Inspection Of Facilities Research Articles

Japan’s Nuclear Hedge: Beyond “Allergy” and Breakout

JAPANESE STRATEGISTS HAVE LONG BEEN AMBIVALENT about nuclear weapons. On the one hand, memories of horrific nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki have sustained antinuclear sentiment and helped justify national policies championing nonproliferation and forgoing an indigenous nuclear arsenal. This “nuclear allergy” has been diagnosed as a genetic condition, and associated institutional and diplomatic constraints on nuclear breakout have been invoked to predict that Japan will find it virtually impossible to reverse course on nuclear weapons. Japan's non-nuclear bona fides are well established. Until its revision in 2012, Article 2 of Japan's Atomic Energy Basic Law (1955) stated clearly that research, development, and utilization of atomic energy is limited to peaceful purposes.1 Japan joined the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in 1957 and has generously supported the agency's work. After considerable debate and delay—and the receipt from the United States of much greater latitude for nuclear fuel handling and reprocessing—Japan ratified the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) in 1976 and supported the treaty's indefinite extension in 1995. Japan also ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty in 1997 and was the first to sign the IAEA's Additional Protocol in 1998, allowing a stricter regimen for IAEA inspections of Japanese nuclear facilities.

China Stresses Industrial Safety

As the death toll keeps rising after the Aug. 12 explosion at a chemical warehouse in Tianjin, China, authorities throughout the country have stepped up safety inspections of industrial facilities. However, this safeguard did not prevent an adiponitrile plant in Shandong province from blowing up days later. In Tianjin, the official death toll had risen to 139 as C&EN went to press on Aug. 27. Police have so far arrested 12 people, including senior executives from Ruihai Logistics, the company where the blast occurred. And China’s Supreme People’s Procuratorate says it has detained 11 senior officials for offenses such as dereliction of duty in their supervision of Ruihai. Meanwhile, recovery efforts are proceeding in Tianjin. Among the companies affected is GlaxoSmithKline, which operates a pharmaceutical plant a few miles from the blast site. Last week, technicians wearing hazardous materials suits were seen conducting an inspection of the facility, which, from ...

학교안전사고 예방을 위한 시설관리 매뉴얼 개선방향 설정

The purpose of this study is to derive the improvement direction of school facilities management manual that is currently being usedfor school safety accidents prevention to provide basic data for future research directions for the safety of school facilities. The studywas performed qualitatively through focus group interviews of facilities expert group, facility administrators group and safetyresearcher group, focusing on the manual of the education office in the form of a checklist. Main findings derived from the interviewsare as follows: 1) Most of the manual are for visual inspections so that it may lead to cursory facility inspection and the configurationis complicated, so an integrated management system using smart devices needs to be developed. 2) Safety management training isrequired for facilities managers, students and school staffs. 3) It is effective for disaster accident prevention but not suitable for safetyaccidents that occur during school life. 4) Management of the design phase is required for prevention of school safety accidents, andsafety accident management database is needed for development of the design factors that can be applied to the design developmentstage.Key words : School facilities, Safety accident, Facilities management, Focus group interview

NECTAR: Radiography and tomography station using fission neutrons

NECTAR, operated by the Technische Universität München, is a versatile facility for the non-destructive inspection of various objects by means of fission neutron radiography and tomography, respectively.

A retrospective review of how nonconformities are expressed and finalized in external inspections of health-care facilities.

BackgroundExternal inspections are widely used in health care as a means of improving the quality of care. However, the way external inspections affect the involved organization is poorly understood. A better understanding of these processes is important to improve our understanding of the varying effects of external inspections in different organizations. In turn, this can contribute to the development of more effective ways of conducting inspections. The way the inspecting organization states their grounds for noncompliant behavior and subsequently follows up to enforce the necessary changes can have implications for the inspected organization’s change process. We explore how inspecting organizations express and state their grounds for noncompliant behavior and how they follow up to enforce improvements.MethodsWe conducted a retrospective review, in which we performed a content analysis of the documents from 36 external inspections in Norway. Our analysis was guided by Donabedian’s structure, process, and outcome model.ResultsDeficiencies in the management system in combination with clinical work processes was considered as nonconformity by the inspecting organizations. Two characteristic patterns were identified in the way observations led to a statement of nonconformity: one in which it was clearly demonstrated how deficiencies in the management system could affect clinical processes, and one in which this connection was not demonstrated. Two characteristic patterns were also identified in the way the inspecting organization followed up and finalized their inspection: one in which the inspection was finalized solely based on the documented changes in structural deficiencies addressed in the nonconformity statement, and one based on the documented changes in structural and process deficiencies addressed in the nonconformity statement.ConclusionExternal inspections are performed to improve the quality of care. To accomplish this aim, we suggest that nonconformities should be grounded by observations that clearly demonstrate how deficiencies in the management system might affect the clinical processes, and that the inspection should be finalized based on documented changes in both structural and process deficiencies addressed in the nonconformity statement.

