The effect of offsite construction on occupational health and safety

The continuous desire to improve health and safety in UK construction has in recent years been challenged to adopt offsite strategies in order to address the poor health and safety record of construction. Despite the benefits of using offsite there has been little research on the actual benefits and disadvantages of the effect of offsite on occupational health and safety. This is important given that the UK government has promoted the use of offsite to improve health and safety performance. This thesis provides a strategy for the management of offsite risk and a risk management tool has been developed. The study investigated offsite manufacturers views on offsite activities and risks in comparison with insitu activities and risks. This was achieved through three phases: phase I comprised two expert group interviews, phase II involved ergonomic audits and phase III consisted of three semi-structured interviews with three offsite manufacturers. The thesis identified that there are significant health and safety benefits of offsite. The benefits relate to specific activities within the offsite categories and context studied. Examples include the elimination of work at height, reduction in noise, reduction in work in confined space, reduction in congested work with trade overlap and greater control over work in the factory. The research revealed that there are still potential health and safety risks with offsite. Examples include; transportation and delivery of units of large size and weight with associated high consequence craneage and handling risks (unit fall and hand injury), whole body vibration, cuts, MSDs, RSIs, fumes and slips trips and falls. There appears to be little in the literature to support the identification of offsite risk issues. The study identified strategies to eliminate and reduce offsite residual risks. The case study investigated solutions to further reduce residual risks, which were further explored in phase III the semi-structured interviews. The solutions are grouped into four approaches: process change, workplace environment designing out risks, automation and the use of tools. An offsite risk management tool was developed which transfers knowledge from the study to provide awareness and management of offsite risk. The thesis provides a contribution to knowledge by providing a better understanding of offsite risks, offsite residual risks and strategies used to reduce residual risks

The Desk as a Barrier and Carrier in Social Work

This chapter explores the desk as a material object as well as its sym- bolic representations in social work from a professional perspective. As we will demonstrate, different and sometimes incompatible meanings and functions associated with the desk reflect current tensions and profession- al dilemmas: On the one hand, ever since the emergence of the social work profession, the desk has symbolized a distanced and uncommitted social worker, even representing asymmetric power relations.2 On the other hand, recent endeavors at professionalization, evidence-based practices, and ac- countable welfare work have resulted, to some degree unintentionally, in an administrative turn and a strengthening of the bureaucratic understand- ing of the mission.3 Social workers, often described as semi-professionals striving for higher status, face trade-offs between traditional ideals of being committed and working close to the community, and administrative work in the office

A COMPREHENSIVE VALIDATION OF ACTIVITY TRACKERS FOR ESTIMATING PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AND SEDENTARY BEHAVIOR IN FREE-LIVING SETTINGS

