Managing designing for safety: a framework for whole-team decision making and risk control

Designing for Safety (DfS) aims to make designs inherently safer to build, operate and maintain, but any residual risk must be controlled, something essential to realising the benefits of inherently safer designs. Here, a conceptual decision-making framework to support DfS, developed in conjunction with industry, is introduced. It aims to assist designers in communicating risk, residual risk and actions needed to support DfS, in a way easily understood by non-specialists such as clients and business leaders. The framework proposes a qualitative categorisation for DfS linked to a clear numerical scale, which embraces the complexity of engineering assessment across the full asset lifecycle, while using a form of language (numbers) that can be readily understood by all. The framework was empirically explored through an operational design workshop with the four engineers leading design and planning teams on the framework. It was found to bring a range of benefits for DfS at the design stage: it provided structure for the discussion of DfS, made the consideration of DfS objective, gave a new vernacular which improved the collective thought process, and made the debate and the resultant design decisions more accessible to non-specialists. The framework provides a tool to support the implementation of DfS across the entire lifecycle of an asset, enhancing DfS communication within the decision making process from the initial strategic definition stage onwards

Is the 'Appropriate Adult' appropriate?

It is recognised that children are particularly vulnerable within the criminal justice system and therefore should be afforded ‘appropriate assistance’ pursuant to Article 37 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). Within England and Wales, the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 states that all individuals under the age of 18 must be provided with an appropriate adult to provide advice and assistance, facilitate communication and ensure the child is being treated fairly. This chapter considers whether the appropriate adult, who can be a family member, social worker or volunteer, is appropriate to safeguard the child’s rights, entitlements and welfare whilst they are in police custody. The chapter will examine whether lawyers, as a consequence of their legal knowledge and skills, are better placed to protect the interests of a child in police custody, and if so, whether the role of the appropriate adult should be redefined to support the child’s emotional welfare and facilitate their relationship with the lawyer

The current state of concussion knowledge and attitudes in British American Football

Objectives To examine concussion knowledge and concussion attitudes of players, coaches, and support staff in British American Football (BAF). Methods Data from players, coaches and support staff (n = 236) were collected from across all leagues in BAF. An online survey tool was used which included the Rosenbaum Concussion Knowledge and Attitudes Survey (RoCKAS), and questions examining concussion education and perceived risk of participating in football. Results The mean score on the RoCKAS concussion knowledge was 21.0 ± 2.1 of a possible score of 25 reflecting good knowledge. Of a possible score of 65, the mean concussion attitude score was 55.6 ± 6.1 showing safe attitude. Whilst an overall safe attitude was seen, almost half of participants (45.3%) noted they would continue to play with a concussion. No relationship was found between CAI and prior concussion history. Fifty seven percent of participants agreed the benefits of playing football outweighed the risks. Forty eight percent reported that they had received no concussion-related education in the past 12 months. Conclusion BAF participants have good concussion knowledge and safe attitudes. However, risky behavior is demonstrated through unsafe likelihood to report and attitude to long-term health risks. Access to the British American Football Association (BAFA) concussion policy and education was poor raising questions over what sources of information stakeholders are drawing their knowledge from. These findings can help form the foundation of educational interventions (e.g. coaching workshops) to challenge current misconceptions and improve likelihood to report concussion in BAF

Interaction-aware Decision-making for Automated Vehicles using Social Value Orientation

Motion control algorithms in the presence of pedestrians are critical for the development of safe and reliable Autonomous Vehicles (AVs). Traditional motion control algorithms rely on manually designed decision-making policies which neglect the mutual interactions between AVs and pedestrians. On the other hand, recent advances in Deep Reinforcement Learning allow for the automatic learning of policies without manual designs. To tackle the problem of decision-making in the presence of pedestrians, the authors introduce a framework based on Social Value Orientation and Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) that is capable of generating decision-making policies with different driving styles. The policy is trained using stateof- the-art DRL algorithms in a simulated environment. A novel computationally-efficient pedestrian model that is suitable for DRL training is also introduced. We perform experiments to validate our framework and we conduct a comparative analysis of the policies obtained with two different model-free Deep Reinforcement Learning Algorithms. Simulations results show how the developed model exhibits natural driving behaviours, such as short-stopping, to facilitate the pedestrian’s crossing

How modern methods of construction would support to meet the sustainable construction 2025 targets, the answer is still unclear

