A review of human error in marine engine maintenance

Maritime safety involves minimizing error in all aspects of the marine system. Human error hasreceived much importance, being responsible for about 80% of the maritime accident worldwide. Currently,more attention has been focused to reduce human error in marine engine maintenance. On-board marineengine maintenance activities are often complex, where seafarers conduct maintenance activities in variousmarine environmental (i.e. extreme weather, ship motions, noise, and vibration) and operational (i.e. workoverload and stress) conditions. These environmental and operational conditions, in combination with generichuman error tendencies, results in innumerable forms of error. There are numerous accidents that happeneddue to the human error during the maintenance activities of a marine engine. The most severe human errorresults in accidents due to is a loss of life. Moreover, there are other consequences too such as delaying theproductivity of marine operations which results in the financial loss. This study reviews methods that arecurrently available for identifying, reporting and managing human error in marine engine maintenance. As abasis for this discussion, authors provide an overview of approaches for investigating human error, and adescription of marine engine maintenance activities and environmental and operational characteristics

Insulin-like growth factor II receptors in human brain and their absence in astrogliotic plaques in multiple sclerosis

Insulin-like growth factor (IGF) II receptors were studied in human adult brain by using autoradiography with [(125)I]IGF-II. Receptors were found to be widely distributed throughout all neuronal regions. The highest densities were found in plexus choroideus, granular layer of the cerebellar cortex, gyrus dendatus and pyramidal layer of the hippocampus, striatum, and cerebral cortex. White matter was devoid of IGF-II receptors. We also examined [(125)I]IGF-II binding in six plaques of multiple sclerosis, which were characterized by a dense network of astrocytes. Ne were unable to detect IGF-II receptors in any of the astrogliotic plaques, suggesting that IGF-II receptors in human brain are not involved in astrogliosis. The regional variations in neuronal distribution of IGF-II receptors suggest involvement of IGF-II in functions associated with specific neuronal pathways. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved

Competition in Science: Links Between Publication Pressure, Grant Pressure and the Academic Job Market

In the current discussions concerning the pressure for publication and to obtain grants, the questions about what publication and grant pressure actually involve and how they are linked to the academic job market, are often neglected. In this study, we show that publication and grand pressure are not just external forces but internal ones as scientists apply pressure to themselves in the process of competition. Through two surveys, one of 1,133 recent PhDs at five Dutch universities and one of 225 postdoctoral researchers at two Dutch universities, we found that publication and grant pressure have to be considered in relation with competition for academic jobs. While publication and grant pressure are perceived to be too high by a majority of these early career researchers, the effects of publication and grant pressure by themselves are limited.Merit, Expertise and Measuremen

Welk gras Is groener? Persoonlijke verhalen van gepromoveerden over hun loopbanen binnen en buiten de wetenschap

Merit, Expertise and Measuremen

Which grass is greener? Personal stories from PhDs about their careers within and outside academia

Merit, Expertise and Measuremen

Buruli Ulcer Recurrence, Benin

Access to high-quality treatment prevents Buruli ulcer recurrence

Compliance or pragmatism: How do academics deal with managerialism in higher education? A comparative study in three countries

Universities throughout Europe have adopted organisational strategies, structures, technologies, management instruments and values that are commonly found in the private sector. While these alleged managerial measures may be considered useful, and have a positive effect on the quality of teaching and research, there is also evidence of detrimental effects on primary tasks. The consequences of such managerial measures were investigated through 48 interviews with staff members at 10 universities in the Netherlands, Sweden and the UK. The results were analysed and interpreted within the framework of institutional and professional theory, by linking them to three central themes: 'symbolic compliance', 'professional pragmatism' and 'formal instrumentality'. These themes explain why and how the respondents dissociated themselves from the managerial measures imposed upon them. This occurred often for pragmatic and occasionally for principled reasons. © 2012 Society for Research into Higher Education

‘Inspired and assisted’, or ‘berated and destroyed’? Research leadership, management and performativity in troubled times

Research leadership in Australian universities takes place against a backdrop of policy reforms concerned with measurement and comparison of institutional research performance. In particular, the Excellence in Research in Australian initiative undertaken by the Australian Research Council sets out to evaluate research quality in Australian universities, using a combination of expert review process, and assessment of performance against &lsquo;quality indicators&rsquo;. Benchmarking exercises of this sort continue to shape institutional policy and practice, with inevitable effects on the ways in which research leadership, mentoring and practice are played out within university faculties and departments. In an exploratory study that interviewed 32 Australian academics in universities in four Australian states, we asked participants, occupying formal or informal research leadership roles, to comment on their perceptions of research leadership as envisioned and enacted in their particular workplaces. We found a pervasive concern amongst participants that coalesced around binaries characterized in metaphoric terms of &lsquo;carrots and whips&rsquo;. Research leadership was seen by many as managerial in nature, and as such, largely tethered to instrumentalist notions of productivity and performativity, while research cultures were seen as languishing under the demoralizing weight of reward and punishment systems. Here, we consider what is at stake for the future of the academic workforce under such conditions, arguing that new models of visionary research leadership are urgently needed in the &lsquo;troubled times&rsquo; of techno-bureaucratic university reforms.<br /

Buruli Ulcer (M. ulcerans Infection): New Insights, New Hope for Disease Control

Buruli ulcer is a disease of skin and soft tissue caused by Mycobacterium ulcerans. It can leave affected people scarred and disabled. What are the prospects for disease control