Human element in shipping : training and competence of shore based personnel

This dissertation examines the need for the training of shore based personnel employed in shipping companies. Numerous studies address the human element in shipping - the Seafarer, as one of the main causes of accidents and pollution. As a result, regulations targeting the training of seafarers have been greatly enhanced in the recent past. Very little has been said about personnel manning shipping companies in numerous offices ashore. Rapid strides in communication have brought the “seafarer” and the “shore-farer” in close contact, the two being separated virtually by just the dialling of a few buttons of a telephone or a fax. This study examines the role of the human element in maritime losses, a proportion of which can definitely be attributed to the role of the office staff or the “shore element”. An examination of the present training being imparted to employees in shipping companies in India and the rest of the world has been carried out. A survey of shipping companies was conducted for this purpose. The author has observed that many companies refer to the experience gained while performing a job as ‘on the job training’. This dissertation deals with formal training of an employee. Some accidents and incidents involving the human element have been examined. Hidden casualties and latent errors resulting in commercial losses have also been overviewed. The latter are normally not reported, and definitely do not form the basis of any investigations. Yet it is these commercial losses that can total up to massive losses for a shipping company. The training of personnel so as to avoid these latent commercial losses is therefore of paramount importance. An overall overall look at the regulatory environment in which the shipping industry operates today is provided. The development of safety management guidelines by the International Maritime Organisation, and the initiatives of various organisations within the shipping industry to develop safety, pollution prevention and quality codes, most of which are directed to the seafarer have been delineated. Safety management and quality management being intrinsically linked, the various aspects of quality management and their applicability to safety management have been examined. An analysis of the International Safety Management (ISM) Code, ISO 9002, and the STCW convention has been undertaken. In doing so, requirements of the regulations as related to the shore personnel have been examined. Analysis of training needs have been carried out in the past. Some of these studies have been overviewed. An analysis of training requirements as perceived by employees in the shipping industry has been carried out by means of two separate surveys. One of these surveys was targeted at shipping company employees in India, and the other at shipping industry employees in the rest of the world. The dissertation closes with conclusions drawn from the investigations of this study. Recommendations have been made on how various shipping companies can train their employees and contribute to the overall safety and successful running of their respective companies, and to shipping in general

Dependence of the critical temperature of laser-ablated YBa2Cu3O(7-delta) thin films on LaAlO3 substrate growth technique

Samples of LaAlO3 made by flame fusion and Czochralski method were subjected to the same temperature conditions that they have to undergo during the laser ablation deposition of YBa2Cu3O(7 - delta) thin films. After oxygen annealing at 750 C, the LaAlO3 substrate made by two methods experienced surface roughening. The degree of roughening on the substrate made by Czochralski method was three times greater than that on the substrate made by flame fusion. This excessive surface roughening may be the origin of the experimentally observed lowering of the critical temperature of a film deposited by laser ablation on a LaAlO3 substrate made by Czochralski method with respect to its counterpart deposited on LaAlO3 substrates made by flame fusion

Economic Analysis of the Standard Reinsurance Agreement

The paper presents an economic analysis of the Standard Reinsurance Agreement (SRA), the contract that governs the relationship between the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation and the private insurance companies that deliver crop insurance products to farmers. The paper outlines provisions of the SRA and describes the modeling methodology behind the SRA simulator, a computer program developed to assist crop insurers and policymakers in assessing the economic impact of the Agreement. The simulator is then used to analyze how the SRA affects returns from underwriting crop insurance at various levels of aggregation.Risk and Uncertainty,

Portfolio Allocation and Alternative Structures of the Standard Reinsurance Agreement

This paper examines how insurance companies participating in delivery of crop insurance would change patterns of portfolio allocation across reinsurance funds in reaction to the 2005 Standard Reinsurance Agreement. The returns of insurance companies under the SRA are calculated using a simulation model. An heuristic allocation rule is introduced in order to imitate portfolio allocation strategies of participating companies. The main conclusion of the analysis is that the bulk of changes in portfolio allocations are likely to be caused by the introduction of "retained net book quota share" reinsurance rather than adjustments in the cession limits and retention requirements for the Assigned Risk Fund.crop insurance, portfolio allocation strategies, reinsurance funds, Standard Reinsurance Agreement, Risk and Uncertainty,

Is Brazil really a catholic country? What opinions about abortion, sex between individuals who are not married to each other, and homosexuality say about the meaning of catholicism in three Brazilian cities

The idea of being a Catholic country is quite widespread throughout the nation. What does it mean to be Catholic in Brazil? Do Catholics follow the Catholic Doctrine? The objective of this paper is to investigate the relationship between religion and religious involvement (measured by religious affiliation and service attendance) and opinions about abortion, sex between individuals who are not married to each other, and homosexuality in São Paulo, Porto Alegre, and Recife. Data come from the survey “Spirit and Power: A 10-Country Survey of Pentecostals,” carried out in 2006. Results suggest that Brazilian Catholics are a very heterogeneous group with respect to opinions about abortion and sex between individuals who are not married to each other. In addition, service attendance among Catholics and those opinions are strongly correlated, except for the case of homosexuality, a topic which Catholics tend to have the same opinions about, irrespective of their religious involvement. Committed Protestants are, by far and away, the most conservative group.Brazil

Planning the unplannable: Scenarios on the future of space

The article of record as published may be located at http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/ j.spacepol.2009.11.007This article explores the use of scenario analysis as a methodology to rigorously analyze potential space futures, particularly with respect to space security challenges, in the context of rapid and uncertain change across several dimensions of human space activities. The successful use of scenario analysis in other (e.g. corporate and military) sectors is described and results of an initial scenario analysis workshop are presented. Scenario analysis is recommended as a promising approach to evaluating the long-term consequences of various policy choices in the context of uncertainty, and as a process well-suited to fostering communication and building consensual knowledge among diverse stakeholders

State-of-the-Art in Security Thinking for the Internet of Things (IoT)

In this paper we propose a model for Internet of Things (IoT) practitioners and researchers on how to use security thinking in parallel with the IoT technological developments. While security is recognized as a top priority, repeatedly, IoT products have become a target by diverse security attacks. This raises the importance for an IoT security mindset that contributes to building more holistic security measures. In understanding this, we present the state-of-the-art in IoT security. This resulted in the identification of three dimensions (awareness, assessment and challenges) that are needed to develop an IoT security mindset. We then interviewed four security and IoT-related experts from three different organizations that formed the basis for our pilot study to test the model. Our results show that the identified three-dimensional model highlights continuous security thinking as a serious matter to sustain IoT development with positive outcomes for its users