Preferred surface microscopic geometric features on floors as potential interventions for slip and fall accidents on liquid contaminated surfaces

PROBLEM: Surface roughness affects friction, so selection of floor surfaces with certain roughness characteristics could potentially reduce slip and fall accidents. This article summarizes the preferred surface microscopic geometric features that could increase friction on surfaces covered with liquid contaminants. METHOD: Three types of surface features, represented by the average of the maximum height above the mean line in each cut-off length (R(pm)), the arithmetical average of surface slope (Delta(a)), and the kernel roughness depth (R(k)), are identified as preferred surface microscopic geometric features for a higher friction. The proper settings on the profilometers (instruments used to measure surface roughness) for optimizing these surface parameters are specified. The friction mechanisms involved reveal why these features are more desirable. RESULTS: Although surface roughness is important in determining slipperiness, there is still insufficient information to establish a safety criterion based on roughness; however, the method presented in this paper can readily provide a relative comparison. IMPACT ON INDUSTRY: The summary presented will help safety professionals properly select new floor surfaces or assess existing floors to reduce slip and fall accidents.     

Effectiveness of primary enforcement safety belt laws and enhanced enforcement of safety belt laws: a summary of the Guide to Community Preventive Services systematic reviews

BACKGROUND: The use of safety belts is the single most effective means of reducing fatal and nonfatal injuries in motor-vehicle crashes. This paper summarizes the systematic reviews of two interventions to increase safety belt use: primary enforcement safety belt laws and enhanced enforcement of safety belt laws. The reviews were previously published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. METHODS: We conducted the systematic reviews using the methodology developed for the Guide to Community Preventive Services. RESULTS: These reviews provide strong evidence that primary laws are more effective than secondary laws in increasing safety belt use and decreasing fatalities and that enhanced enforcement is effective in increasing safety belt use. Increases in belt use are generally highest in states with low baseline rates of belt use. DISCUSSION: Primary safety belt laws and enhanced enforcement programs tend to result in greater increases in usage rates for target groups with lower baseline rates. Concerns regarding public opposition to these interventions may impede their implementation in some jurisdictions. However, surveys indicate that a substantial majority of the public supports implementation of both primary laws and enhanced enforcement programs. CONCLUSION: Based on the strong evidence for effectiveness of primary safety belt laws and enhanced enforcement programs, the Task Force on Community Preventive Services recommended that all states enact primary safety belt laws and that communities implement enhanced enforcement programs.     

CSHM: Web-based safety and health monitoring system for construction management

INTRODUCTION: This paper describes a web-based system for monitoring and assessing construction safety and health performance, entitled the Construction Safety and Health Monitoring (CSHM) system. METHOD: The design and development of CSHM is an integration of internet and database systems, with the intent to create a total automated safety and health management tool. A list of safety and health performance parameters was devised for the management of safety and health in construction. A conceptual framework of the four key components of CSHM is presented: (a) Web-based Interface (templates); (b) Knowledge Base; (c) Output Data; and (d) Benchmark Group. RESULTS: The combined effect of these components results in a system that enables speedy performance assessment of safety and health activities on construction sites. With the CSHM's built-in functions, important management decisions can theoretically be made and corrective actions can be taken before potential hazards turn into fatal or injurious occupational accidents. IMPACT ON INDUSTRY: As such, the CSHM system will accelerate the monitoring and assessing of performance safety and health management tasks.     

Graduated driver licensing restrictions: awareness, compliance, and enforcement in North Carolina

PROBLEM: This study examined the extent to which critical restrictions in North Carolina's graduated driver licensing (GDL) system are known, adhered to, and enforced. METHOD: Teenagers and their parents were recruited as they applied for either an intermediate or full license at 1 of 23 licensing offices. Telephone interviews were conducted with 900 teenagers and their parents. RESULTS: Awareness of North Carolina's night and passenger restrictions was very high among both parents and teenagers. Ten percent of teenagers reported violating the night restriction without their parents' knowledge, and 15% had done so with their parents' approval. Only 4% of parents reported allowing their teenagers to drive with more than one teenage passenger, but 19% of teenagers reported that they were allowed to do this. Violations of the passenger restriction without parental knowledge were more common than violations of the night restriction (22% vs. 10%, respectively). Among teenagers who violated restrictions without their parents' knowledge, most reported doing so only once or a few times. Teenagers expressed little concern about detection, although a majority reported driving more carefully to avoid police notice. Neither parents nor teenagers knew much about police enforcement of GDL restrictions. To obtain a sense of the views of law enforcement officers, informal interviews were conducted with 20 officers from five diverse communities and the state highway patrol. These officers were highly supportive of GDL but unfamiliar with many of the specific provisions. Moreover, enforcement of GDL restrictions did not appear to be a high priority. IMPACT ON INDUSTRY: There is a need to increase the belief among teens (and parents) that police are enforcing GDL restrictions in their community; law enforcement participation in well-publicized traffic safety enforcement efforts would likely produce this result.     