Revising, reforming, reframing: Report of the Expert Group on the Review of the Mental Health Act 2001 (2015)

Involuntary psychiatric admission and treatment in Ireland is chiefly governed by the Mental Health Act 2001. The Irish government announced a review of the 2001 Act in July 2011, and the Report of the Expert Group on the Review of the Mental Health Act 2001 was published on 5 March 2015. The report, which constitutes advice to the Minister for Primary Care, Social Care (Disabilities & Older People) and Mental Health, presents 165 recommendations relating to virtually all areas of the Act. It recommends that 'insofar as practicable, a rights based approach should be adopted throughout any revised mental health legislation' and that the principle of 'best interests' should be replaced by an alternative set of principles as follows: 'the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of mental health, with the person's own understanding of his or her mental health being given due respect; autonomy and self-determination; dignity (there should be a presumption that the patient is the person best placed to determine what promotes/compromises his or her own dignity); bodily integrity; and least restrictive care'. The Report presents a series of other recommendations aimed at increasing multi-disciplinary involvement in key decisions, promoting human rights and strengthening inspections of community facilities. Overall, the package of measures outlined in the Report is complex, interesting and worthy of debate.

ORGANIZATION OF THE PRE-SURVEY TRAIN STATIONS AND NODES

Purpose of this article is to describe the construction methods of the pre inspection facilities subject information. The technique is based on a field of objects in-formatyzatsiyi. Pre-installation inspection is performed a dedicated working group consisting of representatives of an organization involved in the survey, and key employees of the customer survey. Information gathering can be done by different methods, different levels of formalization. These methods include surveying, product tour, keeping a diary of work, photographing working hours etc. Based on the selected research methods are selected methods of collecting materials inspection stages and ways to use them. Materials Processing examination performed in accordance with procedures developed by the survey. After gathering information about the object of the survey carried out by its processing, synthesis and analysis. The result is based methodology will formalize the process of pre inspection of railway stations and junctions, improving the processes of interaction between artist and customer to raise the quality and reliability of the collected information, to reduce the cost of work on the stage of learning process station or node

Improved Inspection of Facilities for High‐Voltage Class Using Data Mining

SUMMARYThe inspection of power supply facilities can now be conducted with high accuracy using remote monitoring technology. In contrast, it is difficult to install sensors at demand facilities because their scale and installation environment differ among customers. As a result, the demand facilities are inspected at fixed time intervals. In this paper, we propose condition‐based maintenance (CBM), which improves maintenance quality at demand facilities. The proposed method was developed using maintenance data from demand facilities, collected using time‐based maintenance, and we conduct the analysis primarily using failure data. We use data mining to analyze transaction data that we modeled on the basis of the maintenance data and to construct a “failure predictive model” that can predict the failure of facilities and its causes from the results of the analysis. By using the constructed model, we will be able to identify the objects requiring maintenance which may most likely lead to failures in the future, and this study can contribute to improvement of maintenance technologies for demand facilities using the proposed CBM.

New Food Safety Law: Effectiveness on the Ground

The demand for safety in the US food supply from production to consumption necessitates a scientific, risk-based strategy for the management of microbiological, chemical, and physical hazards in food. The key to successful management is an increase in systematic collaboration and communication and in enforceable procedures with all domestic and international stakeholders. The enactment of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) aims to prevent or reduce large-scale food-borne illness outbreaks through stricter facility registration and records standards, mandatory prevention-based controls, increased facility inspections in the United States and internationally, mandatory recall authority, import controls, and increased consumer communication. The bill provisions are expected to cost $1.4 billion over the next four years. Effective implementation of the FSMA's 50 rules, reports, studies, and guidance documents in addition to an increased inspection burden requires further funding appropriations. Additional full-time inspectors and unprecedented foreign compliance is necessary for the full and effective implementation of the FSMA.

