Fatal Disasters Research Articles

How Fast Should Fashion Really Be? An Investigation into Whether It Is Possible for ‘Fast Fashion’ to Adapt to Meet Social Sustainability Goals

In the last decade, there have been a number of fatal disasters in garment factories across the world, with many of these factories producing garments for the ‘fast fashion’ industry. With the ‘fast fashion’ industry continuing to grow at an exponential rate, it is important, now more than ever, to understand how garment workers at the heart of this growth can be protected in a socially sustainable way. The motivation of this study is to look into ways of empowering producers of the garments, not just those who wear them. The objective of this research is to understand whether it is possible for ‘fast fashion’ to meet social sustainability goals, or whether the model is inherently unsustainable. To address this question, a systematic literature review was conducted, which maps literature on ‘fast fashion’ and social sustainability. This review looks at the two concepts independently, then draws the literature together to explain the relationship, and outlines approaches that can be taken to ameliorate it. The paper presents an argument for how policymakers, businesses and consumers can play a part in making fast fashion more socially sustainable in the hope of one day being able to empower all. The conclusion of this review is that fast fashion is only capable of exhibiting ‘weak’ sustainability, and that systemic change would be needed across stakeholders to address social sustainability goals effectively.

The Night Trains: Moving Mozambican Miners to and from South Africa, 1902–1955

The Night Trains: Moving Mozambican Miners to and from South Africa, 1902–1955

Unemployment Anxiety in Light of the Coronavirus 2019 Pandemic and Its Relationship to Psychological Reassurance among Graduate Students at Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University

This research explored the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on increasing the unemployment anxiety levels of graduate students at Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University. To fulfill the objective of this study, 120 graduate students at the mentioned university were selected based on the convenience sampling method as the participants of the study. Sixty participants lost their jobs during the Coronavirus 2019 pandemic, but the rest had jobs. After determining the participants’ job conditions, the researchers administered Zung’s (1971) anxiety questionnaire via e-mail, Telegram, WhatsApp, Microsoft Teams, Zoom, WeChat, Google Meetings, and other social media platforms. One hundred and seven students (56 employed and 51 unemployed) completed the questionnaire and sent it back to the researchers. The parametric results divulged a notable difference between the anxiety level of the employed and unemployed groups, implying that the unemployed participants had much more anxiety during the Coronavirus 2019 pandemic. The implications of this research can be compelling for governments to take practical actions during fatal disasters such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

Making Sense of Critical Incidents in High Reliability Organizations: A Formative Literature Review

How has sensemaking of critical incidents in high reliability organizations been studied empirically? This paper explores this question by way of a formative review of the literature, by charting the terrain and by concluding an integrative framework that suggests future research. Drawing on the nexus of literatures on sensemaking and high reliability organization, we demonstrate that most empirical work has focused on the context of actual, fatal disasters (at the expense of important early cues such as critical incidents); has foregrounded the reliability threat from technology failure (with social-interaction-based reliability still to be fully understood) and shows a certain bias for after-action sensemaking (rather than in-action sensemaking). We conclude that future research should dedicate more attention to critical incidents and near-errors; reliability threats stemming from lapses in social interaction and therefore employ more in-action, interaction-oriented approaches to sensemaking.

Quantitative diagnosis of mechanical faults based on generalized fractal dimensions

The bearing is an important part of mechanical equipment. Its condition directly influences the operation of the entire mechanical equipment. Faults in bearings may induce fatal disasters and heavy economic losses, in worst-case scenarios. In fault diagnosis, many studies have only proposed the characteristics of faults; however, without standards for quantifying the faults, automated diagnosis could not be realized. Based on the generalized fractal dimensions (GFDs) and the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, this study proposed a method to characterize initial failure trends and quantize the bearing failure standard. The size of GFDs was calculated using the vibration signal measured during the operation of a bearing. The optimal classification model was determined based on the ROC curve as the criterion of damage. The model trained by the signals of the training group was used in the check analysis of the signals of the validation group. The accuracy of this quantitative analysis was validated by experimental results. Finally, three bearings in different positions were diagnosed by this model under the same test conditions, and the effectiveness of the quantitative diagnosis of damage proposed in this study was validated.

