol, hydrochlorothiazide] in different commercially available dosages were analysed using Raman- and NIR Spectroscopy. The goal was to define multivariate models based on each vibrational spectroscopy to discriminate between different dosages (identity) and predict their dosage (semi-quantitative). Furthermore the combination of spectroscopic techniques was investigated. Therefore, two different multiblock techniques based on PLS have been applied: multiblock PLS (MB-PLS) and sequential-orthogonalised PLS (SO-PLS). NIRS showed better results compared to Raman spectroscopy for both identification and quantitation. The multiblock techniques investigated showed that each spectroscopy contains information not present or captured with the other spectroscopic technique, thus demonstrating that there is a potential benefit in their combined use for both identification and quantitation purposes. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  11. Goal motives and multiple-goal striving in sport and academia: A person-centered investigation of goal motives and inter-goal relations.

    PubMed

    Healy, Laura C; Ntoumanis, Nikos; Duda, Joan L

    2016-12-01

    This investigation extended the goal striving literature by examining motives for two goals being pursued simultaneously. Grounded in self-determination theory, we examined how student-athletes' motives for their sporting and academic goals were associated with inter-goal facilitation and interference. Cross-sectional survey. UK university student-athletes (n=204) identified their most important sporting and academic goals. They then rated their extrinsic, introjected, identified and intrinsic motives for these goals and completed questionnaires assessing inter-goal facilitation and interference. Using a person-centered approach via latent profile analysis, we identified three distinct profiles of goal motives. Auxiliary analyses showed that the profile with high identified motives for both goals reported greater inter-goal facilitation. Extending the previous literature, the findings demonstrate the benefits of autonomous motives when simultaneously pursing goals in sport and academia. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  12. Compressed natural gas bus safety: a quantitative risk assessment.

    PubMed

    Chamberlain, Samuel; Modarres, Mohammad

    2005-04-01

    This study assesses the fire safety risks associated with compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicle systems, comprising primarily a typical school bus and supporting fuel infrastructure. The study determines the sensitivity of the results to variations in component failure rates and consequences of fire events. The components and subsystems that contribute most to fire safety risk are determined. Finally, the results are compared to fire risks of the present generation of diesel-fueled school buses. Direct computation of the safety risks associated with diesel-powered vehicles is possible because these are mature technologies for which historical performance data are available. Because of limited experience, fatal accident data for CNG bus fleets are minimal. Therefore, this study uses the probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) approach to model and predict fire safety risk of CNG buses. Generic failure data, engineering judgments, and assumptions are used in this study. This study predicts the mean fire fatality risk for typical CNG buses as approximately 0.23 fatalities per 100-million miles for all people involved, including bus passengers. The study estimates mean values of 0.16 fatalities per 100-million miles for bus passengers only. Based on historical data, diesel school bus mean fire fatality risk is 0.091 and 0.0007 per 100-million miles for all people and bus passengers, respectively. One can therefore conclude that CNG buses are more prone to fire fatality risk by 2.5 times that of diesel buses, with the bus passengers being more at risk by over two orders of magnitude. The study estimates a mean fire risk frequency of 2.2 x 10(-5) fatalities/bus per year. The 5% and 95% uncertainty bounds are 9.1 x 10(-6) and 4.0 x 10(-5), respectively. The risk result was found to be affected most by failure rates of pressure relief valves, CNG cylinders, and fuel piping.

  13. Optimization of safety on pavement preservation projects.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2011-01-01

    To achieve a goal of reducing highway crash fatalities by 4% each year to improve roadway safety, the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) is actively seeking opportunities to incorporate safety improvements into its current pavement preservat...

  14. Human aspects of mission safety

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Connors, Mary M.

    1989-01-01

    Recent discussions of psychology's involvement in spaceflight have emphasized its role in enhancing space living conditions and incresing crew productivity. While these goals are central to space missions, behavioral scientists should not lose sight of a more basic flight requirement - that of crew safety. This paper examines some of the processes employed in the American space program in support of crew safety and suggests that behavioral scientists could contribute to flight safety, both through these formal processes and through less formal methods. Various safety areas of relevance to behavioral scientists are discussed.

  15. Safety in the Science Classroom

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Online Submission, 2006

    2006-01-01

    The goal of this K-12 science safety resource is to bring together information needed by administrators, planners, teachers and support staff to help them make sound decisions regarding science safety. The document identifies areas for decision making and action at a variety of levels. It supports planning and action by providing information on…

  16. California Guide to Traffic Safety Education.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    California State Dept. of Education, Sacramento.

    The guide proposes an elementary through high school program encompassing many aspects of traffic safety. Chapter 1 presents definitions, instructional goals, behavioral objectives, and K-6 traffic safety concepts coupled with student performance indicators. Various elements of program administration are covered in Chapter 2. Chapter 3 includes…

  17. Querying Safety Cases

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Denney, Ewen W.; Naylor, Dwight; Pai, Ganesh

    2014-01-01

    Querying a safety case to show how the various stakeholders' concerns about system safety are addressed has been put forth as one of the benefits of argument-based assurance (in a recent study by the Health Foundation, UK, which reviewed the use of safety cases in safety-critical industries). However, neither the literature nor current practice offer much guidance on querying mechanisms appropriate for, or available within, a safety case paradigm. This paper presents a preliminary approach that uses a formal basis for querying safety cases, specifically Goal Structuring Notation (GSN) argument structures. Our approach semantically enriches GSN arguments with domain-specific metadata that the query language leverages, along with its inherent structure, to produce views. We have implemented the approach in our toolset AdvoCATE, and illustrate it by application to a fragment of the safety argument for an Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) being developed at NASA Ames. We also discuss the potential practical utility of our query mechanism within the context of the existing framework for UAS safety assurance.

  18. Comprehensive Lifecycle for Assuring System Safety

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Knight, John C.; Rowanhill, Jonathan C.

    2017-01-01

    CLASS is a novel approach to the enhancement of system safety in which the system safety case becomes the focus of safety engineering throughout the system lifecycle. CLASS also expands the role of the safety case across all phases of the system's lifetime, from concept formation to decommissioning. As CLASS has been developed, the concept has been generalized to a more comprehensive notion of assurance becoming the driving goal, where safety is an important special case. This report summarizes major aspects of CLASS and contains a bibliography of papers that provide additional details.

  19. Relationships between psychological safety climate facets and safety behavior in the rail industry: a dominance analysis.

    PubMed

    Morrow, Stephanie L; McGonagle, Alyssa K; Dove-Steinkamp, Megan L; Walker, Curtis T; Marmet, Matthew; Barnes-Farrell, Janet L

    2010-09-01

    The goals of this study were twofold: (1) to confirm a relationship between employee perceptions of psychological safety climate and safety behavior for a sample of workers in the rail industry and (2) to explore the relative strengths of relationships between specific facets of safety climate and safety behavior. Non-management rail maintenance workers employed by a large North American railroad completed a survey (n=421) regarding workplace safety perceptions and behaviors. Three facets of safety climate (management safety, coworker safety, and work-safety tension) were assessed as relating to individual workers' reported safety behavior. All three facets were significantly associated with safety behavior. Dominance analysis was used to assess the relative importance of each facet as related to the outcome, and work-safety tension evidenced the strongest relationship with safety behavior. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  20. Hierarchical Safety Cases

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Denney, Ewen W.; Whiteside, Iain J.

    2012-01-01

    We introduce hierarchical safety cases (or hicases) as a technique to overcome some of the difficulties that arise creating and maintaining industrial-size safety cases. Our approach extends the existing Goal Structuring Notation with abstraction structures, which allow the safety case to be viewed at different levels of detail. We motivate hicases and give a mathematical account of them as well as an intuition, relating them to other related concepts. We give a second definition which corresponds closely to our implementation of hicases in the AdvoCATE Assurance Case Editor and prove the correspondence between the two. Finally, we suggest areas of future enhancement, both theoretically and practically.

  1. Improving safety culture through the health and safety organization: a case study.

    PubMed

    Nielsen, Kent J

    2014-02-01

    International research indicates that internal health and safety organizations (HSO) and health and safety committees (HSC) do not have the intended impact on companies' safety performance. The aim of this case study at an industrial plant was to test whether the HSO can improve company safety culture by creating more and better safety-related interactions both within the HSO and between HSO members and the shop-floor. A quasi-experimental single case study design based on action research with both quantitative and qualitative measures was used. Based on baseline mapping of safety culture and the efficiency of the HSO three developmental processes were started aimed at the HSC, the whole HSO, and the safety representatives, respectively. Results at follow-up indicated a marked improvement in HSO performance, interaction patterns concerning safety, safety culture indicators, and a changed trend in injury rates. These improvements are interpreted as cultural change because an organizational double-loop learning process leading to modification of the basic assumptions could be identified. The study provides evidence that the HSO can improve company safety culture by focusing on safety-related interactions. © 2013. Published by Elsevier Ltd and National Safety Council.

  2. Bertolette Selected as EHS Champion of Safety | Poster

    Cancer.gov

    Dan Bertolette has been selected as the most recent NCI at Frederick Champion of Safety, as part of the Champions of Safety Program sponsored by the Environment, Health, and Safety Program (EHS). The goal of the program, which began last year, is to raise awareness and promote a culture of safety by showing NCI at Frederick staff at work in their respective workplaces,

  3. Towards a Formal Basis for Modular Safety Cases

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Denney, Ewen; Pai, Ganesh

    2015-01-01

    Safety assurance using argument-based safety cases is an accepted best-practice in many safety-critical sectors. Goal Structuring Notation (GSN), which is widely used for presenting safety arguments graphically, provides a notion of modular arguments to support the goal of incremental certification. Despite the efforts at standardization, GSN remains an informal notation whereas the GSN standard contains appreciable ambiguity especially concerning modular extensions. This, in turn, presents challenges when developing tools and methods to intelligently manipulate modular GSN arguments. This paper develops the elements of a theory of modular safety cases, leveraging our previous work on formalizing GSN arguments. Using example argument structures we highlight some ambiguities arising through the existing guidance, present the intuition underlying the theory, clarify syntax, and address modular arguments, contracts, well-formedness and well-scopedness of modules. Based on this theory, we have a preliminary implementation of modular arguments in our toolset, AdvoCATE.

  4. Informatics methods to enable sharing of quantitative imaging research data.

    PubMed

    Levy, Mia A; Freymann, John B; Kirby, Justin S; Fedorov, Andriy; Fennessy, Fiona M; Eschrich, Steven A; Berglund, Anders E; Fenstermacher, David A; Tan, Yongqiang; Guo, Xiaotao; Casavant, Thomas L; Brown, Bartley J; Braun, Terry A; Dekker, Andre; Roelofs, Erik; Mountz, James M; Boada, Fernando; Laymon, Charles; Oborski, Matt; Rubin, Daniel L

    2012-11-01

    The National Cancer Institute Quantitative Research Network (QIN) is a collaborative research network whose goal is to share data, algorithms and research tools to accelerate quantitative imaging research. A challenge is the variability in tools and analysis platforms used in quantitative imaging. Our goal was to understand the extent of this variation and to develop an approach to enable sharing data and to promote reuse of quantitative imaging data in the community. We performed a survey of the current tools in use by the QIN member sites for representation and storage of their QIN research data including images, image meta-data and clinical data. We identified existing systems and standards for data sharing and their gaps for the QIN use case. We then proposed a system architecture to enable data sharing and collaborative experimentation within the QIN. There are a variety of tools currently used by each QIN institution. We developed a general information system architecture to support the QIN goals. We also describe the remaining architecture gaps we are developing to enable members to share research images and image meta-data across the network. As a research network, the QIN will stimulate quantitative imaging research by pooling data, algorithms and research tools. However, there are gaps in current functional requirements that will need to be met by future informatics development. Special attention must be given to the technical requirements needed to translate these methods into the clinical research workflow to enable validation and qualification of these novel imaging biomarkers. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  5. Guide for Maintaining Pedestrian Facilities for Enhanced Safety.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2013-10-01

    A Guide for Maintaining Pedestrian Facilities for Enhanced Safety provides guidance for maintaining pedestrian facilities with the primary goal of increasing safety and mobility. The Guide addresses the needs for pedestrian facility maintenance; comm...

  6. Highway Safety Manual applied in Missouri - freeway/software.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2016-06-01

    AASHTOs Highway Safety Manual (HSM) facilitates the quantitative safety analysis of highway facilities. In a 2014 : supplement, freeway facilities were added to the original HSM manual which allows the modeling of highway : interchanges. This repo...

  7. [Goals, goal attainment, and patient satisfaction in psychosomatic rehabilitation].

    PubMed

    Richter, Matthias; Schmid-Ott, Gerhard; Muthny, Fritz A

    2011-01-01

    The study assesses patient satisfaction and investigates the correlation between patient satisfaction and the setting and attainment of goals. Cross-sectional questionnaire-based assessment data were provided anonymously by 276 patients at the end of their inpatient stay in psychosomatic rehabilitation. Patient satisfaction as well as sociodemographic, disease-related, and outcome parameters including rehabilitation goals were assessed at the beginning of rehabilitation and their attainment at the end of rehabilitation. Goal-attainment scales based on factor analysis showed a high degree of goal-attainment with respect to "lifestyle and priorities" and "psychotherapeutic goals." Patient satisfaction correlated most significantly with the goal-attainment level at the end of rehabilitation (r=.62) and the subscale "attainment of psychotherapeutic goals" (r=.57). Nonattainment of goals (r=-.55) was more closely related with patient satisfaction than the attainment (r=.40). The results confirm the central role of goal-setting and goal-attainment in rehabilitation, and reveal the necessity of goal-setting assessment of goal-attainment in the process of rehabilitation.

  8. State of Tennessee strategic highway safety plan

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2007-08-01

    The State of Tennessee's Strategic Highway Safety Plan was developed by the Tennessee Strategic Highway Safety Committee with the goal of reaching a 10% fatality rate reduction, based on CY 2002 data, by the end of CY 2008, with a projected saving of...

  9. Calibration of highway safety manual work zone crash modification factors.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2014-06-01

    The Highway Safety Manual is the national safety manual that provides quantitative methods for analyzing highway safety. The : HSM presents crash modification factors related to work zone characteristics such as work zone duration and length. These c...

  10. In Pursuit of Goal Six: A Statewide Initiative To Improve School Safety.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Yap, Kim O.; And Others

    National Education Goal Six calls for all schools to have safe environments conducive to teaching and learning by year 2000. In 1989, the Washington State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction initiated the School Security Enhancement Program, which provides competitive grants to school districts to develop or improve school-based…

  11. Investment appraisal using quantitative risk analysis.

    PubMed

    Johansson, Henrik

    2002-07-01

    Investment appraisal concerned with investments in fire safety systems is discussed. Particular attention is directed at evaluating, in terms of the Bayesian decision theory, the risk reduction that investment in a fire safety system involves. It is shown how the monetary value of the change from a building design without any specific fire protection system to one including such a system can be estimated by use of quantitative risk analysis, the results of which are expressed in terms of a Risk-adjusted net present value. This represents the intrinsic monetary value of investing in the fire safety system. The method suggested is exemplified by a case study performed in an Avesta Sheffield factory.

  12. The effectiveness of inking needle core prostate biopsies for preventing patient specimen identification errors: a technique to address Joint Commission patient safety goals in specialty laboratories.

    PubMed

    Raff, Lester J; Engel, George; Beck, Kenneth R; O'Brien, Andrea S; Bauer, Meagan E

    2009-02-01

    The elimination or reduction of medical errors has been a main focus of health care enterprises in the United States since the year 2000. Elimination of errors in patient and specimen identification is a key component of this focus and is the number one goal in the Joint Commission's 2008 National Patient Safety Goals Laboratory Services Program. To evaluate the effectiveness of using permanent inks to maintain specimen identity in sequentially submitted prostate needle biopsies. For a 12-month period, a grossing technician stained each prostate core with permanent ink developed for inking of pathology specimens. A different color was used for each patient, with all the prostate cores from all vials for a particular patient inked with the same color. Five colors were used sequentially: green, blue, yellow, orange, and black. The ink was diluted with distilled water to a consistency that allowed application of a thin, uniform coating of ink along the edges of the prostate core. The time required to ink patient specimens comprising different numbers of vials and prostate biopsies was timed. The number and type of inked specimen discrepancies were evaluated. The identified discrepancy rate for prostate biopsy patients was 0.13%. The discrepancy rate in terms of total number of prostate blocks was 0.014%. Diluted inks adhered to biopsy contours throughout tissue processing. The tissue showed no untoward reactions to the inks. Inking did not affect staining (histochemical or immunohistochemical) or pathologic evaluation. On average, inking prostate needle biopsies increases grossing time by 20%. Inking of all prostate core biopsies with colored inks, in sequential order, is an aid in maintaining specimen identity. It is a simple and effective method of addressing Joint Commission patient safety goals by maintaining specimen identity during processing of similar types of gross specimens. This technique may be applicable in other specialty laboratories and high

  13. Programs That Support Safety and Security for the Transit Industry

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2001-03-01

    FTA's Office of Safety and Security (Office) directly supports the U.S. Department of Transportation's safety goals through a series of programs designed to maintain continuous improvement in the safety and security of our nation's transit systems. T...

  14. Development of a highway safety fundamental course.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2015-05-01

    Although the need for road safety education was first recognized in the 1960s, it has become an increasingly urgent issue : in recent years. To fulfill the hefty goal set up by the AASHTO Highway Safety Strategy and by state DOTS, it is critical : to...

  15. The contribution of goal specificity to goal achievement in collaborative goal setting for the management of asthma.

    PubMed

    Smith, Lorraine; Alles, Chehani; Lemay, Kate; Reddel, Helen; Saini, Bandana; Bosnic-Anticevich, Sinthia; Emmerton, Lynne; Stewart, Kay; Burton, Debbie; Krass, Ines; Armour, Carol

    2013-01-01

    Goal setting was investigated as part of an implementation trial of an asthma management service (PAMS) conducted in 96 Australian community pharmacies. Patients and pharmacists identified asthma-related issues of concern to the patient and collaboratively set goals to address these. Although goal setting is commonly integrated into disease state management interventions, the nature of goals, and their contribution to goal attainment and health outcomes are not well understood. To identify and describe: 1) goals set collaboratively between adult patients with asthma and their pharmacist, 2) goal specificity and goal achievement, and 3) describe the relationships between specificity, achievement, asthma control and asthma-related quality of life. Measures of goal specificity, and goal achievement were developed and applied to patient data records. Goals set were thematically analyzed into goal domains. Proportions of goals set, goals achieved and their specificity were calculated. Correlational and regression analyses were undertaken to determine the relationships between goal specificity, goal achievement, asthma control and asthma-related quality of life. Data were drawn from 498 patient records. Findings showed that patients set a wide range and number of asthma-related goals (N = 1787) and the majority (93%) were either achieved or being working toward by the end of the study. Goal achievement was positively associated with specific and moderately specific goals, but not non-specific goals. However, on closer inspection, an inconsistent pattern of relationships emerged as a function of goal domain. Findings also showed that goal setting was associated with end-of-study asthma control but not to asthma-related quality of life. Pharmacists can help patients to set achievable and specific asthma management goals, and these have the potential to directly impact health outcomes such as asthma control. Goal specificity appears to be an important feature in the

  16. Self-reflection, growth goals, and academic outcomes: A qualitative study.

    PubMed

    Travers, Cheryl J; Morisano, Dominique; Locke, Edwin A

    2015-06-01

    Goal-setting theory continues to be among the most popular and influential theories of motivation and performance, although there have been limited academic applications relative to applications in other domains, such as organizational psychology. This paper summarizes existing quantitative research and then employs a qualitative approach to exploring academic growth via an in-depth reflective growth goal-setting methodology. The study focuses on 92 UK final-year students enrolled in an elective advanced interpersonal skills and personal development module, with self-reflection and growth goal setting at its core. Qualitative data in the form of regular reflective written diary entries and qualitative questionnaires were collected from students during, on completion of, and 6 months following the personal growth goal-setting programme. About 20% of students' self-set growth goals directly related to academic growth and performance; students reported that these had a strong impact on their achievement both during and following the reflective programme. Growth goals that were indirectly related to achievement (e.g., stress management) appeared to positively impact academic growth and other outcomes (e.g., well-being). A follow-up survey revealed that growth goal setting continued to impact academic growth factors (e.g., self-efficacy, academic performance) beyond the reflective programme itself. Academic growth can result from both academically direct and indirect growth goals, and growth goal setting appears to be aided by the process of simultaneous growth reflection. The implications for promoting academic growth via this unique learning and development approach are discussed. © 2014 The British Psychological Society.

  17. Get a taste of your goals: promoting motive-goal congruence through affect-focus goal fantasy.

    PubMed

    Job, Veronika; Brandstätter, Veronika

    2009-10-01

    Studies show that motive-goal congruence is an important predictor of well-being (Baumann, Kaschel, & Kuhl, 2005; Brunstein, Schultheiss, & Grässmann, 1998). However, little is known about the factors that promote congruence between implicit motives and goals. Relying on McClelland's (1985) concept of implicit motives and the theory of fantasy realization (Oettingen, 1999), we postulated that goal fantasies focusing on motive-specific affective incentives promote motive-congruent goal setting. This hypothesis was tested in 3 experimental studies. In Study 1 (n=46) and Study 2 (n=48), participants were asked to select goals in a hypothetical scenario. In Study 3 (n=179), they rated their commitment to personal goals for their actual life situation. The results of all 3 studies supported our hypothesis that participants who focus on motive-specific affective incentives in their goal fantasies set their goals in line with their corresponding implicit motive dispositions.

  18. Deep Borehole Disposal Safety Analysis.

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

    Freeze, Geoffrey A.; Stein, Emily; Price, Laura L.

    This report presents a preliminary safety analysis for the deep borehole disposal (DBD) concept, using a safety case framework. A safety case is an integrated collection of qualitative and quantitative arguments, evidence, and analyses that substantiate the safety, and the level of confidence in the safety, of a geologic repository. This safety case framework for DBD follows the outline of the elements of a safety case, and identifies the types of information that will be required to satisfy these elements. At this very preliminary phase of development, the DBD safety case focuses on the generic feasibility of the DBD concept.more » It is based on potential system designs, waste forms, engineering, and geologic conditions; however, no specific site or regulatory framework exists. It will progress to a site-specific safety case as the DBD concept advances into a site-specific phase, progressing through consent-based site selection and site investigation and characterization.« less

  19. Quantitative mass spectrometry: an overview

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Urban, Pawel L.

    2016-10-01

    Mass spectrometry (MS) is a mainstream chemical analysis technique in the twenty-first century. It has contributed to numerous discoveries in chemistry, physics and biochemistry. Hundreds of research laboratories scattered all over the world use MS every day to investigate fundamental phenomena on the molecular level. MS is also widely used by industry-especially in drug discovery, quality control and food safety protocols. In some cases, mass spectrometers are indispensable and irreplaceable by any other metrological tools. The uniqueness of MS is due to the fact that it enables direct identification of molecules based on the mass-to-charge ratios as well as fragmentation patterns. Thus, for several decades now, MS has been used in qualitative chemical analysis. To address the pressing need for quantitative molecular measurements, a number of laboratories focused on technological and methodological improvements that could render MS a fully quantitative metrological platform. In this theme issue, the experts working for some of those laboratories share their knowledge and enthusiasm about quantitative MS. I hope this theme issue will benefit readers, and foster fundamental and applied research based on quantitative MS measurements. This article is part of the themed issue 'Quantitative mass spectrometry'.

  20. Moving forward with safety culture.

    PubMed

    Weber, Michael

    2012-04-01

    Radiation safety and protection of people are shared goals of the Health Physics Society (HPS) and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). A positive safety culture contributes to achieving radiation safety and protection of people, which are important to both the HPS and the NRC. Through unprecedented collaboration and engagement with diverse stakeholders, the NRC and the stakeholders developed a Safety Culture Policy Statement. The policy statement defines safety culture and describes the traits of a positive safety culture. Consideration of both safety and security issues and the interface of safety and security are underlying principles that support the policy. Examination of significant events, both within the nuclear industry and in society at large, illustrates how weaknesses in these traits can contribute to the occurrence and consequences of safety incidents, including serious injury and loss of life. With the policy statement in place, the NRC is moving forward with outreach and education about safety culture. Health physicists and other radiation safety specialists play an essential role in enhancing safety culture.

  1. A prioritization of generic safety issues. Supplement 19, Revision insertion instructions

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

    None

    1995-11-01

    The report presents the safety priority ranking for generic safety issues related to nuclear power plants. The purpose of these rankings is to assist in the timely and efficient allocation of NRC resources for the resolution of those safety issues that have a significant potential for reducing risk. The safety priority rankings are HIGH, MEDIUM, LOW, and DROP, and have been assigned on the basis of risk significance estimates, the ratio of risk to costs and other impacts estimated to result if resolution of the safety issues were implemented, and the consideration of uncertainties and other quantitative or qualitative factors.more » To the extent practical, estimates are quantitative. This document provides revisions and amendments to the report.« less

  2. NASA System Safety Handbook. Volume 1; System Safety Framework and Concepts for Implementation

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Dezfuli, Homayoon; Benjamin, Allan; Everett, Christopher; Smith, Curtis; Stamatelatos, Michael; Youngblood, Robert

    2011-01-01

    basis but to consider measures of aggregate safety risk and to ensure wherever possible that there be quantitative measures for evaluating how effective the controls are in reducing these aggregate risks. The term aggregate risk, when used in this handbook, refers to the accumulation of risks from individual scenarios that lead to a shortfall in safety performance at a high level: e.g., an excessively high probability of loss of crew, loss of mission, planetary contamination, etc. Without aggregated quantitative measures such as these, it is not reasonable to expect that safety has been optimized with respect to other technical and programmatic objectives. At the same time, it is fully recognized that not all sources of risk are amenable to precise quantitative analysis and that the use of qualitative approaches and bounding estimates may be appropriate for those risk sources. Second, the handbook stresses the necessity of developing confidence that the controls derived for the purpose of achieving system safety not only handle risks that have been identified and properly characterized but also provide a general, more holistic means for protecting against unidentified or uncharacterized risks. For example, while it is not possible to be assured that all credible causes of risk have been identified, there are defenses that can provide protection against broad categories of risks and thereby increase the chances that individual causes are contained. Third, the handbook strives at all times to treat uncertainties as an integral aspect of risk and as a part of making decisions. The term "uncertainty" here does not refer to an actuarial type of data analysis, but rather to a characterization of our state of knowledge regarding results from logical and physical models that approximate reality. Uncertainty analysis finds how the output parameters of the models are related to plausible variations in the input parameters and in the modeling assumptions. The evaluation of

  3. Safety first: Instrumentality for reaching safety determines attention allocation under threat.

    PubMed

    Vogt, Julia; Koster, Ernst H W; De Houwer, Jan

    2017-04-01

    Theories of attention to emotional information suggest that attentional processes prioritize threatening information. In this article, we suggest that attention will prioritize the events that are most instrumental to a goal in any given context, which in threatening situations is typically reaching safety. To test our hypotheses, we used an attentional cueing paradigm that contained cues signaling imminent threat (i.e., aversive noises) as well as cues that allowed participants to avoid threat (instrumental safety signals). Correct reactions to instrumental safety signals seemingly allowed participants to lower the presentation rate of the threat. Experiment 1 demonstrates that attention prioritizes instrumental safety signals over threat signals. Experiment 2 replicates this finding and additionally compares instrumental safety signals to other action-relevant signals controlling for action relevance as cause of the effects. Experiment 3 demonstrates that when actions toward threat signals permit to avoid threat, attention prioritizes threat signals. Taken together, these results support the view that instrumentality for reaching safety determines the allocation of attention under threat. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

  4. Calibration factors handbook : safety prediction models calibrated with Texas highway system.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2009-10-01

    Highway safety is an ongoing concern to the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT). As part of its : proactive commitment to improving highway safety, TxDOT is moving toward including quantitative safety : analyses earlier in the project developm...

  5. Patient Safety and the Malpractice System.

    PubMed

    Swift, James Q

    2017-05-01

    The cost of health care in the United States and malpractice insurance has escalated greatly over the past 30 years. In an ideal world, the goals of the tort system would be aligned with efforts at improving safety. In fact, there is little evidence that the tort system and the processes of risk management and informed consent have improved patient safety. This article explores the disunion between patient safety and the malpractice system. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  6. Putting Safety in the Frame

    PubMed Central

    O’Keeffe, Valerie Jean; Thompson, Kirrilly Rebecca; Tuckey, Michelle Rae; Blewett, Verna Lesley

    2015-01-01

    Current patient safety policy focuses nursing on patient care goals, often overriding nurses’ safety. Without understanding how nurses construct work health and safety (WHS), patient and nurse safety cannot be reconciled. Using ethnography, we examine social contexts of safety, studying 72 nurses across five Australian hospitals making decisions during patient encounters. In enacting safe practice, nurses used “frames” built from their contextual experiences to guide their behavior. Frames are produced by nurses, and they structure how nurses make sense of their work. Using thematic analysis, we identify four frames that inform nurses’ decisions about WHS: (a) communicating builds knowledge, (b) experiencing situations guides decisions, (c) adapting procedures streamlines work, and (d) team working promotes safe working. Nurses’ frames question current policy and practice by challenging how nurses’ safety is positioned relative to patient safety. Recognizing these frames can assist the design and implementation of effective WHS management. PMID:28462311

  7. Autonomous system for launch vehicle range safety

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ferrell, Bob; Haley, Sam

    2001-02-01

    The Autonomous Flight Safety System (AFSS) is a launch vehicle subsystem whose ultimate goal is an autonomous capability to assure range safety (people and valuable resources), flight personnel safety, flight assets safety (recovery of valuable vehicles and cargo), and global coverage with a dramatic simplification of range infrastructure. The AFSS is capable of determining current vehicle position and predicting the impact point with respect to flight restriction zones. Additionally, it is able to discern whether or not the launch vehicle is an immediate threat to public safety, and initiate the appropriate range safety response. These features provide for a dramatic cost reduction in range operations and improved reliability of mission success. .

  8. Another Approach to Enhance Airline Safety: Using Management Safety Tools

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Lu, Chien-tsug; Wetmore, Michael; Przetak, Robert

    2006-01-01

    The ultimate goal of conducting an accident investigation is to prevent similar accidents from happening again and to make operations safer system-wide. Based on the findings extracted from the investigation, the "lesson learned" becomes a genuine part of the safety database making risk management available to safety analysts. The airline industry is no exception. In the US, the FAA has advocated the usage of the System Safety concept in enhancing safety since 2000. Yet, in today s usage of System Safety, the airline industry mainly focuses on risk management, which is a reactive process of the System Safety discipline. In order to extend the merit of System Safety and to prevent accidents beforehand, a specific System Safety tool needs to be applied; so a model of hazard prediction can be formed. To do so, the authors initiated this study by reviewing 189 final accident reports from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) covering FAR Part 121 scheduled operations. The discovered accident causes (direct hazards) were categorized into 10 groups Flight Operations, Ground Crew, Turbulence, Maintenance, Foreign Object Damage (FOD), Flight Attendant, Air Traffic Control, Manufacturer, Passenger, and Federal Aviation Administration. These direct hazards were associated with 36 root factors prepared for an error-elimination model using Fault Tree Analysis (FTA), a leading tool for System Safety experts. An FTA block-diagram model was created, followed by a probability simulation of accidents. Five case studies and reports were provided in order to fully demonstrate the usefulness of System Safety tools in promoting airline safety.

  9. 75 FR 41531 - Brookwood-Sago Mine Safety Grants

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-07-16

    ... stated goals and current reporting period. objectives for improving safety. Conduct and report pre-test and post- test results of trainees. Course evaluations of trainer and training materials. The extent... pre-test and post- and improves safety. educational materials test results of the training materials...

  10. From the school of nursing quality and safety officer: nursing students' use of safety reporting tools and their perception of safety issues in clinical settings.

    PubMed

    Cooper, Elizabeth

    2013-01-01

    Improved patient safety and quality are priority goals for nurses and schools of nursing. This article describes the innovative new role of quality and safety officer (QSO) developed by one university in response to the Quality and Safety Education for Nurses challenge to increase quality and safety education for prelicensure nursing students. The article also describes the results of a study conducted by the QSO, obtaining information from prelicensure nursing students about the use of safety tools and identifying the students' perceptions of safety issues, communication, and safety reporting in the clinical setting. Responses of 145 prelicensure nursing students suggest that it is difficult to get all errors and near-miss events reported. Barriers for nursing students are similar to the barriers nurses and physicians identify in reporting errors and near-miss events. The survey reveals that safety for the patient is the primary concern of the student nurse. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  11. Prospective safety performance evaluation on construction sites.

    PubMed

    Wu, Xianguo; Liu, Qian; Zhang, Limao; Skibniewski, Miroslaw J; Wang, Yanhong

    2015-05-01

    This paper presents a systematic Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) based approach for Prospective Safety Performance Evaluation (PSPE) on construction sites, with causal relationships and interactions between enablers and the goals of PSPE taken into account. According to a sample of 450 valid questionnaire surveys from 30 Chinese construction enterprises, a SEM model with 26 items included for PSPE in the context of Chinese construction industry is established and then verified through the goodness-of-fit test. Three typical types of construction enterprises, namely the state-owned enterprise, private enterprise and Sino-foreign joint venture, are selected as samples to measure the level of safety performance given the enterprise scale, ownership and business strategy are different. Results provide a full understanding of safety performance practice in the construction industry, and indicate that the level of overall safety performance situation on working sites is rated at least a level of III (Fair) or above. This phenomenon can be explained that the construction industry has gradually matured with the norms, and construction enterprises should improve the level of safety performance as not to be eliminated from the government-led construction industry. The differences existing in the safety performance practice regarding different construction enterprise categories are compared and analyzed according to evaluation results. This research provides insights into cause-effect relationships among safety performance factors and goals, which, in turn, can facilitate the improvement of high safety performance in the construction industry. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  12. Predicting subsequent task performance from goal motivation and goal failure.

    PubMed

    Healy, Laura C; Ntoumanis, Nikos; Stewart, Brandon D; Duda, Joan L

    2015-01-01

    Recent research has demonstrated that the cognitive processes associated with goal pursuit can continue to interfere with unrelated tasks when a goal is unfulfilled. Drawing from the self-regulation and goal-striving literatures, the present study explored the impact of goal failure on subsequent cognitive and physical task performance. Furthermore, we examined if the autonomous or controlled motivation underpinning goal striving moderates the responses to goal failure. Athletes (75 male, 59 female, Mage = 19.90 years, SDage = 3.50) completed a cycling trial with the goal of covering a given distance in 8 min. Prior to the trial, their motivation was primed using a video. During the trial they were provided with manipulated performance feedback, thus creating conditions of goal success or failure. No differences emerged in the responses to goal failure between the primed motivation or performance feedback conditions. We make recommendations for future research into how individuals can deal with failure in goal striving.

  13. Achievement Goals, Reasons for Goal Pursuit, and Achievement Goal Complexes as Predictors of Beneficial Outcomes: Is the Influence of Goals Reducible to Reasons?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sommet, Nicolas; Elliot, Andrew J.

    2017-01-01

    In the present research, we proposed a systematic approach to disentangling the shared and unique variance explained by achievement goals, reasons for goal pursuit, and specific goal-reason combinations (i.e., achievement goal complexes). Four studies using this approach (involving nearly 1,800 participants) led to 3 basic sets of findings. First,…

  14. Pro-Social Goals in Achievement Situations: Amity Goal Orientation Enhances the Positive Effects of Mastery Goal Orientation.

    PubMed

    Levontin, Liat; Bardi, Anat

    2018-04-01

    Research has neglected the utility of pro-social goals within achievement situations. In this article, four studies demonstrate that amity goal orientation, promoting mutual success of oneself together with others, enhances the utility of mastery goal orientation. We demonstrate this in longitudinally predicting performance (Studies 1 and 2) and in maintaining motivation after a disappointing performance (Studies 3 and 4). The studies demonstrate the same interaction effect in academic and in work achievement contexts. Specifically, whereas amity goal orientation did not predict achievement on its own, it enhanced the positive effect of mastery goal orientation. Together, these studies establish the importance of amity goal orientation while also advancing our understanding of the effects of other achievement goal orientations. We suggest future directions in examining the utility of amity goals in other contexts.

  15. Travtek Evaluation Safety Study

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1996-02-01

    One of the major evaluation goals of the TravTek operational test was to assess the safety impact of the TravTek system as implemented in Orlando, Florida during the 1 -year deployment phase. Also, the results of the TravTek operational test, with re...

  16. Self-Regulatory Responses to Unattainable Goals: The Role of Goal Motives

    PubMed Central

    Healy, Laura C.; Sedikides, Constantine; Smith, Alison L.; Duda, Joan L.

    2014-01-01

    Does motivation for goal pursuit predict how individuals will respond when confronted with unattainable goals? Two studies examined the role of autonomous and controlled motives when pursuing an unattainable goal without (Study 1) or with (Study 2) the opportunity to reengage in alternative goal pursuit. Autonomous motives positively predicted the cognitive ease of reengagement with an alternative goal when the current goal was perceived as unattainable, especially when participants realized goal unattainability relatively early during goal striving. Autonomous motives, however, were negative predictors of cognitive ease of disengagement from an unattainable goal. When faced with failure, autonomously motivated individuals are better off realizing early the goal unattainability. Otherwise, they will find it difficult to disengage cognitively from the pursued goal (despite reengaging cognitively in an alternative goal), possibly due to interfering rumination. PMID:25104918

  17. Developing a Highway Safety Fundamentals Course : Research Project Capsule

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2012-10-01

    Although the need for road : safety education was fi rst : recognized in the 1960s, : recently it has become an : increasingly urgent issue. To : fulfi ll the hefty goal set up by : the AASHTO Highway : Safety Strategy (cutting : traffi c fatalities ...

  18. Goals.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Phillips, David A.; Phillips, Prudence

    1985-01-01

    Presents two discussions which focus on the rationale for and goals of teaching electrochemistry at high school and college levels. The first is "Electrochemistry" by Ronald Perkins and the second is "Goals in Teaching Electrochemistry" by J. T. Maloy. (JN)

  19. Special Education/Traffic Safety Education. Curriculum Guide.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McBrayer, Clyde; Tidwell, Fred

    The curriculum guide for special education students is intended to serve as a supplement to the Washington 1980 State Traffice Safety Education Curriculum Guide. The guide is also correlated with two popular traffic safety texts. Each of the 21 modules contains a goal statement, a list of vocabulary words that might be difficult, a check sheet…

  20. Taking up national safety alerts to improve patient safety in hospitals: The perspective of healthcare quality and risk managers.

    PubMed

    Pfeiffer, Yvonne; Schwappach, David

    2016-01-01

    National safety alert systems publish relevant information to improve patient safety in hospitals. However, the information has to be transformed into local action to have an effect on patient safety. We studied three research questions: How do Swiss healthcare quality and risk managers (qm/rm(1)) see their own role in learning from safety alerts issued by the Swiss national voluntary reporting and analysis system? What are their attitudes towards and evaluations of the alerts, and which types of improvement actions were fostered by the safety alerts? A survey was developed and applied to Swiss healthcare risk and quality managers, with a response rate of 39 % (n=116). Descriptive statistics are presented. The qm/rm disseminate and communicate with a broad variety of professional groups about the alerts. While most respondents felt that they should know the alerts and their contents, only a part of them felt responsible for driving organizational change based on the recommendations. However, most respondents used safety alerts to back up their own patient safety goals. The alerts were evaluated positively on various dimensions such as usefulness and were considered as standards of good practice by the majority of the respondents. A range of organizational responses was applied, with disseminating information being the most common. An active role is related to using safety alerts for backing up own patient safety goals. To support an active role of qm/rm in their hospital's learning from safety alerts, appropriate organizational structures should be developed. Furthermore, they could be given special information or training to act as an information hub on the issues discussed in the alerts. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier GmbH.

  1. Operational and safety characteristics of lane widths : final report.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2015-01-15

    The primary goal of this study was to investigate and assess the effect of lane widths on the safety and : operation of highways in South Carolina. Because of the many site conditions that affect safety and : operations on roadways, this type of rese...

  2. QTest: Quantitative Testing of Theories of Binary Choice.

    PubMed

    Regenwetter, Michel; Davis-Stober, Clintin P; Lim, Shiau Hong; Guo, Ying; Popova, Anna; Zwilling, Chris; Cha, Yun-Shil; Messner, William

    2014-01-01

    The goal of this paper is to make modeling and quantitative testing accessible to behavioral decision researchers interested in substantive questions. We provide a novel, rigorous, yet very general, quantitative diagnostic framework for testing theories of binary choice. This permits the nontechnical scholar to proceed far beyond traditionally rather superficial methods of analysis, and it permits the quantitatively savvy scholar to triage theoretical proposals before investing effort into complex and specialized quantitative analyses. Our theoretical framework links static algebraic decision theory with observed variability in behavioral binary choice data. The paper is supplemented with a custom-designed public-domain statistical analysis package, the QTest software. We illustrate our approach with a quantitative analysis using published laboratory data, including tests of novel versions of "Random Cumulative Prospect Theory." A major asset of the approach is the potential to distinguish decision makers who have a fixed preference and commit errors in observed choices from decision makers who waver in their preferences.

  3. QTest: Quantitative Testing of Theories of Binary Choice

    PubMed Central

    Regenwetter, Michel; Davis-Stober, Clintin P.; Lim, Shiau Hong; Guo, Ying; Popova, Anna; Zwilling, Chris; Cha, Yun-Shil; Messner, William

    2014-01-01

    The goal of this paper is to make modeling and quantitative testing accessible to behavioral decision researchers interested in substantive questions. We provide a novel, rigorous, yet very general, quantitative diagnostic framework for testing theories of binary choice. This permits the nontechnical scholar to proceed far beyond traditionally rather superficial methods of analysis, and it permits the quantitatively savvy scholar to triage theoretical proposals before investing effort into complex and specialized quantitative analyses. Our theoretical framework links static algebraic decision theory with observed variability in behavioral binary choice data. The paper is supplemented with a custom-designed public-domain statistical analysis package, the QTest software. We illustrate our approach with a quantitative analysis using published laboratory data, including tests of novel versions of “Random Cumulative Prospect Theory.” A major asset of the approach is the potential to distinguish decision makers who have a fixed preference and commit errors in observed choices from decision makers who waver in their preferences. PMID:24999495

  4. Traveler safety policy paper : TranPlan 21, amended in 2007

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2007-01-01

    This policy paper describes the current initiatives and potential policy goals and actions that the Montana Department of Transportation (MDT) could implement to improve public safety on the State's public roadways. these goals and actions were adopt...

  5. Setting goals, not just roles: Improving teamwork through goal-focused debriefing.

    PubMed

    Gardner, Aimee K; Kosemund, Matthew; Hogg, Deborah; Heymann, Abraham; Martinez, Joseph

    2017-02-01

    The role of goal setting within post-simulation debriefing is not well known. This study sought to examine how inclusion of group-level goals, individual-level goals, or no goals in the debriefing process impacts teamwork. Students participated in two high-fidelity team training scenarios. Between scenarios, teams were assigned to one of three debriefing groups: jointly creating five teamwork goals for the group to achieve (group-level goals); independently creating five teamwork goals for each individual to attain (individual-level goals); or no goals. Paired-samples t tests and one-way ANOVA with post-hoc Tukey tests were used to examine performance improvements and differences between groups. 86 MS3s participated in the training program across 22 groups. Percentage of items achieved on the teamwork tool from first to second scenario were 61.7±20.4 to 60.2±8.8 (no goals; ns), 59.8±14.0 to 76.8±7.0 (individual goals; p<0.01), and 62.5±9.5 to 67.0±10.0 (group goals; ns). Performance improvement in the individual goals group was significantly higher than the no goals group (p<0.05). Debriefing facilitators should encourage learners to focus on creating and achieving personal goals contributing to teamwork. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  6. Safety management vs. picking leaves.

