Regional Office Building- Fire and Life Safety Analysis

This report has two objectives: 1. To confirm that the Fire and Life Safety Systems of a project building satisfy applicable prescriptive code requirements, and 2. To evaluate how the Fire and Life Safety Systems perform when challenged by a credible fire scenario. The three‐story, 31,430 sq. ft. project building is the regional office for an oil and gas company operating in Western Canada. The building includes an atrium which extends from the ground level, main floor to the third floor. The Fire and Life Safety Systems within the scope of this study, include: Fire Detection and Alarms Systems (FDAS) Egress Components Water‐Based Fire Protection Systems Structural Fire Protections Systems Prescriptive Analysis Analysis of the FDAS confirmed that the building is equipped with modern Fire Alarm System (FAS), code compliant, UL listed detection devices and notification appliances. The single stage FAS is augmented by a Remote Supervising Station. Notification appliances include audible and visual alarms which have proven effective in building response exercises. The building egress elements were found to be designed and installed in compliance with the Life Safety Code. However, it was found that the building occupants have installed items which have eroded the building life safety features. Corridor width has been reduced to less than that required by the LSC by the installation of shelving and other items. In addition, combustible materials are being stored in the east exit stairway enclosure which may present a hazard to building occupants. The building water supply was found to meet the design demand. The building owner has implemented effective programs for ongoing inspection, testing and maintenance the water‐based fire protection system. Furthermore, processes are in place to track fire protection system impairment and ensure the system is returned to a fully operational status in a timely manner. The occupancy classification of the project building was found to be Group B (Business) which requires Type II‐A construction. It was confirmed that the building meets the International Building Code requirements for Type II‐A construction. Performance Based Analysis The performance of the building Fire and Life Safety Systems when challenged by a design fire was assessed. The objective was to confirm that occupants could exit the building before they are exposed to untenable environmental conditions. Two credible fire scenarios are evaluated; a trash bag fire in the east exit stairway enclosure and a chair fire located in the third floor, open‐office area. The design fires are believed to be realistic with respect to their initial location, fire growth rate and smoke generation. For the trash bag fire, it was concluded that the building water‐based fire protection and fire detection and alarm systems work effectively when challenged. The Available Safe Egress Time (ASET) was found to be greater than the Required Safe Egress Time (RSET) and occupants could be expected to safely evacuate from the building. In contrast, it was found that the heat release rate from the chair fire may be insufficient to activate detection systems before untenable smoke conditions develop. The ASET was found to be less than the RSET and occupants may not be able to safely evacuate from the building. The chair fire was proposed to be ignited by the unauthorized use of an electric space heater. Recommendations The following recommendations are made to ensure the building life safety systems are maintained and occupants can safety exit the building in the event of a fire. 1. Continue to support the fire detection and water‐based fire protection system through an ongoing ITM program executed by certified technicians. 2. Implement a third‐party audit program to provide assurance that the fire detection and water‐ based fire protection system ITM program continues to meet NFPA requirements. 3. Remove items such as shelving from the second and third floor corridors. These items were not in the building initial design and have reduced the corridor width to less than that required by the LSC. 4. Remove combustible janitorial supplies from the east exit stairway enclosure. These items present a hazard to building occupants should a fire occur. 5. Review the building policy which prohibits the use of portable, electric space heaters at the next company safety meeting

Ignored medical problem

Journal ArticleA physician who doesn't recommend that a patient stop smoking is hard to find. Few, however, try to help patients lose weight, even though a recent National Institutes of Health (NIH) study showed that at least 300,000 deaths each year can be attributed to being overweight, obese or severely overweight. "While being overweight is known to play a role in cardiovascular disease, diabetes, hypertension, coronary heart disease, arthritis and colon, breast, uterine and prostate cancer, and puts nearly every organ system at risk, medical schools provide practically no training in recognizing and treating the condition

Innovation: buzzword or development solution? An analysis of innovation among non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in international development

Over the last three decades, innovation has come to be regarded as a key attribute of nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) and an important activity for them to engage in by key stakeholders in international development. This is evidenced by the rise in the number of innovation grants and activities directed at development NGOs aimed at exploring new ways of working. Despite the increasing interest in innovation however, the characteristics of an NGO “innovation” or innovative activity remains vague and difficult to identify. References to innovation relate to it as both a means for NGOs to achieve outcomes, as well as an end in itself. And examples of projects that have been considered “innovative” by stakeholders span across a wide range of activities that make it difficult to identify the contributions towards the innovation. Furthermore, while the empirical research on innovation in practice is increasingly being explored, the theoretical study of innovation as it relates to NGOs continues to be largely under-researched in the NGO literature. Thus, it is unclear whether innovation merely serves as a new ‘buzzword’ in international development that lacks meaning, or whether it plays a more significant role for stakeholders in the sector. This study examines the role that innovation plays for donors and NGOs in international development, particularly in terms of the ideas and practices they engage in, and why it has come to be regarded as an important aspect of their work. It specifically explores the relationship between donors and development NGOs working in the Global South, and how innovation has come to be prioritized in their work. The research combines a theoretical investigation of ideas around innovation as applied by the organization within the private, public and the third sectors, with an empirical study into how innovation is understood, communicated and practiced by NGOs and key stakeholders within an ‘aid chain’ using three multi-sited case studies with a focus on Ethiopia. Through this, I build my research on four key concepts for defining organisational innovation, and look at how concepts of innovation in relation to NGOs particularly relate to them. These are; innovation as product and outcome (Schumpeter 1939), innovation as a process (Seelos & Mair 2012), and innovation as an organisational characteristic (Fyvie & Ager 1999) and innovation as diffusion (Rogers 1963). Ethiopia’s long history with NGO activity, and its civil society movement was an advantage for the fieldwork in that it encouraged a significant international aid presence among donors to the country, particularly among those looking to support experimental projects. The two most significant findings from the research indicate that there is a disconnect in the way stakeholders define innovation and the value they place on it in their work. First, innovation was found to be deployed as a buzzword primarily by the donor community in over-generalised ways that fails to capture the complexity and the nature of NGO work. This ultimately prevents development NGOs from contributing their own ideas, forcing them to adopt the terms associated with it. Second was that the concept of innovation was primarily referred to as both a product and process and among stakeholders with little distinction made between them. It is this disconnect between the definitions of innovation among donor agencies and NGOs that makes it difficult to identify what an innovation is among NGOs, and ultimately prevents them from building a shared understanding of the potential benefits of innovation. The main implication at the level of policy and practice is the need to recognise innovation as a process that NGOs may usefully engage in, rather than simply a product or outcome of their work. A clearer understanding of innovation as a process, and a focus on innovation for NGOs would them room to experiment and explore different ways of working, rather than adapt to innovation as a buzzword