The United Kingdom (UK) construction industry is world renowned for its volatile boom and bust cycle, its inefficiencies, heavy environmental impact and recurring budget and programme overruns. The Construction 2025 Strategy was published by the UK Government and industry leaders with a vision of changing the industry for the better using four key targets i.e., reduction in construction projects duration, operational cost, level of greenhouse gas emissions, and import/export trade gap. This paper investigates whether a greater uptake in modern methods of construction (MMC) could help us achieve these targets. Key insights and findings from the existing literature on MMCs cost, time, greenhouse gas emissions and trade factors were analysed with strong indications of MMCs benefit to the targets. By using snowball sampling a quantitative survey was conducted on 134 professional working in the Architectural, Engineering and Construction sectors of UK with 23 questions on the four key targets. Cronbach’s Alpha and Pearson correlation analysis techniques were employed in conjunction with factor ranking to determine the internal validity, factor links and most important factors. The results showed that the majority of respondents believed that MMC could help us achieve the construction 2025 targets, with a similarity index ranking revealing that MMC would be of the most benefit to the greenhouse gas emissions and trade targets, however, all factors ranked tightly together. This body of research will benefit the UK Government, construction associations and industrial key stakeholders in their pursuit of reaching the reduction targets, and with only three years until the deadline, there is a strong chance they will promote MMC in the industry

Bereaved UK military families: A mixed methods study on the provision of practical and emotional support

Traumatic deaths of military personnel can have tragic consequences for the lives and health of bereaved significant others. To mitigate the effects, the UK Armed Forces enhanced the support for bereaved military families. However, little is known about whether the support has been satisfactory. The present research applied mixed methods to explore the experiences of bereaved UK military families (N = 264) with different types of support and how it historically changed over time. The findings suggest that although support has improved, further improvements are required in the provision of financial information, administrative support, and access to psychological support for all bereaved family members

Coordinated Electric Vehicle Active and Reactive Power Control for Active Distribution Networks

The deployment of renewable energy in power systems may raise serious voltage instabilities. Electric vehicles (EVs), owing to their mobility and flexibility characteristics, can provide various ancillary services including active and reactive power. However, the distributed control of EVs under such scenarios is a complex decision-making problem with enormous dynamics and uncertainties. Most existing literature employs model-based approaches to formulate the active and reactive power control problems, which require full models and are time-consuming. This paper proposes a multi-agent reinforcement learning method featuring actor-critic networks and a parameter sharing framework to solve the EVs coordinated active and reactive power control problem towards both demand-side response and voltage regulations. The proposed method can further enhance the learning stability and scalability with privacy perseverance via the location marginal prices. Simulation results based on a modified IEEE 15-bus network are developed to validate its effectiveness in providing system charging and voltage regulation services

Irrational Performance Beliefs and Mental Well-Being Upon Returning to Sport During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Test of Mediation by Intolerance of Uncertainty

Purpose: This study examined the extent to which irrational performance beliefs and intolerance of uncertainty co-occur in relation to mental well-being among a sample of athletes and coaches (N = 94, M age = 31.99, SD = 12.81) upon their return to sport following COVID-19 disruptions. Methods and Results: Despite the parity in views, independent samples t-test results identified three significant differences in the tested variables between athletes and coaches, which suggested that athletes are more likely to entertain depreciative thoughts about performances and react more aversively to uncertainty, whereas coaches reported a better mental well-being state. Pearson correlation coefficient analysis confirmed a significant positive relationship between composite irrational performance beliefs and intolerance of uncertainty scores, with both these variables being inversely related to mental well-being. Results from a simple atemporal mediation analysis using the PROCESS macro verified that intolerance of uncertainty fully mediated the adverse effect irrational beliefs exert on mental well-being. Conclusion: Sports psychology practitioners within the framework of REBT are advised to explore their orientation of modifying irrational beliefs aligned to clients’ perceptions and tolerance of uncertainty in sport through the inclusion of IU-specific awareness and behavioral experiments

Writing Doctors and Writing Health in the Long Eighteenth Century

This introduction to the special issue ‘Writing Doctors and Writing Health in the Long Eighteenth Century’ explores the various types of literary and visual creativity enacted by medical practitioners as they sought new ways of communicating and engaging with the public. Focusing on the shift from Latin to vernacular publishing in elite medical circles, we examine the proliferation of new opportunities open to physicians, surgeons, apothecaries, medical artists, midwives, and other women practitioners to express themselves. Novels, drama, poetry, artworks, almanacs, and letters, to name but a few creative products of the period, allowed new ideas and underrepresented voices to be heard for the first time, changing forever the way creative and empirical cultures would intertwine. Stemming from the Leverhulme Trust Research Project Writing Doctors: Medical Representation and Personality, ca. 1660–1832 (2018–22), this research has undoubtedly been impacted by the rapidly changing nature of public healthcare in the wake of the novel coronavirus pandemic that was still ongoing when this issue went to print. We value and celebrate connections made between the past and present that continue to assist us in understanding and caring for our bodies