    PubMed

    Wright, D

    1991-09-01

    A safety program will generally have as its base a comprehensive written document made available for everyone in the organization. The document should indicate a positive commitment to safety by management. It should not be a "how to" guide, but rather a broad outline to establish responsibilities, goals, and methods. The safety manager is appointed in writing and answers to the highest level of management. As opposed to a "doer," the safety manager acts as a director and administrator of the safety program. This is accomplished through the advisory capacity of the safety program for solicited and unsolicited problems. The focus of the safety manager is on the system and how it contributes to safety problems, rather than individual problems. Management has the ultimate responsibility for safety. Their efforts should reflect a proactive attitude to correct problems in the system. In order to identify areas of interest, technically competent input from the safety manager should be required. The support of the safety program by top management determines the success of the program. Without a clear and firm commitment by the organization, safety will receive no more than lip service from the employees. The benefits of a proactive approach will be realized in the organization's ability to manage safety issues, rather than reacting to them.

  7. When goals collide: monitoring the goals of multiple characters.

    PubMed

    Magliano, Joseph P; Taylor, Holly A; Kim, Hyun-Jeong Joyce

    2005-12-01

    Most story plots contain multiple characters who are independent, interact, and often have conflicting goals. One would expect that narrative understanding would require monitoring of the goals, concerns, and situations of multiple agents. There is considerable evidence that understanders monitor the primary protagonist's goal plans (e.g., Suh & Trabasso, 1993). However, there is relatively little research on the extent to which understanders monitor the goals of multiple agents. We investigated the impact of characters' roles and prominence on the extent to which understanders monitor the goal plans of multiple characters in a feature length film. In Experiment 1, participants made situation change judgments, and in Experiment 2, they verbally described scenes. Both types of judgments indicated that viewers monitor the goals and plans of multiple agents but do so to a greater extent for characters more prominent to the plotline.

  8. Fire safety applications for spacecraft

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Friedman, Robert; Olson, Sandra L.

    1989-01-01

    Fire safety for spacecraft is reviewed by first describing current practices, many of which are adapted directly from aircraft. Then, current analyses and experimental knowledge in low-gravity combustion, with implications for fire safety are discussed. In orbiting spacecraft, the detection and suppression of flames are strongly affected by the large reduction in buoyant flows under low gravity. Generally, combustion intensity is reduced in low gravity. There are some notable exceptions, however, one example being the strong enhancement of flames by low-velocity ventilation flows in space. Finally, the future requirements in fire safety, particularly the needs of long-duration space stations in fire prevention, detection, extinguishment, and atmospheric control are examined. The goal of spacecraft fire-safety investigations is the establishment of trade-offs that promote maximum safety without hampering the useful human and scientific activities in space.

  9. Assessment of goals and priorities in patients with a chronic condition: a secondary quantitative analysis of determinants across 11 countries.

    PubMed

    Vermunt, Neeltje P C A; Westert, Gert P; Olde Rikkert, Marcel G M; Faber, Marjan J

    2018-03-01

    To assess the impact of patient characteristics, patient-professional engagement, communication and context on the probability that healthcare professionals will discuss goals or priorities with older patients. Secondary analysis of cross-sectional data from the 2014 Commonwealth Fund International Health Policy Survey of Older Adults. 11 western countries. Community-dwelling adults, aged 55 or older. Assessment of goals and priorities. The final sample size consisted of 17,222 respondents, 54% of whom reported an assessment of their goals and priorities (AGP) by healthcare professionals. In logistic regression model 1, which was used to analyse the entire population, the determinants found to have moderate to large effects on the likelihood of AGP were information exchange on stress, diet or exercise, or both. Country (living in Sweden) and continuity of care (no regular professional or organisation) had moderate to large negative effects on the likelihood of AGP. In model 2, which focussed on respondents who experienced continuity of care, country and information exchange on stress and lifestyle were the main determinants of AGP, with comparable odds ratios to model 1. Furthermore, a professional asking questions also increased the likelihood of AGP. Continuity of care and information exchange is associated with a higher probability of AGP, while people living in Sweden are less likely to experience these assessments. Further study is required to determine whether increasing information exchange and professionals asking more questions may improve goal setting with older patients. Key points   A patient goal-oriented approach can be beneficial for older patients with chronic conditions or multimorbidity; however, discussing goals with these patients is not a common practice. The likelihood of discussing goals varies by country, occurring most commonly in the USA, and least often in Sweden. Country-level differences in continuity of care and questions asked by a

  10. Bertolette Selected as EHS Champion of Safety | Poster

    Cancer.gov

    Dan Bertolette has been selected as the most recent NCI at Frederick Champion of Safety, as part of the Champions of Safety Program sponsored by the Environment, Health, and Safety Program (EHS). The goal of the program, which began last year, is to raise awareness and promote a culture of safety by showing NCI at Frederick staff at work in their respective workplaces, according to Terri Bray, director, EHS. “Since we have so many varied work environments here, safety often takes on a different look, according to workplace. We want to take the opportunity to show real people in real situations, to encourage safety everywhere,” Bray said.

  11. Stressors and life goals of caregivers of individuals with disabilities.

    PubMed

    Raver, Sharon A; Michalek, Anne P M; Gillespie, Amy M

    2011-01-01

    Caregivers of individuals with disabilities can experience stress as they manage caregiving responsibilities while they attempt to balance family, work, and the satisfaction of their personal goals. In this pilot study, 31 caregivers of individuals with a variety of disabilities completed a quantitative-qualitative survey. A statistically significant relationship was found between the age and severity of disability of the family member receiving care, the length of time care had been provided, the educational level and the relationship of the caregiver to the family member and reported feelings of optimism, humbleness, quality of family relationships, financial concerns, loss of control, and hope. When life goals were probed, the most common reported were achieving financial stability, having a strong, healthy family, and experiencing happiness. The implications for supporting caregivers and their families are discussed.

  12. Safety perception referents of permanent and temporary employees: safety climate boundaries in the industrial workplace.

    PubMed

    Luria, Gil; Yagil, Dana

    2010-09-01

    To explore the significant referents of safety perceptions among permanent and temporary employees in order to identify the boundaries of safety climate in a heterogeneous workforce. Collection of data from semi-structured interviews with employees in manufacturing organizations, using a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods to identify basic safety perceptions. Independent raters used content analysis to examine the data. Analysis of the data revealed differences between safety themes at organization, group and individual levels. Themes relating to the individual were more prevalent among temporary employees, while those relating to the group and the organization prevailed among permanent employees. Permanent employees view organizational and group levels as significant referents of safety perceptions, while temporary employees focus on the individual level. The results challenge the current view of safety climate as a uniform concept for all employees and prescribe boundary conditions for safety climate. It is suggested that organizations should implement "tailor-made" safety-climate practices according to the referents of employee sub-groups. 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  13. Teachers' goal orientations: Effects on classroom goal structures and emotions.

    PubMed

    Wang, Hui; Hall, Nathan C; Goetz, Thomas; Frenzel, Anne C

    2017-03-01

    Prior research has shown teachers' goal orientations to influence classroom goal structures (Retelsdorf et al., 2010, Learning and Instruction, 20, 30) and to also impact their emotions (Schutz et al., 2007, Emotion in education, Academic Press, Amsterdam, the Netherlands). However, empirical research evaluating possible causal ordering and mediation effects involving these variables in teachers is presently lacking. The present 6-month longitudinal study investigated the relations between varied motivational, behavioural, and emotional variables in practising teachers. More specifically, this study examined the reciprocal, longitudinal relations between teachers' achievement goals, classroom goal structures, and teaching-related emotions, as well as cumulative mediational models in which observed causal relations were evaluated. Participants were 495 practising teachers from Canada (86% female, M = 42 years). Teachers completed a web-based questionnaire at two time points assessing their instructional goals, perceived classroom goal structures, achievement emotions, and demographic items. Results from cross-lagged analyses and structural equation modelling showed teachers' achievement goals to predict their perceived classroom goal structures that, in turn, predicted their teaching-related emotions. The present results inform both Butler's (2012, Journal of Educational Psychology, 104, 726) theory on teachers' achievement goals and Frenzel's (2014, International handbook of emotions in education, Routledge, New York, NY) model of teachers' emotions in showing teachers' instructional goals to both directly predict their teaching-related emotions, as well as indirectly through the mediating effects of classroom goal structures. © 2016 The British Psychological Society.

  14. Aviation Safety/Automation Program Conference

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Morello, Samuel A. (Compiler)

    1990-01-01

    The Aviation Safety/Automation Program Conference - 1989 was sponsored by the NASA Langley Research Center on 11 to 12 October 1989. The conference, held at the Sheraton Beach Inn and Conference Center, Virginia Beach, Virginia, was chaired by Samuel A. Morello. The primary objective of the conference was to ensure effective communication and technology transfer by providing a forum for technical interchange of current operational problems and program results to date. The Aviation Safety/Automation Program has as its primary goal to improve the safety of the national airspace system through the development and integration of human-centered automation technologies for aircraft crews and air traffic controllers.

  15. Super Safety and Health Day at KSC

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    2000-01-01

    Employees take a look at this NASCAR auto being displayed during Super Safety and Health Day at KSC. Safety Day is a full day of NASA-sponsored, KSC and 45th Space Wing events involving a number of health and safety related activities: Displays, vendors, technical paper sessions, panel discussions, a keynote speaker, etc. The entire Center and Wing stand down to participate in the planned events. Safety Day is held annually to proactively increase awareness in safety and health among the government and contractor workforce population. The first guiding principle at KSC is '''Safety and Health First.''' KSC's number one goal is to '''Assure sound, safe and efficient practices and processes are in place for privatized/commercialized launch site processing.'''

  16. Super Safety and Health Day at KSC

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    2000-01-01

    Center Director Roy Bridges talks to workers outside the Hazardous Maintenance Facility during Super Safety and Health Day at KSC. Safety Day is a full day of NASA-sponsored, KSC and 45th Space Wing events involving a number of health and safety related activities: Displays, vendors, technical paper sessions, panel discussions, a keynote speaker, etc. The entire Center and Wing stand down to participate in the planned events. Safety Day is held annually to proactively increase awareness in safety and health among the government and contractor workforce population. The first guiding principle at KSC is '''Safety and Health First.''' KSC's number one goal is to '''Assure sound, safe and efficient practices and processes are in place for privatized/commercialized launch site processing.'''

  17. Super Safety and Health Day at KSC

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    2000-01-01

    Employees gather around a demonstration by Florida Power and Light during Super Safety and Health Day at KSC. Safety Day is a full day of NASA-sponsored, KSC and 45th Space Wing events involving a number of health- and safety-related activities: Displays, vendors, technical paper sessions, panel discussions, a keynote speaker, etc. The entire Center and Wing stand down to participate in the planned events. Safety Day is held annually to proactively increase awareness in safety and health among the government and contractor workforce population. The first guiding principle at KSC is '''Safety and Health First.''' KSC's number one goal is to '''Assure sound, safe and efficient practices and processes are in place for privatized/commercialized launch site processing.'''

  18. Super Safety and Health Day at KSC

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    2000-01-01

    In an exhibit tent during Super Safety and Health Day at KSC, employees sample iced tea from a vendor. Safety Day is a full day of NASA-sponsored, KSC and 45th Space Wing events involving a number of health- and safety-related activities: Displays, vendors, technical paper sessions, panel discussions, a keynote speaker, etc. The entire Center and Wing stand down to participate in the planned events. Safety Day is held annually to proactively increase awareness in safety and health among the government and contractor workforce population. The first guiding principle at KSC is '''Safety and Health First.''' KSC's number one goal is to '''Assure sound, safe and efficient practices and processes are in place for privatized/commercialized launch site processing.'''

  19. Achievement goals, social goals, and motivational regulations in physical education settings.

    PubMed

    Cecchini Estrada, José A; González González-Mesa, Carmen; Méndez-Giménez, Antonio; Fernández-Río, Javier

    2011-02-01

    This study examined the relationship between achievement and social goals, and explored how both goals affect students' level of informed self-determination in Physical Education. Participants were 395 high school students. Three scales were used to assess achievement, social goals, and motivation. Several hierarchical regression analyses revealed that mastery-approach goals were the greatest contributors to the individuals' levels of self-determination. Achievement and social goals were found to be separate predictors of students' levels of self-determination, and this highlights the importance of separating mastery and performance goals into avoidance and approach profiles. Girls reported significantly higher values than boys on responsibility, relationship, and mastery-avoidance goals, whereas boys scored higher on performance-approach goals. Researchers could use achievement and social goals to study students' motivation and achievement in Physical Education settings.

  20. Inhibition of Fear by Learned Safety Signals: minisymposium review

    PubMed Central

    Fernando, Anushka B. P.; Kazama, Andy M.; Jovanovic, Tanja; Ostroff, Linnaea E.; Sangha, Susan

    2012-01-01

    Safety signals are learned cues that predict the non-occurrence of an aversive event. As such, safety signals are potent inhibitors of fear and stress responses. Investigations of safety signal learning have increased over the last few years due in part to the finding that traumatized persons are unable to utilize safety cues to inhibit fear, making it a clinically relevant phenotype. The goal of this review is to present recent advances relating to the neural and behavioral mechanisms of safety learning and expression in rodents, non-human primates and humans. PMID:23055481

  1. Safety evaluation of intersection conflict warning systems (ICWS), TechBrief

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2016-02-02

    The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) organized 40 States to participate in the FHWA Evaluation of LowCost Safety Improvements Pooled Fund Study (ELCSI-PFS) as part of its strategic highway safety plan support effort. The goal of the ELCSI-PFS re...

  2. Goal Structured Notation in a Radiation Hardening Safety Case for COTS-Based Spacecraft

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Witulski, Arthur; Austin, Rebekah; Reed, Robert; Karsai, Gabor; Mahadevan, Nag; Sierawski, Brian; Evans, John; LaBel, Ken

    2016-01-01

    A systematic approach is presented to constructing a radiation assurance case using Goal Structured Notation (GSN) for spacecraft containing COTS parts. The GSN paradigm is applied to an SRAM single-event upset experiment board designed to fly on a CubeSat November 2016. Construction of a radiation assurance case without use of hardened parts or extensive radiation testing is discussed.

  3. Relations between Classroom Goal Structures and Students' Goal Orientations in Mathematics Classes: When Is a Mastery Goal Structure Adaptive?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Skaalvik, Einar M.; Federici, Roger A.

    2016-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to test possible interactions between mastery and performance goal structures in mathematics classrooms when predicting students' goal orientations. More specifically, we tested if the degree of performance goal structure moderated the associations between mastery goal structure and students' goal orientations.…

  4. Goal Contents and Goal Contexts: Experiments with Chinese Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wang, Ze; Hu, Xiao Yong; Guo, Yong Yu

    2013-01-01

    Using samples of Chinese middle school students, the 2 experimental studies presented here examined the effects of goal content and goal context on test performance, free-choice engagement, and test anxiety within the framework of self-determination theory. Students' learning goals were induced as intrinsic or extrinsic with the learning contexts…

  5. [Perceptions of classroom goal structures, personal achievement goal orientations, and learning strategies].

    PubMed

    Miki, Kaori; Yamauchi, Hirotsugu

    2005-08-01

    We examined the relations among students' perceptions of classroom goal structures (mastery and performance goal structures), students' achievement goal orientations (mastery, performance, and work-avoidance goals), and learning strategies (deep processing, surface processing and self-handicapping strategies). Participants were 323 5th and 6th grade students in elementary schools. The results from structural equation modeling indicated that perceptions of classroom mastery goal structures were associated with students' mastery goal orientations, which were in turn related positively to the deep processing strategies and academic achievement. Perceptions of classroom performance goal stractures proved associated with work avoidance-goal orientations, which were positively related to the surface processing and self-handicapping strategies. Two types of goal structures had a positive relation with students' performance goal orientations, which had significant positive effects on academic achievement. The results of this study suggest that elementary school students' perceptions of mastery goal structures are related to adaptive patterns of learning more than perceptions of performance goal structures are. The role of perceptions of classroom goal structure in promoting students' goal orientations and learning strategies is discussed.

  6. 77 FR 75443 - Draft Safety Culture Policy Statement: Request for Public Comments

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2012-12-20

    ... personal and organizational characteristics are present in a positive safety culture. A characteristic, in this case, is a pattern of thinking, feeling, and behaving that emphasizes safety, particularly in goal...

  7. Quantitative reactive modeling and verification.

    PubMed

    Henzinger, Thomas A

    Formal verification aims to improve the quality of software by detecting errors before they do harm. At the basis of formal verification is the logical notion of correctness , which purports to capture whether or not a program behaves as desired. We suggest that the boolean partition of software into correct and incorrect programs falls short of the practical need to assess the behavior of software in a more nuanced fashion against multiple criteria. We therefore propose to introduce quantitative fitness measures for programs, specifically for measuring the function, performance, and robustness of reactive programs such as concurrent processes. This article describes the goals of the ERC Advanced Investigator Project QUAREM. The project aims to build and evaluate a theory of quantitative fitness measures for reactive models. Such a theory must strive to obtain quantitative generalizations of the paradigms that have been success stories in qualitative reactive modeling, such as compositionality, property-preserving abstraction and abstraction refinement, model checking, and synthesis. The theory will be evaluated not only in the context of software and hardware engineering, but also in the context of systems biology. In particular, we will use the quantitative reactive models and fitness measures developed in this project for testing hypotheses about the mechanisms behind data from biological experiments.

  8. Meeting the Sustainable Development Goals leads to lower world population growth.

    PubMed

    Abel, Guy J; Barakat, Bilal; Kc, Samir; Lutz, Wolfgang

    2016-12-13

    Here we show the extent to which the expected world population growth could be lowered by successfully implementing the recently agreed-upon Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs include specific quantitative targets on mortality, reproductive health, and education for all girls by 2030, measures that will directly and indirectly affect future demographic trends. Based on a multidimensional model of population dynamics that stratifies national populations by age, sex, and level of education with educational fertility and mortality differentials, we translate these goals into SDG population scenarios, resulting in population sizes between 8.2 and 8.7 billion in 2100. Because these results lie outside the 95% prediction range given by the 2015 United Nations probabilistic population projections, we complement the study with sensitivity analyses of these projections that suggest that those prediction intervals are too narrow because of uncertainty in baseline data, conservative assumptions on correlations, and the possibility of new policies influencing these trends. Although the analysis presented here rests on several assumptions about the implementation of the SDGs and the persistence of educational, fertility, and mortality differentials, it quantitatively illustrates the view that demography is not destiny and that policies can make a decisive difference. In particular, advances in female education and reproductive health can contribute greatly to reducing world population growth.

  9. Working Safely at Some Times and Unsafely at Others: A Typology and Within-Person Process Model of Safety-Related Work Behaviors.

    PubMed

    Beus, Jeremy M; Taylor, William D

    2017-06-22

    Why do individuals choose to work safely in some instances and unsafely in others? Though this inherently within-person question is straightforward, the preponderance of between-person theory and research in the workplace safety literature is not equipped to answer it. Additionally, the limited way in which safety-related behaviors tend to be conceptualized further restricts understanding of why individuals vary in their safety-related actions. We use a goal-focused approach to conceptually address this question of behavioral variability and contribute to workplace safety research in 2 key ways. First, we establish an updated typology of safety-related behaviors that differentiates behaviors based on goal choice (i.e., safe vs. unsafe behaviors), goal-directedness (i.e., intentional vs. unintentional behaviors), and the means of goal pursuit (i.e., commission vs. omission and promotion vs. prevention-focused behaviors). Second, using an expectancy-value theoretical framework to explain variance in goal choice, we establish within-person propositions stating that safety-related goal choice and subsequent behaviors are a function of the target of safety-related behaviors, the instrumentality and resource requirement of behaviors, and the perceived severity, likelihood, and immediacy of the threats associated with behaviors. Taken together, we define what safety-related behaviors are, explain how they differ, and offer propositions concerning when and why they may vary within-persons. We explore potential between-person moderators of our theoretical propositions and discuss the practical implications of our typology and process model of safety-related behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

  10. The Selfish Goal

    PubMed Central

    Bargh, John A.; Green, Michelle; Fitzsimons, Gráinne

    2008-01-01

    Three experiments tested the hypothesis that consciously intended goal pursuits have unintended consequences for social judgment and behavior. From evolutionary theory (Dawkins 1976/2006) and empirical evidence of a nonconscious mode of goal pursuit (Bargh, 2005) we derive the hypothesis that most human goal pursuits are open-ended in nature: Once active, goals will operate on goal-relevant content in the environment, even if that content is not the intended focus of the conscious goal. Experiments 1 and 2 demonstrate that goals to evaluate a job applicant for either a waiter or crime reporter position also shape impressions of incidental bystanders in the situation, such that the bystander is later liked or disliked not on his own merits, but on how well his behavior matches the criteria consciously applied in evaluating the job applicant. Experiment 3 finds that a goal to help a specific target person spills over to influence actions toward incidental bystanders, but only while active. Implications of these findings for goal pursuit in everyday life are discussed. PMID:19081795

  11. Fundamentals of quality and safety in diagnostic radiology.

    PubMed

    Bruno, Michael A; Nagy, Paul

    2014-12-01

    The most fundamental aspects of quality and safety in radiology are reviewed, including a brief history of the quality and safety movement as applied to radiology, the overarching considerations of organizational culture, team building, choosing appropriate goals and metrics, and the radiologist's quality "tool kit." Copyright © 2014 American College of Radiology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  12. The Perception, Level of Safety Satisfaction and Safety Feedback on Occupational Safety and Health Management among Hospital Staff Nurses in Sabah State Health Department.

    PubMed

    Cheah, Whye Lian; Giloi, Nelbon; Chang, Ching Thon; Lim, Jac Fang

    2012-07-01

    This study aimed to determine the perception and level of safety satisfaction of staff nurses with regards to Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) management practice in the Sabah Health Department, and to associate the OSH management dimensions, to Safety Satisfaction and Safety Feedback. A cross-sectional study using a validated self-administered questionnaire was conducted among randomly respondents. 135 nurses responded the survey. Mean (SD) score for each dimension ranged from 1.70 ± 0.68-4.04 ± 0.65, with Training and Competence dimension (mean [SD], 4.04 ± 0.65) had the highest while Safety Incidence was the least score (mean [SD], 1.70 ± 0.68). Both mean (SD) scores for Safety Satisfaction and Safety Feedback was high, 3.28 ± 0.51 and 3.57 ± 0.73, respectively. Pearson's correlation analysis indicated that all OSH dimensions had significant correlation with Safety Satisfaction and Safety Feedback (r coefficient ranged from 0.176-0.512) except for Safety Incidence. The overall perception of OSH management was rather low. Significant correlation between Safety Satisfaction and Safety Feedback and several dimensions, suggest that each organization to put in place the leaders who have appropriate leadership and supervisory skills and committed in providing staff training to improve staff's competency in OSH practice. In addition, clear goals, rules, and reporting system will help the organization to implement proper OSH management practice.

  13. Super Safety and Health Day at KSC

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    2000-01-01

    Vendor tents and displays filled the grounds in the Industrial Area as well as LC 39 Area during Super Safety and Health Day at KSC. Safety Day is a full day of NASA-sponsored, KSC and 45th Space Wing events involving a number of health and safety related activities: Displays, vendors, technical paper sessions, panel discussions, a keynote speaker, etc. The entire Center and Wing stand down to participate in the planned events. Safety Day is held annually to proactively increase awareness in safety and health among the government and contractor workforce population. The first guiding principle at KSC is '''Safety and Health First.''' KSC's number one goal is to '''Assure sound, safe and efficient practices and processes are in place for privatized/commercialized launch site processing.'''

  14. 2009 National Safety Performance Function Summit

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2010-07-01

    The Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) and the Illinois Center for Transportation (ICT) sponsored and : hosted the first National Safety Performance Function Summit on July 29 and 30, 2009, in Chicago, Illinois. The : goal of this summit wa...

  15. Safety evaluation methodology for advanced coal extraction systems

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Zimmerman, W. F.

    1981-01-01

    Qualitative and quantitative evaluation methods for coal extraction systems were developed. The analysis examines the soundness of the design, whether or not the major hazards have been eliminated or reduced, and how the reduction would be accomplished. The quantitative methodology establishes the approximate impact of hazards on injury levels. The results are weighted by peculiar geological elements, specialized safety training, peculiar mine environmental aspects, and reductions in labor force. The outcome is compared with injury level requirements based on similar, safer industries to get a measure of the new system's success in reducing injuries. This approach provides a more detailed and comprehensive analysis of hazards and their effects than existing safety analyses.

  16. Goal commitment and the goal-setting process: conceptual clarification and empirical synthesis.

    PubMed

    Klein, H J; Wesson, M J; Hollenbeck, J R; Alge, B J

    1999-12-01

    Goals are central to current treatments of work motivation, and goal commitment is a critical construct in understanding the relationship between goals and task performance. Despite this importance, there is confusion about the role of goal commitment and only recently has this key construct received the empirical attention it warrants. This meta-analysis, based on 83 independent samples, updates the goal commitment literature by summarizing the accumulated evidence on the antecedents and consequences of goal commitment. Using this aggregate empirical evidence, the role of goal commitment in the goal-setting process is clarified and key areas for future research are identified.

  17. Microbial Quality, Safety, and Pathogen Detection by Using Quantitative PCR of Raw Salad Vegetables Sold in Dhanbad City, India.

    PubMed

    Mritunjay, Sujeet K; Kumar, Vipin

    2017-01-01

    Consumption of ready-to-eat fresh vegetables has increased worldwide, with a consequent increase in outbreaks caused by foodborne pathogens. In the Indian subcontinent, raw fresh vegetables are usually consumed without washing or other decontamination procedures, thereby leading to new food safety threats. In this study, the microbiological quality and pathogenic profile of raw salad vegetables was evaluated through standard protocols. In total, 480 samples (60 each of eight different salad vegetables) of cucumber, tomato, carrot, coriander, cabbage, beetroot, radish, and spinach were collected from different locations in Dhanbad, a city famous for its coal fields and often called the "Coal Capital of India." The samples were analyzed for total plate count, total coliforms, Escherichia coli , E. coli O157:H7, Listeria monocytogenes , and Salmonella spp. Incidences of pathogens were detected through quantitative PCR subsequent to isolation. Results showed that 46.7% (for total plate counts) and 30% (for total coliforms) of samples were unacceptable for consumption per the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India. Pathogenic microorganisms were detected in 3.7% of total samples. E. coli O157:H7 was detected in three samples of spinach (2) and beetroot ( 1 ); L. monocytogenes was detected in 14 samples of spinach ( 8 ), tomato ( 3 ), cucumber ( 2 ), and radish ( 1 ); and Salmonella spp. were detected in 16 samples of spinach ( 7 ), tomato ( 3 ), beetroot ( 2 ), cucumber ( 2 ), carrot ( 1 ), and radish ( 1 ). Pathogens were not detected in any of the cabbage and coriander samples.

  18. Industrial Student Apprenticeship: Understanding Health and Safety

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Simanjuntak, M. V.; Abdullah, A. G.; Puspita, R. H.; Mahdan, D.; Kamaludin, M.

    2018-02-01

    The level of accident in industry is very high caused by lack of knowledge and awareness of workers toward the health and safety. Health and Safety are efforts to create a comfortable and productive atmosphere to accomplish a purpose or goal as maximum risk in the workplace. Vocational Education students must conduct training on business and industry, prior to that they should have a clear understanding on occupational health and safety. The purpose of this research is to analyze the understanding, preparation, and implementation of work health and safety of the students. Method used is descriptive method and data are collected using instrument, observation and interview. The result of study is conclusion of understanding occupational health and safety of vocational education students.

  19. Safety and Liability in the New Technology Laboratory

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Haynie, W. J., III

    2009-01-01

    All laboratories, even modern high-tech ones, have some degree of hazard potential. It is the teacher's responsibility to make the lab as safe as possible and to do all that is reasonable and prudent to prevent accidents. The teacher's goal should be to insure the safety of every student. This goal is met best via well-planned instruction and…

  20. Classroom Goal Structures, Social Achievement Goals, and Adjustment in Middle School

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Shim, Sungok Serena; Cho, YoonJung; Wang, Cen

    2013-01-01

    The current study investigated the mediating role of social achievement goals in the relation between classroom goal structures and academic engagement and social adjustment among 373 middle school students (52.8% female). Students' perceptions of classroom goal structures were measured in Fall; social achievement goals and academic and social…

  1. FEASIBILITY AND SAFETY OF CONTRAST-ENHANCED ULTRASOUND IN THE DISTAL LIMB OF SIX HORSES.

    PubMed

    Seiler, Gabriela S; Campbell, Nigel; Nixon, Britton; Tsuruta, James K; Dayton, Paul A; Jennings, Samuel; Redding, W Rich; Lustgarten, Meghann

    2016-05-01

    Vascular alterations play important roles in many orthopedic diseases such as osteoarthritis, tendonitis, and synovitis in both human and equine athletes. Understanding these alterations could enhance diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment. Contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) could be a valuable method for evaluation of blood flow and perfusion of these processes in the equine distal limb, however no reports were found describing feasibility or safety of the technique. The goal of this prospective, experimental study was to describe the feasibility and safety of distal limb CEUS in a sample of six horses. For each horse, CEUS of the distal limb was performed after intravenous injections of 5 and 10 ml, as well as intra-arterial injections of 0.5 and 1 ml contrast medium. Vital parameters were monitored and CEUS images were assessed qualitatively and quantitatively for degree of contrast enhancement. None of the horses had clinically significant changes in their vital parameters after contrast medium injection. One horse had a transient increase in respiratory rate, and several horses had mild increases of systolic blood pressure of short duration after intravenous, but not after intra-arterial injections. Intra-arterial injection was possible in all horses and resulted in significantly improved contrast enhancement both quantitatively (P = 0.027) and qualitatively (P = 0.019). Findings from this study indicated that CEUS is a feasible and safe diagnostic test for evaluation of the equine distal limb. Future studies are needed to assess the clinical utility of this test for horses with musculoskeletal diseases. © 2016 American College of Veterinary Radiology.

  2. European Workshop Industrical Computer Science Systems approach to design for safety

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Zalewski, Janusz

    1992-01-01

    This paper presents guidelines on designing systems for safety, developed by the Technical Committee 7 on Reliability and Safety of the European Workshop on Industrial Computer Systems. The focus is on complementing the traditional development process by adding the following four steps: (1) overall safety analysis; (2) analysis of the functional specifications; (3) designing for safety; (4) validation of design. Quantitative assessment of safety is possible by means of a modular questionnaire covering various aspects of the major stages of system development.

  3. Awareness of eSafety and Potential Online Dangers among Children and Teenagers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zilka, Gila Cohen

    2017-01-01

    Aim/Purpose: Awareness of eSafety and potential online dangers for children and teenagers. Background: The study examined eSafety among children and teenagers from their own perspectives, through evaluations of their awareness level of eSafety and of potential online dangers. Methodology: This is a mixed-method study with both quantitative and…

  4. Emotional suppression during personal goal pursuit impedes goal strivings and achievement.

    PubMed

    Low, Rachel S T; Overall, Nickola C; Hammond, Matthew D; Girme, Yuthika U

    2017-03-01

    Prior research indicates that emotional suppression exacerbates distress and reduces cognitive performance and self-control. We extend this prior work in the current studies by examining whether emotional suppression in specific goal-relevant contexts impedes people's goal strivings and progress. In Study 1, participants (N = 146) provided reports every 2 weeks across a 2-month period reporting the degree to which they engaged in emotional suppression during goal pursuit and reported important goal-related outcomes, including depressed mood, perceived support/closeness, goal effort, goal-related competence, and goal success. In Study 2, participants reported on the degree to which they engaged in emotional suppression while discussing a personal goal with their romantic partner (N = 100 heterosexual couples) and reported on the same outcomes as in Study 1 prior to, immediately following, and then 1 month after couples' discussions. In both studies, greater use of emotional suppression predicted increased depressed mood, reduced perceived support/closeness, and reduced goal effort, competence, and success across time. Corroborating individuals' self-reports, participants who engaged in emotional suppression were also perceived by their partners to experience greater depressed mood and lower feelings of support and closeness, and be less competent with regard to their goal (Study 2). The effects of emotional suppression were robust when controlling for a range of alternative explanations. These goal hindering effects are likely one important reason emotional suppression is linked with poorer psychological and health outcomes and extend our understanding of the detrimental impact that emotional suppression can have in people's everyday lives. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

  5. Safety evaluation of lane and shoulder width combinations on rural, two-lane, undivided roads

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2009-06-01

    The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) organized a pooled fund study of 26 States to evaluate low-cost safety strategies as part of its strategic highway safety effort. The goal of this study is to evaluate the safety effectiveness of various lane...

  6. The Perception, Level of Safety Satisfaction and Safety Feedback on Occupational Safety and Health Management among Hospital Staff Nurses in Sabah State Health Department

    PubMed Central

    Cheah, Whye Lian; Giloi, Nelbon; Chang, Ching Thon; Lim, Jac Fang

    2012-01-01

    Background: This study aimed to determine the perception and level of safety satisfaction of staff nurses with regards to Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) management practice in the Sabah Health Department, and to associate the OSH management dimensions, to Safety Satisfaction and Safety Feedback. Methods: A cross-sectional study using a validated self-administered questionnaire was conducted among randomly respondents. Results: 135 nurses responded the survey. Mean (SD) score for each dimension ranged from 1.70 ± 0.68–4.04 ± 0.65, with Training and Competence dimension (mean [SD], 4.04 ± 0.65) had the highest while Safety Incidence was the least score (mean [SD], 1.70 ± 0.68). Both mean (SD) scores for Safety Satisfaction and Safety Feedback was high, 3.28 ± 0.51 and 3.57 ± 0.73, respectively. Pearson’s correlation analysis indicated that all OSH dimensions had significant correlation with Safety Satisfaction and Safety Feedback (r coefficient ranged from 0.176–0.512) except for Safety Incidence. Conclusion: The overall perception of OSH management was rather low. Significant correlation between Safety Satisfaction and Safety Feedback and several dimensions, suggest that each organization to put in place the leaders who have appropriate leadership and supervisory skills and committed in providing staff training to improve staff’s competency in OSH practice. In addition, clear goals, rules, and reporting system will help the organization to implement proper OSH management practice. PMID:23610550

  7. Safety interventions on the labor and delivery unit.

    PubMed

    Kacmar, Rachel M

    2017-06-01

    The present review highlights recent advances in efforts to improve patient safety on labor and delivery units and well tolerated care for pregnant patients in general. Recent studies in obstetric patient safety have a broad focus but repetitive themes for interdisciplinary training include: simulating critical events, having open multidisciplinary communication, frequent reviews of cases of maternal morbidity, and implementing maternal early warning systems. The National Partnership for Maternal Safety is also active in promoting care bundles across many topics on maternal safety. A culture of safety is the goal for all obstetric units. Achieving that ideal requires multidisciplinary collaboration, frequent reassessment for areas of improvement, and a culture of openness to change when improvement opportunities arise.

  8. Characterizing a sustainability transition: Goals, targets, trends, and driving forces

    PubMed Central

    Parris, Thomas M.; Kates, Robert W.

    2003-01-01

    Sustainable development exhibits broad political appeal but has proven difficult to define in precise terms. Recent scholarship has focused on the nature of a sustainability transition, described by the National Research Council as meeting the needs of a stabilizing future world population while reducing hunger and poverty and maintaining the planet's life-support systems. We identify a small set of goals, quantitative targets, and associated indicators that further characterize a sustainability transition by drawing on the consensus embodied in internationally negotiated agreements and plans of action. To illustrate opportunities for accelerating progress, we then examine current scholarship on the processes that influence attainment of four such goals: reducing hunger, promoting literacy, stabilizing greenhouse-gas concentrations, and maintaining fresh-water availability. We find that such analysis can often reveal “levers of change,” forces that both control the rate of positive change and are subject to policy intervention. PMID:12819346

  9. Career Goals in Young Adults: Personal Resources, Goal Appraisals, Attitudes, and Goal Management Strategies

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Haratsis, Jessica M.; Hood, Michelle; Creed, Peter A.

    2015-01-01

    We tested a model based on the dual-process framework that assessed the relationships among personal resources, career goal appraisals, career attitudes, and career goal management, which have not been previously assessed together. The model (tested on a sample of 486 young adults: 74% female, M[subscript]age = 22 years) proposed that personal…

  10. Developing safety performance measures for roundabout applications in the state of Oregon.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2013-04-01

    This report documents the research effort to quantify the safety performance of roundabouts in the State of Oregon. : The primary goal of this research is to provide the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) with safety : performance functions (...

  11. Methods of quantitative risk assessment: The case of the propellant supply system

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Merz, H. A.; Bienz, A.

    1984-08-01

    As a consequence of the disastrous accident in Lapua (Finland) in 1976, where an explosion in a cartridge loading facility killed 40 and injured more than 70 persons, efforts were undertaken to examine and improve the safety of such installations. An ammunition factory in Switzerland considered the replacement of the manual supply of propellant hoppers by a new pneumatic supply system. This would reduce the maximum quantity of propellant in the hoppers to a level, where an accidental ignition would no longer lead to a detonation, and this would drastically limit the effects on persons. A quantitative risk assessment of the present and the planned supply system demonstrated that, in this particular case, the pneumatic supply system would not reduce the risk enough to justify the related costs. In addition, it could be shown that the safety of the existing system can be improved more effectively by other safety measures at considerably lower costs. Based on this practical example, the advantages of a strictly quantitative risk assessment for the safety planning in explosives factories are demonstrated. The methodological background of a risk assessment and the steps involved in the analysis are summarized. In addition, problems of quantification are discussed.

  12. Science Goals in Radiation Protection for Exploration

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Cucinotta, Francs A.

    2008-01-01

    Space radiation presents major challenges to future missions to the Earth s moon or Mars. Health risks of concern include cancer, degenerative and performance risks to the central nervous system, heart and lens, and the acute radiation syndromes. The galactic cosmic rays (GCR) contain high energy and charge (HZE) nuclei, which have been shown to cause qualitatively distinct biological damage compared to terresterial radiation, such as X-rays or gamma-rays, causing risk estimates to be highly uncertain. The biological effects of solar particle events (SPE) are similar to terresterial radiation except for their biological dose-rate modifiers; however the onset and size of SPEs are difficult to predict. The high energies of GCR reduce the effectiveness of shielding, while SPE s can be shielded however the current gap in radiobiological knowledge hinders optimization. Methods used to project risks on Earth must be modified because of the large uncertainties in projecting health risks from space radiation, and thus impact mission requirements and costs. We describe NASA s unique approach to radiation safety that applies probabilistic risk assessments and uncertainty based criteria within the occupational health program for astronauts and to mission design. The two terrestrial criteria of a point estimate of maximum acceptable level of risk and application of the principle of As Low As Reasonably Achievable (ALARA) are supplemented by a third requirement that protects against risk projection uncertainties using the upper 95% confidence level (CL) in radiation risk projection models. Exploration science goals in radiation protection are centered on ground-based research to achieve the necessary biological knowledge, and in the development of new technologies to improve SPE monitoring and optimize shielding. Radiobiology research is centered on a ground based program investigating the radiobiology of high-energy protons and HZE nuclei at the NASA Space Radiation Laboratory

  13. Analyzing Software Requirements Errors in Safety-Critical, Embedded Systems

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Lutz, Robyn R.

    1993-01-01

    This paper analyzes the root causes of safety-related software errors in safety-critical, embedded systems. The results show that software errors identified as potentially hazardous to the system tend to be produced by different error mechanisms than non- safety-related software errors. Safety-related software errors are shown to arise most commonly from (1) discrepancies between the documented requirements specifications and the requirements needed for correct functioning of the system and (2) misunderstandings of the software's interface with the rest of the system. The paper uses these results to identify methods by which requirements errors can be prevented. The goal is to reduce safety-related software errors and to enhance the safety of complex, embedded systems.

  14. Comparison of two drug safety signals in a pharmacovigilance data mining framework.

    PubMed

    Tubert-Bitter, Pascale; Bégaud, Bernard; Ahmed, Ismaïl

    2016-04-01

    Since adverse drug reactions are a major public health concern, early detection of drug safety signals has become a top priority for regulatory agencies and the pharmaceutical industry. Quantitative methods for analyzing spontaneous reporting material recorded in pharmacovigilance databases through data mining have been proposed in the last decades and are increasingly used to flag potential safety problems. While automated data mining is motivated by the usually huge size of pharmacovigilance databases, it does not systematically produce relevant alerts. Moreover, each detected signal requires appropriate assessment that may involve investigation of the whole therapeutic class. The goal of this article is to provide a methodology for comparing two detected signals. It is nested within the automated surveillance framework as (1) no extra information is required and (2) no simple inference on the actual risks can be extrapolated from spontaneous reporting data. We designed our methodology on the basis of two classical methods used for automated signal detection: the Bayesian Gamma Poisson Shrinker and the frequentist Proportional Reporting Ratio. A simulation study was conducted to assess the performances of both proposed methods. The latter were used to compare cardiovascular signals for two HIV treatments from the French pharmacovigilance database. © The Author(s) 2012.

  15. Meeting the Sustainable Development Goals leads to lower world population growth

    PubMed Central

    Abel, Guy J.; Barakat, Bilal; KC, Samir; Lutz, Wolfgang

    2016-01-01

    Here we show the extent to which the expected world population growth could be lowered by successfully implementing the recently agreed-upon Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs include specific quantitative targets on mortality, reproductive health, and education for all girls by 2030, measures that will directly and indirectly affect future demographic trends. Based on a multidimensional model of population dynamics that stratifies national populations by age, sex, and level of education with educational fertility and mortality differentials, we translate these goals into SDG population scenarios, resulting in population sizes between 8.2 and 8.7 billion in 2100. Because these results lie outside the 95% prediction range given by the 2015 United Nations probabilistic population projections, we complement the study with sensitivity analyses of these projections that suggest that those prediction intervals are too narrow because of uncertainty in baseline data, conservative assumptions on correlations, and the possibility of new policies influencing these trends. Although the analysis presented here rests on several assumptions about the implementation of the SDGs and the persistence of educational, fertility, and mortality differentials, it quantitatively illustrates the view that demography is not destiny and that policies can make a decisive difference. In particular, advances in female education and reproductive health can contribute greatly to reducing world population growth. PMID:27911797

  16. Quantitative and Qualitative Relations between Motivation and Critical-Analytic Thinking

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Miele, David B.; Wigfield, Allan

    2014-01-01

    The authors examine two kinds of factors that affect students' motivation to engage in critical-analytic thinking. The first, which includes ability beliefs, achievement values, and achievement goal orientations, influences the "quantitative" relation between motivation and critical-analytic thinking; that is, whether students are…

  17. Sensor technology for hazardous cargo transportation safety.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2013-08-01

    The overall goal of this research project was to develop oxidant vapor detection devices that can be : used to ensure the safety of hazardous freight transportation systems. Two nanotechnology-based : systems originally developed for improvised explo...

  18. The nonconscious cessation of goal pursuit: when goals and negative affect are coactivated.

    PubMed

    Aarts, Henk; Custers, Ruud; Holland, Rob W

    2007-02-01

    Extending on the recent investigation into the implicit affective processes underlying motivation and decision making, 5 studies examined the role of negative affect in moderating goal priming effects. Specifically, experimental effects on measures that typify motivational qualities of goal systems, such as keeping a goal at a heightened level of mental accessibility and exerting effort to work for a goal and experiencing desire to attain the goal, showed that the motivation and resultant operation of social goals cease when these goals are primed in temporal proximity of negatively valenced information. These goal cessation effects resulting from the mere coactivation of a goal and negative affect are discussed against the background of present research on nonconscious goal pursuit and the role of accessibility and desirability in the regulation of automatic goal-directed behavior. ((c) 2007 APA, all rights reserved).

