Recreation and Multiple-Use

FEW PEOPLE would disagree with the principles of multiple use management of the national forests. It is just common sense to put public lands to their highest public use and to utilize all of the resources, so long as the land is protected and its stability and productiveness are preserved

The platform effect: How Amazon changed work in logistics in Germany, the United States and the United Kingdom

While the effects of the platform economy on work are mainly studied through the lens of gig or cloud workers, many more employees are likely to be affected in non-platform firms or sectors. We discuss the mechanisms of platform economy’s impact on the employment relationships and indirect effect on employment trends. Platform firms enter the service economy with business models that put existing service providers under pressure and advance a platform model of employment relationship. However, their transformative force is limited by three factors: employment regulations, access to welfare provisions and the employment relations at legacy firms. We examine the case of Amazon logistics in the US, Germany and the UK and find that the employment contract, as a legal institution, prevents the dissemination of independent contracting as the preferred employment model. Moreover, the welfare state has a paradoxical effect on platform work: universal welfare and liberal employment law facilitate the rise of precarious work

The application of a GIS-based BMP selection tool for the evaluation of hydrologic performance and storm flow reduction.

A GIS-based BMP tool has been developed within the EU-funded SWITCH project to enable stakeholders to identify appropriate BMPs and their locations to facilitate the control of urban runoff and to reduce the pollutant loads discharged to receiving waters. The attenuation impact of the installed BMPs on separate sewer flows has been predicted by linking this tool to a hydraulic model (STORM). The capability of this combined tool is illustrated using a 4.5 ha section of a city centre development site subjected to measured rainfall data for an extreme storm event. Green roofs and porous paving are used as illustrative examples of BMPs and are shown to have the potential to remove 23-26% and 22-28%, respectively of hourly based flows depending in the incident rainfall volumes. When used in combination, these BMPs have the potential to alleviate exceedance flows in the receiving pipe system. The installation of BMPs is also demonstrated to reduce the short term flow variability caused by rainfall fluctuations and hence to enable planners to more accurately design sewer systems with the required capacity

We are Infinitely Intertwined: The Spiritual and Evolutionary Connection Between Humans and Nature, and How We can Bridge the Ever Growing Gap

The book entitled, Rooted: Life at the Crossroads of science, nature, and spirit, drew me to explore my relationship with nature. I had never thought to call it that before, but it is a relationship, and one we can all learn to foster. We are growing lonely for the natural world we used to be so intertwined with.&nbsp; Through my research, I gathered data from both scientific studies, personal experience, and philosophical perspectives to demonstrate the benefits of reconnecting with nature in any way possible.&nbsp; The art piece that pairs with the paper reflects my own experience in spending quality time outdoors, as well as a greater theme of connectedness. I built my ceramic installation with found clay from a nearby reservoir, paired with sticks, twigs, and other found and second-hand textile yarns and materials. This piece reflects on the growing separation between human beings and nature as we have evolved, but also, as a reminder that it is not too late to reunite and rediscover an empathetic relationship with the world that fostered our lives. Connection is healing. We are all infinitely intertwined.&nbsp; &nbsp;</p

System requirements analysis of train dispatching protocols with Ontological Hazard Analysis

Sieker B. Systemanforderungsanalyse von Bahnbetriebsverfahren mit Hilfe der Ontological Hazard Analysis am Beispiel des Zugleitbetriebs nach FV-NE. Bielefeld (Germany): Bielefeld University; 2010.The Ontological Hazard Analysis (OHA) is a specification and analysis method for system safety requirements, based on many small but rigorous refinement steps and causal analysis. This development sequence is applied to train-dispatching protocols as defined in the German railway standard FV-NE. Ontological Hazard Analysis is a method for safety-requirements derivation and analysis that allows for logical traceability of safety requirements through system development through to (at least) design. It uses formal refinement and requires methods from formal logics, in particular many-sorted logics that use a number of different axioms.Eisenbahnregelwerke sind traditionell in natürlicher Sprache verfasst. Dies führt zu zahlreichen Problemen beim Erstellen und Verifizieren von Lasten- und Pflichtenheften und bei der unzweideutigen Spezifikation von Systemen für ein bestimmtes Betriebsverfahren. Die Ontological Hazard Analysis ist eine Methode, mit der sich durch formale Verfeinerung ("Formal Refinement") vollständige Spezifikationen der Safety-Requirements erstellen lassen. Mit Hilfe des Model-Checkers SPIN werden weitere Eigenschaften des Systems geprüft, die keine Sicherheitsanforderungen sind. Die Ontological Hazard Analysis ist, anders als gängige andere Verfahren, in der Lage, für ein echtes Bahnbetriebsverfahren eine nahtlose Nachvollziehbarkeit (audit trail) von abstrakten Spezifikationen bis zum Quellcode - abgesehen von möglichen Compilerproblemen auch bis zum Objektcode - zu bieten, und dabei gleichzeitig logische, relative Vollständigkeit der Sicherheitsanforderungen (Safety Requirements) zu garantieren

