2,082 research outputs found
Perspectives on safety culture
No full textOverviewing selected elements from the literature, this paper locates the notion of safety culture within its parent concept of organisational culture. A distinction is drawn between functionalist and interpretive perspectives on organisational culture. The terms ‘culture’ and ‘climate’ are clarified as they are typically applied to organisations and to safety. A contrast is drawn between strategic top down and data-driven bottom up approaches to human factors as an illustrative aspect of safety. A safety case study is used to illustrate two measurement approaches. Key issues for future study include valid measurement of safety culture and developing methods to adequately represent mechanisms through which safety culture might influence, and be influenced by, other safety factors
Rethinking Eurasianism: the Eurasian Union Project of N.A. Nazarbaev
No full textThe article is dedicated to the analysis of basic patterns of the Eurasian Union Project of N.A. Nazarbaev. The author explains the reasons determined absence of interest from the direction of Russian leaders and governments of other CIS’s countries to the initiative of Kazakhstan President in 1990’s and the renewal of Eurasianism in 2000’s. The author also emphasizes the factors defining a special role of Kazakhstan in the processes of integration on the area of Eurasia
Work schedules, wages, and employment in a general equilibrium model with team production
No full textAn analysis of working hours, wages, and employment when production requires coordinating the work schedules of heterogeneous workers. The author shows that this coordination aspect of production can have important policy implications.Hours of labor ; Employment (Economic theory) ; Wages
The use of Raman microprobe spectroscopy in the analysis of electrically aged polymeric insulators
No full textDue to its applications in high voltage insulation, a thorough understanding of the chemical reactions that occur during electrical ageing in polymers is needed. A confocal Raman microscope has a potential lateral resolution of ~1µm along both the lateral and optic axes and is able to characterise the localised chemical composition of a material; for this reason, it has been applied in the study of electrical ageing in solid dielectrics. Due to inaccurate assumptions about the optical processes involved in confocal Raman microprobe spectroscopy (CRMS), however, the exact characterisation of the processes and chemicals involved has previously proven to be difficult.The objective of this study is to apply the technique of Raman microprobe spectroscopy in the analysis of the chemical structures of electrically aged polymers. It was found that, with the application of immersion oil and by using a refined version of a model of CRMS which is based on a photon scattering approach; CRMS is a valuable tool in the study of polymers. More accurate results can be obtained, however, by revealing the feature in question to the surface and applying non confocal Raman microprobe spectroscopy (RMS).CRMS was applied to a variety of polymeric samples containing electrically aged voids and electrical trees. Results showed that within the electrically aged voids, chemical signatures similar to those previously found in electrical trees in PE can be found. Finally, a variety of polymeric insulators was subjected to spark ageing and corona discharge. The by-products of these ageing mechanisms were then characterized using RMS in an attempt to reproduce in bulk the chemical compounds formed in electrical treeing. The resulting Raman spectra indicated that the same by-products as those formed in voids and trees are indeed formed. Where possible all results were compared to comparative data obtained using Fourier transform infra red (FTIR) spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and discussed in relation to previously published work
Environmental impacts during the operational phase of residential buildings
No full textTo date, the focus in the field of sustainable building has been on new building design. However, existing residential buildings inflict great environmental burden through three causes: continuous energy consumption, regular building maintenance and replacements. This publication analyses and compares these three causes of environmental burden and shows that material resources needed for replacements generally have a limited potential to reduce environmental impact. Reducing energy consumption for climate control and electrical appliances is much more effective. According to the author, sustainable measures should be tested for shifts in the kind of environmental impact caused due to the use of alternative types of energy resources and altered material quantities. The sustainability of the electricity supply is essential to decrease the total environmental impact of the residential building stock.Sustainable and Healthy HousingOTB Research Institut
Animal Blood Sacrifice in Left-Hand Path and Satanic Milieu: Case Study of the Author N.A-A.218
No full textKrvavá zvířecí oběť v Left-Hand Path a satanském milieu: Případová studie autora N.A-A.218 Matouš Mokrý English Abstract: The main aim of this paper was to study the meaning and nature of Chaos-gnostic animal sacrifice in the texts of N.A-A.218, to describe its social functions and to put it in its social and discoursive context, and thus to provide further understanding of its occurrence within the Left-Hand Path and satanic milieu whose dominant actors have rejected the act of animal sacrifice. The work deals in more detail mainly with discourses found in the texts of N.A- A.218 which are expressing the conception of sacrificial blood as magically potent substance constituting the seat of animal's life; do ut des principle; traditionality and duty of animal sacrifice and the conception of sacrifice as gradual killing of one's own ego which constitutes the part of a Chaos-gnostic's personality that is tying him to the demiurgic material world and its society. Whereas the discourses of blood as a magically potent substance and do ut des principle harmonize the Chaos-gnostic animal sacrifice with intuitive conceptions arising in connection with animal sacrifice across individual human cultures, the discourse of compulsory tradition shapes animal sacrifice as a tool of building, maintaining and control of..
Characteristics of included studies, arranged by author and year.
No full text<p>WM = wire myograph, PM = pressure myograph, PPM = pressure-perfusion myograph, WOP = whole organ perfusion, IV = <i>in vivo</i>. n.a. = not applicable.</p>#<p>data received by email.</p><p>Characteristics of included studies, arranged by author and year.</p
Outsourcing and Skill Imports: Foreign High-Skilled Workers on H-1B and L-1 Visas in the United States
No full textThis working paper looks in detail at the H-1B and L-1 visa programs for temporary employment in the United States. Based on official data from the US Citizenship and Immigration Services and the US Department of State, H-1B and L-1 visa issuance rapidly increased in the late 1990s, followed by a marked slowdown after 2001. This points to the highly cyclical nature of both visa programs. Indian nationals and immigrants working in computer-related occupations dominate the H1-B and L-1 population in the United States, but these two groups are also found to be the most cyclical segment, with very large declines in inflows after 2001. The total population of H-1B visaholders in 2003 is estimated to range between 387,000 and 746,000, of which 160,000 to 306,000 were Indian nationals. As all data on H-1B/L-1 visaholders are gross numbers and gross jobs data for comparable categories are absent, the extent of the impact of these visa programs on the US labor market cannot be gauged precisely. A broad range of US industries and educational institutions are found to be employing H-1B recipients, with the IT industry being the dominant sector. Evidence of aggressive wage-cost cutting, including paying H-1B recipients only the legally mandated 95 percent of the prevailing US wage, is found among some H-1B employers, although no systematic abuse of the system is present.Outsourcing, offshoring, high-skilled labor, immigration, H1B/L-1 visas
- …
