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UK construction industry site health and safety management
No full textPurpose The purpose of this paper is to examine and evaluate current directions in construction site health and safety management by examination of large UK industry contractors' web sites, revealing the motivators that are potentially informing and driving these directions. Designmethodologyapproach A desk study approach examined 20 large UK contractor web sites. Subsequent hermeneutic content analysis established current industry direction, enabled comparison to comparable government and academic directions, and also revealed potential motivators and influences behind recent innovations. Findings Large UK contractors have readily adopted corporate social responsibility and placed health and safety under this remit. Industry direction correlates with current government approaches, however academia appears to influence industry through government, rather than direct conduits. Bespoke safety management programmes have been a key innovation, but the influence of marketing was clear and may have led to focus on easily promotable goals, rather than the processes and methods needed to achieve them. Practical implications Marketing may overtake practicality in the direction of health and safety management on construction sites industry innovation focused on the promotable rather than the practical, could stagnate. The lack of direct influence of academia on industry direction indicates a requirement for relationships to be better established in order to inspire continuous improvement. Originalityvalue A holistic review of large industry contractor approaches to site health and safety management has not previously been undertaken. Neither has the use of promotional webbased data been examined thereby providing a unique insight into the direction of current efforts within industry
A comparative study of long-term psychological functioning in male survivors of stranger and acquaintance rape.
No full textThe aim of the present study was to compare psychological functioning in male rape survivors who had been raped either by strangers or acquaintances, and to test differences between the functioning of gay versus heterosexual survivors. Thirty-eight male rape survivors completed a range of measures relating to their perceptions about the nature of the effects of their assault, their general health, self-esteem and world assumptions. Results revealed that survivors of stranger rapes had lower psychological functioning overall than survivors of acquaintance rapes. Gay survivors were more likely to have crises about their sexual identity than heterosexual survivors. Suggestions for future work are proposed
Funds of knowledge: a conceptual critique
No full textThe concept of ‘funds of knowledge’ is critically reviewed, tracing a history of the term’s changing use since its original conception by Vélez-Ibáñez and Greenberg in the late 1980s, and discussing its relevance in adult literacy and numeracy classrooms. An attempt is made to locate the concept within wider theoretical frameworks, and in particular to relate it to Bourdieu’s notion of cultural capital. The article concludes that while the concept of funds of knowledge is powerful in disrupting discourses of deficit, practitioners or researchers who are committed to this approach need to be critically reflexive to avoid imposing their own, however well-intentioned, cultural arbitraries on learners
Extending supply chain synchronisation to upstream tiers: a collaborative approach illustrated with an automotive case study
No full textThis paper describes a set of guiding principles designed to help supply chain practitioners define inventory and ordering policies collaboratively. An automotive case study illustrates the approach, which requires supplying and buying firms to model their supply chains together. The target is to optimise the chain by maximising the extent to which supply chain processes are synchronised to end customers' demand. The theoretical optimum synchronisation for any chain would be a 'sequenced one-piece flow'. This is often achieved between the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) and Tier 1 through arrangements with co-located 'sequenced suppliers'. However, factors such as decreased proximity and uncertain demand means that this high level of synchronisation rarely extends beyond Tier 1. Therefore synchronisation applies to a relatively low percentage of value-added in the chain. The approach put forward in this paper gives a way to extend the principal of synchronisation upstream, defining the zones of synchronisation (delineated by the 'sequence boundary' and 'synchronisation boundary') that are both possible and beneficial. The findings from the case study show that adopting the guidelines would offer the opportunity to increase synchronisation significantly, thereby reducing inventory and supply chain cycle time
Enhancement of Passive Fire Protection Ability of Inorganic Fire Retardants in Vinyl Ester Resin Using Glass Frit Synergists