  19. Goal-Directed and Goal-Less Imitation in Autism Spectrum Disorder

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wild, Kelly S.; Poliakoff, Ellen; Jerrison, Andrew; Gowen, Emma

    2012-01-01

    To investigate how people with Autism are affected by the presence of goals during imitation, we conducted a study to measure movement kinematics and eye movements during the imitation of goal-directed and goal-less hand movements. Our results showed that a control group imitated changes in movement kinematics and increased the level that they…

  20. Nuclear medicine and quantitative imaging research (instrumentation and quantitative methods of evaluation)

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

    Beck, R.N.; Cooper, M.D.

    1990-09-01

    This report summarizes goals and accomplishments of the research program supported under DOE Grant No. FG02-86ER60418 entitled Instrumentation and Quantitative Methods of Evaluation, with R. Beck, P. I. and M. Cooper, Co-P.I. during the period January 15, 1990 through September 1, 1990. This program addresses the problems involving the basic science and technology underlying the physical and conceptual tools of radioactive tracer methodology as they relate to the measurement of structural and functional parameters of physiologic importance in health and disease. The principal tool is quantitative radionuclide imaging. The overall objective of this program is to further the development andmore » transfer of radiotracer methodology from basic theory to routine clinical practice in order that individual patients and society as a whole will receive the maximum net benefit from the new knowledge gained. The focus of the research is on the development of new instruments and radiopharmaceuticals, and the evaluation of these through the phase of clinical feasibility. 7 figs.« less

  1. Academic goals in surgery.

    PubMed

    Bleier, Joshua I S; Kann, Brian

    2013-12-01

    The development of an academic surgical career can be an overwhelming prospect, and one that is not intuitive. Establishing a structured plan and support structure is critical to success. Starting a successful academic surgical career begins with defining one's academic goals within several broad categories: personal goals, academic goals, research goals, educational goals, and financial goals. Learning the art of self-promotion is the means by which many of these goals are achieved. It is important to realize that achieving these goals requires a delicate personal balance between work and home life, and the key ways in which to achieve success require establishment of well thought-out goals, a reliable support structure, realistic and clear expectations, and frequent re-evaluation.

  2. Quantitative method of medication system interface evaluation.

    PubMed

    Pingenot, Alleene Anne; Shanteau, James; Pingenot, James D F

    2007-01-01

    The objective of this study was to develop a quantitative method of evaluating the user interface for medication system software. A detailed task analysis provided a description of user goals and essential activity. A structural fault analysis was used to develop a detailed description of the system interface. Nurses experienced with use of the system under evaluation provided estimates of failure rates for each point in this simplified fault tree. Means of estimated failure rates provided quantitative data for fault analysis. Authors note that, although failures of steps in the program were frequent, participants reported numerous methods of working around these failures so that overall system failure was rare. However, frequent process failure can affect the time required for processing medications, making a system inefficient. This method of interface analysis, called Software Efficiency Evaluation and Fault Identification Method, provides quantitative information with which prototypes can be compared and problems within an interface identified.

  3. A quantitative risk-based model for reasoning over critical system properties

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Feather, M. S.

    2002-01-01

    This position paper suggests the use of a quantitative risk-based model to help support reeasoning and decision making that spans many of the critical properties such as security, safety, survivability, fault tolerance, and real-time.

  4. An irreplaceable safety culture.

    PubMed

    Render, Marta L; Hirschhorn, Larry

    2005-01-01

    Intensive care unit (ICU) clinicians are sources of errors and of resilience. When they learn how to juggle many competing goals, remain vigilant, and tell safety stories--all in the context of changing technologies and demand--they can create safe settings of care. Other strategies (eg, using computerized tools and implementing safety procedures) are important, but alone they are not sufficient. An ICU needs a safety culture that is rooted in a committed leadership, the acknowledgment that error is inevitable, a reporting system, and continuous learning. The all too common norm, "no harm no foul," is an obstacle. ICU leaders can use a campaign strategy to spread the safety practices that sustain a safety culture. They should attend to the political, marketing, and military aspects of such campaigns and recognize that people's time and attention are limited and built projects from existing ongoing pilots. Pilots can compete for people's attention; it has pull when it exemplifies a moral idea, simplifies work, and gives the health care professional more control and feedback. Under these conditions, the campaign will release individuals' passions and add energy and insight to the campaign itself.

  5. Goals of Care or Goals of Trust? How Family Members Perceive Goals for Dying Nursing Home Residents.

    PubMed

    Rosemond, Cherie; Hanson, Laura C; Zimmerman, Sheryl

    2017-04-01

    Dementia affects more than 5 million Americans, and is a leading cause of death. Family members of nursing home (NH) residents with advanced dementia report difficulty making decisions about care toward the end of life. As part of a randomized trial testing an intervention to improve decision making, this qualitative study aimed to understand how family decision makers experienced goal-based decision making in advance of the death of their relative. This qualitative study was conducted as part of the goals of care clinical trial. Study participants (n = 16) were family decision makers in North Carolina whose relative with advanced dementia died after participating in the goals of care intervention. Semi-structured interviews were analyzed using a qualitative description approach. Family members' experience of decision making and death differed based on the presence or absence of trusting relationships with NH staff. Family members who reported trust described a positive end-of-life experience and less need for prescribed goals of care discussions. In the absence of trust, family members reported that goals of care discussions were ignored by staff or created confusion. Among family members of persons who recently died from dementia in NHs, expressions of trust in staff were strongly related to perceptions of decision making about goals of care. Although goals of care discussions may potentially promote communication to earn trust, the presence of pre-existing trust ultimately influenced the decision making and end-of-life experiences of residents and families.

  6. Efficacy and safety profile of xanthines in COPD: a network meta-analysis.

    PubMed

    Cazzola, Mario; Calzetta, Luigino; Barnes, Peter J; Criner, Gerard J; Martinez, Fernando J; Papi, Alberto; Gabriella Matera, Maria

    2018-06-30

    Theophylline can still have a role in the management of stable chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), but its use remains controversial, mainly due to its narrow therapeutic window. Doxofylline, another xanthine, is an effective bronchodilator and displays a better safety profile than theophylline. Therefore, we performed a quantitative synthesis to compare the efficacy and safety profile of different xanthines in COPD.The primary end-point of this meta-analysis was the impact of xanthines on lung function. In addition, we assessed the risk of adverse events by normalising data on safety as a function of person-weeks. Data obtained from 998 COPD patients were selected from 14 studies and meta-analysed using a network approach.The combined surface under the cumulative ranking curve (SUCRA) analysis of efficacy (change from baseline in forced expiratory volume in 1 s) and safety (risk of adverse events) showed that doxofylline was superior to aminophylline (comparable efficacy and significantly better safety), bamiphylline (significantly better efficacy and comparable safety), and theophylline (comparable efficacy and significantly better safety).Considering the overall efficacy/safety profile of the investigated agents, the results of this quantitative synthesis suggest that doxofylline seems to be the best xanthine for the treatment of COPD. Copyright ©ERS 2018.

  7. Setting quality and safety priorities in a target-rich environment: an academic medical center's challenge.

    PubMed

    Mort, Elizabeth A; Demehin, Akinluwa A; Marple, Keith B; McCullough, Kathryn Y; Meyer, Gregg S

    2013-08-01

    Hospitals are continually challenged to provide safer and higher-quality patient care despite resource constraints. With an ever-increasing range of quality and safety targets at the national, state, and local levels, prioritization is crucial in effective institutional quality goal setting and resource allocation.Organizational goal-setting theory is a performance improvement methodology with strong results across many industries. The authors describe a structured goal-setting process they have established at Massachusetts General Hospital for setting annual institutional quality and safety goals. Begun in 2008, this process has been conducted on an annual basis. Quality and safety data are gathered from many sources, both internal and external to the hospital. These data are collated and classified, and multiple approaches are used to identify the most pressing quality issues facing the institution. The conclusions are subject to stringent internal review, and then the top quality goals of the institution are chosen. Specific tactical initiatives and executive owners are assigned to each goal, and metrics are selected to track performance. A reporting tool based on these tactics and metrics is used to deliver progress updates to senior hospital leadership.The hospital has experienced excellent results and strong organizational buy-in using this effective, low-cost, and replicable goal-setting process. It has led to improvements in structural, process, and outcomes aspects of quality.

  8. Assessment of occupational safety risks in Floridian solid waste systems using Bayesian analysis.

    PubMed

    Bastani, Mehrad; Celik, Nurcin

    2015-10-01

    Safety risks embedded within solid waste management systems continue to be a significant issue and are prevalent at every step in the solid waste management process. To recognise and address these occupational hazards, it is necessary to discover the potential safety concerns that cause them, as well as their direct and/or indirect impacts on the different types of solid waste workers. In this research, our goal is to statistically assess occupational safety risks to solid waste workers in the state of Florida. Here, we first review the related standard industrial codes to major solid waste management methods including recycling, incineration, landfilling, and composting. Then, a quantitative assessment of major risks is conducted based on the data collected using a Bayesian data analysis and predictive methods. The risks estimated in this study for the period of 2005-2012 are then compared with historical statistics (1993-1997) from previous assessment studies. The results have shown that the injury rates among refuse collectors in both musculoskeletal and dermal injuries have decreased from 88 and 15 to 16 and three injuries per 1000 workers, respectively. However, a contrasting trend is observed for the injury rates among recycling workers, for whom musculoskeletal and dermal injuries have increased from 13 and four injuries to 14 and six injuries per 1000 workers, respectively. Lastly, a linear regression model has been proposed to identify major elements of the high number of musculoskeletal and dermal injuries. © The Author(s) 2015.

  9. Goals Analysis Procedure Guidelines for Applying the Goals Analysis Process

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Motley, Albert E., III

    2000-01-01

    One of the key elements to successful project management is the establishment of the "right set of requirements", requirements that reflect the true customer needs and are consistent with the strategic goals and objectives of the participating organizations. A viable set of requirements implies that each individual requirement is a necessary element in satisfying the stated goals and that the entire set of requirements, taken as a whole, is sufficient to satisfy the stated goals. Unfortunately, it is the author's experience that during project formulation phases' many of the Systems Engineering customers do not conduct a rigorous analysis of the goals and objectives that drive the system requirements. As a result, the Systems Engineer is often provided with requirements that are vague, incomplete, and internally inconsistent. To complicate matters, most systems development methodologies assume that the customer provides unambiguous, comprehensive and concise requirements. This paper describes the specific steps of a Goals Analysis process applied by Systems Engineers at the NASA Langley Research Center during the formulation of requirements for research projects. The objective of Goals Analysis is to identify and explore all of the influencing factors that ultimately drive the system's requirements.

  10. Sounding rocket and balloon flight safety philosophy and methodologies

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Beyma, R. J.

    1986-01-01

    NASA's sounding rocket and balloon goal is to successfully and safely perform scientific research. This is reflected in the design, planning, and conduct of sounding rocket and balloon operations. The purpose of this paper is to acquaint the sounding rocket and balloon scientific community with flight safety philosophy and methodologies, and how range safety affects their programs. This paper presents the flight safety philosophy for protecting the public against the risk created by the conduct of sounding rocket and balloon operations. The flight safety criteria used to implement this philosophy are defined and the methodologies used to calculate mission risk are described.

  11. Reduced Specificity of Personal Goals and Explanations for Goal Attainment in Major Depression

    PubMed Central

    Dickson, Joanne M.; Moberly, Nicholas J.

    2013-01-01

    Objectives Overgeneralization has been investigated across many domains of cognitive functioning in major depression, including the imagination of future events. However, it is unknown whether this phenomenon extends to representations of personal goals, which are important in structuring long-term behaviour and providing meaning in life. Furthermore, it is not clear whether depressed individuals provide less specific explanations for and against goal attainment. Method Clinically depressed individuals and controls generated personally important approach and avoidance goals, and then generated explanations why they would and would not achieve these goals. Goals and causal explanations were subsequently coded as either specific or general. Results Compared to controls, depressed individuals did not generate significantly fewer goals or causal explanations for or against goal attainment. However, compared to controls, depressed individuals generated less specific goals, less specific explanations for approach (but not avoidance) goal attainment, and less specific explanations for goal nonattainment. Significance Our results suggest that motivational deficits in depression may stem partly from a reduction in the specificity of personal goal representations and related cognitions that support goal-directed behaviour. Importantly, the findings have the potential to inform the ongoing development of psychotherapeutic approaches in the treatment of depression. PMID:23691238

  12. Does Family Structure Matter? Comparing the Life Goals and Aspirations of Learners in Secondary Schools

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Davids, Eugene Lee; Roman, Nicolette Vanessa

    2013-01-01

    The aim of this study was to compare the goals and aspirations of learners from single- and two-parent families. The study used a quantitative methodology with a cross-sectional comparative group design. The sample consisted of 853 Grade 11 learners from secondary schools in the Northern, Southern and Metro Central education districts in the…

  13. Safety evaluation of curve warning speed signs.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2011-06-01

    This report presents a review of a research effort to evaluate the safety implications of advisory speeds at horizontal curve locations on Oregon rural two-lane highways. The primary goals of this research effort were to characterize driving operatio...

  14. A Novel Two-Step Hierarchial Quantitative Structure-Activity ...

    EPA Pesticide Factsheets

    Background: Accurate prediction of in vivo toxicity from in vitro testing is a challenging problem. Large public–private consortia have been formed with the goal of improving chemical safety assessment by the means of high-throughput screening. Methods and results: A database containing experimental cytotoxicity values for in vitro half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) and in vivo rodent median lethal dose (LD50) for more than 300 chemicals was compiled by Zentralstelle zur Erfassung und Bewertung von Ersatz- und Ergaenzungsmethoden zum Tierversuch (ZEBET ; National Center for Documentation and Evaluation of Alternative Methods to Animal Experiments) . The application of conventional quantitative structure–activity relationship (QSAR) modeling approaches to predict mouse or rat acute LD50 values from chemical descriptors of ZEBET compounds yielded no statistically significant models. The analysis of these data showed no significant correlation between IC50 and LD50. However, a linear IC50 versus LD50 correlation could be established for a fraction of compounds. To capitalize on this observation, we developed a novel two-step modeling approach as follows. First, all chemicals are partitioned into two groups based on the relationship between IC50 and LD50 values: One group comprises compounds with linear IC50 versus LD50 relationships, and another group comprises the remaining compounds. Second, we built conventional binary classification QSAR models t

  15. Goals and everyday problem solving: manipulating goal preferences in young and older adults.

    PubMed

    Hoppmann, Christiane A; Blanchard-Fields, Fredda

    2010-11-01

    In the present study, we examined the link between goal and problem-solving strategy preferences in 130 young and older adults using hypothetical family problem vignettes. At baseline, young adults preferred autonomy goals, whereas older adults preferred generative goals. Imagining an expanded future time perspective led older adults to show preferences for autonomy goals similar to those observed in young adults but did not eliminate age differences in generative goals. Autonomy goals were associated with more self-focused instrumental problem solving, whereas generative goals were related to more other-focused instrumental problem solving in the no-instruction and instruction conditions. Older adults were better at matching their strategies to their goals than young adults were. This suggests that older adults may become better at selecting their strategies in accordance with their goals. Our findings speak to a contextual approach to everyday problem solving by showing that goals are associated with the selection of problem-solving strategies.

  16. Quantitative Imaging in Cancer Clinical Trials

    PubMed Central

    Yankeelov, Thomas E.; Mankoff, David A.; Schwartz, Lawrence H.; Lieberman, Frank S.; Buatti, John M.; Mountz, James M.; Erickson, Bradley J.; Fennessy, Fiona M.M.; Huang, Wei; Kalpathy-Cramer, Jayashree; Wahl, Richard L.; Linden, Hannah M.; Kinahan, Paul; Zhao, Binsheng; Hylton, Nola M.; Gillies, Robert J.; Clarke, Laurence; Nordstrom, Robert; Rubin, Daniel L.

    2015-01-01

    As anti-cancer therapies designed to target specific molecular pathways have been developed, it has become critical to develop methods to assess the response induced by such agents. While traditional, anatomic CT and MRI exams are useful in many settings, there is increasing evidence that these methods cannot answer the fundamental biological and physiological questions essential for assessment and, eventually, prediction of treatment response in the clinical trial setting, especially in the critical period soon after treatment is initiated. To optimally apply advances in quantitative imaging methods to trials of targeted cancer therapy, new infrastructure improvements are needed that incorporate these emerging techniques into the settings where they are most likely to have impact. In this review, we first elucidate the needs for therapeutic response assessment in the era of molecularly targeted therapy and describe how quantitative imaging can most effectively provide scientifically and clinically relevant data. We then describe the tools and methods required to apply quantitative imaging and provide concrete examples of work making these advances practically available for routine application in clinical trials. We conclude by proposing strategies to surmount barriers to wider incorporation of these quantitative imaging methods into clinical trials and, eventually, clinical practice. Our goal is to encourage and guide the oncology community to deploy standardized quantitative imaging techniques in clinical trials to further personalize care for cancer patients, and to provide a more efficient path for the development of improved targeted therapies. PMID:26773162

  17. Psychological "gel" to bind individuals' goal pursuit: gratitude facilitates goal contagion.

    PubMed

    Jia, Lile; Tong, Eddie M W; Lee, Li Neng

    2014-08-01

    Past research demonstrates that gratitude affects individuals' self-regulation of behavior primarily through engendering a prosocial tendency. Based on theories proposing that gratitude plays an unique role in fostering communal relationship (e.g., Algoe, 2012), we propose that gratitude can have an incidental effect in facilitating goal contagion: automatically inferring and adopting the goal implied by a social other's behavior. This hypothesis is supported in 3 studies. In Study 1, after being exposed to the behaviors of a social target that implied either a cooperative or a competitive goal, individuals adopted the respective goal and behaved accordingly in a Resource Dilemma Task. This occurred, however, only when they were feeling gratitude and not when they were feeling joy or a neutral mood. In Study 2, after being exposed to a social target's behavior that implied the goal to make money, people feeling gratitude, as compared to those feeling pride or a neutral mood, strove for a future opportunity to earn money. Study 3 further demonstrated that individuals' goal striving behavior was mediated by a heightened level of goal activation. Finally, it was found that gratitude facilitated goal contagion only when the social target was a member of participants' own social group. Through this mechanism, gratitude, thus, seems to bind one's self-regulation with those of social others. Theoretical and practical implications of this new perspective are discussed.

  18. A TIERED APPROACH TO LIFE STAGES TESTING FOR AGRICULTURAL CHEMICAL SAFETY ASSESSMENT

    EPA Science Inventory

    A proposal has been developed by the Agricultural Chemical Safety Assessment (ACSA) Technical Committee of the ILSI Health and Environmental Sciences Institute (HESI) for an improved approach to assessing the safety of crop protection chemicals. The goal is to ensure that studie...

  19. Achievement goals, self-handicapping, and performance: a 2 x 2 achievement goal perspective.

    PubMed

    Ntoumanis, Nikos; Thøgersen-Ntoumani, Cecilie; Smith, Alison L

    2009-11-01

    Elliot and colleagues (2006) examined the effects of experimentally induced achievement goals, proposed by the trichotomous model, on self-handicapping and performance in physical education. Our study replicated and extended the work of Elliot et al. by experimentally promoting all four goals proposed by the 2 x 2 model (Elliot & McGregor, 2001), measuring the participants' own situational achievement goals, using a relatively novel task, and testing the participants in a group setting. We used a randomized experimental design with four conditions that aimed to induce one of the four goals advanced by the 2 x 2 model. The participants (n = 138) were undergraduates who engaged in a dart-throwing task. The results pertaining to self-handicapping partly replicated Elliot and colleagues' findings by showing that experimentally promoted performance-avoidance goals resulted in less practice. In contrast, the promotion of mastery-avoidance goals did not result in less practice compared with either of the approach goals. Dart-throwing performance did not differ among the four goal conditions. Personal achievement goals did not moderate the effects of experimentally induced goals on self-handicapping and performance. The extent to which mastery-avoidance goals are maladaptive is discussed, as well as the interplay between personal and experimentally induced goals.

  20. Towards patient safety in anaesthesia.

    PubMed

    Cooper, J B

    1994-07-01

    The anaesthesia specialty has focused on the safety of the patient and examination of untoward outcomes. Serious injuries are now rare in medically advanced countries. Still, anaesthesia deaths and complications are important because the anaesthetic itself has no intended therapeutic effect. Safety is a never-ending battle that requires continued effort because many forces have the potential to diminish whatever progress is made. This paper describes the modern movement in anaesthesia patient safety--the reasons it started, the major foci and explanations for why anaesthesia seems now to be safer than at any time in history. The American legal system, critical incident studies, studies of malpractice claims and large-scale studies of anaesthesia outcomes played a role in increasing the awareness of the need to enhance anaesthesia safety. Many efforts are believed to have contributed to improvements in the safety of anaesthesia: improved training of anaesthesia clinicians, new pharmaceuticals, new technologies for monitoring (especially pulse oximetry and capnography), standards for monitoring and other aspects of anaesthesia care, safety enhancements in anaesthesia equipment and the implementation of quality assurance and risk management programmes. The creation of the Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation in the United States and a similar organization in Australia have helped to bring about awareness of safety issues and to support study of patient safety. Ultimately, the motto of the Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation should be the goal of all anaesthesia professionals: "That no patient shall be harmed by anaesthesia".

  1. The business case for patient safety.

    PubMed

    Hwang, Raymond W; Herndon, James H

    2007-04-01

    Recent trends have focused attention on improving patient safety in the United States healthcare system. Lapses in patient safety create undue, often preventable, morbidity. These include adverse drug events, adverse surgical events and nosocomial infections. From an organizational perspective, these events are both inefficient and expensive. Many safe practices and quality enhancing improvements, such as computer provider order entry, proper infection surveillance, telemedicine intensive care, and registered nurse staffing are in fact cost-effective. However, in order to fully achieve higher quality, better adverse event reporting and a culture of safety must first be developed. Increased provider recognition, models of success, public awareness and consumer demand are propelling improvements. As we will outline in this review of the current literature, the business case for patient safety is a compelling one, offering substantial economic incentives for achieving the necessary goal of improved patient outcomes.

  2. Research Needs in Fire Safety for the Human Exploration and Utilization of Space

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Ruff, Gary A.

    2003-01-01

    This viewgraph presentation provides information on developments in spacecraft fire safety research. The presentation includes an overview of the previous Spacecraft Fire Safety Workshop, from 1986, and the influences since then of bioastronautics on combustion science and fire safety. The presentation then gives of overview of the current conference, stating goals and giving a schedule.

  3. Goal setting.

    PubMed

    Levin, Roger P

    2003-11-01

    I would not tell any individual what his or her goals should be or what the picture of one's life should look like. I strongly believe in human potential, and I love to see people achieve more of the things that are important to them. The Goal Curves exercise is probably one of the most powerful methodologies used to help individuals get the most out of their lives while enjoying every day; this exercise leads to much greater individual success. However, for it to be effective, one needs to develop his or her goals and then review and act on them on a regular basis.

  4. Goal Orientations of General Chemistry Students via the Achievement Goal Framework

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lewis, Scott E.

    2018-01-01

    The Achievement Goal Framework describes students' goal orientations as: task-based, focusing on the successful completion of the task; self-based, evaluating performance relative to one's own past performance; or other-based, evaluating performance relative to the performance of others. Goal orientations have been used to explain student success…

  5. Goal Setting in Principal Evaluation: Goal Quality and Predictors of Achievement

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sinnema, Claire E. L.; Robinson, Viviane M. J.

    2012-01-01

    This article draws on goal-setting theory to investigate the goals set by experienced principals during their performance evaluations. While most goals were about teaching and learning, they tended to be vaguely expressed and only partially achieved. Five predictors (commitment, challenge, learning, effort, and support) explained a significant…

  6. Analyzing State and Private School Students' Achievement Goal Orientation Levels in Terms of Some Variables

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Türkçapar, Ünal

    2015-01-01

    The purpose of this study is to investigate the state and private school students' achievement goal orientation levels in terms of some variables. Quantitative survey method was used in this study. Study group in this research consists of 201 students who are studying at state and private school in Kahramanmaras during the 2014-2015 academic year.…

  7. Outcomes of a 4-year program with higher education and employment goals for individuals diagnosed with mental illness.

    PubMed

    Schindler, Victoria P; Sauerwald, Camille

    2013-01-01

    This study examined outcomes of the first four years (2005-2009) of the Bridge Program, an occupational therapy (OT) program that incorporates principles of supported education and supported employment. This program was developed to assist individuals with mental illness to achieve higher education and employment goals. Forty-eight adult participants with various mental health diagnoses. A quantitative one-group pretest-posttest survey design and posttest qualitative focus groups were used. Participants enrolled in higher education increased from 7 to 11 (pretest=15%; posttest=23%), participants employed increased from 5 to 19 (pretest=10%; posttest=40%), and the combined category of higher education/employment increased from 12 to 30 (pretest=25%; posttest=63%) Statistical significance was achieved from pre to posttest in the employment sample (p<0.000), and in the combined sample of higher education/employment (p< 0.000), but was not achieved in the higher education sample from pre to posttest (p=0.125). Quantitative and qualitative results support that an OT program incorporating principles of supported education and employment can assist individuals with mental illness to achieve higher education and employment goals. Results also outlined items participants found to be supports and barriers to achieving goals.

  8. Implementation of a patient safety program at a tertiary health system: A longitudinal analysis of interventions and serious safety events.

    PubMed

    Cropper, Douglas P; Harb, Nidal H; Said, Patricia A; Lemke, Jon H; Shammas, Nicolas W

    2018-04-01

    We hypothesize that implementation of a safety program based on high reliability organization principles will reduce serious safety events (SSE). The safety program focused on 7 essential elements: (a) safety rounding, (b) safety oversight teams, (c) safety huddles, (d) safety coaches, (e) good catches/safety heroes, (f) safety education, and (g) red rule. An educational curriculum was implemented focusing on changing high-risk behaviors and implementing critical safety policies. All unusual occurrences were captured in the Midas system and investigated by risk specialists, the safety officer, and the chief medical officer. A multidepartmental committee evaluated these events, and a root cause analysis (RCA) was performed. Events were tabulated and serious safety event (SSE) recorded and plotted over time. Safety success stories (SSSs) were also evaluated over time. A steady drop in SSEs was seen over 9 years. Also a rise in SSSs was evident, reflecting on staff engagement in the program. The parallel change in SSEs, SSSs, and the implementation of various safety interventions highly suggest that the program was successful in achieving its goals. A safety program based on high-reliability organization principles and made a core value of the institution can have a significant positive impact on reducing SSEs. © 2018 American Society for Healthcare Risk Management of the American Hospital Association.

  9. A quantitative comparison of the safety margins in the european indicative occupational exposure limits and the derived no-effect levels for workers under REACH.

    PubMed

    Schenk, Linda; Johanson, Gunnar

    2011-06-01

    The new European Union (EU) REACH legislation requires derived no-effect levels (DNELs) to be calculated for substances produced in quantities above 10 tonnes/year. Meanwhile, the setting of occupational exposure limits (OELs) continues both at the member state and the EU levels. According to REACH, indicative OEL values (IOELVs) from the Commission may under some circumstances be used as worker-DNELs. On the other hand, worker-DNELs will be derived for several thousand substances, far more than the approximately 100 substances for which IOELVs have been established. Thus, the procedure to set health-based OELs may become influential on that of DNELs and vice versa. In this study, we compare the safety margins of 88 Scientific Committee on OELs (SCOEL) recommendations with those of the corresponding worker-DNELs, derived according to the default approach as described in the REACH guidance document. Overall, the REACH safety margins were approximately six times higher than those derived from the SCOEL documentation but varied widely with REACH/SCOEL safety margin ratios ranging by two orders of magnitude, from 0.3 to 58 (n = 88). The discrepancies may create confusion in terms of legal compliance, risk management, and risk communication. We also found that the REACH guidance document, although encompassing detailed advice on many issues, including default assessment factors for species and route extrapolation, gives little quantitative guidance on when and how to depart from defaults.

  10. Goal-directed visual attention drives health goal priming: An eye-tracking experiment.

    PubMed

    van der Laan, Laura N; Papies, Esther K; Hooge, Ignace T C; Smeets, Paul A M

    2017-01-01

    Several lab and field experiments have shown that goal priming interventions can be highly effective in promoting healthy food choices. Less is known, however, about the mechanisms by which goal priming affects food choice. This experiment tested the hypothesis that goal priming affects food choices through changes in visual attention. Specifically, it was hypothesized that priming with the dieting goal steers attention toward goal-relevant, low energy food products, which, in turn, increases the likelihood of choosing these products. In this eye-tracking experiment, 125 participants chose between high and low energy food products in a realistic online supermarket task while their eye movements were recorded with an eye-tracker. One group was primed with a health and dieting goal, a second group was exposed to a control prime, and a third group was exposed to no prime at all. The health goal prime increased low energy food choices and decreased high energy food choices. Furthermore, the health goal prime resulted in proportionally longer total dwell times on low energy food products, and this effect mediated the goal priming effect on choices. The findings suggest that the effect of priming on consumer choice may originate from an increase in attention for prime-congruent items. This study supports the effectiveness of health goal priming interventions in promoting healthy eating and opens up directions for research on other behavioral interventions that steer attention toward healthy foods. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

  11. Measuring and improving patient safety through health information technology: The Health IT Safety Framework

    PubMed Central

    Singh, Hardeep

    2016-01-01

    Health information technology (health IT) has potential to improve patient safety but its implementation and use has led to unintended consequences and new safety concerns. A key challenge to improving safety in health IT-enabled healthcare systems is to develop valid, feasible strategies to measure safety concerns at the intersection of health IT and patient safety. In response to the fundamental conceptual and methodological gaps related to both defining and measuring health IT-related patient safety, we propose a new framework, the Health IT Safety (HITS) measurement framework, to provide a conceptual foundation for health IT-related patient safety measurement, monitoring, and improvement. The HITS framework follows both Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) and sociotechnical approaches and calls for new measures and measurement activities to address safety concerns in three related domains: 1) concerns that are unique and specific to technology (e.g., to address unsafe health IT related to unavailable or malfunctioning hardware or software); 2) concerns created by the failure to use health IT appropriately or by misuse of health IT (e.g. to reduce nuisance alerts in the electronic health record (EHR)), and 3) the use of health IT to monitor risks, health care processes and outcomes and identify potential safety concerns before they can harm patients (e.g. use EHR-based algorithms to identify patients at risk for medication errors or care delays). The framework proposes to integrate both retrospective and prospective measurement of HIT safety with an organization's existing clinical risk management and safety programs. It aims to facilitate organizational learning, comprehensive 360 degree assessment of HIT safety that includes vendor involvement, refinement of measurement tools and strategies, and shared responsibility to identify problems and implement solutions. A long term framework goal is to enable rigorous measurement that helps achieve the safety

  12. Achieving compatibility of state and federal safety requirements : a report to the Secretary of Transportation.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1990-08-01

    The Commercial Motor Vehicle Safety Regulatory Review Panel (Safety : Panel) has prepared this report in response to Sections 207, 208, and 209 of : the Motor Carrier Safety Act of 1984 (Public Law 98-554). A major goal of the : 1984 Act was to achie...

  13. Developing Geoscience Students' Quantitative Skills

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Manduca, C. A.; Hancock, G. S.

    2005-12-01

    Sophisticated quantitative skills are an essential tool for the professional geoscientist. While students learn many of these sophisticated skills in graduate school, it is increasingly important that they have a strong grounding in quantitative geoscience as undergraduates. Faculty have developed many strong approaches to teaching these skills in a wide variety of geoscience courses. A workshop in June 2005 brought together eight faculty teaching surface processes and climate change to discuss and refine activities they use and to publish them on the Teaching Quantitative Skills in the Geosciences website (serc.Carleton.edu/quantskills) for broader use. Workshop participants in consultation with two mathematics faculty who have expertise in math education developed six review criteria to guide discussion: 1) Are the quantitative and geologic goals central and important? (e.g. problem solving, mastery of important skill, modeling, relating theory to observation); 2) Does the activity lead to better problem solving? 3) Are the quantitative skills integrated with geoscience concepts in a way that makes sense for the learning environment and supports learning both quantitative skills and geoscience? 4) Does the methodology support learning? (e.g. motivate and engage students; use multiple representations, incorporate reflection, discussion and synthesis) 5) Are the materials complete and helpful to students? 6) How well has the activity worked when used? Workshop participants found that reviewing each others activities was very productive because they thought about new ways to teach and the experience of reviewing helped them think about their own activity from a different point of view. The review criteria focused their thinking about the activity and would be equally helpful in the design of a new activity. We invite a broad international discussion of the criteria(serc.Carleton.edu/quantskills/workshop05/review.html).The Teaching activities can be found on the

  14. Pharmacological mechanism-based drug safety assessment and prediction.

    PubMed

    Abernethy, D R; Woodcock, J; Lesko, L J

    2011-06-01

    Advances in cheminformatics, bioinformatics, and pharmacology in the context of biological systems are now at a point that these tools can be applied to mechanism-based drug safety assessment and prediction. The development of such predictive tools at the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will complement ongoing efforts in drug safety that are focused on spontaneous adverse event reporting and active surveillance to monitor drug safety. This effort will require the active collaboration of scientists in the pharmaceutical industry, academe, and the National Institutes of Health, as well as those at the FDA, to reach its full potential. Here, we describe the approaches and goals for the mechanism-based drug safety assessment and prediction program.

  15. Aviation safety/automation program overview

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Morello, Samuel A.

    1990-01-01

    The goal is to provide a technology base leading to improved safety of the national airspace system through the development and integration of human-centered automation technologies for aircraft crews and air traffic controllers. Information on the problems, specific objectives, human-automation interaction, intelligent error-tolerant systems, and air traffic control/cockpit integration is given in viewgraph form.

  16. [Power of personal goal sharing--treatment plan using personal goal maps for patients with mental disorders].

    PubMed

    Zhao, Yueren

    2011-01-01

    , which help us along the Trust Path. The more patients and staff trust and understand each other the easier it is to climb up the Initial Treatment Path. We need to build up trustful relations so we can share personal goals and make a proper assessment and diagnosis, and talk about the safety, efficacy, cost and suitability of the initial treatment. Secondly, we need to take a rest and make more plans for the Recovery Path. It is on this path that we decide on comprehensive treatment together. We may be able to improve the patient's cognitive functions by using atypical anti-psychotic agents. We can then give them information, instructions and warnings about medicine usage so the patient is able to understand their condition. It is only after the patient can understand these things fully and act positively that we can start to climb the final path, the Achievement Path. We should review the suitability and efficacy of the treatment again, and it is at this stage that the mountain guide steps back and watches the mountain climber take the final steps towards the mountain peak goal. Lastly, the patient will feel elation and a sense of fulfillment and self-pride, and no doubt will be ready to look for the next mountain peak to climb. In order for you to enjoy the benefits at the clinical scene, all you need is a piece of paper, a pen, and a limitless imagination for better personal goal sharing. At Meisei hospital we promote the 'Minotake Team Approach', which calls for flexible management so we hospital staff can help each other as professionals. We treat patients as individuals using words and expressions they understand (such as local dialect and nonmedical terms), and give them access to easy to understand resources such as leaflets delivered by universities or pharmaceutical companies. We ask our staff to act naturally with the patients, and to just do what they can do to help the patients work towards their personal goals.

  17. Integrated vehicle-based safety systems : third annual report.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2009-10-01

    The Integrated Vehicle-Based Safety Systems (IVBSS) program is a five-year, two-phase cooperative : research program being conducted by an industry consortium led by the University of Michigan : Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI). The goal of ...

  18. Applying successfully proven measures in roadway safety to reduce harmful collisions in SC.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2017-06-06

    The overall goal of this research was to identify proven successful safety programs used in other states and assess the potential for safety improvement if similar programs were implemented in South Carolina. The research team not only sought out eng...

  19. Exploring the state of health and safety management system performance measurement in mining organizations.

    PubMed

    Haas, Emily Joy; Yorio, Patrick

    2016-03-01

    Complex arguments continue to be articulated regarding the theoretical foundation of health and safety management system (HSMS) performance measurement. The culmination of these efforts has begun to enhance a collective understanding. Despite this enhanced theoretical understanding, however, there are still continuing debates and little consensus. The goal of the current research effort was to empirically explore common methods to HSMS performance measurement in mining organizations. The purpose was to determine if value and insight could be added into the ongoing approaches of the best ways to engage in health and safety performance measurement. Nine site-level health and safety management professionals were provided with 133 practices corresponding to 20 HSMS elements, each fitting into the plan, do, check, act phases common to most HSMS. Participants were asked to supply detailed information as to how they (1) assess the performance of each practice in their organization, or (2) would assess each practice if it were an identified strategic imperative. Qualitative content analysis indicated that the approximately 1200 responses provided could be described and categorized into interventions , organizational performance , and worker performance . A discussion of how these categories relate to existing indicator frameworks is provided. The analysis also revealed divergence in two important measurement issues; (1) quantitative vs qualitative measurement and reporting; and (2) the primary use of objective or subjective metrics. In lieu of these findings we ultimately recommend a balanced measurement and reporting approach within the three metric categories and conclude with suggestions for future research.

  20. Super Safety and Health Day at KSC

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    2000-01-01

    During Super Safety and Health Day at KSC, two employees were recognized for submitting winning entries in the theme and logo/poster contests. At left, Center Director Roy Bridges congratulates Dave Earhart with United Space Alliance (USA) for his winning logo; at right, Brig. Gen. Ronald D. Pettit congratulates David Koval with Space Gateway Support (SGS) for his winning theme, '''Safety and Health: A Working Relationship.''' Safety Day is a full day of NASA-sponsored, KSC and 45th Space Wing events involving a number of health and safety related activities: Displays, vendors, technical paper sessions, panel discussions, a keynote speaker, etc. The entire Center and Wing stand down to participate in the planned events. Safety Day is held annually to proactively increase awareness in safety and health among the government and contractor workforce population. The first guiding principle at KSC is '''Safety and Health First.''' KSC's number one goal is to '''Assure sound, safe and efficient practices and processes are in place for privatized/commercialized launch site processing.'''

  1. Improving tractor safety warnings: readability is missing.

    PubMed

    Tebeaux, E

    2010-07-01

    Research on tractor safety has not focused on user manuals. This study focuses on tractor operator manuals, specifically safety warnings, selected from the files of the Tractor Test facility at University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Analysis of many common warnings, based on readability and legibility research, shows that many warnings contain excessive information, confusing visuals and safety icons, poor document design, and illegible typefaces. The result is unreadable warnings that do not communicate quickly and correctly, and discourage readers rather than clarify critical information. Many tractor operator warnings are cluttered, "over-written," and contain information needed to protect the manufacturer rather than to inform operators. What is needed is a careful analysis and revision of many safety warnings with the goal of encouraging operators to read the warnings and follow their message.

  2. Integrated Vehicle-Based Safety Systems Third Annual Report

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2009-10-01

    The Integrated Vehicle-Based Safety Systems (IVBSS) program is a five-year, two-phase cooperative research program being conducted by an industry consortium led by the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI). The goal of the ...

  3. Qualitative and quantitative reasoning about thermodynamics

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Skorstad, Gordon; Forbus, Ken

    1989-01-01

    One goal of qualitative physics is to capture the tacit knowledge of engineers and scientists. It is shown how Qualitative Process theory can be used to express concepts of engineering thermodynamics. In particular, it is shown how to integrate qualitative and quantitative knowledge to solve textbook problems involving thermodynamic cycles, such as gas turbine plants and steam power plants. These ideas were implemented in a program called SCHISM. Its analysis of a sample textbook problem is described and plans for future work are discussed.

  4. 3S (Safeguards, Security, Safety) based pyroprocessing facility safety evaluation plan

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

    Ku, J.H.; Choung, W.M.; You, G.S.

    The big advantage of pyroprocessing for the management of spent fuels against the conventional reprocessing technologies lies in its proliferation resistance since the pure plutonium cannot be separated from the spent fuel. The extracted materials can be directly used as metal fuel in a fast reactor, and pyroprocessing reduces drastically the volume and heat load of the spent fuel. KAERI has implemented the SBD (Safeguards-By-Design) concept in nuclear fuel cycle facilities. The goal of SBD is to integrate international safeguards into the entire facility design process since the very beginning of the design phase. This paper presents a safety evaluationmore » plan using a conceptual design of a reference pyroprocessing facility, in which 3S (Safeguards, Security, Safety)-By-Design (3SBD) concept is integrated from early conceptual design phase. The purpose of this paper is to establish an advanced pyroprocessing hot cell facility design concept based on 3SBD for the successful realization of pyroprocessing technology with enhanced safety and proliferation resistance.« less

  5. Identifying the genes underlying quantitative traits: a rationale for the QTN programme.

    PubMed

    Lee, Young Wha; Gould, Billie A; Stinchcombe, John R

    2014-01-01

    The goal of identifying the genes or even nucleotides underlying quantitative and adaptive traits has been characterized as the 'QTN programme' and has recently come under severe criticism. Part of the reason for this criticism is that much of the QTN programme has asserted that finding the genes and nucleotides for adaptive and quantitative traits is a fundamental goal, without explaining why it is such a hallowed goal. Here we outline motivations for the QTN programme that offer general insight, regardless of whether QTNs are of large or small effect, and that aid our understanding of the mechanistic dynamics of adaptive evolution. We focus on five areas: (i) vertical integration of insight across different levels of biological organization, (ii) genetic parallelism and the role of pleiotropy in shaping evolutionary dynamics, (iii) understanding the forces maintaining genetic variation in populations, (iv) distinguishing between adaptation from standing variation and new mutation, and (v) the role of genomic architecture in facilitating adaptation. We argue that rather than abandoning the QTN programme, we should refocus our efforts on topics where molecular data will be the most effective for testing hypotheses about phenotypic evolution.

  6. Identifying the genes underlying quantitative traits: a rationale for the QTN programme

    PubMed Central

    Lee, Young Wha; Gould, Billie A.; Stinchcombe, John R.

    2014-01-01

    The goal of identifying the genes or even nucleotides underlying quantitative and adaptive traits has been characterized as the ‘QTN programme’ and has recently come under severe criticism. Part of the reason for this criticism is that much of the QTN programme has asserted that finding the genes and nucleotides for adaptive and quantitative traits is a fundamental goal, without explaining why it is such a hallowed goal. Here we outline motivations for the QTN programme that offer general insight, regardless of whether QTNs are of large or small effect, and that aid our understanding of the mechanistic dynamics of adaptive evolution. We focus on five areas: (i) vertical integration of insight across different levels of biological organization, (ii) genetic parallelism and the role of pleiotropy in shaping evolutionary dynamics, (iii) understanding the forces maintaining genetic variation in populations, (iv) distinguishing between adaptation from standing variation and new mutation, and (v) the role of genomic architecture in facilitating adaptation. We argue that rather than abandoning the QTN programme, we should refocus our efforts on topics where molecular data will be the most effective for testing hypotheses about phenotypic evolution. PMID:24790125

  7. Dynamics of multiple-goal pursuit.

    PubMed

    Louro, Maria J; Pieters, Rik; Zeelenberg, Marcel

    2007-08-01

    The authors propose and test a model of multiple-goal pursuit that specifies how individuals allocate effort among multiple goals over time. The model predicts that whether individuals decide to step up effort, coast, abandon the current goal, or switch to pursue another goal is determined jointly by the emotions that flow from prior goal progress and the proximity to future goal attainment, and proximally determined by changes in expectancies about goal attainment. Results from a longitudinal diary study and 2 experiments show that positive and negative goal-related emotions can have diametrically opposing effects on goal-directed behavior, depending on the individual's proximity to goal attainment. The findings resolve contrasting predictions about the influence of positive and negative emotions in volitional behavior, critically amend the goal gradient hypothesis, and provide new insights into the dynamics and determinants of multiple-goal pursuit.