Review of Unsafe Changes in the Practice of Cesarean Section with Analysis of Flaws in the Interpretation of Statistics and the Evidence

Cesarean section is the commonest major operation. Unfortunately, many recent practice-changes have been rushed based on flawed interpretation limited data that are debated in this review. The discussion includes non-closure of the peritoneum, the 39-week rule for elective cesarean, incorrect implementation of four-category urgency classification, and abdominal entry with excessive blunt force. It took NASA two fatal space-shuttle disasters over 18 years to change its culture of dismissing reasoning and observations in addition to numerical data. Reasoning becomes even more important when there is emerging data, especially in soft sciences like medicine. This review discusses flawed science behind the change to “non-closure of peritoneum” in details (and other changes briefly). This practice change was based on narrow mistaken considerations and solely on statistical significance, studying irrelevant short-term outcomes like increased requirement of analgesia. Several statistical mistakes in interpreting this evidence with wider applications are discussed. This weak/flawed evidence has been subsequently disproven by large randomized controlled trials. Small reduction in operating time should never have been a consideration. The merit of hypothesis favoring peritoneal closure to prevent adhesions is very strong to begin with. More importantly, the meta-analysis of available studies shows that closing peritoneum significantly reduces the formation of adhesions, particularly the severe ones. Extensive adhesion of uterus to the abdominal wall is relatively rare to reach statistical significance in small studies but is clinically highly significant due to operative complications. The rushed mistaken recommendation of non-closure of peritoneum should not have been made. However, reversing these changes is perceived as admitting errors, and there is simply no interest in doing so with detriment of the patients. Guidelines should now change their advice on many important aspects of cesarean, as discussed in this review.

Evaluation and optimization of electric field on a high-voltage switchgear in nuclear power station

Safety of electric power systems depends heavily on distribution of electric field in high-voltage switchgear. Switchgear failure can lead to fatal disasters in important systems. It is necessary to evaluate electric field and insulation performance for high-voltage switchgear in key systems. In this paper, considering a high-voltage switchgear system designed for nuclear power station, a three-dimensional finite element model is developed for the whole system. Distribution of electric field is simulated under different loads, including the specified voltage and the overload. The insulation property of the switchgear system is then evaluated. Experiment on the physical prototype validates the simulation evaluation. To make the electrical field well distributed and reduce peak value, method of orthogonal experiment is used for parameter design. Optimization and improvement are then proposed. The optimization results show that the reliability is improved and the electric field is well distributed. The numerical model is established on personal computer, while it is solved remotely on High Performance Computing Center. Corresponding modeling techniques and computing methods are provided in this paper.

Thanatology Tourism in Nepal Himalayan Region: A Case of Langtang

On 25th April 2015 at 11:56 am local time, a devastating earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale shook Nepal. It is considered as one of the most fatal disasters in Nepal, ensuing aft restocks; avalanches and landslides triggered in the aftermath killed over 9,000 people. The most damage occurred when the earthquake triggered a destructive avalanche composed of ice, snow and soil, burying the entire Langtang village- a huge settlement of the popular adventure tourism destination of Nepal and killing at least 253 people. This study envisions to explore the scopes of special-interest dark (thanatology) tourism in the post-disaster scene, and it is used as a vehicle for self-reflection and education. This paper also explores the tourism prototype for an adventure tourism destination that has been severely impacted by a disaster. The paper adapts sociological theory, experience, and participant observation to complete a vanity ethnographic study of a “post-disaster tour” in the Langtang area. The tools and techniques of data collection derived from qualitative methodological approaches such as case study, semi-structured interviews, informal interviews, participant observation, content analysis, focus group discussions, in-depth interviews and house to house visit. The findings show how the adventure tourism hosts bounced back and depicted resiliency through unified reconstruction. Langtang’s post-disaster touristic setting instigates a unique paradigm in the tourism sector that can go parallel with the adventure tourism engagements. Th e model is represented through the amalgamation of dark tourism (Dark) and adventure tourism (Adventure), which forms a phenomenon that is named “darventure” (Kunwar, 2019) tourism. The‘ darventure’ tourism features the elements of both thanatology and frontier thrills at the same place. Dark tourist and adventure tourist experiences can coexist in Langtang, it creates a unique tourism prototype that complements both practices and can be offered as ‘darventure’ tourism.