The crystal structure of the three-iron ferredoxin II from Desulfovibrio gigas

AbstractThe crystal structure of oxidized ferredoxin II from the sulfate-reducing bacterium Desulfovibrio gigas has been determined and refined at 1.7 Å resolution. The folding of the polypeptide chain is similar to that of the 2[4Fe-4S] ferredoxin in Peptococcus aerogenes, except for an extended helical segment near the C-terminus. The single [3Fe-4S] cluster in D. gigas is similar to a [4Fe-4S] cluster, but lacks one Fe atom and is coordinated to Cys-8, -14 and -50. The side chain of Cys-11 is not bound to the cluster, but is rotated toward the solvent and modified by some, as yet undetermined, chemical group. Cys-18 and Cys-42 form a disulfide bridge. A previously undetected extra amino acid is found after residue 55

Assessing the Completeness of Occupational Exposure Data in the Lifetime Surveillance of Astronaut Health

INTRODUCTION: Longitudinal analysis on how spaceflight affects human health requires significant amounts of data. Missing data, especially if missing in a non-random fashion, could be a significant challenge to the success and validity of ongoing occupational surveillance and research. Astronaut occupational health data have been collected since 1959 in various formats and as part of several flight programs. As a result of changing methodologies over this span, epidemiologists in the NASA Lifetime Surveillance of Astronaut Health (LSAH) project regularly compile data sets with important exposure or outcome data missing. METHODS: NASA medical records of astronauts participating in voluntary annual LSAH examinations were reviewed and compiled to develop Individual Exposure Profiles (IEP) for each astronaut. These data were supplemented by an interview. If the interview yielded medically relevant information absent from the medical record, that information was considered an update. The IEPs were analyzed to identify trends regarding the characteristics of astronauts who provided updates and what kinds of information were consistently being updated. RESULTS: To date, 190 astronauts have participated in the IEP project. Medical information was updated for 119 individuals during these interviews. The astronauts' likelihood of updating their record upon interview was not significantly related to their spaceflight experience, era of active spaceflight, or duration of longest spaceflight. The most commonly updated categories of medical information were issues encountered during spaceflights, including CO2 symptoms, vision changes, back pain, headaches, and space motion sickness. DISCUSSION: The most commonly updated categories correspond to areas where LSAH has ongoing analysis efforts and therefore do not appear to have been reported at random. This presentation will address identification of missing astronaut health data and trends, forward work identified by the IEP project and how this information may be used for future LSAH data gap analyses

A Cognitive Analysis of Truck Drivers’ Right-hand Turns

This paper presents an investigation of truck drivers' performance during right-hand turns performed in in- tersections with traffic lights in order to elicit the truck drivers' domain, decision-making processes, and the strategies used while executing the turns. To gain knowledge about this, a truck driving instructor was inter- viewed, and four truck drivers were observed and interviewed. This resulted in a cognitive work analysis with the phases work domain analysis, control task analysis and strategies analysis. Through this study it is indi- cated that many different types of information are sought using several brief glances in mirrors, and the results shows how the front and near-zone mirrors were never used by the participants during the observed right-hand turns. Controlling the vehicle was found to be mainly automatic, whereas their focus is on the orientation about surroundings. Lastly, the drivers' behavior is discussed in relation to change blindness, con- firmation bias and schemes

A Cognitive Analysis of Truck Drivers’ Right-hand Turns

This paper presents an investigation of truck drivers' performance during right-hand turns performed in intersections with traffic lights in order to elicit the truck drivers' domain, decision-making processes, and the strategies used while executing the turns. To gain knowledge about this, a truck driving instructor was interviewed, and four truck drivers were observed and interviewed. This resulted in a cognitive work analysis with the phases work domain analysis, control task analysis and strategies analysis. Through this study it is indi- cated that many different types of information are sought using several brief glances in mirrors, and the results shows how the front and near-zone mirrors were never used by the participants during the observed right-hand turns. Controlling the vehicle was found to be mainly automatic, whereas their focus is on the orientation about surroundings. Lastly, the drivers' behavior is discussed in relation to change blindness, confirmation bias and schemes