  8. Pre-Service EFL Teachers' Self-Efficacy Beliefs, Goal Orientations, and Participations in an Online Learning Environment

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ucar, Hasan; Yazici Bozkaya, Mujgan

    2016-01-01

    This study examined the pre-service EFL teachers' self-efficacy beliefs, goal orientations, and participations in an online learning environment. Embedded mixed design was used in the study. In the quantitative part of the study, the participants were 186 senior pre-service EFL teachers and data were collected on two scales and a questionnaire.…

  9. Distinguishing nanomaterial particles from background airborne particulate matter for quantitative exposure assessment

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ono-Ogasawara, Mariko; Serita, Fumio; Takaya, Mitsutoshi

    2009-10-01

    As the production of engineered nanomaterials quantitatively expands, the chance that workers involved in the manufacturing process will be exposed to nanoparticles also increases. A risk management system is needed for workplaces in the nanomaterial industry based on the precautionary principle. One of the problems in the risk management system is difficulty of exposure assessment. In this article, examples of exposure assessment in nanomaterial industries are reviewed with a focus on distinguishing engineered nanomaterial particles from background nanoparticles in workplace atmosphere. An approach by JNIOSH (Japan National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health) to quantitatively measure exposure to carbonaceous nanomaterials is also introduced. In addition to real-time measurements and qualitative analysis by electron microscopy, quantitative chemical analysis is necessary for quantitatively assessing exposure to nanomaterials. Chemical analysis is suitable for quantitative exposure measurement especially at facilities with high levels of background NPs.

  10. The Armstrong Institute: An Academic Institute for Patient Safety and Quality Improvement, Research, Training, and Practice.

    PubMed

    Pronovost, Peter J; Holzmueller, Christine G; Molello, Nancy E; Paine, Lori; Winner, Laura; Marsteller, Jill A; Berenholtz, Sean M; Aboumatar, Hanan J; Demski, Renee; Armstrong, C Michael

    2015-10-01

    Academic medical centers (AMCs) could advance the science of health care delivery, improve patient safety and quality improvement, and enhance value, but many centers have fragmented efforts with little accountability. Johns Hopkins Medicine, the AMC under which the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the Johns Hopkins Health System are organized, experienced similar challenges, with operational patient safety and quality leadership separate from safety and quality-related research efforts. To unite efforts and establish accountability, the Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality was created in 2011.The authors describe the development, purpose, governance, function, and challenges of the institute to help other AMCs replicate it and accelerate safety and quality improvement. The purpose is to partner with patients, their loved ones, and all interested parties to end preventable harm, continuously improve patient outcomes and experience, and eliminate waste in health care. A governance structure was created, with care mapped into seven categories, to oversee the quality and safety of all patients treated at a Johns Hopkins Medicine entity. The governance has a Patient Safety and Quality Board Committee that sets strategic goals, and the institute communicates these goals throughout the health system and supports personnel in meeting these goals. The institute is organized into 13 functional councils reflecting their behaviors and purpose. The institute works daily to build the capacity of clinicians trained in safety and quality through established programs, advance improvement science, and implement and evaluate interventions to improve the quality of care and safety of patients.

  11. Science Goal Monitor: Science Goal Driven Automation for NASA Missions

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Koratkar, Anuradha; Grosvenor, Sandy; Jung, John; Pell, Melissa; Matusow, David; Bailyn, Charles

    2004-01-01

    Infusion of automation technologies into NASA s future missions will be essential because of the need to: (1) effectively handle an exponentially increasing volume of scientific data, (2) successfully meet dynamic, opportunistic scientific goals and objectives, and (3) substantially reduce mission operations staff and costs. While much effort has gone into automating routine spacecraft operations to reduce human workload and hence costs, applying intelligent automation to the science side, i.e., science data acquisition, data analysis and reactions to that data analysis in a timely and still scientifically valid manner, has been relatively under-emphasized. In order to introduce science driven automation in missions, we must be able to: capture and interpret the science goals of observing programs, represent those goals in machine interpretable language; and allow spacecrafts onboard systems to autonomously react to the scientist's goals. In short, we must teach our platforms to dynamically understand, recognize, and react to the scientists goals. The Science Goal Monitor (SGM) project at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center is a prototype software tool being developed to determine the best strategies for implementing science goal driven automation in missions. The tools being developed in SGM improve the ability to monitor and react to the changing status of scientific events. The SGM system enables scientists to specify what to look for and how to react in descriptive rather than technical terms. The system monitors streams of science data to identify occurrences of key events previously specified by the scientist. When an event occurs, the system autonomously coordinates the execution of the scientist s desired reactions. Through SGM, we will improve om understanding about the capabilities needed onboard for success, develop metrics to understand the potential increase in science returns, and develop an operational prototype so that the perceived risks associated

  12. 1, 2, 3, 4: infusing quantitative literacy into introductory biology.

    PubMed

    Speth, Elena Bray; Momsen, Jennifer L; Moyerbrailean, Gregory A; Ebert-May, Diane; Long, Tammy M; Wyse, Sara; Linton, Debra

    2010-01-01

    Biology of the twenty-first century is an increasingly quantitative science. Undergraduate biology education therefore needs to provide opportunities for students to develop fluency in the tools and language of quantitative disciplines. Quantitative literacy (QL) is important for future scientists as well as for citizens, who need to interpret numeric information and data-based claims regarding nearly every aspect of daily life. To address the need for QL in biology education, we incorporated quantitative concepts throughout a semester-long introductory biology course at a large research university. Early in the course, we assessed the quantitative skills that students bring to the introductory biology classroom and found that students had difficulties in performing simple calculations, representing data graphically, and articulating data-driven arguments. In response to students' learning needs, we infused the course with quantitative concepts aligned with the existing course content and learning objectives. The effectiveness of this approach is demonstrated by significant improvement in the quality of students' graphical representations of biological data. Infusing QL in introductory biology presents challenges. Our study, however, supports the conclusion that it is feasible in the context of an existing course, consistent with the goals of college biology education, and promotes students' development of important quantitative skills.

  13. 1, 2, 3, 4: Infusing Quantitative Literacy into Introductory Biology

    PubMed Central

    Momsen, Jennifer L.; Moyerbrailean, Gregory A.; Ebert-May, Diane; Long, Tammy M.; Wyse, Sara; Linton, Debra

    2010-01-01

    Biology of the twenty-first century is an increasingly quantitative science. Undergraduate biology education therefore needs to provide opportunities for students to develop fluency in the tools and language of quantitative disciplines. Quantitative literacy (QL) is important for future scientists as well as for citizens, who need to interpret numeric information and data-based claims regarding nearly every aspect of daily life. To address the need for QL in biology education, we incorporated quantitative concepts throughout a semester-long introductory biology course at a large research university. Early in the course, we assessed the quantitative skills that students bring to the introductory biology classroom and found that students had difficulties in performing simple calculations, representing data graphically, and articulating data-driven arguments. In response to students' learning needs, we infused the course with quantitative concepts aligned with the existing course content and learning objectives. The effectiveness of this approach is demonstrated by significant improvement in the quality of students' graphical representations of biological data. Infusing QL in introductory biology presents challenges. Our study, however, supports the conclusion that it is feasible in the context of an existing course, consistent with the goals of college biology education, and promotes students' development of important quantitative skills. PMID:20810965

  14. Organizational factors affecting safety implementation in food companies in Thailand.

    PubMed

    Chinda, Thanwadee

    2014-01-01

    Thai food industry employs a massive number of skilled and unskilled workers. This may result in an industry with high incidences and accident rates. To improve safety and reduce the accident figures, this paper investigates factors influencing safety implementation in small, medium, and large food companies in Thailand. Five factors, i.e., management commitment, stakeholders' role, safety information and communication, supportive environment, and risk, are found important in helping to improve safety implementation. The statistical analyses also reveal that small, medium, and large food companies hold similar opinions on the risk factor, but bear different perceptions on the other 4 factors. It is also found that to improve safety implementation, the perceptions of safety goals, communication, feedback, safety resources, and supervision should be aligned in small, medium, and large companies.

  15. Acute And Long-Term Bioeffects And Lamp Safety

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Andersen, F. Alan

    1980-10-01

    Knowledge of both acute and chronic biological effects is currently used to evaluate lamp safety. In some cases, a quantitative basis for avoiding exposures greater than a certain value can be stated. In other cases, however, only a qualitative estimate of the hazard is available. In a discussion that uses mercury vapor lamps, tanning booths, and sodium vapor lamps as examples, the interplay between the two types of data leading to an evaluation of lamp safety is described.

  16. The Art World's Concept of Negative Space Applied to System Safety Management

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Goodin, James Ronald (Ronnie)

    2005-01-01

    Tools from several different disciplines can improve system safety management. This paper relates the Art World with our system safety world, showing useful art schools of thought applied to system safety management, developing an art theory-system safety bridge. This bridge is then used to demonstrate relations with risk management, the legal system, personnel management and basic management (establishing priorities). One goal of this presentation/paper is simply to be a fun diversion from the many technical topics presented during the conference.

  17. Emotional exhaustion and workload predict clinician-rated and objective patient safety

    PubMed Central

    Welp, Annalena; Meier, Laurenz L.; Manser, Tanja

    2015-01-01

    Aims: To investigate the role of clinician burnout, demographic, and organizational characteristics in predicting subjective and objective indicators of patient safety. Background: Maintaining clinician health and ensuring safe patient care are important goals for hospitals. While these goals are not independent from each other, the interplay between clinician psychological health, demographic and organizational variables, and objective patient safety indicators is poorly understood. The present study addresses this gap. Method: Participants were 1425 physicians and nurses working in intensive care. Regression analysis (multilevel) was used to investigate the effect of burnout as an indicator of psychological health, demographic (e.g., professional role and experience) and organizational (e.g., workload, predictability) characteristics on standardized mortality ratios, length of stay and clinician-rated patient safety. Results: Clinician-rated patient safety was associated with burnout, trainee status, and professional role. Mortality was predicted by emotional exhaustion. Length of stay was predicted by workload. Contrary to our expectations, burnout did not predict length of stay, and workload and predictability did not predict standardized mortality ratios. Conclusion: At least in the short-term, clinicians seem to be able to maintain safety despite high workload and low predictability. Nevertheless, burnout poses a safety risk. Subjectively, burnt-out clinicians rated safety lower, and objectively, units with high emotional exhaustion had higher standardized mortality ratios. In summary, our results indicate that clinician psychological health and patient safety could be managed simultaneously. Further research needs to establish causal relationships between these variables and support to the development of managerial guidelines to ensure clinicians’ psychological health and patients’ safety. PMID:25657627

  18. Stay Alive--Simulation for Situational Safety Awareness

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Ruder, Michelle

    2008-01-01

    STAY ALIVE is an idea for a safety awareness simulation prototype, powered by gaming technology, that would make safety training enlightening, engaging and fun. Recalling initial instructions and using situational awareness principles, participants would escape a fire by choosing the appropriate door. Escape times would be measured while stressors increased. This presentation describes how STAY ALIVE utilizes first person point of view (PoV), a generic scenario, immersion- and presence-enhancing design, and ease of distribution to provide more people opportunity to realize, review, analyze and practice effective awareness behaviors. The goals for this prototype include facilitating interest in first-person PoV safety training and eliciting further suggestions on prevention technologies.

  19. Goals of care conversation teaching in residency - a cross-sectional survey of postgraduate program directors.

    PubMed

    Roze des Ordons, Amanda; Kassam, Aliya; Simon, Jessica

    2017-01-06

    Residents are commonly involved in establishing goals of care for hospitalized patients. While education can improve the quality of these conversations, whether and how postgraduate training programs integrate such teaching into their curricula is not well established. The objective of this study was to characterize perceptions of current teaching and assessment of goals of care conversations, and program director interest in associated curricular integration. An electronic survey was sent to all postgraduate program directors at the University of Calgary. Quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and qualitative comments were analyzed using thematic analysis. The survey response rate was 34% (22/64). Formal goals of care conversation teaching is incorporated into 63% of responding programs, and most commonly involves lectures. Informal teaching occurs in 86% of programs, involving discussion, direct observation and role modeling in the clinical setting. Seventy-three percent of programs assess goals of care conversation skills, mostly in the clinical setting through feedback. Program directors believe that over two-thirds of clinical faculty are prepared to teach goals of care conversations, and are interested in resources to teach and assess goals of care conversations. Themes that emerged include 1) general perceptions, 2) need for teaching, 3) ideas for teaching, and 4) assessment of goals of care conversations. The majority of residency training programs at the University of Calgary incorporate some goals of care conversation teaching and assessment into their curricula. Program directors are interested in resources to improve teaching and assessment of goals of care conversations.

  20. Identifying behaviour patterns of construction safety using system archetypes.

    PubMed

    Guo, Brian H W; Yiu, Tak Wing; González, Vicente A

    2015-07-01

    Construction safety management involves complex issues (e.g., different trades, multi-organizational project structure, constantly changing work environment, and transient workforce). Systems thinking is widely considered as an effective approach to understanding and managing the complexity. This paper aims to better understand dynamic complexity of construction safety management by exploring archetypes of construction safety. To achieve this, this paper adopted the ground theory method (GTM) and 22 interviews were conducted with participants in various positions (government safety inspector, client, health and safety manager, safety consultant, safety auditor, and safety researcher). Eight archetypes were emerged from the collected data: (1) safety regulations, (2) incentive programs, (3) procurement and safety, (4) safety management in small businesses (5) production and safety, (6) workers' conflicting goals, (7) blame on workers, and (8) reactive and proactive learning. These archetypes capture the interactions between a wide range of factors within various hierarchical levels and subsystems. As a free-standing tool, they advance the understanding of dynamic complexity of construction safety management and provide systemic insights into dealing with the complexity. They also can facilitate system dynamics modelling of construction safety process. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  1. Tactile display landing safety and precision improvements for the Space Shuttle

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Olson, John M.

    A tactile display belt using 24 electro-mechanical tactile transducers (tactors) was used to determine if a modified tactile display system, known as the Tactile Situation Awareness System (TSAS) improved the safety and precision of a complex spacecraft (i.e. the Space Shuttle Orbiter) in guided precision approaches and landings. The goal was to determine if tactile cues enhance safety and mission performance through reduced workload, increased situational awareness (SA), and an improved operational capability by increasing secondary cognitive workload capacity and human-machine interface efficiency and effectiveness. Using both qualitative and quantitative measures such as NASA's Justiz Numerical Measure and Synwork1 scores, an Overall Workload (OW) measure, the Cooper-Harper rating scale, and the China Lake Situational Awareness scale, plus Pre- and Post-Flight Surveys, the data show that tactile displays decrease OW, improve SA, counteract fatigue, and provide superior warning and monitoring capacity for dynamic, off-nominal, high concurrent workload scenarios involving complex, cognitive, and multi-sensory critical scenarios. Use of TSAS for maintaining guided precision approaches and landings was generally intuitive, reduced training times, and improved task learning effects. Ultimately, the use of a homogeneous, experienced, and statistically robust population of test pilots demonstrated that the use of tactile displays for Space Shuttle approaches and landings with degraded vehicle systems, weather, and environmental conditions produced substantial improvements in safety, consistency, reliability, and ease of operations under demanding conditions. Recommendations for further analysis and study are provided in order to leverage the results from this research and further explore the potential to reduce the risk of spaceflight and aerospace operations in general.

  2. Proceedings of the international meeting on thermal nuclear reactor safety. Vol. 1

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

    None

    Separate abstracts are included for each of the papers presented concerning current issues in nuclear power plant safety; national programs in nuclear power plant safety; radiological source terms; probabilistic risk assessment methods and techniques; non LOCA and small-break-LOCA transients; safety goals; pressurized thermal shocks; applications of reliability and risk methods to probabilistic risk assessment; human factors and man-machine interface; and data bases and special applications.

  3. Goals are not selfish.

    PubMed

    von Hippel, William; von Hippel, Frank A

    2014-04-01

    The metaphor of selfish goals is misguided. Organisms can be considered vessels that further the interests of their genes, but not vessels that further the interests of their goals. Although goals can act at cross-purposes to each other and to longevity, such trade-offs are predicted by evolutionary theory. The metaphor of selfish goals provides no purchase on this problem.

  4. Putting Safety in the Frame: Nurses' Sensemaking at Work.

    PubMed

    O'Keeffe, Valerie Jean; Thompson, Kirrilly Rebecca; Tuckey, Michelle Rae; Blewett, Verna Lesley

    2015-01-01

    Current patient safety policy focuses nursing on patient care goals, often overriding nurses' safety. Without understanding how nurses construct work health and safety (WHS), patient and nurse safety cannot be reconciled. Using ethnography, we examine social contexts of safety, studying 72 nurses across five Australian hospitals making decisions during patient encounters. In enacting safe practice, nurses used "frames" built from their contextual experiences to guide their behavior. Frames are produced by nurses, and they structure how nurses make sense of their work. Using thematic analysis, we identify four frames that inform nurses' decisions about WHS: (a) communicating builds knowledge, (b) experiencing situations guides decisions, (c) adapting procedures streamlines work, and (d) team working promotes safe working. Nurses' frames question current policy and practice by challenging how nurses' safety is positioned relative to patient safety. Recognizing these frames can assist the design and implementation of effective WHS management.

  5. Goal-setting in clinical medicine.

    PubMed

    Bradley, E H; Bogardus, S T; Tinetti, M E; Inouye, S K

    1999-07-01

    The process of setting goals for medical care in the context of chronic disease has received little attention in the medical literature, despite the importance of goal-setting in the achievement of desired outcomes. Using qualitative research methods, this paper develops a theory of goal-setting in the care of patients with dementia. The theory posits several propositions. First, goals are generated from embedded values but are distinct from values. Goals vary based on specific circumstances and alternatives whereas values are person-specific and relatively stable in the face of changing circumstances. Second, goals are hierarchical in nature, with complex mappings between general and specific goals. Third, there are a number of factors that modify the goal-setting process, by affecting the generation of goals from values or the translation of general goals to specific goals. Modifying factors related to individuals include their degree of risk-taking, perceived self-efficacy, and acceptance of the disease. Disease factors that modify the goal-setting process include the urgency and irreversibility of the medical condition. Pertinent characteristics of the patient-family-clinician interaction include the level of participation, control, and trust among patients, family members, and clinicians. The research suggests that the goal-setting process in clinical medicine is complex, and the potential for disagreements regarding goals substantial. The nature of the goal-setting process suggests that explicit discussion of goals for care may be necessary to promote effective patient-family-clinician communication and adequate care planning.

  6. Comparison of methods for quantitative evaluation of endoscopic distortion

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wang, Quanzeng; Castro, Kurt; Desai, Viraj N.; Cheng, Wei-Chung; Pfefer, Joshua

    2015-03-01

    Endoscopy is a well-established paradigm in medical imaging, and emerging endoscopic technologies such as high resolution, capsule and disposable endoscopes promise significant improvements in effectiveness, as well as patient safety and acceptance of endoscopy. However, the field lacks practical standardized test methods to evaluate key optical performance characteristics (OPCs), in particular the geometric distortion caused by fisheye lens effects in clinical endoscopic systems. As a result, it has been difficult to evaluate an endoscope's image quality or assess its changes over time. The goal of this work was to identify optimal techniques for objective, quantitative characterization of distortion that are effective and not burdensome. Specifically, distortion measurements from a commercially available distortion evaluation/correction software package were compared with a custom algorithm based on a local magnification (ML) approach. Measurements were performed using a clinical gastroscope to image square grid targets. Recorded images were analyzed with the ML approach and the commercial software where the results were used to obtain corrected images. Corrected images based on the ML approach and the software were compared. The study showed that the ML method could assess distortion patterns more accurately than the commercial software. Overall, the development of standardized test methods for characterizing distortion and other OPCs will facilitate development, clinical translation, manufacturing quality and assurance of performance during clinical use of endoscopic technologies.

  7. Supervisors Guidebook: Driver and Traffic Safety Education.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Aaron, James E.; And Others

    Intended for those responsible to organize, oversee, and evaluate a school's comprehensive traffic safety education program, this Illinois State guide contains nine major sections and appendixes. An introduction presents philosophy and status of the Illinois program, general goals and objectives, notes on relevant professional associations, and…

  8. [Review: Patient safety as a national health goal: current state and essential fields of action for the German healthcare system].

    PubMed

    Hölscher, Uvo M; Gausmann, Peter; Haindl, Hans; Heidecke, Claus-Dieter; Hübner, Nils-Olaf; Lauer, Wolfgang; Lauterberg, Jörg; Skorning, Max; Thürmann, Petra A

    2014-01-01

    For some years patient safety has been an important topic for the design of the healthcare systems in many countries. In Germany we are still in the starting phase of this development. Here, patient safety is not a main focus for research and there is only little funding for these topics. Thus most findings on patient safety have been derived in foreign studies. Slowly, some find their way into the clinical routine in Germany. This paper summarises the state of development of patient safety from a trans-sectoral point of view and outlines essential fields of action for the German healthcare system. Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier GmbH.

  9. Multilevel model of safety climate for furniture industries.

    PubMed

    Rodrigues, Matilde A; Arezes, Pedro M; Leão, Celina P

    2015-01-01

    Furniture companies can analyze their safety status using quantitative measures. However, the data needed are not always available and the number of accidents is under-reported. Safety climate scales may be an alternative. However, there are no validated Portuguese scales that account for the specific attributes of the furniture sector. The current study aims to develop and validate an instrument that uses a multilevel structure to measure the safety climate of the Portuguese furniture industry. The Safety Climate in Wood Industries (SCWI) model was developed and applied to the safety climate analysis using three different scales: organizational, group and individual. A multilevel exploratory factor analysis was performed to analyze the factorial structure. The studied companies' safety conditions were also analyzed. Different factorial structures were found between and within levels. In general, the results show the presence of a group-level safety climate. The scores of safety climates are directly and positively related to companies' safety conditions; the organizational scale is the one that best reflects the actual safety conditions. The SCWI instrument allows for the identification of different safety climates in groups that comprise the same furniture company and it seems to reflect those groups' safety conditions. The study also demonstrates the need for a multilevel analysis of the studied instrument.

  10. Teachers' Goal Orientations: Effects on Classroom Goal Structures and Emotions

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wang, Hui; Hall, Nathan C.; Goetz, Thomas; Frenzel, Anne C.

    2017-01-01

    Background: Prior research has shown teachers' goal orientations to influence classroom goal structures (Retelsdorf "et al.," 2010, "Learning and Instruction, 20," 30) and to also impact their emotions (Schutz "et al.," 2007, "Emotion in Education," Academic Press, Amsterdam, the Netherlands). However,…

  11. The Effects of Pain Intensity on Goal Schemas and Goal Pursuit: A Daily Diary Study

    PubMed Central

    Karoly, Paul; Okun, Morris A.; Enders, Craig; Tennen, Howard

    2014-01-01

    Objective Although the adverse effects of chronic pain on work productivity and daily life pursuits are clear, the within-person dynamics of pain, goal cognition, and engagement in work-related and lifestyle goals remain uncharted. This study investigated the impact of pain intensity (assessed on three occasions each day) and goal-related schematic thinking (ratings of importance, planning, and goal pursuit opportunities, assessed only in the morning) on afternoon and evening work and lifestyle goal pursuit. Methods A community sample of working adults with chronic pain (N =131) were screened and interviewed about their work and lifestyle goals and completed a 21-day telephonic diary. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to estimate within-person and between-person effects. Results At the within-person level, morning pain intensity was inversely related to schematic cognition concerning work and lifestyle goals, whereas, at the between-person level, morning pain intensity varied positively with schematic thinking about work goals as well with afternoon life-style goal pursuit. At both the between- and within- analytic levels, morning goal schemas were positively associated with the pursuit of each type of goal in the afternoon and again in the evening. Moreover, positive carry-over effects of morning goal schemas on next day afternoon goal pursuit were observed. Conclusions Whereas morning pain intensity exhibited inconsistent effects across analytic levels, morning goal-related schematic thinking consistently predicted goal pursuit across analytic levels, type of goal, and time of day. These findings have implications for treatment and prevention of pain’s potentially deleterious effects on workplace and lifestyle goals. PMID:25180547

  12. NASA Range Safety Annual Report 2007

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Dumont, Alan G.

    2007-01-01

    As always, Range Safety has been involved in a number of exciting and challenging activities and events. Throughout the year, we have strived to meet our goal of protecting the public, the workforce, and property during range operations. During the past year, Range Safety was involved in the development, implementation, and support of range safety policy. Range Safety training curriculum development was completed this year and several courses were presented. Tailoring exercises concerning the Constellation Program were undertaken with representatives from the Constellation Program, the 45th Space Wing, and the Launch Constellation Range Safety Panel. Range Safety actively supported the Range Commanders Council and it subgroups and remained involved in updating policy related to flight safety systems and flight safety analysis. In addition, Range Safety supported the Space Shuttle Range Safety Panel and addressed policy concerning unmanned aircraft systems. Launch operations at Kennedy Space Center, the Eastern and Western ranges, Dryden Flight Research Center, and Wallops Flight Facility were addressed. Range Safety was also involved in the evaluation of a number of research and development efforts, including the space-based range (formerly STARS), the autonomous flight safety system, the enhanced flight termination system, and the joint advanced range safety system. Flight safety system challenges were evaluated. Range Safety's role in the Space Florida Customer Assistance Service Program for the Eastern Range was covered along with our support for the Space Florida Educational Balloon Release Program. We hope you have found the web-based format both accessible and easy to use. Anyone having questions or wishing to have an article included in the 2008 Range Safety Annual Report should contact Alan Dumont, the NASA Range Safety Program Manager located at the Kennedy Space Center, or Michael Dook at NASA Headquarters.

  13. Propulsion Health Monitoring for Enhanced Safety

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Butz, Mark G.; Rodriguez, Hector M.

    2003-01-01

    This report presents the results of the NASA contract Propulsion System Health Management for Enhanced Safety performed by General Electric Aircraft Engines (GE AE), General Electric Global Research (GE GR), and Pennsylvania State University Applied Research Laboratory (PSU ARL) under the NASA Aviation Safety Program. This activity supports the overall goal of enhanced civil aviation safety through a reduction in the occurrence of safety-significant propulsion system malfunctions. Specific objectives are to develop and demonstrate vibration diagnostics techniques for the on-line detection of turbine rotor disk cracks, and model-based fault tolerant control techniques for the prevention and mitigation of in-flight engine shutdown, surge/stall, and flameout events. The disk crack detection work was performed by GE GR which focused on a radial-mode vibration monitoring technique, and PSU ARL which focused on a torsional-mode vibration monitoring technique. GE AE performed the Model-Based Fault Tolerant Control work which focused on the development of analytical techniques for detecting, isolating, and accommodating gas-path faults.

  14. Self-regulation of health behavior: social psychological approaches to goal setting and goal striving.

    PubMed

    Mann, Traci; de Ridder, Denise; Fujita, Kentaro

    2013-05-01

    The goal of this article is to review and highlight the relevance of social psychological research on self-regulation for health-related theory and practice. We first review research on goal setting, or determining which goals to pursue and the criteria to determine whether one has succeeded. We discuss when and why people adopt goals, what properties of goals increase the likelihood of their attainment, and why people abandon goals. We then review research on goal striving, which includes the planning and execution of actions that lead to goal attainment, and the processes that people use to shield their goals from being disrupted by other competing goals, temptations, or distractions. We describe four types of strategies that people use when pursuing goals. We find that self-regulation entails the operation of a number of psychological mechanisms, and that there is no single solution that will help all people in all situations. We recommend a number of strategies that can help people to more effectively set and attain health-related goals. We conclude that enhancing health behavior requires a nuanced understanding and sensitivity to the varied, dynamic psychological processes involved in self-regulation, and that health is a prototypical and central domain in which to examine the relevance of these theoretical models for real behavior. We discuss the implications of this research for theory and practice in health-related domains. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved.

  15. Measuring and improving patient safety through health information technology: The Health IT Safety Framework.

    PubMed

    Singh, Hardeep; Sittig, Dean F

    2016-04-01

    Health information technology (health IT) has potential to improve patient safety but its implementation and use has led to unintended consequences and new safety concerns. A key challenge to improving safety in health IT-enabled healthcare systems is to develop valid, feasible strategies to measure safety concerns at the intersection of health IT and patient safety. In response to the fundamental conceptual and methodological gaps related to both defining and measuring health IT-related patient safety, we propose a new framework, the Health IT Safety (HITS) measurement framework, to provide a conceptual foundation for health IT-related patient safety measurement, monitoring, and improvement. The HITS framework follows both Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) and sociotechnical approaches and calls for new measures and measurement activities to address safety concerns in three related domains: 1) concerns that are unique and specific to technology (e.g., to address unsafe health IT related to unavailable or malfunctioning hardware or software); 2) concerns created by the failure to use health IT appropriately or by misuse of health IT (e.g. to reduce nuisance alerts in the electronic health record (EHR)), and 3) the use of health IT to monitor risks, health care processes and outcomes and identify potential safety concerns before they can harm patients (e.g. use EHR-based algorithms to identify patients at risk for medication errors or care delays). The framework proposes to integrate both retrospective and prospective measurement of HIT safety with an organization's existing clinical risk management and safety programs. It aims to facilitate organizational learning, comprehensive 360 degree assessment of HIT safety that includes vendor involvement, refinement of measurement tools and strategies, and shared responsibility to identify problems and implement solutions. A long term framework goal is to enable rigorous measurement that helps achieve the safety

  16. Status and future of Quantitative Microbiological Risk Assessment in China

    PubMed Central

    Dong, Q.L.; Barker, G.C.; Gorris, L.G.M.; Tian, M.S.; Song, X.Y.; Malakar, P.K.

    2015-01-01

    Since the implementation of the Food Safety Law of the People's Republic of China in 2009 use of Quantitative Microbiological Risk Assessment (QMRA) has increased. QMRA is used to assess the risk posed to consumers by pathogenic bacteria which cause the majority of foodborne outbreaks in China. This review analyses the progress of QMRA research in China from 2000 to 2013 and discusses 3 possible improvements for the future. These improvements include planning and scoping to initiate QMRA, effectiveness of microbial risk assessment utility for risk management decision making, and application of QMRA to establish appropriate Food Safety Objectives. PMID:26089594

  17. A Quantitative Study of Grit as a Predictor of Online Course Success at a Suburban Michigan Community College

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Climer, Steven L.

    2017-01-01

    The purpose of this quantitative correlational study was to examine the relationships between a student's personality traits of grit (persistence, goal-setting, passion, tenacity, time management, goal achievement, and perseverance), a student's self-reported satisfaction in the course, and the final grade a student receives in an online course.…

  18. Forest management practices and the occupational safety and health administration logging standard

    Treesearch

    John R. Myers; David Elton Fosbroke

    1995-01-01

    The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has established safety and health regulations for the logging industry. These new regulations move beyond the prior OSHA pulpwood harvesting standard by including sawtimber harvesting operations. Because logging is a major tool used by forest managers to meet silvicultural goals, managers must be aware of what...

  19. Defining the pharmaceutical system to support proactive drug safety.

    PubMed

    Lewis, Vicki R; Hernandez, Angelica; Meadors, Margaret

    2013-02-01

    The military, aviation, nuclear, and transportation industries have transformed their safety records by using a systems approach to safety and risk mitigation. This article creates a preliminary model of the U.S. pharmaceutical system using available literature including academic publications, policies, and guidelines established by regulatory bodies and drug industry trade publications. Drawing from the current literature, the goals, roles, and individualized processes of pharmaceutical subsystems will be defined. Defining the pharmaceutical system provides a vehicle to assess and address known problems within the system, and provides a means to conduct proactive risk analyses, which would create significant pharmaceutical safety advancement.

  20. Goal Conflict and Goal Commitment among Campus Parking Administrators in Higher Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McKinney, David R.

    2014-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to determine the degree to which campus parking administrators in public higher education perceive they are experiencing goal conflict and the degree to which they differ in commitment to goals related to generating revenue and goals related to academics and service. The study also sought to determine the relationship…

  1. Research safety vehicle, Phase II. Volume I. Executive summary. Final report jul 75-dec 76

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

    Struble, D.

    1976-12-01

    Volume I summarizes the results of the Minicars Research Safety Vehicle Phase II program, as detailed in Volumes II and III. Phase I identified trends leading to the desired national social goals of the mid-1980's in vehicle crashworthiness, crash avoidance, damageability, pedestrian safety, fuel economy, emissions and cost, and characterized an RSV to satisfy them. In Phase II an RSV prototype was designed, developed and tested to demonstrate the feasibility of meeting these goals simultaneously. Although further refinement is necessary to assure operational validity, in all categories the results meet or exceed the most advanced performance specified by The Presidentialmore » Task Force on Motor Vehicle Goals beyond 1980.« less

  2. Does monitoring goal progress promote goal attainment? A meta-analysis of the experimental evidence.

    PubMed

    Harkin, Benjamin; Webb, Thomas L; Chang, Betty P I; Prestwich, Andrew; Conner, Mark; Kellar, Ian; Benn, Yael; Sheeran, Paschal

    2016-02-01

    Control theory and other frameworks for understanding self-regulation suggest that monitoring goal progress is a crucial process that intervenes between setting and attaining a goal, and helps to ensure that goals are translated into action. However, the impact of progress monitoring interventions on rates of behavioral performance and goal attainment has yet to be quantified. A systematic literature search identified 138 studies (N = 19,951) that randomly allocated participants to an intervention designed to promote monitoring of goal progress versus a control condition. All studies reported the effects of the treatment on (a) the frequency of progress monitoring and (b) subsequent goal attainment. A random effects model revealed that, on average, interventions were successful at increasing the frequency of monitoring goal progress (d+ = 1.98, 95% CI [1.71, 2.24]) and promoted goal attainment (d+ = 0.40, 95% CI [0.32, 0.48]). Furthermore, changes in the frequency of progress monitoring mediated the effect of the interventions on goal attainment. Moderation tests revealed that progress monitoring had larger effects on goal attainment when the outcomes were reported or made public, and when the information was physically recorded. Taken together, the findings suggest that monitoring goal progress is an effective self-regulation strategy, and that interventions that increase the frequency of progress monitoring are likely to promote behavior change. (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

  3. Evaluation of the effectiveness of child safety restraints

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1987-03-01

    The goals of the study were to better establish the relationsips between proper and improper usage of safety seats in crashes and the resulting injury levels and mechanisms and to establish measures of the distance from home that the children were wh...

  4. A Synthetic Vision Preliminary Integrated Safety Analysis

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Hemm, Robert; Houser, Scott

    2001-01-01

    This report documents efforts to analyze a sample of aviation safety programs, using the LMI-developed integrated safety analysis tool to determine the change in system risk resulting from Aviation Safety Program (AvSP) technology implementation. Specifically, we have worked to modify existing system safety tools to address the safety impact of synthetic vision (SV) technology. Safety metrics include reliability, availability, and resultant hazard. This analysis of SV technology is intended to be part of a larger effort to develop a model that is capable of "providing further support to the product design and development team as additional information becomes available". The reliability analysis portion of the effort is complete and is fully documented in this report. The simulation analysis is still underway; it will be documented in a subsequent report. The specific goal of this effort is to apply the integrated safety analysis to SV technology. This report also contains a brief discussion of data necessary to expand the human performance capability of the model, as well as a discussion of human behavior and its implications for system risk assessment in this modeling environment.

  5. Quantitative assessment of prevalence of pre-analytical variables and their effect on coagulation assay. Can intervention improve patient safety?

    PubMed

    Bhushan, Ravi; Sen, Arijit

    2017-04-01

    Very few Indian studies exist on evaluation of pre-analytical variables affecting "Prothrombin Time" the commonest coagulation assay performed. The study was performed in an Indian tertiary care setting with an aim to assess quantitatively the prevalence of pre-analytical variables and their effects on the results (patient safety), for Prothrombin time test. The study also evaluated their effects on the result and whether intervention, did correct the results. The firstly evaluated the prevalence for various pre-analytical variables detected in samples sent for Prothrombin Time testing. These samples with the detected variables wherever possible were tested and result noted. The samples from the same patients were repeated and retested ensuring that no pre-analytical variable is present. The results were again noted to check for difference the intervention produced. The study evaluated 9989 samples received for PT/INR over a period of 18 months. The prevalence of different pre-analytical variables was found to be 862 (8.63%). The proportion of various pre-analytical variables detected were haemolysed samples 515 (5.16%), over filled vacutainers 62 (0.62%), under filled vacutainers 39 (0.39%), low values 205 (2.05%), clotted samples 11 (0.11%), wrong labeling 4 (0.04%), wrong vacutainer use 2 (0.02%), chylous samples 7 (0.07%) and samples with more than one variable 17 (0.17%). The comparison of percentage of samples showing errors were noted for the first variables since they could be tested with and without the variable in place. The reduction in error percentage was 91.5%, 69.2%, 81.5% and 95.4% post intervention for haemolysed, overfilled, under filled and samples collected with excess pressure at phlebotomy respectively. Correcting the variables did reduce the error percentage to a great extent in these four variables and hence the variables are found to affect "Prothrombin Time" testing and can hamper patient safety.

  6. Achieving the Goals. Goal 4: Teacher Education and Professional Development.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Department of Education, Washington, DC.

    Goal 4 of the National Education Goals envisions that teachers will have access to programs for the continued improvement of their professional skills. This book examines what federal agencies are doing to enhance teacher preparation, presents information on career-long development, and offers program descriptions and contact names. The first…

  7. Bus operator safety : critical issues examination and model practices.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2014-01-01

    In this study, researchers at the National Center for Transit Research performed a multi-topic comprehensive : examination of bus operator-related critical safety and personal security issues. The goals of this research : effort were to: : 1. Identif...

  8. Evolution of International Space Station Program Safety Review Processes and Tools

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Ratterman, Christian D.; Green, Collin; Guibert, Matt R.; McCracken, Kristle I.; Sang, Anthony C.; Sharpe, Matthew D.; Tollinger, Irene V.

    2013-01-01

    The International Space Station Program at NASA is constantly seeking to improve the processes and systems that support safe space operations. To that end, the ISS Program decided to upgrade their Safety and Hazard data systems with 3 goals: make safety and hazard data more accessible; better support the interconnection of different types of safety data; and increase the efficiency (and compliance) of safety-related processes. These goals are accomplished by moving data into a web-based structured data system that includes strong process support and supports integration with other information systems. Along with the data systems, ISS is evolving its submission requirements and safety process requirements to support the improved model. In contrast to existing operations (where paper processes and electronic file repositories are used for safety data management) the web-based solution provides the program with dramatically faster access to records, the ability to search for and reference specific data within records, reduced workload for hazard updates and approval, and process support including digital signatures and controlled record workflow. In addition, integration with other key data systems provides assistance with assessments of flight readiness, more efficient review and approval of operational controls and better tracking of international safety certifications. This approach will also provide new opportunities to streamline the sharing of data with ISS international partners while maintaining compliance with applicable laws and respecting restrictions on proprietary data. One goal of this paper is to outline the approach taken by the ISS Progrm to determine requirements for the new system and to devise a practical and efficient implementation strategy. From conception through implementation, ISS and NASA partners utilized a user-centered software development approach focused on user research and iterative design methods. The user-centered approach used on

  9. The Potential for Teaching Quantitative Reasoning across the Curriculum: Empirical Evidence

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Grawe, Nathan D.

    2011-01-01

    Educational theorists have argued that effective instruction in quantitative reasoning (QR) should extend across the curriculum. While a noble goal, it is not immediately evident that this is even possible. To assess the feasibility of this approach to QR instruction, I examine papers written by undergraduates for submission to a sophomore writing…

  10. Student Goals: Psychological Perspectives

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Muirhead, Brent; Little, Jennifer

    2008-01-01

    The paper will discuss research insights into student academic goals. Cognitive psychologists have found that effective goal setting procedures involves establishing specific and challenging learning objectives. Students who set difficult goals must be persistent while facing the risk of potential failure that could diminish their intrinsic…

  11. A quantitative risk-assessment system (QR-AS) evaluating operation safety of Organic Rankine Cycle using flammable mixture working fluid.

    PubMed

    Tian, Hua; Wang, Xueying; Shu, Gequn; Wu, Mingqiang; Yan, Nanhua; Ma, Xiaonan

    2017-09-15

    Mixture of hydrocarbon and carbon dioxide shows excellent cycle performance in Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) used for engine waste heat recovery, but the unavoidable leakage in practical application is a threat for safety due to its flammability. In this work, a quantitative risk assessment system (QR-AS) is established aiming at providing a general method of risk assessment for flammable working fluid leakage. The QR-AS covers three main aspects: analysis of concentration distribution based on CFD simulations, explosive risk assessment based on the TNT equivalent method and risk mitigation based on evaluation results. A typical case of propane/carbon dioxide mixture leaking from ORC is investigated to illustrate the application of QR-AS. According to the assessment results, proper ventilation speed, safe mixture ratio and location of gas-detecting devices have been proposed to guarantee the security in case of leakage. The results revealed that this presented QR-AS was reliable for the practical application and the evaluation results could provide valuable guidance for the design of mitigation measures to improve the safe performance of ORC system. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  12. The Role of Introductory Geosciences in Students' Quantitative Literacy

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wenner, J. M.; Manduca, C.; Baer, E. M.

    2006-12-01

    Quantitative literacy is more than mathematics; it is about reasoning with data. Colleges and universities have begun to recognize the distinction between mathematics and quantitative literacy, modifying curricula to reflect the need for numerate citizens. Although students may view geology as 'rocks for jocks', the geosciences are truthfully rife with data, making introductory geoscience topics excellent context for developing the quantitative literacy of students with diverse backgrounds. In addition, many news items that deal with quantitative skills, such as the global warming phenomenon, have their basis in the Earth sciences and can serve as timely examples of the importance of quantitative literacy for all students in introductory geology classrooms. Participants at a workshop held in 2006, 'Infusing Quantitative Literacy into Introductory Geoscience Courses,' discussed and explored the challenges and opportunities associated with the inclusion of quantitative material and brainstormed about effective practices for imparting quantitative literacy to students with diverse backgrounds. The tangible results of this workshop add to the growing collection of quantitative materials available through the DLESE- and NSF-supported Teaching Quantitative Skills in the Geosciences website, housed at SERC. There, faculty can find a collection of pages devoted to the successful incorporation of quantitative literacy in introductory geoscience. The resources on the website are designed to help faculty to increase their comfort with presenting quantitative ideas to students with diverse mathematical abilities. A methods section on "Teaching Quantitative Literacy" (http://serc.carleton.edu/quantskills/methods/quantlit/index.html) focuses on connecting quantitative concepts with geoscience context and provides tips, trouble-shooting advice and examples of quantitative activities. The goal in this section is to provide faculty with material that can be readily incorporated

  13. Promoting Health and Safety. Skills for Independent Living.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Agran, Martin, Ed.; And Others

    This guidebook provides behavioral-instructional strategies for teaching essential personal safety skills and promoting overall well-being to persons with developmental disabilities. Case studies demonstrate these strategies in practice, and detailed curriculum goals are included to guide intervention efforts. To ensure that learners both…

  14. Older adults' influence in family care: how do daughters and aging parents navigate differences in care goals?

    PubMed

    Heid, Allison R; Zarit, Steven H; Van Haitsma, Kimberly

    2016-01-01

    This study seeks to address how older adults influence their daily care when their preferences conflict with those of their adult daughter caregivers. Using a sample of 10 dyads (N = 20) of an older adult and adult daughter, we utilize content analysis strategies to analyze in-depth, semi-structured interview data with QSR NVIVO to investigate how older adults influence their care, how daughters respond to such efforts of influence, and how dyads navigate differences in care goals. When there is agreement in goals, dyads report tasks going well and both individuals' requests are honored. When there are differences in care goals, daughters most frequently reason with their older parents, while parents walk away or 'let go' of their requests. Daughters report making decisions for their parents for health or safety-related needs. However, all dyads discuss differences in care goals, whereby parents are perceived as insisting, resisting, or persisting in care. Findings illustrate complex patterns of responses by families when navigating differences in daily care goals that carry important implications for research and the development of dyadic-based family interventions.

  15. Directory of aerospace safety specialized information sources

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Fullerton, E. A.; Rubens, L. S.