考虑纵横弯曲的空间杆系有限元计算

在普通刚架有限元计算模型的基础上 ,推导出了考虑空间纵横弯曲有限元的单元刚度矩阵和形函数 ,单元刚度矩阵和形函数考虑了轴力的影响。并以此编制了“kjgj”有限元软件 ,软件考虑了轴力引起的二阶效应。用平面和空间算例进行验证 ,单根杆件只剖分一个单元计算得到的精度可以达到商业软件剖分多个单元达到的精度。     

混合气体爆炸性MFC图形分析

判断混合气体爆炸性常用 3种方法 ,即科瓦德爆炸三角形法、美国矿业局采用的爆炸三角形计算法和最小助燃氧浓度法 ,然而如何准确、快速、形象地得到分析结果在防灾救灾中是十分关键的。笔者的重点是提供一个图形分析方法解决上述问题。VC ++是方法的基本理论依据 ,用一个实例来验证方法的有效性。总之 ,研究表明 :图形分析法可提高安全管理效率。     

Analysis of the recycling system for aluminum cans,focusing on collection,transportation, and the intermediate processing methods

In this article, the systems for the collection and intermediate processing of used beverage cans (UBCs) are compared and analyzed, focusing on the time taken and the cost of processing, the energy consumption, and the emissions of CO₂, SO _x , and NO _x , during the process. We found that cases where the UBCs were crushed in the discharging process gave better results, and how the UBCs were collected was the most important factor. It was more desirable to treat UBCs in one place than in two places. When the transportation distance was longer, the pressed form of UBCs was more convenient. When the transportation distance was short, the original form, the crushed form, and the shredded form of UBCs were all suitable. That is, the contribution of the transportation process to the evaluation was large when the transport distance was long, and the contribution of the treatment process was large when the transport distance was short.     

Reproductive health in Afghanistan: results of a knowledge, attitudes and practices survey among Afghan women in Kabul

A reproductive-health knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) survey was carried out among 468 Afghan women of reproductive age. A convenience sample of women was selected from attendees in the outpatient departments of four health facilities in Kabul. Seventy-nine per cent of respondents had attended at least one antenatal consultation during their last pregnancy. Two-thirds (67 per cent) delivered their first child between 13 and 19 years. The Caesarean-section rate was low (1.6 per cent). Two-thirds (67 per cent) of deliveries occurred in the home. The contraceptive prevalence rate was 23 per cent (16 per cent modern and 7 per cent natural methods). Twenty-four per cent had knowledge of any STIs, although most of these women did not know correctly how to prevent them. Most of the women (93 per cent) needed authorization from their husband or a male relative before seeking professional health-care. In multivariate analysis, women's schooling was significantly associated with antenatal-care attendance (AOR 4.78), institutional delivery (AOR 2.29), skilled attendance at birth (AOR 2.07) and use of family planning (AOR 4.59). Reproductive-health indicators were noted to be poor even among these women living in Kabul, a group often considered to be the most privileged. To meet the reproductive-health needs of Afghan women, the socio-cultural aspects of their situation--especially their decision-making abilities -- will need to be addressed. A long-standing commitment from agencies and donors is required, in which the education of women should be placed as a cornerstone of the reconstruction process of Afghanistan.     

3S技术在财产保险防洪救灾中的应用

分析了保险业防灾减损的研究现状,阐述了3S的技术特点及其应用领域。和如何将3S技术应用于财产保险防洪救灾领域,建立财产保险防洪救灾决策支持系统。介绍了系统的整体构架及其功能特点,该系统可与保险公司业务系统紧密结合,显示直观。同时包括保险分析、灾害分析和专题图显示等多项功能。实现了多源数据的无缝集成。因而能从理论方法和关键技术上指导保险公司的防灾减损工作。切实提高保险公司的经济效益。以深圳市为示范区,该系统在应用中取得了良好效果。     

关于高校人才引进工作的思考

人才资源是第一资源。人才问题始终是高等学校改革与发展的核心问题和头等大事,谁先引进具有较高竞争能力的高层次人才,谁就抓住了发展的先机。引进优秀人才势在必行。人才引进要遵循与学科发展相适应的原则、择优的原则、“不求所有、但为所用”的原则。同时人才引进过程中,要处理好引进人才与学科建设的关系、引进人才和现有人才的关系、人才发展和团队建设的关系、人才的短期工作绩效与长期作用的关系。