Hazard-risk and vulnerability assessment for the National Zoological Park at New Delhi, India

Hazard risk and disaster implications for human habitat have significant concern but, however, the vulnerability of animal habitat remained a low priority. Zoological parks where animals are under captivity present complexity or probable impacts in case of disasters. This study has considered the potential hazards and major incidents over past 20 years for risk and vulnerability assessment in order to delineate disaster risk reduction strategies for National Zoological Park. On-field observations were also undertaken, also the analysis of potential hazards implying the Scaling method. Evaluation and interpretation of data was done in graphs, charts and summarized tables. Most fatal disasters adversely affected the zoo environment were the cases of snake bite (44%) and disease outbreaks (32%). Under observational period, potential hazards such as presence of dry logs, branches and bushes prone to fire, damaged fencing, house shelters and roof of kraal, low level of railing in visitor viewing area and free ranging species were recorded. Hazard implications with high possibility future occurrence and with worst impact on zoo environment estimated were flood and sewage backflow (16%), fire incidents (10.7%), law and order problem (10.7%), zoonotic diseases and epidemics (10.7%), followed by other factors. Biosecurity measures taken by zoo administration were reviewed and recommendations have been drawn based on scientific observations and assessment of gaps with respect to security, safety and other risk management measures before, during and after a disaster.

Femtosecond laser manipulating underoil surface wettability for water removal from oil

The oil containing a small amount of water droplets have induced serious operation malfunctions for precision industrial equipment and even brought fatal disasters, which have aroused widespread concern. However, developing an effective strategy for removal of water from oil is still an enormous challenge. Here, we present a rapid and facile method for fabricating underoil superhydrophilic surface by one-step femtosecond laser direct writing technology. Interestingly, two extreme underoil wettability statuses can be achieved through tuning the scanning velocity (V). Concretely, the pristine underoil hydrophobic titanium sheet will become underoil superhydrophilicity when V is 0.1 m/s, while it will exhibit underoil superhydrophobicity when V increases to 3 m/s. Moreover, the underoil superhydrophilic surface shows excellent water absorption, which could realize the purification of oil contains water droplets regardless of the oil types, and the corresponding mechanism is propounded. We believe that femtosecond laser micromachining has tremendous superiority in solving the problem of oil containing water droplets.

Financial Reporting Consequences of CEOs’ Early-life Exposure to Disasters and Violent Crime

Understanding the behavior of chief executive officers (CEOs) enables investors, regulators, and others to better appreciate the corporate decisions a CEO makes. Among the many aspects that determine CEO behavior are early-life experiences, we examine whether a CEO’s exposure to two important events — fatal natural disasters and violent crime — during the individual’s formative years is associated with the firm’s financial reporting quality. We provide evidence of a non-monotonic association between early-life exposures to such events and financial reporting outcomes. When a CEO has moderate levels of early-life exposure to deaths associated with natural disasters or to violent crimes, financial reporting quality is lower, consistent with the CEO being over-confident in dealing with risk. However, as exposure increases to extreme levels, the CEO becomes more aware of the risk effect and, as a result, more careful about decisions that could elevate the firm’s risk; thus, we find evidence of higher financial reporting quality.

A Preliminary Experimental Analysis of In-Pipe Image Transmission Based on Visible Light Relay Communication.

The regular inspection of underground facilities such as pipelines is absolutely essential. Pipeline leakage caused by corrosion and deformation must be detected in time, otherwise, it may cause fatal disasters for human beings. In our previous research, a robot chain system (RCS) based on visible light relay communication (VLRC) for pipe inspection has been developed. This system can basically realize the light-based transmission of control command signals and illuminance-based coordinated movement, whereas the collection and transmission approach of the pipe leakage image have not been studied. Compared with former in-pipe wireless communication techniques, VLRC can not only overcome the instability and inefficiency of in-pipe data transmission but also extend the communication range with high transmission rates. The most important feature is that it can provide a stable illumination and high-quality communication for pipe inspection robot and finally improve the energy efficiency. Hence, the aim of this article is to analyze the performance of VLRC-based image transmission in the pipe and in the future provide a high-quality, long-range, and high-efficiency image transmission for complex infrastructure inspection with RCS. The transmission systems based on two signal transmission modes analog image signal relay transmission (AISRT) and digital image frame relay transmission (DIFRT) have been proposed. Multiple experiments including the waveform test, the test of transmission features with different bit error rate (BER), and in the different mediums were conducted between these two systems. The experiment revealed that DIFRT was superior to the AISRT in terms of the relatively high-quality image transmission and reconstruction quality. It could better overcome the attenuation brought by the absorption and scattering effects and finally increased the transmission range than former communication methods. The DIFRT system could also operate at 50 with relatively low BER whether in the air or water. The technique in this research could potentially provide a new strategy for implementations in the stable, effective, high-speed, and long-range image transmission of the robots in some other special environments such as tunnel, mine, and underwater, etc.