The aim of study one of this dissertation was to compare consumer activity trackers (ATs) with the research-grade ActiGraph™ GT3X-BT accelerometer (AG) in estimating energy expenditure (EE) and steps during orbital shaking at different frequencies. To address this aim, we utilized an electronic orbital shaking protocol (twenty-four, 3-minute trials; 2-hour trials). For all comparisons, the AG served as the reference measure. In the 3-min protocol, we showed that on average, the NL-1000 pedometer (NL) produced the lowest error (-9 steps/3-min) at 0.9 Hz (corresponding to moderate intensity). The magnitude of the error for the NL was 14 steps/3-min at a 3.0 Hz frequency (corresponding to very vigorous intensity). For the 2-hr protocol, estimates from all others were equivocal, with some overestimating steps (bias range: 1,331 steps/2-hrs for the Misfit Shine to 1,921 steps/2-hrs for the Misfit Flash [MFF]). For estimated EE bias ranged from26.6 kcals/2-hrs for the MFF to 45.8 kcals/2-hrs for the Misfit Shine. For other ATs, steps were underestimated (bias range: -5,770 steps/2-hrs for the Garmin Vivofit [GV] to -570 steps/2-hrs for the NL). For EE, the bias ranged from -436.8 kcals/2-hrs for the GV to -261.7 kcals/2-hrs for the Fitbit Flex [FBF]). This study provides evidence about the differences in prediction algorithms by device across a broad range of oscillation frequencies that corresponded to different PA intensity levels. For study two, we sought determine the accuracy and precision of activity trackers (ATs) in estimating steps, EE, activity minutes and sedentary time compared to direct observation (DO)-derived measures (criterion measures) in free-living settings. We also validated commonly used research-grade devices (e.g. hip-worn AG (AGhip), wrist-worn AG (AGwrist). Thirty-two healthy men and women (50% female, 37.5% minority; mean ± SD: Age = 32.3 ± 13.3 years; BMI = 24.4 ± 3.3 kg∙m-2) were directly observed while completing three, 2-hour visits on different days while wearing ten ATs, three research-grade devices and a biometric shirt. A validated DO system was used to derive criterion measures for activity and sedentary time (ST) outcomes. ATs were accurate with varying precision in estimating physical activity (PA) behaviors in free-living settings. Additionally, ATs and research-grade accelerometers performed similarly (e.g. more accurate in estimating steps and less accurate in estimating moderate-to-vigorous PA [MVPA] minutes). For all devices, step estimates were accurate and strongly correlated (r range: 0.91 for the Apple iWatch to 0.97 for the AGhip) with criterion measures but EE and MVPA estimates were less accurate and more variable (EE: r = 0.32 [GV] to r = 0.85 [AGhip]; MVPA: r = 0.2 [NL] to r = 0.75 [AGhip]). For ATs, estimates of sedentary time were the least accurate and weakly correlated (r=0.06 Fitbit One [FBO] and FBF) with criterion measures derived from DO. Implications from this study are that consumers and the research community using ATs such as Fitbit (FB) to track steps can be confident in estimating steps but less confident in estimating sedentary time. This study advances our understanding of the performance characteristics of ATs in free-living natural settings using a validated DO method to derive PA and ST measures. This work significantly advances the field of activity monitor validation that should set the standard for future work. The aims of study three were: 1) to examine the ability of ATs to detect change in PA and ST in free-living settings and 2) to examine the ability of research-grade accelerometers to detect change in PA and ST in free-living settings. To address these aims, we used an innovative approach to analyze data from study two. We defined change as a visit-to-visit difference that was greater than the within-subject standard deviation of the criterion measure (estimated by a linear-mixed model). Confusion matrices were used to examine percent agreement between DO visit-to-visit change and device visit-to-visit change. Key findings were focused on the widely used FBO and FBF and research-grade devices. We showed that, there was similar agreement between the hip-worn FBO and FBF with AGhip and AGwrist in estimates of change in steps (89.1% FBO, 88.8% FBF and 88.3% AGwrist, 91.4% AGhip correct classification), EE (73.4% FBO, 70.6% FBF and 77.0% AGhip correct classification) and MVPA minutes (accept FBF) (79.7% FBO, 65.2% FBF and 71.2% AGwrist, 77.0% AGhip correct classification) with criterion measured change. However, change in ST was more difficult to detect for the FB and AGhip (46.8% FBO, 42.3% FBF, 53.1% AGhip and 72.7% AGwrist correct classification). This novel study provides evidence that as an alternative to research-grade accelerometers, researchers may employ FB to measure step accumulation pre- and post-intervention and have a satisfactory level of confidence in FB change detection. This work significantly advances the field of activity monitor validation research and informs intervention practices that should set the standard for future work. This body of work provides the first comprehensive validation of ATs from highly controlled orbital shaker testing to directly-observed free-living settings. This translational research which has broad applications for using ATs for surveillance and intervention research and by the consumer

The effect of offsite construction on occupational health and safety

The continuous desire to improve health and safety in UK construction has in recent years been challenged to adopt offsite strategies in order to address the poor health and safety record of construction. Despite the benefits of using offsite there has been little research on the actual benefits and disadvantages of the effect of offsite on occupational health and safety. This is important given that the UK government has promoted the use of offsite to improve health and safety performance. This thesis provides a strategy for the management of offsite risk and a risk management tool has been developed. The study investigated offsite manufacturers views on offsite activities and risks in comparison with insitu activities and risks. This was achieved through three phases: phase I comprised two expert group interviews, phase II involved ergonomic audits and phase III consisted of three semi-structured interviews with three offsite manufacturers. The thesis identified that there are significant health and safety benefits of offsite. The benefits relate to specific activities within the offsite categories and context studied. Examples include the elimination of work at height, reduction in noise, reduction in work in confined space, reduction in congested work with trade overlap and greater control over work in the factory. The research revealed that there are still potential health and safety risks with offsite. Examples include; transportation and delivery of units of large size and weight with associated high consequence craneage and handling risks (unit fall and hand injury), whole body vibration, cuts, MSDs, RSIs, fumes and slips trips and falls. There appears to be little in the literature to support the identification of offsite risk issues. The study identified strategies to eliminate and reduce offsite residual risks. The case study investigated solutions to further reduce residual risks, which were further explored in phase III the semi-structured interviews. The solutions are grouped into four approaches: process change, workplace environment designing out risks, automation and the use of tools. An offsite risk management tool was developed which transfers knowledge from the study to provide awareness and management of offsite risk. The thesis provides a contribution to knowledge by providing a better understanding of offsite risks, offsite residual risks and strategies used to reduce residual risks.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Using the physical classroom environment as a tool for learning : a case study

"July 2011"Title from PDF of title page (University of Missouri--Columbia, viewed on May 17, 2012).Dissertation advisor: Dr. Benyamin Schwarz.Vita.Literacy has been identified as the main goal of K-12 education in the United States today, for its value to individuals and to society. Balanced literacy and related methods are pedagogically based on the constructivist premise that intrinsically motivated and strategic literacy arises from personal engagement by the reader-writer with the material. To this end, the elementary-level classroom may be viewed as a setting that is designed by professional teachers to provide opportunities for engagement in the activities of literacy. Constructivist classrooms are intended to be child-centered, yet teachers' sense of self-efficacy and place-identity is as tied to the physical environment as is that of the students, but often ignored. School districts that do not factor environment-behavior research on the transaction between people and the physical classroom as they attempt to implement curricular change may be omitting a necessary element of success. This qualitative study examined the relationship between the physical classroom and literacy through a critical case study conducted in an common public elementary school, located in the United States and found that the physical classroom affects the practice and outcomes of literacy education and learning would be enhanced by the purposeful design of the environment to support constructivist pedagogy and engagement with the material of reading and writing.Includes bibliographical reference