CSurvey—An autonomous optical inspection head for AUVs

The inspection of underwater structures and facilities by autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) is of an increasing interest in the offshore industry. The big advantage of AUVs compared to the currently used method of deploying remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) or divers is, that AUVs require significantly less operational overhead and can be operated in parallel to other tasks. Currently AUVs are primary used for hydrographic and scientific applications and are therefore not suited for the demands of inspection tasks. The autonomous inspection unit developed within the CSurvey project and presented in this paper acts as an intelligent sensor package, allowing the deployment of a sensor package suitable for different tasks on a commercial AUV. The main focus of this article is to introduce the mechatronics and control of this inspection system and present the results of experiments done with its primary high-resolution sensor, which is based on laser-projected structured light. The main focus of these experiments was to quantify the impact of water quality on the sensor system, especially within respect to sensing range.

Association between skilled nursing facility quality indicators and hospital readmissions.

Hospital readmissions are common, costly, and potentially preventable. Little is known about the association between available skilled nursing facility (SNF) performance measures and the risk of hospital readmission. To measure the association between SNF performance measures and hospital readmissions among Medicare beneficiaries receiving postacute care at SNFs in the United States. Using national Medicare data on fee-for-service Medicare beneficiaries discharged to a SNF after an acute care hospitalization between September 1, 2009, and August 31, 2010, we examined the association between SNF performance on publicly available metrics (SNF staffing intensity, health deficiencies identified through site inspections, and the percentages of SNF patients with delirium, moderate to severe pain, and new or worsening pressure ulcers) and the risk of readmission or death 30 days after discharge to a SNF. Adjusted analyses controlled for patient case mix, SNF facility factors, and the discharging hospital. Readmission to an acute care hospital or death within 30 days of the index hospital discharge. Of 1,530,824 patients discharged, 357,752 (23.3%; 99% CI, 23.3%-23.5%) were readmitted or died within 30 days; 72,472 died within 30 days (4.7%; 99% CI, 4.7%-4.8%), and 321,709 were readmitted (21.0%; 99% CI, 20.9%-21.1%). The unadjusted risk of readmission or death was lower at SNFs with better staffing ratings. SNFs ranked lowest (19.2% of all SNFs) had a 30-day risk of readmission or death of 25.5% (99% CI, 25.3%-25.8%) vs 19.8% (99% CI, 19.5%-20.1%) among those ranked highest. SNFs with better facility inspection ratings also had a lower risk of readmission or death. SNFs ranked lowest (20.1% of all SNFs) had a risk of 24.9% (99% CI, 24.7%-25.1%) vs 21.5% (99% CI, 21.2%-21.7%) among those ranked highest . Adjustment for patient factors, SNF facility factors, and the discharging hospital attenuated these associations; we observed small differences in the adjusted risk of readmission or death according to SNF facility inspection ratings (lowest vs highest rating: 23.7%; 99% CI: 23.7%, 23.7%; vs 23.0%; 99% CI: 23.0%, 23.1%). Other measures did not predict clinically meaningful differences in the adjusted risk of readmission or death. Among fee-for-service Medicare beneficiaries discharged to a SNF after an acute care hospitalization, available performance measures were not consistently associated with differences in the adjusted risk of readmission or death.

Analysis of FDS’s Risk Assessment Methodology at Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Site

This research describes how the FDA has incorporated risk analysis methodology into its inspection of pharmaceutical manufacturers in the time period between 2004-2008. It analyzes the violations specified in FDA warning letters that are issued after site inspections of pharmaceutical facilities. The outcome of this analysis is to evaluate the FDA’s performance to determine whether it has improved the overall inspection process and increased its quality assurance

Critical drug shortages: implications for emergency medicine.