    1973-01-01

    A directory is presented to make available to the aerospace safety community a handbook of organizations and experts in specific, well-defined areas of safety technology. It is designed for the safety specialist as an aid for locating both information sources and individual points of contact (experts) in engineering related fields. The file covers sources of data in aerospace design, tests, as well as information in hazard and failure cause identification, accident analysis, materials characteristics, and other related subject areas. These 171 organizations and their staff members, hopefully, should provide technical information in the form of documentation, data and consulting expertise. These will be sources that have assembled and collated their information, so that it will be useful in the solution of engineering problems. One of the goals of the project in the United States that have and are willing to share data of value to the aerospace safety community.

  16. The goal of making friends for youth with disabilities: creating a goal menu.

    PubMed

    Gerhardt, S; McCallum, A; McDougall, C; Keenan, S; Rigby, P

    2015-11-01

    Clinicians working with youth with disabilities have acknowledged making friends as a commonly identified client goal. Clinicians find this goal difficult to address, as there are no measures that provide a breakdown of making friends into functional steps. In addition, research on friendship has traditionally focused on characteristics and quality of friendships rather than the friend-making process as a whole. A goal menu, comprised of a variety of steps that address the goal of making friends, would provide guidance to clinicians challenged with this goal in practice. To develop an understanding of the friend-making process as a first step towards the development of a goal menu for the goal of making friends. A literature review, youth focus group and expert clinician semi-structured interviews and consultation were used to generate a comprehensive data set. Established qualitative methods were used to sort and group the data into categories. A thematic analysis of the categories was performed. Analysis revealed four themes integral to the friend-making process: person factors influencing friend-making, making friend-making a priority, opportunity for friend-making and motivation to make friends. An additional theme identified as occasionally involved in the process was a little bit of luck in making friends. The themes generated by this research indicate that actionable target areas exist for the somewhat abstract notion of friend-making and the authors recommend that clinicians explore beyond person factors when addressing the goal of making friends. As a next step, the identified themes will provide the foundation for a goal menu, ultimately enabling clinicians to address the goal of making friends in a more efficient and effective manner. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  17. A Framework for Assessment of Aviation Safety Technology Portfolios

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Jones, Sharon M.; Reveley, Mary S.

    2014-01-01

    The programs within NASA's Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD) conduct research and development to improve the national air transportation system so that Americans can travel as safely as possible. NASA aviation safety systems analysis personnel support various levels of ARMD management in their fulfillment of system analysis and technology prioritization as defined in the agency's program and project requirements. This paper provides a framework for the assessment of aviation safety research and technology portfolios that includes metrics such as projected impact on current and future safety, technical development risk and implementation risk. The paper also contains methods for presenting portfolio analysis and aviation safety Bayesian Belief Network (BBN) output results to management using bubble charts and quantitative decision analysis techniques.

  18. ProgrammingRationalAgents in GOAL

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hindriks, Koen V.

    The agent programming language GOAL is a high-level programming language to program rational agents that derive their choice of action from their beliefsand goals. The language provides the basic building blocks to design and implementrationalagents by meansofa setofprogramming constructs. These programming constructs allow and facilitate the manipulation of an agent’sbeliefs and goals and to structure its decision-making. GOAL agents are called rational because they satisfy a numberof basic rationality constraints and because they decide to perform actions to further their goals based uponareasoning scheme derived from practical reasoning. The programming concepts of belief and goal incorporated into GOAL provide the basis for this form of reasoning and are similarto their common sense counterparts used everyday to explain the actions that we perform. In addition, GOAL provides the means for agents to focus their attention on specic goals and to communicate at the knowledge level. This provides an intuitive basis for writing high-level agent programs. At the same time these concepts and programming constructs have a well-dened, formal semantics. The formal semantics provides the basis for deninga verication framework for GOAL for verifying and reasoning about GOAL agents whichis similar to some of the wellknownagent logics introduced in the literature.

  19. Stability and Change in Social Goals as Related to Goal Structures and Engagement in School

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Madjar, Nir

    2017-01-01

    The current studies explored (a) the extended external validity of social-goal-orientation framework; (b) the mediating role of social goals between classroom goal structures and students' engagement; and (c) whether changes in social goals can be explained by classroom goal structures and engagement. Study 1 was cross-sectional (N = 317), and…

  20. Nuclear Safety. Technical progress journal, April--June 1996: Volume 37, No. 2

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

    Muhlheim, M D

    1996-01-01

    This journal covers significant issues in the field of nuclear safety. Its primary scope is safety in the design, construction, operation, and decommissioning of nuclear power reactors worldwide and the research and analysis activities that promote this goal, but it also encompasses the safety aspects of the entire nuclear fuel cycle, including fuel fabrication, spent-fuel processing and handling, nuclear waste disposal, the handling of fissionable materials and radioisotopes, and the environmental effects of all these activities.

  1. Exploring the state of health and safety management system performance measurement in mining organizations

    PubMed Central

    Haas, Emily Joy; Yorio, Patrick

    2016-01-01

    Complex arguments continue to be articulated regarding the theoretical foundation of health and safety management system (HSMS) performance measurement. The culmination of these efforts has begun to enhance a collective understanding. Despite this enhanced theoretical understanding, however, there are still continuing debates and little consensus. The goal of the current research effort was to empirically explore common methods to HSMS performance measurement in mining organizations. The purpose was to determine if value and insight could be added into the ongoing approaches of the best ways to engage in health and safety performance measurement. Nine site-level health and safety management professionals were provided with 133 practices corresponding to 20 HSMS elements, each fitting into the plan, do, check, act phases common to most HSMS. Participants were asked to supply detailed information as to how they (1) assess the performance of each practice in their organization, or (2) would assess each practice if it were an identified strategic imperative. Qualitative content analysis indicated that the approximately 1200 responses provided could be described and categorized into interventions, organizational performance, and worker performance. A discussion of how these categories relate to existing indicator frameworks is provided. The analysis also revealed divergence in two important measurement issues; (1) quantitative vs qualitative measurement and reporting; and (2) the primary use of objective or subjective metrics. In lieu of these findings we ultimately recommend a balanced measurement and reporting approach within the three metric categories and conclude with suggestions for future research. PMID:26823642

  2. Major accident prevention through applying safety knowledge management approach.

    PubMed

    Kalatpour, Omid

    2016-01-01

    Many scattered resources of knowledge are available to use for chemical accident prevention purposes. The common approach to management process safety, including using databases and referring to the available knowledge has some drawbacks. The main goal of this article was to devise a new emerged knowledge base (KB) for the chemical accident prevention domain. The scattered sources of safety knowledge were identified and scanned. Then, the collected knowledge was formalized through a computerized program. The Protégé software was used to formalize and represent the stored safety knowledge. The domain knowledge retrieved as well as data and information. This optimized approach improved safety and health knowledge management (KM) process and resolved some typical problems in the KM process. Upgrading the traditional resources of safety databases into the KBs can improve the interaction between the users and knowledge repository.

  3. An organizational process for promoting home fire safety in two community settings.

    PubMed

    Lehna, Carlee; Twyman, Stephanie; Fahey, Erin; Coty, Mary-Beth; Williams, Joe; Scrivener, Drane; Wishnia, Gracie; Myers, John

    2017-02-01

    The purpose of this study was to describe the home fire safety quality improvement model designed to aid organizations in achieving institutional program goals. The home fire safety model was developed from community-based participatory research (CBPR) applying training-the-trainer methods and is illustrated by an institutional case study. The model is applicable to other types of organizations to improve home fire safety in vulnerable populations. Utilizing the education model leaves trained employees with guided experience to build upon, adapt, and modify the home fire safety intervention to more effectively serve their clientele, promote safety, and meet organizational objectives. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd and ISBI. All rights reserved.

  4. Goal setting in psychotherapy: the relevance of approach and avoidance goals for treatment outcome.

    PubMed

    Wollburg, Eileen; Braukhaus, Christoph

    2010-07-01

    The present study is the first aimed at investigating the influence of goal definition on treatment outcome in a sample of depressed patients. Data from 657 inpatients admitted to a psychosomatic clinic in Germany being treated in a cognitive-behavioral therapy program were analyzed. Treatment goals were identified as either approach or avoidance, and the sample was classified accordingly. Patients who identified approach goals only were placed in the approach group, and those who identified at least one avoidance goal were placed in the avoidance group. Results showed that framing goals using avoidance terms was associated with less symptomatic improvement but did not affect goal attainment. Findings from this research should be utilized in practice not only for process management such as individual treatment planning but also to control outcome quality. Furthermore, goal definition should be considered as a control variable in research on depression.

  5. Safety and economic impact of Texas travel information centers.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2014-12-01

    The overall goal of this research was to develop a methodology and gather sufficient data to quantify the : impact of Texas Travel Information Center staff and services on the safety of travelers on Texas roadways. : Researchers used data and analyti...

  6. Social-Economic Factors, Student Factors, Student Academic Goals and Performance of Students in Institutions of Higher Learning in Uganda

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ngoma, Muhammed; Ntale, Peter Dithan; Abaho, Earnest

    2017-01-01

    This article evaluates the relationship between social-economic factors, students' factors, student academic goals and performance of students. The study adopts a cross-sectional survey, with largely quantitative approaches. A sample of 950 students was randomly and proportionately drawn from undergraduates in four institutions of higher learning.…

  7. Developing Probabilistic Safety Performance Margins for Unknown and Underappreciated Risks

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Benjamin, Allan; Dezfuli, Homayoon; Everett, Chris

    2015-01-01

    Probabilistic safety requirements currently formulated or proposed for space systems, nuclear reactor systems, nuclear weapon systems, and other types of systems that have a low-probability potential for high-consequence accidents depend on showing that the probability of such accidents is below a specified safety threshold or goal. Verification of compliance depends heavily upon synthetic modeling techniques such as PRA. To determine whether or not a system meets its probabilistic requirements, it is necessary to consider whether there are significant risks that are not fully considered in the PRA either because they are not known at the time or because their importance is not fully understood. The ultimate objective is to establish a reasonable margin to account for the difference between known risks and actual risks in attempting to validate compliance with a probabilistic safety threshold or goal. In this paper, we examine data accumulated over the past 60 years from the space program, from nuclear reactor experience, from aircraft systems, and from human reliability experience to formulate guidelines for estimating probabilistic margins to account for risks that are initially unknown or underappreciated. The formulation includes a review of the safety literature to identify the principal causes of such risks.

  8. Organizational climate determinants of resident safety culture in nursing homes.

    PubMed

    Arnetz, Judith E; Zhdanova, Ludmila S; Elsouhag, Dalia; Lichtenberg, Peter; Luborsky, Mark R; Arnetz, Bengt B

    2011-12-01

    In recent years, there has been an increasing focus on the role of safety culture in preventing costly adverse events, such as medication errors and falls, among nursing home residents. However, little is known regarding critical organizational determinants of a positive safety culture in nursing homes. The aim of this study was to identify organizational climate predictors of specific aspects of the staff-rated resident safety culture (RSC) in a sample of nursing homes. Staff at 4 Michigan nursing homes responded to a self-administered questionnaire measuring organizational climate and RSC. Multiple regression analyses were used to identify organizational climate factors that predicted the safety culture dimensions nonpunitive response to mistakes, communication about incidents, and compliance with procedures.  The organizational climate factors efficiency and work climate predicted nonpunitive response to mistakes (p < .001 for both scales) and compliance with procedures (p < .05 and p < .001 respectively). Work stress was an inverse predictor of compliance with procedures (p < .05). Goal clarity was the only significant predictor of communication about incidents (p < .05). Efficiency, work climate, work stress, and goal clarity are all malleable organizational factors that could feasibly be the focus of interventions to improve RSC. Future studies will examine whether these results can be replicated with larger samples.

  9. Determining Safety Inspection Thresholds for Employee Incentives Programs on Construction Sites

    PubMed Central

    Sparer, Emily; Dennerlein, Jack

    2017-01-01

    The goal of this project was to evaluate approaches of determining the numerical value of a safety inspection score that would activate a reward in an employee safety incentive program. Safety inspections are a reflection of the physical working conditions at a construction site and provide a safety score that can be used in incentive programs to reward workers. Yet it is unclear what level of safety should be used when implementing this kind of program. This study explored five ways of grouping safety inspection data collected during 19 months at Harvard University-owned construction projects. Each approach grouped the data by one of the following: owner, general contractor, project, trade, or subcontractor. The median value for each grouping provided the threshold score. These five approaches were then applied to data from a completed project in order to calculate the frequency and distribution of rewards in a monthly safety incentive program. The application of each approach was evaluated qualitatively for consistency, competitiveness, attainability, and fairness. The owner-specific approach resulted in a threshold score of 96.3% and met all of the qualitative evaluation goals. It had the most competitive reward distribution (only 1/3 of the project duration) yet it was also attainable. By treating all workers equally and maintaining the same value throughout the project duration, this approach was fair and consistent. The owner-based approach for threshold determination can be used by owners or general contractors when creating leading indicator incentives programs and by researchers in future studies on incentive program effectiveness. PMID:28638178

  10. Achievement goals affect metacognitive judgments

    PubMed Central

    Ikeda, Kenji; Yue, Carole L.; Murayama, Kou; Castel, Alan D.

    2017-01-01

    The present study examined the effect of achievement goals on metacognitive judgments, such as judgments of learning (JOLs) and metacomprehension judgments, and actual recall performance. We conducted five experiments manipulating the instruction of achievement goals. In each experiment, participants were instructed to adopt mastery-approach goals (i.e., develop their own mental ability through a memory task) or performance-approach goals (i.e., demonstrate their strong memory ability through getting a high score on a memory task). The results of Experiments 1 and 2 showed that JOLs of word pairs in the performance-approach goal condition tended to be higher than those in the mastery-approach goal condition. In contrast, cued recall performance did not differ between the two goal conditions. Experiment 3 also demonstrated that metacomprehension judgments of text passages were higher in the performance-approach goal condition than in the mastery-approach goals condition, whereas test performance did not differ between conditions. These findings suggest that achievement motivation affects metacognitive judgments during learning, even when achievement motivation does not influence actual performance. PMID:28983496

  11. Incorporating learning goals about modeling into an upper-division physics laboratory experiment

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zwickl, Benjamin M.; Finkelstein, Noah; Lewandowski, H. J.

    2014-09-01

    Implementing a laboratory activity involves a complex interplay among learning goals, available resources, feedback about the existing course, best practices for teaching, and an overall philosophy about teaching labs. Building on our previous work, which described a process of transforming an entire lab course, we now turn our attention to how an individual lab activity on the polarization of light was redesigned to include a renewed emphasis on one broad learning goal: modeling. By using this common optics lab as a concrete case study of a broadly applicable approach, we highlight many aspects of the activity development and show how modeling is used to integrate sophisticated conceptual and quantitative reasoning into the experimental process through the various aspects of modeling: constructing models, making predictions, interpreting data, comparing measurements with predictions, and refining models. One significant outcome is a natural way to integrate an analysis and discussion of systematic error into a lab activity.

  12. Materials-related issues in the safety and licensing of nuclear fusion facilities

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Taylor, N.; Merrill, B.; Cadwallader, L.; Di Pace, L.; El-Guebaly, L.; Humrickhouse, P.; Panayotov, D.; Pinna, T.; Porfiri, M.-T.; Reyes, S.; Shimada, M.; Willms, S.

    2017-09-01

    Fusion power holds the promise of electricity production with a high degree of safety and low environmental impact. Favourable characteristics of fusion as an energy source provide the potential for this very good safety and environmental performance. But to fully realize the potential, attention must be paid in the design of a demonstration fusion power plant (DEMO) or a commercial power plant to minimize the radiological hazards. These hazards arise principally from the inventory of tritium and from materials that become activated by neutrons from the plasma. The confinement of these radioactive substances, and prevention of radiation exposure, are the primary goals of the safety approach for fusion, in order to minimize the potential for harm to personnel, the public, and the environment. The safety functions that are implemented in the design to achieve these goals are dependent on the performance of a range of materials. Degradation of the properties of materials can lead to challenges to key safety functions such as confinement. In this paper the principal types of material that have some role in safety are recalled. These either represent a potential source of hazard or contribute to the amelioration of hazards; in each case the related issues are reviewed. The resolution of these issues lead, in some instances, to requirements on materials specifications or to limits on their performance.

  13. Hydrogen quantitative risk assessment workshop proceedings.

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

    Groth, Katrina M.; Harris, Aaron P.

    2013-09-01

    The Quantitative Risk Assessment (QRA) Toolkit Introduction Workshop was held at Energetics on June 11-12. The workshop was co-hosted by Sandia National Laboratories (Sandia) and HySafe, the International Association for Hydrogen Safety. The objective of the workshop was twofold: (1) Present a hydrogen-specific methodology and toolkit (currently under development) for conducting QRA to support the development of codes and standards and safety assessments of hydrogen-fueled vehicles and fueling stations, and (2) Obtain feedback on the needs of early-stage users (hydrogen as well as potential leveraging for Compressed Natural Gas [CNG], and Liquefied Natural Gas [LNG]) and set priorities for %E2%80%9CVersionmore » 1%E2%80%9D of the toolkit in the context of the commercial evolution of hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV). The workshop consisted of an introduction and three technical sessions: Risk Informed Development and Approach; CNG/LNG Applications; and Introduction of a Hydrogen Specific QRA Toolkit.« less

  14. A safety-based decision making architecture for autonomous systems

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Musto, Joseph C.; Lauderbaugh, L. K.

    1991-01-01

    Engineering systems designed specifically for space applications often exhibit a high level of autonomy in the control and decision-making architecture. As the level of autonomy increases, more emphasis must be placed on assimilating the safety functions normally executed at the hardware level or by human supervisors into the control architecture of the system. The development of a decision-making structure which utilizes information on system safety is detailed. A quantitative measure of system safety, called the safety self-information, is defined. This measure is analogous to the reliability self-information defined by McInroy and Saridis, but includes weighting of task constraints to provide a measure of both reliability and cost. An example is presented in which the safety self-information is used as a decision criterion in a mobile robot controller. The safety self-information is shown to be consistent with the entropy-based Theory of Intelligent Machines defined by Saridis.

  15. Self-regulation of goal setting: turning free fantasies about the future into binding goals.

    PubMed

    Oettingen, G; Pak, H; Schnetter, K

    2001-05-01

    Fantasy realization theory states that when people contrast their fantasies about a desired future with reflections on present reality, a necessity to act is induced that leads to the activation and use of relevant expectations. Strong goal commitment arises in light of favorable expectations, and weak goal commitment arises in light of unfavorable expectations. To the contrary, when people only fantasize about a desired future or only reflect on present reality, expectancy-independent moderate goal commitment emerges. Four experiments pertaining to various life domains supported these hypotheses. Strength of goal commitment was assessed in cognitive (e.g., making plans), affective (e.g., felt attachment), and behavioral terms (e.g., effort expenditure, quality of performance). Implications for theories on goal setting and goal striving are discussed.

  16. From goal motivation to goal progress: the mediating role of coping in the Self-Concordance Model.

    PubMed

    Gaudreau, Patrick; Carraro, Natasha; Miranda, Dave

    2012-01-01

    The present studies examined the mediating role of self-regulatory mechanisms in the relationship between goal motivation and goal progress in the Self-Concordance Model. First, a systematic review, using meta-analytical path analysis, supported the mediating role of effort and action planning in the positive association between autonomous goal motivation and goal progress. Second, results from two additional empirical studies, using structural equation modeling, lent credence to the mediating role of coping in the relationship between goal motivation and goal progress of university students. Autonomous goal motivation was positively associated with task-oriented coping, which predicted greater goal progress during midterm exams (Study 1, N=702) and at the end of the semester in a different sample (Study 2, N=167). Controlled goal motivation was associated with greater disengagement-oriented coping (Study 1 and Study 2) and lesser use of task-oriented coping (Study 2), which reduced goal progress. These results held up after controlling for perceived stress (Study 2). Our findings highlight the importance of coping in the "inception-to-attainment" goal process because autonomous goal motivation indirectly rather than directly predicts goal progress of university students through their usage of task-oriented coping.

  17. Innovative safety valve selection techniques and data.

    PubMed

    Miller, Curt; Bredemyer, Lindsey

    2007-04-11

    The new valve data resources and modeling tools that are available today are instrumental in verifying that that safety levels are being met in both current installations and project designs. If the new ISA 84 functional safety practices are followed closely, good industry validated data used, and a user's maintenance integrity program strictly enforced, plants should feel confident that their design has been quantitatively reinforced. After 2 years of exhaustive reliability studies, there are now techniques and data available to support this safety system component deficiency. Everyone who has gone through the process of safety integrity level (SIL) verification (i.e. reliability math) will appreciate the progress made in this area. The benefits of these advancements are improved safety with lower lifecycle costs such as lower capital investment and/or longer testing intervals. This discussion will start with a review of the different valve, actuator, and solenoid/positioner combinations that can be used and their associated application restraints. Failure rate reliability studies (i.e. FMEDA) and data associated with the final combinations will then discussed. Finally, the impact of the selections on each safety system's SIL verification will be reviewed.

  18. Closed medical negligence claims can drive patient safety and reduce litigation.

    PubMed

    Pegalis, Steven E; Bal, B Sonny

    2012-05-01

    Medical liability reform is viewed by many physician groups as a means of reducing medical malpractice litigation and lowering healthcare costs. However, alternative approaches such as closed medical negligence claims data may also achieve these goals. We asked whether information gleaned from closed claims related to medical negligence could promote patient safety and reduce costs related to medical liability. Specifically, we investigated whether physician groups have examined such data to identify error patterns and to then institute specific patient treatment protocols. We searched for medical societies that have systematically examined closed medical negligence claims in their specialty to develop specific standards of physician conduct. We then searched the medical literature for published evidence of the efficacy, if any, related to the patient safety measures thus developed. Anesthesia and obstetric physician societies have successfully targeted costs and related concerns arising from medical malpractice lawsuits by using data from closed claims to develop patient safety and treatment guidelines. In both specialties, after institution of safety measures derived from closed medical negligence claims, the incidence and costs related to medical malpractice decreased and physician satisfaction improved. Tort reform, in the form of legislatively prescribed limits on damages arising from lawsuits, is not the only means of addressing the incidence and costs related to medical malpractice litigation. As the experience of anesthesia and obstetric physicians has demonstrated, safety guidelines derived from analyzing past medical malpractice litigation can achieve the same goals while also promoting patient safety.

  19. Establishing Community College Goals.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Leeson, Marjorie

    In 1975, Delta College began a project to prepare a set of institutional goals and a mission statement for consideration and adoption by the college Senate and Board of Trustees, and to identify those goals that should take priority over the following five years. All areas of the college were represented on the goal development committee, and to…

  20. PRACA Enhancement Pilot Study Report: Engineering for Complex Systems Program (formerly Design for Safety), DFS-IC-0006

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Korsmeyer, David; Schreiner, John

    2002-01-01

    This technology evaluation report documents the findings and recommendations of the Engineering for Complex Systems Program (formerly Design for Safety) PRACA Enhancement Pilot Study of the Space Shuttle Program's (SSP's) Problem Reporting and Corrective Action (PRACA) System. A team at NASA Ames Research Center (ARC) performed this Study. This Study was initiated as a follow-on to the NASA chartered Shuttle Independent Assessment Team (SIAT) review (performed in the Fall of 1999) which identified deficiencies in the current PRACA implementation. The Pilot Study was launched with an initial qualitative assessment and technical review performed during January 2000 with the quantitative formal Study (the subject of this report) started in March 2000. The goal of the PRACA Enhancement Pilot Study is to evaluate and quantify the technical aspects of the SSP PRACA systems and recommend enhancements to address deficiencies and in preparation for future system upgrades.

  1. Predicting race performance in triathlon: the role of perfectionism, achievement goals, and personal goal setting.

    PubMed

    Stoeber, Joachim; Uphill, Mark A; Hotham, Sarah

    2009-04-01

    The question of how perfectionism affects performance is highly debated. Because empirical studies examining perfectionism and competitive sport performance are missing, the present research investigated how perfectionism affected race performance and what role athletes' goals played in this relationship in two prospective studies with competitive triathletes (Study 1: N = 112; Study 2: N = 321). Regression analyses showed that perfectionistic personal standards, high performance-approach goals, low performance-avoidance goals, and high personal goals predicted race performance beyond athletes' performance level. Moreover, the contrast between performance-avoidance and performance-approach goals mediated the relationship between perfectionistic personal standards and performance, whereas personal goal setting mediated the relationship between performance-approach goals and performance. The findings indicate that perfectionistic personal standards do not undermine competitive performance, but are associated with goals that help athletes achieve their best possible performance.

  2. Students' Achievement Goal Orientations and Their Behavioral and Emotional Engagement: Co-Examining the Role of Perceived School Goal Structures and Parent Goals during Adolescence

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gonida, Eleftheria N.; Voulala, Katerina; Kiosseoglou, Grigoris

    2009-01-01

    The role of perceived school goal structures and parent goals in predicting adolescents' goal orientations and their behavioral and emotional engagement in the classroom was examined in the present study. Surveys were given to a sample of 271 seventh- and ninth-grade students. Path analyses showed that (a) perceived school mastery goal structures…

  3. A relational leadership perspective on unit-level safety climate.

    PubMed

    Thompson, Debra N; Hoffman, Leslie A; Sereika, Susan M; Lorenz, Holly L; Wolf, Gail A; Burns, Helen K; Minnier, Tamra E; Ramanujam, Rangaraj

    2011-11-01

    This study compared nursing staff perceptions of safety climate in clinical units characterized by high and low ratings of leader-member exchange (LMX) and explored characteristics that might account for differences. Frontline nursing leaders' actions are critical to ensure patient safety. Specific leadership behaviors to achieve this goal are underexamined. The LMX perspective has shown promise in nonhealthcare settings as a means to explain safety climate perceptions. Cross-sectional survey of staff (n = 711) and unit directors from 34 inpatient units in an academic medical center was conducted. Significant differences were found between high and low LMX scoring units on supervisor safety expectations, organizational learning-continuous improvement, total communication, feedback and communication about errors, and nonpunitive response to errors. The LMX perspective can be used to identify differences in perceptions of safety climate among nursing staff. Future studies are needed to identify strategies to improve staff safety attitudes and behaviors. Copyright © 2011 Wolters Kluwer Health | Lippincott Williams & Wilkins

  4. Preliminary Results Obtained in Integrated Safety Analysis of NASA Aviation Safety Program Technologies

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Reveley, Mary S.

    2003-01-01

    The goal of the NASA Aviation Safety Program (AvSP) is to develop and demonstrate technologies that contribute to a reduction in the aviation fatal accident rate by a factor of 5 by the year 2007 and by a factor of 10 by the year 2022. Integrated safety analysis of day-to-day operations and risks within those operations will provide an understanding of the Aviation Safety Program portfolio. Safety benefits analyses are currently being conducted. Preliminary results for the Synthetic Vision Systems (SVS) and Weather Accident Prevention (WxAP) projects of the AvSP have been completed by the Logistics Management Institute under a contract with the NASA Glenn Research Center. These analyses include both a reliability analysis and a computer simulation model. The integrated safety analysis method comprises two principal components: a reliability model and a simulation model. In the reliability model, the results indicate how different technologies and systems will perform in normal, degraded, and failed modes of operation. In the simulation, an operational scenario is modeled. The primary purpose of the SVS project is to improve safety by providing visual-flightlike situation awareness during instrument conditions. The current analyses are an estimate of the benefits of SVS in avoiding controlled flight into terrain. The scenario modeled has an aircraft flying directly toward a terrain feature. When the flight crew determines that the aircraft is headed toward an obstruction, the aircraft executes a level turn at speed. The simulation is ended when the aircraft completes the turn.

  5. Improving Safety through Human Factors Engineering.

    PubMed

    Siewert, Bettina; Hochman, Mary G

    2015-10-01

    Human factors engineering (HFE) focuses on the design and analysis of interactive systems that involve people, technical equipment, and work environment. HFE is informed by knowledge of human characteristics. It complements existing patient safety efforts by specifically taking into consideration that, as humans, frontline staff will inevitably make mistakes. Therefore, the systems with which they interact should be designed for the anticipation and mitigation of human errors. The goal of HFE is to optimize the interaction of humans with their work environment and technical equipment to maximize safety and efficiency. Special safeguards include usability testing, standardization of processes, and use of checklists and forcing functions. However, the effectiveness of the safety program and resiliency of the organization depend on timely reporting of all safety events independent of patient harm, including perceived potential risks, bad outcomes that occur even when proper protocols have been followed, and episodes of "improvisation" when formal guidelines are found not to exist. Therefore, an institution must adopt a robust culture of safety, where the focus is shifted from blaming individuals for errors to preventing future errors, and where barriers to speaking up-including barriers introduced by steep authority gradients-are minimized. This requires creation of formal guidelines to address safety concerns, establishment of unified teams with open communication and shared responsibility for patient safety, and education of managers and senior physicians to perceive the reporting of safety concerns as a benefit rather than a threat. © RSNA, 2015.

  6. A human factors engineering paradigm for patient safety: designing to support the performance of the healthcare professional

    PubMed Central

    Karsh, B‐T; Holden, R J; Alper, S J; Or, C K L

    2006-01-01

    The goal of improving patient safety has led to a number of paradigms for directing improvement efforts. The main paradigms to date have focused on reducing injuries, reducing errors, or improving evidence based practice. In this paper a human factors engineering paradigm is proposed that focuses on designing systems to improve the performance of healthcare professionals and to reduce hazards. Both goals are necessary, but neither is sufficient to improve safety. We suggest that the road to patient and employee safety runs through the healthcare professional who delivers care. To that end, several arguments are provided to show that designing healthcare delivery systems to support healthcare professional performance and hazard reduction should yield significant patient safety benefits. The concepts of human performance and hazard reduction are explained. PMID:17142611

  7. Fault tree applications within the safety program of Idaho Nuclear Corporation

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Vesely, W. E.

    1971-01-01

    Computerized fault tree analyses are used to obtain both qualitative and quantitative information about the safety and reliability of an electrical control system that shuts the reactor down when certain safety criteria are exceeded, in the design of a nuclear plant protection system, and in an investigation of a backup emergency system for reactor shutdown. The fault tree yields the modes by which the system failure or accident will occur, the most critical failure or accident causing areas, detailed failure probabilities, and the response of safety or reliability to design modifications and maintenance schemes.

  8. Behavior-based safety on construction sites: a case study.

    PubMed

    Choudhry, Rafiq M

    2014-09-01

    This work presents the results of a case study and describes an important area within the field of construction safety management, namely behavior-based safety (BBS). This paper adopts and develops a management approach for safety improvements in construction site environments. A rigorous behavioral safety system and its intervention program was implemented and deployed on target construction sites. After taking a few weeks of safety behavior measurements, the project management team implemented the designed intervention and measurements were taken. Goal-setting sessions were arranged on-site with workers' participation to set realistic and attainable targets of performance. Safety performance measurements continued and the levels of performance and the targets were presented on feedback charts. Supervisors were asked to give workers recognition and praise when they acted safely or improved critical behaviors. Observers were requested to have discussions with workers, visit the site, distribute training materials to workers, and provide feedback to crews and display charts. They were required to talk to operatives in the presence of line managers. It was necessary to develop awareness and understanding of what was being measured. In the process, operatives learned how to act safely when conducting site tasks using the designed checklists. Current weekly scores were discussed in the weekly safety meetings and other operational site meetings with emphasis on how to achieve set targets. The reliability of the safety performance measures taken by the company's observers was monitored. A clear increase in safety performance level was achieved across all categories: personal protective equipment; housekeeping; access to heights; plant and equipment, and scaffolding. The research reveals that scores of safety performance at one project improved from 86% (at the end of 3rd week) to 92.9% during the 9th week. The results of intervention demonstrated large decreases in

  9. Distance-based microfluidic quantitative detection methods for point-of-care testing.

    PubMed

    Tian, Tian; Li, Jiuxing; Song, Yanling; Zhou, Leiji; Zhu, Zhi; Yang, Chaoyong James

    2016-04-07

    Equipment-free devices with quantitative readout are of great significance to point-of-care testing (POCT), which provides real-time readout to users and is especially important in low-resource settings. Among various equipment-free approaches, distance-based visual quantitative detection methods rely on reading the visual signal length for corresponding target concentrations, thus eliminating the need for sophisticated instruments. The distance-based methods are low-cost, user-friendly and can be integrated into portable analytical devices. Moreover, such methods enable quantitative detection of various targets by the naked eye. In this review, we first introduce the concept and history of distance-based visual quantitative detection methods. Then, we summarize the main methods for translation of molecular signals to distance-based readout and discuss different microfluidic platforms (glass, PDMS, paper and thread) in terms of applications in biomedical diagnostics, food safety monitoring, and environmental analysis. Finally, the potential and future perspectives are discussed.

  10. Nuclear Safety. Technical progress journal, January--March 1994: Volume 35, No. 1

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

    Silver, E G

    1994-01-01

    This is a journal that covers significant issues in the field of nuclear safety. Its primary scope is safety in the design, construction, operation, and decommissioning of nuclear power reactors worldwide and the research and analysis activities that promote this goal, but it also encompasses the safety aspects of the entire nuclear fuel cycle, including fuel fabrication, spent-fuel processing and handling, and nuclear waste disposal, the handling of fissionable materials and radioisotopes, and the environmental effects of all these activities.

  11. Is Colombia reaching the goals on infant immunization coverage? A quantitative survey from 80 municipalities.

    PubMed

    Narváez, Javier; Osorio, May Bibiana; Castañeda-Orjuela, Carlos; Alvis Zakzuk, Nelson; Cediel, Natalia; Chocontá-Piraquive, Luz Ángela; de La Hoz-Restrepo, Fernando

    2017-03-13

    This study aimed to evaluate the coverage of the Colombian Expanded Program on Immunization among children less than 6years old, to evaluate the timeliness of immunization, to assess the coverage of newly introduced vaccines, and to identify factors associated with lack of immunization. We conducted a cross-sectional survey in 80 municipalities of Colombia, using a two-stage cluster random sampling. We attempted to contact all children less than 6years old living in the sampled blocks, and asked their caregivers to provide immunization record cards. We also collected basic sociodemographic information. We reached 81% of the attempted household contacts, identifying 18,232 children; of them, 14,805 (83%) had an immunization record card. Coverage for traditional vaccines was above 90%: BCG (tuberculosis) 95.7% (95%CI: 95.1-96.4), pentavalent vaccine 93.3% (92.4-94.3), MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) initial dose 94.5% (93.5-95.6); but it was lower for recently introduced vaccines: rotavirus 80% (77.8-82.1), influenza 48.4% (45.9-50.8). Results for timely vaccination were not equally successful: pentavalent vaccine 44.2% (41.4-47.1), MMR initial dose 71.2% (68.9-73.4). Mother's education was significantly associated with higher immunization odds. Older age, a greater number of siblings, low socioeconomic status, and not having health insurance were significantly associated with lower immunization odds. There was significant heterogeneity in immunization rates by municipality across the country. Although absolute immunization coverage for traditional vaccines met the goal of 90% for the 80 municipalities combined, disparities in coverage across municipalities, delayed immunization, and decline of coverage with age, are common problems in Colombia that may result in reduced protection. Newly introduced vaccines require additional efforts to reach the goal. These results highlight the association of health inequities with low immunization coverage and delayed immunization

  12. MISSION: Mission and Safety Critical Support Environment. Executive overview

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Mckay, Charles; Atkinson, Colin

    1992-01-01

    For mission and safety critical systems it is necessary to: improve definition, evolution and sustenance techniques; lower development and maintenance costs; support safe, timely and affordable system modifications; and support fault tolerance and survivability. The goal of the MISSION project is to lay the foundation for a new generation of integrated systems software providing a unified infrastructure for mission and safety critical applications and systems. This will involve the definition of a common, modular target architecture and a supporting infrastructure.

  13. Evaluation of bypass lane safety, operations, and design in Kansas.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2015-08-01

    The construction of bypass lanes at rural intersections has typically been considered a low-cost highway safety : improvement by the transportation community. However, this needs to be quantitatively evaluated so that decisions can be made : on wheth...

  14. Safety analysis, risk assessment, and risk acceptance criteria

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

    Jamali, K.; Stack, D.W.; Sullivan, L.H.

    1997-08-01

    This paper discusses a number of topics that relate safety analysis as documented in the Department of Energy (DOE) safety analysis reports (SARs), probabilistic risk assessments (PRA) as characterized primarily in the context of the techniques that have assumed some level of formality in commercial nuclear power plant applications, and risk acceptance criteria as an outgrowth of PRA applications. DOE SARs of interest are those that are prepared for DOE facilities under DOE Order 5480.23 and the implementing guidance in DOE STD-3009-94. It must be noted that the primary area of application for DOE STD-3009 is existing DOE facilities andmore » that certain modifications of the STD-3009 approach are necessary in SARs for new facilities. Moreover, it is the hazard analysis (HA) and accident analysis (AA) portions of these SARs that are relevant to the present discussions. Although PRAs can be qualitative in nature, PRA as used in this paper refers more generally to all quantitative risk assessments and their underlying methods. HA as used in this paper refers more generally to all qualitative risk assessments and their underlying methods that have been in use in hazardous facilities other than nuclear power plants. This discussion includes both quantitative and qualitative risk assessment methods. PRA has been used, improved, developed, and refined since the Reactor Safety Study (WASH-1400) was published in 1975 by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). Much debate has ensued since WASH-1400 on exactly what the role of PRA should be in plant design, reactor licensing, `ensuring` plant and process safety, and a large number of other decisions that must be made for potentially hazardous activities. Of particular interest in this area is whether the risks quantified using PRA should be compared with numerical risk acceptance criteria (RACs) to determine whether a facility is `safe.` Use of RACs requires quantitative estimates of consequence frequency and magnitude.« less

  15. An overview of the safety pharmacology society strategic plan.

    PubMed

    Pugsley, M K; Authier, S; Koerner, J E; Redfern, W S; Markgraf, C G; Brabham, T; Correll, K; Soloviev, M V; Botchway, A; Engwall, M; Traebert, M; Valentin, J-P; Mow, T J; Greiter-Wilke, A; Leishman, D J; Vargas, H M

    2018-01-09

    Safety Pharmacology studies are conducted to characterize the confidence by which biologically active new chemical entities (NCE) may be anticipated as safe. Non-clinical safety pharmacology studies aim to detect and characterize potentially undesirable pharmacodynamic activities using an array of in silico, in vitro and in vivo animal models. While a broad spectrum of methodological innovation and advancement of the science occurs within the Safety Pharmacology Society, the society also focuses on partnerships with health authorities and technology providers and facilitates interaction with organizations of common interest such as pharmacology, physiology, neuroscience, cardiology and toxicology. Education remains a primary emphasis for the society through content derived from regional and annual meetings, webinars and publication of its works it seeks to inform the general scientific and regulatory community. In considering the future of safety pharmacology the society has developed a strategy to successfully navigate forward and not be mired in stagnation of the discipline. Strategy can be defined in numerous ways but generally involves establishing and setting goals, determining what actions are needed to achieve those goals, and mobilizing resources within the society to accomplish the actions. The discipline remains in rapid evolution and its coverage is certain to expand to provide better guidance for more systems in the next few years. This overview from the Safety Pharmacology Society will outline the strategic plan from 2016 to 2018 and beyond and provide insight into the future of the discipline which builds upon a previous strategic plan established in 2009. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  16. Generalized implementation of software safety policies

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Knight, John C.; Wika, Kevin G.

    1994-01-01

    As part of a research program in the engineering of software for safety-critical systems, we are performing two case studies. The first case study, which is well underway, is a safety-critical medical application. The second, which is just starting, is a digital control system for a nuclear research reactor. Our goal is to use these case studies to permit us to obtain a better understanding of the issues facing developers of safety-critical systems, and to provide a vehicle for the assessment of research ideas. The case studies are not based on the analysis of existing software development by others. Instead, we are attempting to create software for new and novel systems in a process that ultimately will involve all phases of the software lifecycle. In this abstract, we summarize our results to date in a small part of this project, namely the determination and classification of policies related to software safety that must be enforced to ensure safe operation. We hypothesize that this classification will permit a general approach to the implementation of a policy enforcement mechanism.

  17. Effectiveness of health and safety in small enterprises: a systematic review of quantitative evaluations of interventions.

    PubMed

    Breslin, F Curtis; Kyle, Natasha; Bigelow, Philip; Irvin, Emma; Morassaei, Sara; MacEachen, Ellen; Mahood, Quenby; Couban, Rachel; Shannon, Harry; Amick, Benjamin C

    2010-06-01

    This systematic review was conducted to identify effective occupational health and safety interventions for small businesses. The review focused on peer-reviewed intervention studies conducted in small businesses with 100 or fewer employees, that were published in English and several other languages, and that were not limited by publication date. Multidisciplinary members of the review team identified relevant articles and assessed their quality. Studies assessed as medium or high quality had data extracted, which was then synthesized. Five studies were deemed of medium or high quality, and proceeded to data extraction and evidence synthesis. The types of interventions identified: a combination of training and safety audits; and a combination of engineering, training, safety audits, and a motivational component, showed a limited amount of evidence in improving safety outcomes. Overall, this evidence synthesis found a moderate level of evidence for intervention effectiveness, and found no evidence that any intervention had adverse effects. Even though there were few studies that adequately evaluated small business intervention, several studies demonstrate that well-designed evaluations are possible with small businesses. While stronger levels of evidence are required to make recommendations, these interventions noted above were associated with positive changes in safety-related attitudes and beliefs and workplace parties should be aware of them.

  18. Social-Cognitive Predictors of STEM Career Interests and Goal Persistence in College Students with Disabilities from Racial and Ethnic Minority Backgrounds

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    da Silva Cardoso, Elizabeth; Dutta, Alo; Chiu, Chung-Yi; Johnson, Ebonee T.; Kundu, Madan; Chan, Fong D.

    2013-01-01

    Objective: To examine the relations of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics's (STEM) self-efficacy, outcome expectations, interests, and contextual supports and barriers to STEM educational goals in college students with disabilities from racial and ethnic minority backgrounds. Design: Quantitative descriptive research design using…

  19. Four-hour quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction-based comprehensive chromosome screening and accumulating evidence of accuracy, safety, predictive value, and clinical efficacy.

    PubMed

    Treff, Nathan R; Scott, Richard T

    2013-03-15

    Embryonic comprehensive chromosomal euploidy may represent a powerful biomarker to improve the success of IVF. However, there are a number of aneuploidy screening strategies to consider, including different technologic platforms with which to interrogate the embryonic DNA, and different embryonic developmental stages from which DNA can be analyzed. Although there are advantages and disadvantages associated with each strategy, a series of experiments producing evidence of accuracy, safety, clinical predictive value, and clinical efficacy indicate that trophectoderm biopsy and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR)-based comprehensive chromosome screening (CCS) may represent a useful strategy to improve the success of IVF. This Biomarkers in Reproductive Medicine special issue review summarizes the accumulated experience with the development and clinical application of a 4-hour blastocyst qPCR-based CCS technology. Copyright © 2013 American Society for Reproductive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  20. Personal goals as predictors of intended classroom goals: comparing elementary and secondary school pre-service teachers.

    PubMed

    Daniels, Lia M; Frenzel, Anne C; Stupnisky, Robert H; Stewart, Tara L; Perry, Raymond P

    2013-09-01

    The literature documents fewer classroom mastery goal structures in secondary school compared to elementary. However, little is known about how personal achievement goals may influence classroom goal structures. This is especially true at the level of pre-service teachers. Our objective was to investigate if pre-service teachers' personal goals predicted their intended classroom goal structures. Participants were 125 elementary and 175 secondary school pre-service teachers from two Western Canadian universities. Structural equation modelling was used to examine if the structural relationships and latent means of personal and intended classroom goal structures differed for elementary and secondary school pre-service teachers. The results revealed that personal goals predicted the goal structures that pre-service teachers intended to establish; however, the relationships and means differed between elementary and secondary school pre-service teachers. Specifically, personal mastery-approach goals positively predicted classroom mastery goals much more strongly at the elementary than the secondary level. Furthermore, elementary pre-service teachers had significantly higher latent mean scores on personal mastery-approach goals than their secondary counterparts. It seems possible that the currently documented differences between classroom goal structures noted for elementary compared to secondary school may be based on the personal goals endorsed as pre-service teachers. The results are further discussed in terms of alignment with research on practising teachers' personal and classroom goals and implications for teacher education. © 2012 The British Psychological Society.