Situation Critical

As infrastructure ages, it’s necessary to spend more on maintenance. But, amid a number of recent fatal disasters, should road operators be instigating or increasing tolls to fund the necessary repair work? Or should public money be leveraged to plug the gap?

Facile synthesis of a two-tier hierarchical structured superhydrophobic-superoleophilic melamine sponge for rapid and efficient oil/water separation

Oil leakages often cause fatal disasters for environmental pollution but an efficient treatment of the oil spills is still very challenging. Sponge-substrates with superhydrophobicity and superoleophilicity have been attracted much attention for oil/water separation. In this study, an inexpensive commercial melamine sponge was chemically modified for the uses of oil spills treatment by oil/water separation. Inspiring from the superhydrophobic property of lotus leaf, pyrrole was polymerized by a simple vapor-phase deposition to encapsulate the raw melamine-formaldehyde (MF) sponge. The as-formed thin polypyrrole walls were utilized as reducing reagent to generate Ag nanoparticles on the capsuled sponge. Accordingly, a superhydrophobic melamine sponge with a two-tier hierarchical structure was achieved after fluorination, and this material was applied to absorb oil from water. The absorption capacity, absorption rate and recyclability were investigated. This superhydrophobic sponge exhibited an efficient and fast oil/water separation performance in complicated environment and could be applied in industrial production because of its low cost and simple fabrication procedure. This study presents a facile strategy for the fabrication of efficient oil sorbents based on a two-tier hierarchical structure, providing a novel means for the upgrading of engineered sorption materials.

What Doesn't Kill You Will Only Make You More Risk‐Loving: Early‐Life Disasters and CEO Behavior

ABSTRACTThe literature on managerial style posits a linear relation between a chief executive officer's (CEOs) past experiences and firm risk. We show that there is a nonmonotonic relation between the intensity of CEOs’ early‐life exposure to fatal disasters and corporate risk‐taking. CEOs who experience fatal disasters without extremely negative consequences lead firms that behave more aggressively, whereas CEOs who witness the extreme downside of disasters behave more conservatively. These patterns manifest across various corporate policies including leverage, cash holdings, and acquisition activity. Ultimately, the link between CEOs’ disaster experience and corporate policies has real economic consequences on firm riskiness and cost of capital.

A study on the critical factors of human error in civil aviation: An early warning management perspective in Bangladesh

Article history: Received September 18, 2014 Accepted 15 December 2014 Available online December 18 2014 The safety of civil aviation will be more secured if the errors in all the facets can be reduced. Like the other industrial sectors, human resource is one of the most complex and sensitive resources for the civil aviation. The error of human resources can cause fatal disasters. In these days, a good volume of researches have been conducted on the disaster of civil aviation. The researchers have identified the causes of the civil aviation disasters from various perspectives. They identified the areas where more concern is needed to reduce the disastrous impacts. This paper aims to find out the critical factors of human error in civil aviation in a developing country (Bangladesh) as it is accepted that human error is one of main causes of civil aviation disasters. The paper reviews the previous research to find out the critical factors conceptually. Fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (FAHP) has been used to find out the critical factors systematically. Analyses indicate that the concentration on precondition for unsafe acts (including sub-factors) is required to ensure the aviation safety. Growing Science Ltd. All rights reserved. 5 © 201

Analysis of distribution regularity and development tendency of earthquake secondary geohazards in Yingxiu-Maoxian section along the Minjiang River

