Evaluation of Static Work Capabilities in a Hot Environment

The effects of heat stress on an individual's static work capabilities were investigated. Various indicators of strength and endurance were measured under differing heat stress levels. One measure which exhibited a significant change at higher heat stress levels was a combined strength-endurance measurement involving a series of maximal voluntary contractions throughout a one hour exposure. At 35° C WBGT the decrease in MVC from the beginning of the exposure to the end was 43% compared to only 6% at 18° C WBGT. Core temperature was also monitored throughout each exposure.Yeshttps://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/manuscript-submission-guideline

A Human Factors Perspective on Helicopter Human External Loads

Human external loads (HEL) refer to operations where humans are transported while suspended below a helicopter. HEL operations are often required to access remote work sites, to access power lines in need of maintenance and repair, for transport of offshore ship captains, and for rescue operations. This paper reports a human factors investigation of HEL operations and the devices used to secure HELs involved in work (non-rescue) activities. The goal of this investigation was to determine if HEL operations pose a significant safety hazard. Specifically, the paper describes the various devices used to secure HELs, the accident history associated with HELs, and human factors recommendations for the regulation of HEL devices and operations. Review of 616 helicopter accident reports revealed that only 1.5% of the accidents occurred during HEL operations and only 0.5% were directly attributable to the presence of an HEL.Yeshttps://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/manuscript-submission-guideline

Protective mechanisms and current clinical evidence of hypothermic oxygenated machine perfusion (HOPE) in preventing post-transplant cholangiopathy

The development of cholangiopathies after liver transplantation impacts on the quality and duration of graft and patient survival, contributing to higher costs as numerous interventions are required to treat strictures and infections at the biliary tree. Prolonged donor warm ischaemia time in combination with additional cold storage are key risk factors for the development of biliary strictures. Based on this, the clinical implementation of dynamic preservation strategies is a current hot topic in the field of donation after circulatory death (DCD) liver transplantation. Despite various retrospective studies reporting promising results, also regarding biliary complications, there are only a few randomised-controlled trials on machine perfusion. Recently, the group from Groningen has published the first randomised-controlled trial on hypothermic oxygenated perfusion (HOPE), demonstrating a significant reduction of symptomatic ischaemic cholangiopathies with the use of a short period of HOPE before DCD liver implantation. The most likely mechanism for this important effect, also shown in several experimental studies, is based on mitochondrial reprogramming under hypothermic aerobic conditions, e.g. exposure to oxygen in the cold, with a controlled and slow metabolism of ischaemically accumulated succinate and simultaneous ATP replenishment. This unique feature prevents mitochondrial oxidative injury and further downstream tissue inflammation. HOPE treatment therefore supports livers by protecting them from ischaemia-reperfusion injury (IRI), and thereby also prevents the development of post-transplant biliary injury. With reduced IRI-associated inflammation, recipients are also protected from activation of the innate immune system, with less acute rejections seen after HOPE

Training Characteristics of the Criterion Task Set Workload Assessment Battery

An evaluation of the Criterion Task Set was performed to determine the training requirements for the various tasks. Twenty subjects were divided into four groups. One group trained on all nine tasks in the battery. The other three groups trained on different three-task subsets. All subjects trained for two hours per day on five consecutive days. Response time, accuracy and subjective workload measures were obtained for each trial.Yeshttps://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/manuscript-submission-guideline

CMB dipoles and other low-order multipoles in the quasispherical Szekeres model

Several authors have previously shown that a Gpc-scale void based on the spherically symmetric Lemaıˆtre-Tolman-Bondi (LTB) model can provide a good fit to certain cosmological data, including the SNIa data, but it is only consistent with the observed CMB dipole if we are located very close to the center, in violation of the Copernican principle. In this work we investigate the more general quasispherical Szekeres model, which does not include spherical symmetry, in order to determine whether this option may be less constricting. We find that the observer is still constrained to a small region, but it is not as geometrically ''special'' as the center of a LTB void. Furthermore, whereas the quadrupole and octupole near the center of a LTB void are necessarily small, certain Szekeres models can include a significant quadrupole while still being consistent with the observed dipole, hinting that Szekeres models may be able to give an explanation for the observed quadrupole/octupole anomalies

Darf’s noch ein bisschen mehr (Wert) sein?: eine empirische Untersuchung zur Zahlungsbereitschaft der Nutzer und dem Public Value des öffentlich-rechtlichen Rundfunks

Struktur und Finanzierung des ö.-r. Rundfunks sind ein medienpolitisches Dauerthema. Für die einen ist er nach wie vor unverzichtbar, für andere schlichtweg ein Relikt aus der analogen Ära. Doch welche (quantifizierbare) Wertschätzung genießen die Angebote eigentlich - und produzieren sie neben einem individuellen Nutzen auch den (gewünschten) gesellschaftlichen Mehrwert (Public Value, PV)? Zur Beantwortung dieser Fragestellungen wird, erstmalig in Deutschland, eine Erhebung der Zahlungsbereitschaft (ZB) für die Angebote des ö.-r. Rundfunks durchgeführt. In einer quasi-experimentellen Online-Befragung kommt die kontingente Bewertungstechnik (contingent valuation method) zur Anwendung. Diese Form der Befragung wurde für die Ermittlung der Wertschätzung kollektiver Güter, die keinen Marktpreis haben, konzipiert. Um neben der absoluten Höhe der ZB auch mögliche Einflüsse herauszufinden, wird ein selbst entwickeltes Modell mit 6 Faktoren getestet. Per Zufallsauswahl wird den Befragten ein PV-Stimulus in Form von 6 Aussagen präsentiert. In der nicht-repräsentativen Stichprobe (N=151) liegt die durchschnittliche Zahlungsbereitschaft bei 10,97 Euro/Monat (Gebühr z.Z. 17,98 Euro/Monat). Ein Public Value im Sinne einer erhöhten ZB bei Zustimmung zum PV-Stimulus kann nicht festgestellt werden. Befragte, die die Aussagen ablehnen, äußern eine signifikant niedrigere ZB (8 Euro) im Vergleich zur Kontrollgruppe ohne Stimulus (12,11 Euro). Als signifikante Konstrukte des Modells erweisen sich u.a. die Höhe des Einkommens, die Präferenz für die ö.-r. Angebote, das Preisbewusstsein sowie die Kaufhäufigkeit von Printprodukten. Aufschlussreich sind auch die Freitext-Begründungen zur Betragsnennung