Prescription drug shortages have become increasingly common and more severe over the past decade. In addition, reported shortages are longer in duration and have had a greater effect on patient care. Some of the causes of current drug shortages are multifactorial, including the consolidation of drug manufacturers, quality problems at production plants that restrict the supply of drugs, and a lack of financial incentives for manufacturers to produce certain products, particularly generic medications. Generic injectable medications are most commonly affected by shortages because the production process is complex and costly for these drugs, and profit margins are often smaller than for branded medications. Many commonly used emergency department (ED) generic injectables have been affected by shortages, including multiple resuscitation and critical care drugs. Several reports have shown that shortages can potentially have major effects on the quality of medical care, including medication errors, treatment delays, adverse outcomes, and increased health care costs. Currently, no published data exist outside of case reports that directly link ED-based drug shortages to overall patient safety events; however, there are several examples in the ED where first-line therapies for life-saving medications have been in short supply, and alternatives have higher rates of adverse events, narrower therapeutic indexes, or both. Aside from increasing notification about shortages, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has little power to coerce manufacturers to produce medications during a shortage. Therefore, ED providers must learn to mitigate the effects of shortages locally, through active communication with pharmacy staff to identify safe and effective alternatives for commonly used medications when possible. Particularly given the effect on critical care medications, therapeutic alternatives should be clearly communicated to all staff so that providers have easy access to this information during resuscitations. This review focuses on the etiology of drug shortages, their effect on the ED, and potential solutions and mitigation strategies.

Quantitative NDA Measurements of Multiactinide Oxide Fuels

As new reprocessing techniques and fuel forms are developed, the ability of inspection agencies and facility operators to measure powders containing several actinides becomes increasingly necessary. Neutrons emitted from induced and spontaneous fission of different nuclides are very similar, making it difficult to measure these powders with nondestructive assay techniques. To measure the powders, a neutron multiplicity technique based on first-principle methods was developed to exploit isotope-specific nuclear properties, such as energy-dependent fission cross sections and neutron-induced fission multiplicity. This technique was tested through measurements using an epithermal neutron multiplicity counter with two different interrogation (α,n) sources and varying plutonium materials. To complement these measurements, extensive Monte Carlo N-Particle eXtended (MCNPX) simulations were performed for each measured sample, as well as samples that were not available to measure. The primary application of this first-principle technique is the measurement of materials containing uranium, neptunium, plutonium, and americium. This technique still has several challenges that need to be overcome, the largest of these being the ability to produce results with acceptably small uncertainties.

Inspection Prioritizing Technique for Early Discovery of Defective Facilities--Manhole Facility Inspection Prioritization

Inspection Prioritizing Technique for Early Discovery of Defective Facilities--Manhole Facility Inspection Prioritization

DEVELOPMENT OF AN AMPHIBIOUS ROBOT FOR VISUAL INSPECTION OF APR1400 NPP IRWST STRAINER ASSEMBLY

An amphibious inspection robot system (hereafter AIROS) is being developed to visually inspect the in-containment refueling storage water tank (hereafter IRWST) strainer in APR1400 instead of a human diver. Four IRWST strainers are located in the IRWST, which is filled with boric acid water. Each strainer has 108 sub-assembly strainer fin modules that should be inspected with the VT-3 method according to Reg. guide 1.82 and the operation manual. AIROS has 6 thrusters for submarine voyage and 4 legs for walking on the top of the strainer. An inverse kinematic algorithm was implemented in the robot controller for exact walking on the top of the IRWST strainer. The IRWST strainer has several top cross braces that are extruded on the top of the strainer, which can be obstacles of walking on the strainer, to maintain the frame of the strainer. Therefore, a robot leg should arrive at the position beside the top cross brace. For this reason, we used an image processing technique to find the top cross brace in the sole camera image. The sole camera image is processed to find the existence of the top cross brace using the cross edge detection algorithm in real time. A 5-DOF robot arm that has multiple camera modules for simultaneous inspection of both sides can penetrate narrow gaps. For intuitive presentation of inspection results and for management of inspection data, inspection images are stored in the control PC with camera angles and positions to synthesize and merge the images. The synthesized images are then mapped in a 3D CAD model of the IRWST strainer with the location information. An IRWST strainer mock-up was fabricated to teach the robot arm scanning and gaiting. It is important to arrive at the designated position for inserting the robot arm into all of the gaps. Exact position control without anchor under the water is not easy. Therefore, we designed the multi leg robot for the role of anchoring and positioning. Quadruped robot design of installing sole cameras was a new approach for the exact and stable position control on the IRWST strainer, unlike a traditional robot for underwater facility inspection. The developed robot will be practically used to enhance the efficiency and reliability of the inspection of nuclear power plant components.