The 2008 Wenchuan earthquak led to fatal secondary geological disasters in the Yingxiu-Maoxian segments along the Minjiang River. Through using multi-phase high-resolution airborne remote sensing data obtained after the earthquake in combination with interpretation signs of various geohazards,we can analyze the distribution regularity and development tendency of earthquake secondary geohazards quickly and accurately,which is of great significance in guiding reconstruction of the disaster area scientifically. The distribution regularity of secondary geohazards finds expression in the following aspects: 1 avalanche,landslide and landslide-avalanche( the transition type between the landslide and avalanche) constitute the main types,with landslide-avalanche taking up over 90%; 2 the geohazards are widely distributed on the both slopes of the Minjiang River in the Yingxiu-Maoxian segment,but their scales and intensities are much larger in the Yingxiu-Maoxian segment than in the Wenchuan-Maoxian segment. Through continuous dynamic monitoring of the secondary geohazards after the earthquake by using high-resolution aerial imagery acquired from 2009 to 2011 and in 2013,the authors have revealed that 25 earthquake-induced landslides have been stable basically,but some potential landslides( total21) show evident signs of activity,of which the Doucu potential landslides in Maoxian and Qidiguan potential landslides in Wenchuan deserve more attention. In addition,the debris flow will be the main geohazard type in the Yingxiu-Maoxian segment along the Minjiang River in the future; in the Yingxiu-Wenchuan segment,the frequency and intensity of the debris flow are especially obvious.

An explanation of large-scale coal and gas outbursts in underground coal mines: the effect of low-permeability zones on abnormally abundant gas

Abstract. Large-scale coal and gas outbursts pose a risk of fatal disasters in underground mines. Large-scale outbursts (outburst of coal and rock greater than 500 t) in recent years in China indicate that there is abundant gas in areas of outbursts containing large amounts of potential energy. The adequate sealing properties of the roof and floor of a coal seam are required for local abundant gas around the site of an outburst, but an annular low-permeability zone in a coal seam, which prevents the loss by gas migration through the coal seam itself, is also required. The distribution of coal gas with this annular zone of low permeability is described, and it is proposed that the annular zone of low permeability creates conditions for confining the coal gas. The effect of this low-permeability zone on the gas distribution is analyzed after allowing for simplifications in the model. The results show that the permeability and length of the low-permeability zone have a great impact on the gas distribution, and the permeability is required to be several orders of magnitude less than that of normal coal and enough length is also in demand. A steep gradient of gas pressure in the low-permeability zone and the high-pressure gas in the abundant zone of gas can promote coal mass failure and coal wall deformation, thereby accelerating the coal and gas outburst. The high-pressure gas in abundant zone of gas will lead to a large-scale outburst if an outburst occurs.

Stitching Together: How Workers Are Hemming Down Transnational Capital in the Hyper‐Global Apparel Industry

Fatal disasters in Bangladesh garment factories demand we learn from recent antisweatshop breakthroughs. Beginning in 2007, workers at Fruit of the Loom (FOTL) factories in Honduras built a uniquely successful global campaign. FOTL closed a factory and laid off 1,200 workers in response to workers' efforts to improve working conditions, a textbook move in the industry's “race to the bottom.” But nine months later, after the largest collegiate boycott of a single company in history, FOTL reopened the factory and extended union neutrality to all its Honduran factories. We argue that the campaign, which resulted in a reversal of the transnational's decision to abandon the unionized factory and the direct negotiation between FOTL top executives and workers, provides an unprecedented model for labor to rein in the apparel industry's hyper‐mobile capital. Since their negotiated agreement with FOTL, workers have won significant improvements in wages and working conditions, and inspired groundbreaking new campaigns to challenge the transnationals whose products they assemble.

What Doesn't Kill You Will Only Make You More Risk-Loving: Early-Life Disasters and CEO Behavior

The literature on managerial style posits a linear relation between a CEO’s past experiences and firm risk. We show that there is a non-monotonic relation between the intensity of CEOs’ early-life exposure to fatal disasters and corporate risk-taking. CEOs who experience fatal disasters without extremely negative consequences lead firms that behave more aggressively, whereas CEOs who witness the extreme downside of disasters behave more conservatively. These patterns manifest across various corporate policies including leverage, cash holdings, and acquisition activity. Ultimately, the link between CEOs’ disaster experience and corporate policies has real economic consequences on firm riskiness and cost of capital.