Aligned nanofibres made of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) grafted to hyaluronan for potential healthcare applications

In this work, a hybrid copolymer consisting of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) grafted to hyaluronic acid (HA) was synthesised and characterised. Once formed, the P(3HB)-g-HA copolymer was soluble in water allowing a green electrospinning process. The diameters of nanofibres can be tailored by simply varying the Mw of polymer. The optimization of the process allowed to produce fibres of average diameter in the range of 100-150 nm and low polydispersity. The hydrophobic modification has not only increased the fibre diameter, but also the obtained layers were homogenous. At the nanoscale, the hybrid copolymer exhibited an unusual hairy topography. Moreover, the hardness and tensile properties of the hybrid were found to be superior compared to fibres made of unmodified HA. Particularly, this reinforcement was achieved at the longitudinal direction. Additionally, this work reports the use in the composition of a water-soluble copolymer containing photo cross-linkable moieties to produce insoluble materials post-electrospinning. The derivatives as well as their nanofibrous mats retain the biocompatibility of the natural polymers used for the fabrication

The survey of occupational accidents in Yazd gas agency (2013)

Background: Existence of coordinated and professional safety system to prevent occurrence of accidents and potential hazards seem to be essential in installing networks of gas distribution projects. Objective: To survey work-related accidents and safety performance indices in project implementation unit of Yazd gas agency. Methods: This analytical study was conducted on 197 of workforce in Yazd gas agency in 2013 that were selected by census and they were male. Demographic and accident information were gathered using a self-made questionnaire and face- to- face interview, and required information obtained from dossier to determine the safety performance indicators. Safety performance indicators were calculated in separately of 13 types occupations in project implementation unit of gas agency and data were analyzed using T-test. Findings: The highest accident frequency and severity rate were related to digging occupation and then metal line welding. Consequences of accidents were cuts (%56.7) and soreness (%14.9). The causes of accidents were related to uselessness of personal protective equipment (%25.2) and lack of precision in the task (%19.3). The highest rate of accident was observed among the age group 20-29 years with work experience of 4-6 years. Conclusion: According to the findings of this study and the risk of gas processes, it seems to be necessary the implementation of integrated management systems and training of workers about safety rules to improve the safety culture and prevent accidents. Keywords: Safety, Occupational Accidents, Gas Field

Effects Of Climate Change Process On Comfort Climate Of Shiraz Station

Dwelling in cities and city development together with quick increase of population and development of industrial activities with unplanned consumption of fossil fuel have intensively increased pollutions with consequences which will cause different diseases in short period, will lead to some climatic oscillations and its environmental effects such as the change of desirable periods in view of comfort climate in long period. The objective point of view of this research was to study the climate in Shiraz and its effect on comfort conditions for human physiology. In this research, using 55-year climatic data (1952-2006), the relative humidity and temperature through the application Guni comfort climatic model, the desirable months for the comfort of human physiology have been determined in the five 11-year periods and the linear process of these changes have been estimated for the next 11 years. The results of this research show that the temperature trend in Shiraz station is increasing and most months have heating process in a way that it is expected that in the coming future, the cold months will have more favoring conditions for physiological comfort of residents and correspondingly in the warm months, heating tension will have remarkable increase

A model to analyze human and organizational factors contributing to pandemic risk assessment in manufacturing industries: FBN-HFACS modelling

This study presents a holistic model based on Fuzzy Bayesian Network-Human Factor Analysis and Classification System (FBN-HFACS) to analyze contributing factors in the pandemic, Covid 19, risk management under uncertainty. The model contains three main phases include employing a) HFACS to systematically identify influencing factors based on validation using content validity indicators, b) Fuzzy Set Theory to obtain the prior probability distribution of contributing factors in pandemic risk and address the epistemic uncertainty and subjectivity, and finally, c) Bayesian network to develop causality model of the risk, probabilistic inferences and handle parameter and model uncertainties. The Ratio of Variation (RoV), as BN-driven importance measures, is utilized to conduct sensitivity analysis and explore the most critical factors that yield effective safety countermeasures. The model is tested to investigate four large manufacturing industries in South Khorasan (Iran). It provided a deep understanding of influencing human and organizational factors and captured dependencies among those factors, while quantitative finding paves a way to efficiently make risk-based decisions to deal with the pandemic risks under uncertainty

Investigating the Impact of Establishing Integrated Management Systems on Accidents and Safety Performance Indices: A Case Study

Background: Increasing the establishment of integrated management systems (IMSs) is done with the purpose of leaving traditional management methods and replacing them with modern management methods. Thus, the present study sought to analyze the events and investigate the impact of IMS on health and safety performance indices in an Iranian combined cycle power plants. Methods: This case study was conducted in 2012 in all units of the Yazd Combined Cycle Power Plant on accident victims before and after the implementation of IMS. For data analysis and prediction of indices after the implementation of IMS, descriptive statistics and Kolmogorov–Smirnov test, Chi-square, linear regression, and Cubic tests were conducted using SPSS software. Results: The number of people employed in the power plant in an 8-year period (2004–2011) was 1,189, and 287 cases of work-related accidents were recorded. The highest accident frequency rate and accident severity rate were in 2004 (32.65) and 2008 (209), respectively. Safe T-score reached to below −3 during 2010–2011. In addition, given the regression results, the relation between all predictor variables with outcomes was significant (p < 0.05), except for the variable X1 belonging to the accident severity rate index. Conclusion: The implementation of safety programs especially that of IMS and its annual audits has had a significant impact on reducing accident indices and improving safety within the study period. Accordingly, health and safety management systems are appropriate tools for reducing accident rate, and the use of regression models and accident indices is also a suitable way for monitoring safety performance. Keywords: Integrated management systems, Occupational accident, Power plant, Safety performance indice