  1. Social Goals and Well-Being

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    King, Ronnel B.

    2017-01-01

    Students have various social reasons for doing well in school (social-academic goals). However, most studies have focused on competence-oriented achievement goals with little attention paid to social-academic goals. This study aims to examine the role of social-academic goals in students' general well-being (Study 1) and socioemotional functioning…

  2. Goal striving, goal attainment, and well-being: adapting and testing the self-concordance model in sport.

    PubMed

    Smith, Alison; Ntoumanis, Nikos; Duda, Joan

    2007-12-01

    Grounded in self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985) and the self-concordance model (Sheldon & Elliot, 1999), this study examined the motivational processes underlying goal striving in sport as well as the role of perceived coach autonomy support in the goal process. Structural equation modeling with a sample of 210 British athletes showed that autonomous goal motives positively predicted effort, which, in turn, predicted goal attainment. Goal attainment was positively linked to need satisfaction, which, in turn, predicted psychological well-being. Effort and need satisfaction were found to mediate the associations between autonomous motives and goal attainment and between attainment and well-being, respectively. Controlled motives negatively predicted well-being, and coach autonomy support positively predicted both autonomous motives and need satisfaction. Associations of autonomous motives with effort were not reducible to goal difficulty, goal specificity, or goal efficacy. These findings support the self-concordance model as a framework for further research on goal setting in sport.

  3. Alcohol myopia and goal commitment

    PubMed Central

    Sevincer, A. Timur; Oettingen, Gabriele

    2014-01-01

    According to alcohol myopia theory, acute alcohol consumption leads people to disproportionally focus on the salient rather than the peripheral aspects of a situation. We summarize various studies exploring how myopic processes resulting from acute alcohol intake affect goal commitment. After consuming alcohol student participants felt strongly committed to an important personal goal even though they had low expectations of successfully attaining the goal. However, once intoxicated participants were sober again (i.e., not myopic anymore) they failed to act on their goal commitment. In line with alcohol myopia theory, strong goal commitment as a result of alcohol intake was mediated by intoxicated (vs. sober) participants disproportionally focusing on the desirability rather than the feasibility of their goal. Further supporting alcohol myopia theory, when the low feasibility of attaining a particular goal was experimentally made salient (either explicitly or implicitly by subliminal priming), intoxicated participants felt less committed than those who consumed a placebo. We discuss these effects of acute alcohol intake in the context of research on the effects of chronic alcohol consumption on goal commitment. PMID:24624106

  4. Safety assessment in plant layout design using indexing approach: implementing inherent safety perspective. Part 1 - guideword applicability and method description.

    PubMed

    Tugnoli, Alessandro; Khan, Faisal; Amyotte, Paul; Cozzani, Valerio

    2008-12-15

    Layout planning plays a key role in the inherent safety performance of process plants since this design feature controls the possibility of accidental chain-events and the magnitude of possible consequences. A lack of suitable methods to promote the effective implementation of inherent safety in layout design calls for the development of new techniques and methods. In the present paper, a safety assessment approach suitable for layout design in the critical early phase is proposed. The concept of inherent safety is implemented within this safety assessment; the approach is based on an integrated assessment of inherent safety guideword applicability within the constraints typically present in layout design. Application of these guidewords is evaluated along with unit hazards and control devices to quantitatively map the safety performance of different layout options. Moreover, the economic aspects related to safety and inherent safety are evaluated by the method. Specific sub-indices are developed within the integrated safety assessment system to analyze and quantify the hazard related to domino effects. The proposed approach is quick in application, auditable and shares a common framework applicable in other phases of the design lifecycle (e.g. process design). The present work is divided in two parts: Part 1 (current paper) presents the application of inherent safety guidelines in layout design and the index method for safety assessment; Part 2 (accompanying paper) describes the domino hazard sub-index and demonstrates the proposed approach with a case study, thus evidencing the introduction of inherent safety features in layout design.

  5. EFL reading goals of grade 11 students across public and non-public schools in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

    PubMed

    Ferede, Tekle; Nchindila, B M

    2017-09-01

    This study investigated the EFL reading goals of Grade 11 students across public and non-public schools in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. To this end, quantitative data were collected from 556 (375 public and 181 non-public) students via pre-tested structured questionnaire and analyzed into means, medians, standard deviations, ranges and Mann-Whitney U test scores. The results show that non-public school students were found better than public school students in possessing components of both extrinsic and intrinsic goals for reading. The notable exception in this regard is that public school students had higher social motivation for reading than their non-public school counterparts. Based on this finding, it has been concluded that non-public school students have a better chance of evolving as persistent self-initiated EFL readers since they have various goals which urge them to engage in reading a range of texts. It is thus recommended that English language teachers in public schools should constantly take actions to enable their students to develop appropriate EFL reading goals.

  6. Safety and Utility of Quantitative Sensory Testing among Adults with Sickle Cell Disease: Indicators of Neuropathic Pain?

    PubMed Central

    Ezenwa, Miriam O.; Molokie, Robert E.; Wang, Zaijie Jim; Yao, Yingwei; Suarez, Marie L.; Pullum, Cherese; Schlaeger, Judith M.; Fillingim, Roger B.; Wilkie, Diana J.

    2014-01-01

    Objectives Pain is the hallmark symptom of sickle cell disease (SCD), yet the types of pain that these patients experience, and the underlying mechanisms, have not been well characterized. The study purpose was to determine the safety and utility of a mechanical and thermal quantitative sensory testing (QST) protocol and the feasibility of utilizing neuropathic pain questionnaires among adults with SCD. Methods A convenience sample (N=25, 18 women, mean age 38.5 ± 12.5 [20–58 years]) completed self-report pain and quality-of-life tools. Subjects also underwent testing with the TSA-II NeuroSensory Analyzer and calibrated von Frey microfilaments. Results We found that the QST protocol was safe and did not stimulate a SCD pain crisis. There was evidence of central sensitization (n=15), peripheral sensitization (n=1), a mix of central and peripheral sensitization (n=8), or no sensitization (n=1). The neuropathic pain self-report tools were feasible with evidence of construct validity; 40% of the subjects reported S-LANSS scores that were indicative of neuropathic pain and had evidence of central, peripheral or mixed sensitization. Discussion The QST protocol can be safely conducted in adults with SCD and provides evidence of central or peripheral sensitization, which is consistent with a neuropathic component to SCD pain. These findings are novel, warrant a larger confirmatory study, and indicate the need for normative QST data from African American adults and older adults. PMID:25581383

  7. A conceptual framework for road safety and mobility applied to cycling safety.

    PubMed

    Schepers, Paul; Hagenzieker, Marjan; Methorst, Rob; van Wee, Bert; Wegman, Fred

    2014-01-01

    Scientific literature lacks a model which combines exposure to risk, risk, and the relationship between them. This paper presents a conceptual road safety framework comprising mutually interacting factors for exposure to risk resulting from travel behaviour (volumes, modal split, and distribution of traffic over time and space) and for risk (crash and injury risk). The framework's three determinants for travel behaviour are locations of activities; resistances (generalized transport costs); needs, opportunities, and abilities. Crash and injury risks are modelled by the three 'safety pillars': infrastructure, road users and the vehicles they use. Creating a link in the framework between risk and exposure is important because of the 'non-linear relationship' between them, i.e. risk tends to decrease as exposure increases. Furthermore, 'perceived' risk (a type of travel resistance) plays a role in mode choice, i.e. the perception that a certain type of vehicle is unsafe can be a deterrent to its use. This paper uses theories to explain how the elements in the model interact. Cycling is an area where governments typically have goals for both mobility and safety. To exemplify application of the model, the paper uses the framework to link research on cycling (safety) to land use and infrastructure. The model's value lies in its ability to identify potential consequences of measures and policies for both exposure and risk. This is important from a scientific perspective and for policy makers who often have objectives for both mobility and safety. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  8. Malleability in communal goals and beliefs influences attraction to stem careers: evidence for a goal congruity perspective.

    PubMed

    Diekman, Amanda B; Clark, Emily K; Johnston, Amanda M; Brown, Elizabeth R; Steinberg, Mia

    2011-11-01

    The goal congruity perspective posits that 2 distinct social cognitions predict attraction to science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) fields. First, individuals may particularly value communal goals (e.g., working with or helping others), due to either chronic individual differences or the salience of these goals in particular contexts. Second, individuals hold beliefs about the activities that facilitate or impede these goals, or goal affordance stereotypes. Women's tendency to endorse communal goals more highly than do men, along with consensual stereotypes that STEM careers impede communal goals, intersect to produce disinterest in STEM careers. We provide evidence for the foundational predictions that gender differences emerge primarily on communal rather than agentic goals (Studies 1a and 3) and that goal affordance stereotypes reflect beliefs that STEM careers are relatively dissociated from communal goals (Studies 1b and 1c). Most critically, we provide causal evidence that activated communal goals decrease interest in STEM fields (Study 2) and that the potential for a STEM career to afford communal goals elicits greater positivity (Study 3). These studies thus provide a novel demonstration that understanding communal goals and goal affordance stereotypes can lend insight into attitudes toward STEM pursuits.

  9. Some evidence for the usefulness of an optimal foraging theory perspective on goal conflict and goal facilitation.

    PubMed

    Tomasik, Martin J; Knecht, Michaela; Freund, Alexandra M

    2017-12-01

    Based on optimal foraging theory, we propose a metric that allows evaluating the goodness of goal systems, that is, systems comprising multiple goals with facilitative and conflicting interrelations. This optimal foraging theory takes into account expectancy and value, as well as opportunity costs, of foraging. Applying this approach to goal systems provides a single index of goodness of a goal system for goal striving. Three quasi-experimental studies (N = 277, N = 145, and N = 210) provide evidence for the usefulness of this approach for goal systems comprising between 3 to 10 goals. Results indicate that persons with a more optimized goal-system are more conscientious and open to new experience, are more likely to represent their goals in terms of means (i.e., adopt a process focus), and are more satisfied and engaged with their goals. Persons with a suboptimal goal system tend to switch their goals more often and thereby optimize their goal system. We discuss limitations as well as possible future directions of this approach. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

  10. Goal Setting as Teacher Development Practice

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Camp, Heather

    2017-01-01

    This article explores goal setting as a teacher development practice in higher education. It reports on a study of college teacher goal setting informed by goal setting theory. Analysis of study participants' goal setting practices and their experiences with goal pursuit offers a framework for thinking about the kinds of goals teachers might set…

  11. New Institutional Theory and a Culture of Safety in Agriculture.

    PubMed

    Janssen, Brandi; Nonnenmann, Matthew W

    2017-01-01

    Health and safety professionals often call for an improved safety culture in agriculture. Such a shift would result in agricultural practices that prioritize safe work habits and see safety as both an effective means to improve production and a goal worth pursuing in its own right. This article takes an anthropological approach and demonstrates the potential for new institutional theory to conceptualize broader cultural change in agriculture. New institutional theory examines the roles of organizations and the ways that they inform and support broad social institutions. Using preliminary data from the agricultural lending industry in Iowa and integrated poultry production in Texas, this article considers the ability of these organizations to contribute to systemic change and an improved culture of safety in agriculture.

  12. New Institutional Theory and a Culture of Safety in Agriculture

    PubMed Central

    Janssen, Brandi; Nonnenmann, Matthew W.

    2017-01-01

    Health and safety professionals often call for an improved safety culture in agriculture. Such a shift would result in agricultural practices that prioritize safe work habits and see safety as both an effective means to improve production and a goal worth pursuing in its own right. This article takes an anthropological approach and demonstrates the potential for new institutional theory to conceptualize broader cultural change in agriculture. New institutional theory examines the roles of organizations and the ways that they inform and support broad social institutions. Using preliminary data from the agricultural lending industry in Iowa and integrated poultry production in Texas, this article considers the ability of these organizations to contribute to systemic change and an improved culture of safety in agriculture. PMID:27754778

  13. Qualification of Simulation Software for Safety Assessment of Sodium Cooled Fast Reactors. Requirements and Recommendations

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

    Brown, Nicholas R.; Pointer, William David; Sieger, Matt

    2016-04-01

    The goal of this review is to enable application of codes or software packages for safety assessment of advanced sodium-cooled fast reactor (SFR) designs. To address near-term programmatic needs, the authors have focused on two objectives. First, the authors have focused on identification of requirements for software QA that must be satisfied to enable the application of software to future safety analyses. Second, the authors have collected best practices applied by other code development teams to minimize cost and time of initial code qualification activities and to recommend a path to the stated goal.

  14. Students' Perceptions of the Importance of School Safety Strategies: An Introduction to the IPSS Survey

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Booren, Leslie M.; Handy, Deborah J.

    2009-01-01

    Many research-based safety strategies and school violence prevention measures are available for schools to implement; however, little is known about which strategies are important to students. The current study was designed to explore students' perceptions of the importance of specified safety strategies. A new quantitative measure (Indicators of…

  15. Educational Goals and National Development

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Umapathy, K. Setty

    1974-01-01

    Discusses educational goals in ancient India, western education in India, educational goals in free India, goals and national development, and the problem of poverty and equal distribution of national gains. (Author/PG)

  16. Medication safety infrastructure in critical-access hospitals in Florida.

    PubMed

    Winterstein, Almut G; Hartzema, Abraham G; Johns, Thomas E; De Leon, Jessica M; McDonald, Kathie; Henshaw, Zak; Pannell, Robert

    2006-03-01

    The medication safety infrastructure of critical-access hospitals (CAHs) in Florida was evaluated. Qualitative assessments, including a self-administered survey and site visits, were conducted in seven of nine CAHs between January and June 2003. The survey consisted of the Institute for Safe Medication Practices Medication Safety Self-assessment, the 2003 Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations patient safety goals, health information technology (HIT) questions, and medication-use-process flow charts. On-site visits included interviews of CAH personnel who had safety responsibility and inspections of pharmacy facilities. The findings were compiled into a matrix reflecting structural and procedural components of the CAH medication safety infrastructure. The nine characteristics that emerged as targets for quality improvement (QI) were medication accessibility and storage, sterile product compounding, access to drug information, access to and utilization of patient information in medication order review, advanced safety technology, drug formularies and standardized medication protocols, safety culture, and medication reconciliation. Based on weighted importance and feasibility, QI efforts in CAHs should focus on enhancing medication order review systems, standardizing procedures for handling high-risk medications, promoting an appropriate safety culture, involvement in seamless care, and investment in HIT.

  17. Exploratory Analyses of the Effects of Managerial Support and Feedback Consequences on Behavioral Safety Maintenance

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cooper, M. Dominic

    2006-01-01

    Reviews indicate management commitment is vital to maintain behavioral safety processes. Similarly, the impact of observation frequency on safety behaviors is thought to be important. An employee-driven process which encompassed behavioral observations, goal-setting, and feedback was implemented in a paper mill with 55 workgroups using a…

  18. Teaching Students to Attain Annual Transition Goals Using the Take Action Goal Attainment Lessons

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Martin, Jodie D.; Martin, James E.; Osmani, Kimberly J.

    2014-01-01

    This study used the Take Action goal attainment lesson package and assistive technology to teach nine high school students with mild to moderate disabilities to attain annual transition goals. The Take Action lessons increased students' goal attainment knowledge, and this knowledge generalized to improved Plan Organizers, and slightly increased…

  19. A safety roadmap for future plastics and composites intensive vehicles

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2007-11-01

    This report summarizes the approach, activities, and results of a study to evaluate the potential safety benefits of Plastics and Composites Intensive Vehicles (PCIVs) to enable their deployment by 2020. The main goals were to review and assess the s...

  20. Public Risk Criteria and Rationale for Commercial Launch and Reentry

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wilde, P. D.

    2012-01-01

    This paper summarizes the rationale for risk criteria intended to protect the public during commercial spaceflight, including launch, reentry, and suborbital missions. The recommended approach includes: (1) safety goals to guide periodic updates of the quantitative collective risk limits if warranted based on the quantity of launch and reentry missions; the demonstrated safety record and benefits provided; technological capabilities and maturity of the industry; and contemporary attitudes about the risks from commercial space transportation; (2) separate limits on the risks from each type of mission with explicit definitions of the extent of launch and reentry missions; and (3) quantitative risk limits consistent with the safety goals. For current conditions, the author's recommends (a) maximum of 1E-6 probability of casualty per-mission (b) a maximum of 100E-6 expected casualties per-mission, and (c) equal per-mission risk limits for orbital and suborbital launches, as well as controlled and uncontrolled reentries.

  1. Impaired cognitive plasticity and goal-directed control in adolescent obsessive-compulsive disorder.

    PubMed

    Gottwald, Julia; de Wit, Sanne; Apergis-Schoute, Annemieke M; Morein-Zamir, Sharon; Kaser, Muzaffer; Cormack, Francesca; Sule, Akeem; Limmer, Winifred; Morris, Anna Conway; Robbins, Trevor W; Sahakian, Barbara J

    2018-01-22

    Youths with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) experience severe distress and impaired functioning at school and at home. Critical cognitive domains for daily functioning and academic success are learning, memory, cognitive flexibility and goal-directed behavioural control. Performance in these important domains among teenagers with OCD was therefore investigated in this study. A total of 36 youths with OCD and 36 healthy comparison subjects completed two memory tasks: Pattern Recognition Memory (PRM) and Paired Associates Learning (PAL); as well as the Intra-Extra Dimensional Set Shift (IED) task to quantitatively gauge learning as well as cognitive flexibility. A subset of 30 participants of each group also completed a Differential-Outcome Effect (DOE) task followed by a Slips-of-Action Task, designed to assess the balance of goal-directed and habitual behavioural control. Adolescent OCD patients showed a significant learning and memory impairment. Compared with healthy comparison subjects, they made more errors on PRM and PAL and in the first stages of IED involving discrimination and reversal learning. Patients were also slower to learn about contingencies in the DOE task and were less sensitive to outcome devaluation, suggesting an impairment in goal-directed control. This study advances the characterization of juvenile OCD. Patients demonstrated impairments in all learning and memory tasks. We also provide the first experimental evidence of impaired goal-directed control and lack of cognitive plasticity early in the development of OCD. The extent to which the impairments in these cognitive domains impact academic performance and symptom development warrants further investigation.

  2. Understanding adolescent development: implications for driving safety.

    PubMed

    Keating, Daniel P

    2007-01-01

    The implementation of Graduated Driver Licensing (GDL) programs has significantly improved the crash and fatality rates of novice teen drivers, but these rates remain unacceptably high. A review of adolescent development research was undertaken to identify potential areas of improvement. Research support for GDL was found to be strong, particularly regarding early acquisition of expertise in driving safety (beyond driving skill), and to limitations that reduce opportunities for distraction. GDL regimes are highly variable, and no US jurisdictions have implemented optimal regimes. Expanding and improving GDL to enhance acquisition of expertise and self-regulation are indicated for implementation and for applied research. Driver training that effectively incorporates safety goals along with driving skill is another target. The insurance industry will benefit from further GDL enhancements. Benefits may accrue to improved driver training, improved simulation devices during training, and automated safety feedback instrumentation.

  3. 76 FR 58281 - Magnetic Resonance Imaging Safety; Public Workshop

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2011-09-20

    ... announcing a public workshop entitled: ``Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) Safety Public Workshop.'' The... (MRI) and approaches to mitigate risks. The overall goal is to discuss strategies to minimize patient and staff risk in the MRI environment. DATES: The public workshop will be held on October 25, 2011...

  4. Preparing for the update of New Hampshire’s strategic highway safety plan.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2015-01-01

    NHDOTs objectives in requesting the peer exchange were to: Build a sustainable SHSP by energizing existing and developing cooperative partnerships among highway safety stakeholders; Strengthen the goals, strategies, and performance trackin...

  5. Evaluation of Patient Safety Indicators in Semnan City Hospitals by Using the Patient Safety Friendly Hospital Initiative (PSFHI).

    PubMed

    Babamohamadi, Hassan; Nemati, Roghayeh Khabiri; Nobahar, Monir; Keighobady, Seifullah; Ghazavi, Soheila; Izadi-Sabet, Farideh; Najafpour, Zhila

    2016-08-01

    Nowadays, patient safety issue is among one of the main concerns of the hospital policy worldwide. This study aimed to evaluate the patient safety status in hospitals affiliated to Semnan city, using the WHO model for Patient Safety Friendly Hospital Initiatives (PSFHI) in summer 2014. That was a cross sectional descriptive study that addressed patient safety , which explained the current status of safety in the Semnan hospitals using by instrument of Patient safety friendly initiative standards (PSFHI). Data was collected from 5 hospitals in Semnan city during four weeks in May 2014. The finding of 5 areas examined showed that some components in critical standards had disadvantages. Critical standards of hospitals including areas of leadership and administration, patient and public involvement and safe evidence-based clinical practice, safe environment with and lifetime education in a safe and secure environment were analyzed. The domain of patient and public involvement obtained the lowest mean score and the domain of safe environment obtained the highest mean score in the surveyed hospitals. All the surveyed hospitals had a poor condition regarding standards based on patient safety. Further, the identified weak points are almost the same in the hospitals. Therefore, In order to achieve a good level of all aspects of the protocol, the goals should be considered in the level of strategic planning at hospitals. An effective execution of patient safety creatively may depend on the legal infrastructure and enforcement of standards by hospital management, organizational liability to expectation of patients, safety culture in hospitals.

  6. Traffic safety in the U.S.: re-examining major opportunities.

    PubMed

    Sivak, Michael; Luoma, Juha; Flannagan, Michael J; Bingham, C Raymond; Eby, David W; Shope, Jean T

    2007-01-01

    This article examines five major road-safety risk factors: exceeding posted speed limits, not using safety belts, driving while intoxicated, nighttime driving, and young drivers. The importance of each of these factors is documented, known effective countermeasures (both policy and technology based) are discussed, and impediments to the implementation of these countermeasures in the United States are examined. Based on current understanding of the five major risk factors, and of the available countermeasures, there appear to be a variety of opportunities to make substantial gains in road safety using existing knowledge. The limited implementation of a variety of known countermeasures therefore appears to be inconsistent with high-level, strategic goals to improve road safety. Consequently, a recommendation is made to comprehensively re-examine the balance between the countermeasures discussed in this article and economic, mobility, and privacy concerns. IMPACT ON PUBLIC SAFETY: Such a re-examination is likely to result in broad support for these countermeasures, with a consequent major improvement in road safety.

  7. Joint FAM/Line Management Assessment Report on LLNL Machine Guarding Safety Program

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

    Armstrong, J. J.

    2016-07-19

    The LLNL Safety Program for Machine Guarding is implemented to comply with requirements in the ES&H Manual Document 11.2, "Hazards-General and Miscellaneous," Section 13 Machine Guarding (Rev 18, issued Dec. 15, 2015). The primary goal of this LLNL Safety Program is to ensure that LLNL operations involving machine guarding are managed so that workers, equipment and government property are adequately protected. This means that all such operations are planned and approved using the Integrated Safety Management System to provide the most cost effective and safest means available to support the LLNL mission.

  8. Examining hospital pharmacists' goals for medication counseling within the communication accommodation theoretical framework.

    PubMed

    Chevalier, Bernadette A M; Watson, Bernadette M; Barras, Michael A; Cottrell, William Neil

    2016-01-01

    Medication counseling opportunities are key times for pharmacists to speak to patients about their medications and any changes made during their hospital stay. Communication Accommodation Theory (CAT) posits that an individual's goals drive their communication behavior. The way in which pharmacists communicate with patients may be determined by the goals they set for these medication counseling sessions. To examine hospital pharmacists' goals in patient medication counseling within the CAT framework. Hospital pharmacist focus groups were held in two teaching hospitals. Interested pharmacists attended a focus group designed to elicit their goals in patient medication counseling. Focus groups were audio recorded and transcribed verbatim. NVivo(®) software was used to assist in coding and organization. The codes were reviewed for reliability by pharmacists independent of the focus groups. An inductive thematic analysis was applied to the data. Six 1 h focus groups were conducted with a total of 24 pharmacists participating. Saturation of information was achieved after four focus groups. Greater than 80% consensus was achieved for reliability of the identified codes. Patient-centered themes constructed from these codes were to build rapport, to empower patients and to improve patients' experience, health and safety. Exemplars provided by pharmacists for the goals of building rapport and empowering patients were aligned with five CAT communication behaviors (approximation, interpretability, discourse management, emotional expression and interpersonal control). Patient-centered goals described by hospital pharmacists for medication counseling aligned well with CAT behaviors necessary for effective communication. Further research using the CAT framework to examine the effectiveness of hospital pharmacist-patient exchanges that include both participants' perspectives is required to better understand how well pharmacists communicate with patients. Copyright © 2015

  9. Quantitative magnetic resonance imaging phantoms: A review and the need for a system phantom.

    PubMed

    Keenan, Kathryn E; Ainslie, Maureen; Barker, Alex J; Boss, Michael A; Cecil, Kim M; Charles, Cecil; Chenevert, Thomas L; Clarke, Larry; Evelhoch, Jeffrey L; Finn, Paul; Gembris, Daniel; Gunter, Jeffrey L; Hill, Derek L G; Jack, Clifford R; Jackson, Edward F; Liu, Guoying; Russek, Stephen E; Sharma, Samir D; Steckner, Michael; Stupic, Karl F; Trzasko, Joshua D; Yuan, Chun; Zheng, Jie

    2018-01-01

    The MRI community is using quantitative mapping techniques to complement qualitative imaging. For quantitative imaging to reach its full potential, it is necessary to analyze measurements across systems and longitudinally. Clinical use of quantitative imaging can be facilitated through adoption and use of a standard system phantom, a calibration/standard reference object, to assess the performance of an MRI machine. The International Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine AdHoc Committee on Standards for Quantitative Magnetic Resonance was established in February 2007 to facilitate the expansion of MRI as a mainstream modality for multi-institutional measurements, including, among other things, multicenter trials. The goal of the Standards for Quantitative Magnetic Resonance committee was to provide a framework to ensure that quantitative measures derived from MR data are comparable over time, between subjects, between sites, and between vendors. This paper, written by members of the Standards for Quantitative Magnetic Resonance committee, reviews standardization attempts and then details the need, requirements, and implementation plan for a standard system phantom for quantitative MRI. In addition, application-specific phantoms and implementation of quantitative MRI are reviewed. Magn Reson Med 79:48-61, 2018. © 2017 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine. © 2017 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.

  10. Cortico-basal ganglia networks subserving goal-directed behavior mediated by conditional visuo-goal association

    PubMed Central

    Hoshi, Eiji

    2013-01-01

    Action is often executed according to information provided by a visual signal. As this type of behavior integrates two distinct neural representations, perception and action, it has been thought that identification of the neural mechanisms underlying this process will yield deeper insights into the principles underpinning goal-directed behavior. Based on a framework derived from conditional visuomotor association, prior studies have identified neural mechanisms in the dorsal premotor cortex (PMd), dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC), ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (vlPFC), and basal ganglia (BG). However, applications resting solely on this conceptualization encounter problems related to generalization and flexibility, essential processes in executive function, because the association mode involves a direct one-to-one mapping of each visual signal onto a particular action. To overcome this problem, we extend this conceptualization and postulate a more general framework, conditional visuo-goal association. According to this new framework, the visual signal identifies an abstract behavioral goal, and an action is subsequently selected and executed to meet this goal. Neuronal activity recorded from the four key areas of the brains of monkeys performing a task involving conditional visuo-goal association revealed three major mechanisms underlying this process. First, visual-object signals are represented primarily in the vlPFC and BG. Second, all four areas are involved in initially determining the goals based on the visual signals, with the PMd and dlPFC playing major roles in maintaining the salience of the goals. Third, the cortical areas play major roles in specifying action, whereas the role of the BG in this process is restrictive. These new lines of evidence reveal that the four areas involved in conditional visuomotor association contribute to goal-directed behavior mediated by conditional visuo-goal association in an area-dependent manner. PMID:24155692

  11. Professional environment and patient safety in emergency departments.

    PubMed

    Lambrou, Persefoni; Papastavrou, Evridiki; Merkouris, Anastasios; Middleton, Nicos

    2015-04-01

    The purpose of this study was to examine nurses' and physicians' perceptions of professional environment and its association with patient safety in public emergency departments in Cyprus. A total of 224 professionals (174 nurses and 50 physicians) participated (rr = 81%). Data were collected using the "Revised Professional Practice Environment" (RPPE) instrument and the Safety Climate Domain of the "Emergency Medical Services Safety Attitudes Questionnaire" (EMS-SAQ). The mean overall score of RPPE was 2.79 (SD = 0.30), among physicians 2.84 (SD = 0.25) and nurses 2.73 (SD = 0.33) (P-value = 0.07). Statistically significant differences were observed between the two study groups regarding "staff relationships", "motivation" and "cultural sensitivity" (P-values < 0.05). No significant differences were observed as regards EMS-SAQ (3.25 vs. 3.16 respectively; P-value = 0.28). All 8 components of the RPPE exhibited significant association with patient safety. Linear and stepwise regression analyses showed that "leadership" explains 28% of the variance of safety. This relationship suggests improvements in professional environment with the ultimate goal of improving patient safety. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  12. Goals of telephone nursing work--the managers' perspectives: a qualitative study on Swedish Healthcare Direct.

    PubMed

    Kaminsky, Elenor; Carlsson, Marianne; Holmström, Inger K; Larsson, Jan; Fredriksson, Mio

    2014-04-24

    Swedish Healthcare Direct (SHD) receives 6 million calls yearly and aims at increased public sense of security and healthcare efficiency. Little is known about what SHD managers perceive as the primary goals of telephone nursing (TN) work and how the organisation matches goals of health promotion and equitable healthcare, so important in Swedish healthcare legislation. The aim of the study was to explore and describe what the SHD managers perceive as the goals of TN work and how the managers view health promotion and implementation of equitable healthcare with gender as example at SHD. The study was qualitative using an exploratory and descriptive design. All 23 managers employed at SHD were interviewed and data analysis used deductive directed content analysis. The findings reveal four themes describing the goals of TN work as recommended by the SHD managers. These are: 'create feelings of trust', 'achieve patient safety', 'assess, refer and give advice', and 'teach the caller'. Most of the managers stated that health promotion should not be included in the goals, whereas equitable healthcare was viewed as an important issue. Varying suggestions for implementing equitable healthcare were given. The interviewed managers mainly echoed the organisational goals of TN work. The managers' expressed goal of teaching lacked the caller learning components highlighted by telenurses in previous research. The fact that health promotion was not seen as important indicates a need for SHD to clarify its goals as the organisation is part of the Swedish healthcare system, where health promotion should always permeate work. Time used for health promotion and dialogues in a gender equitable manner at SHD is well invested as it will save time elsewhere in the health care system, thereby facing one of the challenges of European health systems.

  13. Interaction with Institutional Agents in Community College, Predictors of Latino Males' Commitment to Educational Goals: A Quantitative Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Perezchica, Inez G.

    2017-01-01

    Only 9% of U.S Latino males have bachelor's degrees. Community colleges are the preferred choice for Latinas/os entering the higher education pipeline. Almost half of first-year community college students leave college without achieving their educational goals. Racial inequalities in education are a symptom of lingering institutional racism. In…

  14. It's Not Just Your Goal, but Also Who You Know: How the Cognitive Associations among Goals and Relationships Influence Goal Detection in Social Interaction

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Palomares, Nicholas A.

    2009-01-01

    An experiment tested a theoretical framework for goal detection in dyadic interactions of close friends and unacquainted strangers wherein one conversationalist pursued a goal unbeknownst to a detector. The extent to which pursuers' conversation goal was cognitively associated with the dyad's relational type was manipulated. As hypothesized,…

  15. Measuring safety climate in health care.

    PubMed

    Flin, R; Burns, C; Mearns, K; Yule, S; Robertson, E M

    2006-04-01

    To review quantitative studies of safety climate in health care to examine the psychometric properties of the questionnaires designed to measure this construct. A systematic literature review was undertaken to study sample and questionnaire design characteristics (source, no of items, scale type), construct validity (content validity, factor structure and internal reliability, concurrent validity), within group agreement, and level of analysis. Twelve studies were examined. There was a lack of explicit theoretical underpinning for most questionnaires and some instruments did not report standard psychometric criteria. Where this information was available, several questionnaires appeared to have limitations. More consideration should be given to psychometric factors in the design of healthcare safety climate instruments, especially as these are beginning to be used in large scale surveys across healthcare organisations.

  16. 49 CFR 350.101 - What is the Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program (MCSAP)?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-10-01

    ... involving commercial motor vehicles (CMV). The goal of the MCSAP is to reduce CMV-involved accidents, fatalities, and injuries through consistent, uniform, and effective CMV safety programs. Investing grant...

  17. 49 CFR 350.101 - What is the Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program (MCSAP)?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-10-01

    ... involving commercial motor vehicles (CMV). The goal of the MCSAP is to reduce CMV-involved accidents, fatalities, and injuries through consistent, uniform, and effective CMV safety programs. Investing grant...

  18. 49 CFR 350.101 - What is the Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program (MCSAP)?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-10-01

    ... involving commercial motor vehicles (CMV). The goal of the MCSAP is to reduce CMV-involved accidents, fatalities, and injuries through consistent, uniform, and effective CMV safety programs. Investing grant...

  19. 49 CFR 350.101 - What is the Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program (MCSAP)?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-10-01

    ... involving commercial motor vehicles (CMV). The goal of the MCSAP is to reduce CMV-involved accidents, fatalities, and injuries through consistent, uniform, and effective CMV safety programs. Investing grant...

  20. 49 CFR 350.101 - What is the Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program (MCSAP)?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-10-01

    ... involving commercial motor vehicles (CMV). The goal of the MCSAP is to reduce CMV-involved accidents, fatalities, and injuries through consistent, uniform, and effective CMV safety programs. Investing grant...

  1. Safety climate in university and college laboratories: impact of organizational and individual factors.

    PubMed

    Wu, Tsung-Chih; Liu, Chi-Wei; Lu, Mu-Chen

    2007-01-01

    Universities and colleges serve to be institutions of education excellence; however, problems in the areas of occupational safety may undermine such goals. Occupational safety must be the concern of every employee in the organization, regardless of job position. Safety climate surveys have been suggested as important tools for measuring the effectiveness and improvement direction of safety programs. Thus, this study aims to investigate the influence of organizational and individual factors on safety climate in university and college laboratories. Employees at 100 universities and colleges in Taiwan were mailed a self-administered questionnaire survey; the response rate was 78%. Multivariate analysis of variance revealed that organizational category of ownership, the presence of a safety manager and safety committee, gender, age, title, accident experience, and safety training significantly affected the climate. Among them, accident experience and safety training affected the climate with practical significance. The authors recommend that managers should address important factors affecting safety issues and then create a positive climate by enforcing continuous improvements.

  2. Surveying Student Goals to Aid Institutional Effectiveness: Student Goals Survey Research Report.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Freeman, Robin Mark; And Others

    A survey was conducted at Vista College to determine the educational and occupational goals of students enrolled in the Environmental Energy Technology Program. A seven-item survey was distributed in class over a five-semester period, soliciting information on academic and employment goals, current employment status, interest in networking with…

  3. Introduction: the goals of antimicrobial therapy.

    PubMed

    Song, Jae-Hoon

    2003-03-01

    Antimicrobial agents are generally evaluated in preclinical studies assessing in vitro activity, animal models demonstrating in vivo bacteriologic efficacy, and clinical trials primarily investigating safety and clinical efficacy. However, large sample sizes are required to detect any differences in outcomes between antimicrobials in clinical trials, and, generally, studies are powered to show only clinical equivalence. In addition, diagnosis is often based on clinical symptoms, rather than microbiological evidence of bacterial infection, and the patients most likely to have resistant pathogens are often excluded. Clinical efficacy can be achieved in some bacterial infections in which antimicrobials are suboptimal or even not prescribed. However, bacterial eradication maximizes clinical efficacy and may also reduce the development and spread of resistant organisms. The goal of antimicrobial therapy is, therefore, to eradicate bacteria at the site of infection. Bacterial eradication is not usually assessed as a primary endpoint within the limits of currently recommended clinical trial design. However, pharmacokinetic (PK) (serum concentration profiles, penetration to site of infection) and pharmacodynamic (PD) (susceptibility, concentration- versus time-dependent killing, post-antimicrobial effects) criteria can be used to predict bacteriologic efficacy. PK/PD predictions should be confirmed during all phases of antimicrobial development and throughout clinical use in response to changing patterns of resistance. A clear rationale for dose recommendations can be determined preclinically based on PK/PD parameters, and correlated with efficacy, safety and resistance endpoints in clinical trials. The duration of treatment and dose should be the shortest that will reliably eradicate the pathogen(s), and that is safe and well tolerated. Currently available agents vary significantly in their ability to achieve PK/PD parameters necessary for bacteriologic eradication

  4. Safety characteristics of the lithium SO2 system

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Watson, T.

    1978-01-01

    Extensive tests were conducted to quantitatively define the safety characteristics of high-rate SO2 multicell batteries under various discharge and temperature profiles, which closely simulated actual field-use conditions. The resulting behavior patters of the multicell batteries and the corrective action which can be implemented to minimize or prevent hazardous battery performance are briefly summarized.

  5. Development of an Impact-Oriented Quantitative Coastal Inundation forecasting and early warning system with social and economic assessment

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Fakhruddin, S. H. M.; Babel, Mukand S.; Kawasaki, Akiyuki

    2014-05-01

    Coastal inundations are an increasing threat to the lives and livelihoods of people living in low-lying, highly-populated coastal areas. According to a World Bank Report in 2005, at least 2.6 million people may have drowned due to coastal inundation, particularly caused by storm surges, over the last 200 years. Forecasting and prediction of natural events, such as tropical and extra-tropical cyclones, inland flooding, and severe winter weather, provide critical guidance to emergency managers and decision-makers from the local to the national level, with the goal of minimizing both human and economic losses. This guidance is used to facilitate evacuation route planning, post-disaster response and resource deployment, and critical infrastructure protection and securing, and it must be available within a time window in which decision makers can take appropriate action. Recognizing this extreme vulnerability of coastal areas to inundation/flooding, and with a view to improve safety-related services for the community, research should strongly enhance today's forecasting, prediction and early warning capabilities in order to improve the assessment of coastal vulnerability and risks and develop adequate prevention, mitigation and preparedness measures. This paper tries to develop an impact-oriented quantitative coastal inundation forecasting and early warning system with social and economic assessment to address the challenges faced by coastal communities to enhance their safety and to support sustainable development, through the improvement of coastal inundation forecasting and warning systems.

  6. Something's got to give: the effects of dual-goal difficulty, goal progress, and expectancies on resource allocation.

    PubMed

    Schmidt, Aaron M; Dolis, Chad M

    2009-05-01

    The current study developed and tested a model of the interplay among goal difficulty, goal progress, and expectancy over time in influencing resource allocation toward competing demands. The results provided broad support for the theoretical model. As predicted, dual-goal expectancy-the perceived likelihood of meeting both goals in competition-played a central role, moderating the relationship between relative goal progress and resource allocation. Dual-goal difficulty was also found to exert an important influence on multiple-goal self-regulation. Although it did not influence total productivity across both tasks combined, it did combine with other model components to influence the relative emphasis of one task over another. These results suggest that the cumulative demands placed by multiple difficult goals may exceed individuals' perceived capabilities and may lead to partial or total abandonment of 1 goal to ensure attainment of the other. The model helps shed light on some of the conflicting theoretical propositions and empirical results obtained in prior work. Implications for theory and research regarding multiple-goal self-regulation are discussed. (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved.

  7. Resident Self-Assessment and Learning Goal Development: Evaluation of Resident-Reported Competence and Future Goals.

    PubMed

    Li, Su-Ting T; Paterniti, Debora A; Tancredi, Daniel J; Burke, Ann E; Trimm, R Franklin; Guillot, Ann; Guralnick, Susan; Mahan, John D

    2015-01-01

    To determine incidence of learning goals by competency area and to assess which goals fall into competency areas with lower self-assessment scores. Cross-sectional analysis of existing deidentified American Academy of Pediatrics' PediaLink individualized learning plan data for the academic year 2009-2010. Residents self-assessed competencies in the 6 Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) competency areas and wrote learning goals. Textual responses for goals were mapped to 6 ACGME competency areas, future practice, or personal attributes. Adjusted mean differences and associations were estimated using multiple linear and logistic regression. A total of 2254 residents reported 6078 goals. Residents self-assessed their systems-based practice (51.8) and medical knowledge (53.0) competencies lowest and professionalism (68.9) and interpersonal and communication skills (62.2) highest. Residents were most likely to identify goals involving medical knowledge (70.5%) and patient care (50.5%) and least likely to write goals on systems-based practice (11.0%) and professionalism (6.9%). In logistic regression analysis adjusting for postgraduate year (PGY), gender, and degree type (MD/DO), resident-reported goal area showed no association with the learner's relative self-assessment score for that competency area. In the conditional logistic regression analysis, with each learner serving as his or her own control, senior residents (PGY2/3+s) who rated themselves relatively lower in a competency area were more likely to write a learning goal in that area than were PGY1s. Senior residents appear to develop better skills and/or motivation to explicitly turn self-assessed learning gaps into learning goals, suggesting that individualized learning plans may help improve self-regulated learning during residency. Copyright © 2015 Academic Pediatric Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  8. Reliability and safety, and the risk of construction damage in mining areas

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Skrzypczak, Izabela; Kogut, Janusz P.; Kokoszka, Wanda; Oleniacz, Grzegorz

    2018-04-01

    This article concerns the reliability and safety of building structures in mining areas, with a particular emphasis on the quantitative risk analysis of buildings. The issues of threat assessment and risk estimation, in the design of facilities in mining exploitation areas, are presented here, indicating the difficulties and ambiguities associated with their quantification and quantitative analysis. This article presents the concept of quantitative risk assessment of the impact of mining exploitation, in accordance with ISO 13824 [1]. The risk analysis is illustrated through an example of a construction located within an area affected by mining exploitation.

  9. Growth goals, maturity, and well-being.

    PubMed

    Bauer, Jack J; McAdams, Dan P

    2004-01-01

    In 2 studies (125 college students and 51 adults), 2 forms of growth goals (exploratory and intrinsic) were compared with 2 forms of personality development (social-cognitive maturity and social-emotional well-being). Participants whose narratives of major life goals emphasized conceptual exploration were especially likely to have high levels of maturity (measured as ego development; J. Loevinger, 1976), whereas those whose goals emphasized intrinsic interests (K. M. Sheldon & T. Kasser, 1995) were especially likely to have high levels of well-being. Participants who had coherent hierarchies of growth goals on the levels of major life goals and everyday goals were especially likely to have high levels of personality development. Finally, growth goals accounted for some relationships between age and personality development. Growth goals are discussed in terms of intentional self-development and specific developmental paths. (c) 2003 APA

  10. Perceived safety management practices in the logistics sector.

    PubMed

    Auyong, Hui-Nee; Zailani, Suhaiza; Surienty, Lilis

    2016-03-09

    Malaysia's progress on logistics has been slowed to keep pace with its growth in trade. The Government has been pressing companies to improve the safety of their activities in order to reduce society's loss due to occupational accidents and illnesses. Occupational safety and health is a crucial part of a workplace because every worker has to take care of his/her own safety and health. The main occupational safety and health (OSH) national policy in Malaysia is the enactment of the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) 1994. Only those companies which have excellent health and safety care have good quality and productive employees. This study investigated safety management practices in the logistics sector. The present study is concerned with the human factors to safety in the logistics industry. The authors examined the perceived safety management practices of workers in the logistics sector. The purpose was to identify the perception of safety management practices of Malaysian logistics personnel. Survey questionnaires were distributed to assess logistics personnel about management commitment. The quantitative method using the availability sampling method was applied. The data gathered from the survey were analysed using SPSS software. The responses to the survey were rated according to the Likert scale type, with '1' indicating strongly disagree and '5' indicating strongly agree. One hundred and three employees of logistics functions completed the survey. The highest mean scores were found for fire apparatus, prioritisation of safety, and safety policy. The results from this study also emphasise the importance of the management's commitment in enhancing workplace safety. Specifically, companies should maintain good relations between the employer and the employee to help reduce workplace injuries.