Maybe your genes made you eat it

Journal ArticleAnother snack? The queston is: why do people eat? Is it anxiety, habbit, immediate gratification? Or, do your genes make you do it? Could there be a genetic predisposition to obesity , a genetic defect that makes some people hungrier more often than others? If a genetic link is found and a drug can be developed to correct the defect, greater control of this worldwide epidemic would be possible

Workplace Incivility of Female Managers on Self-Confidence, Self-Awareness, and Self-Esteem of Female Workers

Workplace incivility has been a focus of scholars since 1999 and a rising phenomenon among women within various organizations. Women represent more than half of the workforce in the United States, indicating that it is very likely that a woman will have a woman manager and/or employee at some time during her work experience. Researchers have demonstrated that women workers are very likely to experience workplace incivility during their work life more than men. Researchers have not yet established how workplace incivility impacts the female workers self-confidence, self-esteem and self-awareness when perpetrated by their female manager. The purpose of this study was to increase understanding of female workers’ lived experiences of workplace incivility within an organization. Miller’s relational-cultural theory and Tajfel’s and Turner’s social identity theory were used to analyze the phenomenon and the Husserl’s 5 step process was used to conceptualize the framework in relation to the study. Using a descriptive phenomenological psychological method, data from semistructured interviews were collected from 12 female participants. The research questions explored the lived experiences of female employees relating to workplace incivility perpetuated by women managers and the impact it had on their self-confidence, self-awareness, and self-esteem. The results of these analyses indicated that mistreatment and rude behavior from female management towards female workers were negatively associated with workplace incivility. Social change may benefit from the results of this study by increasing awareness of workplace incivility among female workers and women management, creating an environment for positive relationships and change to occur

Discerning attributes which stimulate performance in quality improvement teams

Total quality management (TQM) can be summed up as people and the way they work. One key element of the philosophies of TQM is the heavy emphasis on utilizing quality improvement teams (QITs) and quality tools to effectively create high performance organizations. Specifically, this investigation asks the following questions: 1) What are the key attributes that contribute to performance in QITs? 2) What is the relationship between team communication and QIT performance? 3) What is the relationship between the number of quality tools utilized in a team and QIT performance? Participants for this study were 101 students from the University of Missouri-Rolla that participated in teams with at least one group project and had exposure to at least one of the 14 quality improvement tools in their team projects. Data was collected during the Winter 2004 semester. Individual perspective on the team\u27s performance was measured quantitatively by the team performance score. Four key attributes were identified that influence team performance. We found a significant positive relationship between team communication and team performance. Our results also provide insight on tool utilization and how it relates to team performance --Abstract, page iii

The Effects of Mentoring on Student Outcomes

Historically, African Americans males have scored significantly lower than other subgroups on standardized assessments and in academic grades. In addition, African American males have also acquired more disciplinary infractions than all other subgroups. In general, statistics show that adolescent boys have lower achievement and more deviant behaviors than all other subgroups. Boys often struggle with the lack of motivation to excel in school and display appropriate character. This study compared the academic achievement and discipline of a group of boys participating in a mentoring group to a control group with no mentor over a four-month period. Resulting data was analyzed in three one-way ANOVAs to determine if there was a significant difference in outcomes between the mentor group and the group without a mentor. The study also sought to determine if the race of the mentor (same race vs cross race) had a significant difference in outcomes within the mentoring group. Findings of this study suggest that African American boys excel in academics and in behavior when mentored by an adult male figure. The race of the mentor yielded no significant difference in outcomes

The Linguistic Perspectives on Computer Mediated Communication

This paper aims to explore the role of production and perception constraints in computer mediated communication. I review Lindblom's (1990) theory of phonetic variation and propose a new model of linguistic production in Computer Mediated Communication. Cyber citizens use cyber communication as conceptually oral, medially written. The reason to use chat-mode is that it saves time and space (the principle of least effort); here sound, not spelling, is the first thing to be considered. With respect to production in the proposed model, effort is no longer equated with articulatory movement, but rather with the number of keystrokes involved in typing an utterance. On discussing online, discussants show paralinguistic actions such as smile, frown, screaming, etc., and they also reduplicate writings, capitalize all the sentences, and use emoticons; net-communication is headed toward less grammatical and more telegraphic type. The production of hyper-and hypo-forms such as reduplication, punctuation and capitalization will vary according to the sender's estimation of signal-complementary processes and his attempts to compensate for the restricted context.We discuss online and off line on the issues; why we like cyber communication and how we classify the phenomena. The more computer mediated communications we use, the moreissues we have to review beyond words and linguistic principles

LISP based simulation generators for modeling complex space processes

The development of a simulation assistant for modeling discrete event processes is presented. Included are an overview of the system, a description of the simulation generators, and a sample process generated using the simulation assistant