삼원 촉매 담체의 확률론적 열피로 성능 평가

A three-way catalyst substrate for domestic passenger car satisfies the design criteria for exhaust gas exchange and pressure drop but does not have satisfactory thermal fatigue performance. Prefracture faults in this three-way catalyst substrate has often been discovered in vehicle repair or vehicle inspection facilities. This paper presents a thermal fatigue performance estimation method for a three-way catalyst substrate using a probabilistic strength reduction factor model. This method is superior to the thermal fatigue performance estimation method for a three-way catalyst substrate that uses a deterministic strength model.

Hybrid approaches based on SARIMA and artificial neural networks for inspection time series forecasting

In this paper, the number of goods subject to inspection at European Border Inspections Post are predicted using a hybrid two-step procedure. A hybridization methodology based on integrating the data obtained from autoregressive integrated moving averages (SARIMA) model in the artificial neural network model (ANN) to predict the number of inspections is proposed. Several hybrid approaches are compared and the results indicate that the hybrid models outperform either of the models used separately. This methodology may become a powerful decision-making tool at other inspection facilities of international seaports or airports.

Outbreak of Bacteremia Due toBurkholderia contaminansLinked to Intravenous Fentanyl From an Institutional Compounding Pharmacy

IMPORTANCE Many health care facilities compound medications on site to fulfill local demands when customized formulations are needed, national supply is critically low, or costs for manufactured pharmaceuticals are excessive. Small, institutional compounding facilities may perform the same high-risk procedures as large distributors of compounded medications. OBJECTIVES To investigate an outbreak related to contamination of compounded sterile preparations and to determine processes to prevent future outbreaks. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS We performed an outbreak investigation of inpatients at Duke University Hospital from August 31 through September 6, 2012. The investigation included a case-control study, compounding facility inspection and environmental sampling, observation of a mock compounding demonstration, and microbiologic and molecular testing of sequestered medication. EXPOSURES Intravenous fentanyl prepared by an institutional compounding pharmacy. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES Microbiologic and molecular evidence of contamination of a compounded sterile preparation and failure of routine sterility testing. RESULTS Blood cultures of 7 patients during a 7-day period at Duke University Hospital yielded pan-susceptible Burkholderia cepacia complex bacteria. The risk factor common to all patients was receipt of continuous fentanyl infusion prepared by our institutional compounding pharmacy (odds ratio, 11.22; 95% CI, 2.09-∞; P = .01). The outbreak was terminated after sequestration of compounded fentanyl. An intensive evaluation of the compounding facility, its practice, and its procedures was completed. Investigators evaluated the clean room, collected targeted microbiologic samples within the compounding pharmacy environment, and observed a mock demonstration of compounding practice. The B cepacia complex was found in the anteroom sink drain and pH probe calibration fluid from the compounding clean room. Multiple microbiologic analyses of sequestered fentanyl initially failed. Ultimately, a batched, vacuum-assisted filtration method produced B cepacia complex from a single lot. Molecular analyses using repetitive element polymerase chain reaction and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis confirmed a clonal Burkholderia contaminans strain from patients, fentanyl, and environmental samples. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE An outbreak of B contaminans bacteremia was linked to contamination of locally compounded intravenous fentanyl. Health care facilities that house institutional compounding facilities must be vigilant in efforts to prevent, recognize, and terminate medication-related outbreaks.

Foodborne illnesses in Brazil: control measures for 2014 FIFA World Cup travellers

Foodborne diseases are typically caused by the ingestion of food contaminated with micro-organisms or their toxins, resulting in gastrointestinal disorders and in some severe cases hospitalization and death. In Brazil, foodborne illnesses are caused mainly by Salmonella, Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli. The most important contributing factors for outbreaks are exposure of foods to unsuitable temperatures, inadequate food preparation and contamination of raw material or water used to prepare food. Recently, aiming to prevent foodborne illnesses during the 2014 FIFA World Cup, Brazil has developed a risk-based evaluation tool able to assess and grade Brazilian food services in cities that will host football matches. This tool has been used by the Brazilian sanitary surveillance officers during the inspection of facilities where food services. This is considered an innovative preventative sanitary action because it was created based on scientific information, statistical calculation and on risks of foodborne diseases occurrence. In this mini-review we summarize general data, control measures and how travellers can prevent foodborne illness in Brazil during the 2014 FIFA World Cup.