  11. Development of a software safety process and a case study of its use

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Knight, John C.

    1993-01-01

    The goal of this research is to continue the development of a comprehensive approach to software safety and to evaluate the approach with a case study. The case study is a major part of the project, and it involves the analysis of a specific safety-critical system from the medical equipment domain. The particular application being used was selected because of the availability of a suitable candidate system. We consider the results to be generally applicable and in no way particularly limited by the domain. The research is concentrating on issues raised by the specification and verification phases of the software lifecycle since they are central to our previously-developed rigorous definitions of software safety. The theoretical research is based on our framework of definitions for software safety. In the area of specification, the main topics being investigated are the development of techniques for building system fault trees that correctly incorporate software issues and the development of rigorous techniques for the preparation of software safety specifications. The research results are documented. Another area of theoretical investigation is the development of verification methods tailored to the characteristics of safety requirements. Verification of the correct implementation of the safety specification is central to the goal of establishing safe software. The empirical component of this research is focusing on a case study in order to provide detailed characterizations of the issues as they appear in practice, and to provide a testbed for the evaluation of various existing and new theoretical results, tools, and techniques. The Magnetic Stereotaxis System is summarized.

  12. An Organizational Learning Framework for Patient Safety.

    PubMed

    Edwards, Marc T

    Despite concerted effort to improve quality and safety, high reliability remains a distant goal. Although this likely reflects the challenge of organizational change, persistent controversy over basic issues suggests that weaknesses in conceptual models may contribute. The essence of operational improvement is organizational learning. This article presents a framework for identifying leverage points for improvement based on organizational learning theory and applies it to an analysis of current practice and controversy. Organizations learn from others, from defects, from measurement, and from mindfulness. These learning modes correspond with contemporary themes of collaboration, no blame for human error, accountability for performance, and managing the unexpected. The collaborative model has dominated improvement efforts. Greater attention to the underdeveloped modes of organizational learning may foster more rapid progress in patient safety by increasing organizational capabilities, strengthening a culture of safety, and fixing more of the process problems that contribute to patient harm.

  13. OPPORTUNISTIC ASPERGILLUS PATHOGENS MEASURED IN HOME AND HOSPITAL TAP WATER BY MOLD SPECIFIC QUANTITATIVE PCR (MSQPCR)

    EPA Science Inventory

    Opportunistic fungal pathogens are a concern because of the increasing number of immunocompromised patients. The goal of this research was to test a simple extraction method and rapid quantitative PCR (QPCR) measurement of the occurrence of potential pathogens, Aspergillus fumiga...

  14. Media Coverage of FDA Drug Safety Communications about Zolpidem: A Quantitative and Qualitative Analysis.

    PubMed

    Woloshin, Steve; Schwartz, Lisa M; Dejene, Sara; Rausch, Paula; Dal Pan, Gerald J; Zhou, Esther H; Kesselheim, Aaron S

    2017-05-01

    FDA issues Drug Safety Communications (DSCs) to alert health care professionals and the public about emerging safety information affecting prescription and over-the-counter drugs. News media may amplify DSCs, but it is unclear how DSC messaging is transmitted through the media. We conducted a content analysis of the lay media coverage reaching the broadest audience to characterize the amount and content of media coverage of two zolpidem DSCs from 2013. After the first DSC, zolpidem news stories increased from 19 stories/week in the preceding 3 months to 153 following its release. Most (81%) appeared in the lay media, and 64% focused on the DSC content. After the second DSC, news stories increased from 24 stories/week in the preceding 3 months to 39 following. Among the 100 unique lay media news stories, at least half correctly reported three key DSC messages: next-day impairment and drowsiness as common safety hazards, lower doses for some but not all zolpidem products, and women's higher risk for impairment. Other DSC messages were reported in fewer than one-third of stories, such as the warning that impairment can happen even when people feel fully awake. The first-but not the second-zolpidem DSC generated high-profile news coverage. The finding that some messages were widely reported but others were not emphasizes the importance of ensuring translation of key DSC content.

  15. A systematic review of goal directed fluid therapy: rating of evidence for goals and monitoring methods.

    PubMed

    Wilms, Heath; Mittal, Anubhav; Haydock, Matthew D; van den Heever, Marc; Devaud, Marcello; Windsor, John A

    2014-04-01

    To review the literature on goal directed fluid therapy and evaluate the quality of evidence for each combination of goal and monitoring method. A search of major digital databases and hand search of references was conducted. All studies assessing the clinical utility of a specific fluid therapy goal or set of goals using any monitoring method were included. Data was extracted using a pre-determined pro forma and papers were evaluated using GRADE principles to assess evidence quality. Eighty-one papers met the inclusion criteria, investigating 31 goals and 22 methods for monitoring fluid therapy in 13052 patients. In total there were 118 different goal/method combinations. Goals with high evidence quality were central venous lactate and stroke volume index. Goals with moderate quality evidence were sublingual microcirculation flow, the oxygen extraction ratio, cardiac index, cardiac output, and SVC collapsibility index. This review has highlighted the plethora of goals and methods for monitoring fluid therapy. Strikingly, there is scant high quality evidence, in particular for non-invasive G/M combinations in non-operative and non-intensive care settings. There is an urgent need to address this research gap, which will be helped by methodologies to compare utility of G/M combinations. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  16. Goals and everyday problem solving: examining the link between age-related goals and problem-solving strategy use.

    PubMed

    Hoppmann, Christiane A; Coats, Abby Heckman; Blanchard-Fields, Fredda

    2008-07-01

    Qualitative interviews on family and financial problems from 332 adolescents, young, middle-aged, and older adults, demonstrated that developmentally relevant goals predicted problem-solving strategy use over and above problem domain. Four focal goals concerned autonomy, generativity, maintaining good relationships with others, and changing another person. We examined both self- and other-focused problem-solving strategies. Autonomy goals were associated with self-focused instrumental problem solving and generative goals were related to other-focused instrumental problem solving in family and financial problems. Goals of changing another person were related to other-focused instrumental problem solving in the family domain only. The match between goals and strategies, an indicator of problem-solving adaptiveness, showed that young individuals displayed the greatest match between autonomy goals and self-focused problem solving, whereas older adults showed a greater match between generative goals and other-focused problem solving. Findings speak to the importance of considering goals in investigations of age-related differences in everyday problem solving.

  17. Science Goals, Objectives, and Investigations of the 2016 Europa Lander Science Definition Team Report

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hand, Kevin P.; Murray, Alison; Garvin, James; and the Europa Lander Science Definition Team, Project Science Team, and Project Engineering Team.

    2017-10-01

    In June of 2016 NASA convened a 21-person team of scientists to establish the science goals, objectives, investigations, measurement requirements, and model payload of a Europa lander mission concept. The NASA HQ Charter goals, in priority order, are as follows:1) Search for evidence of life on Europa, 2) Assess the habitability of Europa via in situ techniques uniquely available to a lander mission, 3) Characterize surface and subsurface properties at the scale of the lander to support future exploration of Europa.Within Goal 1, four Objectives were developed for seeking signs of life. These include the need to: a) detect and characterize any organic indicators of past or present life, b) identify and characterize morphological, textural, and other indicators of life, c) detect and characterize any inorganic indicators of past or present life, and d) determine the provenance of Lander-sampled material. Goal 2 focuses on Europa’s habitability and ensures that even in the absence of the detection of any potential biosignatures, significant ocean world science is still achieved. Goal 3 ensures that the landing site region is quantitatively characterized in the context needed for Goals 1 and 2, and that key measurements about Europa’s ice shell are made to enable future exploration.Critically, scientific success cannot be, and should never be, contingent on finding signs of life - such criteria would be levying requirements on how the universe works. Rather, scientific success is defined here as achieving a suite of measurements such that if convincing signs of life are present on Europa’s surface they could be detected at levels comparable to those found in benchmark environments on Earth, and, further, that even if no potential biosignatures are detected, the science return of the mission will significantly advance our fundamental understanding of Europa’s chemistry, geology, geophysics, and habitability.

  18. Investigative safety science as a competitive advantage for Pharma.

    PubMed

    Moggs, Jonathan; Moulin, Pierre; Pognan, Francois; Brees, Dominique; Leonard, Michele; Busch, Steve; Cordier, Andre; Heard, David J; Kammüller, Michael; Merz, Michael; Bouchard, Page; Chibout, Salah-Dine

    2012-09-01

    Following a US National Academy of Sciences report in 2007 entitled "Toxicity Testing of the 21st Century: a Vision and a Strategy," significant advances within translational drug safety sciences promise to revolutionize drug discovery and development. The purpose of this review is to outline why investigative safety science is a competitive advantage for the pharmaceutical industry. The article discusses the essential goals for modern investigative toxicologists including: cross-species target biology; molecular pathways of toxicity; and development of predictive tools, models and biomarkers that allow discovery researchers and clinicians to anticipate safety problems and plan ways to address them, earlier than ever before. Furthermore, the article emphasizes the importance of investigating unanticipated clinical safety signals through a combination of mechanistic preclinical studies and/or molecular characterization of clinical samples from affected organs. The traditional boundaries between pharma industry teams focusing on safety/efficacy and preclinical/clinical development are rapidly disappearing in favor of translational safety science-centric organizations with a vision of bringing more effective medicines forward safely and quickly. Comparative biology and mechanistic toxicology approaches facilitate: i) identifying translational safety biomarkers; ii) identifying new drug targets/indications; and iii) mitigating off-target toxicities. These value-adding safety science contributions will change traditional toxicologists from side-effect identifiers to drug development enablers.

  19. Labor education programs in health and safety.

    PubMed

    Wallerstein, N; Baker, R

    1994-01-01

    Labor health and safety programs encourage workers to take an active part in making the workplace safe. The authors describe the growing need for preparing workers to participate in prevention efforts, the role of training in addressing this need, educational principles and traditions that contribute to empowerment education, and a step-by-step process that is required to achieve the goals of worker involvement and empowerment.

  20. Effectively Using IEP Goal Banks

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kowalski, Ellen; McCall, Renee; Aiello, Rocco; Lieberman, Lauren

    2009-01-01

    For students with disabilities, annual goals are the nuts and bolts of the everyday program outlined in their individualized education program (IEP). According to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA) of 2004, a present level of performance with measurable annual goals must be outlined in a student's IEP. Goals should…

  1. The impact of goal setting and goal orientation on performance during a clerkship surgical skills training program.

    PubMed

    Gardner, Aimee K; Diesen, Diana L; Hogg, Deborah; Huerta, Sergio

    2016-02-01

    The purpose of this study was to integrate relevant goal-setting theory and to identify if trainees' goal orientations have an impact on the assigned goals-performance relationship. Trainees attended 1 of the 3 goal-training activities (do your best, performance, or learning goals) for knot tying (KT) and camera navigation (CN) during the 3rd-year clerkship rotation. Questionnaires and pretests and/or post-tests were completed. One twenty-seven 3rd-year medical students (age: 25 ± 2.6; 54% women) participated in the training program. Pretraining to post-training performance changes were significant for all groups on both tasks (P < .01), but the increase was significantly greater (P < .01) for the learning goals group (do your best: KTΔ = 2.14, CNΔ = 1.69; performance: KTΔ = 2.49, CNΔ = 2.24; learning: KTΔ = 3.04 CNΔ = 2.76). Correlations between goal orientations and improvement were examined, revealing a unique role of goal orientation for performance improvement. These data indicate that consideration of goal type and trainee goal orientation must be considered during curriculum development to maximize educational value. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  2. Highway safety data : costs, quality, and strategies for improvement, final report.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1998-01-01

    The goal of this project was to analyze the collection and management of highway safety data by identifying issues and costs, and proposing means of resolving those issues and reducing the costs. Initial emphasis addressed known elements of the highw...

  3. Highway Safety Data : costs, quality, and strategies for improvement : research report

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1998-01-01

    The goal of this project was to analyze the collection and management of highway safety data by identifying issues and costs, and proposing means of resolving those issues and reducing the costs. Initial emphasis addressed known elements of the highw...

  4. The use of safety restraint systems in Virginia by occupants under 16 years of age : the 1999 survey results.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2000-01-01

    The Virginia Transportation Research Council has been monitoring the use of child safety restraint systems in Virginia since 1983 through child safety seat surveys conducted annually (with the exception of 1995). The principal goal of the survey has ...

  5. Training and action for patient safety: embedding interprofessional education for patient safety within an improvement methodology.

    PubMed

    Slater, Beverley L; Lawton, Rebecca; Armitage, Gerry; Bibby, John; Wright, John

    2012-01-01

    Despite an explosion of interest in improving safety and reducing error in health care, one important aspect of patient safety that has received little attention is a systematic approach to education and training for the whole health care workforce. This article describes an evaluation of an innovative multiprofessional, team-based training program that embeds patient safety within quality improvement methods. Kirkpatrick's "levels of evaluation" model was adopted to evaluate the program in health organizations across one city in the north of England. Questionnaires were used to assess reaction of participants to the program (Level 1). Improvements in patient safety knowledge and patient safety culture (Level 2) were assessed using a 12-item multiple-choice questionnaire and a culture questionnaire. Interviews and project-specific quantitative measurements were used to assess changes in professional practice and patient outcomes (Levels 3 and 4). All aspects of the program were positively received by participants. Few participants completed the MCQ at both time points, but those who did showed improvement in knowledge. There were some small but significant improvements in patient safety culture. Interviews revealed a number of additional benefits beyond the specific problems addressed. Most importantly, 8 of the 11 teams showed improvements in patient safety practices and/or outcomes. This program is an example of interprofessional education in practice and demonstrates that team-based learning using quality improvement methods is feasible and can be effective in improving patient safety, but requires time and space for participants. Alignment with continuing education arrangements could support mainstream adoption of this approach within organizations. Copyright © 2012 The Alliance for Continuing Education in the Health Professions, the Society for Academic Continuing Medical Education, and the Council on CME, Association for Hospital Medical Education.

  6. Goal Fluency, Pessimism and Disengagement in Depression

    PubMed Central

    Dickson, Joanne M.; Moberly, Nicholas J.; O’Dea, Christian; Field, Matt

    2016-01-01

    Despite the development of prominent theoretical models of goal motivation and its importance in daily life, research has rarely examined goal dysregulation processes in clinical depression. Here we aimed to investigate problematic aspects of goal regulation in clinically depressed adults, relative to controls. Depressed participants (n = 42) were recruited from two Improving Access to Psychological Therapy clinics in north-west England. Control participants (n = 51) were recruited from the same region. Participants generated personal approach goals (e.g., improve my marathon time) and avoidance goals (e.g., avoid getting upset over little things) and completed self-report measures of goal attainment likelihood and depressive symptoms. Participants also completed a measure of ease of disengagement from unattainable goals and re-engagement with new goals. Compared to controls, depressed participants reported fewer approach goals (but not more avoidance goals), rated their approach goal (rewarding) outcomes as less likely to happen and avoidance goal (threatening) outcomes as more likely to happen. Depressed participants also reported greater ease of disengagement from unattainable goals and more difficulty re-engaging with new goals than controls. Our findings extend current knowledge of the psychopathology of depression from a goal regulation perspective, suggesting that pessimism around goal pursuit accompanies fewer approach goal pursuits and a general tendency to disengage when difficulties are encountered. PMID:27902708

  7. Personal Finance. Common Curriculum Goals.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Oregon State Dept. of Education, Salem.

    This document provides the common curriculum goals for the state of Oregon in personal finance, an area of study that relates basic economic concepts and practices to the financial concerns of consumers. These goals were designed to define what should be taught in all public school settings. The common curriculum goals in personal finance are…

  8. Occupational health and safety issues affecting young workers: a literature review.

    PubMed

    Laberge, Marie; Ledoux, Elise

    2011-01-01

    Many overview articles, reports, book chapters and literature reviews have examined the health and safety of young workers. These sources discuss the relationships between the work conditions of young workers and the various indicators of accidents and occupational diseases. Breslin et al. [12,13] conducted two literature reviews of quantitative studies to determine which factors best predicted work accidents and occupational disorders in young people. The present article proposes a review of young people's occupational health and safety (OHS) factors (e.g., demographic, individual, professional, organizational, temporal and operational factors) in both qualitative and quantitative studies. Five types of problems were analyzed in greater depth, namely MSD symptoms, respiratory, allergy and toxicological problems, mental health and well-being, alcohol and drug consumption, and fatigue. This review likewise examines related dimensions that allow us to adopt a more global perspective on this subject by considering such elements as young people's values, their knowledge and attitudes, safety practices in companies, the safe integration of young people, and rehabilitation. A total of 189 scientific articles were selected on the basis of certain criteria. These articles came from refereed OHS journals published between 1994 and 2005.

  9. Variability of patient safety culture in Belgian acute hospitals.

    PubMed

    Vlayen, Annemie; Schrooten, Ward; Wami, Welcome; Aerts, Marc; Barrado, Leandro Garcia; Claes, Neree; Hellings, Johan

    2015-06-01

    The aim of this study was to measure differences in safety culture perceptions within Belgian acute hospitals and to examine variability based on language, work area, staff position, and work experience. The Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture was distributed to hospitals participating in the national quality and safety program (2007-2009). Hospitals were invited to participate in a comparative study. Data of 47,136 respondents from 89 acute hospitals were used for quantitative analysis. Percentages of positive response were calculated on 12 dimensions. Generalized estimating equations models were fitted to explore differences in safety culture. Handoffs and transitions, staffing, and management support for patient safety were considered as major problem areas. Dutch-speaking hospitals had higher odds of positive perceptions for most dimensions in comparison with French-speaking hospitals. Safety culture scores were more positive for respondents working in pediatrics, psychiatry, and rehabilitation compared with the emergency department, operating theater, and multiple hospital units. We found an important gap in safety culture perceptions between leaders and assistants within disciplines. Administration and middle management had lower perceptions toward patient safety. Respondents working less than 1 year in the current hospital had more positive safety culture perceptions in comparison with all other respondents. Large comparative databases provide the opportunity to identify distinct high and low scoring groups. In our study, language, work area, and profession were identified as important safety culture predictors. Years of experience in the hospital had only a small effect on safety culture perceptions.

  10. Different Goals for Different Folks: A Cross-Cultural Study of Achievement Goals across Nine Cultures

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    King, Ronnel B.; McInerney, Dennis M.; Nasser, Ramzi

    2017-01-01

    Goals are important predictors of key educational outcomes. However, most of the research on goal theory has been conducted in Western societies. In this study we examine how different types of goals (mastery, performance, social, and extrinsic) derived from personal investment theory are associated with key learning outcomes across nine cultural…

  11. Goal-Function Tree Modeling for Systems Engineering and Fault Management

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Patterson, Jonathan D.; Johnson, Stephen B.

    2013-01-01

    provide formal connectivity between the nominal (SE), and off-nominal (SHM and FM) aspects of functions and designs. This paper describes a formal modeling approach to the initial phases of the development process that integrates the nominal and off-nominal perspectives in a model that unites SE goals and functions of with the failure to achieve goals and functions (SHM/FM). This methodology and corresponding model, known as a Goal-Function Tree (GFT), provides a means to represent, decompose, and elaborate system goals and functions in a rigorous manner that connects directly to design through use of state variables that translate natural language requirements and goals into logical-physical state language. The state variable-based approach also provides the means to directly connect FM to the design, by specifying the range in which state variables must be controlled to achieve goals, and conversely, the failures that exist if system behavior go out-of-range. This in turn allows for the systems engineers and SHM/FM engineers to determine which state variables to monitor, and what action(s) to take should the system fail to achieve that goal. In sum, the GFT representation provides a unified approach to early-phase SE and FM development. This representation and methodology has been successfully developed and implemented using Systems Modeling Language (SysML) on the NASA Space Launch System (SLS) Program. It enabled early design trade studies of failure detection coverage to ensure complete detection coverage of all crew-threatening failures. The representation maps directly both to FM algorithm designs, and to failure scenario definitions needed for design analysis and testing. The GFT representation provided the basis for mapping of abort triggers into scenarios, both needed for initial, and successful quantitative analyses of abort effectiveness (detection and response to crew-threatening events).

  12. Materialistic Values and Goals.

    PubMed

    Kasser, Tim

    2016-01-01

    Materialism comprises a set of values and goals focused on wealth, possessions, image, and status. These aims are a fundamental aspect of the human value/goal system, standing in relative conflict with aims concerning the well-being of others, as well as one's own personal and spiritual growth. Substantial evidence shows that people who place a relatively high priority on materialistic values/goals consume more products and incur more debt, have lower-quality interpersonal relationships, act in more ecologically destructive ways, have adverse work and educational motivation, and report lower personal and physical well-being. Experimentally activating materialistic aims causes similar outcomes. Given these ills, researchers have investigated means of decreasing people's materialism. Successful interventions encourage intrinsic/self-transcendent values/goals, increase felt personal security, and/or block materialistic messages from the environment. These interventions would likely be more effective if policies were also adopted that diminished contemporary culture's focus on consumption, profit, and economic growth.

  13. Complying with Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulations: a guide for compounding pharmacists.

    PubMed

    Mixon, Bill; Nain, John

    2013-01-01

    In the compounding pharmacy, compliance with Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulations is essential to protect employees and customers from exposure to hazardous substances and a dangerous environment, to avert heavy fines and penalties levied for noncompliance, and to fulfill the moral obligation of pharmacists to do no harm. Without adequate vigilance, compounders are vulnerable to lapses in adherence to Occupational Safety and Health Administration requirements, the results of which can be dire in a climate of increased scrutiny about the safety and integrity of pharmaceutical compounding. Proactively addressing necessary compliance with essential safety regulations can only benefit compounders and their staff and clients, and guidance from an expert in Occupational Safety and Health Administration requirements can be a key factor in accomplishing that goal.

  14. An airport occupational health and safety management system from the OHSAS 18001 perspective.

    PubMed

    Dejanović, Dejana; Heleta, Milenko

    2016-09-01

    Occupational health and safety represents a set of technical, medical, legal, psychological, pedagogical and other measures with the aim to detect and eliminate hazards that threaten the lives and health of employees. These measures should be applied in a systematic way. Therefore, the aim of this study is to review occupational health and safety legislation in Serbia and the requirements that airports should fulfill for Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series certification. Analyzing the specificity of airport activities and injuries as their outcomes, the article also proposes preventive measures for the health and safety of employees. Furthermore, the airport activities which are the most important from the standpoint of risks are defined, as the goals for occupational health and safety performance improvement.

  15. Understanding and Improving Arterial Roads to Support Public Health and Transportation Goals.

    PubMed

    McAndrews, Carolyn; Pollack, Keshia M; Berrigan, David; Dannenberg, Andrew L; Christopher, Ed J

    2017-08-01

    Arterials are types of roads designed to carry high volumes of motorized traffic. They are an integral part of transportation systems worldwide and exposure to them is ubiquitous, especially in urban areas. Arterials provide access to diverse commercial and cultural resources, which can positively influence community health by supporting social cohesion as well as economic and cultural opportunities. They can negatively influence health via safety issues, noise, air pollution, and lack of economic development. The aims of public health and transportation partially overlap; efforts to improve arterials can meet goals of both professions. Two trends in arterial design show promise. First, transportation professionals increasingly define the performance of arterials via metrics accounting for pedestrians, cyclists, transit riders, and nearby residents in addition to motor vehicle users. Second, applying traffic engineering and design can generate safety, air quality, and livability benefits, but we need evidence to support these interventions. We describe the importance of arterials (including exposures, health behaviors, effects on equity, and resulting health outcomes) and make the case for public health collaborations with the transportation sector.

  16. Enhancing patient safety: improving the patient handoff process through appreciative inquiry.

    PubMed

    Shendell-Falik, Nancy; Feinson, Michael; Mohr, Bernard J

    2007-02-01

    Patient transfers from one care giver to another are an area of high safety consequence, as is evident by many studies and the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organization's Patient Safety Goals. The authors describe how one hospital made measurable improvements in a patient handoff process by using an unconventional approach to change called appreciative inquiry. Rather than identifying the root causes of ineffective handoffs, appreciative inquiry was used to engage staff in identifying and building on their most effective handoff experiences.

  17. Psychometrics of the AAN Caregiver Driving Safety Questionnaire and contributors to caregiver concern about driving safety in older adults.

    PubMed

    Carvalho, Janessa O; Springate, Beth; Bernier, Rachel A; Davis, Jennifer

    2018-03-01

    ABSTRACTBackground:The American Academy of Neurology (AAN) updated their practice parameters in the evaluation of driving risk in dementia and developed a Caregiver Driving Safety Questionnaire, detailed in their original manuscript (Iverson Gronseth, Reger, Classen, Dubinsky, & Rizzo, 2010). They described four factors associated with decreased driving ability in dementia patients: history of crashes or citations, informant-reported concerns, reduced mileage, and aggressive driving. An informant-reported AAN Caregiver Driving Safety Questionnaire was designed with these elements, and the current study was the first to explore the factor structure of this questionnaire. Additionally, we examined associations between these factors and cognitive and behavioral measures in patients with mild cognitive impairment or early Alzheimer's disease and their informants. Exploratory factor analysis revealed a four-component structure, consistent with the theory behind the AAN scale composition. These four factor scores also were significantly associated with performance on cognitive screening instruments and informant reported behavioral dysfunction. Regressions revealed that behavioral dysfunction predicted caregiver concerns about driving safety beyond objective patient cognitive dysfunction. In this first known quantitative exploration of the scale, our results support continued use of this scale in office driving safety assessments. Additionally, patient behavioral changes predicted caregiver concerns about driving safety over and above cognitive status, which suggests that caregivers may benefit from psychoeducation about cognitive factors that may negatively impact driving safety.

  18. Fall Prevention Research and Practice: A Total Worker Safety Approach

    PubMed Central

    HSIAO, Hongwei

    2014-01-01

    Slips, trips, and falls (STF) represent a serious hazard to workers and occupants in many industries, homes, and communities. Often, the cause of a STF incident is multifactorial, encompassing human, environmental, and task risk factors. A STF-related disability can greatly diminish the occupational capability and quality of life of individuals in both the workplace and the home. Countering STF hazards and risks both on and off the job and on all aspects of control measures is a “total worker safety” matter, a challenging yet tangible undertaking. As the federal organization responsible for conducting research for the prevention of work-related injuries in the United States, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has been conducting research on STF controls for some decades. Many NIOSH research outcomes have been utilized for STF prevention in workplaces, with potential for prevention in homes as well. This paper summarizes the concept of total worker safety for STF control, NIOSH priority research goals, major activities, and accomplishments, and some emerging issues on STF. The strategic planning process for the NIOSH research goals and some identified research focuses are applicable to the development and implementation of global STF research goals. PMID:25345424

  19. Generalized railway tank car safety design optimization for hazardous materials transport: addressing the trade-off between transportation efficiency and safety.

    PubMed

    Saat, Mohd Rapik; Barkan, Christopher P L

    2011-05-15

    North America railways offer safe and generally the most economical means of long distance transport of hazardous materials. Nevertheless, in the event of a train accident releases of these materials can pose substantial risk to human health, property or the environment. The majority of railway shipments of hazardous materials are in tank cars. Improving the safety design of these cars to make them more robust in accidents generally increases their weight thereby reducing their capacity and consequent transportation efficiency. This paper presents a generalized tank car safety design optimization model that addresses this tradeoff. The optimization model enables evaluation of each element of tank car safety design, independently and in combination with one another. We present the optimization model by identifying a set of Pareto-optimal solutions for a baseline tank car design in a bicriteria decision problem. This model provides a quantitative framework for a rational decision-making process involving tank car safety design enhancements to reduce the risk of transporting hazardous materials. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  20. Achieving the Goals: Goal 1. All Children in America Will Start School Ready To Learn.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Department of Education, Washington, DC. Office of Intergovernmental and Interagency Affairs.

    "Reaching the Goals" is a series of eight books designed to inform people involved in education reform, or people who want to be involved, of the myriad of programs and resources that are available from the Federal Government to support each of the National Education Goals defined in 1990. This first book is dedicated to Goal 1,…

  1. Using BCG as a framework for setting goals and communicating progress toward those goals

    EPA Science Inventory

    This 5 minute Lightning Talk will discuss the benefits of stakeholder-supported quantitative targets in measuring progress, and will describe the Biological Condition Gradient (BCG) as one way to develop these quantitative targets.

  2. Stress, coping and safety compliance in a multinational gold mining company.

    PubMed

    Jacobs, Melissa; Pienaar, Jacobus

    2017-06-01

    The primary objective of this study was to investigate the relationship of work stress, consisting of role stressors and job insecurity, with safety compliance at work. A secondary objective was to test for the possible moderating effect of individual employees' coping behaviour between experienced work stress and job insecurity, and their safety compliance. A cross-sectional survey design was used (n = 771). An electronic survey, with a biographical questionnaire and scales on role conflict, role ambiguity, role overload, job insecurity, coping and safety compliance at work, was administered. The results indicated that specific aspects of work stress, notably role conflict, role ambiguity and quantitative job insecurity, and of coping, namely an avoidance style and changing the situation, were important in understanding safety compliance. A moderating effect of avoidance coping was also found.

  3. A conductive grating sensor for online quantitative monitoring of fatigue crack.

    PubMed

    Li, Peiyuan; Cheng, Li; Yan, Xiaojun; Jiao, Shengbo; Li, Yakun

    2018-05-01

    Online quantitative monitoring of crack damage due to fatigue is a critical challenge for structural health monitoring systems assessing structural safety. To achieve online quantitative monitoring of fatigue crack, a novel conductive grating sensor based on the principle of electrical potential difference is proposed. The sensor consists of equidistant grating channels to monitor the fatigue crack length and conductive bars to provide the circuit path. An online crack monitoring system is established to verify the sensor's capability. The experimental results prove that the sensor is suitable for online quantitative monitoring of fatigue crack. A finite element model for the sensor is also developed to optimize the sensitivity of crack monitoring, which is defined by the rate of sensor resistance change caused by the break of the first grating channel. Analysis of the model shows that the sensor sensitivity can be enhanced by reducing the number of grating channels and increasing their resistance and reducing the resistance of the conductive bar.

  4. A conductive grating sensor for online quantitative monitoring of fatigue crack

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Li, Peiyuan; Cheng, Li; Yan, Xiaojun; Jiao, Shengbo; Li, Yakun

    2018-05-01

    Online quantitative monitoring of crack damage due to fatigue is a critical challenge for structural health monitoring systems assessing structural safety. To achieve online quantitative monitoring of fatigue crack, a novel conductive grating sensor based on the principle of electrical potential difference is proposed. The sensor consists of equidistant grating channels to monitor the fatigue crack length and conductive bars to provide the circuit path. An online crack monitoring system is established to verify the sensor's capability. The experimental results prove that the sensor is suitable for online quantitative monitoring of fatigue crack. A finite element model for the sensor is also developed to optimize the sensitivity of crack monitoring, which is defined by the rate of sensor resistance change caused by the break of the first grating channel. Analysis of the model shows that the sensor sensitivity can be enhanced by reducing the number of grating channels and increasing their resistance and reducing the resistance of the conductive bar.

  5. Goal Setting Skills for Young Adults.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Youngs, Bettie B.

    This guide/workbook was written to help adolescents understand why goals are important, identify their goals, and work toward achieving those goals. Following a brief introduction, the guide is divided into five chapters. Chapter 1 asks readers the question: Who Is in Charge of Your Lives?" Setting goals is presented as the key to shaping the…

  6. Factors in Decisions to Make, Purchase, and Use On-board Safety Technologies

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2005-12-01

    In support of its goal to reduce large truck-related fatalities and crashes, FMCSA plans to facilitate the deployment of Intelligent Vehicle Initiative (IVI) technologies that have shown a potential to improve the safety of commercial vehicle operati...

  7. Are mastery and ability goals both adaptive? Evaluation, initial goal construction and the quality of task engagement.

    PubMed

    Butler, Ruth

    2006-09-01

    The aims of this research were to examine the predictions that (a) the kind of evaluation pupils anticipate will influence their initial achievement goals and, as a result, the quality and consequences of task engagement; and (b) initial mastery goals will promote new learning and intrinsic motivation and initial ability goals will promote entity beliefs that ability is fixed. Participants were 312 secondary school pupils at ages 13-15. Pupils expected to receive normative evaluation, temporal evaluation (scores over time) or no evaluation. Mastery and ability goals were measured before pupils worked on challenging problems; intrinsic motivation and entity beliefs were measured after task completion. Anticipation of temporal evaluation enhanced initial mastery goals, anticipation of normative evaluation enhanced ability goals and the no-evaluation condition undermined both. Anticipation of temporal evaluation enhanced new learning (strategy acquisition and performance gains) and intrinsic motivation both directly and by enhancing initial mastery goals; anticipation of normative evaluation enhanced entity beliefs by enhancing ability goals. Results confirmed that evaluation conveys potent cues as to the goals of activity. They also challenged claims that both mastery and ability goals can be adaptive by demonstrating that these were differentially associated with positive versus negative processes and outcomes. Results have theoretical and applied implications for understanding and improving evaluative practices and student motivation.

  8. Multiple goals, motivation and academic learning.

    PubMed

    Valle, Antonio; Cabanach, Ramón G; Núnez, José C; González-Pienda, Julio; Rodríguez, Susana; Piñeiro, Isabel

    2003-03-01

    The type of academic goals pursued by students is one of the most important variables in motivational research in educational contexts. Although motivational theory and research have emphasised the somewhat exclusive nature of two types of goal orientation (learning goals versus performance goals), some studies (Meece, 1994; Seifert, 1995, 1996) have shown that the two kinds of goals are relatively complementary and that it is possible for students to have multiple goals simultaneously, which guarantees some flexibility to adapt more efficaciously to various contexts and learning situations. The principal aim of this study is to determine the academic goals pursued by university students and to analyse the differences in several very significant variables related to motivation and academic learning. Participants were 609 university students (74% women and 26% men) who filled in several questionnaires about the variables under study. We used cluster analysis ('quick cluster analysis' method) to establish the different groups or clusters of individuals as a function of the three types of goals (learning goals, performance goals, and social reinforcement goals). By means of MANOVA, we determined whether the groups or clusters identified were significantly different in the variables that are relevant to motivation and academic learning. Lastly, we performed ANOVA on the variables that revealed significant effects in the previous analysis. Using cluster analysis, three groups of students with different motivational orientations were identified: a group with predominance of performance goals (Group PG: n = 230), a group with predominance of multiple goals (Group MG: n = 238), and a group with predominance of learning goals (Group LG: n = 141). Groups MG and LG attributed their success more to ability, they had higher perceived ability, they took task characteristics into account when planning which strategies to use in the learning process, they showed higher persistence

  9. Health and Safety Checklist for Early Care and Education Programs to Assess Key National Health and Safety Standards.

    PubMed

    Alkon, Abbey; Rose, Roberta; Wolff, Mimi; Kotch, Jonathan B; Aronson, Susan S

    2016-01-01

    The project aims were to (1) develop an observational Health and Safety Checklist to assess health and safety practices and conditions in early care and education (ECE) programs using Stepping Stones To Caring For Our Children, 3rd Edition national standards, (2) pilot test the Checklist, completed by nurse child care health consultants, to assess feasibility, ease of completion, objectivity, validity, and reliability, and (3) revise the Checklist based on the qualitative and quantitative results of the pilot study. The observable national health and safety standards were identified and then rated by health, safety, and child care experts using a Delphi technique to validate the standards as essential to prevent harm and promote health. Then, child care health consultants recruited ECE centers and pilot tested the 124-item Checklist. The pilot study was conducted in Arizona, California and North Carolina. The psychometric properties of the Checklist were assessed. The 37 participating ECE centers had 2627 children from ethnically-diverse backgrounds and primarily low-income families. The child care health consultants found the Checklist easy to complete, objective, and useful for planning health and safety interventions. The Checklist had content and face validity, inter-rater reliability, internal consistency, and concurrent validity. Based on the child care health consultant feedback and psychometric properties of the Checklist, the Checklist was revised and re-written at an 8th grade literacy level. The Health and Safety Checklist provides a standardized instrument of observable, selected national standards to assess the quality of health and safety in ECE centers.

  10. THE GOALS OF INTEGRATION.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    HANDLIN, OSCAR

    THE LACK OF CLEARLY DEFINED GOALS WITHIN THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT IS IMPEDING ITS TACTICS AND MOMENTUM. THE STATED GOAL OF INTEGRATION ACTUALLY HAS TWO ALTERNATIVE INTERPRETATIONS--FULL LEGAL EQUALITY AND RACIAL BALANCE. THE NEWER STRESS ON RACIAL BALANCE RESTS ON THE FALLACIOUS ASSUMPTIONS THAT THE NEGRO'S SITUATION IS UNIQUE BECAUSE OF SLAVERY…

  11. Effectiveness of Direct Safety Regulations on Manufacturers and Users of Industrial Machines: Its Implications on Industrial Safety Policies in Republic of Korea.

    PubMed

    Choi, Gi Heung

    2017-03-01

    Despite considerable efforts made in recent years, the industrial accident rate and the fatality rate in the Republic of Korea are much higher than those in most developed countries in Europe and North America. Industrial safety policies and safety regulations are also known to be ineffective and inefficient in some cases. This study focuses on the quantitative evaluation of the effectiveness of direct safety regulations such as safety certification, self-declaration of conformity, and safety inspection of industrial machines in the Republic of Korea. Implications on safety policies to restructure the industrial safety system associated with industrial machines are also explored. Analysis of causes in industrial accidents associated with industrial machines confirms that technical causes need to be resolved to reduce both the frequency and the severity of such industrial accidents. Statistical analysis also confirms that the indirect effects of safety device regulation on users are limited for a variety of reasons. Safety device regulation needs to be shifted to complement safety certification and self-declaration of conformity for more balanced direct regulations on manufacturers and users. An example of cost-benefit analysis on conveyor justifies such a transition. Industrial safety policies and regulations associated with industrial machines must be directed towards eliminating the sources of danger at the stage of danger creation, thereby securing the safe industrial machines. Safety inspection further secures the safety of workers at the stage of danger use. The overall balance between such safety regulations is achieved by proper distribution of industrial machines subject to such regulations and the intensity of each regulation. Rearrangement of industrial machines subject to safety certification and self-declaration of conformity to include more movable industrial machines and other industrial machines with a high level of danger is also suggested.

  12. Randomized trial of computerized quantitative pretest probability in low-risk chest pain patients: effect on safety and resource use.

    PubMed

    Kline, Jeffrey A; Zeitouni, Raghid A; Hernandez-Nino, Jackeline; Jones, Alan E

    2009-06-01

    We hypothesize that the presentation of a quantitative pretest probability of acute coronary syndrome would safely reduce unnecessary resource use in low-risk emergency department (ED) chest pain patients. Randomized controlled trial of adult patients with chest pain paired with their clinicians. Patients had neither obvious evidence of acute coronary syndrome nor obvious other reason for admission. Clinicans provided their unstructured point estimate for pretest probability before randomization. Clinicans and patients in the intervention group received a printout of pretest probability of acute coronary syndrome result displayed numerically and graphically. Controls received no printout. Patients were followed for 45 days for predefined criteria of acute coronary syndrome and efficacy endpoints. Endpoints were compared between groups, with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for differences. Four hundred were enrolled, and 31 were excluded for cocaine use or elopement from care. The mean pretest probability estimates of acute coronary syndrome were 4 (SD 5%) from clinicians and 4 (SD 6%) from the computer. Safety and efficacy endpoints for controls (n=185) versus intervention patients (n=184) were as follows: (1) delayed or missed diagnosis of acute coronary syndrome: 1 of 185 versus 0 of 184 (95% CI for difference -2.8% to 15.0%); (2) hospital admission with no significant cardiovascular diagnosis, 11% versus 5% (-0.2% to 11%); (3) thoracic imaging imparting greater than 5 mSv radiation with a negative result, 20% versus 9% (95% CI for difference = 3.8% to 18.0%); (4) median length of stay, 11.4 hours versus 9.2 hours (95% CI for difference = -2.9 to 7.6 hours); (5) reported feeling "very satisfied" with clinician explanation of problem on follow-up survey, 38% versus 49% (95% CI for difference = 0.9% to 21.0%); (6) readmitted within 7 days, 11% versus 4% (95% CI for difference = 2.5% to 13.2%). Presentation of a quantitative estimate of the pretest probability of

  13. Universal structural parameter to quantitatively predict metallic glass properties

    DOE PAGES

    Ding, Jun; Cheng, Yong-Qiang; Sheng, Howard; ...

    2016-12-12

    Quantitatively correlating the amorphous structure in metallic glasses (MGs) with their physical properties has been a long-sought goal. Here we introduce flexibility volume' as a universal indicator, to bridge the structural state the MG is in with its properties, on both atomic and macroscopic levels. The flexibility volume combines static atomic volume with dynamics information via atomic vibrations that probe local configurational space and interaction between neighbouring atoms. We demonstrate that flexibility volume is a physically appropriate parameter that can quantitatively predict the shear modulus, which is at the heart of many key properties of MGs. Moreover, the new parametermore » correlates strongly with atomic packing topology, and also with the activation energy for thermally activated relaxation and the propensity for stress-driven shear transformations. These correlations are expected to be robust across a very wide range of MG compositions, processing conditions and length scales.« less

  14. A fuzzy logic expert system for evaluating policy progress towards sustainability goals.

    PubMed

    Cisneros-Montemayor, Andrés M; Singh, Gerald G; Cheung, William W L

    2017-12-16

    Evaluating progress towards environmental sustainability goals can be difficult due to a lack of measurable benchmarks and insufficient or uncertain data. Marine settings are particularly challenging, as stakeholders and objectives tend to be less well defined and ecosystem components have high natural variability and are difficult to observe directly. Fuzzy logic expert systems are useful analytical frameworks to evaluate such systems, and we develop such a model here to formally evaluate progress towards sustainability targets based on diverse sets of indicators. Evaluation criteria include recent (since policy enactment) and historical (from earliest known state) change, type of indicators (state, benefit, pressure, response), time span and spatial scope, and the suitability of an indicator in reflecting progress toward a specific objective. A key aspect of the framework is that all assumptions are transparent and modifiable to fit different social and ecological contexts. We test the method by evaluating progress towards four Aichi Biodiversity Targets in Canadian oceans, including quantitative progress scores, information gaps, and the sensitivity of results to model and data assumptions. For Canadian marine systems, national protection plans and biodiversity awareness show good progress, but species and ecosystem states overall do not show strong improvement. Well-defined goals are vital for successful policy implementation, as ambiguity allows for conflicting potential indicators, which in natural systems increases uncertainty in progress evaluations. Importantly, our framework can be easily adapted to assess progress towards policy goals with different themes, globally or in specific regions.

  15. Assessing the status of airline safety culture and its relationship to key employee attitudes

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Owen, Edward L.

    The need to identify the factors that influence the overall safety environment and compliance with safety procedures within airline operations is substantial. This study examines the relationships between job satisfaction, the overall perception of the safety culture, and compliance with safety rules and regulations of airline employees working in flight operations. A survey questionnaire administered via the internet gathered responses which were converted to numerical values for quantitative analysis. The results were grouped to provide indications of overall average levels in each of the three categories, satisfaction, perceptions, and compliance. Correlations between data in the three sets were tested for statistical significance using two-sample t-tests assuming equal variances. Strong statistical significance was found between job satisfaction and compliance with safety rules and between perceptions of the safety environment and safety compliance. The relationship between job satisfaction and safety perceptions did not show strong statistical significance.