How to write? Experiences, challenges and possibilities of ethnographic writing

Ethnography, as text, is the main outcome of fieldwork. It is also the most important way in which anthropologists communicate and share their findings. As a consequence, despite substantial critique by postmodern anthropology on how ethnographic texts in the past have represented the reality and life-worlds of others, ethnographic writing remains at the centre of the anthropological enterprise. But how to write? The so-called Writing Culture debate, together with feminist and postcolonial approaches, has stimulated new ways to do and write ethnography. But where much has been published on how to master fieldwork, it is still hard to find advice on how to go ‘from notes to narratives’ (Ghodsee 2016) and write a convincing ethnography. This special issue brings together a diverse range of contributions on how to write ethnography. Contributors reflect on ethical challenges, including issues of confidentiality and questions of representation. Writing is discussed as a way to construct and deconstruct truth(s). Temporalities of ethnographic writing are scrutinised and different writing styles, like vignettes and portraits, are introduced. Engagement with other modes of representation and storytelling, like film-making and photography, pushes beyond the written medium. The special issue concludes with two contributions on how to teach and learn ethnographic writing

The Office: The impact of the digital revolution on the office practices of early career academics

This thesis is fundamentally about the digital revolution and its impact on the office practices of new academics. It explored the degree to which a group of early career academics were being influenced by ‘new ways of working’—a practice that is currently driving change in many organisations globally. The office activities of five millennial academics were monitored over a six-month period using digital still images to investigate space/place, continuous camera observations to investigate physical behaviour and computer usage logs to investigate visual behaviour. While the findings show the importance of the computer to daily work practice, and a degree of work practices extending beyond the office, the data revealed that the concept of the office, office practices and computer usage were more akin to traditional ways of working. This was a position reinforced by participants who, aware of the pace of technology and change, harboured a feeling of being left-behind. The focus on activity and the use of sensor-based data offered an opportunity to explore ‘new ways’ of undertaking higher education research. Rather than following the traditional perception-based research model, this study adopted activity as the unit of analysis. Digital sensors were employed to capture significant volumes of naturally occurring continuous data. The use of such methods in educational research is new, and for this reason, a central element of this thesis is the development of a preliminary blueprint for a new methodology focused on ‘precision research’. Finally, rather than academics being the drivers of change, it is argued that as a learning organisation, the university is responsible for addressing academic and professional progress in times of turbulent change, and that it is the institution that is best positioned to plan for and drive positive change. Universities that overlook or disregard these progressive, technological practices are unlikely to yield valuable knowledge or relevant knowledge workers. Like so many large commercial organisations already, universities too could be left-behind

Bowdoin Orient v.101, no.1-26 (1971-1972)

https://digitalcommons.bowdoin.edu/bowdoinorient-1970s/1002/thumbnail.jp

Trans Space As Cultural Landscape--Transgender Women of Color in Washington, D.C.

Transgender civil rights and public displays of trans visibility have come to the fore of the American imagination. To date, however, little work has thoroughly examined Black and Latinx trans women’s central role as experts in LGBT community-caregiving practices. As a result, scholarship and popular culture concerned with “the transgender tipping point” (Time May 29, 2014) generally endorse a narrative that characterizes transgender women of color primarily as celebrities, victims of transphobic violence, or historic figures of the LGBT liberation movement, if they are mentioned at all, making their everyday lives marginal or non-existent at a time when their presence in popular culture is exploding. Without an adequate fieldwork model, we undervalue the everyday lives and landscapes of transgender women of color in the United States, ultimately leading to a two-dimensional conceptualization of identity categories such as race, gender, and sexuality. Trans Space as Cultural Landscape—Transgender Women of Color in Washington, D.C, remedies this gap by creating and applying Bodies in spaces—the trans cultural landscape analysis fieldwork model. The trans model extends the work of Americanist Jeremey Korr (2002) to reimagine the study of trans space, place, and gender transition. It is divided into the following components: detailed site description, aesthetics, language and material culture, and community research. At the heart of Trans Space is an ethnographic study of Casa Ruby, a bilingual social service nonprofit in Washington, D.C. (casaruby.org). The trans model allows me to addresses the queer and trans problematics of my particular site: addiction, prostitution, and homelessness. The model then expands to examine the work of trans celebrities such as Laverne Cox in order to trace the circuitous paths of daily transition and sisterhood. The evolution of the following inquiry guides my commitment to cross-discipline methodologies and community involvement. Space stages the expansive possibilities of gender transition. In extending gender transition narratives to functions that do not apply to space, how do we know a trans space when we see it? And what do these spatial transitions and pop culture representations tell us about an American investment in identity and its tipping points