No full textTwo types of glass frit samples, XF100 and XF105 (Johnson Matthey), in combination with conventional inorganic flame retardants, Ultracarb (mixture of huntite and hydromagnesite) and alumina trihydrate, were introduced into a thermoset vinyl ester resin. The methodology involved dispersing glass additives with other two flame retardants in different ratios in a vinyl ester resin and casting into plaques. Thermal stability and flammability of the samples studied by thermogravimetry, LOI and UL-94, indicated that the presence of glass frit increased the char yield and reduced the burning rate of the resin sample. The results from cone calorimetry at 50 kW/m 2 heat flux showed that both glass frits, XF100 and XF105, improved the effectiveness of Ultracarb and alumina trihydrate, respectively by increasing the time-to-ignition, reducing total heat release values, and char formation, only when they were used in low amounts in the combinations. However, they did not help in reducing the respective peak of heat release rates, indicating their passive fire protection mechanism
Multifunctional Grid Front-End for Dispersed Energy Resources
No full textDistributed energy resources such as photovoltaic, fuel cells and micro turbines are emerging into power supply systems. Strategies of grid control integration, to emerge these sources are still lagging behind. These sources require interfacing units to provide the necessary crossing point to the grid. The cores of these interfacing units are power electronics technologies such as inverters (multifunctional grid front-ends) since they can provide not only their principle interfacing function, but also various utility functions. This paper presents the possibility of adapting the isochronous control methodology, used by synchronous generators in conventional power systems, to provide load sharing and control for inverters as front-end
Recycling Conventional Control Strategy and Hierarchy for Future DG Control
No full textThe penetration of distributed generation is increasing to assist main power plants worldwide. An efficient strategy of grid control integration, to interconnect the DG systems to conventional power systems, is required to improve the power quality and reliability (PQR). The main task of the interconnected system is to control and maintain frequency and voltage of the power system in an acceptable range. This task has been currently operated using synchronous generators in many interconnected power systems. The power dispatch, frequency control and voltage control, power exchange and power optimization are managed in conventional power supply systems. Therefore, the control strategy of the conventional power systems can be adapted to DG technologies through their interface unit to the grid, namely the inverter. The inverter is the primary interface unit between the energy source and the grid. This paper proposes an adaptable and flexible control strategy for future DG systems in interconnected grids based on inverters as front-end. The proposed control strategy can be a basic strategy to implement the DG system into existing conventional power systems
Mindfulness, adult learning and therapeutic education: integrating the cognitive and affective domains of learning
No full textAlthough it has been given qualified approval by a number of philosophers of education, the so-called 'therapeutic turn' in education has been the subject of criticism by several commentators on post-compulsory and adult learning over the last few years. A key feature of this alleged development in recent educational policy is said to be the replacement of the traditional goals of knowledge and understanding with personal and social objectives concerned with enhancing and developing confidence and self-esteem in learners. After offering some critical observations on these developments, I suggest that there are some educationally justifiable goals underpinning what has been described as a therapeutic turn. Whilst accepting that 'self-esteem' and cognate concepts cannot provide a general end or universal aim of education, the therapeutic function-the affective domain of learning-is more valuable and significant than is generally acknowledged. This claim is justified by an examination of the concept of 'mindfulness' which, it is argued, can be an immensely powerful and valuable notion that is integrally connected with the centrally transformative and developmental nature of learning and educational activity at all levels. The incorporation of mindfulness strategies within adult learning programmes may go some way towards re-connecting the cognitive and affective dimensions of education
The use of fire-retardant intumescent mats for fire and heat protection of glass fibre-reinforced polyester composites: Thermal barrier properties
No full textThis study investigates the use of integral, hybrid intumescent thermal barriers (mats) to provide surface protection to the core fibre-reinforced polyester composite structural integrity when exposed to a fire or heat source. Glass fibre-reinforced composites protected by intumescent mats/fabrics containing silicate fibres, expandable graphite and in some cases borosilicate glass bound together by an organic matrix have been evaluated for fire performance under a constant heat flux of 50 kW/m2. The effect of insulative fabric thickness as well as chemical composition on the flammability of the resultant hybrid composites is evaluated. Glass-fibre-reinforced polyester composites without any surface protection have a relatively higher time-to-ignition and peak heat release rate values when compared to core composites protected by insulative fabrics. Thermograms representing the variation of temperature on the reverse side of the hybrid composites with time when exposed to a constant heat flux show that the inclusion of intumescent surface barriers results in retarded temperature increments within the core glass fibre-reinforced polyester composites