  16. Can Goals Motivate Students?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Usher, Alexandra; Kober, Nancy

    2012-01-01

    This is the third in a series of six papers by the Center on Education Policy exploring issues related to students' motivation to learn. This paper examines various programs that use test performance or postsecondary attendance as motivational goals and the effects of these goals on students. How do policies surrounding assessments and college…

  17. GOAL-to-HAL translation study

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Flanders, J. H.; Helmers, C. T.; Stanten, S. F.

    1973-01-01

    This report deals with the feasibility, problems, solutions, and mapping of a GOAL language to HAL language translator. Ground Operations Aerospace Language, or GOAL, is a test-oriented higher order language developed by the John F. Kennedy Space Center to be used in checkout and launch of the space shuttle. HAL is a structured higher order language developed by the Johnson Space Center to be used in writing the flight software for the onboard shuttle computers. Since the onboard computers will extensively support ground checkout of the space shuttle, and since these computers and the software development facilities on the ground use the HAL language as baseline, the translation of GOAL to HAL becomes significant. The issue of feasibility was examined and it was found that a GOAL to HAL translator is feasible. Special problems are identified and solutions proposed. Finally, examples of translation are provided for each category of complete GOAL statement.

  18. The application of quantitative risk assessment to microbial food safety risks.

    PubMed

    Jaykus, L A

    1996-01-01

    Regulatory programs and guidelines for the control of foodborne microbial agents have existed in the U.S. for nearly 100 years. However, increased awareness of the scope and magnitude of foodborne disease, as well as the emergence of previously unrecognized human pathogens transmitted via the foodborne route, have prompted regulatory officials to consider new and improved strategies to reduce the health risks associated with pathogenic microorganisms in foods. Implementation of these proposed strategies will involve definitive costs for a finite level of risk reduction. While regulatory decisions regarding the management of foodborne disease risk have traditionally been done with the aid of the scientific community, a formal conceptual framework for the evaluation of health risks from pathogenic microorganisms in foods is warranted. Quantitative risk assessment (QRA), which is formally defined as the technical assessment of the nature and magnitude of a risk caused by a hazard, provides such a framework. Reproducing microorganisms in foods present a particular challenge to QRA because both their introduction and numbers may be affected by numerous factors within the food chain, with all of these factors representing significant stages in food production, handling, and consumption, in a farm-to-table type of approach. The process of QRA entails four designated phases: (1) hazard identification, (2) exposure assessment, (3) dose-response assessment, and (4) risk characterization. Specific analytical tools are available to accomplish the analyses required for each phase of the QRA. The purpose of this paper is to provide a description of the conceptual framework for quantitative microbial risk assessment within the standard description provided by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) paradigm. Each of the sequential steps in QRA are discussed in detail, providing information on current applications, tools for conducting the analyses, and methodological and/or data

  19. Path-Goal Theory of Leadership

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1975-04-01

    PATH-GOAL THEORY OF LEADERSHIP Robert J. House, et al Washington University AD-A009 513 Prepared for: Office of Naval Research April 1975...NUMBER^ READ »ITRUCTIONS BEFORE COMPLETING FORM *- TITLE (mö Submit) PATH-GOAL THEORY OF LEADERSHIP t. TYPE OF REPORT ft PERIOD COVERED... Theory -Contingency Factors - Leadership Style 20. ABSTRACT (Conllnuo an rmvttc cmy an« Idonlllr kr Meek mmtbor) The paper reviews the path-goal

  20. En route care patient safety: thoughts from the field.

    PubMed

    McNeill, Margaret M; Pierce, Penny; Dukes, Susan; Bridges, Elizabeth J

    2014-08-01

    The purpose of this study was to describe the patient safety culture of en route care in the United States Air Force aeromedical evacuation system. Almost 100,000 patients have been transported since 2001. Safety concerns in this unique environment are complex because of the extraordinary demands of multitasking, time urgency, long duty hours, complex handoffs, and multiple stressors of flight. An internet-based survey explored the perceptions and experiences of safety issues among nursing personnel involved throughout the continuum of aeromedical evacuation care. A convenience sample of 236 nurses and medical technicians from settings representing the continuum was studied. Descriptive and nonparametric statistics were used to analyze the quantitative data, and thematic analysis was applied to the qualitative data. Results indicate that over 90% of respondents agree or strongly agree safety is a priority in their unit and that their unit is responsive to patient safety initiatives. Many respondents described safety incidents or near misses, and these have been categorized as personnel physical capability limitations, environmental threats, medication and equipment issues, and care process problems. Results suggest the care of patients during transport is influenced by the safety culture, human factors, training, experience, and communication. Suggestions to address safety issues emerged from the survey data. Reprint & Copyright © 2014 Association of Military Surgeons of the U.S.

  1. Connected vehicle pilot deployment program phase 1, safety management plan – Tampa (THEA).

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2016-04-01

    This document presents the Safety Management Plan for the THEA Connected Vehicle (CV) Pilot Deployment. The THEA CV Pilot Deployment goal is to advance and enable safe, interoperable, networked wireless communications among vehicles, the infrastructu...

  2. On becoming ready to pursue a goal you don't know you have: Effects of nonconscious goals on evaluative readiness

    PubMed Central

    Ferguson, Melissa J.

    2010-01-01

    Findings showed that the nonconscious activation of a goal in memory led to increased positive implicit attitudes toward stimuli that could facilitate the goal. This evaluative readiness to pursue the nonconscious goal emerged even when participants were consciously unaware of the goal-relevant stimuli themselves. The effect emerged the most strongly for those with some skill at the goal, and for those for whom the goal was most currently important. The effect of implicit goal activation on implicit attitudes emerged in both an immediate condition as well as a delay condition, suggesting that a goal rather than a non-motivational construct was activated. Participants' implicit attitudes toward a nonconscious goal also predicted their goal-relevant behavior. These findings suggest that people can become evaluatively ready to pursue a goal whenever it has been activated -- a readiness that apparently does not require conscious awareness or deliberation about either the goal or the goal-relevant stimuli. Theoretical implications of this type of implicit goal readiness are discussed. PMID:19025283

  3. The premature graduation of children from child restraints to vehicle safety belts

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2000-10-01

    Belt-positioning booster seats are recommended for children between 40 and 80 pounds, however, usage is estimated at only 5% nationally. The goal of this project was to determine reasons for the premature graduation of children from child safety seat...

  4. Patient Drug Safety Reporting: Diabetes Patients' Perceptions of Drug Safety and How to Improve Reporting of Adverse Events and Product Complaints.

    PubMed

    Patel, Puja; Spears, David; Eriksen, Betina Østergaard; Lollike, Karsten; Sacco, Michael

    2018-03-01

    Global health care manufacturer Novo Nordisk commissioned research regarding awareness of drug safety department activities and potential to increase patient feedback. Objectives were to examine patients' knowledge of pharmaceutical manufacturers' responsibilities and efforts regarding drug safety, their perceptions and experiences related to these efforts, and how these factors influence their thoughts and behaviors. Data were collected before and after respondents read a description of a drug safety department and its practices. We conducted quantitative survey research across 608 health care consumers receiving treatment for diabetes in the United States, Germany, United Kingdom, and Italy. This research validated initial, exploratory qualitative research (across 40 comparable consumers from the same countries) which served to guide design of the larger study. Before reading a drug safety department description, 55% of respondents were unaware these departments collect safety information on products and patients. After reading the description, 34% reported the department does more than they expected to ensure drug safety, and 56% reported "more confidence" in the industry as a whole. Further, 66% reported themselves more likely to report an adverse event or product complaint, and 60% reported that they were more likely to contact a drug safety department with questions. The most preferred communication methods were websites/online forums (39%), email (27%), and telephone (25%). Learning about drug safety departments elevates consumers' confidence in manufacturers' safety efforts and establishes potential for patients to engage in increased self-monitoring and reporting. Study results reveal potentially actionable insights for the industry across patient and physician programs and communications.

  5. Model Development for EHR Interdisciplinary Information Exchange of ICU Common Goals

    PubMed Central

    Collins, Sarah A.; Bakken, Suzanne; Vawdrey, David K.; Coiera, Enrico; Currie, Leanne

    2010-01-01

    Purpose Effective interdisciplinary exchange of patient information is an essential component of safe, efficient, and patient–centered care in the intensive care unit (ICU). Frequent handoffs of patient care, high acuity of patient illness, and the increasing amount of available data complicate information exchange. Verbal communication can be affected by interruptions and time limitations. To supplement verbal communication, many ICUs rely on documentation in electronic health records (EHRs) to reduce errors of omission and information loss. The purpose of this study was to develop a model of EHR interdisciplinary information exchange of ICU common goals. Methods The theoretical frameworks of distributed cognition and the clinical communication space were integrated and a previously published categorization of verbal information exchange was used. 59.5 hours of interdisciplinary rounds in a Neurovascular ICU were observed and five interviews and one focus group with ICU nurses and physicians were conducted. Results Current documentation tools in the ICU were not sufficient to capture the nurses' and physicians' collaborative decision-making and verbal communication of goal-directed actions and interactions. Clinicians perceived the EHR to be inefficient for information retrieval, leading to a further reliance on verbal information exchange. Conclusion The model suggests that EHRs should support: 1) Information tools for the explicit documentation of goals, interventions, and assessments with synthesized and summarized information outputs of events and updates; and 2) Messaging tools that support collaborative decision-making and patient safety double checks that currently occur between nurses and physicians in the absence of EHR support. PMID:20974549

  6. A first-line nurse manager's goal-profile.

    PubMed

    Johansson, Gunilla; Pörn, Ingmar; Theorell, Töres; Gustafsson, Barbro

    2007-01-01

    The aim of this case study was to acquire understanding concerning the first-line nurse manager's goal-profile, i.e. prioritization of goals in her work as a first-line nurse manager, through use of an action-theoretic and confirmatory theory. The first-line nurse manager's pivotal role regarding quality of care and development in relation to on-going changes in the health care sector is stressed by many researchers and the transition from nurse to manager is described as a demanding challenge for the first-line nurse manager. The case study described in this paper concerns a first-line nurse manager in an actual working environment in care of older people. Data collection comprised interviews, observations, a job description and policy documents. A hermeneutic interpretation was used for data analysis. The results showed that the first-line nurse manager had three goals in her goal-profile, in the following order of priority: (i) a nurse goal that she had strongly accepted and in which she had excellent control, (ii) an administrator goal that she had accepted and in which she had control, (iii) a leadership goal that she had not accepted and in which she did not have control. Both the administrator and leadership goals were based on her job description, but the nurse goal was a personally chosen goal based on her own self-relation/goal-fulfillment. The first-line nurse manager's prioritized self-identity, based on successful realization of goals in her goal-profile, was decisive in the manifestation of her work. This study contributes to a new understanding of the first-line nurse manager's self-identity related to work in terms of goal acceptance and goal control of prioritized goals. This action-theoretic approach could be a valuable 'key' for understanding leadership (or lack of leadership) in clinical practice.

  7. Recent Accomplishments and Future Directions in US Fusion Safety & Environmental Program

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

    David A. Petti; Brad J. Merrill; Phillip Sharpe

    2006-07-01

    The US fusion program has long recognized that the safety and environmental (S&E) potential of fusion can be attained by prudent materials selection, judicious design choices, and integration of safety requirements into the design of the facility. To achieve this goal, S&E research is focused on understanding the behavior of the largest sources of radioactive and hazardous materials in a fusion facility, understanding how energy sources in a fusion facility could mobilize those materials, developing integrated state of the art S&E computer codes and risk tools for safety assessment, and evaluating S&E issues associated with current fusion designs. In thismore » paper, recent accomplishments are reviewed and future directions outlined.« less

  8. Components That Affect the Personal Motivation to Implement Campus Safety Protocols

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Burt, Ernest, III

    2013-01-01

    This study examined components that have an effect on crisis response team members' personal motivation to perform campus safety protocols. The research method for this study was a quantitative design. The variables measured were compensation, experience, training, and communication. The motivation sources for this study included instrumental…

  9. Aiming at a Moving Target: Theoretical and Methodological Considerations in the Study of Intraindividual Goal Conflict between Personal Goals

    PubMed Central

    Gorges, Julia; Grund, Axel

    2017-01-01

    Multiple-goal pursuit and conflict between personal life-defining goals can be considered part of everyday business in most individuals' lives. Given the potentially detrimental effects of goal conflict—for example, impaired well-being or poor performance—the literature on goal conflict is surprisingly scattered due to heterogeneous methodological approaches and technical terms. Little empirical research has addressed the conceptualization of goal conflict against the background of differing understandings from a structure-like and a process-like perspective. In the present article, we outline theoretical foundations of goal conflict from two perspectives: a structure- and a process-like perspective. Based on a comparative analysis and integration of these two perspectives, we systematically review empirical studies on goal conflict over 30 years of research. In doing so, we identify and discuss important conceptual dimensions of goal conflict, namely, goal conflict as a cognitive construct and an experiential instance, a focus on goal interrelations or on specific goal properties, and resource vs. inherent conflict, and the potential of these distinctions to further research on goal conflict. Finally, we present major challenges and pose questions that need to be addressed by future research. PMID:29201013

  10. Aiming at a Moving Target: Theoretical and Methodological Considerations in the Study of Intraindividual Goal Conflict between Personal Goals.

    PubMed

    Gorges, Julia; Grund, Axel

    2017-01-01

    Multiple-goal pursuit and conflict between personal life-defining goals can be considered part of everyday business in most individuals' lives. Given the potentially detrimental effects of goal conflict-for example, impaired well-being or poor performance-the literature on goal conflict is surprisingly scattered due to heterogeneous methodological approaches and technical terms. Little empirical research has addressed the conceptualization of goal conflict against the background of differing understandings from a structure-like and a process-like perspective. In the present article, we outline theoretical foundations of goal conflict from two perspectives: a structure- and a process-like perspective. Based on a comparative analysis and integration of these two perspectives, we systematically review empirical studies on goal conflict over 30 years of research. In doing so, we identify and discuss important conceptual dimensions of goal conflict, namely, goal conflict as a cognitive construct and an experiential instance, a focus on goal interrelations or on specific goal properties, and resource vs. inherent conflict, and the potential of these distinctions to further research on goal conflict. Finally, we present major challenges and pose questions that need to be addressed by future research.

  11. The Influence of Money on Goal Pursuit and Decision-Making: Understanding Money's Unique Impact on Goal Pursuit

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Moran, Nora

    Previous research suggests that activating concepts of money and wealth can increase motivation to achieve personal goals. In this dissertation, I investigate how money affects pursuit of important personal goals, and how this motivation may be affected by goal attainability. In eight studies, I show that priming concepts of money and wealth leads individuals to pursue important personal goals to a greater degree than control groups, but only when a goal is more attainable. In contrast, when a goal is less attainable, those primed with money will be less likely to work towards goals relative to control groups. Furthermore, I examine why money may have a detrimental effect on motivation when individuals are faced with less attainable but important goals, and argue those primed with money become more concerned with maintaining a sense of efficacy, and thus disengage from pursuit when success is less certain. Thus, this research identifies the needs made salient by activating money--validating one's abilities. Finally, I show the relevance of these findings for consumer behavior, and discuss the additional implications of this work, as well as future research directions.

  12. PRIORITIZING FUTURE RESEACH ON OFF-LABEL PRESCRIBING: RESULTS OF A QUANTITATIVE EVALUATION

    PubMed Central

    Walton, Surrey M.; Schumock, Glen T.; Lee, Ky-Van; Alexander, G. Caleb; Meltzer, David; Stafford, Randall S.

    2015-01-01

    Background Drug use for indications not approved by the Food and Drug Administration exceeds 20% of prescribing. Available compendia indicate that a minority of off-label uses are well supported by evidence. Policy makers, however, lack information to identify where systematic reviews of the evidence or other research would be most valuable. Methods We developed a quantitative model for prioritizing individual drugs for future research on off-label uses. The base model incorporated three key factors, 1) the volume of off-label use with inadequate evidence, 2) safety, and 3) cost and market considerations. Nationally representative prescribing data were used to estimate the number of off-label drug uses by indication from 1/2005 through 6/2007 in the United States, and these indications were then categorized according to the adequacy of scientific support. Black box warnings and safety alerts were used to quantify drug safety. Drug cost, date of market entry, and marketing expenditures were used to quantify cost and market considerations. Each drug was assigned a relative value for each factor, and the factors were then weighted in the final model to produce a priority score. Sensitivity analyses were conducted by varying the weightings and model parameters. Results Drugs that were consistently ranked highly in both our base model and sensitivity analyses included quetiapine, warfarin, escitalopram, risperidone, montelukast, bupropion, sertraline, venlafaxine, celecoxib, lisinopril, duloxetine, trazodone, olanzapine, and epoetin alfa. Conclusion Future research into off-label drug use should focus on drugs used frequently with inadequate supporting evidence, particularly if further concerns are raised by known safety issues, high drug cost, recent market entry, and extensive marketing. Based on quantitative measures of these factors, we have prioritized drugs where targeted research and policy activities have high potential value. PMID:19025425

  13. Personal Goals as Predictors of Intended Classroom Goals: Comparing Elementary and Secondary School Pre-Service Teachers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Daniels, Lia M.; Frenzel, Anne C.; Stupnisky, Robert H.; Stewart, Tara L.; Perry, Raymond P.

    2013-01-01

    Background and Aims: The literature documents fewer classroom mastery goal structures in secondary school compared to elementary. However, little is known about how personal achievement goals may influence classroom goal structures. This is especially true at the level of pre-service teachers. Our objective was to investigate if pre-service…

  14. Achievement Goal Theory: The Relationship of Accounting Students' Goal Orientations with Self-Efficacy, Anxiety, and Achievement

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dull, Richard B.; Schleifer, Lydia L. F.; McMillan, Jeffrey J.

    2015-01-01

    Students' goal orientations are examined using two major frameworks for learning: achievement goal theory (AGT) and students' approaches to learning (SAL). Previous student success research is extended, by examining goal constructs from the AGT framework to determine if they help explain the learning process in accounting. Data were gathered using…

  15. Affect, work-goal schemas, and work-goal striving among adults with chronic pain: a multilevel structural equation analysis.

    PubMed

    Mun, Chung Jung; Karoly, Paul; Okun, Morris A; Kim, Hanjoe; Tennen, Howard

    2016-04-01

    For individuals with chronic pain, the within-person influence of affect and goal cognition on daily work-related goal striving is not yet well understood. The present study tested the hypothesis that anticipatory goal cognition in the form of a morning work goal schema mediates the relations between morning affect and later (afternoon and evening) work goal striving. Working adults with chronic pain (N = 131) completed a 21-day diary with morning, afternoon, and evening assessments analyzed via multi-level structural equation modeling. At the within-person level, morning positive and negative affect were positively associated with morning work goal schemas; and morning work goal schemas, in turn, positively predicted both afternoon and evening work goal striving. Our findings underscore the complex dynamics over time of the relationship between affect and self-regulatory processes and have implications for future studies and for interventions to assist working adults with chronic pain.

  16. An Overview of the NASA Aviation Safety Program Propulsion Health Monitoring Element

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Simon, Donald L.

    2000-01-01

    The NASA Aviation Safety Program (AvSP) has been initiated with aggressive goals to reduce the civil aviation accident rate, To meet these goals, several technology investment areas have been identified including a sub-element in propulsion health monitoring (PHM). Specific AvSP PHM objectives are to develop and validate propulsion system health monitoring technologies designed to prevent engine malfunctions from occurring in flight, and to mitigate detrimental effects in the event an in-flight malfunction does occur. A review of available propulsion system safety information was conducted to help prioritize PHM areas to focus on under the AvSP. It is noted that when a propulsion malfunction is involved in an aviation accident or incident, it is often a contributing factor rather than the sole cause for the event. Challenging aspects of the development and implementation of PHM technology such as cost, weight, robustness, and reliability are discussed. Specific technology plans are overviewed including vibration diagnostics, model-based controls and diagnostics, advanced instrumentation, and general aviation propulsion system health monitoring technology. Propulsion system health monitoring, in addition to engine design, inspection, maintenance, and pilot training and awareness, is intrinsic to enhancing aviation propulsion system safety.

  17. Development and teaching of a graduate course in multimodal transportation safety and risk.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2014-03-01

    One of the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT)s strategic goals is to enhance public health and : safety by working toward the elimination of transportation-related deaths and injuries. Near term : targets include reducing highway fatalities, ...

  18. Modeling logistic performance in quantitative microbial risk assessment.

    PubMed

    Rijgersberg, Hajo; Tromp, Seth; Jacxsens, Liesbeth; Uyttendaele, Mieke

    2010-01-01

    In quantitative microbial risk assessment (QMRA), food safety in the food chain is modeled and simulated. In general, prevalences, concentrations, and numbers of microorganisms in media are investigated in the different steps from farm to fork. The underlying rates and conditions (such as storage times, temperatures, gas conditions, and their distributions) are determined. However, the logistic chain with its queues (storages, shelves) and mechanisms for ordering products is usually not taken into account. As a consequence, storage times-mutually dependent in successive steps in the chain-cannot be described adequately. This may have a great impact on the tails of risk distributions. Because food safety risks are generally very small, it is crucial to model the tails of (underlying) distributions as accurately as possible. Logistic performance can be modeled by describing the underlying planning and scheduling mechanisms in discrete-event modeling. This is common practice in operations research, specifically in supply chain management. In this article, we present the application of discrete-event modeling in the context of a QMRA for Listeria monocytogenes in fresh-cut iceberg lettuce. We show the potential value of discrete-event modeling in QMRA by calculating logistic interventions (modifications in the logistic chain) and determining their significance with respect to food safety.

  19. Addressing Safety in Schools: CDC's Division of Adolescent & School Health

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2007

    2007-01-01

    The mission of the Division of Adolescent and School Health (DASH) is to prevent the most serious health risks among children, adolescents, and young adults. Its goal is to prevent unintentional injuries and violence by enabling the nation's schools to address safety through coordinated school health programs. It attempts to achieve this goal…

  20. The Handbook for Campus Safety and Security Reporting. 2016 Edition

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    US Department of Education, 2016

    2016-01-01

    Campus security and safety is an important feature of postsecondary education. The Department of Education is committed to assisting schools in providing students nationwide a safe environment in which to learn and to keep students, parents and employees well informed about campus security. These goals were advanced by the Crime Awareness and…

  1. Safety recommendation component of mobile information assistant of the tourist

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Savchuk, Valeriya V.; Kunanec, Natalia E.; Pasichnyk, Volodymyr V.; Popiel, Piotr; Weryńska-Bieniasz, RóŻa; Kashaganova, Gulzhamal; Kalizhanova, Aliya

    2017-08-01

    The goal of article is to introduce and justify the need for the safety system components of Mobile Information of the tourist (MIAT). One of the objectives of the system is to determine the level of risk in a particular tourist destination on the basis of available information in the knowledge base.

  2. Goal difficulty and goal commitment affect adoption of a lower glycemic index diet in adults with type 2 diabetes.

    PubMed

    Miller, Carla K; Headings, Amy; Peyrot, Mark; Nagaraja, Haikady

    2012-01-01

    Few studies have examined the effect of goal difficulty on behavioral change even though goal setting is widely used in diabetes education. The effect of a goal to consume either 6 or 8 servings/day of low glycemic index (LGI) foods was evaluated in this study. Adults 40-65 years old with type 2 diabetes were randomly assigned to the 6 or 8 serving/day treatment group following a 5-week GI intervention. Perceived goal difficulty, commitment, satisfaction, and self-efficacy were evaluated, and four day food records assessed dietary intake. Both groups increased consumption of LGI foods (P<0.001); there were no significant differences in the change in consumption between groups. Participants who were more committed to the goal perceived the goal to be less difficult (P<0.01). Those with greater efficacy beliefs were more committed to their goal, perceived the goal to be less difficult, and were more satisfied with their performance (all P<0.05). A specific goal regarding LGI foods can facilitate the adoption of a lower GI diet. Future research is needed to determine if goal commitment or goal difficulty mediate the process. Clinicians should help clients set specific goals regarding dietary change. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  3. Quantitative analysis of fracture surface by roughness and fractal method

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

    Li, X.W.; Tian, J.F.; Kang, Y.

    1995-09-01

    In recent years there has been extensive research and great development in Quantitative Fractography, which acts as an integral part of fractographic analysis. A prominent technique for studying the fracture surface is based on fracture profile generation and the major means for characterizing the profile quantitatively are roughness and fractal methods. By this way, some quantitative indexes such as the roughness parameters R{sub L} for profile and R{sub S} for surface, fractal dimensions D{sub L} for profile and D{sub S} for surface can be measured. Given the relationships between the indexes and the mechanical properties of materials, it is possiblemore » to achieve the goal of protecting materials from fracture. But, as the case stands, the theory and experimental technology of quantitative fractography are still imperfect and remain to be studied further. Recently, Gokhale and Underwood et al have proposed an assumption-free method for estimating the surface roughness by vertically sectioning the fracture surface with sections at an angle of 120 deg with each other, which could be expressed as follows: R{sub S} = {ovr R{sub L}{center_dot}{Psi}} where {Psi} is the profile structure factor. This method is based on the classical sterological principles and verified with the aid of computer simulations for some ruled surfaces. The results are considered to be applicable to fracture surfaces with any arbitrary complexity and anisotropy. In order to extend the detail applications to this method in quantitative fractography, the authors made a study on roughness and fractal methods dependent on this method by performing quantitative measurements on some typical low-temperature impact fractures.« less

  4. Predicting academic self-handicapping in different age groups: the role of personal achievement goals and social goals.

    PubMed

    Leondari, Angeliki; Gonida, Eleftheria

    2007-09-01

    Academic self-handicapping refers to the use of impediments to successful performance on academic tasks. Previous studies have shown that it is related to personal achievement goals. A performance goal orientation is a positive predictor of self-handicapping, whereas a task goal orientation is unrelated to self-handicapping. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between academic self-handicapping, goal orientations (task, performance-approach, performance-avoidance), social goals, future consequences and achievement in mathematics. An additional aim was to investigate grade-level and gender differences in relation to academic self-handicapping. Participants were 702 upper elementary, junior and senior high school students with approximately equal numbers of girls and boys. There were no grade-level or gender differences as regards the use of self-handicapping. The correlations among the variables revealed that, when the whole sample was considered, self-handicapping was positively related to performance goal orientations and pleasing significant others and negatively to achievement in mathematics. The results of hierarchical regression analysis showed that, in upper elementary and junior high schools, the association between achievement in mathematics and self-handicapping was mediated by performance-avoidance goals. In senior high school, only task goal orientation was a negative predictor of self-handicapping.

  5. Advanced spacecraft fire safety: Proposed projects and program plan

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Youngblood, Wallace W.; Vedha-Nayagam, M.

    1989-01-01

    A detailed review identifies spacecraft fire safety issues and the efforts for their resolution, particularly for the threats posed by the increased on-orbit duration, size, and complexity of the Space Station Freedom. Suggestions provided by a survey of Wyle consultants and outside fire safety experts were combined into 30 research and engineering projects. The projects were then prioritized with respect to urgency to meet Freedom design goals, status of enabling technology, cost, and so on, to yield 14 highest priority projects, described in terms of background, work breakdown structure, and schedule. These highest priority projects can be grouped into the thematic areas of fire detection, fire extinguishment, risk assessment, toxicology and human effects, and ground based testing. Recommendations for overall program management stress the need for NASA Headquarters and field center coordination, with information exchange through spacecraft fire safety oversight committees.

  6. A Quantitative Analysis of the Effect of Simulation on Medication Administration in Nursing Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Scudmore, Casey

    2013-01-01

    Medication errors are a leading cause of injury and death in health care, and nurses are the last line of defense for patient safety. Nursing educators must develop curriculum to effectively teach nursing students to prevent medication errors and protect the public. The purpose of this quantitative, quasi-experimental study was to determine if…

  7. El Camino Hospital: using health information technology to promote patient safety.

    PubMed

    Bukunt, Susan; Hunter, Christine; Perkins, Sharon; Russell, Diana; Domanico, Lee

    2005-10-01

    El Camino Hospital is a leader in the use of health information technology to promote patient safety, including bar coding, computerized order entry, electronic medical records, and wireless communications. Each year, El Camino Hospital's board of directors sets performance expectations for the chief executive officer, which are tied to achievement of local, regional, and national safety and quality standards, including the six Institute of Medicine quality dimensions. He then determines a set of explicit quality goals and measurable actions, which serve as guidelines for the overall hospital. The goals and progress reports are widely shared with employees, medical staff, patients and families, and the public. For safety, for example, the medication error reduction team tracks and reviews medication error rates. The hospital has virtually eliminated transcription errors through its 100% use of computerized physician order entry. Clinical pathways and standard order sets have reduced practice variation, providing a safer environment. Many projects focused on timeliness, such as emergency department wait time, lab turnaround time, and pneumonia time to initial antibiotic. Results have been mixed, with projects most successful when a link was established with patient outcomes, such as in reducing time to percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty for patients with acute myocardial infarction.

  8. Bayesian data augmentation methods for the synthesis of qualitative and quantitative research findings

    PubMed Central

    Crandell, Jamie L.; Voils, Corrine I.; Chang, YunKyung; Sandelowski, Margarete

    2010-01-01

    The possible utility of Bayesian methods for the synthesis of qualitative and quantitative research has been repeatedly suggested but insufficiently investigated. In this project, we developed and used a Bayesian method for synthesis, with the goal of identifying factors that influence adherence to HIV medication regimens. We investigated the effect of 10 factors on adherence. Recognizing that not all factors were examined in all studies, we considered standard methods for dealing with missing data and chose a Bayesian data augmentation method. We were able to summarize, rank, and compare the effects of each of the 10 factors on medication adherence. This is a promising methodological development in the synthesis of qualitative and quantitative research. PMID:21572970

  9. Concerns related to Safety Management of Engineered Nanomaterials in research environment

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Groso, A.; Meyer, Th

    2013-04-01

    Since the rise of occupational safety and health research on nanomaterials a lot of progress has been made in generating health effects and exposure data. However, when detailed quantitative risk analysis is in question, more research is needed, especially quantitative measures of workers exposure and standards to categorize toxicity/hazardousness data. In the absence of dose-response relationships and quantitative exposure measurements, control banding (CB) has been widely adopted by OHS community as a pragmatic tool in implementing a risk management strategy based on a precautionary approach. Being in charge of health and safety in a Swiss university, where nanomaterials are largely used and produced, we are also faced with the challenge related to nanomaterials' occupational safety. In this work, we discuss the field application of an in-house risk management methodology similar to CB as well as some other methodologies. The challenges and issues related to the process will be discussed. Since exact data on nanomaterials hazardousness are missing for most of the situations, we deduce that the outcome of the analysis for a particular process is essentially the same with a simple methodology that determines only exposure potential and the one taking into account the hazardousness of ENPs. It is evident that when reliable data on hazardousness factors (as surface chemistry, solubility, carcinogenicity, toxicity etc.) will be available, more differentiation will be possible in determining the risk for different materials. On the protective measures side, all CB methodologies are inclined to overprotection side, only that some of them suggest comprehensive protective/preventive measures and others remain with basic advices. The implementation and control of protective measures in research environment will also be discussed.

  10. FMCSA safety program effectiveness measurement : Carrier Intervention Effectiveness Model, Version 1.1, technical report.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2017-04-01

    The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), in cooperation with the John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center (Volpe), has developed a quantitative model to measure the effectiveness of motor carrier interventions in terms of ...

  11. Beneficial effect of lixisenatide after 76 weeks of treatment in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus: A meta-analysis from the GetGoal programme.

    PubMed

    Broglio, Fabio; Mannucci, Edoardo; Napoli, Raffaele; Nicolucci, Antonio; Purrello, Francesco; Nikonova, Elena; Stager, William; Trevisan, Roberto

    2017-02-01

    To evaluate the long-term efficacy and safety of lixisenatide, a short-acting, prandial glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RA) as add-on therapy in type 2 diabetes mellitus. A meta-analysis of 76-week results of 5 placebo-controlled clinical trials from the GetGoal programme was performed, including 3000 inadequately controlled adult diabetic patients where lixisenatide 20 µg once-daily was administered in combination with metformin (GetGoal-M and GetGoal-F1), sulphonylurea ± metformin (GetGoal-S), basal insulin ± metformin (GetGoal-L) or pioglitazone ± metformin (GetGoal-P). A significant reduction in HbA1c at 76 weeks was observed in the intervention arm compared to placebo (LSM difference: -0.41%, 95%CI: -0.51, -0.32, P < .00001). Compared to placebo, lixisenatide induced a larger decrease in fasting plasma glucose (LSM difference -0.49 mmol/L, 95% CI -0.71, -0.27, P < .0001) and postprandial glucose excursion after a standard test meal (LSM difference -3.29 mmol/L, 95% CI -4.17, -2.42, P < .00001). A bodyweight reduction was observed in the lixisenatide arm (LSM difference -0.40 kg, 95%CI: -0.8, -0.01, P = .05). The risk of hypoglycaemia was slightly higher with lixisenatide vs placebo (risk difference +0.02, 95% CI: 0, 0.04, P = .04). The most commonly observed non-severe adverse events were nausea and vomiting, which after week 16 and week 8, were steadily <4% and <1% in the lixisenatide arm, respectively. Lixisenatide, a once-daily prandial GLP-1 RA, provides long-term glycaemic control, a sustained beneficial effect on weight and with a good safety profile. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  12. A watershed-scale goals approach to assessing and funding wastewater infrastructure.

    PubMed

    Rahm, Brian G; Vedachalam, Sridhar; Shen, Jerry; Woodbury, Peter B; Riha, Susan J

    2013-11-15

    Capital needs during the next twenty years for public wastewater treatment, piping, combined sewer overflow correction, and storm-water management are estimated to be approximately $300 billion for the USA. Financing these needs is a significant challenge, as Federal funding for the Clean Water Act has been reduced by 70% during the last twenty years. There is an urgent need for new approaches to assist states and other decision makers to prioritize wastewater maintenance and improvements. We present a methodology for performing an integrated quantitative watershed-scale goals assessment for sustaining wastewater infrastructure. We applied this methodology to ten watersheds of the Hudson-Mohawk basin in New York State, USA that together are home to more than 2.7 million people, cover 3.5 million hectares, and contain more than 36,000 km of streams. We assembled data on 183 POTWs treating approximately 1.5 million m(3) of wastewater per day. For each watershed, we analyzed eight metrics: Growth Capacity, Capacity Density, Soil Suitability, Violations, Tributary Length Impacted, Tributary Capital Cost, Volume Capital Cost, and Population Capital Cost. These metrics were integrated into three goals for watershed-scale management: Tributary Protection, Urban Development, and Urban-Rural Integration. Our results demonstrate that the methodology can be implemented using widely available data, although some verification of data is required. Furthermore, we demonstrate substantial differences in character, need, and the appropriateness of different management strategies among the ten watersheds. These results suggest that it is feasible to perform watershed-scale goals assessment to augment existing approaches to wastewater infrastructure analysis and planning. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  13. Dependence of quantitative accuracy of CT perfusion imaging on system parameters

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Li, Ke; Chen, Guang-Hong

    2017-03-01

    Deconvolution is a popular method to calculate parametric perfusion parameters from four dimensional CT perfusion (CTP) source images. During the deconvolution process, the four dimensional space is squeezed into three-dimensional space by removing the temporal dimension, and a prior knowledge is often used to suppress noise associated with the process. These additional complexities confound the understanding about deconvolution-based CTP imaging system and how its quantitative accuracy depends on parameters and sub-operations involved in the image formation process. Meanwhile, there has been a strong clinical need in answering this question, as physicians often rely heavily on the quantitative values of perfusion parameters to make diagnostic decisions, particularly during an emergent clinical situation (e.g. diagnosis of acute ischemic stroke). The purpose of this work was to develop a theoretical framework that quantitatively relates the quantification accuracy of parametric perfusion parameters with CTP acquisition and post-processing parameters. This goal was achieved with the help of a cascaded systems analysis for deconvolution-based CTP imaging systems. Based on the cascaded systems analysis, the quantitative relationship between regularization strength, source image noise, arterial input function, and the quantification accuracy of perfusion parameters was established. The theory could potentially be used to guide developments of CTP imaging technology for better quantification accuracy and lower radiation dose.

  14. Does Context, Practice or Competition affect Female Athletes’ Achievement Goal Dominance, Goal Pursuit, Burnout and Motivation?

    PubMed Central

    Fernández-Rio, Javier; Cecchini, Jose A.; Méndez-Giménez, Antonio

    2017-01-01

    Abstract The goal of this study was to assess the effects of two different achievement sport contexts, practice and competition, on the motivational profile of professional/semi-professional athletes. Forty-eight Spanish national/international-level female athletes (basketball = 18; handball = 12; soccer = 11; volleyball = 7), mean age 25.14 ± 3.43 years, agreed to participate in the study. They completed a questionnaire, prior and after training and competition, to assess achievement goals, achievement goal dominance, goal pursuit, motivational climate, motivation, burnout and perceived recovery-exertion. Data analyses revealed that, both in practice and competition, these team-sport athletes overwhelmingly showed a strong mastery-approach achievement goal in dominance as well as in pursuit. A significant finding was that this group of national/international-level, professional/semi-professional athletes not only adopted a mastery-approach achievement goal, but they also actively pursued it. It is also remarkable that this profile remained stable at post-tests, even after a painful defeat in competition, which produced a significant negative effect on the athletes’ burnout (emotional and physical exhaustion and devaluation of sport participation) and self-determined motivation. As expected, the difference between total recovery and perceived exertion significantly increased after practice and competition. National/international-level team-sport professional/semi-professional female athletes held and pursue stable mastery-approach goal dominance. PMID:29134051

  15. Applications of Goal Programming to Education.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Van Dusseldorp, Ralph A.; And Others

    This paper discusses goal programming, a computer-based operations research technique that is basically a modification and extension of linear programming. The authors first discuss the similarities and differences between goal programming and linear programming, then describe the limitations of goal programming and its possible applications for…

  16. Six sigma tools for a patient safety-oriented, quality-checklist driven radiation medicine department.

    PubMed

    Kapur, Ajay; Potters, Louis

    2012-01-01

    The purpose of this work was to develop and implement six sigma practices toward the enhancement of patient safety in an electronic, quality checklist-driven, multicenter, paperless radiation medicine department. A quality checklist process map (QPM), stratified into consultation through treatment-completion stages was incorporated into an oncology information systems platform. A cross-functional quality management team conducted quality-function-deployment and define-measure-analyze-improve-control (DMAIC) six sigma exercises with a focus on patient safety. QPM procedures were Pareto-sorted in order of decreasing patient safety risk with failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA). Quantitative metrics for a grouped set of highest risk procedures were established. These included procedural delays, associated standard deviations and six sigma Z scores. Baseline performance of the QPM was established over the previous year of usage. Data-driven analysis led to simplification, standardization, and refinement of the QPM with standard deviation, slip-day reduction, and Z-score enhancement goals. A no-fly policy (NFP) for patient safety was introduced at the improve-control DMAIC phase, with a process map interlock imposed on treatment initiation in the event of FMEA-identified high-risk tasks being delayed or not completed. The NFP was introduced in a pilot phase with specific stopping rules and the same metrics used for performance assessments. A custom root-cause analysis database was deployed to monitor patient safety events. Relative to the baseline period, average slip days and standard deviations for the risk-enhanced QPM procedures improved by over threefold factors in the NFP period. The Z scores improved by approximately 20%. A trend for proactive delays instead of reactive hard stops was observed with no adverse effects of the NFP. The number of computed potential no-fly delays per month dropped from 60 to 20 over a total of 520 cases. The fraction of computed

  17. Identity, Intimacy, Status and Sex Dating Goals as Correlates of Goal-Consistent Behavior and Satisfaction in Australian Youth

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kelly, Marguerite; Zimmer-Gembeck, Melanie J.; Boislard-P., Marie-Aude

    2012-01-01

    The most common dating goals of adolescents are identity, intimacy, status and sex. In this study of Australian youth (16-30 years, N = 208), dating goals were expected to explain goal-consistent behavior in each domain. Also, goals coupled with consistent behavior were expected to be associated with greater satisfaction in each domain. Age,…

  18. Integrated learning through student goal development.

    PubMed

    Price, Deborah; Tschannen, Dana; Caylor, Shandra

    2013-09-01

    New strategies are emerging to promote structure and increase learning in the clinical setting. Nursing faculty designed a mechanism by which integrative learning and situated coaching could occur more readily in the clinical setting. The Clinical Goals Initiative was implemented for sophomore-, junior-, and senior-level students in their clinical practicums. Students developed weekly goals reflecting three domains of professional nursing practice. Goals were shared with faculty and staff nurse mentors at the beginning of the clinical day to help guide students and mentors with planning for learning experiences. After 6 weeks, faculty and students were surveyed to evaluate project effectiveness. Faculty indicated that goal development facilitated clinical learning by providing more student engagement, direction, and focus. Students reported that goal development allowed them to optimize clinical learning opportunities and track their growth and progress. Faculty and students indicated the goals promoted student self-learning, autonomy, and student communication with nurse mentors and faculty. Copyright 2013, SLACK Incorporated.

  19. EDITORIAL: Safety aspects of fusion power plants

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kolbasov, B. N.

    2007-07-01

    neutral beam injectors and the power supply systems were considered. This year the ion cyclotron resonant heating system is under evaluation. I. Cristescu et al (Germany) present the paper `Tritium inventories and tritium safety design principles for the fuel cycle of ITER'. She and her colleagues developed the dynamic mathematical model (TRIMO) for tritium inventory evaluation within each system of the ITER fuel cycle in various operational scenarios. TRIMO is used as a tool for trade-off studies within the fuel cycle systems with the final goal of global tritium inventory minimization. M. Matsuyama et al (Japan) describes a new technique for in situ quantitative measurements of high-level tritium inventory and its distribution in the VV and tritium systems of ITER and future fusion reactors. This technique is based on utilization of x-rays induced by beta-rays emitting from tritium species. It was applied to three physical states of high-level tritium: to gaseous, aqueous and solid tritium retained on/in various materials. Finally, there are four papers devoted to safety issues in fusion reactor decommissioning and waste management. A paper by R. Pampin et al (UK) provides the revised radioactive waste analysis of two models in the PPCS. Another paper by M. Zucchetti (Italy), S.A. Bartenev (Russia) et al describes a radiochemical extraction technology for purification of V-Cr-Ti alloy components from activation products to the dose rate of 10 µSv/h allowing their clearance or hands-on recycling which has been developed and tested in laboratory stationary conditions. L. El-Guebaly (USA) and her colleagues submitted two papers. In the first paper she optimistically considers the possibility of replacing the disposal of fusion power reactor waste with recycling and clearance. Her second paper considers the implications of new clearance guidelines for nuclear applications, particularly for slightly irradiated fusion materials.

  20. Striving for safety: communicating and deciding in sociotechnical systems

    PubMed Central

    Flach, John M.; Carroll, John S.; Dainoff, Marvin J.; Hamilton, W. Ian

    2015-01-01

    How do communications and decisions impact the safety of sociotechnical systems? This paper frames this question in the context of a dynamic system of nested sub-systems. Communications are related to the construct of observability (i.e. how components integrate information to assess the state with respect to local and global constraints). Decisions are related to the construct of controllability (i.e. how component sub-systems act to meet local and global safety goals). The safety dynamics of sociotechnical systems are evaluated as a function of the coupling between observability and controllability across multiple closed-loop components. Two very different domains (nuclear power and the limited service food industry) provide examples to illustrate how this framework might be applied. While the dynamical systems framework does not offer simple prescriptions for achieving safety, it does provide guides for exploring specific systems to consider the potential fit between organisational structures and work demands, and for generalising across different systems regarding how safety can be managed. Practitioner Summary: While offering no simple prescriptions about how to achieve safety in sociotechnical systems, this paper develops a theoretical framework based on dynamical systems theory as a practical guide for generalising from basic research to work domains and for generalising across alternative work domains to better understand how patterns of communication and decision-making impact system safety. PMID:25761155